Anything that involves a question of law and you have to analyze it and write your opinion is generally referred to as legal writing. It involves academic and professional or expert writings. A law school assignment and a legal document sketched by a lawyer both are legal writing examples. However, the structure of both writings is entirely different. The pattern a lawyer follows is in contrast to that of a student assignment. One thing which is common in both is ‘analysis. Shortly you’ll get to know what are types of legal writing, how you do legal research, what is legal and factual analysis, and what are tips to improve your legal writing skills for developing that analysis.
Types of legal writing
Types of legal writing, depending on their nature, are also divided into several types. Based on their applicability the structure for drawing arguments and conclusions is different in every type of legal document. Terrill Polman has also given an explanation for the legit script writing.
- Descriptive writing (academic papers, dissertation, thesis, etc.)
- Declaratory writing (judgments, legal notices, court orders, etc.)
- Persuasive writing (arguments, evidentiary documents, petitions, counterclaims, etc.)
- Objective writing (legal memos, emails, legal analysis, etc.)
It is not a hard and fast rule that one document cannot have two or more aspects of writing. A paper can be both objective and persuasive in nature.
What is Legal Research and writing?
Legal research is finding the modernized solution to existing legal problems once again. The word Re-Search implies that we have to look once again for a better solution. It is inevitable to do before writing a legal paper of any sort. You cannot draft a good legislative script without doing legal research. For legal research, we use different methodologies or designs to complete our research. Following are the major types of legal research.
| Quantitative | Qualitative |
| You deal with the numbers, statistics, surveys, etc. | Your focus on the reasoning of any process |
| Applied | Theoretical |
| Applied or empiricist research is where you find practical solutions. | Enhance the information of existing knowledge. |
| Doctrinal | Non-doctrinal |
| The work you do in your law school. Where you read the application of existing laws, case laws, reports, etc. Or apply them to hypothetical situations. | You find out the gaps between the law and its implementation and how the law can be made more effective. |
Tips for Lawyers
To do any type of research mentioned above it is recommended to adopt all three kinds of resources.
- Primary resources (cases, statues, constitutions, treaties, and conventions)
- Secondary resources (books and articles that lead to the primary sources)
- Tertiary resources (official statistics, reports, and surveys done by ministries, departments, and organizations)
What is Legal Analysis in Legal Writing
Legal writing is based on research that involves the laws and facts. In any legit script facts and laws goes parallel. You have to apply the relevant law to the facts provided. Facts can be actual or hypothetical. In addition to this, you have to read the law to check its applicability and effectiveness. When you apply your legal mind, you actually do legal analysis. subsequently, you write a report, a memo, a brief, a paper, a legal notice, etc.
Best Legal writing skills
In the area of law, most of the work depends on building arguments and reaching a conclusion. Strong argument construction is one of the best legal writing skills. But it is a hard job. Before building arguments, you need to follow some preliminary steps to sketch a legal document.
How To Improve Legal Writing?
After that move towards the argumentation step. To remove the difficulty of constructing defense you can use any one of the three models.
IRAC method
One of the finest methods to build a strong argument in lawful scripts.
I = Issue
R= Rule
A= Applicability
C= Conclusion
You have an issue before you, find the relevant law and case laws, and do the legal analysis of how the statute applies to the issue. In doing so you reach a reliable conclusion.
FIRAC Method
It is similar to the above formula, just add the ‘Facts=F” before drawing attention to issues. And follow the same procedure while writing a legal document.
CRRAC Method
Another strategy to develop strong arguments is starting with a concise conclusion to draw the reader’s attention. This makes your paper catchy and enhances readability. it includes
C= Concise Conclusion
R= Rule of law
R= Reasoning
A= Applicability
C= Conclusion
Judges adopt this method in writing judgments.
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