Having difficulty understanding TRAC, TRRAC, IRAC or any of the legal writing formats? Follow this link to an article by Gerald Lebovits in the July/August issue of the New York State Bar Association Journal: Cracking the Code to Writing Legal Arguments: From IRAC to CRARC to Combinations in Between.
Lebovits is very good at explaining the various methods of using these acronymns to structure a legal argument, memo, law school exam or whatever. He suggests others that you might use when you are in practice. The important point he makes, however, is that using these structures is not confining. Even the most experienced legal writers need to impose a sense of discipline on their work. Judges, colleagues, and law professors expect it. Using a formula is the best way of setting out complex legal concepts. This skill, once learned in law school, will make you a more effective advocate the rest of your career.
