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Researching and writing a good law essay

As a new law student, you might be feeling overwhelmed with the amount of information that's coming your way. My advice is, don't be. A good lawyer isn't someone who can remember several hundred cases and cite legislation from memory. A good lawyer just knows where to find it, and how to apply it.

And so, to succeed on your law course, you need to learn the skill of researching a legal problem effectively and efficiently as this is fundamental, both to the study and to the practice of law.  Here's my best advice for you on researching and writing law essay and law problem questions.

When finding the law, you'll be looking at:

(a) Primary sources - this is the law itself. Primary sources include legislation (including Acts of Parliament and Statutory Instruments) and case law

(b) Secondary sources - commentaries and opinions on the law. Secondary sources include text books, journal articles, reference works and encyclopaedias.

I've seen many law students make the huge mistake of confusing these two types of sources and it will cost you marks

When you are stating what the law is, you should never, ever use a secondary source to support what you've said. You should quote the primary source - the Act of Parliament or case - that supports the legal point you're trying to make. Why? Because secondary sources like books and journals are not the law - they are people's interpretations, comments, opinions, beliefs. They are also sometimes inaccurate. Secondary sources do help in some respects as they explain the law to you, and put it into context. However, you must always check the primary source and make sure it is used wherever possible.

Writing a law problem question

The easiest way to analyse a law problem is to break it down into stages:

(1) Identify the issues
(2) Identify the relevant law
(3) Apply the law to the issues
(4) Reach a conclusion

 

Identify the issues

What has happened? What parts of the facts are relevant? For example, in criminal law, what crime has been committed? What parts of the scenario are likely to be relevant/crucial?

 

Identify the relevant law

I strongly recommend two secondary sources to help you do this.

The first is HALSBURY'S LAWS OF ENGLAND. You can find these in your law library or access them using your Athens password through LexisNexis Butterworths. A word of caution - Halsbury's can sometimes be a little bit out of date - they are slow to change the online version. You can use ‘IS IT IN FORCE' to check and see if the legislation has been changed, and ‘CASESEARCH' to see if the case is still good legal authority (both from LexisNexis).

The second are the Oxford University Press Question and Answer books. They give you 50 or so canned model answers per topic, covering the main legislation and cases for many legal problems. They are invaluable, giving you a really good starting point for any legal question.

These two sources are your key to success, trust me! Don't forget, to support each point of law you'll need to quote primary sources - legislation and case law - but Halsbury's and the Q & A books will help you identify the primary sources.

Apply the law to the issues

This is another area I find law students lose a lot of marks. I've seen so many essays written like this:

A person is guilty of theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving them of it (Section 1 Theft Act 1968).

Jason satisfies this definition when he took the watch from Sam, and so committed theft.

This is not applying the law to the facts. Instead you need to say how Jason meets each part of the definition of theft (there are five elements). So a better answer would cover:

• The definition of theft
• The fact that Jason took the watch ('appropriated property)
• The fact that the watch belonged to Sam ('belonging to somebody else)
• Consideration of whether he intended to permanently deprive Sam of the watch
• Consideration of whether he took the watch ‘dishonestly' including explanation of ‘dishonesty'

Reaching a conclusion

This is another area where students miss marks. You must reach a conclusion.  However, law problem questions often contain some vague information and the conclusion doesn't have to be certain - it rarely is in law and if it was, we wouldn't need the courts.  It's perfectly acceptable to give 2 or more possible outcomes and say which one is more likely and why. You can also say you can't reach a conclusion because X information is missing (if possible spectulate on what would happen if X information was available).

 

Law Essay Questions

The process of writing law essay questions isn't that different to writing a problem question.

(1) Identify what the question is asking
(2) Identify the issues
(3) Identify the relevant law
(4) Analyse the law against the issues
(5) Reach a conclusion

 

Identify what the question is asking

Here, make sure you understand what the words that are being used actually mean. Look at law dictionaries if you need to. Also read the instructions clearly - are they asking you to ‘discuss', ‘define', ‘analysis'? Make sure you know what this means exactly. Scroll down as I've put a list of common words and their meanings below.

 

Identify the issues

This is really a case of looking at what's at stake - what is the main debate? What is the question getting you to examine?

Check the Law Commission website at this stage because if the law is undergoing change, or has undergone some change in the last few years, you'll find their reports do a good job of identifying the issues for you.

 

Identify the relevant law

Once you've identified the issues, make sure you know exactly what law you're discussing. There's no need to repeat the law in your essay - just referring to it is usually fine (and it's bad practice to copy out chunks of legislation).

Analyse the law against the issues

At this stage, you'll usually be looking at some or all of the following:

• What problems people have experienced with the law as it stands
• Whether the law is satisfactory
• Whether the law is going to be changed (current plans, consulations, options)
• Whether the law should be changed
• How it should be changed (in line with current plans? or something different)
• What effect the changes will have
• Possible problems with changing the law.

 

Reach a conclusion

The final step will summarise your main findings.  If the essay was set as a question, make sure you specifically answer that question.  So if the essay topic was “Should the law be changed”, make sure you specifically say something like, “In conclusion, the law should be changed because….” or “In conclusion, the law should not be changed because…”.

I hope this guide to writing law essays is helpful to you and I welcome your feedback.

 

Useful word definitions in essay questions

Account for: Explain, clarify, give reasons

Analyse: Resolve into component parts. Examine critically and minutely.

Assess: Determine the value of, weigh up (similar to evaluate)

Compare: Look for similarities and differences between, perhaps reach conclusions about which is preferable

Contrast: Set in opposition in order to bring out the differences

Criticise: Make judgments (backed by the discussion of the evidence or reasoning involved)

Define: State the exact meaning of a word or phrase. In some cases it may be necessary or desirable to examine different possible meanings or often used definitions.

Describe: Give a detailed or graphic account

Discuss: Explain, then give two or more sides of the issue and any implications

Evaluate: Make an appraisal of the worth or validity or effectiveness of something in the light of its truth or usefulness (similar to assess)

Explain: Make plain, interpret and account for, give reasons

How far..? Determine to what extent - usually this requires looking at evidence or arguments for or against, and weighing them up

Illustrate: Make clear and explicit. Use carefully chosen examples.

Interpret: Explain the meaning of, make clear and explicit, usually giving judgment

Justify: Show adequate grounds for decisions or conclusions, answer the main objection likely to be made about them.

Outline: Give the main features or general principles of the subject, omitting minor details and emphasising structure and argument (similar to summarise)

State: Present in a brief, clear form

Summarise: Give a concise, clear explanation or account of - present the chief factors and omit minor details and examples (similar to outline)

(Source: Open University : Assessment Guide 1, W100, Appendix)

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