Reference no: EM133395819
Legal Memorandum: Question Presented And Facts
Assignment Instructions
Overview
After reviewing the facts of a client's case, one of the first projects that an attorney typically works on is an internal document that details the claims the client has and the current law on the issue. This internal document is attorney work product, and is kept confidential from the opposing party. While law firms and organizations have several different names for this internal document, the most common name is a legal memorandum.
For this project, you will prepare the first portion of a legal memorandum - the Legal Memorandum: Question Presented andFacts - for our simulated client matter, Mr. Bing's case. These two sections of the legal memorandum are the typical places where attorneys begin to build the written work of their cases.
Instructions
To: Junior Attorney
From: Senior Attorney
RE: Jeffrey Bing Matter
Here are the specific instructions for the Legal Memorandum: Question Presented and Facts Assignment.
First, please prepare one Question Presented based upon my Senior Attorney Memorandum. Within the Question Presented, include the legal issue that is in dispute in the case, the relevant legal standard, and the legally significant facts that are at play.
As I have mentioned before, I am fairly confident that this law firm can show that Mr. Bing personally believed he had to use deadly force in self-defense. The only issue you will be addressing in the Question Presented is whether Mr. Bing's belief was reasonable.Please do not focus on any other issues.
Second, prepare the Statement of Facts for the Legal Memorandum. The Statement of Facts should provide a factual accounting of what happened to our client and the other parties involved. These facts should be written in chronological order from an objective standpoint. Please avoid including any argument or opinion about the case. Only a simple summary of the facts should be provided. If you use a direct quote, please off-set that quote with quotation marks and citations.
Here are a few reminders about format:
- Length of assignment
- Question Presented: The Question Presented should be only one question. Please end the Question Presented with a question mark.
- Statement of Facts: The Statement of Facts should be no longer than one page in length.
- Format of assignment
- Please complete the assignment using Bluebook format.
- Both the Question Presented and the Statement of Facts should be placed in the same Word document. The Question Presented should come first. Use headings to show where each section begins. Also, include the memo heading (To:/From:/Date:/Re:/) at the beginning of the assignment. Please see the Senior Attorney Memorandum for that heading format.
- Number of citations
- Every sentence in the Statement of Facts must be cited. Citations will either be to the Senior Attorney's Memorandum or the Grand Jury Indictment, whichever document contains the information you will be using.
- The Statement of Facts should not include any references to the judicial opinion (People v. S.M).The Statement of Facts can refer to the law that the Grand Jury indicted our client under. We will incorporate the judicial opinion in the Legal Memorandum: Final Assignment. I am providing that information to you now in order that you can start to understand which case will apply to Mr. Bing's case.
Also, please keep in mind that only the Question Presented and Statement of Facts should be submitted for this assignment.