Commentary: Law Life: The medium has changed, but the game's the same

In Suffolk University Law's first-year legal practice skills class, we use the traditional "Office Memorandum" (Question Presented, Brief Answer, Facts, Discussion, etc.) as the core of our objective writing instruction. Having been out of practice for a number of years, I was starting to worry that maybe that format was a dinosaur of my law-firm past, not unlike the Shepard's volumes that I used as a new associate back in 1998. In talking with other practicing attorneys, I have found that there is agreement that the traditional office memo is still the bread and butter of legal writing. And while the format and delivery method may have changed, the basic nuts and bolts of an office memo are still necessary to build coherent and professional legal analysis. E-mail is an efficient and easy delivery method for an answer to a legal question. If you are an attorney who is asked to transmit legal analysis via e-mail, keep the following points in mind: 1) The same rules still apply Simply because you are transmitting your research and analysis via e-mail does not mean that you should abandon all that you learned while working on objective memos as a 1L. We tend to use e-mail to communicate informally; do not let that fact fool you. An objective analysis assignment that you write via e-mail should be just as formal, complete and accurate as one you would print out in the traditional "Question Presented, Brief Answer, etc." memo style. I admit that sometimes when I am writing an e-mail, I will mistakenly write "u" instead of you. I am so "u"sed to texting that I do that automatically. Be careful, and treat professional e-mails like you would a professional letter or written memorandum of law. It's usually better to be overdressed than underdressed. Chances are that you will not be criticized for an e-mail that is too formal (unless you equate formal with long-winded), but using your personal soxfanforevah@yahoo account to communicate ur OMG findings might. 2) E-mail lives forever Especially if you are communicating sensitive client information, you may want to forego using e-mail. Use as your guide the adage that you should never write in an e-mail what you would not want on the front page of The Boston Globe. Or, you should never write in an e-mail what you would not want the judge, jury or opposing counsel to see. However, lots of attorneys like to use e-mail for discrete, simple research questions. While these may not contain sensitive client information, you should assume that the e-mail that you send to another lawyer may get forwarded, sent to the client, used by another attorney, etc. Therefore, treat it with care, and edit it carefully. 3) Transitioning from the formal objective memo While you may not need to write a formal "Question Presented," it's a good idea to start with a reminder about what the attorney or client asked you to research, and if specified, what type of law you were asked to include (state cases only, secondary source summaries, etc.). It's also helpful to include a brief answer immediately after the question or issue. If you need to write more than three or four paragraphs, I suggest that you instead write a brief summary in the body of the e-mail and include an attached document with a more complete explanation. Next month's column will discuss these questions and summaries, with suggestions on synthesizing your analysis. Lisa Healy is an associate professor of legal writing at Suffolk University Law School in Boston. She can be reached at lhealy@suffolk.edu. Published: Fri, Apr 15, 2011