Module 05 Course Project - Draft an Office Legal Memorandum

Module 05 Course Project - Draft an Office Legal Memorandum

A paralegal may be asked to perform legal research and then prepare an office legal memorandum. This memorandum is to provide assistance and support to the attorney and it will provide an objective, critical analysis of a legal problem. These type of memoranda are called many different names, including interoffice legal research memorandum, interoffice memorandum of law, office legal memorandum, office research memorandum, objective memorandum, and legal memo.

The main purpose of the memorandum is to identify and record the law, analyze and explain how the law applies to the issue, assess strengths and weaknesses of your client's case, and present a conclusion with a proposed solution based on your analysis.

The parts of the memorandum consist of the heading, statement of assignment, issues, brief answer to the issues, analysis for the issues with a conclusion, and recommendations. At the top of your document, you will type MEMORANDUM OF LAW. Underneath the title you would use To:, From;. Date:, and Re:. ("Re" means regarding.)

In the first paragraph you will include the statement of the assignment which can be simply stated. For example: You have asked me to prepare a legal memorandum on the question of whether a person can sue another person for a dog bite in the state of California.The issue is the precise legal question raised by the facts of the client's case and is usually created as a question such as: Does California have current law regarding dog bites? The answer or holding will be simply a Yes or No answer. You will then provide the current law that supports information regarding dog bites in the analysis section of the memorandum. Offer a conclusion to the memo and your recommendation to the attorney about the legal issue presented.

In Module 04 we were looking at the civil side of the case. For this assignment, you will be looking at the criminal side of the case. Use the facts in the module 03 lessons, introduction to the project. Murder has now been charged, under one of your home state’s statutes. Jane Anderson has been asked by her client to bargain for a plea to a lesser charge.

Using Lexis or Fastcase, identify two criminal homicide statutes in your state, including one for murder and one for manslaughter or a similar charge of homicide lesser than murder. Use the statutes and cases you see in Lexis or Fastcase below the statutes. What facts need to be investigated that would help the defense show that a manslaughter or other lesser homicide statute fits the facts better than murder? For this assignment, we are representing the defendant this is outlined in the Course Project. Your attorney is Jane Anderson. Please let your attorney know if this is a crime, your conclusion, and recommendations to the attorney.

Requirements:

• Your paper must be at least two pages.
• Your paper must address statement of assignment, current law for wrongful death, and a conclusion.
• Your paper will have at least three citations.