Go with the flow! (Flowcharts)

Go With The Flow.... or: Flow charts - Magical Procedural Memory Aid

Learning civil litigation or criminal litigation is very difficult, I can appreciate. Students with a law degree or postgraduate law diploma have to learn a process about which they have no real experience.

Let's put this into context...
It's like trying to learn how to drive a car and pass a driving test having only been taught in a classroom. Being told about how to mirror-signal-manouvre... being told about how to find the "biting point" on the clutch... all of which done without actually getting into a real life car. 

So you need to have a clear idea of what happens. What order the steps occur in. Where the process begins and ends. What the decisions to be made are...

Reading a textbook can help you get that basic understanding, but lots of text is not going to help you put the stages in order in your brain or to understand the scheme. 

How can you improve your ability to retain these abstract steps?

My answer is a simple diagram. I advocate the use of flow charts.

They can be drawn quickly and easily. They cut out lots of verbiage. They are clear. They are visual.

Often lawyers become so used to reading endless amounts of words, they forget that we are visual people, and love colours and shapes. Diagrams seem to simple; childish, even.

But you have a left and a right brain. One is the practical and methodical half. The other is the creative and playful side. They CAN work together, and when they do, they are much more likely to make connections which achieve long term memory. 

Flowcharts are exactly what both sides of the brain find useful; both logical and schematic, but also creative and "artistic". 

To try to kick you off on a journey of creativity and learning, here is my attempt at drawing up a diagram to cover the earliest stages of civil litigation.... 

I realise that perhaps the diagram on its own doesn't help you very much. So here is a video I uploaded to YouTube some time ago. It explains the thinking process I went through in making the diagram.




**UPDATE: Although claims are sent to Salford and processed at Northampton, the heading of all County Court claims now state they are issued "IN THE COUNTY COURT" rather than the previous "IN THE NORTHAMPTON COUNTY COURT". This is to bring practice in the County Court in line with the High Court.**

I know what you're all saying:
"That's all very well, Snigdha. Very nice. We don't have time to do this. You picked a very convenient example for a flowchart. How are we going to do this with other elements of civil litigation? What about criminal litigation? Sorry, we'd rather just read the textbook."

Firstly, I would refer you to my previous post, and why you should try to use more active methods of learning that reading alone:

http://snigsclassroom.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/revising-how-to-get-more-bang-for-your.html

Secondly, I would say that your fellow students are successfully using these methods for learning and revising and it is both helpful and worthwhile.

Jack Harrison, a current BPTC student I found on Instagram, is a fellow advocate of flow charts and diagrams. He is a former teacher and started his revision by consolidating his knowledge and drawing flowcharts and diagrams. I was so impressed by his efforts, which I think are genuinely something worth emulating, that I asked him for permission to feature examples of his work and I asked him for an explanation of his rationale and technique.

He told me:

"I used to be a teacher and in trying to work out what sorts of learners my kids were, decided I was a visual learner - I.e someone who learns best by looking at graphics as a way of understanding things. It's great to think "how can I condense this huge topic to the bare bones of needed to know" and often those bare bones will prompt my memory for the fleshier details.

I like the use of colour because it helps keep my attention and I use certain colours for things, e.g. In civil lit I will always use red for Costs and sanctions because they're very important and need attention. I think by breaking subjects and rules down to flowcharts, it helps understanding immensely. Also as the BPTC written exams are very procedural, flowcharts are ideal for settling out each stage succinctly."

**UPDATE - the Pre Action Protocol for PI Claims has come off syllabus in June 2015. The diagram made by Jack is still a brilliant way of learning procedure, but you do not have to learn this element of civil procedure any longer.**

I am very grateful for Jack for sharing with me and with all my readers. He's a wonderful chap! As you can see from his examples, the diagrams don't have to be very involved and do not have to take long to draw.

Just the simple act of drawing will help fix the steps in the process in your mind. Every time you then check over your diagram, you are reimpressing and reinforcing the original process of drawing the diagram.

I will leave you with this - my diagram on Judicial Review. 

**UPDATE - As of June 2015, Judicial Review is no longer on syllabus. The flowchart is still a good example of how to draw a helpful visual aid for revision, but of course, you do not need to learn the content of this particular diagram!**

**Updated on 7 October 2015 to reflect changes to the Civil litigation syllabus. Students are requested to check the up to date syllabus document.**