Memorandum of Law: By now, for Week 4, based upon last week’s activities, you s

Memorandum of Law:
By now, for Week 4, based upon last week’s activities, you should be well underway in preparing your memorandum of law. You should be entering the writing stage at this point. Be sure to review last week’s provided materials regarding the ORGANIZATION and writing of the memorandum of law.
For the memorandum of law, please use the following as a checklist/guideline:
1) REQUIREMENT: Minimum of 10 legal research sources broken down as follows:
a) at least six primary sources (reference at least one constitutional amendment, at least one statute, and at least two case law/opinion sources.) The remaining primary sources can be any combination including other constitutional references, statutes, case law, administrative regulations. This requirement should easily be met if one has done a thorough search to include looking at all the sources of law on a given topic. (If you are having trouble meeting this requirement, please contact me.)
b) at least four secondary sources (reference at least one law review journal article.)
c) at least one case or secondary source that uses empirical research as a basis or determining factor in its opinion or conclusion.
2) GUIDELINE: Page length: This is often the most difficult question to answer. In legal research, the page length is dependent upon “answering the question.” When you have answered the question, you are done. Let me illustrate: some US Supreme Court opinions are 5 pages in length, some are more than 200 pages in length. For this memo, as a rough estimate 8-12 pages SINGLE-SPACED. My estimation is that it will be somewhere in between. Evaluation is dependent upon: did you frame your issue/question concisely, did you find primary and secondary sources relevant to the inquiry, did you understand and analyze the sources in relation to your inquiry, did you WRITE concisely and address the issue thoroughly (page length), and finally did you properly cite your work? If you are concerned about the page length, please contact me.
3) REQUIREMENT: You should use Westlaw to locate your sources. You may use other methods of research as included in the textbook; however, you must use reliable sources, such as government websites, that find the law. Keep in mind that you should find the actual law (not someone’s interpretation of the law unless you are looking for a secondary source.)
4) REQUIREMENT: Be sure to finish up your work by using the provided STUDENT GUIDE to properly cite your work in regards to this specific legal document, and to use KeyCite or Shepard’s to be sure your work is good law.