Argumentative Versus Descriptive Legal Essays

A frequent mistake encountered in the law essays of (mainly) first-year law students is that they are overly descriptive. 

Please allow me to elaborate. Having recently graduated high school, some first year law students are slow to adapt to the writing style required by their course leaders. More specifically, in many high schools, students are primarily asked to produce descriptive essays, where they demonstrate their understanding of both sides of a given debate and accurately reproduce the main points. 

As a law student, this skill set is necessary, but not sufficient. Essay questions invite you to take a stand on the question asked and critically assess the prompt/quote given. A wholly descriptive account will not cut the mustard. 

Of course, this is a difficult exercise and students have trouble adapting swiftly. This is understandable. You should not be discouraged by essay feedback criticising your (perhaps overly) descriptive essays. You should instead try to comprehend that not taking a stand is as risky as arguing in favour of the solution you find more convincing.

Remember: in matters of legal argumentation, there is no single, objective, overarching truth. No argument should ever be dismissed or endorsed without some critical examination. Arguments that are logically coherent cannot be “right" or “wrong"; they can only be “convincing", “reasonable”, or the opposite. 

When drafting a law essay, you should leave behind the manichaeistic assessment of the world and embrace the fact that most law “exists" in a grey area. This is an area in which you will gradually start feeling more and more comfortable, finally free to develop your own thoughts and arguments. Embrace this newfound freedom and the accompanying responsibility. This is your time to be heard. 

For two examples of excellent introductions to argumentative essays, please see the ones I have shared in a previous post.