Lecture Notes: Understanding Legal Memoranda

Introduction to Legal Memoranda

• Purpose:
  • Memorializes legal analysis into a usable form.
  • Provides a methodological approach useful in various legal documents.
• Importance:
  • Recognize characteristics in other documents prepared by lawyers.

Purpose of Legal Memoranda

• Primary Purpose:
  • Convey and memorialize information/analysis about a specific legal issue for a client.
  • Not written in the abstract but focused on specific legal problems.
• Current and Future Use:
  • Current: Communicate to the person addressed (e.g., senior partner, general counsel).
  • Future: Prevents redoing work; serves as a reference for future legal inquiries.

Characteristics of a Legal Memorandum

• Objective Analysis:
  • Should not be persuasive; aims to offer an unbiased legal outlook.
  • Important for client decision-making, presenting realistic scenarios.
• Readers:
  • Primary Reader: Directly addressed, often another lawyer familiar with the case.
  • Secondary Reader: Future reader needing comprehensive understanding.
• Language and Tone:
  • Should be clear, objective, and context-rich.

Structure of a Legal Memorandum

• Header Elements:
  • Title ("Memorandum"), recipient, writer's name, date, and reference line.
• Major Divisions:
  • Questions Presented: Issues the memo addresses.
  • Brief Answers: Concise responses to the questions.
  • Statement of Facts: Contextual legal relevance and story setup.
  • Discussion Section:
    • Largest section, includes detailed analysis using IRAQ (Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion).
  • Conclusion: Summarizes and wraps up all analysis.
• Discussion Section Variability:
  • Single vs. Multiple issue discussions, possibly including subsections.

Importance of IRAQ Structure

• Analytical Steps: Ensures all critical steps are covered.
• Standardization: Familiarity and ease of understanding for law-trained readers.
• Efficiency and Comprehensibility: Facilitates clear communication.

Metaphor: Lasagna and Legal Writing

• Well-Organized Discussion:
  • Like layered lasagna: properly structured and expected by readers.
• Poorly Organized Discussion:
  • "Half-baked" memo or "Lasagna in a blender": ingredients present but lack coherence and expected form.

Conclusion

• Even-Handed Tone: Memo should be objective, not argumentative.
• Memorandum Format: Serves both immediate and future audiences.
• Importance of Proper Organization: Affects the memo’s utility and readability.
• Better Writing Skills: Lead to stronger, more reasoned legal memoranda.

This lesson covered the essential components and the importance of structure in creating effective and useful legal memoranda.