Motion 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.

C A P T I O N

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 chang the names of the Plaintiff and the Defendant. The names should be in all capital letters. A note about ROES AND DOES: These are ficticious names that attorneys sometimes use to protect their right to sue someone whose identity is not currently known. You are not required to use them, but if you want to try, all you have to do is provide the following for the Defendant:

JOHN SMITH, Defendant,
and
ROE DEFENDANTS 1 - 10 and DOE CORPORATIONS 1 - 10, Defendants.

DESIGNATION OF TITLE
The title of the document can be as simple as COMPLAINT, or you can state the general legal matter, such as COMPLAINT FOR NEGLIGENCE or COMPLAINT FOR BREACH OF CONTRACT.

This should not be too hard. Go ahead and get started! Modify the caption in the Template.

CONTENT

Most new legal professionals are surprised by how short a motion usually is. The motion does not usually argue itself. The argument is usually saved for the Trial Brief (also called Trial Memorandum).

If the motion is based on a specific court rule, you need to reference that rule somewhere in the motion itself. For instance, a summary judgment is often based on court rule 56 (in states where the rules are unified with the federal rules). Thus, in the motion, allege that the motion is filed "pusuant to and in compliance with CRCP 56." (Of course, you need to change the abbreviation for your state's rules.)

There are other ways to include the rule, such as "Plaintiff claims that there are no material facts in dispute, and thus this motion meets the standard set by CRCP 56." Ultimately, you will want to ask your supervising attorney for an example of one of his or her previously filed motions and use the wording establishing the compliance with the rule that is found in that example.

You should also state that "This motion is based upon the Trial Brief attached herein." This links the motion to the brief. (Sometimes the Brief is called "Points and Authorities" if it is included as a combined motion and brief, but this is the personal preference of the attorney.)

Give it a try!

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!