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    Internal Legal Memos: A+ Guides to Writing, #9
    Internal Legal Memos: A+ Guides to Writing, #9
    Internal Legal Memos: A+ Guides to Writing, #9
    Ebook126 pages1 hour

    Internal Legal Memos: A+ Guides to Writing, #9

    By Alison Plus

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    About this ebook

    You must write an internal legal memo, either for school or for internal use in a law firm or other legal practice setting. This booklet can help you by showing you the complete process of writing an internal legal memo. This practical, systematic method will start with a basic discussion of the purpose of the memo and end with a final proofreading. In between that first and last step, you will learn how to write each section of an internal legal memo, section by section. These sectional breakdowns show you exactly what to include in different places within the memo. You will no longer need to guess what to write and where to write it. By using the breakdown, the various pieces of the document will work together to create a coherent and complete memo.

    For the purposes of this booklet, it does not matter if you skip around and take the sections out of order. The booklet will proceed in the pattern most internal legal memos adopt:

    Heading

    Questions Presented

    Short Answer

    Facts

    Table of Authorities

    Discussion

    Conclusion

    This booklet not only helps you draft an internal legal memo, but it shows you a critical thinking process important to the practice of law. Working the sections carefully the first time will teach you the method. Then, when you must write another internal legal memo, use this booklet as a reference to help you remember what each section must include. The more you use the method, the easier it will be.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherFour-Ply Publishing
    Release dateAug 28, 2016
    ISBN9781536517217
    Internal Legal Memos: A+ Guides to Writing, #9

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    • 5/5
      Genuinely easy-to-follow steps in writing an internal memo. The facts listing was interesting and the Table of Authorities did not seem quite so scary!

    Book preview

    Internal Legal Memos - Alison Plus

    About the A+ Method

    You have purchased this booklet because you are looking for help with a writing assignment. Good news! Help is here!

    The A+ Method was developed through years spent working with student writers on a variety of writing assignments. Regardless of the specific assignment type (five-paragraph essay, persuasive essay, narrative essay, literature review, etc.), it soon became clear that students shared one strong concern. They wanted to know what to put where. They had ideas about their topics, and they knew what they wanted to say, but they didn’t know how to present those ideas in an organized manner so that the paper could flow well.

    The A+ Method assists the students with overcoming that concern. Each type of assignment follows a unique writing pattern, and each A+ Method booklet presents that pattern in easy-to-follow steps. The pattern shows the writer what to put where. Along the way, each booklet also addresses other writing concerns typical to a specific assignment type. By focusing on assignment type rather than on writing essays in general, each specific booklet targets the pedagogical goals in a way that leads to a greater likelihood of student success.

    Choose the booklet that corresponds to your assignment type, and then follow the steps in the booklet. Working the steps carefully the first time will not only lead to a finished paper, but to a better understanding of how to write a specific type of paper. Then, with subsequent similar assignments, use the booklet as a refresher to guarantee that you will hit the assignment targets each time.

    Praise for A+ Writing Guides

    The grid made a big job seem really manageable.

    Thank you for the guidance. I have made a breakthrough!

    Awesome!

    I am currently writing the literature review chapter of my dissertation and this book has been and is very helpful during my writing.

    This book saved my bacon. I had a week to write a lit review paper for my PhD program and until I read the sample I didn't even know what a literature review paper was. The author does a great job in breaking it down into an easy to follow method. Everything from how to organize your paper to how to compose the topic sentence, body and conclusions for each paragraph. I'm almost done reading the book and feel so much more confident that I can do this. Just wish there was an audio companion. Already told all my classmates about the book. Thanks Alison!

    Wow! I have only read a few of the sections in this text and have already found it significantly more helpful than any other book I have purchased so far. I was really struggling with structuring my literature review, but this text offers great insight on organizing the material and flowing between paragraphs. Definitely worth the $3.99.

    How to Use This Booklet

    You must write an internal legal memo, either for school or for internal use in a law firm or other legal setting. However, even though you have seen other memos, you are not sure how to write this type of memo. Maybe you have never written a legal memo like this before and do not know what it should look like. Maybe you have written a legal memo like this in the past, but you were unhappy with the product and you want to do better this time. Maybe, no matter your skills and experiences, you are just looking for extra help so that this kind of document will be easier to complete.

    This booklet can help you by showing you the complete process of writing an internal legal memo. This practical, systematic method will start with a basic discussion of the purpose of the memo and end with a final proofreading. In between that first and last step, you will learn how to write each section of an internal legal memo, section by section. These sectional breakdowns show you exactly what to include in different places within the memo. You will no longer need to guess what to write and where to write it. By using the breakdown, the various pieces of the document will work together to create a coherent and complete memo.

    For the purposes of this booklet, it does not matter if you skip around and take the sections out of order. The booklet will proceed in the pattern most internal legal memos adopt:

    Heading

    Questions Presented

    Short Answer

    Facts

    Table of Authorities

    Discussion

    Conclusion

    Most writers will also find it easiest to write the sections in this order. However, if you find it easier to write the facts first, then start with the facts. If you prefer to write the table of authorities first, write the table of authorities first. Just be sure to include all sections of the internal legal memo even if you skip around and write the sections out of order.

    This booklet not only helps you draft an internal legal memo, but it shows you a critical thinking process important to the practice of law. Working the sections carefully the first time will teach you the method. Then, when you must write another internal legal memo, use this booklet as a reference to help you remember what each section must include. The more you use the method, the easier it will be.

    Note: This booklet will not cover legal citation in depth. A pattern for each of the four basic categories of legal authority and some basic citation tips will be presented in the appendix, but for more information about citation, please consult the Bluebook.

    Special Note Concerning Types of Memos

    In legal writing, the word memo is used for two different types of documents.

    Type 1: An Internal Legal Memo.

    Internal legal memos are documents prepared for internal use in a law school, law firm, or other legal setting. These documents are used for a number of purposes, but they are never filed with courts in the course of litigation. These memos are informative in nature. Their purpose is to explore and explain a legal issue and begin to stake out the arguments presented. An internal legal memo might attempt to predict arguments made by opponents and frame those, too. These documents are meant to be informative and exploratory in nature.

    Type 2: A Memo to a Court

    Also called a Memorandum, a court memo is a formal document arguing a legal position taken by one party in a case presently pending before the court. These documents are filed with the court and become part of the formal legal record of the case. These memos are persuasive in nature.

    This booklet deals with the first kind of memo, the internal memo that is not filed with a court.

    The Example Scenario

    TIP:

    Before writing an internal legal memorandum, review the facts of the case and be sure you understand them thoroughly.

    For the purposes of this booklet, imagine the following scenario. You are employed as a paralegal at a law firm. As part of your normal job duties, you conduct preliminary interviews of clients and gather investigative materials such as police reports, bills for damages, and other documentary evidence. You must use these materials to prepare an internal legal memo assessing the merits of the case. Your supervising attorney will review this memo and will use it to decide about whether to take the case.

    In the ordinary course of your job duties, you performed

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