CASE BRIEF AND MEMORANDUM Outline ◈ Importance of Legal Memorandum ◈ Elements of a Legal Memorandum ◈ Anatomy of a Legal Memorandum ◈ Internal and External Memoranda ◈ Additional Points for Legal Reserachers ◈ How to Prepare a Legal Memorandum ◈ How to Prepare a Case Brief ◈ Case Brief Form ◈ Sample Case Brief IMPORTANCE OF LEGAL MEMORANDUM Lady Laradel Marquez Legal Memorandum Defined ◈ Most formal, polished, and comprehensive written document for reporting the results of your legal research. ◈ It summarizes and analyses the relevant law and applies it to a particular fact situation. ◈ Used in connection with motions, both pre-trial and post-trial. Occasionally, during trial, the court may ask for a memorandum on a particular legal issue. Primary Purposes of Legal Memorandum ◈ to educate the reader about the law relevant to a particular issue and to explain how that law will apply to specific facts. ◈ presents an objective analysis of the law, not a persuasive argument intended to advocate on behalf of a client. ◈ although a memo can be a tool in preparing a persuasive case, it is typically an in-house document that tries to predict how an impartial judge would decide the case. 3 Basic Reasons Why Legal Memorandum Is Important 1 2 3 For checking To provide you with To communicate Purposes – You an accessible the results of your would not really record of the fruits research to know whether your of your research someone else. research is done after time has until you try to write erased the it up. memories from your mind. QUESTION Give 1 reason why Legal Memorandum is important ELEMENTS OF LEGAL MEMORANDUM Lady Laradel Marquez Elements of Legal Memorandum
Statements of Facts
Statement of the Issues
Decision or Holding on the Issue or Issues
Discussion of the reasoning underlying the Holding
Elements of Legal Memorandum
Statements of Facts
State the facts objectively and clearly.
Usually, the order is chronological. Use definitions to standardized terminology for persons and things that will be referred to frequently in the memorandum. Elements of Legal Memorandum
Statements of the Issues
The legal issue section sets out the questions you
will ultimately answer. These questions link your research to your discussion and conclusion. The issue section reframes the client's questions into legal questions that identify the controlling legal rules and relevant client facts. Elements of Legal Memorandum
Statements of the Issues
The legal issue section EXAMPLE sets out the questions you will ultimately answer. These questions link your research to your"Can I sue?" becomes: discussion and conclusion. security "Did the The issue guard atsection reframes the department theimprison store falsely client's John questions Crate when the guard held Crate's arm, preventing him from leaving the store until the police arrived?" into legal questions that identify the controlling legal rules and relevant client facts. Elements of Legal Memorandum
Statements of the Issues
The question needs to be precise, complete, and
straightforward. The question must be neutral to the point that either side might have written the same question. Otherwise, your reader could assume your analysis is not objective and may only reflect one side of the issue. Elements of Legal Memorandum
Statements of the Issues
The legal issue section sets out the questions you
will ultimately answer. These questions link your EXAMPLE research "Will John to your Crate be awarded discussion damages and because he wasconclusion. falsely imprisoned by the The issue section store'sreframes the client's questions security guard?" into legal questions that identify the controlling legal rules and relevant client facts. Elements of Legal Memorandum
Decision or Holding on the Issue or Issues
The holding is the "legal principle to be drawn from
the opinion (decision) of the court.“ The holding is a court's determination of a matter of law based on the issue presented in the particular case. In other words: under this law, with these facts, this result. Elements of Legal Memorandum Discussion of the reasoning underlying the Holding
Here, the court may cite several case laws or
legal principles enunciated and embodied in judicia l decisions that are derived from the application of particular areas of law to the facts of individual cases.
legal practitioners will wish to cite more than one
judicial decision, statute, or other legal source to support their argument. A list of two or more citations is called a string citation. IRAC Issue, Rule explanation, Application to the facts, and Conclusion.
General framework that most readers expect to use in explaining legal analysis. QUESTION What is IRAC? ANATOMY OF LEGAL MEMORANDUM Morris Jose Kirby Catabian Major Parts
⬩ Heading ⬩ Facts ⬩ Issues ⬩ Discussion ⬩ Conclusion Heading AUTHOR RECIPIENT DATE CLIENT IDENTIFICATION SUBJECT MATTER Facts RELEVANT FACTS ( also indicate may ) assumptions OBJECTIVELY AND CLEARLY CHRONOLOGIC USE DEFINITIONS Issues CRUCIAL SUCCINTLY IDENTIFY THE CORRECT LEGAL ISSUES INCLUDE LEGAL ELEMENTS Discussion
Issue Rule Apply Conclusion
• Summarize the issue •Involves review and • Involves further analysis • State your conclusion either in the form of a analysis of the relevant and weighing of on the legal issue being topic sentence or cases, statutes, and individual cases, discussed. question. secondary sources. distinguishing cases, • Reach conclusion on •Review the history of the making counter- each legal issue as it is rule and consider the policy arguments, and rationale of the rule. dealt with in turn. considering policy •Approach the section using rules synthesized from the issues. cases, rather than simply listing a series of individual cases •Avoid lengthy quotations from the cases. Conclusion CRISP CLEAR RESPONSIVE ANSWER QUESTION What are the major parts of a legal memorandum? Internal and External Memoranda Morris Jose Kirby Catabian Internal Consistency of Legal Memoranda Justinianne Joyce Guevarra Internal Consistency of Memoranda ◈ Cases or Statutes must be relevant to the facts
◈ Add or Subtract a fact or two
Internal Consistency of Memoranda EXAMPLE
Issue:
Whether a new owner of an apartment house can evict
a tenant for having pets even though the prior landlord allowed them Guidelines for Effective Memoranda Writing ◈ Be Objective ◈ Be Specific ◈ Be Complete Guidelines for Effective Memoranda Writing Be Objective, Specific, and Complete
How to Write Objectively:
Do not use opinionated, prejudiced, or exclusive
language. Avoid using first person. Try not to over exaggerate your writing. Guidelines for Effective Memoranda Writing Be Objective, Specific, and Complete
How to be Specific: Be specific instead of vague or general.
Almost everyone voted for him
82% of the company voted for him QUESTION What are the guidelines for effective memoranda writing? Additional Points for Legal Researchers Justinianne Joyce Guevarra List of Resources Keep sentences short and avoid jargons Ab initio ‘from the beginning’ Per diem ‘per day’
inter alia ‘among others’ In rem ‘against’
‘at first Prima facielook’ Corpus ‘body of the crime’
Delicti Statements Should be Supported by Primary Legal Authority Examples of primary authority include the verbatim texts of:
• Constitutions; • Basic laws; • Statutes • Treaties and certain other international law materials; • Municipal charters and ordinances; • Court opinions • Rules of court procedure; • Rules of evidence; • Rules governing the conduct of lawyers; • Administrative regulations; • Executive orders. HOW TO PREPARE A CASE BRIEF James Mamaradlo Name of the Case Elements in a Citations case brief Procedural History
Statement of Facts
Issue
Answer
Reasoning
Holding QUESTION Give 4 elements in a case brief QUESTION Cite another 4 elements in a case brief HOW TO PREPARE A LEGAL MEMORANDUM Fiona Vicente Did I put down all facts that are relevant to my legal issue as stated, and to my legal conclusions?
Did I state the legal issue clearly?
Checklist for effective Did I arrive at a definitive conclusion about the legal memoranda issue as applied to my facts? writing Did I state clearly the reasons for my conclusion while presenting all sides of the legal picture?
Did I support my conclusions with primary legal authority?
CASE BRIEF FORM Ma. Jillian De los Trinos Case Name Case Citation
