These past two weeks, I have been grading my Year Two Legal Analysis take-home examinations. The exam is a legal writing exercise testing persuasive writing ability. The students wrote a stakeholder report for Amnesty International in the Universal Periodic Review of the United States of America. Students drafted a section of the report arguing that […]
Category: Legal Analysis
Peer Feedback in Oral Advocacy
Legal writing professionals have been touting the benefits of peer review in their legal scholarship. Kirsten Davis wrote back in 2003 that “[b]y introducing peer editors into the writing process and allowing students the chance to see how other students approach the same legal problem, however, the peer review experience can teach students […]
Teaching Legal Analysis in International Law (R.I.P, IRAC)
My legal skills colleagues at the Hague University for Applied Sciences Department of International and European Law have an on-going debate about the utility of IRAC in the legal skills classroom. IRAC is the classic legal analysis tool used in (Anglo-American) law schools. IRAC stands for Issue, Rule, Analysis and Conclusion. It’s users claim that […]
Know your audience, the skill of effective communication
With the 72nd Opening of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) this week, eyes are turned to New York City and the parade of heads of state to address the world’s diplomats. As always, the opening address by the new UNGA president, MIROSLAV LAJČÁK, emphasized the year’s goals and themes. Among those topics were the climate and […]
Hurricane Relief and International Legal Skills: Is there a link?
The devastation of Hurricane Irma in the Caribbean was heartbreaking. News reports with aerial views of ravaged islands, report that some of those tiny islands (like St. Martin) are no longer habitable. Relief agencies will be there for years, trying to restore the region. One major hurricane relief agency, the UN World Food Programme (WFP), […]