IRAC Explanation within the Ethnography

Prior to meeting with our informant, we conducted preliminary research on some forms
of legal writing to have a better basis and understanding when referencing such documents
during the interview. One piece of writing that appeared staple in the legal realm was the legal
memoranda, otherwise known as the legal memo. In layman terms, the legal memo is an
argument submitted to court that provides other professionals of law with a concise synopsis of a
case. While a memo can be simply categorized as a formal summary, it actually requires a
sizeable amount of work put forth by a qualified lawyer. These briefs are constructed to be read
and analyzed by other experts of laws (i.e. judges) and therefore must encompass formal speech
and technical legal jargon all the while remaining abridged.
It came as a surprise to us when our informant updated us about the shift legal writing has
been making over the past twenty years. He proclaimed that over the years the idea of legal
writing has gone from precise technical jargon to writing more so in plain English. While there
are no specific programs that lawyers use for drafting legal documents, he did provide us with a
methodology taught in law school that lawyers use when writing legal memos IRAC.
Composing a legal memo is done in two parts; the first part is what he called the functional
background. The functional background is dependent on a lawyer introducing the case and
looking to "spin the factor" to appeal to the intended audience. Following is the application of
IRAC. IRAC stands for Issue, Rule, Application, and Conclusion. When constructing a legal
memo, this acronym allows for a clear analysis to be made by methodically laying out each issue
and the laws/facts that coincide. To further this, our informant said to us that roughly 90% of all
cases are based off of facts, not law. This means that facts of a case are central to the application
of IRAC. Facts help identify the issue, which in turn provide identification of the most relevant
rules and laws to use. Surprisingly, legal jargon is employed in only 10% of cases that use the
application of law outside the facts.