my statement of facts is 3 pages Forum

[onthecusp]

My statement of facts in an 11 page memo was 290 words.

[onthecusp]

You are writing your facts before you write your analysis?

That's how we were instructed to do it. However, I still did my analysis first. The fact statement was the last thing I did. I found that method helpful in getting to the meat of the facts and cutting out the fat.

[romothesavior]

Way, way too long. You need half of that, at most.

[kalvano]

We've been told over and over that you write your analysis first. The facts should be the last thing you do, and it shouldn't be more than a page or so.

[traehekat]

We've been told over and over that you write your analysis first. The facts should be the last thing you do, and it shouldn't be more than a page or so.

Also been told this, given an ~8 page memo. If you are including facts that you aren't using in your analysis, get rid of them.

For instance:

"John, a 42 year old man, was driving down..."

If it never makes a difference in your analysis whether John is a 42 year old man, then don't include it in your facts. This is an obvious example, I think, but try and look at every fact you are including the same way.

[kalvano]

Think of it this way - this memo should, in a totally self-contained way, teach your boss about the law and facts of the case. So, if your boss were to pick it up and head to court, could he speak somewhat intelligently about the case based off your memo, or would he drown in useless crap?

It's not about the facts - just the bare minimum to distinguish the case. It's about the law and what it means for the case.

[goosey]

We've been told over and over that you write your analysis first. The facts should be the last thing you do, and it shouldn't be more than a page or so.

Also been told this, given an ~8 page memo. If you are including facts that you aren't using in your analysis, get rid of them.

For instance:

"John, a 42 year old man, was driving down..."

If it never makes a difference in your analysis whether John is a 42 year old man, then don't include it in your facts. This is an obvious example, I think, but try and look at every fact you are including the same way.

I usually take extensive notes on my facts and case law first--this helps to match it up in my head mentally so I have an idea of exactly what needs to be talked about. Then I write my statement of facts, then my analysis (other than the thesis paragraph), then the thesis paragraph, and then the conclusion.

I got my facts down to about 2.25 pages..I highly doubt it will get any less than that, but after I am done with my analysis I will go back and see if I can trim the fat a bit more. Even if I dont take any parts out, I'm sure there are words that can be cut and sentences restructured to make it shorter.

PS- this memo is taking so freakin long. I am sick of looking at it. and i hate citing to cases.

[kalvano]

2.25 pages? I guarantee it can be half that.

[goosey]

2.25 pages? I guarantee it can be half that.

it really can't be. Everyone I talked to--across the board, all different sections---says their statement of facts is above 2 pages. Every fact in there is relevant for the analysis--there is nothing extra at ALL. Basically, the only way to get it shorter now is to be more economical with words. Even so, I can't imagine going less that 2 pages..cutting a quarter page of words out at this point will be crazy. But I really want it to be two pages because my last memo had one page of facts and the memo was 4 pages...this one will probably wind up being 8.5 pages, and I'd like to keep the ratio the same because I'm weird like that...she was happy with those facts, so I am assuming shell be fine with these as well...provided they are all used in my analysis.

[dakatz]

I think you are fine OP. 1/4 of the memo space spent on facts sounds reasonable. My 6 page memo had just under 1 and a half pages of facts. So ratio was about the same as yours.

[Charles Barkley]

I was taught that everything included in your analysis, fact wise, had to be in your statement of facts.

[random5483]

3 pages of facts seems excessive for a 7 page memo (or even a 10 page memo). I'd keep the facts under 2 pages unless you have an extremely "unique" fact pattern.

[kalvano]

I'm looking at 3 sample memos from my LW, all around 5 pages, and the facts are 3/4 of a page, 1 page at most.

[Amy wineBerry]

I'm looking at 3 sample memos from my LW, all around 5 pages, and the facts are 3/4 of a page, 1 page at most.

Had a 7 page closed memo, and that was about the consensus of the facts. Granted, ours had to be 7 pages; we were told anything over wouldn't be read. We wrote the discussion/analysis first because: 1) we got feedback on it from the professor; 2) it's the most difficult of the sections; 3) it made editing the statement of facts section easier . Hardest editing of my life to get that paper to conform to 7 pages and I still had to fudge a little on the formatting of the headings smh

[goosey]

still not done w this damn thing and its due in 8 hours. I have to do all the citations and I would like to sleep. I never thought I would hate writing this much.

[Oban]

I think it depends on the memo and the teacher. For my closed memo, the teacher told us to copy and paste the statement of facts right from the "instruction memo" the "senior attourney" wrote to us. It ended up being 3 pages long.

The only right way to write your memo is your teachers way.

[goosey]

.

The only right way to write your memo is your teachers way.

very true.

[Connelly]