GETTING AT THE FACTS

OF THE CASE
A. Random Notes vs. Summary Notes
B. Facts seen through the Issue

Arjie O. Gongon
JD-2A
 Focus Questions
1. What is a Fact?
2. What is the difference between random notes and
summary?
3. How to extract the material facts in a case?
 What is a fact?
 An event that actually happened, or a statement presented as objective
truth. 
 An information on which lawyers base their arguments, in order to win
cases in courts of law. 
 The “who, when, what, where, and why” of the case. Describe the
history of the dispute, including the events that led to the lawsuit, the
legal claims and defenses of each party, and what happened in the trial
court.
 Facts of a Case
 Do not leave the facts of the case until you have come to a complete
understanding of what the case is about from every angle.
 During the pre-work process, it is important to understand thoroughly
the facts in order for us to apply the appropriate laws or rules.
 Random Notes vs. Summary
Purely random notes do not give you a complete picture.
They are uncorrelated and are useful only for work done in
one sitting. When you set aside and return to it after a long
duration, random notes would have lost their correct
meaning and you will have to start all over again. Random
notes can never be used as permanent catalogue of the facts
that you want to go back to repeatedly at various stages of
the proceedings in a case.
Summary is a systematically prepared notes that adequately
capture the entire factual terrain of the case, with the
important points properly marked out. Summary serves as a
detailed map in your hand, able to guide you in negotiating
your way through the dispute involved
 Facts seen through the Issue
When handling a new case, you need to go over the
materials very quickly and determine preliminarily the
principal issue or issues involved in the case. When you
have an idea of what the principal issue is, that is when you
could make a good job of extracting the relevant facts from
your materials.
Take out the non-essential facts from your written materials.
 Cluttered Facts
These are facts that contain much that is not connected to
the principal issue.
 Thank you!
References
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/fact#:~:text=An%20event%20that%20actually%20happened,evidence
https://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/Legal_Facts
https://www.csun.edu/sites/default/files/HOW%20TO%20BRIEF%20A%20CASE_Saunders.pdf
Fundamentals of Legal Writing by Abad
https://www.scribd.com/document/433247572/Abad-Outline-Legal-Writing