Sample Legal Office Memo
A statement of the facts.
Sample legal office memo. Legal memorandum format sample on the following pages is a legal memorandum formatted the way your memos in this class should be formatted. An office memorandum is a predictive statement of the law. A legal memorandum showcases research and analysis of the research in connection to a legal issue. The formatting follows the visual rhetoric instructions on pages 57 59 of this supplement.
This means writing the research in a way that s easily comprehended and digested. Therefore the facts section should always contain a full and coherent recitation of the relevant facts whether or not the principal reader of the memo already knows them unless of course you were instructed to do otherwise. A good legal memo presents key points to the issue and summarizes it to a compact one or two page memo. Elements of a legal memorandum.
An answer to the legal issue. When laying out the format for a legal memorandum note that the following sections should be included. The suggested format for a law office memorandum structure for a working draft a sample memorandum and an advanced sample memorandum exemplify a conventional structure highlighting a specific legal question and its answer followed by a recitation of legally significant facts the facts upon which resolution of the legal question depends and. A statement of the legal issue.
The next step in creating the memorandum is deciding on a logical pattern of readability. But in the heading the following parts are usual. One final but important reminder. 1 the title 2 the name of the person to whom the memo is addressed 3 your name 4 a brief statement of the subject matter of the memo 5 the client s.
At the same time bear in mind that the office memo should be a stand alone document that can fully inform any colleague in your law office who may read it. The substance of this memo comes from appendix a of the wellford text. 10 sample legal memo templates using a good memo template can shave off hours of paperwork in the operational day to day of running a business be it your standard corporate outfit or a legal firm. The particular form of your inter office memo commissioned by your senior colleague will of course be decided by your law firm.
A legal memo is composed of the following standard elements. Case matter number client name matter name subject of memo optional summary of assignment if you are in a busy firm with lots of lawyers and a constant churn of cases then it s probably not a bad idea to get into the habit of including a brief summary regarding the memo. Heading identifies author of the legal memo and receiver of the memo.