Guidance on Answering Coursework Questions

What qualities are markers looking for in coursework?

The indispensible qualities are accuracy, clarity, depth of analysis, completeness and common sense. Persuasive argument will be logically structured, and well supported by authority. The most impressive work often engages particularly fully with issues of real legal difficulty or uncertainty, but does so in order to give helpful advice rather than revelling in complexity for its own sake.

What type of writing is the best model for a good coursework style?

Legal judgments. The judge's task is not unlike the task normally set by way of coursework, and most judges write very well. The judicial approach needs to be tempered for your purposes, though. It would not be appropriate to attempt to be magisterial. A good approach to bear in mind is that of the professional lawyer. Ask yourself as practitionerwhether your work, and every phrase of it, is sufficiently useful to the reader to justify your fee.

Are there any special rules relating to legal writing which I ought to find out about?

Very few. The best advice is to write simply and correctly. Many expressions which people sometimes associate with the law ("herein", "abovementioned", "it shall be argued" and so on) are fustian, and modern lawyers avoid them. It is wise to use the conventional ways of referring to judges ("Smith J", "Brown LJ") so that you become accustomed to them and do not have to worry later about getting them wrong and appearing discourteous or inexperienced.

Does an answer to a problem question need an introduction and a conclusion?

The briefest of introductions - perhaps a couple of sentences noting the main areas of law to be addressed - can help to concentrate your mind and indicate to the reader that the answer is going to be broadly on target. If your advice is complex, there is something to be said for summing it up in a final paragraph. Other concluding remarks are unlikely to be needed.

Thanks to David Herling (Senior Lecturer in Law, and Programme Director for the GDL) for this useful guidance