Lessons · Law foundations · what a motion asks for
A motion asks the court for one thing
A motion is a request to the court to do a specific thing, resting on a rule, supported by facts, with the order it wants written out ready to sign.
Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
What it is for
Motions are drafted from a template and lost on the details: the rule not named, the facts not sworn, the proposed order missing. A paralegal who checks those four parts every time saves the office the week it takes to do it again.
How to think about it
Answer four questions on one page before drafting: what exactly is being asked for, under which rule, on what facts, and what should the signed order say.
Worked example
What is asked for, in one sentence.One thing. A motion that asks for three separate things usually gets one answer and two silences.
The rule that lets the court do it.Named and quoted. A request with no rule behind it is a letter, not a motion.
The facts, in a sworn statement or on the record already there.A motion argued on facts nobody swore to is an argument about nothing.
The order the court would sign, drafted and attached.Make it easy to grant. A judge who has to write the order writes the one they want.
Your turn
Write the word for the motion that asks the court to decide without a trial because the material facts are not in dispute.
A motion to decide without a trial: a motion for judgment
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Filing a motion to fix something the other side would have agreed to over the telephone. Courts notice, and the file carries the cost of the motion and the bad first impression together.