While chasing down interesting details in WestLaw has proven both educational and entertaining, I don’t feel like I am getting much of anywhere on drafting a memo after more hours than I would care to acknowledge. The format is clear; and the detail provided on citations was more than adequate.
My frustration can be take down to two major issues – either of which or both might be related to the fact that I am not a lawyer. In both cases, I am still the one with “challenges.” The first is that I just don’t think like a lawyer. I understand in essence the concept of citing reasons and cases – but I think part of my resistance stems from the fact that I just don’t get/agree with the whole issue of settling disputes by law suit. To me it is the act of less than rational human beings, somewhat a kin to solving disputes with handguns. Substitute words as weapons and we are close. Having lived in non-English speaking areas for years, I became accustomed to code based legal systems. Then, of course, UCMJ is completely code based. The application of code/regulation involves choice on the part of the BCD authority, but common law has absolutely nothing to do with the military.
All of this means that I have little clue on the content of what I should be placing in a memo that is due 1530 today. I might be able to do references, but the rest of it….