Statement of Facts Checklist
The Statement of Facts begins with a brief explanation of what the client (or potential client) seeks or wants to know as to the legal issue.
The Statement of Facts includes the legally significant facts that a court would use in analyzing and applying the rule to the instant case.
The Statement of Facts includes all the facts from the instant case that are used in the fact-to-fact comparisons in the Discussion section.
The Statement of Facts includes essential background facts that are necessary for following the narrative of the instant case.
The Statement of Facts does not include facts that are meaningless to the resolution of the legal issue and the reader's understanding of its narrative.
The Statement of Facts presents facts that are both favorable and unfavorable to the instant case.
The Statement of Facts presents the facts chronologically (or topically if the facts do not lend themselves to chronology).
The Statement of Facts states the names of the parties consistently throughout.
The Statement of Facts includes paragraphs to help organize the narrative.
The Statement of Facts avoids making legal conclusions.
The Statement of Facts avoids exaggerating and dramatizing the facts.
The Statement of Facts ends with a sentence or two bringing the reader up-to-speed about the instant case's procedural posture.
If applicable: the Statement of Facts follows proper Bluebook citation (long and short form) when citing to the case file.