How to Identify Legal Issues in Cases for Law Students

Spotting legal issues is one of the most crucial skills for law students. Whether for recitations, case digests, or bar exam prep, knowing how to identify the exact question a case answers will save you time and help you ace class discussions.

The most asked question during law school recitations when it comes to cases is “what is the legal issue”. Sometimes, questions “what is the doctrine” or “what is the point of the case” are also asked. While these seem different, they actually pertain to the same thing thus it is important to know how to answer them to achieve success in law school recitations.

What is a Legal Issue in a Case?

A legal issue refers to the dispute, problem, or question the Court seeks to resolve. It is usually determined by the parties in the case and it involves either interpretations or applications of the law and factual determinations.

There are two types of legal issues properly resolved by the courts: questions of law and questions of fact:

What is a Question of Law?

A question of law pertains to legal issues which seek to determine how and when certain legal provisions are applied. This also involves the interpretation of vague laws or those that have not yet been applied to real life cases. Questions of law are typically resolved by all court levels, most especially the Supreme Court.

What is a Question of Fact?

A question of fact refers to the determination of the truth as presented by the parties through their evidence. It is concerned with answering the following questions: “what happened”, “what existed”, or “what is the truth”. Questions of fact are determined only by the lower level courts: the first-level courts, the Regional Trial Courts, and the Court of Appeals.

Why Spotting Legal Issues Matters for Law Students

Aside from being able to answer your professor’s questions on the particular legal issue being resolved, legal issues are also essential in other ways.

1. Determines our Rights 

As mentioned above, legal issues pertain to disputes or conflicts raised by opposing parties before our courts. When these legal issues are resolved, the court effectively determines the rights of all other parties (even those not involved in the present case) who fit the same factual and legal backgrounds. 

2. Makes Case Reading More Efficient

When making case summaries or digests in law school, the legal issue is the most important portion to look for because you can simply read the parts of the case which answer that legal issue directly. While it is important to read the full-text, sometimes when time is a luxury, being able to eliminate the parts of the case that are not important to the central legal issue and only reading the ones which do answer them is a very important (and efficient) skill.

3. Easier Recall

Come midterms and finals season, remembering cases by the legal issues they answer is important in making memorization easier. You can also make reviewers based off of these legal issues and doctrines. To make reviewer creation easier, you can refer to ready-made digests online.

4. Creates a Legal Framework

Lastly, a case’s legal issue, aside from determining one’s rights, can help in future cases to be decided by the Courts. Since jurisprudence forms part of our country’s laws as stated by Article 8 of the Civil Code, legal issues resolved by the courts can provide guidelines for future legal conflicts.

How to Spot Legal Issues in Philippine Cases

Now that we understand how important legal issues are in a law student’s life, a step-by-step guide on how to spot them is now in order.

1. Read the Case Carefully

The most important step is to read the assigned cases in full-text. To ensure that you can recall the information from the case, you can opt to annotate, take notes, and highlight important portions of the case before transferring them to your self-made digests. 

2. Spot Trigger Words

When reading cases, you have to always keep in mind the subject you are reading for since this determines the trigger words you have to take note of. For instance, if you are reading a criminal case for theft, look for words & phrases such as “taking” “property of another/[name of opposing party]”, and “intent to gain”. 

These trigger words help determine what the case is aiming to resolve by limiting the information to be considered by the courts to these words/phrases. 

3. Check Remedies Sought For

Procedural laws which define legal remedies that may be sought for in cases help determine the legal issues the parties seek to resolve. In order to this, you can check the dispositive portion provided for by the court at the end of each case or look for trigger phrases such as “petitioner seeks to” or “plaintiff aims to”. After which you can consult the Rules of Court to see what legal issues are answered by certain remedies sought for.

4. Frame the Issues into Questions

Once you have determined the legal issues the parties seek to resolve, turn them into “whether or not” questions. For instance, if the legal issues involve a civil case on property relations between spouses, you can phrase it as follows:

“Whether or not the property acquired during the marriage is part of the absolute community of property (or conjugal partnership of gains) despite being registered solely in the name of one spouse.” 

Tips on how to Effectively Spot Issues

• Consult Digests Online

Legal AI tools such as Digest AI nowadays make legal research much easier. By organizing case digests into facts, doctrine, legal issues, and court rulings, you can easily determine these legal issues without having to sift through the information in the full-text.

• Highlight & Annotate

Whether you are using full-text cases or digests, highlighting and annotating your digital files are helpful in information retention and memorization. This can also help in your recitations in class in case you fail to transfer some information from the case to your digest.

• Determine Key Concepts in the Case

Always remember to ask yourself, why is my professor making us read this case?. You have to keep this in mind in order to focus on the central & relevant legal issues the case seeks to answer because chances are, these involve what professors are going to grill you on.

Key Takeaways

• A legal issue refers to the dispute, problem, or question the Court seeks to resolve and is usually determined by the parties in the case and it involves either interpretations or applications of the law and factual determinations.

• There are two types of legal issues: questions of law and questions of fact.

• Spotting legal issues determines individuals’ rights, achieves more efficient case reading, makes recall easier, and creates legal frameworks for future court decision-making. 

• To spot legal issues, you must read the case in full, spot trigger words, check remedies sought for, and make whether or not questions from these legal issues.

Frequently-Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the difference between factual issue and legal issue in the Philippines?

A factual issue refers to the determination of the truth as presented by the parties through their evidence. A legal issue on the other hand pertains to those which seek to determine how and when certain legal provisions are applied. 

What is the difference between legal and factual issues examples?

An example of a legal issue is whether or not taking another person’s cellphone without consent constitutes theft under the Revised Penal Code. An example of a factual issue on the other hand is whether the accused actually took another person’s cellphone without his or her consent.

How to identify issues in a law case?

To identify issues in a law case, you must read the case in full, spot trigger words, check remedies sought for, and make whether or not questions from these legal issues.

How to say issue without saying issue?

Other synonyms of issue are questions of law, questions of fact, legal questions, controversies, legal disputes, and doctrinal issues.

Conclusion

Mastering the art of legal issue-spotting is an important life skill to survive law school. With this easy-to-follow guide, you can achieve this goal with practice and hard work. To master legal issue-spotting faster, legal AI tools such as Digest AI readily summarizes and provides you with the central concepts of each Philippine case. For as low as P199/month, you can have access to at least 10 legal research prompts and many more. Use the code DigestToday to get 20% off your subscription purchase!