How to write a case brief for the case “Miles v. City Council of Augusta GA” Briefing a Case Different lawyers, professors, judges, etc., may use different formats for briefing. For this class, please use the following categories when briefing a case: Name and Citation; Facts; Procedural History; Issue; Holding; Reasoning. Name and Citation: The name of the case contains the names of the parties, which you would usually refer to simply by last name. If it’s a criminal case, one party will be “People” or “State” or “State of New York” (or other appropriate state name). In a Westlaw case, the citation is typically near the top of the first page and will say “cite as” followed by a series of numbers and letters. Those numbers and letters are the case citation. The citation lets you know where you can find the full case written. Court decisions, at certain levels, are published in books called “reports” or “reporters.” The first number in the citation is the volume number. The letters are the abbreviation for the particular reporter in which the case will be found. The last number refers to the page number in that volume in that reporter. So, 25 S.Ct 100 would mean the case is located in volume 25 of the Supreme Court reporter on page 100. Facts: This is the relevant factual story of the case. In many cases—particularly longer cases—it can be difficult to determine which facts to leave in and which facts to leave out. Think about which facts are really essential in order for a person reading your brief to know what happened in the case. Remember, you want to include the facts that tell the story.