LLAW6259 Chap.10 Writing to Advise: Structure, Clarity and Precision
Writing to Advise: Structure, Clarity and Precision
Eleven headings, used as a diagnosis rather than as a style guide
The framing the course uses is worth taking seriously: you can all write, and you have all passed assessments, but legal writing has its own failure modes.
The eleven drafting headings are presentation, organisation and structure, being directed at a reader, grammar and spelling, clarity, conciseness, precision and accuracy, logical reasoning, being appropriate and professional, leaving space to write, and common errors.
Presentation comes first and is cheap to get right: borders, justification, font type and size, numbering of paragraphs and pages, and appearance of paragraphs, headings, spacing and footnotes.
For this assessment several of those are fixed for you, and one is reversed: the published style guidance puts authority in the body of the advice rather than in footnotes.
Structure at two scales, and three parts that are not equal
Overall order is logical flow, taking offer then acceptance then consideration because that is the order the questions arise in, with transitions between the links in the chain.
Individual order is IRAC within each argument. The test the course sets for anything you have written is blunt: if it is not a link in that argument, what is it doing there? The document has three parts. The introduction stays short, names what you are being asked to advise on, notes any restriction and sets out the issues, and it carries two prohibitions, facts rather than opinions and no requests for further information.
The body names the parties and the causes of action, runs IRAC on each issue, weighs each side, and deals with any defence, counterclaim or remedy plus whatever further information is needed, closing each issue with its own conclusion. The last part gathers those and gives one overall conclusion.
Clarity, conciseness and two grammar faults named for this cohort
Plain English means simple, direct, full prose.
Legalese means avoiding Latin unless well established and being careful with legal terminology. Sentences carry one idea and stay under about twenty words. Double negatives go. Consistency means the same word whenever you mean the same thing, which overrides the ordinary instinct to vary vocabulary. Word order matters because a descriptive phrase must stay close to the subject it describes.
Two grammar faults are named specifically: singular and plural, because a Chinese noun does not change shape between one and many while an English one does, so the fault survives proofreading by ear; and pronouns, shown with a sentence in which it is not recoverable whose plans were disclosed or who disclosed them.
On voice, the active is preferred in the order actor, action, object, the passive being appropriate only where the person is genuinely unknown.
Precision, accuracy, and a conclusion that commits
Precision asks whether the words admit of only one reading: by a stated date, at its start or its end; and, or, and/or; shall, must, may; fail and caused.
Accuracy asks whether what they say is true, and incorrectly stating the facts is on the published list of common mistakes. Understatement is more persuasive, because an overstated claim invites the reader to test it. The conclusion must contain a view, expressed in the graded vocabulary the course supplies: probable, very probable, likely, unlikely, poor, good or very good. An unwelcome answer is still the answer.
Where you do not have enough facts, advise on the current information and say so, or advise on the alternatives and then express a view on which is more likely, and make any request for further information specific enough that someone could act on it.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Eleven drafting headings, used as a diagnostic list
- 02
Presentation, and the one rule this assessment reverses
- 03
Overall order and individual order as two scales of structure
- 04
The three parts of an advice, and what belongs in each
- 05
Plain English, legalese, sentence length and consistency
- 06
Singular and plural, pronouns, and the active voice
- 07
Precision words, and accuracy as a separate requirement
- 08
Ten published mistakes, sorted by the criterion each breaks
- 09
Advising on facts you do not have, and grading the conclusion
Rewrite a paragraph against the published writing criteria
- 1Convert the passive construction and put the actor first.
- 2Split the sentence so that each carries one idea, under about twenty words.
- 2Remove the legalese and the false hedging, and state a view.
- 1Say what the loose date reference still leaves open.
Key terms
- Plain English
- Writing that is simple, direct and in full prose, which the course treats as one of the hardest things about good writing rather than as a lowering of register.
- Legalese
- Latin phrases that are not well established and unnecessary legal terminology, which obscure rather than add precision.
- Active Voice
- The construction placing the actor before the action and the object, preferred because it is more direct and avoids the ambiguity of an unnamed actor.
- Mini Conclusion
- The conclusion on a single issue, placed at the end of that issue, from which the overall conclusion is later assembled.
- Overall Conclusion
- The answer to the question actually asked, clear, consistent and full but brief, rather than a summary of the mini conclusions.
- Understatement
- Pitching a claim slightly below what the evidence supports, which the course treats as more persuasive because it lets the reader arrive at the point themselves.
- Further Information
- Material you would need to advise more firmly, which must be identified specifically and explained, rather than requested in general terms.
- Signpost Heading
- A brief heading marking where an issue is dealt with, used so a reader can navigate; the guidance is to avoid questions as headings.
Writing to Advise: Structure, Clarity and Precision FAQ
How should I structure a problem question answer?
In three parts. The introduction stays short, names what you are being asked to advise on, notes any restriction and sets out the issues, using facts rather than opinions and asking for nothing.
The body names the parties and the causes of action and runs IRAC on each issue, weighing both sides and dealing with any defence, counterclaim or remedy plus whatever further information is needed, and closing each issue with its own conclusion. The last part gathers those into one overall conclusion answering the question actually asked.
What do I write when the facts do not settle the point?
Advise on the current information and say that is what you are doing, or advise on the alternatives and then express a view on which is more likely. The published style guidance is explicit: explain the position on the basis of the first assumption, then on the basis of the second, then express a view on which you consider more likely. That last step is the one candidates omit, and omitting it turns an advice into a survey.
How firm should my conclusion be?
Firm enough to be acted on. The course supplies a graded vocabulary, probable, very probable, likely, unlikely, and poor, good or very good, and reminds you that an unwelcome answer is still the answer. A conclusion that the position is unclear has described the difficulty rather than advised on it. A client told early that their case is poor can make a decision; one told nothing makes one anyway.
Assessment move
Audit a completed draft against the nine published criteria one at a time, marking each as met or not met before you change anything. Several of them, spelling, conciseness and a conclusion on every issue, are checkable in minutes, and they are where answers quietly lose a pass they had earned on substance.
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