Creating Legal Writing Opportunities in the Digital Era

Abstract

This article argues there is a need to provide law students with greater opportunities to conduct research based legal writing which develops their skills around critical thinking, reflection, review, and communication. Such skills risk being neglected if law programmes become unduly oriented towards assessing students by means of multiple-choice questions or closed book examinations of very short duration. This article hopes to encourage law teachers, with the assistance of appropriate technology, to introduce legal research writing assignments into substantive/doctrinal modules. In this way, legal writing is not confined to stand alone research/dissertation modules but is embedded more throughout the law programme.