In one of the blogs I regularly read, BoleyBlogs, a legal research blog for law students at Lewis and Clark Law School’s Boley Law Library, they mentioned an article written by Orin S. Kerr, a professor at George Washington University Law School. This article is titled “How to Read a Legal Opinion: A Guide for New Law Students,” published in 11 Green Bag 51-63 (2007). You can find the article at the Social Science Research Network.

While written for first year law students, this is a great guide to understanding what a court case opinion is and what it contains. If you do not know much about written opinions from the court, this is a place to start.