legal memo 法律备忘录(4)

legal memo

on a specific element of a rule, be sure to tell the reader what the larger rule is first, so she can understand how your specific discussion relates to that larger rule.

A legal reader will also appreciate clear transitions as you move through your discussion. Transition words and sentences make your organization more obvious, guide the reader through the steps in your reasoning, and show the relationship of new information to old. For example, you can use obvious transition phrases like “the first factor requires . . .” or “the second factor requires . . .” t o remind the reader where she is within your larger discussion. U sing words like “additionally,” “thus,” or “however” signals to the reader that whatever follows will add to, follow from, or contrast with whatever came before the transition word. You should not overuse transitions, of course, but including some in your writing can be helpful to a busy, unfamiliar reader.

Finally, deciding how much detail to include in a memo about a point of law or fact can be difficult even for experienced legal writers. Writers must balance space limitations (and the attention span of a busy reader) with the need to educate the reader about the law and facts. As a general rule, legal writers follow the same principles as other writers do: to meet the needs of the reader, the level of detail and explanation in a document should depend on complexity and importance. Include more explanation and detail for complex or difficult points and less for those that will seem straightforward to your legal reader. Also include more explanation for the most important aspects of the analysis and less detail for secondary or minor points.

Using Legal Authority

Legal readers expect to see a reference (i.e., a “citation” or “cite”) to legal authority to support every statement of law in a memo. Readers will not assume that your explanation of the law is correct, so you must cite to your sources to show exactly where you got your ideas and information. You may have entire paragraphs in your rule explanation in which each sentence is followed by a citation to a legal source. You will attend a session during the memo-writing process in which you learn how to use citations and write them in the proper format, but as you work, be sure to keep notes of where exactly in your legal sources you found the information you want to use in your memo.

Writing Style

Legal readers value clarity and conciseness. The challenge for legal writers is to convey information in a way that is easy to understand and follow. You will refine your legal writing style over the course of many years, but for now, try to keep things simple. Avoid jargon, old-fashioned legal terms, and overly complex phrasing. Some legal terms of art may be necessary when you explain the law, but ordinary words often will serve you just as well. It may help to read your sentences aloud to yourself to judge whether your legal writing style is clear or overly complicated.

Lawyers overuse the passive form of verbs, and this can make legal writing vague and cumbersome. The passive voice hides the actor of a verb and focuses on the action more abstractly. Passives can make your writing vague and wordy. They consist of some form of the verb “to be” p lus a participle (e.g., it was decided, it must be agreed, it has been established, etc.). Identifying the actor will force you to use an active verb (e.g., the court decided, the parties will have to agree, the legislature has established, etc.).

Try to keep your sentence structures relatively simple. Avoid long introductory or interrupting clauses, and do not try to pack too much substance into any one sentence. Even though legal writers must convey complex information, it is better to present that information in small segments.

To be concise, try to convey your substance using fewer words. Being concise does not mean omitting substance. Indeed, editing out surplus words will give you more room to add substance to your document.

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