I survived the first month of law school, but barely. I have my first legal writing assignment due next week, and I am completely lost. My professor keeps yelling "IRAC! IRAC! IRAC!" but I'm still not sure I'm doing it right.
In undergrad, I could write a pretty good essay. Thesis, evidence, conclusion. Simple. But now everything is different. It's not about making an argument for a grade—it's about predicting what a court would do. It's so weird.
From what I gather, the basic structure for a law school essay is:
For any upper-year law students or grad students in other fields—how did you make the leap from undergrad writing to this? Any good resources or examples?
In undergrad, I could write a pretty good essay. Thesis, evidence, conclusion. Simple. But now everything is different. It's not about making an argument for a grade—it's about predicting what a court would do. It's so weird.
From what I gather, the basic structure for a law school essay is:
- I = Issue: State the legal question. "The issue is whether..." Just one sentence, right? It has to be super specific to the facts of our case.
- R = Rule: State the relevant law. This is where you cite the case or statute. "Under Case Name v. Other Party, the rule is..." Do I just state the rule, or do I explain the reasoning behind it too?
- A = Application/Analysis: This is the meat of it. You take the rule and apply it to your specific facts. "Here, the defendant did X, which is similar to the defendant in Case Name who did Y..." This is where you compare and contrast. My professor said this should be the longest part, but I keep making it too short.
- C = Conclusion: State the outcome. "Therefore, the court would likely find that..."
For any upper-year law students or grad students in other fields—how did you make the leap from undergrad writing to this? Any good resources or examples?
