Legal Skills, 9th Edition

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Legal Skills, 9th Edition

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The best-selling legal skills textbook in the market, Legal Skills is the essential guide for law students, encompassing all the academic and practical skills in one manageable volume. It is an ideal text for students new to law, helping them make the transition from secondary education and giving them the skills they need to succeed from the beginning of their degree, through final year exams and dissertations. The first part covers 'Sources of Law' and includes information on finding and using legislation and case law, ensuring an understanding of where the law comes from and how to use it. The second part covers 'Academic Legal Skills' and provides advice on study, writing, and exam skills, alongside topics such as legal reasoning and referencing. The third and final part is dedicated to 'Practical Legal Skills' that students are likely to require for their course and beyond, covering skills such as mooting, presentations, and negotiation. The text contains many useful features designed to support a truly practical and self-reflective approach to legal skills, including self-test questions, diagrams and practical activities. Students are given the opportunity to take a hands-on approach to tackling a variety of legal skills from using cases to negotiation.
Introduction
PART I: Sources of law
1: Legislation
2: Finding legislation
3: Using legislation
4: Case law
5: Finding cases
6: Using cases
7: Books, journals and official publications
8: Finding books, journals and official publications
PART II: Academic legal skills
9: Study skills
10: Writing skills
11: Legal reasoning
12: Referencing and avoiding plagiarism
13: Essay writing
14: Dissertations
15: Answering problem questions
16: Revision and examination skills
PART III: Practical legal skills
17: Presentation skills
18: Mooting skills
19: Negotiation skills
ONLINE RESOURCES
For lecturers
Test bank of 200 multiple choice questions
Diagrams available to download electronically
For students
Answers to self test questions
Glossary and web links
Video clips of good and bad practice for mooting, negotiations and presentations
Web links to allow you to easily research those topics that are of a particular interest to you
Lecture notes to show different methods of recording information
Writing skills advice
Advice on referencing and avoiding plagiarism
Essay skills
Dissertation guidance
Sample answers to problem questions
Focus on different answer approaches to exam questions
A worked example of a presentation
Mooting skills, including preparation and a skeleton argument, includes answers to practical activities in the book
Guidance through a negotiation skills scenario
Emily Finch is a Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Surrey where she teaches Criminal Law, Evidence and Legal Skills. She has been a lecturer since 2000 and has won several awards for her teaching. She has also been shortlisted for the Law Teacher of the Year Award 2015. Her overarching research interests are public perceptions of crime and criminality and the impact of technology on criminal activity. Her work on identity theft won the Joseph Lister Award in 2005.

Stefan Fafinski is an Associate in Law at the University of Surrey and a Research Associate at the University of Oxford. He is currently teaching Criminal Law, Intellectual Property Law, and Cyberlaw and Cybercrime. He is interested in the social factors that influence the misuse of information technology and the challenges that networked technologies present in general. He won the Joseph Lister Award for his work on the social aspects of computer crime in 2006.
"Finch and Fafinski's Legal Skills should be standard issue to all new law students to assist in the clearing of fog. Most arrive unprepared and this book discusses absolutely everything that they might encounter, from legal reasoning to time management to exam preparation." - Times Higher Education

"The best book in the area!" - Eugenia Caracciolo di Torella, Lecturer, School of Law, University of Leicester

"Excellent resource on how students should engage with the subject...A book the students will keep with them and use throughout their degree." - Dr Kate Harrington, Lecturer in Law, Exeter University

"Pitched exactly right for law undergraduates, Legal Skills stands out as the best skills book, guiding the reader whilst encouraging them to develop ideas further." - Sukhninder Panesar, Associate Head of Department, Coventry University

"An excellent introduction to studying law. This book covers everything from finding, reading and interpreting legal materials to putting them to use in problem questions, essays and dissertations." - Dr Rosie Harding, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Birmingham

"Clear, accessible, comprehensive: a book for today's students." - David den Dunnen LLM, Lecturer in Law, The Hague University of Applied Sciences

"A helpful, practical guide for the new student to orient themselves at the beginning of their degree, and to return to as they encounter new sources, issues and challenges." - Angus Johnston, Associate Professor of Law, University of Oxford

"I have found Legal Skills to be extremely useful in my teaching; it is perfectly pitched for undergraduate law students to accompany them through all levels of their law degree." - Louisa Riches, Senior Lecturer, Leeds Beckett University

"One of the best skills books for law students on the market." - Tom Frost, Lecturer, Newcastle University

"Clear, cogent and relevant - an excellent foundation study book." - David Hodgkinson, Senior Lecturer in Law, Derby University