But first impressions aren’t all that matters. You only have one shot to show that you give a damn about what you’re doing. ![]() Doubly so if this is the first memo you have ever drafted for a particular lawyer. This is your opportunity to display the quality of your thoughts and work. That you obtained as thorough an understanding of the law as possible given the time frame and then conveyed this understanding efficiently and effectively. Not “I tried.” They need a work product from you that shows that you pushed yourself. What they need and expect is your best effort. The last thing they want or need is your “rough draft.” By giving you an assignment, they are entrusting a piece of a case to you. The lawyer who gave you the memo assignment is busy. “This is what I found the first time through.”Īll of these statements are worthless.Quality: There Is No Such Thing As A Draft Memo If you can help it, never begin work on a writing project unless you have a timeframe for completion, even if it’s only a general one. ![]() Or if the lawyer is going to be out of town for a week and won’t look at the memo until they get back, you don’t need to kill yourself getting it done or neglect other assignments you might have. Is the memo meant to be a quick answer or in depth analysis? Don’t spend all day researching an issue when the lawyer who asked for the memo needs it for a call with a client in two hours. Time frame: Always Get A Deadline For An Assignment (if possible) When you are new to a firm, you aren’t there to reinvent the wheel. Or does your firm have a default memo template? Then you should disregard everything below and conform to the template. Ask their assistant, they’ll likely know. Does the lawyer you’re writing the memo for have a particular way they prefer memos to be drafted? Then write the memo exactly the way the want it. The other prong of intent is to understand the preferences of the lawyer requesting it. What is the purpose of the memo? Is the memo for general background knowledge of the law? To prepare for a client meeting? To be used in a hearing or brief? Knowing this will affect your writing. The most important thing to have firmly settled in your mind is an understanding of the intent of the assignment. The most important thing to note before addressing the model template for a legal memo is not some technical aspect of writing. There are a few considerations to keep in mind before you even touch your keyboard or crack a book: If you can demonstrate that you know how to write a good legal memo, you’re likely on your way to getting a job. It allows lawyers in a firm to get a measure of the depth of your research capabilities, how you process case law, and the quality of how you present your conclusions. Legal memos might not seem significant, but they are a direct insight as to how you think. Instead, you’ll be handed tasks that will be used to gauge your writing ability – which is code for “we want to see how you think.” How this usually works for law students and new associates is by the time honored interoffice legal memo. You’ve still got your training wheels on. But at the outset of your career, it’s unlikely that you are going to be handed significant writing tasks. It’s the only way to actually digest the volume of information required. If you’re going to be tackling serious problems and unique challenges, then you are going to be doing a lot of writing. ![]() That’s a fancy way to say that lawyers get paid to think for a living. It would have been impossible for you to have that size of a thought without writing–your brain just isn’t powerful enough.ĭeconstructing complex situations and problems, understanding the component parts, and then devising a solution to address the problem through analysis and reasoning is a lawyer’s core competency. When you expand your thought all the way into a piece of coherent writing, it becomes complete. Writing allows you to record your short term memory into a format that you can examine and reflect upon, so you can suss out what makes sense, and how it makes sense, and then expand on the original seed. If you never have thoughts that require notes, then all your thoughts are small or unoriginal enough to fit into your tiny short term memory. The amount of information our brains can fit into our short term memory at once isn’t a lot. Perhaps the most important skill a new lawyer needs to have a firm grasp of is writing.
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