Week 5a: Legal research

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Week 5a Legal research writing skills

• Mon 21 May 2007

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ARC

• The best legal writing is
• Accurate
• Relevant
• Clear

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Accuracy

• Accurate Referencing
• Use Law School Style Guide / Handbook
  Introductory Guide to Legal Research and Legal
  Writing Assignment requirements in the Course
  Outline
• Use accurate referencing methods to avoid
  plagiarism
• Accurate Use of Language
• Write what you mean eg Two sisters were reunited
  after eighteen years at a checkout counter
• Accurate fact finding
• eg the victim was hit by a blue Honda Civic not a
  black Holden Torana
• Eg Civil Union Act 2004 not Civil Union Bill

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Relevance

• Three main types of formal legal writing
• Academic purpose to inform explain eg law
  journal articles
• Juridicial purpose to analyse Acts and cases to
  find legal rules/principles in order to reach
  decisions eg judgments and legal opinions
• Legislative purpose includes creation of
  obligations for present and future circumstances
  eg explanatory notes
• Each type of writing must contain material that
  is relevant to its purposes

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Clarity

• Clear writing is well organised and structured
• Use logical consistent headings
• Use paragraphs and simple sentences

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Foundations for good legal writing

• Know your purpose
• Know your audience
• Be aware of age, education, social bgd
• Avoid offensive assumptions
• Who? What? How? When? Motivation? Background?

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Foundation for good legal writing

• Check tone
• Feeling generated by writing
• tone can enhance or act as a barrier to
  effective communication
• Appropriate tone depends to certain extent on
  context
• Eg Party! Party! Party!
• My garden
• Buckingham Palace Luv Liz!

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Foundations for good legal writing

• Use appropriate language
• Words appropriate for audience purpose
• Sentence structure say what you mean, use
  active voice
• Big words or little words? the cat or the
  feline?
• English or foreign language (dead or alive)?
  are Latin phrases necessary?
• Formal, semi-formal, informal?
• Inclusive, exclusive, accurate (gender neutral)
• Punctuation eg full stops. Come at the end of a
  sentence
• Spelling use a spell checker
• Grammar bad grammar is the worstest thing

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Using the Style Guide/Handbook

• The Style Guide tells you how to
• Attribute words/ideas to their creator
• Allow the reader to find the source or the
  word/ideas you have used
• By telling you
• What information should be included
• The order in which the information should be set
  out

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• A footnote is
• A note of reference (to another work) or of
  comment (eg further information or analysis)
  placed at the foot of a page of text
• End notes are
• Notes of reference or of comment, which appear as
  a list at the conclusion of the text
• Bibliography
• A list of materials used as sources

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Logical Structure

• Introduction
• Thesis or topic statement
• Should reflect what is said in the body and
  conclusion
• Middle or Body
• Supports thesis or topic statement
• Includes relevant authorities
• Analysis of authorities
• Conclusion
• Pulls detail of body together in a general
  statement
• Reflects your thesis or topic statement

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Example

• New Zealand operates under the Rule of Law.
• Discuss the validity of this statement using
  specific examples to support your argument
• To what extent do you agree with this statement
  (ie that it is valid)? Discuss the statement and
  refer to specific examples to support your
  arguments

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Introduction

• The Rule of Law holds that everyone is equal
  before and subject to the law the law is
  conducted in public and the courts are open to
  all and decisions are made in accordance with
  set procedure.
• This essay will discuss the validity of the
  statement that New Zealand operates under the
  Rule of Law. With reference to specific examples,
  the writer will show that the Rule of Law does
  not defend all citizens from powers
  all-intrusive claims

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Bodymay include

• Overview of the Rule of Law
• Arguments supporting the statement that the Rule
  of Law operates in NZ (specific examples and
  authorities)
• Arguments that the Rule of Law does not fully
  operate in NZ and instead supports the powerful
  (specific examples and authorities)
• Opinions based on analysis of for and against
  arguments

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Conclusion

• The writer/paper has identified several arguments
  for the validity of the statement that the Rule
  of Law operates in NZ. This suggests
• However, the writer also recognises that the Rule
  of Law does not always result in equality and
  justice for all