ABSTRACT

Language skills, study skills, argument skills and legal knowledge are vital to every law student, professional lawyer and academic. Legal Method, Skills and Reasoning suggests a range of 'how-to' techniques for perfecting these academic and practical skills. It explains how to work with legal texts; how to read and write about the law; how to acquire effective disciplined study techniques; and how to construct legal arguments.

Packed full of practical examples and diagrams across the range of legal skills from language and research skills to mooting and negotiation, this edition will be invaluable to law students seeking to acquire a deeper understanding of how to apply each discreet legal skill effectively.

This restructured third edition is now additionally supported by a Companion Website offering a wealth of additional resources for individual and group work for both students and lecturers.

For students, the Companion Website offers:

  • workbooks for each part, containing guided practical and reflective tasks
  • a series of ‘how-to’ exercises, which help to provide real-life legal skills examples and practice
  • guidance on answering legal problem and essay-style questions
  • self-test quizzes to consolidate learning for each individual legal skill.

For lecturers, the Companion Website hosts:

  • a set of PowerPoint slides of the diagrams in the text
  • specimen seminar plans, with supplementary notes to provide support and inspiration for teaching legal skills
  • sample legal skills assessment, and accompanying answers.

part |2 pages

PART ONE: PREPARING FOR THE JOURNEY

chapter 1|38 pages

FIRST THINGS FIRST

part |4 pages

PART TWO: MAPPING THE TERRITORY

chapter 4|64 pages

READING AND UNDERSTANDING LEGISLATION

chapter 5|52 pages

READING AND UNDERSTANDING LAW REPORTS

chapter 6|22 pages

READING TEXTS ABOUT LAW

part |2 pages

PART THREE: ARGUING THE LAW – THE CONSTRUCTION OF ARGUMENT

chapter 7|16 pages

THE ANATOMY OF ARGUMENT

chapter 8|42 pages

LEGAL REASONING

part |2 pages

PART FOUR: PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER – LAST THINGS AS YOU ARRIVE

chapter 9|36 pages

WRITING THE LAW

chapter 10|26 pages

SPEAKING THE LAW

chapter 11|22 pages

EXAM STRATEGIES