IRAC model and application in legal consulting
IRAC is transliterated in English as /ˈaɪræk/ (EYE-rak), an abbreviation of four English words: Issue – Relevant Law – Application Facts – Conclusion. This is a widely used model and is used as a method to analyze and resolve legal situations. Law schools and lawyers in the US, UK and Australia are all trained in this method to apply it not only in solving legal problems but also as a skill for legal thinking and research. Find laws, legal opinions, legal correspondence, or applications to research case files.
First of all, IRAC can be understood as follows:
- I: Issue – Problem
- R: Relevant Law – Relevant legal regulations
- A: Application Facts – Applying the law to the situation
- C: Conclusion – Conclusion
When approaching a problem – situation from a client, the lawyer’s task is to encode ordinary language into legal language. Customer information is often conveyed in the customer’s common language accompanied by the speaker’s personal emotions. Therefore, coding into legal language is extremely important so that lawyers can approach the problem in the right direction and most effectively. After having a legal problem, the Lawyer needs to find the key points in the legal problem and find the legal regulations that will help solve the problem. From there, apply what you find to the situation to find a solution to the problem. The entire process mentioned above can be applied using the IRAC paradigm.
Let’s explore in more detail how to apply this IRAC model:
1. I: Issue – Problem
The purpose of this section is to address the question “What legal issue is being debated?”.
By identifying the facts of legal significance, the legal nature of the case, the issues that need to be resolved, and the questions raised by the client, we can identify the problem that needs to be resolved. decided. Usually, the story conveyed by the client is very long, with many details, but the Lawyer only needs to summarize the legally significant details.
In fact, catching a “legal issue” is not easy. Lawyers can identify the wrong legal issue if they do not consider all aspects that the client conveys. As a result, the next steps (R, A, C) are incorrect. Therefore, determining the “Legal Issue” is very important.
For example: Mr. A and Ms. B love each other and are about to get married. Mr. A decides to buy a house so that after getting married, A and B will live together. Mr. A borrowed 500 million from Ms. B’s mother, Ms. M, to buy that house. However, A later had a traffic accident and had to stay in the hospital for a long time before passing away. Ms. M demanded that Mr. A’s family return that house to Ms. B.
To summarize the above event, we only need to pay attention to the following legal issues:
- A and B are not married;
- A owns the house;
- A borrowed 500 million from Mrs. M;
- A dies;
- M claims ownership of the house left by A.
In short: Presenting I is the task of presenting “Legal issues that need to be resolved”
- State what issue is being debated;
- Connect issues using legal questions; and
- Use the structure “Is it a matter of whether or not…”.
2. R: Relevant Law – Relevant legal regulations
In this part, the Lawyer’s task is to present the relevant legal regulations to resolve the “Legal Issue”. Specifically, it is necessary to answer the following questions:
- What is the law to solve the problem in this case? Civil, criminal, administrative or commercial, etc.
- Components of regulations (Chapters, Articles, Clauses, Points…)
- Exceptions to regulations (For example, Vietnamese law in many Laws and Codes often has open provisions, or provisions intended to refer to other Laws/Codes, the most common of which is probably is the phrase “Other cases provided by law”)
- Can custom be applied in this case?
- Are there any other objections to the legal issue?
In some documents, R here can also mean Rule – the legal rules applied.
3. A: Application Facts – Applying the law to the situation
This part is the most important part in solving legal problems, because the connection between I and R is A, that is, connecting legal issues, legal events with relevant legal regulations to bring provide specific analysis. Apply the law to the situation to demonstrate why this law should be used and not another law to solve the problem.
In short, when presenting A, we will:
- Provide evidence and explanations; and
- Give criticism to your conclusions
In some documents, A can also be Analytic – Situation Analysis, but its connotation is still the application of law to the situation that needs to be resolved.
4. C: Conclusion – Conclusion
Presenting the conclusion, the lawyer will have to present the conclusion of each issue or give an overall conclusion. Note that there are no right or wrong answers, only analysis and logical thinking based on regulations and facts to reach a reasonable conclusion.
Variations of IRAC when applied in practice:
When applying the IRAC model in real life
In practice, depending on each specific legal situation, the IRAC model is flexibly applied to resolve legal issues. Some frequently applied variations include:
(I) – R – A – C
This variation is applied to a general legal issue, when given R (Relevant legal provisions) and A (Application of law), a C (Conclusion) can be made – this conclusion applicable due to all relevant circumstances.
I – R (A) – C
This variation is applied in cases where R (Relevant Law) is too clear and does not necessarily require analysis to draw conclusions.
I – R – A
Actually, in this variation, C (Conclusion) is not missing, but in the process of presenting R or A, we already have C and there is no need to present C again.
