The ‘FILAC’ Method - Writing a Case Brief

Conducting legal research or writing a case brief can be a tedious task, so ways that can make the process easier are always welcomed! A popular method to use is the ‘FILAC’ method. Each letter represents a subject heading that is populated to assist you in collecting information on a legal matter or case you are researching. If you are tasked with gathering research on a legal topic or if you need a quick overview on a case, the FILAC method will be incredibly helpful. This blog will describe the method in reference to conducting a case study to allow for easier understanding.

What is the FILAC Method?

F - FACTS

I  - ISSUES

L - LAW

A - ANALYSIS

C - CONCLUSION 

Facts
The first step or heading in the FILAC method is “facts”. In this section, you will want to identify the relevant facts within the case. Try not to summarize the case verbatim otherwise you haven’t really saved yourself any time - which is a key advantage of using this method! Outline only the facts that influence the case and play a critical role in understanding the spirit of the case and the law.

Depending on the case you’re analyzing, the length of your facts may vary. Don’t be too concerned with how long or how short this section is, simply try to pick out the relevant facts and make sure they can be clearly interpreted. Identifying the relevant facts also helps to expose the legal questions and/or issues that are present. Be sure to focus on what events gave rise to the dispute in question. Try to answer questions like, “what happened”?, “where and when did the event occur”?, and “who was present at the event”?

Also be sure to note what claims the parties are making so that you can pinpoint the facts that would agree with or dispute the alleged claims. All of these fact-collecting techniques will also help you read the case with purpose to pick out the important facts, making it easier to continue developing the analysis. 

Issues
This is where you identify the legal issues that need to be reviewed and researched. The issues you outline depend on the facts of the case, which is why outlining the facts is an important preliminary step. Reviewing a case or situation for legal issues will also assist in determining how weak or strong a case is. Although you cannot change the facts of a case, you can certainly choose which legal issues to pursue and build upon. When you are looking for the legal issue(s), try to keep it brief. Issues are typically outlined in bullet points, short sentences or poised as questions. The issues are what the court will consider when deciding whether to grant or deny a form of relief.

Some cases may yield multiple issues, and some may just have one. Do not get caught up on the number of issues listed. If you have one strong legal issue, that is all you will need, and focus your attention there. On the contrary, if you have multiple issues, you may end up narrowing them down and removing some once you delve further into your research and realize some of them may be weak.

Try and make sure your issues are also clearly outlined because you will regularly be referring back to them when doing your research. Having the issues clearly outlined will help you confirm whether you have addressed and answered each issue at the end of your research. 

Law
Once you’ve outlined the legal issues, you can begin to research the laws that govern the issues. The court will end up applying the legislation to the issues so it is best to keep that in mind when you are doing your research. Ensure that the laws you find are applicable to the legal issues so that you can properly assess the legal merit of your case. When deciding where to look to conduct research into the applicable laws, aim to use both primary and secondary sources. Primary sources are considered actual legislation and case law precedents. Primary sources are helpful because they produce exact legislation that may apply to the case and the legal issues. Case law precedents are also impactful because it can give you an idea of how the legal issues will be assessed by the court.

If a certain case does hold precedence, it will also show how your researched case or actual matter may be decided by the courts. Secondary sources are sources that aim to explain and critique the law. These sources can be found in textbooks, articles and videos. The purpose of reviewing secondary sources is to clarify and gain insight into the legislation and precedents you have discovered. When you are researching case law in particular, be sure to identify any recent updates or overturned decisions.

The law changes daily and you want to make sure you are referencing up to date legislation and precedents so that your application is accurate. Collecting research on applicable laws is a helpful step because this will also aid in your ability to discern how strong or weak a case is, and also understand how previous courts may have reached a certain decision.

Analysis
In this section, you are tasked with applying the relevant law to the facts of your case and analyzing the issues from various viewpoints. Analyzing the law in this way allows you to reach an expected outcome in your case. The legal analysis is a critical part of legal research because you are outlining the relevance of certain cases, statues, and legislation while looking at the context of your case. Here, you will begin to compare and contrast relevant cases, interpret the statues you have identified, and directly apply the law to the facts of the case.

If you are doing a case brief on an already decided case, the analysis section is also where you include the court’s rationale for their decision. You can also distinguish past cases from the current case to better determine what law and rationale is applicable versus what is not. Your analysis should essentially dictate how the court has combined the facts of the case to the law in order to reach a certain conclusion.

The analysis should not be too involved or convoluted. You want to be able to quickly identify the laws applicable to your case and how it may or may not have swayed the decision of the case. Many recommend to keep this section relatively short but length will vary based on the type of case, the facts, and how those facts are analyzed. 

Conclusion
Finally, you have reached the conclusion. The conclusion first outlines the decision of the case. It can be as brief as “the case was dismissed” or “the appeal was granted”. Be sure to also include what level of court the case was heard at (i.e Ontario Court of Justice, Superior Court, Appellate Court, Supreme Court, etc). The conclusion is simply meant to wrap up the research you have done and phrase the decision in a succinct manner. The findings should be clear and provide a logical roadmap to how they were arrived at.

New issues should not be raised here as they should have been discussed in the analysis. However, the conclusion of the case may lead you to ask a final evaluative question. The conclusion section is typically short because you are simply summarizing the decision and what the next steps are, if any. Once you have populated each heading, you’ll have a quick and easy case brief to reference for a case or scenario you have analyzed. Case briefs are also extremely helpful during studying sessions because they save you time from reading an entire case over again.

Instead, you can easily pull up a case brief and review the main facts, legal issues, applicable laws and decisions. Although the FILAC method is quite popular, the headings can always be altered to better suit your needs and interpretation preferences. The headings are simply meant to give you direction and a guide on how to outline your research and review the material. There’s not one particular way that is correct so simply do what works best for you! 

If you need help drafting a case brief or have questions regarding the elements of the FILAC method, contact us today!