Legal Writing Tip #2 Lead with Your Conclusion

Lead with your conclusion. It's more convincing, it makes your memo or brief easier to understand, and easier to read. Leading with the conclusion allows for the reader to follow along with your reasoning rather than try to guess the conclusion. It lets the reader know what to expect, making your writing more comprehensible.
It also focuses the writer and provides a standard as to which parts of a document may be cut. Anything that follows, that is not relevant to the conclusion, can be eliminated. Critics of legal writing lament that many legal writers meander through their writings, boring their readers along the way, before arriving at their conclusions. One 2nd Circuit Circuit judge stated that law review articles are the genre in which the writer, "spends 30 pages describing a problem you never knew existed and 50 pages explaining why it will never be solved." Leading with your conclusions can help keep you from being that guy (or girl).

On a side note, we get our assignment for our third memo tomorrow. I'm actually excited for it. I'm eager to prove that my extra reading and work is paying off.