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Answer these questions.
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1) What do the bylaws of the company stipulate concerning the date of the
election of company directors?
2) What do the shareholders claim was the reason why the annual
shareholders’ meeting was held early?
3) What role might the concept of ‘good faith’ play in the court’s decision?
18 What is your opinion of the case? Do you think the shareholders’ claim is justified?
| Text analysis: A legal opinion | |||
| 19 Look at Reading 4 again and think about these questions. | |||
| 1 What is the purpose of the text? 2 Why was it written? 3 Why would someone read it? 4 Looking at the text carefully, what would you say is the function of each paragraph? | |||
| The text in Reading 4 represents a legal opinion, a type of text written by a lawyer for a client. The function of a legal opinion is to provide an analysis of a legal problem so that the client can make an informed decision concerning a course of action. | o outlines the options the client has, pointing out advantages and disadvantages of each option; o considers factors such as risk, delay, expense, etc. as well as case-specific factors; o makes use of facts, relevant law and reasoning to support the opinion. | ||
| Regarding the contents, we can say that in general a legal opinion: o identifies the legal issue at stake in a given situation and explains how the law applies to the facts presented by the client; o indicates the rights, obligations and liabilities of the client; | The information structure of a legal opinion can be made clear by using standard signalling phrases. The table below provides examples of phrases used to structure the information in a text. These phrases serve as signals, pointing to information before it is presented, thus increasing the clarity of a text. | ||
| 20 Read through the legal opinion (Reading 4) once again and look for 11 phrases with a signalling function. Add them where appropriate to this table. | |||
| Referring to the subject matter | Thank you for instructing us in relation to the above matter. You have requested a legal opinion concerning... 1)..................................................................................................................... | ||
| Summarising facts | Our opinions and advice set forth below are based upon your account of the circumstances giving rise to this dispute, a summary of which is as follows. Based on information provided to us, we understand that... 2)..................................................................................................................... | ||
| Identifying legal issue | The legal issue seems to be... 3)..................................................................................................................... | ||
| Referring to relevant legislation| regulations | The section which is relevant for present purposes provides that... The section makes express reference to... As the law stands at present,... 4)..................................................................................................................... 5)..................................................................................................................... 6)..................................................................................................................... | ||
| Referring to previous court decision | The court has held that... We have (not) found cases or interpretation of this law which argue that... | ||
| Drawing conclusions | We therefore believe that... 7)..................................................................................................................... 8)...................................................................................................................... 9)...................................................................................................................... 10).................................................................................................................... 11)................................................................................................................... | ||
| Indicating options | In light of the aforesaid, you have several courses of action / alternatives / options open to you. | ||
| Closing | I await further instructions at your earliest convenience. Please contact us if you have any questions about the matters here discussed, or any other issues. | ||
21 In Reading 4, which deals with a dispute concerning a company’s bylaws,