Product Description

How to Write Law Essays and Exams provides law students with a practical and proven method of analysing and answering essay and exam questions. The book focuses on those questions that give students the most trouble, namely problem questions, but its techniques are equally applicable to other types of essays. Designed for law students of all levels, including those on A-level, university, conversion, and vocational courses, the text helps students understand their substantive courses while at the same time teaching vital writing and analytical skills. In addition to providing a framework for analysing and writing law essays, the book teaches students how to identify relevant legal authorities, distinguish and harmonise conflicting legal precedents and evaluate the applicability of the law to the facts of the question at hand. The book also contains specific law-related revision techniques and general writing tips. Numerous worked examples help students avoid common errors, while a dedicated chapter on professional practice helps ease the transition to pupillage and traineeships. The tried and tested techniques contained in this book have increased numerous students' understanding and enjoyment of their law courses, while simultaneously improving their marks. Online Resource Centre Student resources: discussion of different citation styles and referencing; a breakdown of a case; answers to frequently asked questions

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #56744 in Books
• Published on: 2006-01-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Review
Review of the first edition: "There really is no other book that addresses so completely the issues tackled in this one. Many "Question and Answer" books will give subject-based guidance on how to tackle certain topics, but this book provides a tactical approach which can be adapted to fit virtually any type of legal problem or essay. An essential book for the library and, arguably, for all first year student's reading lists.'"--The Law Quarterly Review

About the Author
Dr S I Strong has over ten years' experience teaching law at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and practising as a solicitor in London and as an attorney in New York and Chicago. Dr Strong has additional experience as an editor and as a teacher of writing, and holds numerous awards for her writing and legal analysis, including the Yorke Prize for outstanding doctoral dissertation from the University of Cambridge. Dr Strong currently acts as counsel with Baker & McKenzie LLP,
where she specializes in resolving international commercial disputes.

Customer Reviews

A useful guide to what matters
This book is published with answering both law discussion questions and problem questions, in which the law student is presented with a facts scenario and has to evaluate the merits of each claim, in mind. Naturally, it would be easy to lose focus in discussion and problem questions; I've answered many in my time and will answer many more and I speak from experience. In providing a four-part framework which is universally applicable across the wide array of questions that one may have to attempt in a law paper, this book is invaluable.

The student who adopts the method in this book is far less likely to lose focus as it helps to compartmentalise the key elements of answering a question. Moreover, such an approach is invaluable in exam conditions, for the 'Cleo' method ensures that all analysis is to the point and very little time is wasted on irrelevant material.

I've applied this method in many of my essays and exam questions. It's difficult to get used to, but it's certainly worth the effort.

The one criticism to which the book is vulnerable is that the author perhaps spends too much time criticising the grammatical errors in the worked examples. Such an attitude is understandable - after all, part of the point of this method is to make the answers more concise - but perhaps it could do with focusing a little more on the legal defects in the worked examples, as particularly in timed conditions the focus on the grammar will lessen.

Apart from this minor point, however, I recommend the book in the highest possible terms.

An OK decent guide to writing law essays
For undergraduate or postgraduate law students in particular, this book mainly focuses on tackling problem questions (i.e. involving advising parties or discussing the rights and liabilities of parties in a scenario) using the author's four-step formula of "CLEO" - Claim, Law, Evaluation and Outcome. Each component of the compound is explained and guides the reader on how to write out each of the four steps using a worked example of a negligence tort law problem question written by the author. Essay questions or "discuss questions" (i.e. discussion or critique questions of the law regarding development or reform) are also dealt with briefly with the same formula, but in a slightly modified version.

The use of this method is moderately useful for students, but this is usually taught by lecturers or tutors at university anyway, in my experience and from fellow students. It allows a somewhat focused approach to writing law essays through the use of "CLEO".

The author makes good use of brief summaries at the start of each chapter, as well as boxed mini-headings for many paragraphs, in addition to ample annotation for essays.

However, my main problem with the book is the exposition of the various parts of the "CLEO" method by the author, where in numerous occasions, the author seems to be off-track - particularly in the chapter on applying the formula to "discuss questions". Also, a lot of the comments on worked essays were grammar and punctuation based, without emphasis on analysis or application of "CLEO". In some instances, the explanations on the usage of the formula are unnecessarily verbose. Furthermore, the author frequently uses a number of vague terms interchangeably, such as "sub-issue", without initial clarification which is a major obstacle to understanding how the formula is used. Lastly, I thought the chapter on very basic grammar and punctuation (such as commas and apostrophes) titled as "good tips for legal writing", which covered around 50 pages, was rather unhelpful.

Despite these problems, the book serves as a fair guide to writing law essays or for some inspiration pertaining to style in such essays.

A MUST FOR EVERY LAW STUDENT!
This is a great study guide for anyone who wants to improve their marks on their law course. I was struggling with time constraints on all my practice essays, but this system really helped. Not only am I able to write more quickly and more clearly, I find I'm able to get more information into each of my essays simply because I have an organized method of structuring my argument. In addition to the CLEO system, the book had a chapter on grammar and style that explained things that never made sense to me before. My tutor was shocked at how quickly my essays improved after reading this book. Buy this -- you won't regret it.