Wooden Briefcase

Howdy,
I am a mechanical engineer, but am relatively new to woodworking. It is kinda of strange to know so much about design, and so little about joinery. That said I’ve designed a wooden briefcase as a christmas present, but am unfamiliar with some of the details.

I have been looking around at the different projects and haven’t seen dovetails used all around the circumfrence of an object. It seems plausible, but maybe you know something I don’t? The briefcase is to be made like two open boxes (thus giving me a top and a bottom that I can hinge together). Since the top and bottom are going to have the same joinings I will use terminology just for the top, to avoid confusion.

I plan on making all of the edges that connect the sides to the top dovetail joints, and then have rabbet joint cuts on the front and back so that the sides fit in nicely. I have taken the corners of the top into consideration so that the dovetails placement doesn’t overlap.

Should/Can I glue the dovetail joints?
Should I glue the rabbet joints, or nail it, or use through dowels? (I decided on this joint because all of the pins will be on the sides, and thus slide up and into the top)

Thanks for your help,
Knoxy

-- Knoxy for short