My Encounter with Canned Briefs

Abstract

Briefing cases is an integral part of the learning process in the first year of law school. Despite the near-universal advice of law professors and law school guides to “brief the cases yourself,” students may be tempted to rely on commercial “canned” briefs instead.This author’s accidental encounter with canned briefs while preparing for a Contracts class reinforced his opinion that his law school bookstore was right to ban canned briefs. No only do they impair the learning process, they are unreliable and can cause misunderstandings. They also have the potential to embarrass students who rely on them when reciting in class. Students who want to maximize their success should shun canned briefs.