Writing Law Examinations
by John H. Langbein · Yale Law School
Seven-page guide written by a Yale Law School professor for his own students on answering issue-spotting exams: organizing the answer, analyzing facts against rules, arguing both sides, and why exam writing uses the same skills as briefs and memos.
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The standard free primer on the very first skill of law school, reading cases. Sixteen-page essay from the Green Bag (2007) walking a first-year student through a judicial opinion: caption, citation, author, facts, procedural posture, holding and reasoning, concurrences and dissents, plus common terms such as affirm, reverse, and remand.