Legal Method Tips PDF

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LSM Live Q & A Session Charlotte Crilly VIDEO TRANSCRIPT Hello everybody and welcome to this session on legal system and method. I'm Charlotte Crilly. I'm a teaching fellow on the undergraduate laws program. I'm also the module convenor. It's lovely to see you all here today online. Hope you enjoy the session. What we're going to do today is have a look at some aspects of LSM. Before I start, I should say please do leave questions to the end. As you might find, I answer some of them in the session anyway. I'm going to be answering questions for discussion forum that's been open for a while. Thank you for all those questions. If I got time at the end, I will take your extra questions, but do try and leave them to the end if you can. You'll have noticed I'm just using audio today. The video isn't on, but you can see, actually, I've put a photo of myself there so you can see what I look like. That's me. Also, I should say very importantly, everything in this question and answer session relates to the original structure of the exam. You might have seen, hopefully, you've seen on the VLE an announcement on the 20th of March about possible changes to the final arrangements for the exam. There's an exam forum for questions about this. This morning or this afternoon, depending on where you are, I can't answer any questions about that. I'll just be talking about the original structure of the exam. If you have any comments or concerns or questions about any changes to the exam format, then please do use the exam forum on the VLE, which is specifically for that purpose. Okay, so let's get on to the agenda for today. I'll be giving you an overview of the LSM exam and then we'll look at the different parts of the exam and talk a bit about those. We'll look at Part A of the exam, which is a set case. We'll look at Part C of the exam, which is the statute. Then we'll look at Part B of the exam, which is the essays. As I said at the end I'll all look at those and we'll have a chance to talk and discuss those. Then at the end, if we have time, I will take any further questions that you have. The format of the exam. The exam is three hours and 15 minutes. It's divided into three parts. The Part A is worth 25 marks, and that's the set case. Part B is worth 50 marks and that's where you write two essays out of a choice of six. Part C of the exam is worth 25 marks and that's on the set statute. We will talk about more, each of these more in detail as we go through. Note that to be eligible for the Part A mark, you have to have submitted the case note before the exam. if you're sitting the earlier exam, it was 12th of March. If you're setting the later exam, it is the 7th of September. There's a slight change from last year in Part A. Only a very small change. In that this year, there'll be no multiple-choice questions on the case in Part A. Look at past exam papers on the VLE, you'll see that last year there was multiple choice questions on the case. This year, there won't be any of those, so just a very brief change there. We will come on to look at these more detailed, but the set case, I'm sure you know this is the Maguire Case and the set statute is the Ivory Act 2018 as amended. With the Ivory Act, make sure you look at the version on the VLE. This is important, because the version we're using for the exam is different to the version that you might find if for example, if you looked at the statute on the Online Library, so make sure you just stick to the version on the VLE.

Live Q&A Session

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Part A, the case. This is particular to the LSM exam, so we'll talk a little bit about that. You should already be quite familiar with the case from writing the case note. Note I had a question about this - you can't take your case note to the exam. You need to make sure that you're familiar with the details of the case, actually that you at least have a legal reasoning in the case. Writing the case note would have helped you become more familiar with the case and the reasoning behind it. That's a really useful resource to help you with the case. There's some resources that will help you with the case. I do really recommend that you watch the video of the LSM Lecture Plus. On the VLE, there's this resource, the LSM Lecture Plus, reading the Part A case and guidance on preparing the case note. If you watch the video, that takes you through in detail the structure of the case and all the key parts of the case. I do very much recommend that you look at that. There's also a discussion forum that was associated with that lecture. Although the discussion forum is now closed, there's a summary of what was discussed. It includes my answers, the student questions about the case. I recommend that you have a good look at that. There's also past exam papers on the VLE. Those are obviously on a different case than the Maguire Case, because the case changes every year. They do give you an idea of the kind of questions you might be asked. Remember what I said just now, if you see multiple choice questions on previous papers, we're not having those this year, but they give you an idea of kind of format sort of thing you might be asked about a case. Here, this is last year's exam. This gives you an idea of the questions you might get for part A. These are some of the questions that were asked for last year. Of course, the case is different. That was the Swift case, which is different. We've got the Maguire case this year. The questions would be different, but it just gives you an idea of what kind of questions could be asked. You'll see, for example, that you do need to know some specific details about the case. Last year on Swift, there is a specific question about details the claimant claims. In question two here, you'll see that students last year were asked about legal reasoning of the case. You need to know the Maguire case, the reason the judges gave for their decision in the case and the Lecture Plus will help you with that. Then in question three here on the Swift Case, you'll see that there's a question about a specific point that was discussed by the judge. Again, this doesn't tell you what questions will come up this year and obviously there's a different case this year, but it just gives you an idea the kind of issues that could come up. Also, the level of detail that you need to know the case in. You need to make sure you do know that case quite well, because you can't take your case note in and there's not a copy of the case in the exams. You need to make sure you know the case quite well. Im going to have a look now about some student questions that were asked on the discussion forum about Part A so im going to have a look at some of those. One student asked me, "What should you focus on Part A?" I discussed this already. Focus on knowing the case well and obviously, writing the case that will help you with this and do have a look at those past papers to see what kind of questions will be asked. Obviously, you can't know what questions exactly we'll be asked, so make sure you are very familiar with the case and the detail of it. Another student asked about taking the case note into the exam and a copy of the case. As I already said, you don't get those in the exam. I had a question as well about how to do well in Part A. I'd say as well as knowing the case thoroughly, it's really, really important that you read the questions carefully and answer using the correct information from the case and as much information as you can remember. A common error is to write all the information I know about the case in each question. This happens quite often that students don't read the question very carefully. They just write everything they know about the case for every question. That's not a good way to answer the question. Be very specific. Read the question carefully and only write an answer to that part, Live Q&A Session

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because you will find that when you come to another question, it might ask about something you've already written about and you might have waste your time writing all over again. Be specific. In fact, that came up. In the examiner’s report, that's a common error that students write too much detail in their answers and ignore the main points. You make sure you know the case well. Read the question and answer specific points. A question I had this morning around Part A of the exam, "Do you answer in your own words or take the words from the judgment?" You wouldn't have the case in the exam, it would be difficult to write everything from the judgment. You should be using your own words to explain the points. They want to be showing your own understanding of the case by using your own words to talk about it. If you have to learn any short quotes, anything important, you may include it, if it’s a very short quote you think is particularly relevant to say, so you could include that, but it's not necessary. The examiners aren't necessarily looking for direct quotes from judgment. I hope that answers those questions. As I said, if you've got any questions, do leave them for the end of the session. I’m going to be covering quite a lot in this session, so you may well find that I'm going to cover what your question is and I'm very happy to answer questions at the end. That's all I was going to say about Part A, so that’s everything about the case I’m going to say. Now I’m going to jump ahead and look at Part C of the exam, the statute. This is also a particular thing to the LSM exam, so I'm going to talk about that a little bit. Here again, there are lots of resources to help you. In particular, I've mentioned again, the lecture plans resource on the statute which is absolutely fantastic. It's so useful. It takes you through the statute section by section, and it also gives a problem question on the statute and the answer to the sample question. Again, I really recommend that to you. It's so detailed, it goes through the structure of the statute, how to look at the statute in the order in which you read the sections. I really recommend you look at that. Also, do look at past papers, so the statute changes every year. You won't find any past papers on the Ivory Act, but you will find questions on previous years, which will again, give you an idea of what the questions look like. Also, the examiners report that shows you good answers from previous years' questions. Do note that you should only work from this special version we've given you, the Ivory Act, and I said it before, but it's quite important because if you look at, if you Google it or look it up online it won’t be the correct version. You can't take a copy of the statute to the exam, but you are given a clean copy to refer to. A really good thing is you don't need to try and memorize the statute. Having said that, even though you're given a copy in the exam, this shouldn't be the first time you read it. It sounds obvious, but don't think, "Oh, I’ll get a copy in the exam. I'm just going to look at it then." You need to already be very familiar with the statute, so how it's structured and how the different parts fit together. Here's how the Lecture Plus lecture will help you again, it really explains how the different parts of the statute work together. My top tip for understanding the statute is to read it very carefully and annotate it while you read it. For example, when I read the statute, I have my pen in my hand and I draw arrows to show how different parts fit together, I circle words, underline key sections. It really helps you to get to grips with how statutes are grouped together, because statute's a detailed thing. There you can't take any annotated version into the exam. It will help you to understand the statute more clearly. Again, a past paper example, so this is a different statute, different questions, it’s to give you an idea of the kind of the format of the questions. You can see here, this is a question from last year. It’s the real question that was set last year. It's a factual scenario. You can see in here you've got a scenario about Eric who worked in the timber industry. I wont read the whole thing out, but that's the scenario. You may have one or more factual scenarios, and you'll be Live Q&A Session

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asked questions about how the statute eyes that factual scenario, so instead of making facts and questions which require you to apply the law in the Ivory act. This is quite a particular skill I think of answering a questions. I've written out here some tips for answering Part C questions. Really, importantly, is to cite the statute accurately and precisely. Students do quite often they might say, just example, refer to Section 1 or Section 2 or Section 7, you need to be more precise than that. You'll see when you read the statute is broken down into different sections. For example, you may find you need to cite Section 1A because you have written it there. You need to get that and cite it really, really precisely, because one of the key things of being a lawyer or a law student is to say where the law is very, very clearly. Don't just make a statement and say, “Oh, the Ivory Act says it's a criminal offense." for example. Where is the law found? Where can you find that law? You need to cite where the law is, all laws you need to be able to do that. Also key in answering Part C questions is to set your answer out in a logical way, deal with one issue at a time. Isolate an issue, identify what an issue is, and then say what the law is and how you're applying it and then move on to the next issue that really helps you out to stand out as a good answer. Do avoid just stating the facts on their own, this is something students also do is to copy out the facts. For example, in the previous example that I put up here on the slide, a student might start by telling me the answer, "Eric works in the timber industry and also in South America." That doesn't show the examiner anything but your own understanding. They've got the question, it's literally using your time not to get any marks. Don't start your answer by repeating or summarizing the facts. Examiners can’t leave you any credit for that, it’s just copied from the exam paper. Similarly, don't just copy out large chunks of the statute from the exam paper. This is something that students do also sometimes do is, they just recite the statute from the exam paper. Again, that's just copying. You have the statue in front of you and the examiners know that. What you need to be doing is by applying the law to the facts. That’s the key thing you want to be doing, is apply the law in the statute to the facts, try to link the law and the facts together. Avoid general statements about the facts or the law. What do I mean by that? I see someone has asked here, “What is general statement?” For example, I suppose what I was saying earlier, so just someone might say, “Oh, the Ivory Act prohibits trade in ivory, therefore the person whoever it is the person is guilty. That's a very general statement. It's just a general statement about the Ivory Act, is a sweeping statement about someone being guilty. What I mean is you should drill down to the section on what the Act says this and the person in that scenario has done. Therefore, you need to be really drilling down into the exact, what the law says and precisely applying it to the facts. That's Part C of the exam paper. A student here is asking about, you’ve got the scenario, you know what the answer is, but you’re thinking, "If the scenario was a bit different," just make sure you stick to the facts about the scenario. Don't imagine other sets of facts. You've got the facts in front of you. Imagine, let's say you could imagine you're a lawyer who's advising your client, so you've got a client who this is their situation and you're advising them, so you don't need to wonder about what different scenario might be. You just answer the scenario you've got in front of you with the law. So don't alter the facts and talk about what the law being different circumstances, just be quite precise. Okay, let's move on, and let's look at Part B, the essays. Here in Part B, you have six essay questions, a choice of six essay questions and you answer two of them. Here again, I had lots of questions, lots of students asking me, what kind of questions might come up? That was quite a common question. Again, the best thing to do is have a look at past papers to see what kind of topics might come up. That’s not a guarantee that the questions that might come up, that might give you some ideas. Lots of students on the discussion forum asked, "Will LASPO come up, will judicial diversity come up?" Obviously, I can't tell you what the answer to Live Q&A Session

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that is, but do look at past paper because that gives you some idea of the kind of question that might come up. Again, resources, there are lots of resources to help you with the Part B questions and a set of past papers and the examiners reports. Examiners reports are fantastic, because you can see examiner's comments on how questions have been answered and examiners tips on how questions can be answered well. Also very, very useful is the formative assessment exercise. On the VLE, on the LSM module pages, there's, for example, an example of an essay question that was set for formative assessment in 2017 on judicial diversity and there's comments from the examiners and pointers about what should be included in an answer. For example, what would be written for a first, what would be written for two-one, what would be written for two-two. That's really good, gives you some ideas of the kind of things examiners are looking for, for different answers. If you're, say, aiming for a two-one or a first, it'll give you some tips on what kind of thing examiners are looking for in your answer. I can see a question here that's come up, I will answer this question now. I know students are quite interested in. The question is, since Brexit will this alter any part of the course, Will the sources of law we use still list 4 or 2? In regards to Brexit, all you need to know is what's in the module guide and what's in the pre-exam update. Actually the pre-exam update which you can find on the VLE is really useful for this, because it gives you the current state of Brexit at the time of writing the preexam update and gives you everything you need to know as regards to Brexit for the exam. The short answer is there isn't much change, there's hardly any change to what you need to know for Brexit for the exam, it doesn't really affect LSM very much and as regards to the source of the law issue, because of how its structured, then you still list 4 but we are not going to go into detail now, update in all about the transitional period and how basic EU law is still applied exactly the same, certainly until December this year, EU law will be exactly the same, nothing has changed. Again, have a look at the pre exam updates that explains it in detail, but the short answer is continue on as usual, just checking the pre-exam update. Let's have a go at looking at a past exam question. This is an example question which came up in previous year and it's a question about the Human Rights Act 1998 and its impact on statutory interpretation. I'm going to try a little bit of group work, put you on the spot a bit. What I'd like you to do is to have a moment to think about this as if you were in the exam and this question came up. First of all, obviously, you're going to write an introduction to your essay explaining what you're going to be doing in the session, then I'd like you to have a think about what might you write in your first paragraph after that if this is the question. The question about Human Rights Act and how it's affected statutory interpretation, what would you write in your first paragraph about this? How you might answer this, for example, you might briefly mention approaches, but only really, really briefly, this is not the main focus of your answer and contrast it with the purposive of approach perhaps. Just talk about that very briefly in your beginning paragraphs, then come on to the interpretive obligation under Section 3(1) whereby statutes must be read and given effect i...