Get your SAMPLE 1L MEMO here—with NO shenanigans
📣 Get your SAMPLE 1L MEMO here—with NO shenanigans
(—even though I said I’d never do this again.)
Dear 1L, If I were savvy at sales, I’d make you give me an email address to get this attachment. But you have no time for that, so here it is, no strings.
👉 This is what 1L professors are looking for in the fall memo.
(My first sample memo is in Appendix C to my book; the attached new memo is longer and addresses a different, more complex topic).
I base it on:
—the hundreds of past memos I’ve seen after-the-fact,
—what hundreds of students have explained to me, and
—what I’ve learned about how professors make you write in 1L
(—it is a bit different from what I did in practice).
I have endeavored to prepare a composite style that is largely compatible with all the various acronyms (IRAC/CREAC, etc.) that different professors teach.
🔷 Caveats:
1. The facts in the sample are entirely fictional.
2. Please use the sample for illustrative purposes as to structure and writing style only. Ignore my legal citations, which are neither accurate nor updated, much less in underlined form. There also may be sentences that need cites but lack them.
3. In reality, litigators do not often write formal, objective memoranda, and they do less so today than in the past.
—When we conduct a legal analysis, we also usually focus on procedural posture and standard of review. You will focus on those things more in the spring.
4. It needs to be shortened w/o losing substance, but I didn’t want to delay in getting to you.
5. MOST IMPORTANT: If my model is incompatible in any way with what YOUR specific professor instructs, follow what your professor instructs. (This rule goes for everything I say.)
I am confident that seeing this will help you a LOT, though.
Finally: please don’t beat yourself up if it’s taking you an absurdly long time to write the memo. Legal writing ALWAYS takes longer than you think it should.
I am sending you so much positive energy—
💌 Amanda
#Dear1L
🙏🏻 Please SAVE this post for future reference.
♻️ Please share to help more 1Ls!
👉 Tomorrow I will post a new self-editing checklist for you, so stay
