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Law School Advice, Legal Studying & Legal Careers Tips for Law Students | UK, US, Aus & Beyond | WardBlawg

Law School Advice, Legal Studying Tips and Legal Careers Advice for Law Students – UK, US, Aus & Beyond

Law School Under Fire for Training Handbook Guidance

April 24, 2018 Law School

[Translate] BPP University Law School has unwittingly found itself at the centre of a media storm after leading legal news portal Legal Cheek revealed the contents of a handbook that the law school issues to trainee barristers to help them prepare for their advocacy assessments. Conservative Approach to Clothing The handbook apparently sets out in […]

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Legal Mindmaps: Obligations Part 1: Performance Interest

March 29, 2011 Academia

[Translate] I have already written a relatively comprehensive article about how law students and, indeed, practitioners can use mindmaps to study and practise law effectively. I do not intend to rehearse any of the points made there. Instead I intend to demonstrate specific examples from my time at University. Obligations Below are several examples of […]

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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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How to study law using mindmaps

December 20, 2010 Academia

There has been much written on the best ways to study law. From personal experience, it was difficult to get first class grades in law exams without utilising the tool of mindmaps. The man credited with the invention of the mindmap is Tony Buzan. The below information details personal experience of their use, not necessarily Tony’s experiences.

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How to Write a First Class Law Dissertation – Complete Guide

November 18, 2010 Academia

How to Write a First Class Law Dissertation – My honours law dissertation, top tips and a great video from an ex-Cambridge professor. Enjoy!

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How to write a first-class bibliography for a legal essay

November 9, 2010 Academia

[Translate] How to write a bibliography to conclude your first-class dissertation There are three stages for completing an abundant and competent bibliography. First, go into the footnotes on your document, select all, copy and paste to the foot of your article, then separate into different categories. Then, second, go back through the materials which you […]

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How to Conclude a First Class Law Dissertation

November 9, 2010 Academia

The conclusion to your dissertation is, arguably, the most important part and is, therefore, potentially a major differentiator between a first class dissertation and a second class one.

There are three things which you should bear in mind:-

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How to write a first class dissertation: Chapter 4: New Topic

November 5, 2010 Academia

Notwithstanding, the House of Lords effectively got human rights wrong, thus paving the way forward for reduced protection of Article 6 in the UK. However, this area is not devoid of hope; to effect compliance with this framework, Montgomery must be overturned, which does not appear too remote a possibility given the extensive criticism of the case.

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How to write a first class dissertation: Chapter 3: Creativity

November 4, 2010 Academia

Creative argument is essential if you’re going to get a first. Perhaps only unless your tutor or professor doesn’t know the topic well can you get away rehashing old argument and ideas that have been discussed thousands of times before.

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How to write a first class dissertation: Chapter 3: Fresh Perspective

November 3, 2010 Academia

Separating a dissertation into manageable chunks from the initial stages of structural planning gives you freedom to start afresh to write about a different but related topic once concluding another section. Access to a court, for instance, is a separate right from the right for a trial to be heard and decided within a reasonable time. It, thus, merits a separate chapter with its own introduction, subsections and conclusions.

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How to write a first class dissertation: Chapter 2: Concluding

November 2, 2010 Academia

A certain English teacher, Sandra MacCallum, at Kyle Academy once taught that, sometimes, “you’ve got to put your foot into the icy water”. Don’t be afraid to come to powerful conclusions.

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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: New Propositions

October 28, 2010 Academia

Another thing that truly separates a first class dissertation from a second class one is discussion of ideas and issues that have never before been discussed. The following is an example of such a proposition and discussion, all of which stemmed from one footnote in an academic article that said a certain proposition “had never been discussed before in the courts of the UK”. Finding this loophole was essential to the dissertation’s success.

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How to write a first class dissertation: Chapter 2: Consider the Future

October 26, 2010 Academia

[Translate] Tip: Suggest Improvements for the Future It may be that, in the course of the research for your dissertation, you discover previous decisions and actions that may happen again in the future. You may want to suggest that there is such a risk in the future and that there are ways in which that […]

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