how to write criminal law essay

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Whodunit? Solving the Mystery of Writing a First-Rate Criminal Law Essay Exam

I was leaving the post office one day and I saw a license plate that was an acronym for Nancy Drew. I stopped to admire the plate because it immediately took me back to when I was young and would voraciously read Nancy Drew mystery novels. It reminded me that reading the books taught me how to solve mysteries. As a civil litigation attorney, I regularly apply that skill in my practice because, as I go from one case to the next, I solve one mystery at a time.

Normally, the mystery is the extent of the wrongdoing by the opposing party. However, sometimes it is discovering the relevant facts that my client conveniently failed to share with me. Tapping into your inner sleuth will assist you with learning to write first-rate Criminal Law exam answers as well as answers in any other type of law school exam you may encounter.

Prepare to Solve Your Mystery

Preparation is essential to solving the mystery of writing a Criminal Law exam. As a law student, your preparation commences with reading and briefing all the assigned cases. This teaches you the law and how to reason. Further, it assists with preparing your study outline for the class. It also teaches you the discipline of IRAC, which is fundamental to law exam writing.

Fleming’s is in a powerful position to assist with your law school exam preparation - as demonstrated by one of our law students receiving the only known perfect score on a Criminal Law Bar exam. The student who wrote the answer implemented what Fleming’s teaches when answering a Criminal Law exam, and the Bar Examiners rewarded him with a perfect 100 score for his presentation.

So that you can see Fleming’s law exam methods and techniques at work for yourself, I recommend reading our recent article about this student’s impressive accomplishment:

Bar Examiners Give Fleming’s Law Student a Perfect Score on His Essay Exam Answer

The question, along with the student’s perfectly scored answer, is appended at the end of the article. You, too, can achieve this result with Fleming’s at your side.

Every Sleuth Needs a Partner

As Nancy Drew had her Bess Marvin, every sleuth needs a partner. For law students, legal study supplements are your Bess Marvin sidekick. Fleming’s has a wide array of supplements that can assist law students with course substantive law outlines as well as fail-safe methods and techniques for law exam writing .

I highly recommend Fleming’s Sail Through Law School with The Exam Solution® for Criminal Law because it provides a four-hour substantive law lecture, a substantive law outline, and three essay exams with sample California Bar exam answers. This is all you need to tie together everything about the subject that you are learning in the classroom. Reviewing Bar exam answers is invaluable because they assist with how to format, weigh issues, and write persuasive analysis. One of my former students conveyed that the resources from this series really helped her prepare for her recent midterms.

Identify the Suspects

Now that you are ready to commence your law exam writing, you must start with identifying your suspects. Therefore, the first thing you do is read the call of the question. Read it at least twice because it is imperative to understand the scope of your investigation. You must headnote and write on each call of the question separately because failure to do so will result in a failing grade.

Examine the Crime Scene

The next step of your investigation is to examine the crime scene, which is the fact pattern for the exam. Read it twice – concentrate solely on the facts. Read it again to prepare your issue outline as outlining is imperative to your success on the exam. It tells you how many issues you have to write on, which ones are major and minor, and how to allocate your writing time so you do not run short in finishing before time is called.

Map Out the Scope of Your Investigation

When writing law school or California Bar exam answers, you must write on the issues in the order that they are spotted in the fact pattern. You strategize this when outlining the exam, which is why outlining is so crucial to your success.

When drafting your outline make four columns, one for each part of IRAC, to ensure that you write your answer in an orderly manner - including all the required crimes and defenses.

The first column is for the issue, the next for the rule, then the facts for your analysis/application, and the last column for the conclusion. You should abbreviate whenever possible to keep your outline time between 15 – 20 minutes.

The example below for outlining the issue of robbery is taken from Fleming’s Writing Workbook p. 43.

Now that you have examined the crime scene and created your outline, you are ready to write your essay answer. Think about what you want to say before beginning to write. This will help you formulate your thoughts and prevent you from rambling once you get started.

Write Your Investigation Report

A successful answer applies the relevant facts to each element of the rule to persuade the reader as to why the crime or defense succeeds or fails. What you are trying to do is answer the “why” or “why not” regarding each element of the rule, using the facts from the exam.

As an initial matter, you must weigh the issues to ensure you have enough time for major issues such as homicide. A classic Criminal Law California Bar exam will contain a number of crimes and a homicide at the end. Generally, when there is a homicide, you will need 15 – 20 minutes to write on it because you must write on each required issue/subpart. If you run out of time to write a full homicide analysis, you will likely fail the exam because it is a heavily weighted issue.

A superior answer will analyze the arguments of each party. You want to argue on behalf of the State first because it is prosecuting the case. Then you write the counterarguments for the defendant.

Writing both sides will set you apart and increase your score because the majority of students only write on behalf of the prosecution. Developing this skill is essential as an attorney because you must always anticipate the arguments of the opposing party.

There are certain issues that require writing on the common law rule as well as the modern rule or Model Penal Code. Burglary is a classic example. You must analyze common law burglary as well as the modern law distinctions because the burden of proof is lower. When writing on the insanity issue, you must always write on all four insanity excuses.

You must write a one-sentence conclusion regarding each issue on the exam as well as an overall conclusion if required by the call of the question.

Justice Is Served

Writing a first-rate Criminal Law exam takes hard work and discipline. This can be achieved by stepping into the exam to spot and solve each mystery of whether or not the crime or defense succeeds or fails.

Justice will be served when you write a first-class answer and receive your desired passing score. This will put you one step closer to going from law student to lawyer.

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How to Write a First-Class Law Essay: Mastering the FIRAC Model

Law essays can be challenging, but they contribute significantly to the mastery of legal principles and enhancing a student’s legal research skills. A first-class law essay does not only demonstrate a thorough understanding of legal principles, but is also clearly structured and incredibly well-written. In this article, we will guide you on how to write a first-class law essay, delve into the FIRAC model of legal writing, and address frequently asked questions on law essay writing.

Below is an outline of the points that will be discussed in detail throughout the article:

Understanding the Essay Question and Planning

Comprehensive legal research, writing techniques for a first-class law essay, common faqs on law essay writing.

Table of Contents

The first step in writing a top-notch law essay is to understand the essay question and planning your response. You should take care to read and analyze the question provided, identifying the main issues, required legal areas, and the keywords that will guide your research. Create a rough essay plan, outlining the main arguments and research resources necessary to address the topic.

Thorough researched is necessary in order to write a first-class law essay.This involves examining relevant cases, statutes, academic articles, and other authoritative sources. It is crucial to:

Build a strong foundation of understanding for the specific legal topics involved
Identify any contrary viewpoints and conflicting interpretations of the law
Familiarize yourself with critical legal developments that may affect your essay’s arguments

It is essential to keep track of your sources and their essential details, as you will need to reference them accurately in your essay.

Structuring a Law Essay: The FIRAC Model

The FIRAC model is a universally recognized method of organizing and presenting legal arguments in writing. It consists of:

Start by providing a concise and relevant summary of the facts and background of the issue beingaddressed. Be objective and neutral in your presentation, ensuring that your readers have a clear understanding of the context.

Clearly identify the specific legal issues that arise from the facts. This may involve direct questions or problems that need to be resolved by referring to legal authorities, such as legislation, case law, or academic commentary.

Set out the relevant legal rules, principles, and precedents that apply to the issues in question. Present a clear and comprehensive explanation of the legal authorities and how they apply to the facts.

d. Analysis:

In this section, critically analyze and weigh the various arguments and approaches concerning the legal issues at hand. Provide a detailed evaluation of the relevant legal authorities,discussing their strengths and weaknesses, and highlighting any ambiguities, disagreements, or gaps in the law that are relevant to the issues being addressed.

e. Conclusion:

Wrap up your essay by summarizing the main points, integrating your key findings and the implications of your analysis. Be sure to address the initial essay question and provide a clear answer or position based on your research and discussion. Finally, offer any recommendations or propose potential legal reforms if appropriate.

To ensure that your law essay stands out as first-class, it is essential to embrace effective writing techniques, such as:

Clarity and precision: Use clear, concise language and avoid unnecessary jargon or verbosity. 2.Coherent organization: Organize your essay logically, ensuring that each section flows smoothly into the next.
Strong argumentation: Build well-reasoned arguments supported by solid evidence, authoritative sources, and persuasive analysis.
Critical thinking: Question assumptions, explore alternative viewpoints, and engage in thoughtful reflection and analysis.
Proper citation and referencing: Adhere to a consistent citation style and accurately credit all sources used in your essay.
Proofreading and editing: Always proofread and edit your essay meticulously, eliminating grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and awkward phrasing.

Here are answers to some frequently asked questions about law essay writing:

How long should my law essay be?

The length of your law essay may vary, depending on the specific requirements and guidelines given by your instructor or institution. Typically, law essays range from 1,500 to 3,000 words, but it is crucial to adhere to the specified word count in your assignment.

How do I choose a citation style for my law essay?

Consult your assignment guidelines or ask your instructor for the preferred citation style used in legal writing at your institution, such as the Bluebook, Oxford Standard, or AGLC. Always use one citation style consistently throughout your essay.

Is it acceptable to use non-legal references in my essay?

While law essays primarily rely on legal authorities, it may be appropriate toinclude non-legal references, such as scholarly articles, reports, or empirical studies, to support your arguments or provide additional context. Always check with your instructor or assignment guidelines if you are unsure about using specific non-legal sources.

Can I use headings and subheadings in my law essay?

Headings and subheadings help organize your essay and guide your readers through your arguments. They are generally acceptable in law essays unless prohibited by your institution’s guidelines or your instructor’s preferences. Be sure to use a consistent formatting style for all headings and subheadings.

How can I avoid plagiarism in my law essay?

To avoid plagiarism, always accurately cite and reference any sources you use in your essay,whether they are direct quotes, paraphrased ideas, or summarized information. Also, ensure that your essay is primarily composed of your own original analysis and ideas, rather than relying too heavily on other sources. Make use of plagiarism-checking tools to identify potential areas of concern and correct them prior to submission.

By adhering to these guidelines and employing effective writing techniques, you can enhance the quality of your law essay and increase the likelihood of earning a first-class grade. Always remain diligent, focused, and committed to delivering thorough and engaging legal analysis throughout your academic writing endeavors.

Common Mistakes to Avoid in Law Essays

In addition to following the guidelines and writing techniques, it’s important to avoid common mistakes when writing your law essay:

Irrelevant or excessive detail : Stay focused on the essay question and avoid providing unnecessary or excessive details that don’t contribute to your central argument.
Lack of structure: Ensure that your essay is logically organized, with clearly defined sections and a coherent flow from one section to another.
Misunderstanding the question: Read the essay prompt carefully, and make sure you clearly understand what is being asked before drafting your response. Seek clarification if needed.
Unsupported claims or arguments: Back up your claims with solid evidence and credible sources. Avoid makingassertions without sufficient justification or analysis.
Overly complex language or jargon: Write in a clear and concise manner, using language that is accessible to your readers. Be mindful of using overly technical terms or legal jargon without explanation.
Plagiarism: Always provide proper citation and referencing for all sources used. Take the necessary steps to ensure your work is original and does not plagiarize from other sources.
Inadequate proofreading: Thoroughly proofread and edit your essay to correct grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and clumsy phrasing. Additionally, make sure your citations and references are accurate and formatted correctly.

By avoiding these common mistakes and adhering to the aforementioned guidelines andwriting techniques, you will significantly improve the quality of your law essay and increase your chances of achieving a high grade. Remember that practice makes perfect, and continually refining your skills in legal writing and analysis will contribute to your overall success in your academic and professional pursuits. So, stay committed, diligent, and focused on producing well-reasoned and coherent essays that demonstrate your understanding and mastery of legal principles and concepts.

Happy writing!

The Art of Writing First-Class Law Essays

Table of Contents

🎯 Stage 1: the goal

🤔 stage 2: the question, 🔺 stage 3: the research (the minto pyramid principle), 🕵️‍♂️ stage 4: the analysis, 🤓 stage 5: the essay.

At uni I managed to get over 70% in every law essay I wrote.

This isn’t meant to be a brag, but an interesting reflection given that I didn’t write these essays like most people. Instead, I built an efficient, reliable and systematic way to approach essay writing, which I want to share with you.

It’s broken down into 5 stages.

The first stage of everyone’s essay writing process should begin with the goal in mind, which for most of us is probably to get a first class result .

Now, I’m always surprised by how many people have literally no idea what it takes to get a first, when every single university has a set criteria telling us what they’re looking for. And it’s these criteria that we need to constantly keep in mind when we’re planning and writing our essays, as this is what the lecturer will use to mark our work.

So, broadly, what are these criteria?

Well, I think most lecturers would agree that the basic elements of a first class essay include 4 things:

Close attention to the question and answering that question with breadth and accuracy, with no or almost no significant errors or omissions
Detailed knowledge of the topic addressed as well as a deeper understanding of the context in which that topic exists and the less obvious points of law
Presentation of theoretical arguments concerning the subject, significant critical analysis of relevant sources, and thoughtful personal perspective on the debate, supported by relevant evidence
A well-developed and compelling argument coupled with an excellent standard of writing.

In short, we need to understand the question, research the topic well, have an opinion on the given topic, and write a convincing argument.

With this goal in mind, broken down into these 4 steps, it becomes ridiculously easy to work through our essays in a systematic way that ticks off all the criteria of a first-class piece of work.

All we need to do is work through them one-by-one, starting with understanding the question.

The key to success with our essays is the ability to address and answer the question we’re given.

Now, this may seem like stupidly obvious advice, but it’s crazy how often students will screw up an essay just because they’ve ignored what the question is asking, misinterpreted the question, or decided to answer a completely different question because it’s easier to do so.

For example, take the question ‘what is a constitution?’. Many students will go down the path of outlining the nature and sources of the British constitution. But, this is not what the question is asking. Nor is the question asking us to list the different categories of a constitution. Instead, we should provide a number of definitions of a constitution, such as “a document containing the rules of government”, the “fundamental and supreme law of the state”, and so on. Then, we can use this information to identify the central features of a constitution.

The problem is that we’re so eager to demonstrate our knowledge, we end up answering the question in a really general way to ‘prove how smart we are’. But, this just won’t work.

So, what should we do?

The very first thing I like to do when I begin thinking about the question is to write it down on a piece of paper, fully deconstruct it, and make sure I know exactly what type of question has been set.

Like, let’s say we’re given the following question:

First, I’ll think about the type of question that’s being asked. Some questions relate to substantive legal topics (contract, tort, criminal law), legal concepts (e.g. the law, the rule of law, justice) or institutions (e.g. constitutions, legal systems, courts). And then there are those questions that are more descriptive and analytical.

This question is specifically asking us about our understanding of a particular institution (the British constitution) and for us to analyse whether or not it actually exists.

So, the way I’d probably approach this question is to:

Define what a constitution is and what it should contains – as a side point, always be aware of the vague or grey concepts that the question is asking you to tackle, like justice, rule of law, constitutionalism and so on.
Then, discuss what is meant by the term ‘unwritten, informal and flexible’ with respect to the British Constitution, comparing it with written, formal, and rigid constitution. I’ll also be thinking here how relevant these characteristics are to the questions of whether a constitution exists. Like, are rigidity and formality necessary?
I could also provide evidence of the British constitution to argue that it does exist – things like that there’s an established system of government, established principles of constitutional reform, and things like that. But, we need to remember that this is a discussion where we’re analysing the statement. So, we’d also be looking to provide evidence that the British constitution doesn’t exist. Things like a lack of a fundamental, supreme law + sovereignty of Parliament as opposed to sovereignty of the constitution.

Hopefully, by deconstructing the question in this way, we begin to build a high-level picture of what the essay is going to look like, giving us a solid starting point to begin our research, where we deepen our understanding of the topic.

At the stage, we’re ready to do some research.

But, before we dive into the books, there’s a bit of preliminary work we need to do to make sure we’re not wasting our time reading useless material.

Basically, we need to create a new document in word, or wherever we want to collect our research, and structure that page in a way that helps us to properly answer the question. And the way we do this is by using the Minto Pyramid Principle :

The idea here is that ideas should always form a pyramid under a single thought. So, the single thought is the thesis or the answer to the question at hand, and then underneath that we’ve got a number of supporting arguments, which, in turn, are backed up with different pieces of evidence

With this in mind, then, we want to structure our page with the same headings as we find within the Minto Pyramid. That way, whenever we’re doing our research, we essentially just slot in the information into it, and gradually a fairly comprehensive essay structure should start to form.

One thing I always try to do before I properly start to research the question is to write out my thesis. I may not 100% know how I’m going to answer the question, but I usually have a vague position that I want to argue, so I use that as my starting point that guides my initial research.

Then I move on to doing the actual research.

For example, if I were researching the question ‘Critically assess the impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 on the British Constitution’, this is the general approach I’d take:

I’d start by reading my own notes and relevant chapter in a couple of different textbooks. This gives me a solid grasp of the law and helps me to identify the central issues: why the Act was passed and how it changed the law; its central provisions and leading cases, and, more specifically, the basic constitutional concerns and dilemmas that the Act has impacted on.
I’ll also access and read the central provisions of the Act to ensure it’s all consistent with my knowledge and with what the textbooks said.
By now, I’ll probably have a good idea of the main points that I want to make, so the process from here is to flesh them out, find evidence and critical analysis with further reading
I’ll then try to find some more specialist texts on the topic e.g. here I’d look at more detailed stuff on the Human Rights Act or constitutional reform, which will help me to identify specific concerns and discuss them in detail.
Finally, I’ll locate and use a number of journal articles dealing with the main issues, which will help me to critically analyse with confidence. Before, accessing and reading any primary sources that provide me with a fuller understanding of the essay title and the issue – things like judgements of leading cases decided under the Act; provisions of the European Convention of Human Rights; and other stuff like that. This will all help me to find detailed supporting evidence and criticisms of the main points I want to make.

At some point I’ll create a more detailed article on this process, but once I’ve done the research the goal now is to inject some critical thoughts into the structure.

The analysis stage doesn’t take that long, but it’s the big difference between a second class essay and a first class essay, so it’s worth giving it some thought.

By now we should have a pretty decent understanding of what other people think from both sides of the argument we’re exploring in our essay. Given this, we should have a broad idea of which side of the fence we sit, which hopefully supports the thesis statement we made at the start of the process.

The plan now, then, is to go through all the counter-arguments that cropped up during our research phase and add our own thoughts about why those counter-arguments can be rejected or why they lack weight.

Here, we’re not expected provide the same level of knowledge or insight as a professor, but we are expected to appreciate the argument they make and make relevant observations + criticism about their work. In fact, we can be fairly clumsy with our criticism, as long as we’re demonstrating a willingness to engage critically with academic opinion and the issue at hand, we’re going to be rewarded for doing so.

Now, I’m not going to go into too much detail here as I’m going to write a separate article on how to do proper critical analysis in law at some point. But the underlying point is that we should always finish our research stage by thinking about the topic and really try to figure out what we actually think about the question.

Okay, so we’re now ready to begin writing the essay itself and we should have a solid starting point if we’ve followed every stage so far.

Introduction

With the introduction, our goal is to show we understand the question and the legal issues – it should be brief, demonstrate we know what the issues are, and, as far as possible, clearly state our thesis. A mistake a lot of people make is to make the introduction as mysterious as possible, leaving the answer to be revealed in the conclusion. But, this isn’t a great way to write. Why? Because it’s so much easier for the marker to be told what we think upfront then be given evidence for why we think that way, than to be given the evidence first before being told what that evidence means at the end of the essay.

This is probably the hardest part of the essay writing process and I’d honestly spend like 25% of my time trying to get that right because it sets the tone for the rest of the essay and really emphasises the point I’m trying to make.

Then once we’ve sorted the introduction, we’re literally just going to go through each of the supporting arguments we wrote in our research stage and put it into full sentences. Basically, we’re dealing with each point in turn, addressing all aspects of the question and providing relevant legal authority for each point. This is an unbelievably quick process and takes ALL the pain out of writing essays because the hard work was done earlier.

Finally, we wrap things with our conclusion. This should just contain a summary of the issues dealt with along with your own concluding remarks that actually answers the questions. Again, put some decent amount of time into this because sometimes the marker will look at this before they check out the rest of the essay to make sure you have properly addressed the question and the main issues that ought to be addressed.

So, yeah, that’ pretty much it – if you want to know what a good law essay looks like with full comments on why, then make sure you download the exemplar for FREE by signing up to my weekly newsletter:

Once you’ve confirmed your email, you’ll be directed to the template. Feel free to unsubscribe from my newsletter at any time! 😁

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How to Write a First-Class Law Essay

Studying law at university entails lots of essay writing. This article takes you through the key steps to writing a top law essay.

Writing a law essay can be a challenging task. As a law student, you’ll be expected to analyse complex legal issues and apply legal principles to real-world scenarios. At the same time, you’ll need to be able to communicate your ideas clearly and persuasively. In this article, we’ll cover some top tips to guide you through the process of planning, researching, structuring and writing a first-class law essay with confidence.

1. Start In Advance

Give yourself plenty of time to plan, research and write your law essay. Always aim to start your law essay as soon as you have the question. Leaving it until the last minute does not only create unnecessary stress, but it also leaves you insufficient time to write, reference and perfect your work.

2. Understand The Question

Do not begin until you fully comprehend the question. Take the time to read the question carefully and make sure that you understand what it’s asking you to do. Highlight key terms and annotate the question with definitions of key concepts and any questions that you have have. Think about how the question links back to what you’ve learned during your lectures or through your readings.

3. Conduct Thorough Research

Conducting thorough research around your topic is one of the most fundamental parts of the essay writing process. You should aim to use a range of relevant sources, such as cases, academic articles, books and any other legal materials. Ensure that the information you collect is taken from relevant, reliable and up to date sources. Use primary over secondary material as much as possible.

Avoid using outdated laws and obscure blog posts as sources of information. Always aim to choose authoritative sources from experts within the field, such as academics, politicians, lawyers and judges. Using high-quality and authoritative sources and demonstrating profound and critical insight into your topic are what will earn you top marks.

4. Write A Detailed Plan

Once you’ve done your research, it’s time to plan your essay. When writing your plan, you’ll need to create an outline that clearly identifies the main points that you wish to make throughout your article. Try to write down what you wish to achieve in each paragraph, what concepts you want to discuss and arguments you want to make.

Your outline should be organised in a clear, coherent and logical manner to ensure that the person grading your essay can follow your line of thought and arguments easily. You may also wish to include headings and subheadings to structure your essay effectively This makes it easier when it comes to writing the essay as starting without a plan can get messy. The essay must answer the question and nothing but the question so ensure all of your points relate to it.

Start Writing Like A Lawyer

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5. Write A Compelling Introduction

A great introduction should, firstly, outline the research topic. The introduction is one of the most crucial parts of the law essay as it sets the tone for the rest of the paper. It should capture the readers attention and provide the background context on the topic. Most importantly, it should state the thesis of your essay.

When writing your introduction, avoid simply repeating the given question. Secondly, create a road map for the reader, letting them know how the essay will approach the question. Your introduction must be concise. The main body of the essay is where you will go into detail.

6. Include A Strong Thesis Statement

Your thesis should clearly set out the argument you are going to be making throughout your essay and should normally go in the introduction. Your thesis should adopt a clear stance rather than being overly general or wishy-washy. To obtain the best grades, you’ll need to show a unique perspective based upon a critical analysis of the topic rather than adopting the most obvious point of view.

Once you’ve conducted your research and had a chance to reflect on your topic, ask yourself whether you can prove your argument within the given word count or whether you would need to adopt a more modest position for your paper. Always have a clear idea of what your thesis statement is before you begin writing the content of your essay.

7. Present the Counter-argument

To demonstrate your deeper understanding of the topic, it’s important to show your ability to consider the counter-arguments and address them in a careful and reasoned manner. When presenting your counterarguments, aim to depict them in the best possible light, aiming to be fair and reasonable before moving on to your rebuttal. To ensure that your essay is convincing, you will need to have a strong rebuttal that explains why your argument is stronger and more persuasive. This will demonstrate your capacity for critical analysis, showing the reader that you have carefully considered differing perspectives before coming to a well-supported conclusion.

8. End With A Strong Conclusion

Your conclusion is your opportunity to summarise the key points made throughout your essay and to restate the thesis statement in a clear and concise manner. Avoid simply repeating what has already been mentioned in the body of the essay. For top grades, you should use the conclusion as an opportunity to provide critical reflection and analysis on the topic. You may also wish to share any further insights or recommendations into alternative avenues to consider or implications for further research that could add value to the topic.

9. Review The Content Of Your Essay

Make sure you factor in time to edit the content of your essay. Once you’ve finished your first draft, come back to it the next day. Re-read your essay with a critical perspective. Do your arguments make sense? Do your paragraphs flow in a logical manner? You may also consider asking someone to read your paper and give you critical feedback. They may be able to add another perspective you haven’t considered or suggest another research paper that could add value to your essay.

10. Proofread For Grammatical Mistakes

Once you’re happy with the content of your essay, the last step is to thoroughly proofread your essay for any grammatical errors. Ensure that you take time to ensure that there are no grammar, spelling or punctuation errors as these can be one of the easiest ways to lose marks. You can ask anyone to proofread your paper, as they would not necessarily need to have a legal background – just strong grammar and spelling skills!

11. Check Submission Guidelines

Before submitting, ensure that your paper conforms with the style, referencing and presentation guidelines set out by your university. This includes the correct font, font size and line spacing as well as elements such as page numbers, table of content etc. Referencing is also incredibly important as you’ll need to make sure that you are following the correct referencing system chosen by your university. Check your university’s guidelines about what the word count is and whether you need to include your student identification number in your essay as well. Be thorough and don’t lose marks for minor reasons!

12. Use Legal Terms Accurately

Always make sure that you are using legal terms accurately throughout your essay. Check an authoritative resource if you are unsure of any definitions. While being sophisticated is great, legal jargon if not used correctly or appropriately can weaken your essay. Aim to be concise and to stick to the point. Don’t use ten words when only two will do.

12. Create a Vocabulary Bank

One recurring piece of advice from seasoned law students is to take note of phrases from books and articles, key definitions or concepts and even quotes from your professors. When it comes to writing your law essay, you will have a whole range of ideas and vocabulary that will help you to develop your understanding and thoughts on a given topic. This will make writing your law essay even easier!

13. Finally, Take Care of Yourself

Last but certainly not least, looking after your health can improve your attitude towards writing your law essay your coursework in general. Sleep, eat, drink and exercise appropriately. Take regular breaks and try not to stress. Do not forget to enjoy writing the essay!

Words by Karen Fulton

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Writing Law Problem Questions

How to write a legal problem essay.

Law problem question essays give you an imaginary scenario. They then ask you to comment on the legal issues that arise and advise the parties. This guide will explain how to answer a problem essay with eight handy tips.

1. Read the Facts

The first step to answering any law problem question is to read the entirety of the facts you are given. Do not just jump into answering the question. Take your time and ensure that you fully understand all the issue involved in the case. It may help to highlight parts of the fact-pattern that you think are important.

2. Structuring Your Analysis

This is a mistake many law undergraduates and GDL students make when writing a scenario law essay. They look at the facts and recognise that they are similar to a case they’ve read. They will then immediately assume ‘this is like Joe Bloggs vs John Smith’, and answer the question accordingly. For this reason, examiners often complain that law essays lack coherent structure or proper analysis.

To avoid this pitfall, when answering legal problem questions you must adopt a structure .

Say you have an problem on whether or not the defendant is liable in the tort of negligence. The facts look similar to a particular case you’ve read on contributory negligence. Your first instinct is to start talking about defences. Stop . Ignore the similarity completely for now, and think. Before you can even discuss defences, you must talk about whether the defendant is liable in the first place. What does the law actually require you to establish to prove liability? Is the defendant liable? If so, what defences might he rely on, and how are those established?

Develop steps that you can put every scenario relating to that area of the law through in order. For example:

Contract Law

Has there been an offer ?
Was the offer accepted ?
Are the terms of the agreement certain ?
Do the parties intend to be legally bound ?
Is there consideration ?
What are the terms of the contract?
Is there a breach ?
What kind of breach has occurred?
Is there a defence to the breach?
What are the innocent party’s remedies and options?

Criminal Law

Is the actus reus of the offence established?
Is the mens rea of the offence established?
Is there a relevant defence?

Negligence Law

Does the defendant owe the claimant a duty of care ?
Has the duty been breached ?
Is the breach a factual cause of the loss?
Is the breach a legal cause of the loss?
Is the loss sufficiently non-remote ?

This doesn’t mean you have devote a whole paragraph to every step. If its obvious that the defendant owed a legal duty, a single sentence pointing this out will suffice. If the question tells you there is a contract, simply note you will assume the contract was validly-formed. The most controversial and difficult points should be given the majority of your essay’s attention.

Nevertheless, you get credit for completing each necessary step in the order in which they arose. This is how a court of law would most naturally consider them. This method of structuring essays also stops you missing interesting elements of problem questions. You might miss these points by skipping straight to what you think is the most obvious issue.

3. Structuring the Overall Essay

The problem question may present you with multiple areas of law. For example, a defendant may have committed different kinds of crime, or liability might arise in both negligence and nuisance. Alternatively, the question may ask you to discuss the liability of several different people.

If you have to advise different parties, discuss the liability of each party in turn . Otherwise, a good rule is to deal with each area of the law in turn . Give each area of law its own separate section. This will lead to a clearer essay structure than trying to deal with each event chronologically.

4. Structuring Individual Paragraphs

You can structure your discussion of individual issues any way which makes sense and follows a logical structure. One of the most popular ways for structuring discussions is the IRAC method. This stands for:

State the issue you are about to discuss

State the applicable legal rules (with authority or statutory references)

Discuss how these legal rules apply to the facts in front of you

State what the conclusion to the issue is based on your analysis

For example, lets say you are writing a problem question in tort law. You have a defendant who has run over a pedestrian with his car. You think he may be liable in negligence, so you start by considering whether he owes a duty of care. You would structure your analysis of this issue as follows:

The first issue is whether the defendant owes the claimant a duty of care.

If the case’s facts are non-novel, whether a duty is owed depends on the applicable precedent ( Robinson v CC of West Yorkshire Police ). It is established that road-users owe others a duty of care ( Nettleship v Weston ).

In this case, the defendant is a road-user because he was driving a car on the road. The claimant was also a road-user because they were a nearby pedestrian.

Therefore, the defendant owes the claimant a duty of care.

5. Not Enough Information Given?

What if the problem question does not seem to give you enough information to advise on the parties’ legal position? It is completely fine to write ‘the problem question does not give us enough information to determine X’.

For example, lets say you think that whether the defendant was in breach depends on how fast he was driving. The facts do not tell you how fast he was driving. Do not be afraid to say so!

However, saying that there isn’t enough information is NOT enough. You must then go on to say what information you would need to advise the party. Once you have set this out, explain how the law would apply to the facts if you had this information.

For example, you might say ‘if the defendant was speeding, he is likely in breach of his duty.’ Explain why. Then, say that ‘if he was not speeding, he is likely not in breach.’ Finish by explaining why this is the case.

This shows you are thinking like a lawyer. If a client walks in and gives half the facts, you need to be able to ask the right questions. You then need to be able to evaluate the facts, whatever they turn out to be.

6. Red Herrings

Sometimes, the fact-pattern will include information which seems salient, but actually is not. This is known as a red herring. These red herrings are designed to test your ability to pick apart relevant information from irrelevant information.

Many students assume that all of the information in the problem question must be relevant and addressed. When presented with a red herring, these students will panic and start guessing at how the information affects the outcome. Instead, the examiners expect you to point out that the information is not relevant. You can get bonus points by explaining why the law doesn’t consider this kind of information relevant.

For example, say you have a commercial law question where the owner of a painting stores it with a local art dealer. The owner then sees that the art dealer has put the painting up for sale without authority. The owner decides he will call the dealer later in the day to clear up the problem. However, he negligently forgets. The painting is later sold to a third-party.

The red herring here is the owner’s negligence. This seems like it should be relevant to whether the owner has lost property in the painting. In reality it is not: you cannot lose ownership of property because you were negligent. Because the information seems relevant, it is tempting to discuss it at length, for example by talking about estoppel by negligence. This wastes time and will not get you any marks. Rather, you should say ‘the owner’s negligence is not relevant to whether he retains ownership of the painting’. Then, move on.

7. Don’t Hedge Your Bets (and other Stylistic Tips)

If there’s one thing most law professors hate, its a phrase like ‘it seems from the evidence that there might be a possibility of supporting the argument that…’.

Confidence in essay-writing is not something that is stressed enough at school or university. When you aren’t sure, it is tempting to hedge your bets with language like ‘probably’ and ‘it might be the case’. Resist that urge. If your analysis is correct but don’t sound confident, the examiner may doubt that you firmly grasp the material. If it is not correct, saying ‘probably’ in front of the error won’t help in any case.

Other stylistic tips for writing a professional sounding essay include:

Avoid contractions (‘don’t’, ‘can’t’), slang phrases and other informal language;
Avoid the phrase ‘it is submitted that’. This kind of wording is for moots and legal debating, not academic legal essays;
Try to deal with only one issue per paragraph. This makes the essay less visually intimidating;
If simple language and short sentences get your point across, use simple language and short sentences. There is a temptation to sound ‘professional’ by using multi-clauses sentences and complex vocabulary. This just makes the essay harder to read.

8. Cite, Cite and Cite Again

If you ever make any kind of positive claim about the law, back it up with a citation. What proves your claim? A case? A statutory provision? Cite it. You need to assure the marker that you aren’t just making lucky guesses. Also, many institutions’ grading criteria specify that you can’t get more than a 2:2 if there is insufficient citation.

Generally there is no need to give the year, report and page number of case-law in exams. However, you should check your university’s best practice guidelines to know for sure.