Canned briefs are the lowest form of study aid. Like commercial outlines, canned brief books are written for specific casebooks. And like outlines, you should be writing your own briefs . When you get down into the guts of the case and finally pull out the relevant facts, the issue, and rule, and when you've synthesized a hold for the case, you've accomplished a lot. Writing the brief forces you to understand the opinion. Briefing the cases is the best and really only way to ensure you gain the skill of formulating a hold. When do you need a brief book? Looking back, I would say hardly ever. Maybe you might use a brief book when you can't understand a really hard case - especially one written in old English! (I'm not joking). Brief books don't do anything you can't. At the end of the semester you'll be happy that you wrote your own briefs because outlining will be a snap.

The problem I had with canned brief books is that I could never follow the reasoning of the opinion - for the amount of time it took me to decipher the editor's words, I could have read the opinion on my own. Canned briefs do state the rule of an opinion in a concise form, but outlines do that - and do it better.

Like commercial outlines, brief books are legion. When you pick one make sure it is coded to your casebook.