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Legal briefs often cite to the Congressional Record, which contains a record of debates and proceedings before the Senate and the House of Representatives. However, the Congressional Record has not always been around, and speeches and committee hearing transcripts from Congressional sessions earlier than 1873 will not be found in the Congressional Record.

From 1789 to 1824 debates before both Houses of Congress were published in the Annals of Congress. The Annals of Congress can be found on the web site of the Library of Congress here. The Annals are fully text searchable.

A record of Congressional proceedings from 1824 through 1837 is contained in the Register of Debates in Congress, which is also available on the Library of Congress web site.

The Congressional Globe was used for the publication of votes, roll calls, debates, and all other Congressional records between 1837 and 1873. Hein Online also has searchable images of these predecessors to the modern Congressional Record. See: https://heinonline.org/HOL/Index?index=congrec/conglob&collection=congrec



When writing an issue statement, don't try to do it with one sentence, and certainly don't begin with 'Whether' or another interrogative word. An issue statement should follow a chronological order, and end with a pointed question. Putting an issue statement in a single sentence may lead to the object becoming too distant from the verb.

Garner gives this example of a bad issue statement:

Whether an order of the National Labor Relations Board directing the petitioner to pay back pay to an employee, who was discriminatorily laid off for union-organizing activity in violation of Section 8(a)(3) of the National Labor Relations Act (Act), 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(3), but only up to the date on which the petitioner discovered that the employee was an undocumented alien not authorized to be employed in the United States, is a proper exercise of the Board's authority to remedy petitioner's violation of section 8(a)(3) of the Act?

This statement is better:

The National Labor Relations Board ordered petitioner to pay back pay to an employee who was discriminatorily laid off for union organizing activity, but only up to the date when petitioner discovered that the employee was an undocumented alien not authorized to work in the United States. Was this order a proper exercise of the Board's authority to remedy petitioner's violation?

The premise and the question should be in separate sentences.

Don't use the under / does / when technique that is sometimes taught in law school.

- under a law to be applied

- does asks the legal question

- when certain facts occur.

Garner recommends avoiding an issue statement like this one:

"Under state law, does Bob Wilson have a claim for defamation when he is accused of committing a crime it was physically impossible for him to perform?"



Here's another tip from Bryan A. Garner's The Winning Brief: 100 Tips for Persuasive Briefing in Trial and Appellate Courts.

A good brief should open by addressing the deeper issues at hand, and in 90 seconds make clear its primary point. Premises making reference to facts should be quickly stated, and then a yes or no question should be asked so that only one answer to it appears to be possible. Draw a conclusion after reviewing the issues in 75 words or less. Use a specific, but dispassionate tone.

This is an example of how not to begin a brief:

This lawsuit concerns an action for breach of warranty and/or fraud which was commenced in the Court of Common Pleas of Marion County, Indiana in August of 1983. The plaintiff sought to recover certain specific damages from the defendants arising from and admitted breach of warranty. The plaintiff asked the jury to return a verdict in its favor in the amount of $1,076,347.64.

This is a good example of a brief that presents the issue effectively:

Plebinol's jury demand was for damages of nearly $1.1 million. But after the jury awarded $839,000, the intermediate court unanimously decided that nearly $263,000 of the $1.1 million demand had been improperly submitted. Instead of offsetting this amount against the actual verdict, however the court offset it against the inflated demand, as if the jury somehow knew to reject the improper portion. Shouldn't the improperly submitted amount have been offset against the verdict actually rendered?


Sean O'Shea has more than 20 years of experience in the litigation support field with major law firms in New York and San Francisco.   He is an ACEDS Certified eDiscovery Specialist and a Relativity Certified Administrator.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the owner and do not reflect the views or opinions of the owner’s employer.

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