How to Start Writing a Law Essay to Get a First

Starting your law essay can be the most tricky part of the writing process. Yet, based on my experience lecturing and tutoring law students I am confident that the beginning of the writing process is what matters the most when it comes to getting a first. If you want to find out how to set yourself up for success from the start, check out the tips I shared below.

Recognise the type of question asked

The first thing you need to do when starting your law essay is identify the type of question you are asked to answer. Typically, you will be asked to answer a question which is phrased as either an essay-style question or a problem-style scenario. Problem scenarios are usually long stories about different things that happened to a particular person or a few people. They resemble situations that real people can find themselves in when they approach a solicitor for advice. In the case of questions phrased as essay-style questions, your task is a bit more complicated. First, you will have to identify whether your question is a general essay question, a specific essay question or a quotation question.

Note: Want to learn more about how to approach different types of essay questions? Check out the 1st Class Law Essay Writing Course.

Understand what is required

Your task with problem scenarios is to:
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• Find out which statute provisions and/or cases apply to the situations described in the scenario
  
  
• Propose, based on those statutes and/or cases, what the person described in the scenario should do
  
  
• Justify why you think that they should take a particular action
  
  
• Conclude by stating whether you think they are likely to succeed in their action.

Each type of essay question needs to be approached differently. However, in general your task with essay questions is to: 
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• Read different materials on the area of law that the question is about
  
  
• Make a list of issues typically discussed in relation to that area
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• ​Choose a few (typically 3-4) issues that you will focus on

Research the area of law

The next step when starting a law essay is to research the area of law you will be writing about thoroughly, so that you know how to structure your essay and what content to include in it. In order to do that, you need to find out what statute sections and cases you will be talking about in your essay, and what the academics say about those cases and statute sections in their journal articles.

The protocol for doing this is very simple:

• Scan through the relevant chapters of a few textbooks and look for any statute sections and cases which are repeatedly mentioned in relation to the specific area of law you are dealing with, and the issues which you identified in the previous step. Make sure to skim through both the text and footnotes of the chapter for best results.
  
  
• Note down any journal articles mentioned in the footnotes which are relevant to your topic.
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• Read selectively the journal articles which you found in step 2. Check whether they mention the same statute sections and cases which you found in step 1.
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• Find out what the authors of the journal articles say about those statute sections and cases. Do they criticise the wording of the sections and the decisions of the judges or do they support them? What do they say in support of their view? All of that is what you will use to build the main body of your assignment.

Structure your essay

Creating an essay structure is where many students get stuck when working on their law assignments. The dreaded question of “how do I start my essay?" can really make you feel stuck at this stage of the writing process. Your essay should be structured differently depending on whether you are dealing with a problem scenario, a general essay question, a specific essay question or a quotation essay question. My First Class Essay Writing Course covers all those different types of essay structures, and it can really help you speed up your writing process, especially at the start. However, in general when structuring your essay you need to cover the following elements:

• Introduction: This part should only contain some basic information about the essay which will help you ‘set the scene’ for the main body of your essay. In case of a problem scenario question it should include a brief restatement of the basic facts from the scenario, an outline of the key legal issues and an outline of the structure of the essay. In order to start an essay question you should, in general terms, provide a bit of background about the issue which you will be discussing, a brief explanation of the key challenge, the central argument and a short outline of the structure of your essay.
  
  Main body: For the main body of your essay you should pick 3-4 headings which you will use and structure your arguments around them. It is good practice at this stage to write down in bullet points the content of each paragraph within each heading, which should include the relevant law as well as either your application of the law to the problem scenario or any arguments put forward by academics in relation to each issue mentioned.
• Conclusion: The conclusion of your essay should briefly restate the key position which you reached based on the arguments mentioned in the main body of your essay.

Note: If you need more support with structuring your essay, check out the Essay Generator which is a great tool for easy and effortless law essay writing.

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