This paper is intended to provide general guidance on essay-writing and expression in law papers. It has been compiled after consultation with my Law School colleagues. It contains mistakes which I see often, and those which other teachers have advised me they encounter frequently. During end-of-semester marking periods, law teachers complain loudly about these mistakes.

This paper considers issues of written expression under the following headings:

1. Argument/discussion
2. Style
3. Punctuation
4. Problems of sentence structure
5. Spelling and using the wrong word
6. Singular/plural
7. The dreaded apostrophe

^* For a more sophisticated discussion of the rules of English expression, see Rooke, A grammar booklet for lawyers, The Law Society of Upper Canada (copy on short reserve). Some of the information in this paper has been taken from Rooke's booklet.