As a law student, you are sure to face many types of writing assignments during your course of study. Though these tasks may seem manageable at first, they come with added requirements for research and legal issue analysis, which may be a brand-new activity for you.
Thus, it’s time to find out what specifics a law essay comes with and what skills you will need to hone to master the art of impeccable legal writing. In this article, we cover all the basics of law essay structuring and reveal how you can cope with every part of this academic assignment with minimal effort.
What Is a Law Essay?
In a nutshell, a law essay is an academic task urging students to analyse a certain legal theory or concept (theoretical essay) or apply their knowledge of legal rules and concepts to the analysis and resolution of a practical legal situation (problem-style essay). Any of these essay types requires an in-depth understanding of key legal terms and concepts, which you apply in the analysis to argue your point.
Law essay writing is an essential part of the legal student’s academic progress. Learners have to master the art of finding top-quality legal information in academic databases and apply the right rules, concepts and theories to the analysis of specific legal situations. Therefore, legal writing always involves extensive reading and research, critical analysis of data, and the ability to synthesise numerous sources of evidence.
How to Start a Law Essay?
You might be surprised to learn that, but starting a law essay doesn’t mean you begin to write it. In reality, you will have to do much preparatory work to ensure that your law essay is evidence-based and logical. Here are the main tips for starting the law essay work correctly.
- Plan your time and start early. Legal writing is different from traditional essays, as it requires you to read and research legal sources extensively. In other words, you can hardly answer the essay question correctly or find the right legal resolution to a real case if you don’t understand the underlying theories, laws and legal principles. Finding them takes time, so you should reserve enough time for the preliminary research and literature selection; otherwise, you may fail the deadline because of your inability to compose a worthy piece.
- Double-check your comprehension of the task. It will be such a shame to spend many hours on research and writing something off-topic. So, to avoid such situations, you need to read the assignment 2-3 times to make sure you really comprehend the prompt and know what is required from you. For instance, if your professor wants an APA essay, you should know how to write a law essay in APA format.
- Research the legal issue. After you build a solid idea of what your law essay should cover, it’s time to sit down to research. Scan several legal databases and download the articles and books you consider relevant to the issue. Review the resulting dataset to remove duplicates and low-quality sources of evidence. After that, you may proceed to close reading of the selected sources and note-taking in that process.
- Plan your work on the essay. With those notes at your disposal, you will be much better positioned to compose a workable outline and proceed to writing with a clear plan in front of your eyes. Having a detailed outline is a great time saviour for every student, as it gives you a step-by-step plan for composing every paragraph and prevents going off-topic. Besides, you can allocate the sources you have found to specific paragraphs, thus dividing the writing work into chunks.
- Develop a thesis statement. A vital part of your law essay’s structure is the thesis statement. It should be easier to formulate this statement after you study the compiled literature set and determine the general idea of your essay.
How to Structure a Law Essay?
As a rule, the structure of your law essay won’t differ a lot from a regular essay in any other discipline. So, it will need to include:
- An introduction. The introductory part should familiarise the audience with your object of research and the main topic you’re exploring. You should compose the background section that explains the context of your analysed legal issue and explains why it is important to give it attention in research. If you’re given a legal scenario that you need to resolve, you may simply restate the main facts, figures of the case and other details vital for building the context. As usual, the introduction should end with a thesis statement in which you cover the main content that will be present in the body paragraphs and your central argument – the thesis statement.
- A body. Next comes the largest part of the law essay – its body paragraphs. You will determine the number of paragraphs depending on the general size of the essay, but as a rule, it should be 70-80% of your essay’s total volume. This part follows the traditional structure, which presupposes allocating one argument per paragraph, starting the paragraph with a concise topic sentence naming that argument, and dedicating the rest of the paragraph space to supporting evidence and your own interpretation of the cited facts. It is very important to give proper credit to counterarguments and opposing views as well, as a failure to do so may cause your essay to look biased.
- A conclusion. The final part of the law essay is traditionally dedicated to a conclusion, which sums up all the key arguments and evidence, presenting the final wrap-up in the end. Make sure to avoid including new data, facts and sources in this section, as it should only summarise the main content without adding new variables to your analysis. To make your essay’s impact stronger, you can add the final call to action or make a broader inference about the practical and theoretical significance of your study.
How to End a Law Essay?
After you cover all the arguments and evidence in the body of your essay, it’s time to proceed to the final part – the conclusion. This ending should give a natural closure to your argumentation and draw a finishing line under all the points you have provided. Don’t add any new sources or facts to this part; dedicate it to restating the thesis statement, revisiting the importance of your topic, and stressing the main points that should lead the readers to adopt your viewpoint.
Besides writing the law essay from the beginning to the end, you will need to do some final polishing work before submitting it to the professor. Here are the final stages for its completion:
- Review the submission guidelines once more. You have probably studied everything in detail before sitting down to write the essay. Yet, it’s also important to revisit the guidelines after the essay is ready. This way, you can compare your intellectual product to the rubric and perform an unbiased assessment of whether you have fulfilled all the terms. You still have time to add or change something, after all, and your final essay is not yet submitted.
- Proofread and edit the paper. We strongly recommend not to skip this stage of law essay preparation for submission. You may be 100% sure that you have written everything correctly, but small inconsistencies and tiny typos may still creep into your writing. Spotting these issues is possible only when you take a fresh look at the text a couple of hours after you’ve finished it. Such a thorough review will help you avoid losing vital grade points because of avoidable errors.
- Check the usage of legal vocabulary. The legal jargon is very specific, and it can’t be used at your discretion without an in-depth understanding of the term’s implications and connotations. If you mix the terms, your professor will notice it at once, concluding that you have invested insufficient effort in researching the topic.
- Review the content for logic and consistency. A final review of the content is also a great investment in your high grade. The best variant is to revisit the essay the day after writing it; you will already be able to take an unbiased approach to the text and spot logical issues if there are any.
After these steps are completed, you can give yourself a pat on the back and hand the paper over to the professor. It’s fully ready for grading, and you are ready to reward yourself for the effort with a couple of hours of high-quality rest or a large pizza.
Law Essay Outline
The generic outline template for your law essay should be as follows:
INTRODUCTION
- Naming the topic
- Setting the context
- Giving some background details
- Thesis statement
BODY
- Paragraph 1 – topic sentence, supporting evidence, your interpretation.
- Paragraph 2 – topic sentence, supporting evidence, your interpretation.
- Paragraph 3 – topic sentence, supporting evidence, your interpretation.
CONCLUSION
- Restated thesis statement
- Main points
- A major summary of the topic’s significance or a call to action.
Law Essay Introduction
Let’s cover the essay’s major components in more depth using the sample outline we’ve provided above. Suppose you were assigned to compose an essay on the topic “legal implications of online business transactions in the UK.” What should your introductory part cover?
- First, you should set the stage for the analysis by explaining what online business transactions mean. In most cases, you will talk about e-commerce and digital contracts as the main source of online business transactions.
- Next, you should stress the importance of researching this topic by giving some background facts and figures about the rising scale of online business in the UK.
- The final part of your introduction should be dedicated to the thesis statement that expresses the main message of the essay – outlining the main legal issues that online business transactions involve in the UK. You should be specific about the arguments you will use; these may be contract law, data privacy laws, consumer protection laws and the like (depending on the word count of your essay and the depth of analysis you’re planning).
Law Essay Body
Now that you have set the context, it’s time to proceed to the actual legal analysis of online business operations in the UK. We’ll exemplify the body of your essay with a classical five-paragraph structure, with three paragraphs dedicated to the body of the essay.
- Paragraph #1. Relevant UK legislation. Here, you may name the laws that cover online business operations in the UK and should be taken into account by the business owner. You can include the Consumer Rights Act (2015), EC Directive (2002), Data Protection Act (2018), GDPR and the like.
- Paragraph #2. Consumer rights’ protection. This paragraph may discuss the legal issues that businesses face in terms of their obligation to protect consumers (e.g., consumer right to refund, data protection laws, cybersecurity obligations of businesses, etc.).
- Paragraph #3. Online business contracts. This paragraph may explore the principles of digital contracts, electronic signatures and dispute resolution mechanisms in e-commerce.
Law Essay Conclusion
Once you have covered all the main points and cited the main legislative principles that govern this sphere of business activity, it’s time to recap your findings and wrap everything up. Summarise the key legal issues that regulate the client-business relationship in the digital space and give a broader outlook on the importance of understanding the legal implications of online business transactions. You may also point out the importance of striking the proper balance between innovation and regulatory compliance that every UK business faces.
Ace Your Law Essays with Our Help
Here you go with all the law essay guidelines that are mandatory for getting a high grade and mastering the art of legal writing. By following these structuring tips and writing out a detailed outline for your next assignment, you will handle the task much quicker and enjoy a smooth, rewarding research experience.
In any case, even a failure to address all these nuances is not a good reason to agree to low grades, as you can always turn to RoyalWriter experts for professional assistance. Contact our managers to find out how we can help.
