Trial Brief Writing Lab Text
The following text has been extracted from the Request for Admissions Writing Lab.
READ THIS FIRST!
Welcome to the Legal Writing Labs! These labs take you step-by-step through the creation of various legal documents. The document you are creating should be based upon the client you were assigned (or chose). Since you would normally be able to contact your client and ask questions about the case, you may expand or change the facts if it helps. Note that you do not have to provide answers to any of the documents you are creating.
After opening a Template using the above tabs, you should do the following:
1. In the Select a Document drop down box on the right, choose the document you are wanting to work on.
2. The drop down Instructions box will provide you with links to help for every element of the document. Those instructions are presented in the order in which the relevant material appears within the document itself. Simply refer to the instructions as you work on your assignment. When you have completed all the steps, you should have a virtually completed document!
3. It is important to remember that the Writing Lab Template will allow you to modify the document, but does not save those changes. If your browser leaves the web page you are working on, your modifications to the document will be lost. It is therefore recommended that you copy and paste your work into Microsoft Word every 5 or 10 minutes to back up your work.
4. Copy and Paste the modified Template to create a new Microsoft Word document.
FORMAT: COMBINED OR SEPARATE
MOTION, NOTICE, AND BRIEF?
COMBINED
If you are creating a combined Motion, Notice, and Brief, paste the Motion first, followed by the Notice, then continue using this lab to create the Brief. Note that if you are creating a combined document, you only need the caption at the beginning of the document. Use the examples in the Essential Skills Manual when creating the Motion and Notice part of this document.
SEPARATE
If you are creating a separate Motion and a separate Notice, just use the caption in the above template, but title the two documents as the Motion and the Notice.
CAPTION
THE CAPTION in your template will contain at least three areas that you will need to modify.
THE COURT TITLE
Change the title of the court to a trial court in your jurisdiction, or if you want, you may leave it in the jurisdiction provided in the Template.
THE PARTIES
You will change the names of the Plaintiff and the Defendant. The names should be in all capital letters.
DESIGNATION OF DOCUMENT
The title of the document can be as simple as INTERROGATORIES, or you can state the party to whom the document is being sent, such as INTERROGATORIES PROPOUNDED TO DEFENDANT.
This should not be too hard. Go ahead and get started! Modify the caption in the Template.
COMES NOW PARAGRAPH
Technically, this paragraph is not a required element of a set of Interrogatories.
The COMES NOW PARAGRAPH just tells the party receiving the document who is propounding the questions. You can probably just modify the paragraph in the above Template, or use something like this:
COMES NOW the Plaintiff, by and through her attorney Phillip Dean, and hereby propounds the attached Interrogatories to the Plaintiff:
Another common way to set the stage for the document is the standard "You are hereby requested to respond ..." statement. (You may see something like this in your template.) Ultimately, you will use the form with which the supervising attorney is most comfortable. For now, it is your choice.
THE FACTS
Provide a one or two paragraph summary of the facts of the case.
ISSUES
You should have one, or at most two, issues for this assignment. Make sure they are phrased as questions.
ARGUMENT
The ARGUMENT is basically the same thing as the ANALYSIS in an Interoffice Memorandum. Make your life easy! Use the IRAC system for each authority you cite. Here is a refresher lesson on IRAC:
Introduce the issue.
Rule.
Application.
Conclusion.
INTRODUCE THE ISSUE
This is a brief sentence that tells the reader where you are going. It is often in the form of an introductory conclusion. (Examples are provided in the Essential Skills Manual, Volume 2, Section 3.12.) An example might be:
"Courts have dealt with ethical issues involving paralegals."
Try creating the Introduction to the Issue in the template above.
RULE
Provide the facts of the rule, and quote the rule. By rule, it means law. If you are quoting a case, (which you are), give a few facts about the case, how the case got to that point, and then quote the case. For example:
In Smith v. Jones, a mother deliberately named the wrong man as father on a child's birth certificate. The father sued when the child was seven to correct the certificate. The trial court ruled that it was too late to change the certificate. The plaintiff appealed. The Court of Appeals reversed the lower court. The court held, "It is a basic human right for not only the father, but the child as well, to be able to identify with clarity one's parentage and prodigy."
Now, provide for the Rule in the first issue in the template above, including the facts of the case and the quote.
APPLICATION
This is the most critical step of the analytical process. It is tempting to simply quote the authority, then conclude. This results in weak analysis. The application tells the reader why and how the authority just cited applies to the current issue.
The process is fairly simple, but requires some thought. Compare the authority cited with your client's case. Or, if you think the authority does not apply, point out the differences. For example:
"The above authority applies because, in both that case and our client's case, the primary issue is the concept of ethical representation. In the above case, the court ruled that only an attorney may make judgments regarding legal positions in a client's matter. In our client's case, for a paralegal to make judgment calls in a settlement conference would call for legal judgment."
(The above is only an example. Provide your own analysis!)
CONCLUSION
This is the result of the application, and simply answers the issue. For instance:
"Therefore, a paralegal may not conduct a settlement conference."
THAT'S IT!
Now, you must use the IRAC process for each and every authority cited. So if you analyze one case, going through the IRAC steps, and you have another case you want to analyze right after it, just start the process again for that next case. You don't restate the issue again. Just repeat the IRAC process. Whether you have a single case or 10 cases, go through the IRAC process for each and every one!
If you discipline yourself to the IRAC analytical process, it will make your job as a researcher easier, and it will make your work product stronger and more convincing!
Now, if you haven't done so already, create your analysis using the IRAC method for the first case you are citing.
Then use IRAC to analyze the second case for that same issue, if there is one. (Remember, you don't have to create a new analysis section or restate the same issue. Just start a new paragraph.)
When you have finished analyzing the first issue, restate the second issue, and go through the IRAC process for each case analyzed.
CONCLUSION
The final CONCLUSION provides answers to the issues. It may restate the conclusion at the end of the IRAC process in the analysis, or this final CONCLUSION may be even more brief.
You have one or two issues for this assignment, so you will have either one or two conclusions, numbered 1 and 2 under the caption of CONCLUSION. For example:
CONCLUSION
1. It was perfectly ethical for you, the attorney, to instruct me to provide information regarding representation to our client.
2. If provided with the appropriate guidelines, a paralegal is allowed to conduct a settlement conference.
(NOTE: The above are only examples.)
Provide your conclusion in the template above.
SUBSCRIPTION
The subscription is basically the "SIGNATURE BLOCK" at the end of the document. The signature block usually includes the following:
Following is an example of a subscription:
DOE, STEVENS, AND COMISKI
___________________________
DAVID R. DOE
#94-0397
584 Smith Rd.
Durham, NC 20910
(919)549-2930
CERTIFICATE OF MAILING
The Certificate of Mailing is very important. It assures the court that the other side has been sent the document, and when the document has been sent. Just modify the COM in the template, making sure the wording is accurate for the document being sent.
COPY AND PASTE
Now that you have finished your new document, using the above template, you will need to COPY AND PASTE the text from the template to create a new document. Use the following steps to Copy and Paste.
COPY
First, click anywhere in the Template (this is important). You are going to SELECT ALL of the text in the document to copy the contents.
Second, press the "CTRL" key and the "A" key at the same time. You will see that all the text is highlighted. This is a good thing!
Third, press the "CTRL" key and the "C" key at the same time, or click on the "Copy" icon in the Template tool bar.
PASTE
Open up Microsoft Word and create a new document. Select EDIT and PASTE from the Menu Bar. Then save your document, using a name such as "Discovery01".
And that's it. We hope this LAB has helped. If it has, you can use this template in the future for other memos you create as a paralegal!