Why the IRAC(A?) formula is so powerful…

The IRAC(A?) formula (see my previous article, here) is something I use in day to day practice. It provides a good structure to an answer to a legal situation, makes you set out the facts logically, show your working and the relevant law, provide relevant conclusions, and think around the topic.

Today, I thought we would look at how the IRAC(A?) formula might match up to a typical FD1 paper. For this, I’ll be using a slightly older paper (2015), so that I don’t in any way spoiler the newer papers which I know many of you will use in the run up as mocks.

As a brief reminder:

Issue - identify the relevant facts and thus the legal issue at hand

Relevant law - state the law relevant to the legal issue at hand

Apply the law - use the relevant law, apply the facts to it, and arrive at a conclusion, or at least what further information is needed

Conclusion/course of action - come to a conclusion about the state of the issue, what can be done about it (if anything), and by when.

(Anything else?) - think around the point and add any valuable other points about it.

I used this formula for most questions in the examination the year I passed, and I’d recommend you get into it as well. If you are too waffley it should help you be more concise and, likewise, if you are too concise it may help you to grab some extra marks.

Let’s take a look at Part A of the 2015 paper. It would be good if you look at my breakdown below, have a look at the question and answer it, and then see if you can match up the marks with the bits of the IRAC(A?) formula which apply. I appreciate this is part subjective and so the below represents only my opinion.

I do not expect that identifying the issue will ever get you marks, it merely sets the stage for you to apply the facts to the law and advise. Spoilers at the very bottom of the page…

2015, Part A Questions

Question 1

I

R - 4

A

C

(A?) - 1

Question 2

I

R - 5

A - 4

C -1

(A?)

Question 3

I

R - 4

A - 1

C - 4

(A?)

Question 4

I

R - 3 (2 crossover with A)

A - 5 (2 crossover with R)

C - 1

(A?) - 1

Question 5

I

R - 3

A - 6

C

(A?)

Question 6

I

R

A - 3

C - 2

(A?) - 4

Part A Recap

As you can see from the above, stating the relevant law was involved in 19 marks out of 50 for Part A alone. People often say that FD1 is not about reciting the law, but applying it. This has never really made sense to me, or at least I feel it has been slightly misconstrued. In my view the examination is not about reciting the law verbatim (at least, not very often), but you must know it and be able to state it (at least in your own terms, other than select bits where specific wording is expected), and then you must apply it.

19 marks involved applying the law, and so it would seem that knowing the law and applying it are the majority of marks, at least in this paper’s part A.

Providing a conclusion or a course of action raised 8 marks, and ancilliary points raised 6 marks.

Let’s take a look at one of the questions from Part B.

2015, Part B

Question 7

I -

R - 3

A - 11

C - 6

(A?) - 5

It’s quite clear that the dominant aspect of this question is less about stating the law and more about applying it and providing a conclusion. There was a jump in those ancilliary marks too. In any complex situation (in real life, or in a part B question), there is lots of scope to think around the issues, so it’s worth dedicating some of your planning time to thinking about what else might be relevant to the case at hand that doesn’t immediately follow the main thread running through the question.

The other thing to note is that there are questions (timeline questions) where the IRAC(A?) formula sits less comfortably, and you need to practice and identify the questions for which the formula is suitable and practice timelines for the timeline questions.

Have a look at question 8 and 9, and see what you think about the mark schemes and where those marks might fall under the IRAC(A?) formula.

Issue marks:

Relevant law marks:

101, 102, 103, 104;

202, 205, 207, 209, 210;

303, 304, 306, 307;

402, 404 (1/2), 405 (1/2);

504, 505, 506;

710, 711, 717

Applying the law marks:

201, 204, 206, 208;

305;

401, 404 (1/2), 405 (1/2), 406, 407;

501, 502, 503, 507, 508, 509;

601, 602, 605;

701, 702, 703, 704, 706, 707, 712, 713, 714, 715, 716;

Concluding/course of action marks

203;

301, 302, 308, 309;

403;

604; 607

719, 720, 721, 723, 724, 725

Anything else? marks:

105;

408;

603; 606; 608, 609

705; 708; 709; 718; 722