Dear 1L: What is IRAC & How Do I Do It?

Dear 1L,

You’ll hear of “IRAC.” You’ll learn it stands for the words:
▪️ Issue ▪️ Rule ▪️ Analysis ▪️ Conclusion.

But knowing those words won’t tell you how to write an exam. And law school won’t teach you, either.

There are many ways to write an IRAC essay for an “A,” and you may find others that suit you better. But I’ll be sharing my own successful approach, in the hopes that some or all of it will help you craft your own.

For today, I’ll start with three initial steps. {To get notice of future letters with IRAC steps, you can tap the bell icon on my profile.}

1️⃣

First, I got an overview of the exam as a whole. Doing this ensures you’ll allocate appropriate time for each Question (Q), based on the percent it counts.

I next skimmed the questions looking for something easy (relatively) to do first.

🔹 This approach gave me something I could do, so I wouldn’t get overwhelmed and freeze up.

▫️ If you suffer from anxiety like me—and especially if you have test anxiety—it is critical to plan a little routine for what you will do at the beginning of each exam.
▫️ Otherwise, you can panic and lose time getting settled in.

🔹 You should also find that you’ll gain confidence for harder Qs after working through one of the easier ones. Sometimes your memory can start flooding back when you’re calm and you get in the writing groove.

2️⃣
Assume the first Q I chose is a hypothetical fact pattern. So some person is aggrieved and hopes to win a claim for money against the person who did the aggrieving.

I identified each potential Claim and Affirmative Defense raised in the hypo.
🔸 A Claim — such as “battery,” “assault,” etc. — just means a potential cause of action or legal theory raised by the fact pattern.

🔸 An Element is just one of the things a plaintiff must plead to state a Claim (and must prove to prevail on the Claim).

🔸 An Affirmative Defense is a defense on which the defendant bears the burden of proof. Even if the plaintiff proves the Claim, the defendant can eliminate or lessen the scope of its liability if it proves its Affirmative Defense.

Example: If hypo says D’s car sped into P, hurting her, I’d write:
✏️ “P v. D (negligence).”

3️⃣
After each Claim, I wrote its Elements.
Example: ✏️ “For P to state negligence claim, she must show that:

(1) D owed P a duty,

(2) he breached it, &

(3) his breach caused her,

(4) damages.”

*N.B. If your Professor articulates the battery elements slightly differently, obviously follow your Professor’s element names.
——————-

I’ll write soon about how I next set up an IRAC for each Element of the Claim.

📫 1Ls: What questions do you have about what’s above so far?
📫 2Ls, lawyers, et al.: What was your initial exam approach?

Fondly,

💌 Amanda