Open AccessWHAT IS ‘ACADEMIC LEGAL WRITING’?
Author(s) -
Danie Brand
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
pretoria student law review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1998-0280
DOI - 10.29053/pslr.v6i.2216
Subject(s) - publishing , legal writing , law , test (biology) , work (physics) , academic writing , legal research , sociology , political science , pedagogy , engineering , mechanical engineering , paleontology , biology
In the editors’ note to the inaugural edition of the Pretoria Student Law Revie (PSLR) the editors wrote that the purpose of the PSLR is to serve as a platform for students to engage in ‘academic legal writing’. To students interested in publishing in the PSLR, or any other law journal for that matter this might raise the questions: ‘What is academic legal writing?’; ‘Are there other forms of legal writing?’; and ‘If so, how are they different from academic legal writing?’ These are important questions. They certainly do not only arise for potential student authors for the PSLR, but all law students who at some stage of their studies have to write ‘academic’ essays or dissertations, somehow different from ‘practical’ exam and test answers or pleadings for moot courts, or pretend-contracts. They also confront legal academics on a daily basis when they think about the nature and purpose of their work. I attempt here some answers to them.