1..

L"g*l \fridng
S"op" oflegal Wtiting
the things that lawyers vzrite to
. This book is
wln others over to^T":
thgir point ofo'ie*. If yoi ;;r;
;;*.
ieg tavrye4 you would b. doing , to, oiitii.

Hi ri**.
,o;;;l*.1, #;.,

For insance, when your client, ,-;,

^
you teSardinS the threl of a possible
lawsuit fro*
:o
tomer who was takel ill.af_cer.eaung
"
in your client,s ,.rLLLr,
yoo..*r{
lave to 1,:nf-lri* bacl(,-giving him your,,1.*rLgading his probabre riabirity based"on
ir. r*.., rr. ,.u, y""

*r-

When the case gets to.court, you

would be filing a num_
pleadinp like an ani&er to the customer,s
:f
P.
complainq
denying your client's Iiabirity or
minimizing ir Further dovrr
the road, you would probaliy fiI.
hj* assorted pleading.s,
m3tions, oppositions, replies, reioinders,
memoranda, aad

f*

Aod if you were m be &e

who is also a lawyer,
iodg.,'h"o.
and must decide the casg yoo
oro,rli
,o put yout deci_
sion in *itirg, announce its results,
,*o.^t to the parties
your reasons for the decision. Under
our laws, ,h.

*i

p#;;;

FuxoarcNrars op Lrcar lfnmNc

entitled to know why they won or lost a case. The strength

LscAL W'nrrwc

of

your decision lies in the validity and persuasiveness of the

opinion supporting it. This, too, is legal writing.

Aims of the Book

.' The pdncipal aim of this boekis to hetp you write plead*
ings, lqgal opiaions, memotanda and orher position paper$,
dearly and convincinglS and torwin others to yotrr point of
view. Consequently, aparr ftom leaming the geoeral structure
of effeaive legd writing this book will do more.
One. This book will help you identify and put together
the facts on which the issues of a case will be decided. As a
rule, cases will not come with the facts all sorted out for you.
You will discover, as you study the documents, hold interviews with the parties involved, or simply examine the records, that the relevant facts in a case arc fx from organized
and come mixed up with the irrelevant. He who is able to
extract and organize the relevant facts would have the advantage of arguing from unclutteted truth. You cao get there if
you persevere in the lessons of this book

Two. This book will also help you find the larv or rule
that applies to your case given the nauue of the lqgal dispute
iavolved in ir You will discover that laws are not restricted to
those enacted by duly constituted legislative bodies called
"satute law." A great body of laws also evolves from iudicial
precedents, where courts inteqpret laws as these apply to
specific cases. This body of laws is refered to as "case law."
Your knowledge of the law involved in your case, both statute
law and case la.r, must complement your kaowledge of the

facts to prepare you for the job of writing to persuade your

reader to your point of view.

Three. This book *ill h.lp you correctly identifr the issue or issues in a case. T1re isiul does foruo opirrioo o,
pleading what the nrdder does fot a ship. If you aqgue the^
wroog issue, it would be like pointing your rudder to the

wrong ditection such thet your argument would rrot rouch

port and miss the real issue that the case llresents. When this
happeasr'your case would be decided oo ,n issue that you
choie not to be heard on. You can avoid this.

Four. This book will help you pack power into your arIt will show you the elements of balanced presen^
tation of those arguments and what it takes
to destroy the
argument of tle opposite side while building up your own. It
gumeots.

urill also show you the importance of a closing satement and

how you could prepare a most effective ooe.

Five. This book will show you how to edit your work,
tighten your sentences, and make'yout *itirg come through
to your reader clear$. A number of legal*itiogprescdptioas
in this book may appear controversial to some but controversies initiate discussion and the fiee markepl".e of ideas always profits from it AII that is required is an open mind.
Si:r" This book aims to help you write beter. Some say
that the ability to write well is a natural gift that is not available to all This mrght be rue. But the fact that you have
gotten this far in your studies gives you the dght to assume
that you have the grft to write. All you have to do now is
improve on your gift.

F${oaMsNTArs

or Lrcar lfrmNc

Mastet a few refurbished techniques collected in this

book and you are oa your way to prepering adequate, dear,
aod convincing pleadings, lqgal opiniofls, iltemoranda, and
other position PaPers. Of coursg the greatest secret of suc*
cess rn vrititrg well is in constandy striving to use what yo-u
leam Theywillnotwork unless you Put them into pmctice

2.

The Legal Dispute

A lryal dispute lies at &e heart of every case. In facg
most of yo* qdring assignments as a huyer would probably
be devoted to aryqing and resofing q.rch a dispute.
Meaning of legal dispute
For the pu{pose of this boolq there is a lQ*rl4rre
when
,ulegal dispute in this sense is akin to a cause of action iu a
civil suit in which the defendant denies the chim against him.
It is this denial that tenders a legal dispute.

'Whea
a person renting an apartrnent at g..Ily could not
pay the agreed monthly rents yet refuses to leave his unig a
legal dispute arises. This consists of (a) the apartment
ownet's claim that the tenart fails to pay the agreed
monthl1r rents yet refuses to leave his unit and (b) the
tellant's derdal of the clairrr You have in dris case a dght
protected by law, an alleged violation of such rieht, arid a
denial of the allegation---a legal dispute

The right clainred to have been violated musq of course,

be a legal dght since courts will uphold and vindicate only

Tnr Ircar, Drspur,

Frxoarrmxrars or I-pcar WtmNc

those rights that are established or recogqized by law. For

insance, a Filipino may claim tlmt he deserres to be allowed
to travel to the Udted Sates. Buq if the U.S. embassy denies
him the visa reqrired fot entry into that coutrry, he cannot
file a larrsuit to compel its issuance since Philippine laws do
not graflt him that right.
Likewise, the dispute over the demand that Filipino
rather than English be made the m'edium of instruction ip atrl
Ieve,ls of education is not a le'gal dispute since it does not
involve afl actllal violation of iome right Ttre controversy,,
althouglr of pgblic interesg will:not to be resolved by litigation but by legislative action.
What is the legal dispute when a Person allegedly refuses
to pay his debt? The legal dispute lies in (a) the creditot's
claim that the debtot uniustly tefuses to pay his debt
under a ptomissory note that he issued in favot of the
ceditor and (b) the debtotts denial of such a claim. Again,
you have here a dght protected by law, an alleged violation of
the right, and a denial of the allegation.
a criminal case, the legal dispute consists in the State's
the accused has violated its right to compel obedithat
claiar
ence to its larilIs and in the lattels dedal of the daim at his
arraigrmenL So what does the tegal dispute consists of wtren
p.i*on defrauds another by selling a fake Rolex watch to
"him for the price of a genuine one? This consists of (a) the
State's charge that the accused deftauded the complainant by selling a fake Rolex watch to him fot the price of
a genuine onel ard (b) the accused's denial of the chatge.

In

Its significance in legalwriting

it imporant in legal *ritiog that you are able to
identify the legal dispute involved in a case?

\V'hy is
knornr and

Since a legal dispute involves a violation of a rigfrt protected by law or which violation the larr punisheg f,othifig
less tlan thc rcsolution of such dispute could properly end it
Preciseln we say that a legal dispute is at the heart of errery
case subject of legal writing because it is like a tumor tbat
would not go away until it is excised. Consequently, if you fail
to correctly identifr the legal dispute and ad&ess ig you
would iust be running around in circles, contributing nothing
to its final termination. That is how important it is!

L.g"l dispute

and the princtpal issue

As a rule, the tegi'dispute, recast in the format of an

issue, ptovides the principal issue in every case. Take the
earlier case of the tenant who could not pay the agreed
monthly rents yet refuses to leave his apartrnent unit We said
that the legal dispute consists i" (u) the apertrnert owtret's
daim that &e tenant fails to pay the agreed monthly rents yet
refuses to leave his unit ,nd (b) the tenant's denial of the
claim. Put in the fonoat of an issue, the principal issue is
*whether or not the tenant fails to pay the monttrly teuts
yet refuses to leave his unit."
Take also the case of the person who tifuses to pay his
debt. We said that the legal dispute lies in (a) the creditor's
claim that the debtor unjusdy refuses to pay his debt under a
promissory note that he issued in favor of the creditot and (b)
the debtor's denial of such a claim. Rerxrritten in the fomrat of

FuNoarvmNrars

or

THB Lrcar, Drspure

LacAL Wprrn*c

an issug the pdncipal issue is rcwhethet ot not the debtor

uniustly refuses to pay his debt under a promissory note
that he issued in favor of the creditor."

In the cdminal case discussed above, we said that the legal dispute consists in (a) the State's charge that the accused
de&auded the comphinar* by selling a fake Rolex vratch to
hisi for the price of a gequine onq and O) the accused's
der-rial of &e charge. Recast as an issue, tlre principal issue
is'(whether or not &e accused defrauded the complainant by selling_a fake Rolex watch to him for ttre price o{
genuine one."

phat does the legal dispute consists of when a building

official issues to the owner an occupancy permit for a building with inadequate fite exits? It consists of (a) the complainant's daim that respondent buitding official issued to the
owner an occupa$cy permit for a building with inad*quate
fire exits in violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act 3019;
and (b) the respondent's denial of that daim. Ttansfomred
into an issue, the pdncipal issue is 'cwhether or not respondent building officid issued to the owner an occupancy
permit covering a building that has inadequate fire exits
in violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act 3019.'
Impo*ance of principat issue
'il0hy is knowledge of the principal issue important to
you? It is imporant to you because your cas will be decided
for or agaiast you based on that issue. It is impottant because
you judge the significance of every argumeflt that you want tc
use to persuade yout reader by its relevance to the pdncipal

issue. Any argumeot that does not touch base with the princir
pal issue or issues (there could be more than one principd
issue involved in a case) would be quite useless and a waste of

time.