How to answer a law problem question with IRAC

A law problem question isn't an essay. You're not asked to argue a position on an area of law — you're given a set of facts and asked to apply the law to them and advise. The marks follow a structure, and the students who lose them usually lose them in the same place.

IRAC, briefly

• Issue — identify the legal question the facts raise.
• Rule — state the relevant law: statute, case, or test.
• Application — apply that rule to these facts.
• Conclusion — reach a reasoned answer on the issue.

Most rubrics reward all four, but they don't reward them equally.

Where the marks actually are

Weaker answers spend their words on the Rule — reciting the law accurately and at length — and then rush the Application. But application is where the marks concentrate: taking the specific fact ("the notice was posted on the 3rd but not received until the 7th") and running it through the rule, including the counter-argument the other side would make. Stating a test correctly earns far less than showing what it does to the facts in front of you.

The three quiet mark-losers are almost always: spotting the issue but not the sub-issue; citing authority without using it; and reaching a conclusion the application didn't actually support.

Marking your own answer

Because problem questions are marked on published criteria, the most useful revision is to write an answer and check it against the rubric, criterion by criterion — is my application really applying, or am I restating the rule? Mark reads your answer against your own marking guide and shows you where issue-spotting, authority or application is costing you the grade — the same criterion-referenced marking that works for bar exam essays and SQE legal writing and every other subject and exam with a rubric.