MEMORANDUM OF ADVICE:
On 1st January 20xx, country A was dissolved, and its three departments W, X, and Y, became independent states. According to their Gross National Product (GNP), countries W and X are classified as middle-income countries, and country Y as a developing state. States W and Y are landlocked. Country X has a coastline. The population in country W is fairly dense, whilst it is sparse in states X and Y. Agricultural land is of high quality in country W, medium quality in state X and poor quality in country Y.
You are an adviser to the government of country W, which is to consider passing legislation that will admit W as a Member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The government is aware that Membership of the WTO would involve commitments under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). However, it is unclear on the nature of these obligations, and on any other agreements that might be applicable. Neither country X nor state Y is a Member of the WTO at present.
You are asked to advise the government of country W on the benefits and drawbacks of W joining the WTO, and to make recommendations as to whether it should join or not, based on your advice.
Do summarise your advice to your client at the beginning of the MOA. This provides the examiners with a road map that they can use to understand the detailed arguments in your MOA.
Do present your case law analysis in context. Whenever you mention a particular case, it ought to be clear why you are using your case to make a point. If you mention a stream of cases without mentioning why they are relevant and how they bolster your arguments, you are not going to get much credit for mentioning these cases. The same goes for quotations from cases. Any quotations from cases must be used by you as part of your advice to your client.
Do discuss the case law/articles/books that you refer to in your MOA in your own words. Avoid too many direct quotes. The examiners are most interested in your thoughts and arguments. Too many direct quotes would distract the examiners and they would struggle to locate your contribution in the MOA. Examiners appreciate it when you build your arguments/assertions on a foundation of case law/legislation/secondary sources. However, do not let statements in case law/secondary sources ‘speak for themselves’. Try to express what other judges/authors have stated in your own words. It is of course perfectly appropriate to quote directly from cases/secondary sources (with proper referencing) when you feel that these quotes bring home your point most forcefully. However, quotations that are too long give the impression that you have not applied your mind properly to the issues that have arisen in the case law.
Do mention the number of words (in your MOA) on the MOA cover sheet. This ensures that we know your MOA is within the word limit: 3000 words
Do not present an opinion/argument from a case/article/book/legislation without an appropriate reference. The examiners would like to know the source of your arguments. It does not matter how and where you provide your reference (i.e. in the text or in the footnotes) as long as you follow a consistent style (any style) of referencing and the references are detailed and accurate.
Do not leave it to the examiner to conclude the result of your analysis. You must come to a proper and clearly expressed conclusion for every question/issue that you analyse in the MOA. This shows that you have a made an attempt to apply the law to the facts provided to you.
The number of words in your MOA
Do not include a bibliography at the end of the MOA. As the MOA is not an academic paper, we do not require bibliographies from students.