Master the Legal Memo Format

What is a memorandum of law?

A legal memorandum, or memo, is a legal document that summarizes one side’s interpretation of a particular matter, including:

• Relevant case law and legal principles
• Key facts
• Potential case outcomes

Law firm associates are frequently asked to provide legal memos to senior attorneys. These assignments are great opportunities for new associates to gain experience conducting legal research and analyzing the facts of a case within the context of relevant law. Far too often, however, the assigning attorney takes one look at the memo and replies: “I knew this already.”

To prevent this, it’s important to anticipate how the legal memo can best serve those attorneys who will rely on it. With proper planning and a strong understanding of the audience, purpose, scope, and format, you can be sure your final product addresses all relevant points right out of the gate and will be both useful and well-received.

What’s a legal memo used for?

The purpose of a legal memo is to inform, not to argue the facts. A legal memorandum serves as an objective, stand-alone document that identifies the risks and any unknown facts that need further investigation. Unlike a legal brief presented to the court, a legal memo isn’t the place to offer a legal opinion. It should maintain an impartial tone, with no implied preference for one side or the other.

Your memo must, therefore, provide an objective summary of all relevant case law and how it applies to the facts at hand. Don’t cherry-pick relevant cases to cite; the omission of negative case law only compromises future legal strategy and heightens client legal exposure.

[Looking for tips on how to write a strong legal brief to persuade the court? Read our tips to help you succeed: Write a Better Legal Brief in Less Time]

Types of legal memos

Legal research memos can come in many forms – from broad 50-state surveys to more nuanced research on a particular point of law. Generally, legal memos fall into one of two main categories, closed or open, depending on the scope of the case law you’re being asked to apply to the matter at hand.

Closed legal memo

A closed legal memo is written with a focus on specific case law or other primary law. For closed memo assignments, you’ll be given the relevant case law to be used in your writing.

Open legal memo

Open legal memos are far more challenging than closed legal memos. You’ll need to research and identify the relevant case law yourself, investigate and analyze the most legally significant facts involving the client, and provide a critical assessment of how the court may apply the law to that matter.

Standard legal memo template

Standard legal memos are generally written using the Issue, Rule, Application, and Conclusion (IRAC) format:

• Issue: Identify the problem.
• Rule: State the relevant law.
• Application: Apply the law to the facts and develop arguments.
• Conclusion: Identify the strongest arguments and next steps.

Use the template below as an outline for your legal memo:

Heading or caption

A section, titled “Memorandum,” identifies:

• The recipient (To: _______)
• The author (From: ____)
• The assignment submission date (typically in MM DD YYYY format)
• The subject of the memo (Re: __________)

Issue: question presented

This brief one-sentence statement defines how the law applies to the legal question at hand, and the jurisdiction where the matter will be decided. The question presented is specific and impartial and doesn’t assume a legal conclusion.

Rule: brief answer

This is a quick-hit legal prediction of the outcome to the question presented, based on a short (four- to five-sentence) explanation that references relevant law and facts.

Application: statement of facts

A concise, impartial statement of the facts captures the heart of the legal matter, as well as current and past legal proceedings related to the issue. The facts can be grouped chronologically or thematically, whichever format presents the facts most clearly.

Application: discussion

This restates the main facts and the overarching legal rule. Several paragraphs outline the various legal topics to be addressed in the case and provide an analysis of the legal issues, usually ordered in subsections.

Conclusion

The assigning attorney will likely read this section first. It predicts how the court will apply the law and describes how confident you are in your prediction based on the data. With an impartial advisory tone, you identify the next steps and propose a legal strategy to proceed.

How to write a legal memo

If you tackle your memo assignment using the recommended format and legal memo template above, you’ll be more likely to find an appreciative supervising attorney, deliver a better work product, reduce the number of revisions required to arrive at a final product, and, most importantly, please the client.

1. Review assignment materials

Whatever the memo format – closed or open – it’s important that you fully understand the scope of the assignment before you start typing. This way, you won’t waste time researching irrelevant case law and can focus your memo on the specific legal questions and jurisdictions that will be most beneficial to the case.

2. Locate secondary sources for background

Secondary sources are a great starting point for your legal memo research, including:

• Books
• Treatises
• Law review articles
• Legal analysis publications
• Practical Guidance

Although secondary legal sources aren’t binding, meaning courts aren’t required to follow these sources, they’re still helpful resources when you’re first familiarizing yourself with a legal issue. However, remember that while you may know little about a topic, the same may not be true of your audience. Those who will read your legal memo, such as law partners and assigning attorneys, will already know general law. Understand your audience’s presumed level of knowledge and then identify the most mission-critical questions to address. These knowledge gaps will inform your fact-finding and research.

Use secondary resources to better fill in the main legal topics and issues as they relate to the facts in the legal memo assignment. Your legal research should help frame the issue and lead to other relevant materials, including cases and statutes. Make sure to vet all sources for relevance and authority.

3. Identify primary case law

Primary sources such as court opinions can often be found using research tools, but relevant case law isn’t always immediately apparent. In such cases, work your way backward. Reviewing secondary sources can help you identify a list of relevant primary sources, including case law and related statutes.

4. Develop a research plan

As you come across key primary sources, create a research plan to keep them organized. Your research plan should list the relevant primary law and how the case or statute relates to your comprehensive legal analysis.

5. Validate your legal research

Once you have your research plan, verify all your research to make sure you’re relying on the most current case law available. Although a legal memo is written for internal stakeholders such as the assigning attorney, and not for the court system, it may nonetheless serve as a primer for future case material. Attorneys may later incorporate any case law citations within the legal memo into court filings in support of their arguments.

Given this broad potential reach, it’s imperative to verify all case law within your legal memo. Any unverified case law that later makes its way into public documents will result in an admonition from the court.

For each cited case, make sure you know the following:

• Composite analysis: The overall treatment of the cited case by other courts
• Direct history: How a cited case has moved through the court system
• Case analysis: Cases that have subsequently cited the case
• Authorities: Cases relied on by the court in the cited case
• Citing documents: Legal materials, such as court opinions, administrative decisions, and secondary sources that reference your case by citation

6. Write an objective analysis

Legal memos showcase your critical legal thinking skills. Use your research plan and research materials to help organize your analysis. Remember to clearly state the law and the facts, in the active voice, and present your analysis in a logical manner.

Use legal memo space wisely. Remember, legal memo length varies by subject. Some topics require only a short summary, while others compel long-form treatment. For guidance, search your firm’s office document management system for previous legal memos.