By: Joe Murphy
If you’re talking about the Rule Against Perpetuities – let’s hope not. If you’re talking about the research skills, case synthesis, and memo formatting you learned in your Legal Practice Skills (LPS) course – then probably. And if you are a judicial intern this summer or ever practice law – then definitely.
On Day 1 of last summer’s judicial internship, one of the judge’s very smart law clerks dropped a chat in Microsoft Teams:
“Can you get me a memo by tomorrow at noon on whether a consumer can waive their rights to bring a claim against a corporation?”
After a momentary panic, I thought “What the heck is he talking about?”
Law Clerk is typing….
“Phew, he must have the wrong person. This is my first day. I haven’t even taken Business Entities yet.”
“Take a look at Chapter 93A Massachusetts Consumer Protection. I am pretty sure waiving the right to bring a claim might go against 93A from a policy perspective. 2-3 pages is fine – nothing crazy. Let me know if you have questions.”
Another momentary panic – “What about font size? Or margins? I’m definitely going to mess up the cites. Does he want parentheticals? What does he mean ‘memo’?”
“Yes, I will get right on it.”
Once the panic subsided, the LPS course muscle memory kicked in.
Let’s Google to get a quick idea of what Chapter 93A is. Then I’ll need a secondary source. The Massachusetts Practice Series is always a good starting point. And wow, it has its own page for Chapter 93A claims. Now I can click right from here for a couple of on-point cases. And then check to see if there is anything more recent.
After a few hours, I had found some great cases. And the very talented Law Clerk’s initial instinct on 93A public policy was correct. (The Law Clerk being right would become a common theme throughout the summer.)
But what does he mean “memo”?
I logged onto my LPS Blackboard course and downloaded an “Objective Memo Review” PowerPoint that was a crash course on how to draft an Objective Memo. The presentation covered everything I had forgotten while cramming for finals – “Question Presented,” “Brief Answer,” “Facts,” “CREAC,” and “Conclusion.”
My memo was far from perfect. The Question Presented was not global enough and some of the Analysis was shaky. But the clerk clarified what he was looking for and the next memo improved.
As someone who does not enjoy PowerPoint presentations, this one saved me. So when you’re sitting through a Legal Practice Skills class next year wondering if you will actually use this stuff – the answer is YES! But if you’re sitting through Property class covering RAP – I don’t know what to tell you.