LEGAL MEMORANDUM

Legal memorandum is a document which contains legal arguments or justification supported by research and analysis on legal issues involved. IRAC & CRAC format are an organizational method of writing legal arguments. These formats are quite useful and play important role in improving the writing skills. Legal professionals use them as tools while preparing the legal memorandum.

IRAC stands for Issue, Rule, Application, and Conclusion. It is mostly used the methodology for legal analysis to solve hypothetical questions. It has become prevalent in the legal community and widely used in legal writing. This methodology is best suited for drafting neutral memorandums. It starts with the issue involved and the issue should be explained. Rule section follows the issue present in the case and it states the rules involved in deciding the issue. This section discusses legal provisions, ratio decidendi, the jurisdiction of the courts, etc. It is helpful in making accurate legal analysis; however, it should be a legal summary of all rules included in making the memorandum. Application section includes rules stated in the document and application of the rules to the facts of the case and constitutes the detailed answer to the issue involved. Conclusion section is the concluding part which directly answers the issues by restating it and providing the solution to it.

CRAC stands for Conclusion, Rule, Application, and Conclusion. It is a persuasive methodology applied in legal writing which helps in road-mapping the structure of the argument while drafting an appellate brief or persuasive trial. It begins with a persuasive conclusion statement and not any neutral issue statement as followed in IRAC. It provides guidance to start arguments with a conclusion which explains to the audience why the statements are to be considered in the legal proceeding. This methodology works better if the strongest arguments are discussed first and the weaker one later. It provides a repetitive format but helps in easily understanding the argument and focuses on the point that has to be proved. One has to be very specific about the decision was taken by the court based on the arguments framed. One should ensure that the lines between the conclusion and the conclusion at the end in the CRAC format should always support and prove the first conclusion.

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