
A common form of assessment in law school is to write a memorandum of advice. This is a document that provides legal advice to a client (or a colleague) based on particular facts and applying relevant law. It is a common form of assessment because it mirrors the type of work lawyers do in practice. To do well at this task, the memo needs to be clear, concise, and well-structured, and advice reasoned advice to the client (or colleague), drawing on a detailed understanding of the relevant legal principles involved.
Preparing to write a memorandum of advice
A memorandum of advice is designed to provide an opinion on a legal question or advice on the action that could be taken to resolve a particular legal issue. Its purpose is to analyse the facts of a case, apply the relevant law and offer clear and well reasoned advice to the client (or supervising lawyer) on the best course of action going forward.
To do well in this assessment, you need to clearly demonstrate your understanding of the relevant law and be able to reason/assess how it applies to the factual scenario. The key steps in writing a legal memo are:
Identify the relevant legal issues: Don't take this step for granted. Being really clear on what the legal issues are and what points on the facts are in contention is essential to a good answer. Read and re-read the question a number in the context of the law you are studying in your course.
Narrow in on the relevant law: This is where you analyse the relevant law in detail. It might mean studying how the words of a section could apply to the facts, or considering how legal cases might be relevant to the scenario. Don't go on until you have a really solid understanding of what the relevant law says and what the legal requirements are.
Reason through how the law might apply to the facts: The purpose of a memo is to provide reasoned advice on how the relevant law could apply to the facts, and provide an opinion what the client's best argument might be. This includes identifying any weaknesses in the client' case and any suggestions on where more facts needed.
Provide a clear conclusion: Based on your analysis, you will need to provide an opinion on the strength of the client's case and what their next steps might be.

Structure of a Memorandum of Advice
The main sections of a memo of advice are set out below. However, always check if your course convenor has provided information on how you should structure your answer and follow this advice.
Introduction
Statement of Facts
Clear statement of the legal Issues
Legal analysis
Conclusion
Recommendations (if applicable)
1. Introduction
It is common to start a memo of advice with a heading that contains the essential information, ie:
To: The person receiving the memo (e.g., supervising lawyer or client)
From: Your name or the name of the person writing the memo
Date: The date the memo is written
Subject: A brief description of the legal issue
It may then be useful to provide a brief overview of the purpose of the memo and outline the legal issues to be addressed. This section might:
Clarify what legal advice is being sought.
Introduce the central question(s) the memo will analyse.
Example
This memorandum provides advice regarding the enforceability of the contract between Client X and Company Y. Specifically, it addresses whether Company Y’s refusal to deliver goods constitutes a breach of contract and the potential remedies available to Client X under the relevant contract law principles.
2. Statement of facts
This section sets out the key facts of the case in a concise manner. Make sure to:
Be clear and objective
Avoid injecting opinion or legal conclusions
Ensure that the facts necessary for analyzing the legal issues are covered.
3. Clear statement of the legal issues
This section identifies the specific legal questions that arise from the facts. You might choose to phrase the legal issues in the form of questions. For example:
Has Company Y breached the contract by failing to deliver the goods?
What remedies are available to Client X under contract law?
4. Legal analysis
The legal analysis is the heart of the memo, and where there are multiple issues raised on the facts, each should be analysed separately. This part of your answer is where you discuss how the law might apply to the facts, and reason what the strengths and weaknesses of the client's care are. If it is not clear how the legislation or relevant case law could apply, this is where you discuss these issues in detail.
5. Conclusion
A conclusion is important to a memorandum of advice as it provides your assessment or opinion of how the problem raised by the facts can (or can't) be resolved to the satisfaction of the client. It must be consistent with the analysis on the legal issues above, and will usually indicate what the next steps for the client might be.
Writing a memorandum of advice is a common assessment in law school. It is designed to mirror what lawyers do in practice, and needs to be clearly written and structured, The goal is to provide a persuasive assessment of how the law might apply to the facts, ending with a clear conclusion on question asked.,