It is the first week of fall semester and a roomful of 1Ls are staring at you as nervous as deer in the proverbial headlights. You know many of them consulted Black ' s Law Dictionary until the wee hours of the morning, trying to fathom meaning in the one case you assigned. Yet they still seem hopelessly lost. Perhaps you are not trying to play Kingsfield, and you are wondering if there is a kinder, gentler way to help students learn quickly to read and brief cases. It's really very simple.
Every case has two stories.
And then, without the need for any high-tech equipment, you can have a visual aid just by holding up two fingers. Everyone loves a good story. All of those details are the facts of the case. Tell the 1Ls that is what they should tell you if you ask them to recite the facts of the case. Just the real-world story.