how to write a law essay

how to write a law essay

The Art of Persuasive Law Essay Writing

1. Introduction to Law Essays

The reliance on problem questions in most law schools is somewhat curious. In an ideal situation, a law student will be allocated specific readings from which to draw information. These readings would be combined with lectures and further explication by the professor. Information will be classified and tagged for easy retrieval later. The student will then use this information in a common law format. He will sift through cases to determine the general rules, policy, and trends underlying those rules, and further classify and tag the information. Then, when asked a specific question, usually a question of how best to determine the rights of parties in a given fact situation, the student will find the correct legal rules underlying the question and apply them to the fact situation. The question is, does the proper determination of right convince the reader to alter preconceived beliefs on the subject of justice? If the questions presented in the exam were essays given by the professor in the first place, then maybe so.

While writing a legal article, it’s crucial for you to recognize that you’re dealing with law students. This fact has several significant implications. To begin with, your use of language is crucial. Don’t just assume that because a word or phrase is used in a legal setting, it is appropriate for your purposes. For example, some Latin phrases are in fact never used in court, and so it would be inappropriate to translate those phrases into English. You should cultivate a concern for language and a habit of critical analysis. The aim is to eliminate certain bad habits and develop analytical skills.

2. Understanding the Structure and Format

The introduction serves to lead up to the question and is usually 10% of the total word count. An exchange of signposts between essays will help to make the argument more logical and these will be clarified and expanded in the relevant section. Then, a reasoned inquiry concerning the issues raised must be inclusive of arguments for and against and adequately referenced throughout. Finally, a conclusion will close off the topic and should briefly summarize the main body pieces before answering the question directly.

What often differentiates an ordinary essay from an extraordinary one is the use of technique. Disorganized work gives readers little help in following the argument. It can be a good argument and a well-argued essay, but if an outline structure with subtle linking is absent, the one will invalidate the other. Hence, the ability to follow a set plan with clear meaning will show up strongest in assessment discussion/coursework essay style. This is studied in the coming weeks and should be borne in mind thereafter. At its most basic, the structure will consist of an introduction, main body, and conclusion but there could be considerable variation on this. Indeed, essay questions can sometimes be designed in a way where the conclusion is the first thing required.

3. Mastering Legal Analysis and Argumentation

The evaluation of case law seeks to understand the ratio decidendi of the case and its judicial impact. This should be evident in a chief part of the argumentation of most topics. Impact will greatly differ between cases. Often it will settle a previously indeterminable area of law creating clarity (which may constitute success) or it will change law creating new precedent and essentially altering the existing law, in such cases the former law may be referred to as old law, which it is now necessary to change focus and compare to the new law. However some cases will be disaster and create bad law, here it may be necessary for some areas to advocate statutory law to circumvent the effect of case law. This objective of understanding case law still seeks to evaluate, Goswami defines evaluation as the casual assessment of the worth merits and validity of an activity, decision or judgement often in the context of resolving a problem. Ultimately case law is judge made law and assessing the worth of a judgement will always be an essential part of case law discussion.

Another important method of analysis is that of doctrinal and policy based analysis. Doctrine is the law created by the judiciary in the form of case law. Case law is vital to the study and understanding of law. If you see law as a skeleton, the case law creates the muscle to give it strength and the subsequent legislation forms the outer flesh. Without an understanding and analysis of case law, a law student will struggle to evaluate the subject and giving evaluatory discussion is the essence of higher level essay writing.

This chapter introduces another important foundation of persuasive law essay writing – legal analysis. As with other forms of essay, it is essential that you answer the question set, but in the context of a law essay, it is equally important that you structure your response to the question in an ordered and logical fashion. Here the IRAC method is best, a simple acronym for Issue, Rule, Application, and Conclusion. This method will ensure that you are working in a backwards fashion from the question (which will help to identify it as you read cases) and will provide a structure for every argument, ensuring that every point made is directly relevant to the question.

The goal is to create a concise yet coherent text of at least 1800 symbols or 2-3 paragraphs, exploring the content for the section “3. Mastering Legal Analysis and Argumentation”, that delivers concrete, specific, factual (where needed) information relevant to the title for the section.

4. Crafting a Compelling Introduction and Conclusion

One interesting piece of advice here is that you could write your introduction at the end of your essay. This is because if you have done your job right, your introduction is simply a re-description of what you have already said. Writing it at the end will make it clearer to you as to how well you have done the rest of the essay. Moving on, conclusions are something that students find a lot easier to write at the end of their work. The most direct and simplest way to write a conclusion is to re-emphasize your key point (or something very near to that if you think it will help you gain extra marks) and tie up your essay by noting the things you have done and the things you have chosen not to do. This can often serve to help the writer himself understand what he has done and why. In terms of obtaining marks, there is no necessity to write an extra-long conclusion, the reason for this being that if you have done your work well, the points you are noting and the things you are tying up will have already been covered all the way through the essay. And with that, my eighteen-year-old friends, I am done. Now go out there and write some strong essays! Best of luck to you all.

The main point here is that your introduction and conclusion need to directly address the question. If you fail to address the question, your work will have very little value, however well written it may be. So when writing your introduction, spend a couple of minutes doing some brainstorming, reminding yourself of what it is that the exam question is asking you to do. Then write your introduction. An introduction has to be interesting and give the readers some idea of what they are about to read. Where many students go wrong is in the introduction simply re-telling the question. Your introduction should be doing that, but it should also be doing a lot more than that. It should introduce the examiner to the writer’s line of reasoning and hopefully, by the end of it, the examiner will agree that the question is an interesting one and that the writer has something interesting to say on it. Now in terms of its structure, the introduction is simply a signpost for what is to come in the rest of the essay, and you should move on to that without further ado.

5. Polishing Your Law Essay: Editing and Proofreading

Having completed the first draft, you should now focus on the second soft edit, which is correcting any writing that does not read satisfactorily or is unclear. Read your opening sentence and paragraph. Ask yourself if the writing is clear and to the point. If your statement is not clear, or you have to twist your sentences to no end, this will be apparent in the first draft. On the other hand, you may be reading your paper and find that you want to change your tone of writing. If you are supposed to be persuading the reader to take a stance on an issue or influence their actions, then you would want to write in a more aggressive tone. If you are trying to inform, or just get someone to see things from another light, then you can be rather more passive and relaxed. Also, a mix of short and long sentences will show a good writing style. This issue can be located at a later stage where you can begin to vary your sentences and use more rhetorical devices. Spend time on this second edit since this is the key to taking your writing to the next level.