Please, help! What is the principal difference between legal memorandum and legal opinion? thanks in advance!?

Answer 1

A legal memorandum is a thesis put down on paper arguing an issue before a court, or internally within a firm or a department of the government, or within a conference of several judges charged with deciding a case; and so forth.

A legal opinion depends on what kind.

One could be an opinion letter by an attorney meant for a specific client, giving an opinion on a certain issue.

An opinion from a court is a decision, on the merits, regarding certain facts and issues presented to the court.

Without more information, its difficult to understand what you are getting at.

Answer 2

A legal memorandum (known as a "brief") is submitted to the court by a party in a pending legal matter. This usually happens when a judge has to make a decision regarding a matter of law. The parties "brief" the issue(s) to provide the court with their legal arguments in writing.

This spares valuable court time from being expended by arguing the issues orally in court. It also affords the attorneys the opportunity to present their thoughts in an organized fashion after doing the necessary legal research.

In simplistic terms, most briefs can be broken down into four necessary parts: Identification of the contested issue(s); identification of the current law(s) pertaining to that issue (precedent and/or statutory); analysis (this is the most important part) by application of the law to the facts of the case; and conclusion (a statement of how the court should rule based upon the analysis provided in the brief).

A "legal opinion," on the other hand, is merely advice given by a lawyer to a client (not the court). So the priniciple difference is audience: a legal memo is a written submission to the court; a legal opinion is advice to a client (could be oral or written).

[My hope is that you learn from this posting. Please don't copy it for a school assignment....]

Answer 3

Legal memorandum is binding to the parties but legal opinion is not binding when presented in court unless it is made by an expert just a doctor about medical matters.