TUTORIALS FOR ANALYSING LAW

(ADVANCED LW2171)

Tutorial 1 Advanced: Introduction to Law (LW2171)

The aim of this tutorial is to introduce you in more detail to some alternative ideas about law
that were covered in lectures 1-8. In this tutorial and the preparatory work for this tutorial you
will explore in more depth the law school and your role as a law student, the rule of law,
sources of law, the common sense of law and seeing through law. At the end of this tutorial
you should be able to think critically about legal rules in a wider social context and
theoretical perspective.

You should complete the reading set out in the tasks above before moving on to your tutorial
work.

Essential Reading:

 A Critical Introduction to Law, Chapter 2, Law, order and reality, pp. 10-25.
 A Critical Introduction to Law, Chapter 3, Reality, anthropology and dispute
resolution, pp. 26-39
 A Critical Introduction to Law, Chapter 9, The wider implications of the rule of law,
pp. 115-130
 Patricia Williams, ‘Chapter 1, The Brass Ring and the Deep Blue Sea’, in The
Alchemy of Race and Rights: diary of a law professor (1991) pp. 3-14.

Questions:

1 What are we aiming to do in Analysing Law?

2 What is meant by ‘decolonising the law school’? Give some examples of how this
can be done.
3 Why have you chosen to study law?
4 What is the rule of law?
5 Are ‘rules’ the only source of law?
6 How does Patricia Williams look at law? What is the advantage of this approach?
How could stare decisis be analysed in her approach?
7 Is ‘law’ a thing that exists independently of society and people who make law?
8 Critically engage with the sentence ‘lawyers cannot see through the law for seeing
through the law’?

Formative task: 500 words writing piece to be taken to your Analysing Law tutorial.

Developing my student voice: what is the ‘common sense of the law’?

Structured formative feedback provided in video and document form on Blackboard

Tutorial 2 Advanced: What is Law? (LW2171)

In this tutorial we will build on our insights from the previous session to explore the question:
what is law? We will consider this question from a number of theoretical perspectives
including an orthodox positivist perspective, feminist perspectives, critical race theory and
intersectionality. This will reveal that there are a number of different answers to the question:
what is law? We will change the perspective of the question we are asking by exploring: who
is law for? We will look at a number of everyday examples of law in action to ask: what is
law doing?

Essential Reading

 Margaret Davies, ‘Chapter 2: Limited and Unlimited Law’, in in Law Unlimited:

Materialism, Pluralism and Legal Theory (2017) pp. 20-40.
 Hunter et al, Foreward (Brenda Hale) and Chapter 1: ‘Feminist Judgments: An
Introduction’, in Feminist judgments: from theory to practice (2010) pp. 1-29.
 Holly Cullen and Maleiha Malik, ‘Chapter 19: R(Begum) v Governor’s of Denbigh
High School’, in Hunter et al Feminist judgments: from theory to practice (2010) pp.
329-345.
 Kimberlé Crenshaw, ‘Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics and
Violence Against Women of Colour’, Stanford Law Review Vol. 43, No. 6 (Jul.,
1991), pp. 1241-1299
 Nadine El-Enany, ‘Migration law as a racial regime of power’, in (B)Ordering Britain
(2019) pp. 24-35.
 Kimberley Brayson, ‘Of Bodies and Burkinis: Institutional Islamophobia, Islamic
Dress and the Colonial Condition’, Journal of Law and Society (2019) Vol 46 Iss 1,
pp. 55-82.

Further Reading

 Walter Mignolo, ‘Who Speaks for the ‘Human’ in Human Rights?’, Hispanic Issues
Series (2009): Retrieved from the University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy,
http://hdl.handle.net/11299/182855:
https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/182855/hiol_05_01_mignolo_w
ho_speaks_for_the_22human22_in_22human_rights22.pdf?
sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Questions:

1. What is a legal positivist definition of law? Do you think that this definition is
accurate?
2. Who is the ‘human’ of human rights? Why does this question matter?
3. What does the feminist judgments project aim to do?
4. What does the feminist judgement of Begum do differently to the original judgment?
5. What does intersectionality do? Why was the intersectionality movement developed?
6. What does law do in the example of modern slavery?
7. What does law do in the example of Windrush?
8. What does law do in the example of Islamic dress?
Formative task: 500 words writing piece to be taken to your Analysing Law tutorial.

Critically analyse the case of Shabina Begum, R (SB) v Governors of Denbigh High School
[2006] UKHL 15, [2007] 1 AC 100, through an intersectional lens.

Structured formative feedback provided on blackboard in video and written form.

Tutorial 3 Advanced: Where is Law? (LW2171)

This tutorial will explore where law happens. We will explore some of the physical spaces
where law takes place by looking at the civil courts. In line with the way you are being
encouraged to think on this module we will explore alternative ways of solving disputes by
looking at Alternative Dispute Resolution. In a digital age, compounded by the shift to online
necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, we will explore the role of online courts. How do
online courts interact with the cost of justice, access to justice and Law Clinics? We will
discuss the role of Law Clinics and specifically the Free Legal Advice Clinic at the
University of Leicester. The role of legal aid will be considered by asking the question: who
has access to law?

Essential Reading

 T Frost et al, ‘Courts and Civil Courts’, in Unlocking the English Legal System,
(2019) pp. 151-162
 M Ahmed, “Mediation: the need for a united, clear and consistent judicial voice”
(2018) 37(1) CJQ 18.
 M Ahmed, “Silence in the face of invitations to mediate” (2014) 73(1) Cambridge
Law Journal 35-37
 P Cortés “The Online Court: Filling the Gaps of the Civil Justice System?” (2017)
36(1) Civil Justice Quarterly 54-71:
 T Frost et al, ‘Funding’, in Unlocking the English Legal System, (2019) pp. 243-257
 Nick Holmes, ‘The online court and the digitisation of justice’ June 2019:
https://www.infolaw.co.uk/newsletter/2019/06/online-court-digitisation-justice/
 M Ahmed, “A Critical View of Stage 1 of the Online Court” (2017) 36 Civil Justice
Quarterly 12.

Further reading

 P. Cortés and T. Takagi, “The Civil Money Claim Online: The Flagship Project of
Court Digitalization in England and Wales” (2019) 25(8) Computer and
Telecommunications Law Review 207-212,
 R. Susskind, Online Courts and the Future of Justice (OUP, 2019) which is available
online in the library.

Questions

1. What are the functions of the court process?

2. How do courts encourage parties to consider other civil dispute resolution options?
3. Why might the legal process not always be the best option for a party to a civil
dispute?
4. What do online courts offer for the future of justice? What problems does digital
exclusion present to this future? How is this related to socio-economic stratification in
society?
5. Why are Free Legal Advice Clinics so important in the provision of justice? What gap
do they fill? Who funds Free Legal Advice Clinics?
 6. Should all spaces of law be accessible equally by all people? What barriers might
stand in the way of this?
7. Is law only in the courts and in legislation? Where else might we ‘find’ law?

Formative Task:

Class debate: The future of law and justice: should access to law be free? Should law be
accessible online?

Please come prepared with arguments to debate both for and against in response to these
questions

Feedback provided in video and document form on Blackboard

Tutorial 4 Advanced: The ‘how’ of law: client letter writing (LW2171)

In this tutorial you will explore the art of client letter writing. You will be asked to work in
groups to consider a specific factual scenario and discuss how you would respond to your
client in this scenario. You are a lawyer, how can you enact your professional ethics in
writing and communication to your client? How does professional client letter writing differ
from other forms of legal writing and letter writing? This tutorial will help you to understand
what successful client letter writing involves. How do the theoretical and practical
approaches to law covered on this module inform your skill of client letter writing and your
reflection on how to improve? Can you work together successfully in a group to develop your
thinking?

This tutorial follows the work you have covered in your reading and lectures on legal writing
and assumes that you have also done the reading and attended the earlier lectures.

Essential reading

 T Frost et al, Unlocking the English Legal System (2019) pp. 161-172
 Maribel Canto Lopez, ‘Introducing Group Work and Professional Writing in a British
Law School: A Practical Assignment and Students’ Perceptions Inside the Liberal v
Vocational Law Degree Dichotomy’ REJIE Nueva Época, Núm. 22 Extraordinario-
Febrero 2020, pp.95-117
 SRA Client Care Letter
 T Connelly, ““Terribly let down”: Whistleblowing trainee solicitor hits back at strike
off decision”, Legal Cheek https://www.legalcheek.com/2019/02/terribly-let-down-
whistleblowing-trainee-hits-back-at-strike-off-decision/amp/
 D Nicolson, “Making Lawyers Moral? Ethical Codes and Moral Character” (2005)
24(4) Legal Studies 601
https://pure.strath.ac.uk/portal/files/2175052/LS_2025_4_20Nicolson_1_.pdf Making
lawyer moral?
 M Humphries, “Legal Ethics – Past and Present”, The Law Gazette, 19 November
2009 https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/analysis/legal-ethics--past-and-present/
53241.article
 T Frost et al, ‘The Legal Professions’ in Unlocking the English Legal System, (2019)
pp. 321-346

Further reading
 Mills & Reeve LLP Values Statement:
https://www.mills-reeve.com/about-us/our-values
 https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-give-effective-legal-advice-your-clients-
maria-markou

Questions

1. How does writing a client letter differ from writing an essay? Why? What practical
things might you need to consider in communicating ethically with a client?
 2. Should lawyers be moral? Imagine you are a defence lawyer representing a client you
know to be guilty. Critically assess how this situation sits with professional ethics and
morality?

3. Using Begum from tutorial 1, consider how you would summarise what it says:
1 for your notes;
2 in a case note for a partner in the firm you are training in/your pupil supervisor in
chambers; and
3 to explain its relevance to a client in a similar situation to Shabina Begum.
4. If you have time, you will find it helpful to have a go at drafting these.

Formative Task:

Working together in a group discuss how you would write a client letter in relation to the
facts that will be given to you in advance of tutorial 4. This group work and discussion will
provide the basis for you to individually write a client letter that will be submitted as part of
you summative Reflective Learning Portfolio. For this reason, please ensure that you are
in attendance at this tutorial