Writing a case brief is a task that should be done with high degree of concentration and accurateness to address the issues and matters in question in a manner that they will appear completely correct. A case brief is of great importance as it gives a background and platform to a case so as to fully inform the involved of the case at hand. As such, it represents the exact actions that occurred and hence it is of great importance for it to be written in the most correct format and omission of words and making mistakes should be avoided completely. This is important to ensure that the case at hand is presented correctly and its interpretation should also be correct. To elaborate this further, consider the following sections of case briefings that I obtained so us to further and better explain this point.
The mental health professional interacts with the law through a variety of roles. The mental health professional. Mental health professionals are asked to be expert witnesses, determine competencies, and assess risk. Mental health professionals work in juvenile and adult courts where In civil and criminal cases, the mental health professional is called in to give testimony as an expert witness. The expert witness is basically there to help the.. Expert witnesses have to be qualified and maintain credentials in the areas of which he or she will be testifying in. As an expert witness, the mental health professional gives his..
As a forensic psychologist, an essential element of our position will be interacting with the courts, in criminal and/or civil settings, within the boundaries of the different types of assessments, mainly establishing competency across diverse situations. A mental health professional working in forensic settings has to have a good understanding of not only the court systems, but also the basic legal procedures and legal elements that apply to the part of their position within the judicial system. Knowing and understanding the applying laws and regulations are also crucial for mental health practitioners in solving problems of mandated reporting, malpractice claims, limitations of practice and competence, just to mention a few (Meyer & Weaver, 2006).
- The brief should not be very long and also should not be very short. This also applies to the paragraphs
- The language used should be simple and understandable to a vast majority
- It should be well organized with each occurrence clearly stated
- Should be concise and complete i.e. should consist of complete information.
The above elements are of great essence as they make the brief have a flow and at the same time have meaning to both the writer and those that it is addressed to. This makes it easier for it to be stated and understood. As seen in the provided examples, case 2 has a flow and also there are no omissions done and hence it is easily understandable and you easily get what it is talking about. On the other hand, case 1 has omissions and therefore one cannot get what it is talking of and the omissions also affect the flow of such a brief. This hence clearly shows how the elements of writing a brief are important and why omissions should be avoided utterly.
References
Meyer, R.G. & Weaver, C.M. (2006). Law and mental health: a case-based approach. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
Robert, O. (2011). Elements of The Writing Craft. New Jersey: Writer's Digest Books.
