You are now ready to create your legal brief for the trial.
A legal brief contains the following items:
This legal brief will be used to
present your client's position in court. Please follow the step-by-step
procedures listed below to create your own legal brief.
PROCEDURES:
1. This first paragraph will contain a summary of who your client is and all the charges made against your client. Introduce your client and then state what the charges are against him/her. This is not the time to add personal opinions about the charges or your client. Stick to the facts only. Remember to write a topic sentence and to write in complete sentences.
2. This next paragraph is about how your client is going to plead (guilty or not guilty). You should know by now how your client is going to plead (refer to your defendant's evidence chart). Remember, if you choose to plead guilty for your client, you must still show evidence that he/she did not act alone and ,therefore, you must also charge someone else. Don't forget to write a topic sentence and write in complete sentences.
3. The next paragraph must list all the evidence you are going to use to support your clients plea. If you are going to charge another defendant along with your client, as guilty, than you also need to have some evidence to support your view. It might be a good idea to look at all the charges made against your client and rebuttal them one by one.
4. This is the concluding paragraph
where you get to FINALLY tell your personal point-of-view. This is your
opportunity to include whatever else you wanted to say, but didn't fit into one
of the other categories. Remember to stick to the topic and be
professional because, after all, you are in court!