For anyone · no law degree required

Making your case, when there's a rule

Most disputes that ruin a week are not lawsuits. A manager denies a shift swap the handbook seems to allow. A school pulls a kid from a trip. An association fines you over a fence. A board votes without the notice its own bylaws require. Nobody is going to court, and yet each one is exactly the shape lawyers are trained to argue.

That shape has a name — IRAC: issue, rule, application, conclusion. It is not legal magic. It is a way of writing that makes a reader able to check your reasoning instead of just absorbing your mood. This page walks you through it for your own situation and hands you something you can send.

This is not legal advice and does not produce a legal document. It is a structure for organising an argument, and it works best for disputes decided by people applying their own written rules — managers, boards, HR, schools, associations, committees. If your situation involves a court, a filing deadline, a contract with real money at stake, or anything that could turn into a legal claim, talk to a lawyer. A well-organised argument is not the same as a correct one.

First, does your situation fit?

IRAC only works when something outside your own preferences decides the question. A written rule, a policy, a signed agreement, published terms, a set of bylaws, a promise someone actually made. If there is no such rule, you are not making a claim — you are making a request, and a request is a different document with different moves. Both are legitimate. Mixing them is what makes people sound aggrieved instead of persuasive.

Situation	Is there a rule?	What you are writing
The handbook allows shift swaps with 48 hours' notice; yours was denied at 72	Yes — the handbook	A claim. IRAC fits.
The bylaws require seven days' notice; the board voted on four	Yes — the bylaws	A claim. IRAC fits.
Your manager is unpleasant in meetings	No written standard	A request, or a conversation. IRAC will make it sound like a prosecution.
You want a schedule change nobody promised you	No	A request. Lead with the ask and the benefit to them.
The warranty says "defects in materials"; they called it wear	Yes — the warranty	A claim, and the whole fight is over one word.

Build yours

Nothing is sent anywhere. Everything stays in this browser, and you can clear it at any time.

If you want to practise before using your own situation, open one of the three below. Each is a complete story with the governing rule quoted in it. Read it, then build it yourself — the situation stays pinned at the top of the builder while you work. The finished version is there too, and it is worth more after your attempt than before it.

1 · The issue

Not the topic, and not your conclusion. The issue is the single question the decision-maker has to answer. If it cannot be answered yes, no, or genuinely unclear, it is still a topic.

Who decides this? The person or body with the actual authority — not whoever you spoke to first. What do you want them to do? One concrete action. "Be fairer" is not one. The question, in one sentence Start with "Whether". Build a draft from the two answers above if you want a starting point.

2 · The rule

Quote it. Do not paraphrase it, and do not improve it. The exact words are where the argument lives, and a reader who recognises their own policy is a reader who will keep reading.

Where does the rule come from? The exact words Copy and paste the clause, section, or sentence. Include the section number if it has one. What shape is it? This decides how you argue it. Most disputes turn on the connector, not the nouns.

Break it into requirements Each condition that has to be satisfied, one per line. These become the spine of your argument.

3 · The facts

One fact per line, and no conclusions — "they were unreasonable" is a verdict, not a fact. Then say what each one does. A fact that helps nothing is not necessarily worthless; it may just belong in a different letter.

4 · The application

This is the part everybody skips and the only part that persuades anyone. For each requirement: what does the fact actually show, and why does that satisfy the words in the rule? "I met the deadline, so they should approve it" is not an argument. It is two claims with a "so" between them.

The strongest thing they will say back Required, and not optional in spirit either. If you cannot state their best answer, you are not ready to send this — and a reader who sees their own objection addressed is a reader who trusts the rest. Your answer to it Optional. If you do not have one, say so honestly in the letter rather than pretending the objection does not exist.

5 · The conclusion

Say how strong your position actually is. Overstating it is the single fastest way to lose a reader who knows the rule better than you do.

How does this come out? What are you asking for, exactly? By when, and what happens next Optional. A date makes a letter answerable. A threat makes it adversarial — be careful which one you are writing.

6 · What you have

Plain English on purpose. Do not add "pursuant to" or "please be advised" — you are not filing anything, and legal costume makes ordinary readers defensive.

Why this works on people who have never heard of IRAC

A decision-maker reading a complaint is doing one thing: looking for a reason they can give someone else. A manager needs a reason for their director. A board member needs one for the minutes. HR needs one for the file. Anger gives them nothing to write down. A structure that names the rule, points at the facts, and explains the connection hands them the sentence they need.

It also does something for you. Filling in the application section is where most people discover their argument is thinner than it felt — or that the rule says something slightly different from what they remembered. Finding that out at your kitchen table is considerably better than finding it out in a reply.

And the counterargument box is not politeness. Stating their best answer before they do is the difference between a letter that gets a response and a letter that gets forwarded with a shrug.