Lawyers write memos to other lawyers and the clients to tell them the answer to questions. The most common format is:
Question presented—one sentence, maybe two
Short answer—Ideally yes or no, but usually a couple sentences.
Facts—A description of all of the background behind the question
Analysis or discussion—The reasoning to get from the question, contextualized by the facts, to the answer
Conclusion—A plea for more billable hours. Ahem. I mean a statement of your level of certainty with respect to your answer, and avenues of research that would lend more certainty.
I’ve heard of this format as being called IRAC—issue, rule, analysis, conclusion (where the facts get thrown into the analysis).
Lawyers write memos to other lawyers and the clients to tell them the answer to questions. The most common format is:
Question presented—one sentence, maybe two
Short answer—Ideally yes or no, but usually a couple sentences.
Facts—A description of all of the background behind the question
Analysis or discussion—The reasoning to get from the question, contextualized by the facts, to the answer
Conclusion—A plea for more billable hours. Ahem. I mean a statement of your level of certainty with respect to your answer, and avenues of research that would lend more certainty.
I’ve heard of this format as being called IRAC—issue, rule, analysis, conclusion (where the facts get thrown into the analysis).
Within the analysis, there are many ways of organizing the material, many of which I think are partially redundant of the format of the memo. Here’s an example: http://www.law.cuny.edu/legal-writing/students/memorandum/memorandum-1.html.
Max L.