When you write the answer to a law school essay exam question, your audience is fictional. Think of your audience (reader) as an informed attorney or a colleague (law student) who is quite familiar with the nature and purpose of law in general; who has read the fact pattern; and who has a passing familiarity with the law of the subject (torts or contracts, for example), but needs to be reminded of the precise rules of law.
Lawyerly analysis, in its most fundamental sense, boils down to an interweaving of the facts presented in the hypothetical, with the law you have identified.
Let’s take a look at what an “issue” is, within the context of answer law school essay exams. An issue is usually a question that the court will be called upon to answer.