A structured method with critical thinking and legal analysis will help you get a high score in law assignments.
A properly structured assignment helps the readers to easily follow the facts and analysis. This step-by-step guide helps you to create an effective introduction, conclusion, and a coherent main body to ensure logical progression and to cater to your academic needs for that assignment.
Here is a simple yet efficient framework that you can use:
- The cover page
- Assignment title
- Name and code of the course
- Name and ID of the student
- Name of the professor
- Date of submission
Contents Table (if necessary)
Headings, subheadings, and page numbers are listed.
Overview (10–15%)
Background: Give background information about the topic or legal issue.
Purpose: Clearly define the assignment’s goal.
Scope: Describe the topics that will be discussed.
Describe your primary point of contention or stance in your thesis statement.
Organization Overview: Give a brief explanation of the paper’s structure.
Building the Skeleton
It is your foundation and your blueprint for writing your essay.
The skeleton consists of,
- The Issue
- The rule of Law
So just imagine that you read the fact pattern, you see everything in there, and you’re listing it.
After we build the skeleton, we move on to building the rest of the body to make it a complete creation.
The rest of the body consists of,
- The analysis
- Conclusion
Remember, when you are doing your essay, it’s going to be the issue, rule, analysis, and conclusion.
Put it to the application
- You need to read through the facts about the topic
- You need to list the issues
Once you’re done reading the entire fact pattern and you list all the issues that you see, now is the time when you start your rapid-fire application of your black letter law.
Now that you have learned how to build the skeleton start adding flesh, hair, eyeballs, etc., to make it a complete creation.
You now have the list of issues; you need to write the rule of law for each one of them. It’s time to build the rest of the body.
Criminal Law
Example 1: First Degree Murder?
1st-degree murder is the unlawful killing of one human being by another that is deliberate and premeditated. There are two schools of thought concerning premeditation. You have the Carroll approach and the Anderson approach.
Carroll’s approach (majority): A cool, deliberate thought will suffice. If the accused deliberately killed someone, then this can suffice.
Anderson’s approach (minority): There must be a mode, manner, and planning. A pre-conceived design.
Scenario: Dave and Fred entered the bank to commit a robbery. As the pair ran away, the bank guard shot and killed Fred. The bank guard would not be charged with 1st-degree murder under either approach because the bank guard was acting in self-defense, and this would not transfer to Dave for criminal liability due to the red line rule.
First-degree murder is the issue, then you approach it, which is the rule of law.
And then, break it down a little more and show the analysis and the conclusion, which is the scenario.
The Chase
When it comes to essay writing, this is very important and can get you some points. It’s your job; you’re the essay writer, and you’re going to read the fact pattern, and you’re going to identify and spot all the relevant issues, and you’re going to write on them right. You’re supposed to spot all the accurate issues that pertain to that. However, there are going to be times when there are going to be issues that arise, and it would almost be a legitimate issue. But there might be an element that’s missing, or there might have been an element that was added that materially changes the issue.
So, the bar graders are going to want to know that you can tell the difference between two different issues and how you identified that this issue should be listed versus the other issue.
For example,
If you are doing a criminal fact pattern, let’s say somebody walks into a store and picks up a candy bar to steal it. Now we know larceny is the trespass retaking and carrying away of the property of another with the intent to permanently deprive. So, by the person picking up the candy bar and trying to walk out of the store, we know that’s on the surface going to be a larceny now.
Let’s add to that now, let’s say a store employee sees that person trying to take the candy bar, and the employee tries to intervene as they try to steal the candy bar, as the staff member intervenes, the suspect uses some type of force to try to stop the employee’s actions. Now, because force was used, it has escalated to a different crime, which would be robbery. That same course of events dramatically changed it; it went from a larceny to a robbery because force was used.
Conclusion
To get excellent grades, a law assignment must be well-structured. You can effectively convey your arguments by adhering to a logical framework, which consists of a clear introduction, a thorough legal examination, and a well-reasoned summary at the end.
Digi Assignment will help with tips that are needed to make a very well-structured Law Assignment.
