Writing Skills: Academic Legal

Writing
Discourse markers
Adding Points
Another possibility is that
At the same time it is true to say...
Beyond x there were further...
In addition...
In any case
In other words
It should also be emphasized that
It should also be noted that
Mention should also be made of
Related to these arguments is the critiue that
!he corollary of this is that
!he "ey point to note is that
!he same can be said of
!he same is true of
!here were other factors# which arguably counted for more.
Arguing !entati$ely
At the same time it could be argued that
Indeed# it might be argued that
It is interesting to speculate on what would happen if...
Academic %egal &riting'()*(
It is tempting to pose another uestion.
It may well be as"ed how
It might be argued that
+till# there is no denying that
!his is not to say that there are not...
As"ing ,uestions
-ow can we explain x.
More contro$ersial is the uestion as to whether
/ne way to answer this uestion is to try to see if
!he crucial uestion may therefore be
!he uestion remains
&as it such a bad thing to allow. 0ot necessarily.
&hat are the arguments on the other side.
&hat sort of picture do these considerations allow us to construct.
1omparing
In sharp contrast to x# y is not...
!hough it may seem a stretch to compare x with y...
&hile x are large# y are much more important
2istinguishing
Another important distinction between x and y is that...
I would li"e to distinguish between x and y.
/n the other hand...
!he big difference between x and y is that...
!he essential difference is that...
!he essential point on which I differ is that...
Academic %egal &riting'()*(
!here is howe$er an important difference between x and y.
!his difference clearly cannot be explained by...
&e must here ma"e a distinction.
In x there is a similar di$ision between the two schools
,ualifying
But there is a need for ualification
In part# this might be explained by#
!o some extent it is true to say that...
Pro$iding 3xamples
A classic illustration often cited is
Another example of this may be gi$en.
More detailed studies show that
/nly in one respect does the ad$antage seem to be with
/r let us ta"e another example.
!hat x happened illustrates the point that
!he e$idence of x is e$en more ob$ious in the case of
!he following passage may be ta"en as typical of this "ind of e$idence.
!he origins of x can be traced bac" to
!his was by no means uniue.
!his was typified by
!o ta"e yet another illustration...
4eneralizing
Basically
Generally
Broadly speaking
Academic %egal &riting'()*(
Essentially
Fundamentally
On Balance/ On the hole/ O!erall
3xplaining
A general explanation remains difficult to find'elusi$e.
2espite the fact that x happened# it is not clear that
5or all these reasons# what x has to say needs to be treated with caution.
If one loo"s at x in historical perspecti$e# one finds that' it is clear that...
Moreo$er it is at least arguable that
Partly for this reason it was ine$itable that
!he first thing we notice is the...
!he main reason it happened was that
!he reasons for x cannot be traced to either y or z.
!he tendency of x is not necessarily a disad$antage.
!his achie$ement was primarily due to
!his applies especially to
!his in turn means that...
!his problem has two aspects. As regards to x... As regards y... 5or these two
reasons...
!his was a product of...
&hat these cases show is that...
5ocusing
An important point sometimes o$erloo"ed is that
3ssentially we need to loo" at
In this respect it is important to note...
It is important in this context to try to distinguish between x and y.
Academic %egal &riting'()*(
It is important to realize that...
More importantly
/f these points# the first needs to be discussed in more detail.
/ne of the most important points is that...
!he essential point is that...
!he essential thing about x is that it has y.
!he facts of the matter therefore seem clear.
!he importance of this lies in the fact that...
!he importance of this lies in...
!he real problem was not x but y.
!he significance of this is that...
!here are three "ey points in the abo$e theory.
!here is another possibility# which has recei$ed too little attention. !his is the
thesis that
!his is arguably the most important point6
!his is the "ey to the problem.
!his ta"es us to the heart of the matter
!his was one of the most important reasons why
"uali#ying
But there is a need for ualification
In part# this might be explained by#...
!o some extent it is true to say that...
Referring to 3$idence
According to the best a$ailable statistics
As table x shows
5igure x combines y and z
Academic %egal &riting'()*(
-owe$er# these figures omit large numbers of people who
If one ignores x# the figure rises to
It will be seen at once that...
/ne estimate puts it as high as
+imilar e$idence can be found to support the $iew that
!able x summarizes the best a$ailable data. It will be seen that
!he e$idence is howe$er ambiguous.
!he figures show clearly that
!hese figures suggest that
&e must of course treat these figures with caution.
&hen x is combined with y it seems that
/pposing Arguments
Admittedly# simply doing x is a simple method of 7et it is not easy to see
how else to assess y.
Although this argument has some merit# a number of ualifications need to be
made.
In fairness to x yet
Indeed# it is plausible to argue that 7et# other e$idence suggests
It is certainly hard to see a plausible alternati$e to +till if we loo" at
It is often assumed that -owe$er#
It is uite true that 7et in reality the most important factor was that
It is true that 8gi$e details of opposing $iew9 -owe$er 8affirm own argument9

Moreo$er it is at least arguable that 7et the extent to which x happened

should not be exaggerated. &hat is more In reality
0othing can detract from the central fact that -owe$er what is e$en more
surprising is that
+ome ha$e argued that !he reality is that
Academic %egal &riting'()*(
+ome would say that this by itself is sufficient explanation. -owe$er
+uch explanations are too simplistic. !hey tend to o$erloo" the fact that It is
also sometimes forgotten that
+uperficially there is reason to thin" that -owe$er
!here is no doubt that x is true. -owe$er it is too much to claim that 0or
should it be assumed that
!here is# of course# a natural temptation to conclude that But this was not
the case. In fact Indeed it has e$en been suggested by one writer that
Referring Bac"
As we ha$e seen
As noted already
!he $iew put forward abo$e explains why...
&e ha$e already seen that -owe$er 8ma"e additional point9
&e saw in the abo$e definition that...
Referring 5orward
As will be argued in the next section
Assuming x is the case# it remains to as"...
I would now li"e to ha$e a loo" at...
!he pre$ious section considered only x options. 0ow we are going to loo"
at
!here are $arious ways in which we might attempt to tac"le this problem.
&hat are the arguments on the other side.
&ithout going into technical detail# it is possible to explain the broad principles
of the theory.
%ea$ing the topic of x on one side# let us examine the differences between x
and y.
%imiting the +cope
But I will not consider this in the present discussion.
Academic %egal &riting'()*(
4i$en the time'space a$ailable I will be unable to go into...
!his isn:t the place to go into detail...
&ithout going into technical detail# it is possible to explain the broad principles
of the theory.
Referring to 3$idence
According to the best a$ailable statistics
As table x shows
5igure x combines y and z
-owe$er these are of all the figures the least reliable.
-owe$er# these figures omit large numbers of people who
If one ignores x# the figure rises to
It will be seen at once that...
My own rough calculations summarized in table x confirm that
/ne estimate puts it as high as
+imilar e$idence can be found to support the $iew that
!able x summarizes the best a$ailable data. It will be seen that
!he e$idence is howe$er ambiguous.
!he figures show clearly that
!hese figures suggest that
&e must of course treat these figures with caution.
1iting
According to x
As has often been pointed out 8e.g. cite authors9
As x has argued
As x has obser$ed
As x has pointed out
Academic %egal &riting'()*(
As x has said
As x has shown
1onsider the following description of... 8uotation9
5ew share the $iew that
In 8x boo"9 y author suggested that
In his article 8cite article9 he astutely argued that
In support of his argument x is able to uote
It is usually asserted that
+ome authorities ha$e implied that
!his is not an isolated $iew.
; contended' suggested that
; con$incingly argues that
; has called it
; has concluded that
; has gone so far as to spea" of
; has put it simply'bluntly
; once defined the ob<ecti$e of y as
; points to
; was uite right when he said that
1riticizing
A more fundamental ob<ection to this argument is that...
But the e$idence seems too strong to suggest that
But there is a need for ualification
2isproportionate attention has been paid to
-owe$er it is not true to claim that
Academic %egal &riting'()*(
+imilarly# the arguments against x ignore the fact that
+uch e$idence does not constitute adeuate support for the theory that
!he possible flaw in this argument is
!here is a degree of truth to the $iew that...
!here is another possibility# which has recei$ed too little attention# namely
that...
!here are howe$er a number of difficulties with this critiue.
!his# so it is argued# was the reason why
=nder the influence of x 8author9 I came to thin" of this $iew as mista"en.
=nfortunately for such theories# x was not common.
x author:s arguments need to be ualified and updated in se$eral respects.
!he most important ca$eat'change'de$elopment'ob<ection'ualification is
that...
7et there are limits to how far the idea of'concept of x can be ta"en.
Re$iewing /ther Arguments
A familiar ob<ection to this argument is that
2espite these criticisms few# howe$er# would deny that...
5or all these reasons# what x has to say needs to be treated with caution.
In defence of this $iew# a number of explanations ha$e been offered.
It has also been persuasi$ely argued that
/bser$ers of x ha$e noted that...
/ne study conducted in 8year9 found that... 8cite author9
+o far as x is concerned...
+ome parts of this theory are surprising.
+uch $iews continue to be influential.
!he essence of the argument is that...
!he most common critiue made by authors is that...
Academic %egal &riting'()*(
!he most modern research has pro$ided ample support for these arguments.
In particular the claim that
!he principal criticism has been that
!here is indeed some e$idence to support the latter thesis.
!here is some e$idence to support x thesis.
!his argument can be pursued in more detail.
!his line of argument has been further de$eloped by
!his point has been o$erloo"ed by many authors.
!his problem has been dealt with by $arious authors...
!hose who agree with this $iew include
!ypical of this approach is
&hat are the arguments on the other side.
&hereas earlier accounts emphasized x# it is now commonly argued that
x arguments in fa$our of y are twofold'threefold'fourfold.
; deals with y and is concerned to show that
; is not content with 8ma"ing a modest claim9> she also insists that 8ma"ing a
larger claim9
; has been among the supporters of the $iew that
x original thesis has been $astly elaborated into the theory that...
; repeatedly refers to !hough it is now fashionable to criticize x# there is
something to be said for
1oncluding
All things considered then
3$ents show us that
5inally#
-ence the paradox that
-ow can we account for.
Academic %egal &riting'()*(
If one considers x it becomes clear that
In any case it seems clear that
In general# howe$er...
In short#
In the final analysis this may be the best explanation of all.
It is difficult to escape the conclusion that
It seems clear that
?udging by this criteria
More generally it seems hard to deny that
0othing can detract from the central fact that
!he extent of x is hard to uantify. +uffice it to say that
!he most popular explanation remains that

Academic %egal &riting'()*(