law essay examples

law essay examples

The Importance of Studying Law Essay Examples

1. Introduction

Studying law provides the foundation for a great deal of different types of work. It enables an individual to scrutinize any problem and come up with the most effective solution. With a law degree, an individual can enter into any employment which is of a graduate level. This is so because a law degree provides an individual with the skills of analysis, research, writing, and advocacy. These skills are of a transferable nature and are applicable to many different types of careers.

Law is a set of conventional rules and principles arising from various sources such as treaties, customs, practice, general, and crime in which independent courts apply those rules and principles by a legal authority. Having knowledge about law enables a person to think whether his given rights and its related laws are being implemented in a principled manner or not. Awareness of law would help an individual to identify which area of his rights has been violated and what are the possible solutions he can opt to prevent it from occurring in the future. The most noteworthy reason for studying law is having a vast knowledge of the legal system. It will empower an individual to fight for his rights.

2. Understanding Legal Writing

An imperative part of legal writing is the use of clear plain English. This will enable easy reading and understanding and help to avoid the confusion often generated by complex writing. This can often be avoided by minimal use of defined legal terms, avoiding complex sentence structuring and double negatives. The use of the active voice rather than the passive voice is a useful tool. By keeping sentences subject-verb-object, the active voice brings greater clarity and conciseness to writing. This is especially useful in statutory interpretation, where use of plain English and the active voice will give writers a better understanding of what the statute is trying to achieve.

The final point of legal analysis and reason is a core thing. Legal analysis of cases and statutes is the systematic and detailed examination of the law to isolate key elements for the basis of problem solving. The application of past law (by case and statutes) is an essential tool to any lawyer and often learned through the use of case notes and the briefing of cases. All these methods of legal writing and learning are designed to equip a lawyer with the information and tools required to solve a problem or dispute and provide the best possible advice for the client.

Legal writing is a type of technical writing used by legal writers to explain a specific issue of law, often using an objective tone and formal language. This can often be overcomplicated, as many law students do not realize that the law is often simple. By using Latin terms, jargon, and complex sentences, this can often be distorted and confused. Fundamental legal writing helps the reader understand an area of law to solve a dispute or advise upon a course of action by making the law as clear as possible. This can be anything from instructions to a client, to an opinion piece, or an article reviewing a specific case. This will all involve setting out the law, often advising upon the changes by using a compare and contrast of old and new law, then applying the facts and advising upon the best possible outcome. Any advice has to be clear and definite, so as to avoid confusion leading onto the client trying to interpret the legal writing himself.

3. Analyzing Law Essay Examples

1. Introduction 2. The benefits of studying law a) Expand your mind b) Improve your ability to think critically and analytically c) Learn more about the English legal system d) Develop transferable skills e) A potential gateway into the legal profession f) It’s a fascinating and intellectually challenging discipline 3. Analyzing law essay questions a) Answering problem questions: I) Introduction What is a problem question? In an exam scenario, it is easy to forget what a problem question is asking you to do. This can be a costly mistake! Always have at the back of your mind, ‘what am I being asked to do here?’. Many students make the mistake of just answering the issue in the question. A question might ask you to advise one party depending on the fact, but remembering that there are always two parties to a problem question will help steer you away from making this error. Firstly and foremost, problem questions are there to test your knowledge of the law, not to test how quickly you can find the correct law in a textbook. Keep in mind that the examiner has already worked through the answer, and is testing to see whether you can correctly ascertain all the relevant facts and come to the same conclusions. Always begin your answer by stating the area of law that you intend to address. This will show to the examiner that you are aware of what the question is asking you to do. E.g. ‘In the law of contract…’. This will signal to the examiner that you intend to apply the law of contract to the facts. In some questions, you may be asked to advise on the strengths and weaknesses of the case. This can be split into two separate sections, where you outline the issues on both sides, then come to a conclusion on the most likely outcome. II) Advising an essay question. Basically the same as above, isolate the areas of law stated in the question, however this time the facts will be spread over different areas of law. Step by step work through the facts, and apply the law to them, that’s all you need to do. b) An example of a good law essay question: I) What makes a good piece of legal writing? This is a persuasive essay written on the topic of whether countries should have a low or a high degree of freedom in drafting their contracts, with a view to helping less developed countries. This essay came with the instruction for the author to ‘analyse’ two conflicting views, to a) state which view he thought to be more correct and give reasons and b) to come to a decision as to which view was more persuasive and explain why. These instructions must be carefully followed in order to address all the components of the question. It is important when instructions are given with an essay question to construct an essay plan to organise your thoughts and examples. Then the plan can be used as a checklist to ensure that the entire question is covered adequately. This essay followed the standard format for a good legal essay, i.e. introduction, the body in which both views are explained in depth, a critical analysis of the two views and a conclusion which explicitly answers the question. The examination of the overall views and the simple structure make this a perfect example of an A-grade essay. III) How to answer a jurisprudence essay question? The question to be addressed is ‘What do legal positivists understand by the sovereignty of law? Is this a correct understanding?’ The first thing when dealing with a question in jurisprudence is to remember the very simple nature of jurisprudence, to discuss what law is and whether or not that thing is suitable. To do this effectively it is essential to divide the question into essential points and then consider the views of different scholars. This essay question asked for a detailed explanation of the views of two leading positivists, HLA Hart and Joseph Raz. This kind of question warrants precise knowledge of the subject and should be approached with a detailed and accurate plan. It is important to always relate back to the question and remember the significance of the words of that question. This essay successfully did this and hence effectively fulfilled the requirements of the essay question.

4. Learning from Successful Essays

Other than that, reading an essay will give us some inspiration to write our own essay. We can take some style or format from the essay. This is important to learn from the good essay and avoid the mistakes from the bad one. By doing this, it’s not impossible for students to improve their writing skills. Then, the cycle will keep going on. A good essay will inspire others and it will produce lots of good essays that can give a positive impact to the students and also the law education itself.

In addition, an essay is not just to regurgitate the knowledge. A good essay is to develop or “expand” the particular knowledge or issues so the reader can understand it better. This also can improve students’ critical thinking. This is because if we really understand what we are writing, then it’s easy for us to develop the issue in order to make the reader understand.

Basically, a successful essay will teach us some knowledge or skill. For example, a contract law essay can teach the students how to identify and interpret a contract law issue. It can show what are the suitable laws to solve the issue and give some analysis whether the issue can be solved by the current laws. This confidence in interpreting the knowledge with the right way will lead to the preparation for the exams. So, it’s not impossible for students to get an A in the exams.

5. Conclusion

An understanding of law will also help students to identify the nature of our society and the democratic form of government. It will provide students with an understanding of our political and legal institutions which is essential to a full appreciation of their rights and responsibilities as citizens. Students who have taken the trouble to understand the intricacies of various laws are also highly valued by many employers, especially those who have been subjected to legal liabilities in their field of work. This is not surprising since the employers, too, are subject to the laws and any decision made in ignorance of the law can have a profound impact upon their rights and obligations. All these are the reasons why studying law is very important.

In our contemporary world, law is no doubt a subject of great importance. In all walks of life, we encounter situations wherein a knowledge of law can provide insightful analysis of rights and obligations. Without the knowledge of law, it may be difficult for people to understand the treatments that they receive from medical practitioners, or the conditions under which insurance claims can be made, or the rights that employees have against their employers, or the way in which house buyers are protected, etc. In all these examples, and many more, an understanding of legal rights and obligations can provide a sharper focus to the advice, which is good news for law graduates.