Legal qustions

Any good research project begins with a question that reveals a puzzle between empirical obser-
vations and theory. In the case of legal questions, our theoretical guidance comes from different
sources and doctrines of law.
For example, a legal question might ask: “What legal recourse is available to the International
Criminal Court (ICC) under the possibility that a government fails to cooperate in the prosecution
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Much of the information provided in this project description comes from the short and useful “A Guide to Writing
a Legal Memorandum” produced by the University of Wisconsin. This document is also available on D2L for your
reference.
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of its citizens for crimes against humanity, given that the country legally withdrew from the statute
after prosecution began?”
Another question: “What obligations does a country have under the Geneva Conventions with
respect to the use of drones for military purposes in civilian-populated areas?”
For a more general set of templates, you might work on having your question reflect any of the
following goals (Bryman 2012; Denscombe 2010):

Predicting
an outcome (Are
a
and
b
circumstances under which the international court will
decide outcome
y
?)

Evaluating
a phenomenon (Do principles
a
or
b
have applications to
y
as believed?)

Describing
a phenomenon (What is
y
like and what forms relevant to international law does
y
assume?)

Comparing
multiple incidents of a similar phenomenon (Do
a
and
b
differ in respect of
x
?)
The important thing to keep in mind is that your question should, above all, be answerable using
rigorous evidence and reasoning. This should also help you eliminate questions that are too pre-
scriptive or that have an agenda (e.g., What ought to be the law on
y
?). Such questions are difficult
to systematically answer and are likely to lead you astray from the purpose of the this type of
document.
Legal Principles Thesis
Simply, a thesis makes a direct, sometimes argumentative, statement about a project’s central con-
tribution. In this case, your legal principles thesis should clearly articulate which particular legal
issues are in dispute and briefly explain why that might be the case.
For example, the legal principles thesis to the above-posed question about ICC adjudication might
be,
“This question highlights a gap in the description of states legal responsibilities to
international criminal law between interim obligations and consent. It may be un-
derstood that, under principles of consent (
pacta sunt servanda
), the government in
question is obligated to fully cooperate with international prosecutors, regardless of
its new relationship to the treaty. Alternatively, an application of interim obligations
may justify the governments desire to protect leaders from prosecution. So long as
they do not actively violate the object and purpose of the treaty, sovereignty protects
the government from being compelled to turn over accused leaders.”
As an aid, ask yourself the following questions:

Why or when might this legal question arise?
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Does this question arise due to a gap or lack of clarity in existing legal documentation or
custom?

Is this a problem of overlapping treaties or rules?
Your legal principles thesis provides the answer and identifies the particular elements, without
going into too much detail.
Summary of Pertinent Facts
Later in the memo you will more fully describe the facts relevant to the case. In this Questions
section, you should simply give enough information about the facts of the case that makes the
question urgent and necessary to answer.
Cover the journalistic basis:
Who, What, When,
and
Where
?
II. Brief Answer (150-250 words)
The “Brief Answer” section achieves what its title set up: It
1. Concisely answers the question posed in the previous section and
2. Summarizes your legal reasoning for reaching that conclusion.
Based on these objectives, the style for the Brief Answer section should be direct and argumenta-
tive.
Imagine if your intended audience only read the first page or so of your legal memo – the reader
should be able to understand from the Question and Brief Answer sections the problem posed and
the appropriate legal answer.
III. Facts (500-700 words)
This section of the paper should outline the facts of the issue or problem that are
directly
relevant
to the case. As the University of Wisconsin guide advises: “The ‘Facts’ section should include
only those facts that affect the outcome of your question. It should not repeat every fact in the
assignment” (A Guide . . . 2011: 3).
Again, recall the journalistic questions: Who, What, When, Where, and How.
In this section, though, you have some space to expand and give more context to the information
presented in the Question section.
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IV. Discussion (500-1000 words)
In the Discussion section, you explain the connection between the existing principles of law and
the facts of your case. The goal is to identify how the law applies and how an international court
or arbitral panel might decide.
The Discussion section has a standard internal organization.
For each
applicable principle of law,
you should (A Guide . . . 2011):
1.
Issue:
Identify the particular issue of law that you plan to analyze.

Keep in mind that if an issue of law has multiple parts that you may need to identify
and explain each of these parts.
2.
Rule Explanation:
Identify and explain any relevant rules, including how the rule works, its
underlying justifications, and how it has been used in the past to decide similar cases.
3.
Application of the Rule to the Facts of the Case:
Spell out the connections between the rules
and facts.
4.
Conclusion:
Inform the reader of the implications of existing law for the issue or facts under
consideration.
This approach is more familiarly known as the IRAC method of rule analysis. There are a number
of examples on-line, including a few provided on D2L.
The Discussion section should be the largest section of your paper, both in terms of length and
critical attention. Indeed, you may want to complete the Facts and Discussion sections before your
write the Question and Brief Answer sections.
The Finish Line
Format
The legal memorandum should be between 1500 and 2000 words. Use 12-point, standard serif
font (e.g., Times) and 1-inch margins all around. The body of the text should be double-spaced.
Include a heading with your name and the date and provide a title.
Follow conventional documentation standards: Memos must use in-text citations and provide a
Works Cited page that lists the bibliographic information for any of the materials consulted, in-
cluding the textbook and assigned readings. Use APSA or Chicago style formatting. The Works
Cited page does not count toward the final word count for any assignment.
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Turning in the Report
Your report is due 03 October, 2014 by 11:59 PM.

For each day,
rounding up to the next whole number of days
, that your work is late, 10% of
the available points will be automatically deducted.

For example, if the assignment is due on Friday at 11:59 PM and you turn it in the next
morning at 5:00 AM, 10% of the points will be deducted. If the work is not received until
5:00 PM the next evening, then 20% will be deducted.
Submit your reports to the D2L dropbox designated for that week. Documents should be submitted
in
.pdf
format.
Reports not submitted as .pdf will be penalized 10%.

The dropbox for this project has
Turnitin
enabled. The folders are set up to allow you to
view the originality report. One recommendation I have is that you submit an early draft of
your work to get an initial originality report. From there, you can nip many problems with
citations and resource use in the bud.
What If …?

Each Dropbox file allows multiple submissions. If you make multiple submissions,
I will
only read the last posted file
. Otherwise, I cannot tell which file you intended me to read.

If your
Turnitin
originality report has a “troubling” score:
Don’t Panic
.
Turnitin
is a useful,
but not perfect, tool. There are a number of factors that go into
Turnitin’s
evaluation and
each work will be graded, ultimately, according to the instructor’s assessment.

If you experience problems with D2L and the Dropbox system,
notify me as soon as possible
.
The best way to do this is by e-mailing me directly, rather than through D2L, because I will
receive the message more quickly.

Egads! My internet connection went down at precisely 11:58 PM on the due date!
1.
Don’t Panic
.
2. Submit your project as soon as possible.
3. E-mail me about the problem as soon as possible.
I am a reasonable person and will evaluate cases on their merits. Frankly, much work that
is submitted at the last minute is often not the student’s best work. Prepare early, in case of
emergency.

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