Legal reports, also known as legal memos, are the legal documents informing the attorney or

the judge about the legal issues in any case. There are two types of legal reports that can be
written. The first category is known as the objective report, which explains all the legal issues,
from a neutral point of view. The second category can be persuasive and mirror all the facts and
the legal arguments, from another point of view. Mentioned below is the best way to prepare a
legal report.

Question Presented

Being the foundation of your entire legal report, this first section emphasizes on the exact legal
problem. Identifying the legal issue is not similar to identifying what the conflict is about. When
you’re determining any legal issue, you always have to research the law relating to the subject
matter. The legal report has to mirror the relevant law on the matter at hand.

Short Answer

The first step is to clearly identify what exactly is the issue. After you have identified the legal
issue, you have to provide an appropriate answer to the question, of what the law states about the
reason of the dispute. Here, it does not matter what you think, but the only thing that matters is
what the law says, relating to the issue.

Statement of the Fact

You have to present the statement of the facts in such a way, that the person who is reading this
report can identify why this issue is before the court. If you want to write an effective report to
the judge, then, it is very necessary to explain the issue from your client’s point of view. But if
you’re recommending this to an attorney, who only wants your opinion on a case, then just
simply be straight forward. Including only the relevant facts, narrow them down to those related
to the legal issues, the judge will need to decide.

Discussion

This discussion section of your report is the bottom line of the entire dispute. It not only provides
the information of all the legal issues, but also decides on how the issue has to be solved. The
primary goal here is to apply the relevant law to the facts. You will have to identify which legal
argument is best supportive to your case, and also what outcome will you achieve. Here, it is best
to organize your report according to the relevant dispute.
Conclusion

The conclusive part of your report has to be relevantly short and simple, stating the outcome of
the case. After going through an appropriate research, you can clearly identify which party will
win the case. Now is not the time to add on new arguments in the case, but just declare what has
to be the outcome according to the law.

Don’t know how to write a legal report? Trying to communicate a legal

case to a foreign attorney? You’ll find what you’re looking for right here!
Legal reports, also known as legal memorandums, or simply “memos”, are
some of the most difficult pieces of text to write.

This is because they often require immense legal expertise, as well as in-
depth knowledge of the subject matter in a particular court case or civil
dispute.
It is not enough to simply know how to write a legal brief – the writing
needs to be case-specific and the facts presented have to be relevant to
both parties.

Another factor that comes into play when preparing any document that
pertains to legal issues is the difference between legal systems in various
countries.

International disputes often require a lot of research and knowledge of

the primary sources of law in your targeted countries.

The French legal system, for example, is based around legislation and
statutes, which come together to form the basis and primary source of
French law. This is fundamentally different from the common law system
found in the UK, where collections of previous cases and court practices
form the basis around which most legal proceedings revolve.

If you’re in need of translating and transcribing legal memos into different

languages, it might be best to contact an established company that
provides translation services, such as Architekst, to make sure that the
legal differences are taken into account.
Every legal report includes a number of sections that provide a framework
for the written arguments and details within it. That structure does not
change according to the particular case.
In this article, you will find a detailed account of how to create an effective
legal report, which outlines each step of the process.

Language and Structure of a Legal Report

A wise person once said: “Good taste consists of knowing how to conceal
the fact that you have any”.

This quote may not seem relevant to creating a good piece of writing, but
what it essentially means is that when it comes to any form of art or
craftsmanship, simplicity is superior to complexity. The same principle
applies when writing legal reports – simplicity is key.

Legal reports are intended to examine a particular legal issue,

accompanied by supporting evidence from relevant cases to provide
answers to this question.

The first step is to make an outline of all of the points that you are going
to cover in your report. It’s worth taking a look at some past reports to get
a sense of what’s already been written about and what hasn’t.

Body of the Report

The body of the report will basically comprise a summary of facts,
evidence, and arguments. The main aim of this section is to present a fair
and unbiased account of all sides involved in any dispute.

There should be no bias or opinionated language in this section – it should

just be cold hard facts about what happened.
After you’ve outlined all the points that you’re going to talk about, it’s time
to write them up. Make sure you leave sufficient white space on the page
so that you can write cleanly and clearly. The reader of your report needs
to be able to read what you have written without getting too distracted by
unnecessary features and page design.

So long as you have a clear layout and appropriate spacing, there are no
strict rules about how your report should be formatted. The point here is
not about aesthetics or design choices – it’s about clarity and readability.

When it comes to how best to document your sources – don’t. The truth is
that nobody actually cares who wrote what in a legal report. As long as it
has relevant information about the case, that’s all that matters.

Legalese is not a writing style that will win you any fans – so make sure
your language is clear and accessible to anybody who reads your report.

Any basic legal memorandum’s “skeleton” is composed of five parts:

question presented, short answer, statement of the facts, discussion, and
conclusion.

Question Presented
This section forms the basis of your entire report. It needs to contain
factual, detailed information regarding the legal issues that your particular
case faces.
Don’t confuse this with the specific conflict that the two parties are
involved in. The question presented needs to pertain to specific
paragraphs, articles and sections within the law that will be used in the
court’s final decision.

In other words, the “question presented” section of your memo is nothing

but the identification of relevant law that your case is subject to.

Remember: a legal report has to reflect the law, not an argument for or
against any side involved in the conflict.

Short Answer
Once your legal issues have been identified and laid out in the first
section, you can move on to answering the question presented in a clear
and concise manner.

You should not go off on tangents about the details of your case or
present facts that are not related to legal documents. Just as in presenting
the legal issues, your answer to them must be grounded in the law.
Otherwise, your legal report will turn into nothing more than a glorified
opinion piece.

To continue with the example from the introduction, if you come from the
UK and aren’t really familiar with the intricacies of French law, you may
enlist the help of certified legal translation services in order not only to
help you translate the report but also embed it in the correct French legal
provisions.
Statement of the Facts
This section is where you can start getting into the actual, real-life conflict
to which your memorandum refers.

The statement of the facts is the part of the report that explains why
exactly your case needs to be brought before a court. If you’re planning to
submit the text to a judge, you might want to present the issues from your
client’s point of view (while maintaining neutral language, of course).

If the material is intended to be read by another attorney, it will be

enough to present the situation as briefly and concisely as possible, with
the inclusion of the relevant legal provisions.

Discussion and Conclusion

The discussion part of your report is where the facts and relevant law
come together to formulate a feasible way towards resolution of the case.
Be sure to include legal arguments that support your case.

It might be a good time to add a bit more flair to your text, presenting the
argument in a way that makes it sound like the best outcome for the case,
one that follows the letter of the law in the minutest of detail.

Finally, the conclusion should be a brief paragraph stating the outcome of

the case. It’s important to demonstrate your ability to identify which party
will win the case, based on the legal and factual evidence that you
provided in the earlier parts of your legal report.

Bear in mind that you shouldn’t try to find a way to sneak in a new
argument that favours your client in this section, but rather declare the
possible outcome dictated by the law.

The Bottom Line

Now that you know how to write a legal report, you’re ready to create the
first draft of your very own legal document. Remember to go through
examples of legal reports that are available online to see what these kinds
of texts look like in practice. It can also help you avoid some common
mistakes and write an effective legal report.