1. How to recognise type of assignment question

Your first step in writing a law assignment should be to ask yourself "How do I recognise the type of question asked?". If you are a first-year law student, this will be very difficult. If you are in the later years of your legal education, you might already be able to recognise what type of question is being asked. Law essay questions fall into two basic categories: essay-style questions and problem-style questions.

How to recognise law essay-style assignment questions

In an essay-style law assignment question, you are usually asked to provide your opinion on a sentence, a question or a quotation. This type of question requires you to learn how to evaluate the law by discussing its pros, cons, and complexities. An essay-style question in a law paper can be general, specific, or quotation-based. Each type requires a different response. Let's look at how you should approach writing answers to each of those questions.

A general essay question asks you to evaluate a particular area of law, but no specific issue within that area is emphasised. In specific essay questions, you will be asked to identify an area of law and then to focus on a specific issue within that area. An essay question involving a quotation asks you to express your opinion on an issue or area of law presented in the quote. Once you identify the type of question asked, you have to tailor your whole assignment to it. If you want to learn more about how to approach each of those types of questions, check out my 1st Class Law Essay Writing Course.

How to recognise law problem-style assignment questions

Problem-style questions describe certain circumstances through a scenario. It can refer to one person's experience, or it can involve several people experiencing different things. Law assignment answers to problem-style questions are very different from answers provided to essay-style questions, which is why you need to approach them differently.

The first thing you need to understand in a problem-style scenario is how many legal issues there are. To put it another way, how many of the things discussed in the scenario require legal action? Let's assume you are dealing with a criminal law scenario where somebody wearing a red coat was shot. When it comes to law, it is irrelevant whether they wore a red coat at the time. But a lawyer would definitely be interested in how exactly the victim was shot and what was in the shooter's mind when they fired the gun. When determining whether the shooter will be convicted of murder, you will need to take these factors into consideration.

2. How to write a law assignment introduction

Generally, law students find it difficult to write law essay introductions due to the lack of guidance available. Lecturers are usually too busy to guide students on how to write an introduction to a law essay, and textbooks rarely discuss this topic. Many students fail to make any progress with their essay because of not knowing how to write the introduction. The following tips can help you if you encounter this problem when working on your assignments.

How to Write an Introduction to a Law Essay-Style Assignment Question​

Describe the Key Legal Concept in your law paper

You should start your law paper introduction by defining the Key Legal Concept. This is the main concept that your essay will be centered around. Your lecturer will often mention it in the essay question. Otherwise, you can easily find out what the Key Legal Concept is by answering the following question: “What area of public law/tort law/criminal law (etc.) is this essay about?". Suppose you are writing an essay on public law and your key legal concept is "parliamentary sovereignty". By beginning your law essay with an explanation of the key legal concept, you demonstrate a good understanding of the subject matter you will be discussing. In addition, it ensures your readers also understand what you're trying to write about. As a general practice, beginning an essay-style law paper by discussing the Key Legal Concept will definitely improve your grade.

Outline the Central Argument of your law assignment

The next section of the introduction concerns the Central Argument, which is the key argument you will be arguing throughout your law assignment. Typically, it is part of your lecturer's law essay question or a paraphrase of that question. It gives the reader an understanding of what aspects of the Key Legal Concept you are going to discuss and how you plan to approach the discussion. A good central argument would be: "Parliamentary sovereignty has been maintained in the UK, despite certain restrictions imposed on it over the years". As soon as the reader sees this, they'll understand you're discussing whether parliamentary sovereignty exists or not in the UK.

Explain the structure of your law paper

After defining the Key Legal Concept and introducing your Central Argument, it is time to present the structure of your essay. This is usually done by listing the headings of your essay in the order in which they appear in the essay. For instance, a law assignment on parliamentary sovereignty might include the following headings: " Judicial review of legislation, Interpretation of legislation by UK courts, Implied repeal doctrine". Short essays only require one or two sentences to give an overview of your structure. Because of that, you will only manage to list the headings in your law paper. When you are writing a longer essay, then the introduction is longer too, and you will have enough room to explain each heading briefly.

How to Write an Introduction to a Law Problem-Style Assignment Question​

Briefly summarise the Key Facts in your law assignment

The Key Facts in your legal problem scenario are the facts that are the most relevant to the legal issues you will be addressing in your essay. When writing shorter assignments, you may have to pick fewer Key Facts to mention, since you will only be able to dedicate one or two sentences of your introduction to this. However, if you are writing a longer essay, you might provide a more detailed description of the Key Facts from the scenario. Whether you're writing a short or long essay, it's crucial to remember your lecturer doesn't want to see your entire introduction dedicated to paraphrasing the problem scenario. You only need to mention the most important events in the scenario. It includes the factors that will let you identify the legal issues in the body of your law paper.

Establish the Purpose of your law paper

Having introduced the Key Facts, it's time to introduce your law assignments's Purpose. The Purpose of a problem-style essay is to ADVISE someone on something. In this section of your introduction, you must explain WHO will be advised on WHAT. As an example, you might be advising James on whether he committed any criminal offences, or Jessica on whether she entered into a legally binding contract. By introducing the purpose of your essay in the introduction, you demonstrate your understanding of the problem scenario. It will also give your readers a sense of what to expect from your law paper.

Lay out the structure of your law assignment

Your introduction should conclude with a description of the structure of your essay, as with essay-style assignments. This means that you should list your headings in the order that they appear in your law paper. Problem-style essays usually have one heading dedicated to one legal issue, which makes naming the headings easier. For instance, if you are writing a tort law essay with three legal issues, your headings could be: "Liability for Harry’s physical injuries, Liability for Kat’s physical injuries and death, Liability for Sam’s financial loss". Short essays will often have only a sentence or two devoted to their headings, as with introductions to essay-style assignments. However, if you are writing a longer essay, you may be able to discuss a bit about the content of each heading.

TIP: Still not sure about how to structure introductions? My 1st Class Law Essay Generator will help you with that!

3. How to write the critical analysis in the main body of your law assignment

Law isn't just about memorising legal rules. As well as evaluating the law, you need to be able to analyse it critically. Critical analysis and evaluation are often difficult for students due to a few common mistakes. In order to help you critically evaluate law in the main body of your law assignment, I have prepared three key tips.

How to avoid being too descriptive in your law assignment

As a law student, you know that laws derive from cases and statutes. But even though the knowledge of cases and statutes is essential, you cannot simply regurgitate it when writing your law assignment. Instead, you need to evaluate and analyse those cases and statute sections critically. In other words, you should consider why these rules were established in the first place, whether they fulfil the purpose for which they were introduced as well as what would be other possible alternatives.

You won't get a first by simply stating legal rules in your law paper. That's what makes a law assignment overly descriptive. Analysing those rules critically is necessary to avoid this problem. In many instances, the law is inadequate or has some weaknesses. Your law assignment can highlight these weaknesses or explain why the law is inadequate, and then propose ways to make it better. It is important to think critically about the laws that you are studying rather than just accepting them as they are. By doing this, you will not only be more prepared for your exams, but also for the real world of law.

How to evaluate the law in your law paper

A critical evaluation of a law essay requires more than asking the basic questions. Having a good understanding of the law on a particular issue isn't enough to make you a lawyer. Developing the ability to think independently and form an opinion on every case and statute that can be defended with solid arguments is essential. In order to understand the law effectively, you need to understand its value, contextual history, and current relevance. If you are writing a law assignment, you should answer the following questions:

• Take a moment to consider the underlying reason. What was the purpose of introducing this particular law? Could another section have handled this particular issue instead of introducing a specific statute section? What are the potential consequences of changing or removing that law?
  
  
• Consider whether the law you are evaluating does its job. Does the law assist the justice system in resolving the problem that it is meant to address? Do you think it accomplishes what it was intended to accomplish? Are there any amendments that can be made to make it more relevant and comprehensive?
  
  
• You should question in your law assignment the quality of the law. Consider whether the law is good or bad. Laws can be judged on numerous factors, such as their scope, the ability to address a certain issue, and how adequately they deal with it. Be careful not to base your opinion about the law on your emotional reaction to it or what you think is morally right. Your opinion should be supported by a logical and rational argument - something persuasive enough for a court to take seriously. Create a bullet point list of the pros and cons of the law to be able to critically evaluate whether it's a good or bad one.
  
  
• Consider situations where the law fails to address the problem. There may be a few cases where that law couldn't deal with the issue and resulted in an unfair judgment. What can be done to improve the law's functional and legal scope, and how can its weaknesses be reduced?

How to include the right type of evaluation in your law assignment

Many law papers discuss the law critically, but they do it the wrong way. Students often evaluate the law in their assignments critically, but they answer unnecessary questions that lead them down the wrong path. Therefore, it is crucial that you know which questions your essay needs to answer and what the central argument in your paper is.

This requires careful and thorough reading of the topic of your essay so you know you are answering the right question. As soon as you understand the question, ask yourself that question for every single case and statute section you intend to discuss in your essay. Rather than focusing on a single perspective on the law, you'll examine the law from a variety of angles, which will make your essay more critical.

4. How to write a law paper conclusion

The conclusion is perhaps the most difficult part of writing a law essay. Researching the relevant cases and statute sections, writing up an introduction, and completing the "evaluate and analyse" part of your law assignment have already cost you a lot of time and effort. You probably just want to finish that essay and move on. In spite of well-written content, a strong conclusion is essential or you risk getting a lower grade. Here are a few tips to help you finish this task quickly, and produce a law paper conclusion worthy of a first!

How to write a conclusion for an essay-style law assignment

If you are writing an essay-style law paper, the first step in your conclusion is to make sure your central argument is clearly stated, i.e. what your key opinion was. That's all there is to it. Your conclusion should not contain new information or quotes from journal articles. You can include that in your main body.

Having restated your central argument, it is time to explain why you argued that specific opinion. Those reasons will be included in your essay's main body. It's there that you proved your points and provided your arguments. Those arguments are already familiar to the reader, so they don't want to read it all over again. Your main arguments should be enough for them to get a sense of what you talked about.

A simple rule of thumb can help you determine which arguments are your main arguments. There are probably around 3 to 5 headings in your essay. You should summarise each of the headings in this part of your conclusion by using 1 to 3 sentences, depending on the length of your essay.

Let’s say that your essay is 1,500 words long and has three headings. Your conclusion should include one sentence restating the central argument and one sentence summarising each heading in your essay. Isn't that simple? Now let's see how to write a conclusion for a problem-style question assignment.

How to write a conclusion for a problem-style law assignment

It is actually very easy to write a conclusion for a legal problem-style paper. There is rarely one specific central argument that you are arguing throughout your essay, so you do not need to restate it at the end. The first sentence of your conclusion should instead acknowledge that the essay you just wrote was about legal issues in a particular area of law. As an example, you could say “The above sections of this essay evaluated whether...”. It's that simple.

Step two is equally straightforward. Simply restate the conclusion you reached at the end of each section in your essay's main body. How did you advise the person about their legal issue? Is it likely that they will be convicted of a particular crime? Do you think there was a contract breach? Does it seem likely that the person was negligent?

Summarising each heading should take between 1 and 3 sentences, depending on the length of your essay. For a 1,500-word essay with three headings, your conclusion is likely to contain one sentence referring to the legal issues discussed in the essay, and three additional sentences - one for each heading. It's pretty simple, isn't it?

Now get back to your essay and get it finished so you can relax!​