Legal Opinion Writing

Jerome J. Jarales


Legal Opinion
The formal advice given by a lawyer to the client or prospective client
regarding the applicability of law or settled jurisprudence to a given set of
facts is referred to as legal opinion.
As the phrase connotes, an opinion becomes legal if and when it is
founded on a provision of law, jurisprudence or a settled principle in law.
Essentially, what distinguishes the lawyers opinion from that of anybody else
is that the opinion of the lawyer is based on law or settled legal doctrines, of
which every bar candidate is expected to acquire mastery in order to be
considered fit and ready to be admitted to the integrated bar.
Legal opinions are not necessarily legally binding but may be of
persuasive authority.

Purpose
Just like everything else, a legal opinion must have a purpose. One of
the practical purposes of a legal opinion is to advise and guide the client or
prospective client in deciding whether or not to file a case or to take legal
course of action. In general, the purpose of the legal opinion is to persuade
or convince a client to take a recommended course of action after the lawyer
makes a thorough study and deliberation of the facts presented by the client,
as well as the issues and the applicable laws thereto.

Organization and Presentation
Each lawyer may have his or her own way of organizing and
presenting legal opinion. Legal opinions may be oral or written.

Functional parts of a written legal opinion
1. Introductory or preview paragraph the first paragraph of the
opinion that lets the reader know what is ahead and puts forward the
lawyers position or conclusions in the affirmative. Immediately, it gives the
reader of the legal opinion a quick idea of what the entire document is about.
2. Epilogue - the closing paragraph that refines the whole message or
summarizes the points in the legal opinion. It should clearly but briefly state
what the client-reader is to do or what the lawyer will be doing next.

Some legal opinion writers are comfortable beginning their writing in
the middle of the opinion, where the substance is worked out and then
eventually complete the legal opinion by writing the introduction and
epilogue after the main contents have been settled.

3. Headings
The most common headings in the legal opinion are the Facts,
Issues, Law, and Conclusion.
It may be observed, however, that these headings do not
actually give real hint as to the nature of the parts or of the content of
the document. Hence, it may be better if the headings actually
describe the information that follows them. Using headings is like
using a flow chart that leads the reader from the main points to the
subordinate points of the opinion as well as to mark new topics. The
headings can work like the skeleton to hold the body of the entire
document together.
Headings can:
show that you are moving to another topic
be descriptive and predictive
show readers where a pause is suitable
break up the document into manageable pieces for serial reading
be an internal index helping readers to find important information.

a. Statement of facts
In writing the opinion, make sure to set out all the
important facts and remove immaterial facts or surplusage or
those that need not be appreciated for the resolution of the
issues involved. If there is a dispute over the facts, you may set
out both versions but be as brief as possible. You can set the
facts out chronologically or by another method.

Some legal opinion writers eliminate unnecessary facts by
determining ahead what issues would be resolved in the legal
opinion to be given.

b. Issues
A dispassionate discussion of the issues and the
applicable law is the central purpose of the Legal opinion. In
defining and identifying the issues the lawyer predicts the
answers that a court would give if it were faced with the facts,
in light of the pertinent and applicable laws thereto.

c. Laws, Jurisprudence and Legal principles
Survey of pertinent statutes
The prospective client will find it helpful to have the
applicable statutory provisions set out. If the provisions
are long, the lawyer may opt to paraphrase them.
Survey of precedents
The lawyer may review the relevant, primary
precedents governing the facts. It is usually not
necessary to prepare a history of the case law; the most
recent or definitive cases will suffice.
Caution: Care must be taken not to cite irrelevant laws,
jurisprudence or those legal principles that do not directly deal
with the identified issues.

d. Conclusion Summary of the lawyers predictions about the
appreciation of the law or settled legal principles and their
application to the given case. This is where the brief answers
furnished at the introductory paragraph are affirmed and
expanded.

e. Recommendation
The lawyer is expected to recommend the best solution to
the problem facing the client. What should the client do? What
do you propose to do for the client? These are the questions the
lawyer answers here.

Note:
There is no better way to prepare for the bar exam in respect to
legal opinion writing than to master, as much as possible, the laws
and jurisprudence required of the bar candidate to study, and to read
as many legal opinions as possible including at the foremost those
opinions of the supreme court and other legal luminaries on a variety
of legal issues.

Good luck!