法律意見書寫作要求
ZHANG, WANG & LEE, L.L.P.
ATTORNEYS AND COUNSELLORS AT LAW
666 EAST CHANGAN BOULEVARD
BEIJING, P.R. CHINA 100001
TELEPHONE: 010-1234-5678; TELEFAX: 010-1234-5679
WWW..ZWL.COM.CN
OFFICE MEMORANDUM September 12, 2005
TO: All foreign and domestic summer interns
FROM: Director, Department of International Practice
RE: Legal Opinion Letters to Clients
Most legal writing has two general purposes, either to inform or to persuade, or
sometimes to do both. One very specific form of legal writing is an opinion letter to
a client. The general purpose is to inform, but it goes far beyond giving information.
We have a dual goal:
1. to give the client a diagnosis.
2. to give a prescription.
We want to help the client understand how the law applies to his or her particular
problem and to explain his or her legal rights and obligations. To give credibility to
our conclusions, we need to explain how the law and facts support our reasoning and
opinion. Our second purpose, the prescriptive one, is to enable the client to make a
decision about how to deal with his or her legal problem. To do so, we must not
only set out the options available to the client, but also the risks and benefits of each.
To evaluate each course of action, we must take into account factors such as expense,
delay, risk, emotional conflict, risk, and, of course, the client's specific concerns. It
is not our intent to persuade the client or to sway his judgment, but to make sure
that he has sufficient understanding about the problem and its possible solutions to
make an informed decision about the best means of resolving it.
Our law firm follows these guidelines in preparing legal opinion letters to clients:
1. State or summarize each client question independently.
2. Following each question, provide a concise one-sentence statement giving a
“short answer” to the question.

3. Following the short answer, write an explanation of the issues raised by the
question, including how the relevant authorities combined with the facts lead to
your conclusions and recommendations.
4. Bear in mind that, in most cases, the client is not a lawyer, so use language
appropriate to the client’s level of sophistication. Remember also to write in a
way that allows the client to follow your reasoning and the logic of your
conclusions.