In your law school studies, and eventually on the bar test and as a practicing attorney, you will be faced with cases that are not black and white. Understanding the relevant legal principles and identifying the necessary components to settle disputes is your responsibility. If you want to be ready for cases, final exams, or the bar test, memorization alone won’t cut it. Analytical reasoning is necessary. For test-taking purposes, you must study up on the law and be proficient in its application. There are an overwhelming number of regulations that must be known in order to succeed in law school and the legal profession as a whole, yet no one can possibly be familiar with every rule. For that reason, if you want to think like a lawyer, you need to learn the framework that attorneys use to solve problems. This includes legal reasoning and analysis. Professors and bar exam takers will use the IRAC method law format for problem-solving: Issue, Rule, Analysis, and Conclusion (IRAC).

When you need to structure your response to a legal essay topic, the IRAC technique is a great foundation to use. However, there is a catch to utilising it to succeed on exams: Application of IRAC becomes more challenging when one is unaware of the particular rule(s) that must be applied in order to resolve the current issue.

What Is The IRAC Method?

Issue, Rule, Application, and Conclusion (IRAC) is the ideal framework for first-year law students to use when analysing issue statements. In doing so, you will be able to provide well-organized, analytical responses.

You are not required to compose an introduction for an IRAC essay or any other type of issue question. One major distinction from statement questions is that you can skip the introduction and get right into addressing the question.

The problem

The first step in presenting each of your ideas is to identify the relevant legal concerns for the IRAC law method.

Something along the lines of “The issue that first arises is if/whether…” might work when drafting an issue statement. After that, you would finish the statement by pointing out the necessary legal conclusion and declaring it. “The question is whether the accused is criminally responsible for xyz,” as an example ().

After that, you should relate the problem statement to the pertinent scenario data. The defendant’s intentional act of xyz constitutes harm to the claimant because of this.

Rule

Your legal conclusion will be defined by identifying and explaining the rules that apply to your circumstance, which you should do after creating your issue statement. The rule specifies the applicable legislation or test in this case.

To back up your analysis, you should consult both primary and secondary sources. The time has not yet come to present it as a conclusion to the scenario under analysis, but rather as a general guideline for the scenario.

Application

The next step, after outlining the pertinent laws and legal concerns, is to present the need of your IRAC method law analysis. To show that you understand the law, you should explain in the application section of your response how the concepts you described may be applied to your situation.

Always be sure to use important language from the given legal principles in the application stage. Establishing the connection is more crucial than worrying about repetition.

Connectives such as “because” and “since” can also be used to establish the relationship between the rules and your programme. Saying something like, “Here, the criminal can be considered independent of xyz because xyz…” or “Since the defendant did xyz this breaks the causation chain of xyz” are examples of such statements.

Successfully providing judgement based on facts and norms, rather than merely regurgitating them, is the key to application.

Conclusion

You can draw one of two kind of conclusions from problem statements. The last two or three phrases that describe your thoughts on the topics you’ve covered. You can take law assignment writers to get help.

Concisely stating the resolution of the issue based on the application of the rules to the circumstances of the case can be accomplished in one or two phrases in your succinct conclusions. So, “the defendant can be found criminally liable for xyz” would be an example.

Before coming to a final judgement, you should address each issue individually. Next, you will offer your final verdict, if relevant. Keep in mind that this is an essay and not a chance to bring up something new (unless you’re in a rush and completely forgot anything). In addition, you should return to the reasons for your ultimate judgement in your conclusion.

Be confident and direct when expressing your thoughts in response to these questions. Your evaluation mostly consists of your process leading up to your judgement, but your conclusion is the glue that holds it all together.

Even if you don’t think you know the solution, it’s crucial to remember that you will still gain marks for your investigation and comprehension of the IRAC law method, so don’t be disheartened if you don’t. The beauty of law is in its subjectivity, after all.

There will be times when you just do not have enough knowledge to draw any firm conclusions. Additionally, you can discover that your opinion is dependent on specific factors. Putting it that way is perfectly acceptable, and it might be the solution. Generally speaking, though, you ought to make a final choice if at all possible.

Extra Points

Before you even begin to compose your response, you should devote some time to thoroughly evaluating the problem. Once you’ve decided that the IRAC method law approach is the best to apply. It is your responsibility to review the statement and extract the sections that are applicable to the various aspects of IRAC.

Using separate highlighters to denote each part is a good idea. Prior to beginning to write your response, ensure that you can recognise each component of IRAC in the statement.

Final thoughts

Ultimately, the IRAC technique provides a useful and efficient framework for legal analysis that both practicing attorneys and law students may employ. A more effective and understandable presentation of legal arguments is possible by adhering to the stages of the IRAC technique. Keep in mind that the IRAC approach may require tweaks or adjustments to match the unique requirements of each situation; it’s not a panacea. If you are stuck in writing, you can take law assignment writers. It’s time for you to start working on your law assignments!