In order to become an effective legal writer you must have a solid writing foundation. During my tenure as a legal writing Instructor, I witnessed first hand the struggle of making the mental switch from non legal writing to legal writing. No matter what your writing skill level, making the transition from non legal writing to legal writing is a bear. Good legal writing requires the ability to deliver sound analysis of an issue while maintaining clarity via the precise use of language.
Thankfully legal writing has a fool proof formula that fits into any situation, and allows you to analyze any rule against your particular set of facts. The formula can be translated into a variety of paradigms but the basic formula from which they are derived is IRAC (Issue, Rule, Analysis, Conclusion):
Issue: This is the question of law before the court. It is the formation of the legal question that you are answering. Another way to say it is - What is the legal question being presented by your factual situation.
Rule: The rule of law is the legal precedent that governs the issue you are addressing. This is the parameter in which your issue must be constrained (unless you are arguing for a new rule to be formulated). Rules can be tricky if you don't have a good foundation of the principles of interpretation. In order to make a sound analytical argument you must also explain how the rule works by illustrating how and why the courts have applied the rule in different situations. (In order to provide concise information this topic is addressed in another article).
Analysis: This section is where you apply your rule and the explanation of the rule to the factual situation you are analyzing. This is pay dirt. No matter if you are writing a law school exam, legal memorandum of law, appellate brief, or trial brief it is this section in which you guide your readers to seeing your side of the argument/story. The golden rule for application is "Just the facts m'am".
Conclusion: The name speaks for itself and it is the easiest portion of this paradigm. Here you restate your conclusion regarding the issue.
In a lot of legal writing books you will find that the authors have added a separate section for Rule Explanation. This is to enable the legal writing student to fully flush out the rule section. Here are some of the most popular legal writing paradigms-
TREAT: Thesis, Rule, rule Explanation, Application, Thesis
CREAC: Conclusion, Rule, rule Explanation, Application, Conclusion
IREAC. Issue, Rule, rule Explanation, Application, Conclusion
No matter which one you use the process and basic formula are all the same. Happy writing!
Shannon C. Johnson
http://www.wildflowerwriter.com
Source: www.articlesbase.com
