However, to understand briefing, you must first understand the case method , which is how most law schools teach students. In 1870 at Harvard University Professor Christopher Columbus Langdell decided that the best way to teach law students was to have them read cases rather than textbooks. Textbooks explicitly state the rule of law and explain why it exists. Cases, however, are the stuff of real life.
Cases contain the rule and also illustrate how the rule applies to different sets of facts.
After reading the cases, Langdell engaged his students in a Socratic dialogue where he grilled the students on what the cases meant. The idea behind the case method is that each case illustrates one tiny rule out of an entire body of law. By synthesizing each rule into a larger body of law, the student progressively learns not only the rules but also the process of legal reasoning. Law school hasn't changed much in 130 years. The Structure of a Casebook Casebooks are unlike any other text you've encountered.