March - How to write better law essays..

Here are a few tips on writing legal essays that you should bear in mind, whether you are writing a descriptive essay or a discursive essay.

1 Express yourself as clearly as possible
A good way of testing whether your essay is clear enough to be understood is this: Imagine a friend has asked you the question that is the subject of theessay. Would your friend be baffled by your response or have to ask you to clarify certain points you have made? If so, your essay is not clear enough and you should rework it.

2 Make your essays easy to follow
Use devices such as headings and numbered points to make it easier for your reader to understand what you are saying

3 Assume that the reader knows enough to have asked the question
Students often wonder in writing legal essays how much knowledge they should assume on the part of the reader. The answer is that you should write your essay on the basis that it will be read by someone who knows just enough to have asked the question which you are answering.

So if you are writing an essay on ‘Compare and contrast the Unfair ContractTerms Act 1977 and the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999’, in writing your essay you are entitled to assume that your reader has heard of the 1977 Act and the 1999 Regulations, but you should not assume that your reader knows much more than that.