Professional Legal Skills
Legal Drafting
Legal drafting course, on campus or online: notices, pleadings, bail, family law, writs, conveyancing and contracts, ending with a portfolio.
About this course
A 3-month course, on campus or online, in practical legal drafting. Each week covers one area of practice with model drafts, live drafting exercises and teacher feedback on your work.
The course ends with a timed drafting test and a final portfolio of your drafts that you can use in practice.
What you'll achieve
- Draft legal notices, civil pleadings, applications, appeals and revisions in the correct format
- Draft criminal applications, bail petitions, family suits and writ petitions
- Draft conveyancing deeds and commercial contracts
- Write clear legal English and Urdu, and avoid common drafting mistakes
Requirements
LL.B students (final years), LL.B graduates, advocates and law-office staff.
- Week1
Foundations: structure of a legal document, legal language, formatting, English and Urdu drafting, common mistakes
- Week2
Legal notices: legal notice, reply to a legal notice, demand and recovery notices
- Week3
Civil pleadings (CPC): plaint (Order VII), written statement (Order VIII), verification and affidavits
- Week4
Civil applications: temporary injunction (Order XXXIX, Rules 1 and 2), amendment of pleadings, execution petitions
- Week5
Civil appeals and revisions: memorandum of appeal, revision petition, review application
- Week6
Criminal drafting I: application for registration of FIR, petition under sections 22-A/22-B CrPC, private complaint (section 200)
- Week7
Criminal drafting II: bail applications (sections 497/498), acquittal applications (sections 249-A/265-K), criminal appeals
- Week8
Family law: suit for dissolution of marriage (khula), maintenance, custody under the Guardians and Wards Act
- Week9
Constitutional petitions: writ petition under Article 199 and habeas corpus
- Week10
Conveyancing: agreement to sell, sale deed, gift deed (hiba), lease/rent agreement, power of attorney, will
- Week11
Commercial and contract drafting: service agreement, partnership deed, MOU, NDA, employment contract
- Week12
Final assessment: timed drafting test, faculty review and final portfolio
| Assessment | Details |
|---|---|
| Weekly assignments | one drafting assignment each week, marked and returned with comments |
| Practice assessments | 10 timed drafting assessments |
| Final test | timed drafting test in Week 12 |
| Portfolio | your corrected drafts, reviewed by the faculty |