ATP 103. Legal Writing and Drafting
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Curriculum
Lesson LW1: Legal Research and Plain-Language Writing 1 lesson
Lesson LW2: Letters, Demand Letters, Opinions and Memoranda 1 lesson
Lesson LW3: Drafting Court Documents: Pleadings, Affidavits and Submissions 1 lesson
Lesson LW4: Drafting Contracts and Commercial Agreements 1 lesson
Problem questions with worked answers 1 lesson
About this course
Legal Writing and Drafting trains the core written skill of an advocate: producing documents that are accurate, clear and in the form a court, client or counterparty expects. It covers legal research and plain-language writing, letters and opinions, court documents, and commercial agreements.
The governing rules come from the Civil Procedure Rules (especially Orders 2, 3, 4, 7, 19 and 51), the Oaths and Statutory Declarations Act, the Evidence Act, the Law of Contract Act, the Companies Act, 2015 and the Stamp Duty Act. Good drafting also depends on knowing the substantive law behind the document, so this unit draws on the other eight.
Most marks in this paper are for writing the document out. The unit therefore gives full model drafts and worked answers that show the finished text, not only a description of what it should contain.
What you’ll learn
- • Research a point of Kenyan law, cite authorities correctly and write in plain language
- • Draft client letters, demand letters, legal opinions and memoranda
- • Draft pleadings, affidavits, applications and written submissions that comply with the Rules
- • Draft contracts with clear definitions, operative clauses, risk allocation and boilerplate
- • Execute and stamp documents correctly