6 critical steps to writing a first-class legal essay at any stage of your legal studies!
This guide includes everything you NEED to know to write a successful legal essay, including examples!
Improve your legal writing today with this guide written by a first-class honours gradute.
First Class Law
Essentials
How to Write a First Class Law Essay
Legal writing requires a high level of critical thinking, and the ability to write
persuasively and succinctly on a given issue, using support from verifiable
sources. The key element to answering any piece of written work is to make sure
that you answer the question and structure your answer in a logical manner.
The following is a guide on how to research, structure, and write a legal essay.
This is a formula that can be tailored to your unique style of writing and to each
legal topic as you progress through your studies. While this will give you the
skills to write a legal essay, the rest of the work will have to come from you and
the effort that you put into your coursework, exams, or final dissertation.
1. Start in Advance
The first step to writing a high-level essay is to start early. Give yourself plenty
of time to decode the question, to understand the topic area, and to research
the background as much as possible. If you want to write a First-class essay, you
need to understand what you are writing. You will need sufficient time to read
articles and find reputable sources to reference in your footnotes to backup
your legal reasoning or your underlying argument.
Above all, you will feel less stressed and overwhelmed, particularly if you have a
lot of coursework to do around the same time! Give yourself enough time to
write and re-write as many times as you need.
2. Decoding the Question
, Ensure that you know what you are being asked to do. How you will structure
your essay and answer the question will depend on the wording of the question
itself.
In most cases, you will either be presented with a question taken from a quote, a
problematic question, or a scenario. Your ability to decode the question will
affect the outcome of your grade. Let’s take a closer look at each type of
question:
Question taken from a Quote
If the question is taken from a quote, you should start by identifying the original
source of the quote to better understand the context in which the statement
was made.
Example: EU Law Question
“Supremacy has probably become one of the most entrenched of all
principles associated with EU Law.” (Steiner and Woods) Critically discuss.
You should approach this question by decoding the quote first. Highlight key
terms and annotate the question with definitions of key concepts and any
questions if you have any.
There is nothing wrong with rephrasing the question in a simpler manner for
your own purposes, and this may help you to answer the question more
effectively.
When presented with a quote, you should also verify the original source of the
quote. Is the quote from a publication or spoken word? Who said / wrote the
quote? What is their background? Using the example relating to EU law, are they
EU lawyers? Or academics specialising in EU law?
After finding the original source, you can use this in your essay to argue that the
source is biased, or that the source is potentially unreliable or outdated.
Subsequently, you should start to think ‘critically’ about the quote – as stated in
the question. Do you agree with what the statement says? Start to research the
context of the what the quote is actually stating or arguing. From there, you can
start to form your opinion and your structure to the essay.
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