Legal Writing Project 1
Instructions:-
Background. This graded project provides practical experience in the type of legal writing you may be asked to do as a paralegal.
Procedure. This project involves three exercises. For the first exercise, you’ll prepare a letter to a client advising her of the date and time of her tax assessment appeal hearing.
For the second exercise, you’ll prepare a deed for a client who is selling her property. In the first and second exercises, you’ll also be asked to review your supervising attorney’s memo and then prepare the required document. A form letter and deed are provided to you to help in completing the assignment. For the final exercise, you’ll prepare an internal
memorandum to your supervising attorney addressing a particular
issue of law. Statutory and court authority needed to complete this assignment are provided.
Goal. When you’ve completed this project, you’ll have experience preparing several types of legal writing, which you may be asked to do as a paralegal in a law firm. You’ll also have practice in following very specific formats and forms in completing these projects, and in using clear, precise language and good grammar, spelling, and punctuation when you write.
Solution
Legal Writing Project 1
Exercise 1: Preparing a Letter to a Client
The Attorneys of James and Rama Associates
7790 Sixteen Thirty
Small Ville, Los Angeles 99338
(768) 888-9897
Fax (768) 888-9897
March 3, 2017
Jane P. Smith
123 Rock Road, Clark, Pennsylvania 18118
RE: NOTICE OF TAX APPEAL HEARING
Dear MR. Smith
I wish to appreciate you for maintaining us in your service in your case. This comes to notify you of the scheduled appellate hearing of your case. The hearing has been set for March 6, 2005 starting from 10:35 a.m. The attorney that has been handling your case, ES, requires you to meet him in the lobby ten minutes before the hearing is scheduled to begin. Take note that in the meeting, he expects you to bring with you pictures of all comparable houses in your area as had been the agreement between you and him in the meeting you had earlier.
Please confirm receipt of this notification as soon as it gets to you. Feel free to communicate any issues and concerns you may have appertaining the information contained in this notice to me. I will gladly pass it to him.
Very truly yours
Exercise 2: Preparing a Deed
THIS DEED Made the 15th day of January in the year Two Thousand and sixteen (2016) Between JANE P. SMITH, of the Township of Borough of Clark, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, herein after referred to as the Grantors AND Adam and Sally Jones, of the Township of Borough of Clark, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, hereinafter referred to as the Grantee. WITNESSETH, That in consideration of the sum of fifteen thousand ($150,000.00) Dollars, in hand paid, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, the Grantors do hereby grant and convey to the said Grantee, her Heirs and Assigns,
ALL that certain piece or parcels of land situate, lying and being in the Township of Borough of Clark, County of Lackawanna and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, bounded and described as follows, to wit: BEGINNING at a point in the Easterly line of Rock Avenue which point is Twenty (20) feet Southerly from the division line between Lots numbered 197 and 198; thence along the line of said Rock Avenue in a Southerly direction Eighty (80) feet to a point still in the line of said Rock Avenue; thence at right angles to the last mentioned course and in an Easterly direction One Hundred Seven and five-tenths (107.5) feet to a point in the rear line of Lot numbered 205; thence at right angles to last mentioned course in a Northerly direction and parallel with said Rock Avenue and along the rear line of lots numbered 205, 206 and 207, Eighty (80) feet to a corner; thence at right angles to last mentioned course and in a Westerly direction One Hundred Seven and five-tenths (107.5) feet to a corner in line of Rock Avenue, the place of BEGINNING Containing approximately 86,000 square feet of land, more or less, and being the Southerly one-half of Lot numbered 198.
Subject to all restrictions, reservations conditions and exceptions as set forth in deeds forming the chain of title.
BEING the same premises conveyed to the Grantors herein by deed of Mo Wells, et al., dated May 3, 1964, and recorded in the Lackawanna County Recorder of Deeds in Deed Book 810 Page 233. Tax Map No. 19-19-050-019-8 And the said Grantor does hereby generally warrant the property hereby conveyed.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, said Grantors have hereunto set her hand and seal the day and year first above written. Signed, Sealed and Delivered Grantor: in the Presence of:
Stephenson Renflix Jane Smith
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania )
) ss.
County of Lackawana )
On this, the 21st of march, 2017, before me, the undersigned officer, personally appeared Joan Smith, known to me or satisfactorily proven to be the persons whose names are subscribed to the within instrument and acknowledged that they executed the same for the purposes herein contained.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and seal.
Remy Rony
Notary Public
I hereby certify that the precise address of the Grantee herein is 123 Rock Road, Clark, Pennsylvania 18118. ES Attorney for Grantee
Exercise 3: Writing an Internal Memo
From: Paralegal, ES
To: Supervising Attorney
Date: Today
Re: Case Research and Applicable law
These are facts about the claim of compensation by the plaintiff John Brown who levelled charges against his dentists alleging that the omission of the defendant (dentist, Dr. Furlow) not to extract his tooth caused the plaintiff to incur huge expenses in medical bills, led him to losing his income and resulted to pain and suffering. It has to be noted that when the defendant met with his patient he instructed the plaintiff to return to him recommendation the plaintiff did not heed. Default judgment was made against the defendant.
This case applies aspects of the US tort law and more
precisely negligence. According to Zabinski & Bernard, negligence is
proven when a party or parties in a case fail to take necessary care as another
person would have when faced with the same circumstances (43). In this case,
negligence is on the part of the person who did not take reasonable care (Zipursky 71).
The dentist, (defendant) understood that the tooth of the plaintiff was
infected and instructed him to come back to him. However, the plaintiff chose
to ignore the dentist’s recommendation and went for a vacation camping where
the dental problem grew worse. The tort law on negligence presumes that duty
was owed to the plaintiff which was forfeited (Ayres & Alan 16). This is true and the
facts and events show that the defendant made good on his duty by requiring the
plaintiff to report back for checkup. It was negligence on the part of the
plaintiff to ignore the dentist’s directions and take a vacation with awareness
that he needed his tooth attended to.
Works Cited
Ayres, Ian, and Alan Schwartz. “The no-reading problem in consumer contract law.” Stan. L.Rev. 66 (2014): 545.
Zabinski, Zenon, and Bernard S. Black. “The Deterrent Effect of Tort Law: Evidence from Medical Malpractice Reform.” (2015).
Zipursky, Benjamin C. “Reasonableness in and out of Negligence Law.” (2015).