Legal Analysis, Research, and Writing for International Students

Legal Analysis, Research, and Writing for International Students

CASE FILE 1

INSTRUCTIONS FOR OFFICE MEMORANDUM ON CASE 1

In this case, Andrei Bălan, a citizen of Romania, has contacted our firm and asked for our opinion on whether he has a case for asylum in the United States.  You are a lawyer working for the firm.  A memorandum from your “senior partner” is attached, in which the senior partner asks you to prepare a written analysis of the case, in the form of an office memo on the case. The senior partner has provided you with some information on the facts of the case and has also given you a “library” of the legal authorities.  These consist of statutes, regulations, and three cases.

 

Reading for August 24, 2015 – for this class, please read only the facts and the statutes – not the regulations and cases.  I will ask you to read the regulations and cases for a later class.

 

A note about asylum cases:  They are often difficult because the facts they involve may be controversial and/or sensitive and because they involve the customs and practices of other countries. It is important to remember the United Nations’ admonition that the granting of asylum is a neutral act that is not meant to criticize the applicant’s country.

 

Your memo should be typed and double spaced. Please use Times New Roman 12-point font.  The memo should include a heading, statement of the facts, question(s) presented (also called issue), discussion, and holding. I anticipate that your memos will be between 2000 and 2400 words long.  Please include your word count at the end of the memo.

 

For this assignment, you will submit the memo in three components, as follows, and I will give you comments on each of the components. Please note that the dates below are revised, so are not the same as in our original syllabus.

 

Questions presented                                        Due Thursday, Aug. 31, 2016.

 

Revised questions presented, analysis,

and conclusion and recommendations            Due Thursday, Sept. 7, 2016.

 

 

The educational goals of this assignment are:

 

1. To gain or enhance the following skills:

 

• Outlining the elements of legal rules;
• Identifying and articulating legal issues arising in a client’s case
• Thinking and writing using IRAC: issue, rules, application, conclusion.
• Combining (synthesizing) rules from statutes with rules from cases when writing a rule explanation
• Applying legal rules to the facts of a given case.
• Using organizational tools such as thesis paragraphs, topic sentences, and thesis statements.
• Anticipating and responding to opposing arguments.

 

If you have any questions about the memo, please let me know. And remember that I am happy to read drafts!