Law students rarely have experience answering problem questions before university, and lecturers concentrate on teaching content rather than the exam skills needed. This book bridges the gap on how to transpose knowledge and research into structured and coherent answers to problem questions while earning a law degree.
Aimed at undergraduates, international students, and foundation and SQE candidates, the book gives a step-by-step study guide on how to navigate what a problem question is asking you to do. It deconstructs the process using examples from a range of different fields of law, providing essential guidance from research and critical thinking to style and tone.
Including a range of examples to test yourself against, this is an indispensable resource for any law student who wants to tackle problem questions with confidence.
PART A – About Problem Questions
Part A aims
Understanding CLEO questions
Understanding Problem Questions
The CLEO stages
Understanding the CLEO process
A non-legal work through
PART B – Researching & Writing
Part B aims
Identifying CLAIMS in a PQ
Researching skills
Who’s who in cases
Performing searches
Positive, negative and neutral judgments
Database searching
Turning research into LAW
Order, order
CLAIM
Signposting language for CLAIM
How to write the CLAIM section
End of CLAIM Chapter Questions
LAW
Writing the LAW section
Signposting language for LAW
End of LAW Chapter Questions
Alternative note-making styles
EVALUATION
Writing the EVALUATION section
Signposting language for EVALUATION
End of EVALUATION Chapter Questions
Synthesising
OUTCOME
Hedging language
Signposting language for OUTCOME
Writing the OUTCOME section
End of OUTCOMES Chapter Questions
SQE writing
Writing SQE1 answers
Writing SQE2 answers
PART C – Good Academic Practice
Part C aims
Plagiarism & types of academic misconduct
Citing and Referencing
Citations
Books
2-3 book authors
4+ book authors
Contribution to a book
Bibliography
Journal Articles
Online Journal articles
Bibliography
Case law
UK cases post-2001
UK cases pre-2001
Cases from international jurisdictions
UK statues
Parts of an Act
Websites
Directly quoting from websites
Directly quoting audio from websites
Judges’ abbreviations
Directly citing judges
Judges citing judges
Quotations within quotations
Adapting sources to suit sentence structure
Long passages from previous judgments (case, book and journal)
Law report abbreviations
Styling and Formatting
Subsequent citations of a case
Adapting judgments to suit
Abbreviations in case names
Bibliography
Other forms of assessment
Written assessments
Essays
Short answers
Long answers
Case summary
Case notes
Online tests
Gap fill
Cloze gap fill
Matching
Categorising
Ordering
True/False/(Not Given)
Multiple answer
Free-text entry
Exams
Timed questions
Reflective tasks
University VLEs
Leaflets and guides
Oral assessments
Law clinics
Posters
Presentations
Mooting
Video presentations
Viva
PART D - Resources
Student answers with lecturer commentary
Better Problem Question answer by PARTY
Poor Problem Question answer by PARTY
Better Problem Question answer by ISSUE
Bank of Problem Questions
Using a statute as Problem Question research
Using primary sources to answer a Problem Question
Creating a CLEO plan from statute research
Identification sheet
Planning sheet
Researching sheet
Flashcard ideas
Template writing sheets
PART E Answers
PART A – About Problem Questions
PART B – Researching & Writing
CLAIM answers
LAW answers
EVALUATION answers
OUTCOME answers
PART C – Academic Skills
Further Reading
Biography
Geraint Brown is the Coordinator of English for Specific Purposes and a tutor of English for Academic Purposes at Swansea University. Since 2008, he has taught UK and international students who are about to start their LLMs at Southampton University, as well as master’s and undergraduate law students at Swansea University where he is the Coordinator of the Law Pre-sessional course. He specialises in developing, teaching and delivering medical English, English for Sports, English for Academics, English for International Lecturers in UK universities and, of course, legal English. He is Chair and a panel member of the Academic Integrity Committee deciding on cases where students have been suspected of committing academic misconduct and unfair practice, and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).
"As a qualified CELTA English teacher and an international PhD candidate studying and teaching world trade law in the UK, it is really a pleasure to witness the publication of such a brilliant book on legal academic English. Owing to the instructive content and the clear structure, Geraint’s book has made not only a practical course material for any English tutors but also an easy-to-follow self-study guidance for law students who are seeking language tutorials. The English learning habits of non-native speakers appear to be well considered by the author. Consequently, I strongly recommend the book to any legal English tutors and international students who are about to be engaged in a law-related course in an English-speaking country."
Dr Cherry Kaiyuan Chen
"Brown’s book aims to fill this gap in available resources, breaking down the process of unpacking a PQ task and constructing a coherent answer. The writer is an EAP practitioner and therefore this book foregrounds language as integrated in content. This is typically not the case in previously published legal EAP resources, as Candlin et al. noted (2002:302). The book is therefore clearly distinguishable from other available writing guides from law content specialist authors, which often provide only a few cursory, separate notes on language. It also presents law content and sections on referencing and study skills, (e.g., researching law databases). Overall, this book is focussed on academic language and literacy development for law within a process writing approach. [T]he benefit of an EAP practitioner’s specific insights within a specific academic domain is a defining feature of this publication. In conclusion, this book fills a clear gap in the market as a language in content approach to a specific subgenre of academic law writing. Its greatest value derives from how it comprehensively and expertly deconstructs PQ tasks, walking students through the process of writing. Language is integrated and fully contextualised within content, and explanations draw on the EAP author’s insider knowledge about the genre in practice. It is suitable for non L1 students and beginner/returning law students and provides for a range of law study contexts and areas of law."
Neil Adam Tibbetts, University of Bristol
