I know I keep harping on about "the fire service" - but it's where my experience is and in many instances my experience IS transferrable...
When I first started in this job neigh on 15 years ago we HAD to remember ridiculously (seemingly) unimportant figures, we had to be able to recall precisely what the ADR/Keemler Codes were (the ornge paltes on back of petrol tankers etc), the colours of cylinders denoting their contents... the cutting force imparted by hydraulic rescue tools (jaws of life), the mathematical formula for "jet reaction" (the reactionary force felt whilst handling a fire hose)... much of this was - to be frank - pure BO*&@#KS!!!
In more recent years the emphasis on RECALL has vanished... we know have, on appliances something called a "TACTICAL INFORMATION FOLDER" and booklets such as the "Symbol Seeker"...
The power of recall is fallible... we long argued this point, but the tradition was such that we had to commit such detail to memory. The result - ERRORS ON A LIFE THREATENING SCALE WERE VERY, VERY POSSIBLE OR EVEN LIKELY...
And I suspect the same is true in the legal field... Providing you know WHERE to get the detail, know WHAT you're looking for, HOW TO APPLY IT - that is the important point.
Memory is FALLIBLE - and even when you THINK you know the answer - only a fool would rely soley on memory!