Planning
Plan each task. In doing this,
allow yourself enough time to finish it and
enough of the right sort of time. For example, work on a major project such as
a lengthy judgment or an article for a journal needs repeated and long slabs of
uninterrupted time.
Contingencies
Some of your work is not under your control. For example, you may need to
go to the library to read some specific books and you cannot be sure that they
will be available to you
when you go
to the library (because the library does
not hold them or they are out on loan). Handle this possibility by starting work
early and giving priority to those tasks which are outside of your control. In
this way you know well in advance if there is a difficulty so that you have time
to wait or to make alternative arrangements.
Semesters and Trimesters
With regard to efficient use of time, it is worth noting something about legal
education. Currently, many law schools offer most courses over one semester
or trimester of about 10 to 14 weeks. Semester and trimester length courses
have a major disadvantage because they provide such a short time for
absorbing new material. Specifically for purposes here, it becomes hard to
train students in proper writing skills when the course is not long enough to
allow the proper digestion of ideas that is inherent to good writing. Providing
semester instead of year-long courses may well be detrimental to good legal
writing.
Thinking It Up: Designing
Failing to plan amounts to planning to fail.
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Introduction
Designing a text involves formulating its structure. Discussion covers the
following matters:
(1)
Types of structure.
(2)
Developing the structure.
(3)
Communicating the structure.
(4)
Testing the structure.
(5)
Lateral thinking.
Types of Structure
Clear statement proceeds from clear thinking.
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Earlier chapters discussed types of design or structure for a text. There were
two classes. For many legal texts, much or all of the structure came from the
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This is popular saying, particularly among business advisers.
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Blunn v Cleaver (1993) 119 ALR 65, 82, per Sheppard, Neaves, Burchett JJ
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