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How to Read a Legal Opinion: A Guide for New Law Students

by Orin S. Kerr · The Green Bag (hosted by UC Berkeley School of Law)

The standard free primer on the very first skill of law school, reading cases. Sixteen-page essay from the Green Bag (2007) walking a first-year student through a judicial opinion: caption, citation, author, facts, procedural posture, holding and reasoning, concurrences and dissents, plus common terms such as affirm, reverse, and remand.

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