The Art Of Legal Writing And Research For Law Students

 THE ART OF LEGAL WRITING AND RESEARCH FOR LAW STUDENTS

Musa Habila Zakariah

University of Jos

INTRODUCTION 

   Legal professionals generally need writing for their work. Legal writing is essential for all legal writers, including judges overseeing cases, attorneys representing clients in court, solicitors drafting legal documents, and law students.

This article explores the value of legal writing and research, especially for law students.

MEANING OF LEGAL WRITING

   Lawyers, judges, lawmakers, and other legal professionals utilize legal writing, a sort of technical writing, to communicate legal analysis and legal rights and obligations. In actuality, legal writing is employed to support or communicate a client's legal matter's settlement. It heavily depends on authority. Most legal writing requires the writer to cite sources to support their claims and assertions. 

Legal writing was defined by Dr. KM Danladi as "any writing, the substance of which deals with the legal fact in issue or problem" in his book "The Modern Nigerian Legal Method." A lawyer needs to be proficient in the English language and able to comprehend, analyze, and interpret written material in order to write legal documents.

TYPES OF LEGAL WRITING 

Legal writing generally falls into two categories: 

(1) Problem-type legal writing 

(2) Essay type of Legal writing 

Legal professionals typically write problem-type legal documents during litigation, such as petitions, briefs, pleadings, statements of claim, and defenses, among others.

Essays of this category focus on the author's in-depth analysis of a specific legal issue (fact in question). Most of this work is done by scholars and students at various educational institutions.

IMPORTANCE OF LEGAL WRITING 

1. The lawyer's representation is in writing:

Writing effectively and of the highest caliber, with the right format and citations, is important since it represents your company and your clients. Make sure there are no spelling or grammar mistakes in the paper. 

2. Powerful legal Writing improves the document's clarity:

A skilled writer understands how to structure the text in a way that makes sense. Run-on phrases, jargon, outdated translations, verbosity, and the extensive use of headings and subheadings are common features of legal papers. Your argument becomes more difficult to understand when documents are disorganized and unstructured.

3. Legal writing strengthens your argument: In order to persuade the reader or audience, lawyers must identify the relevant legal provisions as well as the significant details that will help the reader arrive at the conclusion and outcome they desire from your case.

4. Precise legal writing strengthens your case: Precise legal writing is necessary to write an argument that is credible. When they make spelling, grammatical, or punctuation errors, lawyers typically feel guilty. The reader should be informed about the case in your document, which should also be error-free.

WHAT IS LEGAL RESEARCH?

 The process of locating and obtaining data required to assist in making legal decisions is known as legal research. 

WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF LEGAL RESEARCH?

Legal research helps you make decisions on complicated matters by giving you precise information and case law that let you present clients with comprehensive responses. Conducting high-quality legal research is essential to practicing law.

The Legal Research Process:  

1.Understand the facts of your case : A good process should start by taking time to identify and understand the facts of your case.

2.Gather sources of law (primary and secondary sources): When gathering sources, start with secondary law materials. This helps you to know about opinions of experts about the topic before you begin your research. For example,Law review articles,Scholarly journals,Legal dictionaries and encyclopedias etc. 

    A primary source is a formal document officially issued by the government that establishes the law on a particular matter, such as a case decision or legislative act.This is the most authoritative step in the legal research process. For example,Case law (federal and/or state),Statutes and regulations,Constitutions etc.  

3: Use of Good Law: The final step in your research process should include a final check to ensure you have used “good” law.

USE OF LATIN IN LEGAL RESEARCH AND WRITING

Terms like "client," "conviction," "admit," "mediate," and "legitimate" became common place in the English language due to Latin's use as a legal language. Latin is also often used for legal canons, or legal maxims.

Some maxims, like "Ubi jus," "ibi remedium" (where there is a right, there is a remedy), and "expressio unius exclusio alterius" (the expression of one thing implies the exclusion of the other), deal with the law in general, while others, like "ibi remedium," deal specifically with the interpretation of legal language.

Latin is also employed to express a number of important legal principles, including "res ipsa loquitur." Latin has also continued to be used in terms of case and party names.

CONCLUSION 

Writing and legal proceedings cannot be separated in any manner. Thus, the three fundamental components of legal writing are accuracy, bravity, and clarity.