To: Employment Law Students
From: Dan Ginsberg
Subject: Reading Cases
Date: April 14, 2015

Background: The authors of the textbook (Bennett-Alexander and Hartman) include legal cases to provide some real life situations to help in understanding the legal principles explained in the text. Here are some things to keep in mind when you read and study these cases:

1. Laws are created by the legislature (also known as statutory laws). The cases you will be reading are summaries of judicial opinions made by appeals courts either by a state judge or by a Federal judge. Once a decision is rendered by a judge, it becomes a part of the “common law”, and can be followed, modified, or rejected by another judge, who thus creates an update to the common law.

2. The cases you read are snapshots in time, based on the facts of each case. While general principles can and should be understood, it is not always clear what the value of the case is to the understanding of the law. Sometimes, the conclusions reached by the judge, don’t make a lot of sense…. But, don’t get hung up over that, since you need many case studies to understand what the real law is. And, even if you understand the law, a new and more important decision can be rendered, which throws out the old common law, and replaces it with new common law. Or, in some cases, the legislature will pass a new law that renders the latest court decision meaningless, and the checks and balances of government are demonstrated.

3. Using the snapshot discussion from above, the study of the law (whether it is employment law or criminal law) is very fluid, and if you understand the basic principles that guide judges in making their decisions, and understand that things may change, you have a better picture of the legal field you are studying. In most cases, it’s not the “destination”, but the “journey”, that