LAWS1001A Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Affidavit, Parsing
2 Jul 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Effective Legal Writing
Parsing refers to breaking down sentences into their grammatical components for the purpose of
analysing their meanings.
Unnecessarily lengthy sentences create more opportunities for confusion and grammatical error.
Sentences should be no longer than 20 words.
Joining two sentences without punctuation or use of a single comma is a common source of
confusion.
Dangling clauses refers to clauses that are not grammatically connected to another clause that it is
intended to modify. For example: “Despite having argued her client’s case carefully, the judge still
dismissed the appeal.” It implies that the judge was the person to have argued her client’s case
carefully- which was not intended here.
Overuse of a passive voice can make writing difficult to read and understand, as it detracts from the
clarity of your writing. An active voice is employed when the sentence subject is the doer of the
action that the verb describes. A passive voice occurs when the subject has the action done to it.
Passive voices often create lengthier sentences, omit important information such as identifying
individuals correctly, and often requires a context to be understood correctly. For example:
Active: “Maria served the affidavit on the defendant.”
Passive: “The affidavit was served on the defendant by Maria.”
A passive voice was the reason the curt decided to overturn a death penalty in State
v Roberts 14 P3d 713 (Wash 2001).
Incorrect use of apostrophes is the source of more misunderstanding than any other, particularly its
and it’s and theirs and there’s.
Semicolons are used to divide items in a list, emphasise a linkage between two clauses or to
separate independent clauses linked by a conjunctive adverb.
Use gender-neutral and non-discriminatory language where possible.
Think carefully about layout and presentation; use relevant headings to give a disciplined structure
and logical flow to your writing and signpost information that is about to be read; selectively use
bold, underlined and italic text to give emphasis and weight where required; use numbered lists,
tables and graphs to convey information quickly and easily; be consistent with font type and size.
Both paraphrasing and summarising still requires acknowledgement of the source as these ideas are
still not yours.
There are two broad types of legal writings; problem question and theoretical essay question. Both
must identify issues, discuss relevant sources and contain a conclusion.
Assessment Problem Question Theoretical Essay Question
Identification of issues Ascertaining from the facts
what issues of law arise in
relation to the characters
requiring advice.
Ascertaining from the question
areas of the law that must be
discussed and/or evaluated.
Discussion of relevant sources Explain current rules or Explain law (may include
find more resources at oneclass.com
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Document Summary
Parsing refers to breaking down sentences into their grammatical components for the purpose of analysing their meanings. Unnecessarily lengthy sentences create more opportunities for confusion and grammatical error. Sentences should be no longer than 20 words. Joining two sentences without punctuation or use of a single comma is a common source of confusion. Dangling clauses refers to clauses that are not grammatically connected to another clause that it is intended to modify. For example: despite having argued her client"s case carefully, the judge still dismissed the appeal. it implies that the judge was the person to have argued her client"s case carefully- which was not intended here. Overuse of a passive voice can make writing difficult to read and understand, as it detracts from the clarity of your writing. An active voice is employed when the sentence subject is the doer of the action that the verb describes.
