Litigation
Cal. Litig. 2017, Volume 30, Number 2
Content
- Briefing Issues Pending Before the California Supreme Court
- Confidentiality In Arbitration
- Editor's Foreword: Hail to the Chiefs
- Family Law Litigation After Shimkus: Before Submitting at a Hearing, Always Move to Admit Your Declarations
- From the Section Chair
- How Intangible Harms Can Result in Tangible Fcra Damages in California's Post-Spokeo Landscape
- Litigation Section Executive Committee Past Chairs
- Masthead
- MCLE Test Questions for Self-Study Test (1 hour of credit)
- Past Editors-in-Chief
- Red Flags in the Defense of an Employment Case
- Richard Nixon: the Whittier Washout
- Table of Contents
- Technology in the Courtroom: Does It Engage or Overwhelm Jurors?
- Unintended Consequences of Adr
- Brief Basics: the Table of Contents
Brief Basics: The Table Of Contents
By Joan Wolff
The purpose of a brief is to convince the court that given the facts and applicable law, your client should prevail. So how do you quickly get the court’s attention focused on the merits of your case?
Some judges and staff attorneys say that the first thing they read in a brief is the table of contents. The table of contents, then, is your first opportunity to inform the court about the case you are presenting, what is at stake, the key facts, what your client’s position is, and what kind of legal argument you will make. It is the first opportunity to convince the court that given the facts and law, your client’s position has merit. Once the court has read these first few pages of your brief, you are no longer on "neutral" ground—some opinion has started to be formed, based on what you put on those pages.
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