Term
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Definition
| provides an objective, critical analysis of a legal problem. contains a summary of the law and how that law applies to the facts of the case. presents an objective legal analysis and includes arguments in favor or and in opposition of the client's position. |
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Term
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Definition
| identify and record the law that applies to a specific issue or issues raised by the client's facts, analyze and explain how the law applies to the issue, assess the strengths and weaknesses of the client's case, present a conclusion and proposed solution based on the analysis. |
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Term
| how legal memo's are used in a law office |
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Definition
| as a guide to determine whether a claim exists, as a guide for how to pursue a client's case, to inform researchers in the law office who are working on similar cases, memory refresher. |
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Term
| Typical format for a basic office legal memo |
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Definition
| heading, statement of assignment, issue, brief answer, statement of facts, analysis (rule of law, case law, application of law to facts of case, counter analysis), conclusion. |
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Term
| Heading section of a memo |
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Definition
| includes: heading in all caps (MEMORANDUM OF LAW), name of person the memo is addressed to, name of person who prepared the memo, date, information identifying the subject of the memo. |
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Term
| Statement of Assignment section of a memo |
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Definition
| discusses what the writer has been assigned to do |
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Term
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Definition
| identify the issue separately if there is more than one issue. |
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Term
| Statement of Facts section of memo |
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Definition
| should include enough facts so the memo includes all the information the reader will need. should include background and key facts in chronological order, should be organized by topic. Facts need to be accurate so as not to misrepresent/make a false statement |
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Term
| analysis section of legal memo |
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Definition
| present the law, analyze the law and apply the law to the issue(s). |
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Term
| conclusion section of a legal memo |
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Definition
| does not introduce new information or authorities and it should not repeat the answer. it summarizes the conclusions reached in the analysis section and includes a reference to and summary of all law discussed in the analysis section. when there are multiple issues a conclusion is normally at the end of each separate issue's analysis section. |
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