In law school, as well as in the practice of law, you will have many opportunities to demonstrate your skills in many types of writing. One type of writing that you will need to use from time to time is expository writing. Expository writing is a rhetorical mode of writing in which the author’s purpose is to inform, explain, describe, or define their topic to the reader.
However, when answering law school essay exam questions, you are asked to demonstrate a different type of writing. Exams are opportunities to show your professor your legal problem-solving skills by identifying problems, establishing concise rules to be used in solving the problems, and then applying your analytical talents to reason and draw conclusions. That requires a departure from expository writing.
As an example, to prove a negligence claim, a plaintiff must provide evidence of several elements, one of which is the existence of a “duty” on the part of the defendant to act with reasonable care in relation to the plaintiff. The following is unnecessary in an essay answer:
“Duty” can serve as a touchstone when trying to understand the essence of the concept of negligence. The notion of duty seems to be a universal cornerstone in legal systems around the world. In civilized societies, all human action is in accordance with the law, which the members of each society must obey. The duty may be bound by law or by contract. When imposed by law, a duty is an obligation that requires the actor to conform to a certain standard of conduct for the protection of others against unreasonable risks. The word “must” is used throughout the Restatement of Damages to denote the fact that the actor is required to behave in a particular way; if he does not do so, he runs the risk of becoming liable to another to whom the duty is owed for any damage suffered by that other, of which that actor’s conduct is a real and proximate cause.
From an essay writing standpoint (outside of law school), this may be a good paragraph. Including it in expository writing could be helpful. Although introductory explanations, historical justifications, moral discussions, and concluding paragraphs tend to round out good college expository writing, these are not hallmarks of good law school essay writing.