As a student of law, anyone rarely tells you how to write a legal blog. While a lot of Law students are opting for various internships these days, they do get some opportunities in the Editorial Sector as well. However, even there, they are given a topic and told to research and write. However, what are the pointers to be kept in mind while writing a legal blog, they don’t have much idea. To bring some sort of clarity, here is an attempt to explain how to write a legal blog.
What is a legal blog?
A blogging platform provides several legal blogs, each addressing a specific legal query and providing an explanation to the same. It is more similar to how there is a question in the Law School examination, and you have to answer the same. You usually start with an introduction, then go step-by-step to explain the topic, and then end up with a conclusion. The aim for writing a legal blog is to bring a detailed understanding around a topic of law.
How do you start writing a legal blog?
As a student of law, or even as a legal professional who has never been into writing blogs, articles or research papers, writing one could be a tough nut to crack. When
- Concise Topic of Law
Whenever you have to choose to write on a topic of law, pick a concise one. If you pick a really broad topic, there will be a lot to cover. Sometimes, the topic may be broad enough that you don’t know what to write apart from introducing the readers to the basics of the legal topic. Therefore, when you have to choose, the legal topic should be concise.
For example – Rather than “Introduction to the Constitution”, make it as “Introduction to the Constitution of India”. In this case, you do not address the Constitutions, the grundnorms across the globe. Even the heading reflects that you are going to introduce them to the Indian Constitution.
- Know Your Audience
A legal blog should be written for a specific audience. When you write something, you should know the purpose, and whom you are writing it for. The topic of law reflects upon who might be searching for it. Keeping your readers in mind helps bring clarity to the legal blog. This way, it will be easier to address the initial question – How to write a legal blog. If it is some of the basic provisions like what is freedom of speech under Article 19(1)(a), you know it is most probably a layman or a student of law searching for it. Since the audience is someone with no or minimal knowledge of laws, the legal blog needs to be written accordingly. If it is a compilation of Shared Household Case Laws, then the one searching for it is most probably a matrimonial lawyer or an experienced legal professional (Legal Researcher, etc.). Thus, use of technical jargon may be excused in this case.
- Research – Sources of Law
Now that you know the topic and audience, it is time to start research around the topic. Legal research is the most crucial aspect of the answer to how to write a legal blog. It may be noted that while writing a legal blog, research is and should be the most time consuming step.
When it comes to legal research, the utmost reliable sources are the primary sources of laws – that is the statutory laws and the case laws. Apart from that, there could be news sources, or legal articles, research papers, etc.
- Break-down Your Blog
Anyone reading a piece of writing, particularly some sort of information, will be overwhelmed with a long wordy paragraph. In contrast, if the same information is served in shorter paragraphs with headings and sub-headings, the reader is most likely to stay and read it whole. From a reader’s perspective and making it a user-friendly legal blog, it is important to break down your content into relevant headings and sub-headings. The usual breakdown could be an casual introductory paragraph, followed by the important definitions, legal base, some questions around it, and a conclusion. Here is a sample legal blog with breakdown of headings to explain the law regarding burden of proof.
- Easy to Understand Language
While legal jargon is way too complex already, people reading legal blogs usually look for easy to understand language. It helps them have a better grasp of the legal topic. Thus, rather than using fanciful words and synonyms, it is suggested to use simple, clear and straightforward words.
- Simplify the Laws
While legal research sources and simple language has been mentioned earlier, this pointer is important. Legal terminology is complex, and even lawyers sometimes find it conflicting to interpret the heavy legal jargon. Therefore, it is the duty of Legal Writers to simplify the information as much as it can be. If you just end up rephrasing or paraphrasing the statutory information with all the same words, it does not help. The reader would rather drop there and directly look for the Bare Act. Therefore, it is your responsibility to simplify the legal jargon, while keeping up with the authenticity of the information.
- Authentic Information
As a writer, particularly the one writing a legal blog, it is your duty to bring authentic information. In the world of legal blogs and articles, there is a lot of misinformation. Maybe it is because people writing those content pieces are not law graduates, or maybe they lack legal research skills. This fact makes Legal Writers all the way more responsible for bringing the most authentic legal information. Everything you write should have a source, whether it is Section of an Act, a Supreme Court/ High Court judgment, or even a news piece. An exception to this could be an imaginary example, or a real life incident that you witnessed. In such exceptional cases, the words should reflect whether it is something imaginary or a storyline. This practice brings authenticity and brings more reliance to your work, and you as a writer.
- Word Length
While some platforms give specific word limit for writing legal blogs, you should mostly focus upon these – justice to the topic, and not get your readers bored. If you think what you wrote is too short, take another glimpse to see whether you have been able to do justice to the legal topic? Will the reader searching around that topic of law end up being satisfied with the information, or the search will still go on? If the blog is too lengthy, again take a look back at what you wrote and see if it is interesting enough. Is it written in an engaging way, or will it shoo away the reader for all the boring information?
Keep your reader in mind and you will know how to write a legal blog in an interesting manner so that people love reading what you wrote.
Where can I post my legal blog?
There are several platforms which welcome guest posts from different writers – be it Law Students or Legal professionals. You may have to connect with them or write an email to understand the process to get published on their platform. Some may even ask for a fee for getting a legal blog published on their website. Lawgical Shots is one of those platforms where you can post your legal blogs. If you are a Legal professional who is eager to share your legal expertise with the world, we can even assist you with better digital presence.
If you wish to add something more to what was discussed above, or want to get published at Lawgical Shots, please write an email at lawgicalshots@gmail.com.
