1st Paragraph:

Facts

– who is the plaintiff who is the defendant

– What happened that lead up to the lawsuit (who, what, why, when)

2nd Paragraph:

What the issues are? (why are they in court? Ex: plaintiff believes his search and seizure rights were violated)

~ Page 2 ~

3rd Paragraph:

Legal history

Lower courts (full names) analysis & outcome (their decision) (why it was appealed if appicable)

• Trial court (you’ll see the word “district”) where the trial occurred

• Appeals court (you may see the word “circuit” (losers file appeals) – how many appeals there are, there may be a number of different appeals and a number of different courts

4th Paragraph:

Highest court determination, law their analysis (include names of courts)

• Supreme court? Give details