How to Write a Legal Memorandum
When you have completed your legal research, it is time to write a legal memorandum to your supervising attorney. Remember that an internal legal memorandum is prepared for internal use within a law firm. Therefore, your writing should involve objective analysis. In contrast to an advocacy standpoint, objective analysis requires the writer to fairly discuss both sides of a legal matter.
Your supervising attorney needs to be aware of not only the strengths of his or her position but also the weaknesses so as to accurately evaluate the client’s likelihood of success. As a result, the purpose of the internal memorandum is to inform, explain, and evaluate the client’s case.
A standard legal memorandum is composed of the following parts:
Heading: The heading is the “address block” of the internal memorandum which appears at the top of the memorandum. It should appear as follows:
To: XX, Supervising Attorney
From: YY, Paralegal
Date: 01/01/01
Re: Alex Smith’s Ability to Disaffirm a Contract
I. Question Presented:
In this section of the memorandum, the paralegal identifies the legal issues presented by the facts of the case.
II. Short Answer:
Provide a succinct response to the question presented.
III. Applicable Law:
This section gives a list of all of the authorities, primary and secondary, used in your paper. Each source shall be listed in Bluebook format.
IV. Statement of Facts:
Summarize the relevant factual elements in a dispute. Ordinarily, these facts are presented in chronological order. Remember, only include those facts relevant to the question presented.
V. Discussion and Analysis:
This section represents the heart of your paper. It contains the legal analysis of each issue that needs to be resolved to answer your question presented.
It is standard to use the IRACC method of case analysis. IRACC stands for Issue, Rule, Application, Counterargument and Conclusion. In the issue section, you identify the issue(s) or sub-issue(s) to be addressed. You will have to discuss each separate issue using the IRACC method of analysis. After you have identified the issue(s)/sub-issue(s) to be discussed, you need to identify the rule of law that applies to the issue. The rule of law may be from a previous court decision or a statute. For example, in analyzing the issue of whether the party autonomy rule applies, you will identify what the party autonomy rules is and any exceptions to that rule.
Additionally, you will cite to the authority that establishes that rule. Your third step under the IRACC method of analysis is application. Here, you apply the rule of law to the facts of your case. Example of application of fact to law: The case you have been asked to analyze deals with a transaction occurring solely in the state of Florida. Additionally, all the parties are from Florida. In the contract, the parties chose the law of the state of Alaska to govern their transaction. Given that the party autonomy rule indicates that the courts will recognize the law of the chosen state unless the chosen state has no significant relationship to the transaction or to the parties, the choice of Alaska will not be recognized. Nothing in relation to the contract happened in Alaska and no party involved is from Alaska.
The next step is to describe counterargument, if any. There usually is an argument to be made, even if you are not persuaded by it.
VI. Conclusion:
This portion of the analysis indicates how the court should come out on your issue. In our example, the court will determine that the parties’ choice of Alaskan law will not be honored. When writing any document, it is important to listen to the instructions of the supervising attorney to ensure that the correct questions are being answered. You must also be aware of your audience. When writing an internal memorandum for a supervising attorney, legal terms such as pleading and discovery do not need to be defined. On the other hand, if you were writing a letter to a client, those terms may need to be explained. Finally, grammar, usage, and mechanics are important. Any errors reflect poorly on the author.
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