Advice to Law Students: Learn the IRAC method!
It wasn't until I had to resit my third year at university that I really wished I had learnt the IRAC method sooner. We were taught how to use the IRAC method back in first year and although I did try to use it, I just couldn't understand it because I was so set in my own writing style. For those of you who haven't heard of it or don't know what it stands for, it can be understood as follows: I = ISSUE = what is the legal problem? R = RULE = what does the law say about this legal problem? A = APPLICATION = apply the law to the problem, sometimes look at all of the alternative options C = CONCLUSION = which solution is the best one based on the rules? Explain and conclude! It took me three years (yes - THREE YEARS!) to get my head around this but it boosted my grades because there was a better and clearer structure to all my essays and exam answers. I already had my own structure and style of writing out which sometimes worked dependent on the subject and t