How to Write a Case Comment: A Format Guide for Law Students

A case comment is one of the most common pieces of legal writing law students get asked to produce, for a journal submission, a moot, or a classroom assignment. It’s also one of the easiest to get wrong, since it rewards precision and disciplined structure far more than creative flair. We’ve put together a complete Case Comment Format Guide that breaks down the four rigidly defined parts of a rigorous, publication-ready case comment. Here’s a summary of what’s inside.

A Case Comment Follows Four Fixed Parts

Unlike an essay or an article, a case comment has a set structure: Introduction, History, Analysis, and Conclusion. Each part serves a distinct purpose, and the guide walks through exactly what belongs in each one, how long it should run, and what to avoid including.

Get the Introduction Right in Three Moves

The introduction runs two to three paragraphs and does three specific jobs. It opens with a single lead-in sentence identifying the precise subject of the case, so the reader can immediately judge whether the comment is relevant to them. It then states only the facts essential to the issue being resolved, resisting the pull to recount the entire factual record. Finally, it reviews the procedural posture and states the court’s precise holding, usually in a single sentence.

Build the History Section as Your Foundation

Running six to eight paragraphs, the History section traces the legal developments that led up to the case under review, statutory changes, earlier judicial interpretations, and the major cases on the specific issue. The guide includes an important drafting tip here: cite every source you plan to discuss later in the comment within this section itself, so later sections can simply refer back rather than introducing new authority late in the piece.

Analysis Is Where the Real Work Happens

The Analysis section carries the most weight in a case comment, and it splits into two distinct parts. First, you report the court’s own reasoning, tracking its logical sequence without straying into unrelated issues the court touched on. Second, you offer your own critical evaluation, whether the court got it right, applied faulty logic, or selectively relied on the evidence. Every claim here needs support, either through logical argument or citation to authority.

Keep the Conclusion Brief and Forward-Looking

The Conclusion doesn’t need to restate whether the decision was right or wrong. Instead, it should briefly summarise your analysis and focus on the impact the decision is likely to have on that area of the law going forward.

Master Footnoting and Blue Book Form

Beyond the four main sections, the guide covers what belongs in a footnote versus the main text, how citation depth should scale with how central a proposition is to your argument, and why Blue Book accuracy matters for your overall score, even though it won’t disqualify an otherwise strong comment on its own.

Get the Complete Guide

This summary covers the core structure, but the full guide goes further, with detailed drafting tips for each section and specific guidance on footnote-to-text ratios. Download The LawCademy’s complete Case Comment Format Guide for free.

If you’re building your legal writing portfolio alongside this, our guide on how to make a law student CV that stands out to recruiters can help you know how to actually showcase published work once you’ve written it.

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