ABSTRACT
The third step in legal reasoning is to synthesize the rules of law into a single coherent framework that can be applied to the facts. This requires that the lawyer determine the relationship that each rule bears to the others. Synthesizing the rules into a coherent framework means, in effect, that the lawyer creates an outline of the applicable rules, with more specific rules categorized under more general rules. The key organizing principle in legal reasoning is to move from the general to the specific. For this reason, the lawyer usually begins with general rules of law, which direct the search to more specific rules, which then can be applied to specific facts to produce a conclusion. The lawyer may attempt to solve the indeterminacy involved in synthesizing a rule by referring to the policies underlying the cases.
