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Case Note Guide

This document provides guidance on how to write a good case note. It explains that a case note requires analyzing a court judgment to critically assess whether the case was correctly decided. It outlines the key sections of a case note: an introduction, identification of the legal issues, a critical analysis of the court's reasoning and application of legal rules, and a conclusion. The analysis section is the most important and requires evaluating the court's logic and considering alternative arguments. A good case note is written in full paragraphs, uses the student's own words, and properly references sources according to the Australian Guide to Legal Citation.

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Thanh Tran
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547 views2 pages

Case Note Guide

This document provides guidance on how to write a good case note. It explains that a case note requires analyzing a court judgment to critically assess whether the case was correctly decided. It outlines the key sections of a case note: an introduction, identification of the legal issues, a critical analysis of the court's reasoning and application of legal rules, and a conclusion. The analysis section is the most important and requires evaluating the court's logic and considering alternative arguments. A good case note is written in full paragraphs, uses the student's own words, and properly references sources according to the Australian Guide to Legal Citation.

Uploaded by

Thanh Tran
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Commercial Law - LAW2447

Case Note Guide: How to Write a Good Case Note?

A. What is a case note?


 In a case note assessment, students will be provided an actual judgement (usually a
shortened version), and required to write a note about the case.
 A case note is a critical analysis of a court’s judgment. It means you have to analyse
whether the case (the judgement), in your opinion and by reference to your own logical and
legal analysis, was correctly decided.
 Case note is given as an assessment task because it is an analytical exercise. Preparing a
case note can help you not only understand the law, but also develop various legal skills,
particularly, the ability to identify the legal issue, the ability to identify legal rules, and the
ability to apply the legal rules to solve a legal problem (so-called IRAC skills). Case note is
thus a learning assessment. You learn legal knowledge and legal skills in doing this
assessment.

B. Structure of a Case Note

I. Introduction
Begin forcefully - a few lines may suffice for the introduction. You should briefly
introduce the case that you will analyse (e.g., case name, the court in which it was
decided, date of the judgement, and the judges decided the case).

II. Identification of the legal issue(s)


In this part, you should briefly address the following questions:
 Who are the Plaintiff and Defendant?
o Note: in an appellate judgment, the person who appeals the decision by
the primary court (the court first decided the case) is called appellant and
the other person, the person who does not appeal the decision by the
primary court, is called respondent. Thus, the terms plaintiff and
defendant are not used in an appellate judgement.
 What has gone wrong and for whom?
 What argument(s) made by the plaintiff was/were the focus of this decision?
 What was/were the legal issue(s) that was/were examined by the judges in the
case?

III. A critical analysis of the judge’s application of the legal rules to solve
the legal issues
This is the most important part of your case note and has the majority of marks. Thus,
you need to analyse the court’s reasoning and decision critically, creating an argument
(as to whether the case was correctly decided).
Analysis is often where you encounter the most difficulty. Remember – analyse, do not
describe. Remain objective, but do not be afraid to express original ideas. If the judges’
reasoning makes sense, say so and support your conclusion. If not, say so and support
your statements fully by logic, authority, or, where possible, by both. While you need
not agree with the court, remember you need not always disagree.
In this section, you should focus on addressing the following questions:
 What are key analyses that the court has made in its application of the legal
rules to solve the legal issues.
 Critically analyse whether these analyses are logical and convincing?
 Are there legal issues and arguments that are raised in this case but the court
did not consider?
 Who won the case? Having evaluated and analysed the case, would you
agree/disagree with that determination? Explain why.
Be original. Demonstrate your ability for deep thinking and analysis.

IV. Conclusion
Briefly reinforce your argument as to whether the case was correctly decided without
simply regurgitating it to the reader. Do not introduce new material or arguments.

C. Other important requirements for the case note:

 The case note needs to be written in full: no dot points, no table format or any other note-
taking style is permitted.
 The quality of writing is much more important than the length.
 Students are required to use their own words to discuss and analyse the judgement. Direct
quotation of the judges’ language is highly discouraged, and will be given a low mark.
 Please use your own words and ideas in your assignments. If you borrow (including using
exact words or paraphrasing) someone else's work, particularly words, ideas, and
arguments, you should cite the original source from which the words, ideas, or arguments
are taken.
 As your instructors, we understand that in a law essay, we refer to legal rules frequently
and Turnitin tends to pick up the legal rules as similarity. It is an advice for you that when
you refer to a legal rule in your writing, please cite the source of the legal rule properly. If
you do so, similarity with the legal rules will not be counted.

 The case note must contain appropriate referencing following the Australian Guide to Legal
Citation, 3rd edition, or AGLC3. Detailed instructions about referencing can be found on
Canvas.

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