CHAPTER 1: LEGAL WRITING
Knowing the laws or rules that
The things that lawyers write to win others over to
their point of view.
CHAPTER 2: THE LEGAL DISPUTE
There is a legal dispute when one party complains of
a violation of his right (must be a legal right recognized by
law) by another who, on the other hand, denies such a
violation. This is akin to a cause of action in a civil suit
Significance of knowing the legal dispute
 Since a legal dispute involves a violation of a right
protected by law or which violation the law punishes,
nothing less than the resolution of such could
properly end it.
 A legal dispute is at the heart of every case.
 Failure to identify and address the legal dispute
would result in running around circles, contributing
nothing to its final termination.
Legal Dispute and the Principal Issue
 The legal dispute, recast in the format of an issue,
provides the principal issue in every case.
 Example: WON the tenant who fails to pay the
monthly rents must leave the apartment unit; WON
the debtor unjustly refuses to pay his debt under a
promissory note that he issued in favor of the
creditor; WON the accused defrauded the
complainant by selling a fake Rolex watch to him for
the price of a genuine one.
Importance of Principal Issue
 Your cases will be decided for or against you base on
that issue.
 You judge the significance of every argument that
you want to use by its relevance to the principal
issue. (Any argument not related to the principal
issue would be useless and a waste of time)
CHAPTER 3: STAGES OF WRITING
Two Stages of Legal Writing
1. Pre-work
a. This is the beginning of your writing
assignment. Here you are looking at the
facts and evidence of the case. (The
materials would be raw, if you are dealing
with a new case; or, it could be a transcript
of the testimonies of the witnesses and the
documentary exhibits, if it is a case that has
undergone trial)
b. Pre-work is a process.
c. 5 level of efforts that would make your pre-
work adequate:
i. Establishing where the legal
dispute lies in the case
ii. Discovering its relevant facts
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iii.
apply to it
iv. Identifying the issue or issues that
you would address
v. Roughing out the arguments that
you would use
2. Write-up
a. Transforming the sketches and outlines you
produced during pre-work into a full draft of
the paper required of you.
b. What completes the write-up stage
i. Editing
ii. Rewriting
Value of Pre-work
 The need for pre-work is true for all kinds of
presentations that are aimed to convince others to a
certain point of view.
 Legal writing is a sort of presentation. A lawyers
needs to be able to make a convincing presentation of
his case in the limited time that he is able to hold his
reader’s attention. He needs pre-work to do this.
 A frequent excuse in not doing pre-work is lack of
time. Lack of time is not a valid justification for
dispensing with pre-work.
 Submitting your work not based on pre-work,
submitting it for the sake of meeting a deadline
means you do not care about its result. This attitude is
the reason behind many failed legal writings and
career.
CHAPTER 4: GETTING AT THE FACTS OF THE
CASE
Facts of a Case
 Do not leave the facts of the case until you have
come to a complete understanding of what the case is
about from every angle.
Random Notes vs. Summary
 Purely random notes do not give you a complete
picture. They are uncorrelated and are useful only for
work done in one sitting. When you set aside and
return to it after a long duration, random notes would
have lost their correct meaning and you will have to
start all over again. Random notes can never be used
as permanent catalogue of the facts that you want to
go back to repeatedly at various stages of the
proceedings in a case.
 Summary is a systematically prepared notes that
adequately capture the entire factual terrain of the
case, with the important points properly marked out.
Summary serves as a detailed map in your hand, able
to guide you in negotiating your way through the
dispute involved.
Facts seen through the Issue
 When handling a new case, you need to go over the
materials very quickly and determine preliminarily
the principal issue or issues involved in the case.
When you have an idea of what the principal issue is,
 that is when you could make a good job of extracting
the relevant facts from your materials.
 Take out the non-essential facts from your written
materials.
Cluttered Facts
 These are facts that contain much that is not
connected to the principal issue.
Relevant Facts Extracted
 First, try to identify the legal dispute. Second, rewrite
the legal dispute in the format of an issue. Using the
issue as guide, peel away the facts that are not
connected to the issue.
 Sorting out the relevant facts from the irrelevant facts
reveals some of the strengths and weaknesses of the
documents.
 You can uses these strengths and weaknesses in
developing your arguments.
Facts Set in Sequence
 Put the events in the order of their occurrence to
avoid confusion.
 Spot the point where the story logically begins. Then,
arrange after it the other events in the order of their
occurrence.
 Benefits of arranging the facts in proper order or
sequence:
o Facts are easier to understand. They follow a
natural order or flow. The human mind is
more at ease with such a manner of
storytelling.
o It is clear how each fact relates to or
connects with others. Sometimes when you
isolate facts they are not significant. Only
when you view them along with related facts
do some facts acquire significance.
o It is clear where the respective versions
agree and disagree. You will get a balanced
appreciation of each opposing claim.
o It prepares you for the work of writing up
the facts of the case.
 Another benefit is it enables you to create a compact
index to the facts of the case. You do not have re-
read your voluminous materials each time you want
to be reminded of the important details of the case.
CHAPTER 5: KNOWING THE APPLICABLE LAW OR
RULE
Sources of Law or Rule
 2 General Sources of Laws and Rules:
o Statute law – laws and rules enacted by duly
constituted rule-making authorities
o Case law – decisions of courts and persons
or agencies performing judicial functions;
legal precedents that when invariable
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affirmed and used, become part of the law
itself
 2 Steps suggested in locating the right law and legal
precedents
o Identify the general nature of the legal
dispute involved
o Having become familiar with the facts of the
case, search for legal precedents that have
more or less parallel facts. Nothing is new in
this world. There is hardly any new case that
would have no similarity to a previous case
that a court has once decided. (Diligence is
key)
 You also have rules derive from the wisdom of the
common experience. Examples:
o “Even the most trustful witnesses can
sometimes make mistakes but such innocent
lapses do not necessarily affect their
credibility.”
o “Inconsistency concerning a minor matter
does not affect the credibility of
complainant’s testimony.”
Facts Reexamined
 After having discovered the laws or rules that apply
to your case, review your summary of facts and add
some to the pool of relevant facts and omit others
who appear to be irrelevant to the applicable laws,
rules, and legal precedents.
CHAPTER 6: GETTING INTO THE ISSUES
Pinpoint the specific issues that the conflicting claims
of the parties present. Put them in writing.
General rule: Legal dispute, recast in the format of an
issue, provides the principal issue in every case.
Issues in Multiple Legal Disputes
 If there are multiple legal disputes, there will be
multiple principal issues (especially true in civil
cases). In these cases, you should address each of the
principal issues that the legal disputes present.
 Occasionally, multiple legal disputes could converge
into one controlling issue. (Example in the book is
WON, Solis or Gomez, created the song. Spot the
controlling issue, the resolution of which serves as
the key to resolving multiple legal disputes.
Subordinate Controlling Issues
 The resolution of the principal issue in a case
depends on how a subordinate issue raised in
connection with it is resolved
 Example: X bought facial cream called Maxim. She
had allergies. Maxim claims that there are small
prints on the label of the cream container that warned
against possible allergy.
o Principal Issue: WON Maxim violated X’s
right to be sold only safe products
 o Subordinate Controlling Issue: WON
Maxim has the right to market cosmetics
that could cause harmful allergy to some,
provided that the product label discloses this
risk.
Relevant and Irrelevant Issues
 Not all issues raised in a case merit discussion and
resolution. Only relevant issues matter. Only issues
that when resolved determine the outcome of the
legal dispute are relevant.
o Example of relevant issue: WON Ronald
and Julia are sweethearts.
 Irrelevant issues have no value in a case even if they
are debated and resolved since they are of no
consequence to the outcome of the legal dispute.
o Example of an irrelevant issue: WON
Ronald is a good son (Good and bad sons
commit rape)
 You have to distinguish between relevant and
irrelevant issues. Discussion of irrelevant issues
would produce no advantage and may even weaken
your position, while, dropping a relevant issue might
be forfeiting that issue to your client’s loss.
A List of All the Issues
 There is an issue when the contending parties do not
agree on a given point.
 List all the issues the opposing claims of the parties
present. Take note of what the parties agree on
Factual and Legal Issues
 An issue is factual when the contending parties
cannot agree that a thing exists or has actually
happened.
o Examples: WON the accused took and
pocketed victim’s cell phone; WON the
traffic officer demanded a bribe; WON the
food served by the restaurant was spoiled
 An issue is legal when the contending parties assume
a thing exists or has actually happened but disagree
on its legal significance or effect on their rights.
o Examples: WON there is rape when the
male organ merely touched the surface of
the female organ, WON respondent
committed grave misconduct in falsifying
his timecard to collect overtime pay; WON
cigarette companies are liable for deaths
caused by smoking their products.
Correct Statement of the Issues
 (1) Every issue should be correctly phrased.
o We use WON as introductory words because
by doing so, we automatically incorporate
the opposing views. It makes for a fair
statement of that issue.
 (2) Issues should be in terms of what the plaintiff
claims the fact to be (WON Ronald was her suitor)
o Rationale: Plaintiff or the accuser in a case
always bears the burden of proving the
affirmative of his or her claims
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 General rule: Issues to be tried and decided are best
defined in terms of those affirmative claims
o Example: WON the defendant was negligent
in driving his car; or, WON the defendant
was careful in driving his car.
 Exception: When the defendant, admits the facts
constituting the claim against him BUT raises a
defense that exempts him from liability under it.
o Example: WON the accused killed the
deceased in self-defense
 (3) Statement of the issue must be fair not slanted in
favor of any party
o Not fair: Whether Ronald used force and
intimidation in raping Julia (This already
assumes that he raped her)
 (4) Statement of the issues must be comprehensive,
leaving no relevant point outside its embrace.
o Comprehensive: WON Ronald raped Julia
 (5) Statement of the issues must be clear and specific
o Too ambiguous: WON the law is invalid
o Clearer: WON the Bouncing Checks Law
violates the constitutional right against being
imprisoned for non-payment of debt.
 (6) Statement of the issue must capture the gist or
essence of the specific violation of right that the
defendant committed.
o Insufficient: WON the debtor is liable to the
creditor
o Sufficient: WON the debtor unjustly refused
to pay his debt under a promissory note that
he issued in favor of the creditor
o Insufficient: WON the respondent violated
Section 3b of RA 3019
o Sufficient: WON the respondent in issuing
to the owner an occupancy permit despite
the lack of fire exits in the owner’s building
violates Section 3b of RA 3019
Threshold Issues
 Those that could slam the door to any judicial
consideration of the case in its merits.
 Usually brought out by a motion to dismiss, motion
to quash
 Resolution of threshold issues takes precedence over
the main legal disputes.
o Example: WON the court has authority or
jurisdiction to try and decide the rape case.
CHAPTER 7: ROUGHING OUT THE ARGUMENT
This is like drawing up your plans before actually
constructing your building. This would give you an overall
picture of your presentation and provide purposes and
direction to your writing.
Balanced Presentation
 Structure of a balanced thesis presentation
 o A clear statement of your thesis (where you
stand on the issue to be resolved
o Arguments against your position but with an
explanation that those arguments do not
doom such position
o Arguments in favor of your position
o Appeal to the good sense of the person or
persons who will resolve the issue
 How do you guard yourself against the mindless
approach that characterized many legal writings?
o ANSWER: Complete your pre-work. Plan
and rough out a balanced approach to your
arguments before writing them up.
 Use a balanced sheet format: so you could see a
broad picture of how they look when you are finished
o Thesis statement at the top (represents the
goal you set for your arguments)
o Arguments against you on the left column,
and how these arguments do not doom your
case.
o Arguments in your favor on the right
column.
o Closing statement underneath the
arguments, an appeal to the good sense of
the reader
Anatomy of Legal Argument
 An argument is a reason you offer to prove your
thesis or proposition.
o Example: If Ronald really raped Julio how
come Mario who lived nearby did not hear
Julia’s outcry
 A great bulk of legal arguments are in the mold of
CLASSIC CATEGORICAL SYLLOGISM
o Major premise, minor premise, conclusion
o Arguing from common experience: People
who lie cannot be believed. X lied in his
testimony. X cannot be believed.
 Every sound legal argument is a combination of the
right rule and the right fact.
o Rule statement: Jaywalking is punishable by
law.
o Case fact statement: X jaywalked.
o Conclusion statement: X should be
punished.
 3 Kinds of Statements:
o The rule statement: the statement of a rule
that applies to a given fact or set of facts
o The case fact statement: statement of the
fact of a particular case that opens up such
case or closes it to the application of the rule
o The conclusion statement: conclusion that
the rule applies or does not apply to the
particular case
The Key Fact in Rules
 The rule statement “Jaywalking is punishable by law”
has a fact component which is “jaywalking”
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 The fact component of the rule statement is the key
fact. It is a key fact because its presence in the case of
X opens up such case to the application of the rule.
 Absence of the key fact will make the rule statement
inapplicable to the case.
The Case Fact
 It is the fact of the case which determines what rule
will govern it.
Meaning of “Rule”
 The key fact of the rule will determine the
conclusion. Sources of these rules:
o Constitutional provisions: just compensation
in eminent domain
o Statutory provisions: ignorance of the law
excuses no one
o Rules of Court: an offer of compromised as
an implied admission of guilt
 Rule also includes case laws or legal precedents.
They are the most convenient source of argument. In
real life, no problem is new.
 Rule also includes widely accepted truths that derive
from logic, common sense, or even common
experience.
Roughed Out Arguments
 Arguments Against You: Vaginal lacerations usually
found in rape victims were found in Julia
 Arguments in Your Favor: As a virgin Julia could
have lacerations during consented sex. The
lacerations found in her do not necessarily indicate
rape
 Appeal to Your Good Sense: It is but fair that
testimony inconsistent with common experience is
not believed.
Creative Thinking
 Let your subconscious mind take over the problem.
Steps:
o Be sure that your mind gets all the data and
inputs about the case
o Pose the problem to your mind
o Forget about the case. Let your
subconscious mind do the work. Go to sleep.
Arguments That Build Up
 Favorable testimony comes from a credible witness
o Testimonies of relatives are regarded as
partisan. Those with no bias and motive to
testify falsely are excellent witnesses.
(Medico-legal expert, Mario the farm
owner)
 The party’s version is inherently credible and
consistent with common experience
o Compatibility with common experience
 All the elements or requisites of a valid claim or
defense have been proved
o Establishing all the elements of the crime of
rape to warrant conviction

Arguments That Destroy
 Pointing out that the adverse party invoked the wrong
rule or that they failed to prove the case fact
component of their argument.
 Arguments raised is irrelevant
o Irrelevant when it does not help resolve the
issue
o Ronald is irresponsible. Being irresponsible
does not make a man a rapist
 Argument has little weight given the other
considerations in the case
o Your opponent has made a valid argument
but you hasten to state that other
considerations outweigh that argument
o Ronald’s failure to explain immediately
o It is because Julia’s brothers would have
killed Ronald if he went to Julia’s house to
explain
 Argument is baseless
o There is no fact to support their claim
 Argument is contrary to common experience
o It goes against ordinary human experience.
It is bizarre and cannot be believed.
 Argument is inconsistent with undeniable facts
o Facts that cannot lie defeat mere assertions
 Argument is inconsistent with a prior claim
o Persons who say one thing now and another
thing later cannot be relied on to tell the
truth
Pre-work Reviewed
 Steps:
o Ascertain the legal dispute
o Make an outline of the relevant facts
o Identify the issues
o Rough out your argument
CHAPTER 8: INTRODUCING THE ISSUES
Write-up stage: You cannot submit your outline-
argument to the court. It will not make any sense to the judge.
Need for Introduction
 You cannot just hit your reader with you point of
view regarding an issue without telling him the
circumstances of the case that brought about the
issue.
 Do not assume that the judge has the background
facts. You cannot expect a judge to remember all the
facts each time he reads a party’s pleading.
o Attention span of human beings is limited
o Hearings are piecemeal. Judge hears the
testimonies of the various witnesses over
some period of time.
o Possibility that judge had gotten the facts
wrong from past pleadings or during the
5 |Legal Writing(Abad)-MARY ANN A. ELUMBARING
hearing. You have to correct these wrong
impressions by recalling the facts
o Justices of an appellate court need to be
apprise of the facts of the case because they
did not hear the evidence. They rely on the
lawyer’s summaries of them.
 You also need to restate your understanding of facts
with your client just to make sure that you have a
shared understanding of the facts and to avoid
misunderstanding.
Sufficiency of Introduction
 Put only as much background facts as are needed for
an understanding of the issue that the parties present
 Standard of Sufficiency
o Statement of the Case
 The purpose of the Statement of the
Case is to provide a clear and
concise statement of the nature of
the action, a summary of the
proceedings, any challenged order
or decision issued, and other
matters necessary to an
understanding of the controversy
 Keep it short. Do not include the
service of summons, the holding of
the pre-trial conference, number of
witnesses presented by either side,
the allegations of the parties in the
pleadings.
 Simply mention the basic legal
disputes that the claims of the
parties produced
 Lawyers often quote criminal
information as part of their
statement of the case –
UNNECCESSARY unless the
allegations in the information are in
issue.
o Statement of the Facts
 Describes the nature of the action
and the proceedings it had gone
through
 Narrates the transaction or event
that create the legal dispute and led
to the filing of the suit
 Do yourself and the court a favor of
better understanding the issue and
arguments by showing the
conflicting claims of the parties.
 Issues are a product of
disagreement. Only by fairly
showing the conflicting claims of
the parties can the court or your
reader truly understand the issues.
 Rules of Court, Rule 44, Section
13(d) requires parties to include
their conflicting claims in their
respective statement of facts.
 Purpose is to merely provide a
background
  TEST OF SUFFICIENCY: ability
to enable the judge or the reader to
understand the issue that you want
him to resolve and the arguments
that you adduce on those issues
WIH MINIMUM words.
 If the parties have conflicting
versions, extract the facts solely
from the direct testimonies of the
witnesses from either side.
 The direct testimonies of witnesses
embody the versions that the
parties espouse.
 But when the cross-examination
have done some damage to the
testimony of your opponent’s
witnesses, use these in the
argument portion
Short Introductions
 Introduction of incidental issues
 It is essential to give a brief background of the facts
and the issue to enable the court to recall what the
case is about and appreciate the comment.
 Introduction in the reply must not repeat the elaborate
introduction made in the petition. It must be lean and
terse serving only as a reminder not a full repetition
of what had been previously said
CHAPTER 9: WRITING THE ARGUMENT
Second part of the Write up stage: Putting flesh and
color to your arguments and making your closing statement
Jump off Points
 Start with an opening or a topic statement that signals
or defines the direction of their argument. You can do
this in two ways:
o By briefly stating the opponent's claim with
the intention of defining the area that your
argument will attempt to assail
o By stating your thesis or proposition, then
support it with the argument that follows
Three Statements of an Argument
 A legal argument is made up of three statements: the
rule statement, the case fact statement, and the
conclusion statement
Persuasive Arguments
 The awareness of the three essential statements is
important because the effectiveness of your argument
depends on how ably you write up each statement of
your argument into a convincing part
 Argument is all about convincing another to buy your
point of view
Convincing Rule Statement
 Instead of just “Women will ordinarily not admit to
being raped unless true,” rewrite it to a more
convincing statement:
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o “It takes a lot of courage for any woman to
cry out and testify that she has been raped.
When she steps forward to confess what
happened to her, she exposes herself to the
humiliation of acknowledging that a man
has ravished her body and violated her
virginity.”
Convincing Fact Statement
 Build up your statement of the case fact when parties
are unable to agree whether a key fact is applicable to
the facts of the case.
 Several arguments can be clustered to bring home
just one major point: Julia’s testimony cannot support
a judgment of conviction
o Medico legal officer did not find any bruise
on her body
o Julia’s testimony that she walked home
alone is contrary to common experience
o Mario did not here any outcry at the time of
the alleged rape
 One technique in presenting multiple points is to
present them in numbered series
Correct Conclusion Statement
 Draw an inference that the fact of a particular case
opens it up or closes it to the application of the rule
that governs such case
Positioning Variation
 Conventional Sequence: rule, fact, conclusion
 You don’t always have to follow the conventional
sequence. Your argument will make sense so long as
you string along those three essential statements
together regardless of their position.
Building Blocks of Argument
 The building blocks of argument are the three
essential statements
Omitted Statement
 You could omit from your arguments one of its
essential statements WHEN that element is so evident
that it goes without saying
 Example: Someone lied about their age. You can
omit “Falsehoods cannot be believed” as your rule
statement
 Danger: Many lawyers and student presume that their
rule is evident, when in fact, they are misreading how
their average readers think
 In case of doubt: include all three essential statements
Closing Statement
 Depart on a good note
 Your closing argument should not appear to argue:
Recall to your reader the truths that underlie every
good decision in identical cases
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