Dear 1L: Don’t Fight the Legal Writing Rules

💌 Dear 1L,

1L legal writing was the one course I did NOT fear.

Torts, Contracts, and Civil Procedure—sure, I was clueless. (What is a “tort,” anyway? I recall wondering.)  But *writing* was something I’d been doing for years, and getting As. Surely, “legal” writing couldn’t be that different, or hard.

I was wrong.

You may be a good writer. 

You may be an excellent writer.  

You may even be a published author. 

But you are not a good legal writer yet. 

You couldn’t possibly be.

I was terrible, too.  

That’s normal.

You’ll be asked to write in ways you don’t like. In ways you’d thought you’d outgrown. In ways you hate, even.

I fought the 1L writing rules and lost.

Don’t do what I did.

In the end, you’ll succumb.

We all must.  

Fondly,

💌 Amanda

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