This section is a short one-sentence statement. It should define the legal issue and contain certain facts. Keep it descriptive and concise for more impact. If you have multiple issues, list them in the order in which they are discussed. The discussion section of a legal brief should be structured in the same way you would write a legal review. Just as with a legal review, you must assume that the reader has a basic understanding of the law (so you don`t have to explain basic legal principles), but that the reader does not know the exact legal rules and facts that your factual model is about. As in an audit, you should educate the reader on the applicable legal principles, illustrate how those principles apply to the relevant facts, and consider counter-arguments. There are two common phrases for the short answers section of the legal note: probably yes or probably no. Secondary sources such as books, articles, law journals, and legal analysis publications are a good starting point to support your legal memo search. While secondary sources are not binding on the courts, meaning courts are not obligated to follow these sources, they are still useful tools if you know little about a topic. The legal note is an objective memo that gives you the opportunity to review and research relevant case law, analyze the facts under this law, and impartially assess the possible outcome of a case. The legal memo is a task that law firm employees often have to pass on to experienced lawyers.
A short one-sentence statement that defines how the law applies to the legal question in question and the jurisdiction in which the question will be decided. The question asked is specific and impartial and does not presuppose a legal conclusion. 23) The overall conclusion contains a summary of the main points of your analysis. In the section of your application, you may be grappling with areas of uncertainty in legal doctrine and/or competing policy justifications. You may also have had to deal with a seemingly contradictory set of facts: some seem to meet the requirements of the rule; Others suggest that the rule is not being followed. You may have weighed the arguments against the counter-arguments. After doing all this, you need to take a stand and make a statement about how the court will apply the law. In view of the more detailed short answer, the author has opted here for a brief reformulation of the final conclusion. Task: Prepare an open-ended legal memo on whether, under the Fourth Amendment, the use of a drug-sniffing dog in a hallway can be considered a search requiring police to first obtain an arrest warrant. Presents the most important facts and describes the primacy of fundamental law. Several paragraphs describe the various legal issues to be addressed in the case and provide an analysis of the legal issues, which are usually organized into subsections.
Although the “Question Asked” section is short, it should (i) contain a concise reference to the legal claim and relevant doctrine, and (ii) contain the most legally important facts of your case. A comprehensive and balanced question is concise – it immediately goes to the heart of the legal question – and directs the reader to the real context. 14) The rule statement summarizes the key elements of the cases relevant to the problem in your case in a general explanation of the rule. To create an accurate and well-designed rule statement, you need to have a good understanding of the existing legal authority on which your rule statement is based. How the memorandum is structured depends on a number of factors, including: This reporting section deals with the objective presentation of client information. The Facts section contains the relevant facts that you used to prepare and research the memorandum. The list of customer information and facts means that the reader is accessing the same information as you. This avoids confusion.
Unlike a court brief, a legal note is not the place to hold a legal opinion or argue facts. The legal memorandum serves as an objective stand-alone document. Therefore, he must maintain an unbiased tone, without implicit preference for either side. In an open legal note, you will be tasked with researching relevant primary and secondary resources, such as national, individual or multiple government agencies and assessment circles, to include in your analysis. If you approach your task following the approaches recommended in the sample legal memo below, you`ll be more likely to find an appreciative supervising lawyer, provide a better work product, reduce the number of drafts needed to arrive at a final product, and most importantly, satisfy the client. Legal notes are essential for communicating facts based on research or identifying important information for courts, clients, and policy analysis, among other things. Legal memos are also incredibly versatile. They`re not just for lawyers – all lawyers should know how to write legal notes. Use secondary resources to better fill out the most important legal questions and questions, as they relate to the facts in the association of legal notes. Your legal research should help formulate the problem and lead to other relevant documents, including cases and laws. These sample notes and briefs were prepared by senior counsel for the National Legal Research Group and are organized by subject and author. Our experienced team of legal research and drafting lawyers can provide appellate letter services to federal courts of appeal, state courts of appeals, and the U.S.
Supreme Court. Through The Lex Group, we can also offer a brief compliance review and deposit for our lawyers. Our lawyers are also highly qualified legal writers. We can provide additional legal research and writing for your pleadings to help you gain the competitive advantage that will help you win your case. To learn more about our services, click here. Writing a legal brief is one of the many necessities for lawyers. This is an important skill to learn if you`re in law school or practicing for the Multistate Performance Test (MPT) or California Performance Test (CA-PT). Including a detailed section on writing the discussion section. Read on to learn how to structure a legal memorandum.