How to Write Law Essays and Exams

The use of this method is moderately useful for students, but this is usually taught by lecturers or tutors at university anyway, in my experience and from fellow students. It allows a somewhat focused approach to writing law essays through the use of "CLEO".

The author makes good use of brief summaries at the start of each chapter, as well as boxed mini-headings for many paragraphs, in addition to ample annotation for essays.

However, my main problem with the book is the exposition of the various parts of the "CLEO" method by the author, where in numerous occasions, the author seems to be off-track - particularly in the chapter on applying the formula to "discuss questions". Also, a lot of the comments on worked essays were grammar and punctuation based, without emphasis on analysis or application of "CLEO". In some instances, the explanations on the usage of the formula are unnecessarily verbose. Furthermore, the author frequently uses a number of vague terms interchangeably, such as "sub-issue", without initial clarification which is a major obstacle to understanding how the formula is used. Lastly, I thought the chapter on very basic grammar and punctuation (such as commas and apostrophes) titled as "good tips for legal writing", which covered around 50 pages, was rather unhelpful.

Despite these problems, the book serves as a fair guide to writing law essays or for some inspiration pertaining to style in such essays.


A useful guide to what matters   November 12, 2003
45 out of 46 found this review helpful

This book is published with answering both law discussion questions and problem questions, in which the law student is presented with a facts scenario and has to evaluate the merits of each claim, in mind. Naturally, it would be easy to lose focus in discussion and problem questions; I've answered many in my time and will answer many more and I speak from experience. In providing a four-part framework which is universally applicable across the wide array of questions that one may have to attempt in a law paper, this book is invaluable.

The student who adopts the method in this book is far less likely to lose focus as it helps to compartmentalise the key elements of answering a question. Moreover, such an approach is invaluable in exam conditions, for the 'Cleo' method ensures that all analysis is to the point and very little time is wasted on irrelevant material.

I've applied this method in many of my essays and exam questions. It's difficult to get used to, but it's certainly worth the effort.

The one criticism to which the book is vulnerable is that the author perhaps spends too much time criticising the grammatical errors in the worked examples. Such an attitude is understandable - after all, part of the point of this method is to make the answers more concise - but perhaps it could do with focusing a little more on the legal defects in the worked examples, as particularly in timed conditions the focus on the grammar will lessen.

Apart from this minor point, however, I recommend the book in the highest possible terms.