GENERIC MEMORANDUM

WRITING COMMENTS

 

 

1.                Remember you are getting “paid” to write the memo, so look at it from the point of the reader.  Your payment is a grade at this point, but if you wouldn’t pay for it yourself, don’t bother turning it in to me and expecting a high grade.  This is the toughest thing to learn to do, and NOT doing these memo’s will only terribly hurt you in the long run.

 

2.                This diatribe also goes for how you address the recipient.  Be professional.  I suggest in the future you just don’t say “Klett”.  I am like an elephant, I remember.  Would you send a memo to your boss and say just Boss? I don’t think so, you won’t stay long if you do.  Even worse, if you send it to your client like that, be prepared to wait to be paid or perhaps you will have to find a new client.

 

 

3.                Recall that the reader may not have anything but a very rough idea (if that!) of what is going on, and that includes the facts, the issues, the law (the discussion) and of course, you articulate the expected result in the conclusion.  Perhaps this is the best way to think about the overall memo.

 

4.                DON’T ASSUME THE READER HAS A CLUE AS TO WHAT IS GOING ON, EITHER FROM A FACT POINT OF VIEW OR THE “LAW”.

 

5.                What are the purposes of the memo’s various sections?  They should be obvious, but the statement of facts should give the reader at least enough information as to what the problem or memo is all about, including specifics about the matter itself.  This can be sometimes very short, sometimes you have to flesh out a lot of stuff to make the reader be able to understand the instant situation.

 

 

6.                The issues presented do exactly that: in very short sentences (one for each issue, if more than one), you target each of the relevant issues, such as “Are the amounts paid from the trusts to the Clinton’s lawyers taxable to the Clinton’s?”  “Are the legal expenses otherwise deductible by the Clinton’s?,” etc.

 

7.                Discussion is where you describe to the reader, who may or may not have ever read the law, procs, cases, or whatever your authority that describes the current status of the law as it relates to our issues, and you MELT that discussion of the law and the fact situation at hand TOGETHER. You also “cite” or provide authority for all of these items.  YOU DON’T simply cut and paste here!  I am not saying you can’t start that way, but it has to melt together.  Also, NEVER copy an RIA illustration and put it in there, but you can modify it to our fact situation IF appropriate.  This section is always the longest, and it is impossible to say how long or short it should be.  KEY: you merge/melt our fact situation with the current state of the tax law.  This can be very difficult or easy.

 

 

8.                The conclusion is where you identify the expected result with the issues you have defined previously, and possibly offer alternative results that might mitigate the circumstances if you think that is appropriate. But generally we are not “citing” cases, etc here, perhaps the best way to think of this as this section is the executive summary in one sense as to the overall page where a very busy person can, if they want, glance at the facts, issues, and then the conclusion and THEN read the discussion if they have the time.  Make sense? It does the more you do these things.  Usually this is a relatively short section, but it can be long if it is has complex issues.

 

9.                When you list a case, you italicize it and also provide a citation THE FIRST TIME YOU REFER TO THE CASE. See my earlier memo on this subject, in the future you get taken off for this.

 

10.           Use quotation marks or indent (both sides) if the quote goes more than one line.

 

11.           Learn how to note page numbers.  For example, US v. Gillmore, 372 U.S. 39,48 (1963) means you looked at something at page 39 and 48.  If it was at only one page, it would be US v. Gillmore, 372 U.S. 39.  If you have referred to a case before and cited it already, when you refer to it again you usually just say something like US v. Gillmore, supra at 44 (if page 44 was a different page than the one already cited, else you could leave off the page reference), such as US. v. Gillmore, supra.  Supra means “As stated or cited above.”  Infra means as state or cited below.

 

12.           While this isn’t a law writing class, certain minimums are still expected.  I also expect you to read the information I give you about things, and it was obvious several of you never downloaded this material.