Chapter 14

CASE BRIEF
AND MEMORANDUM
Outline
◈ Importance of Legal Memorandum
◈ Elements of a Legal Memorandum
◈ Anatomy of a Legal Memorandum
◈ Internal and External Memoranda
◈ Additional Points for Legal Reserachers
◈ How to Prepare a Legal Memorandum
◈ How to Prepare a Case Brief
◈ Case Brief Form
◈ Sample Case Brief
IMPORTANCE OF LEGAL
MEMORANDUM
Lady Laradel Marquez
Legal Memorandum Defined
◈ Most formal, polished, and comprehensive written
document for reporting the results of your legal
research.
◈ It summarizes and analyses the relevant law and
applies it to a particular fact situation.
◈ Used in connection with motions, both pre-trial and
post-trial. Occasionally, during trial, the court may ask
for a memorandum on a particular legal issue. 
Primary Purposes of Legal Memorandum
◈ to educate the reader about the law relevant to a
particular issue and to explain how that law will apply
to specific facts.
◈ presents an objective analysis of the law, not a
persuasive argument intended to advocate on behalf
of a client.
◈ although a memo can be a tool in preparing a
persuasive case, it is typically an in-house document
that tries to predict how an impartial judge would
decide the case.
3 Basic Reasons Why Legal Memorandum Is Important
1 2 3
For checking To provide you with To communicate
Purposes – You an accessible the results of your
would not really record of the fruits research to
know whether your of your research someone else.
research is done after time has
until you try to write erased the
it up. memories from
your mind.
 QUESTION
Give 1 reason why Legal Memorandum is important
ELEMENTS OF LEGAL
MEMORANDUM
Lady Laradel Marquez
Elements of Legal Memorandum

Statements of Facts

Statement of the Issues

Decision or Holding on the Issue or Issues

Discussion of the reasoning underlying the Holding

Elements of Legal Memorandum

Statements of Facts

 State the facts objectively and clearly.

 Usually, the order is chronological.
 Use definitions to standardized terminology for
persons and things that will be referred to
frequently in the memorandum.
Elements of Legal Memorandum

Statements of the Issues

 The legal issue section sets out the questions you

will ultimately answer. These questions link your
research to your discussion and conclusion.
 The issue section reframes the client's questions
into legal questions that identify the controlling
legal rules and relevant client facts.
Elements of Legal Memorandum

Statements of the Issues

 The legal issue section EXAMPLE sets out the questions you
will ultimately answer. These questions link your
research to your"Can I sue?" becomes:
discussion and conclusion.
 security
"Did the The issue
guard atsection reframes
the department theimprison
store falsely client's
John questions
Crate when the
guard held Crate's arm, preventing him from leaving the store until the police arrived?"
into legal questions that identify the controlling
legal rules and relevant client facts.
Elements of Legal Memorandum

Statements of the Issues

 The question needs to be precise, complete, and

straightforward.
 The question must be neutral to the point that
either side might have written the same question.
Otherwise, your reader could assume your analysis
is not objective and may only reflect one side of
the issue.
Elements of Legal Memorandum

Statements of the Issues

 The legal issue section sets out the questions you

will ultimately answer. These questions link your
EXAMPLE
research
"Will John to your
Crate be awarded discussion
damages and
because he wasconclusion.
falsely imprisoned by the
 The issue section store'sreframes the client's questions
security guard?"
into legal questions that identify the controlling
legal rules and relevant client facts.
Elements of Legal Memorandum

Decision or Holding on the Issue or Issues

 The holding is the "legal principle to be drawn from

the opinion (decision) of the court.“
 The holding is a court's determination of a matter
of law based on the issue presented in the
particular case. In other words: under this law, with
these facts, this result.
Elements of Legal Memorandum
Discussion of the reasoning underlying the Holding

 Here, the court may cite several case laws or

legal principles enunciated and embodied in judicia
l decisions that are derived from the application of 
particular areas of law
to the facts of individual cases.

 legal practitioners will wish to cite more than one

judicial decision, statute, or other legal source to
support their argument. A list of two or more
citations is called a string citation.
 IRAC
Issue, Rule explanation, Application to the facts,
and Conclusion.

General framework that most readers expect to use in explaining legal analysis.
QUESTION
What is IRAC?
ANATOMY OF LEGAL
MEMORANDUM
Morris Jose Kirby Catabian
Major Parts

⬩ Heading
⬩ Facts
⬩ Issues
⬩ Discussion
⬩ Conclusion
Heading
 AUTHOR
 RECIPIENT
 DATE
 CLIENT
IDENTIFICATION
 SUBJECT MATTER
Facts
 RELEVANT FACTS
( also indicate
may
)
assumptions
 OBJECTIVELY AND
CLEARLY
 CHRONOLOGIC
 USE DEFINITIONS
Issues
 CRUCIAL
 SUCCINTLY
IDENTIFY THE
CORRECT LEGAL
ISSUES
 INCLUDE LEGAL
ELEMENTS
 Discussion

Issue Rule Apply Conclusion

• Summarize the issue •Involves review and • Involves further analysis • State your conclusion
either in the form of a analysis of the relevant and weighing of on the legal issue being
topic sentence or cases, statutes, and individual cases, discussed.
question. secondary sources. distinguishing cases, • Reach conclusion on
•Review the history of the making counter- each legal issue as it is
rule and consider the policy arguments, and
rationale of the rule.
dealt with in turn.
considering policy
•Approach the section using
rules synthesized from the issues.
cases, rather than simply
listing a series of individual
cases
•Avoid lengthy quotations
from the cases.
Conclusion
 CRISP
 CLEAR
 RESPONSIVE ANSWER
 QUESTION
What are the major parts of a legal memorandum?
Internal and External Memoranda
Morris Jose Kirby Catabian
Internal Consistency of
Legal Memoranda
Justinianne Joyce Guevarra
Internal Consistency of Memoranda
◈ Cases or Statutes must be relevant to the facts

◈ Add or Subtract a fact or two

Internal Consistency of Memoranda
EXAMPLE

Issue:

Whether a new owner of an apartment house can evict

a tenant for having pets even though the prior landlord
allowed them
Guidelines for Effective Memoranda Writing
◈ Be Objective
◈ Be Specific
◈ Be Complete
Guidelines for Effective Memoranda Writing
Be Objective, Specific, and Complete

How to Write Objectively:

 Do not use opinionated, prejudiced, or exclusive

language.
 Avoid using first person.
 Try not to over exaggerate your writing.
Guidelines for Effective Memoranda Writing
Be Objective, Specific, and Complete

How to be Specific:
Be specific instead of vague or general.

Almost everyone voted for him

82% of the company voted for him
 QUESTION
What are the guidelines for effective memoranda
writing?
Additional Points for
Legal Researchers
Justinianne Joyce Guevarra
List of Resources
Keep sentences short
and avoid jargons
 Ab initio
‘from the
beginning’
Per diem
‘per day’

inter alia
‘among others’
In rem
‘against’

‘at first
Prima facielook’ Corpus
‘body of the crime’

Delicti
Statements Should be Supported
by Primary Legal Authority
Examples of primary authority include the verbatim texts
of:

• Constitutions;
• Basic laws;
• Statutes
• Treaties and certain other international law materials;
• Municipal charters and ordinances;
• Court opinions
• Rules of court procedure;
• Rules of evidence;
• Rules governing the conduct of lawyers;
• Administrative regulations;
• Executive orders.
HOW TO PREPARE
A CASE BRIEF
James Mamaradlo
 Name of the Case
Elements in a Citations
case brief Procedural History

Statement of Facts

Issue

Answer

Reasoning

Holding
 QUESTION
Give 4 elements in a case brief
 QUESTION
Cite another 4 elements in a case brief
 HOW TO PREPARE
A LEGAL MEMORANDUM
Fiona Vicente
 Did I put down all facts that are relevant to my legal issue
as stated, and to my legal conclusions?

Did I state the legal issue clearly?

Checklist for
effective
Did I arrive at a definitive conclusion about the legal
memoranda issue as applied to my facts?
writing
Did I state clearly the reasons for my conclusion while
presenting all sides of the legal picture?

Did I support my conclusions with primary legal authority?

CASE BRIEF FORM
Ma. Jillian De los Trinos
 Case Name
Case Citation

Procedural
History

Statement
of Facts

Issue
Answer

Reasoning

Holding
THANK YOU!