Formative assessments in law

Hello there,

I am coming up to submitting my first legal formative assessment as a first year LLB student at Northumbria University.

What general advice does anyone have for legal formative assessments in general (the one I’m currently completing is for English Legal Systems on diversity of the judiciary and then I have a criminal law one that was just given to us last week on identifying the offences committed against a person in a choice of scenarios) and how can I make the most of them?

Thank you all

Reply 1

Stiffy Byng

You would be better off asking this question of one or more of your tutors. Do they not have office hours during which you can go to see them and ask questions of this kind?

Reply 2

rodham.stefani

Original post by Stiffy Byng

You would be better off asking this question of one or more of your tutors. Do they not have office hours during which you can go to see them and ask questions of this kind?

No they do haha. Perhaps my question seemed a little too complex to be asking on this site since I mentioned the specific topics we were covering as opposed to just asking a general question about formative assessments and how to approach and make the most of them. But I do speak with my tutors and module leaders. I just wanted to see if any students of law had any specific advice or recommendations based on things that helped them personally. Hope that clarifies my question :smile:

Reply 3

Stiffy Byng

One bit of advice: don't pay any attention to anything said about diversity by Chris Ashford, who teaches at your university. He recently made a fool of himself by co-editing an absolutely rubbish book about gender, sexuality, and the law, which omits all mention of the leading cases, fails to offer any meaningful analysis of the relevant statute law, and presents ideological argument as legal analysis. The book is embarrassingly terrible, and has rightly been lambasted by reviewers. It reflects poorly on Northumbria and on City, where the co-editor Alexander Maine teachers.

Otherwise, just read the questions carefully and make sure that you answer each question clearly. Support each proposition of law by at least one binding authority or unequivocal legislative provision. Draw attention to any case or provision which is not consistent with the view that you put forward, explaining how, if at all, that case or provision could be distinguished, or disapplied.

I am not a law student, but I practise law at the London Bar, and occasionally teach law at UCL.

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 4

rodham.stefani

Original post by Stiffy Byng

One bit of advice: don't pay any attention to anything said about diversity by Chris Ashford, who teaches at your university. He recently made a fool of himself by co-editing an absolutely rubbish book about gender, sexuality, and the law, which omits all mention of the leading cases, fails to offer any meaningful analysis of the relevant statute law, and presents ideological argument as legal analysis. The book is embarrassingly terrible, and has rightly been lambasted by reviewers. It reflects poorly on Northumbria and on City, where the co-editor Alexander Maine teachers.
Otherwise, just read the questions carefully and make sure that you answer each question clearly. Support each proposition of law by at least one binding authority or unequivocal legislative provision. Draw attention to any case or provision which is not consistent with the view that you put forward, explaining how, if at all, that case or provision could be distinguished, or disapplied.
I am not a law student, but I practise law at the London Bar, and occasionally teach law at UCL.

Oh, I had no idea! Well thank you very much for the advice, it is greatly appreciated :smile:

Reply 5

Stiffy Byng

Original post by rodham.stefani

Oh, I had no idea! Well thank you very much for the advice, it is greatly appreciated :smile:

I'm sorry to have to say this, but the book really is a disgrace. It presents what can only be a deliberate and therefore dishonest misrepresentation of the relevant law. The editors and contributors cannot possibly be unaware of the recent and well known case law which they have chosen not to refer to, or of the significance of the relevant legislation which they barely mention. If the book was a science book, the editors and authors would be castigated for scientific fraud.

Reply 6

rodham.stefani

Original post by Stiffy Byng

Wow, that is shocking to hear. I'll have to see it for myself at some point. Once again thank you for making me aware of that.

Reply 7

Stiffy Byng

Original post by rodham.stefani

Wow, that is shocking to hear. I'll have to see it for myself at some point. Once again thank you for making me aware of that.

Sadly, this is what happens when people fall under the influence of charlatans such as Judith Butler, a vicious and toxic academic at Berkeley, herself influenced by arch nutter Michel Foucault. It came as no surprise to Butler-watchers to see her cheerleading for rape and murder after 7 October 2023.