Legal Writing Final

Tell me about citation in a legal memo.

A citation is a crucial component of the rule portion of your IRAC paragraph. You have to use proper credit in Bluebook or ALWD format to any statement made that is not your own. Using the proper citation, you inform the reader where you obtained the legal rule that supports your discussion, and it allows the reader to find the source easily if need be. The citation also informs one of why type of authority it is.

A BUSINESS email from you (to a client, etc.) should always include what kind of statement at the bottom?

A confidentiality statement on the bottom stating it should be viewed only be the intended addressee.

What is the difference between a fact and a legal conclusion?

A fact is a piece of information that might explain to the reader what occurred in a particular case. Whereas, a legal conclusion is an opinion about the legal significance of a fact.

Explain in full... what is a "legally significant" fact?

A legally significant fact are all facts that might have an impact on the issues presented in a particular case. They are the facts that may affect how a court would decide a particular legal issue. Each of these facts must be included in your legal memo.

How do you know when a statement of fact is "legally significant?"

A legally significant fact is one that, if excluded from the scenario, it would significantly alter the outcome of the case if omitted.

What is a "memo bank?"

Commonly in digital form, a law firm often maintains a database containing all the legal memorandums written by the members of their firm on a particular point of law.

greeting

Dear Mrs. White or To Whom It May Concern

Name the five required parts of a legal memo.

Heading, Question Presented (or Issue Statement), Conclusion, Facts, and Discussion.

You are supposed to use the _ _ _ _ method to write your discussion section (an acronym).

IRAC

What does IRAC stand for?

IRAC is an acronym for Issue, Rule, Application, and Conclusion. This method provides the structure for the legal discussion.

For a legal memo, name the four things you should always include in the Heading.

The heading should always include (1) to whom the memo is addressed, (2) who it is from (3) the date, and (4) the subject of the memo.

What is a "legal holding?"

The legal holding is the demonstration that addresses how the legal authority applies to the problem you are writing about. (the court's decision)

What is a "legal rule?" Explain in detail for full credit.

The legal rule provides the legal basis for the analysis of the issue. It is the test, principle, or standard that the court uses in its rationale, or reasoning, to explain its holding. If necessary, you should discuss some of the cited case facts if these facts help explain how the legal rule applies to your facts.

does a legal memo give only one side of the legal issue

The memo should be objective rather than a persuasive or argumentative manner of the law's current state regarding an issue.

What is the objective of your legal memorandum?

The objective of your legal memorandum is to explain in an objective manner the current state of the law regarding a particular issue.

There are two main purposes of your legal memorandum.

The two purposes are: (1) To help the attorney see the strengths AND weaknesses of a client's issue or dispute, and (2) To assist an attorney in predicting how a court might decide a particular issue.

If you saw this at the bottom of a letter, what would it mean? (What is it SUPPOSED to mean?) LAR/abc

This is the initials of the author, which should always be all in all capital letters. The initials in lowercase letters are the person who typed the letter.

Again... What is the formula for writing an Issue Statement ?????

UNDER-DOES-WHEN

facts statement

a summary of information relevant to the determination of whether or not a legal claim exists.

outlining

allows you to organize your discussion easily

legal conclusion

an opinion about the legal significance of a fact

In your discussion section of the legal memo, the third sentence ___________________________________________________

applies the rule of law to the facts of your case.

blind carbon copy

bcc

reference line

brief statement regarding topic of letter

A Facts Statement can be organized in one of four (4) different ways. What are they?

chronologically by claim or defense by party or according to a combination of these three methods

legal claim

comprised of componented called elements

elements

each legal theory is defined as several factors

closing

end of letter/ invite a response

citation

essential component of the rule of the rule portion of the IRAC paragraph

pure fact

fact that is clear cut

asserted facts

facts that are being claimed as true

The Discussion section of a legal memo should focus on BOTH the current state of the law AND past editions of the law.

false - it should explain the status of only the current state of the law

You will never have more than one issue in the Issue Statement section of your legal memo.

false - there can actually be several

You should omit negative facts from the Facts section of your legal memo.

false - you should not omit negative facts from the facts section.

Your legal memorandum should explain only the favorable side of your client's issue.

false - you want to inform your attorney of both the good and the bad sides (if they exist)

You will write your issue statement once and follow it to complete your research.

false - you will revise it many times

Sections of a legal memo

heading, question presented (or issue statement), conclusion, facts, discussion,

header

identifies the letter/generally placed on the top right of the page

sub-issue

in the IRAC paragraph is a point that must be addressed to substantiate one legal element to the problem.

list of legal authorities

includes names and citations to legal authorities

application

lays a factual foundation on which the conclusion can be based

transmittal letter

letter that includes attachments

opinion letter

letter that must be signed by an attorney

transaction summary letter

letter that often follows a business transaction

confirming letter

letter that reaffirms info already agreed to by you and the recipient

personal style letter

letter where inside address is placed below the signature at the left margin

full block letter

letter where paragraphs are not indented

block letter

letters where paragraphs are not indented

inside address

of person to whom letter is address, their title, name of business and address contains names

status letter

provides clients with overview of the current activities in the case

conclusion

resolves the issue posed at the beginning of the IRAC sentence.

In your discussion section of the legal memo, the second sentence explains the _______________________________________________.

rule of law

In your discussion section of the legal memo, the fourth (or last) sentence is a ________________ ______________

short conclusion??

demand letter

states your clients demands to another party.

A letter is divided into six (6) sections.

the date the name and address of the addressee (inside address) reference line greeting to the addressee body of the letter closing

thesis paragraph

the first paragraph of you discussion section

threshold issue

the main issue - the over all question

issue

the question presented that will be resolved in the memo.

For this class, you will always write a Conclusion section for a legal memo.

true

In a conclusion, the last sentence serves as a prediction of the outcome of your client's case.

true

The Conclusion section of your legal memo answers the issue statement.

true

The Issue Statement is the same thing as a Question Presented.

true

in the Facts section of your legal memo, you should include statements that explain the status of the case AND all the facts that might have a bearing on the outcome of a case.

true