Law School

Trainee Lawyer Tips: The Eleven Commandments

January 24, 2011 General Legal

In a former life I was a trainee solicitor at one of the biggest commercial law firms in Scotland. Below are eleven commandments which it would have been useful to follow from day one. If you have any queries, please contact me at gavin@wardblawg.com

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Writing a Dissertation: First Class Law Dissertation

November 18, 2010 Academia

My honours dissertation together with tips and a very special video from an ex-Cambridge professor at the end. Enjoy!

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How to write a first class dissertation: Chapter 2: Developing the Debate

November 2, 2010 Academia

As noted in the previous post, one of the most important breakthroughs in writing your dissertation can come from spotting a gap where something has not yet been discussed. Once writing to fill that gap, it may be helpful to ask yourself what other angles there are to the debate. Or think about if the matter went to an official debate or, for law dissertations, to court. Think about creative arguments that an advocate might run and try to develop them yourself. Such development can lead to your getting a first rather than a 2:1.

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How to write a first class dissertation: Chapter 2: Main Body Intro

October 24, 2010 Academia

Comment on writing the first main chunk of your first class dissertation

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How to write a first class dissertation: Chapter 1: Set the scene

October 23, 2010 Human Rights

Chapter 1: Setting the scene Depending on the nature of your dissertation, you may need to set the scene further. In a legal dissertation, by “scene” is meant the bits of law that are relevant to set up key arguments in the main body of the dissertation. With this example dissertation, the target readership was, [...]

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How to write a first class dissertation: The Introduction

October 22, 2010 Academia

Together with the conclusion, the introduction is one of the most significant pieces of a dissertation that you have to get right. A well-written introduction can make all the difference between a first class and an upper second.

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How to write a first class dissertation: Foreword

October 21, 2010 Academia

Centred on a narrow topic of international private law and human rights, this dissertation received a first class honours award from the University of Glasgow in 2007 under Dr Janeen Carruthers and Professor Elizabeth Crawford, and was verified externally by Professor Richard Fentiman of Cambridge University.

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