—Did YOUR middle-school teacher try to sell you that “rule,” too?

And did she also teach you, “It’s wrong grammatically” to use a preposition that way?

Well, she sold you 2 heaps of crap.

Below is some info I’ve gathered for 2024. I hope you’ll help out by adding what you’ve been seeing and hearing in your location.

🔷 Some perspective:

We’ve been enjoying family time with the girls at home, playing lots of games by the fire and indulging in Matt's delicious dinners. I will be back to posting again next week.

Dear Legal Writer, A recent remark by a BigLaw partner stopped me dead in my tracks.

On a post about legal writing (not mine), he commented,

What should your tone be with so many potential, diverse readers?

Try this:

Have ONE specific person in mind you’re writing to and write your post as if you are speaking ONLY to them.

People in the go-go, law-firm-corporate-legal world are busy.

I’d fallen out of the loop. I didn’t have anything interesting to say anymore, I suppose, so they just stopped calling. I get it.

See if you know which of these 3 sentences is correct:

A: The cake comprised 6 ingredients.
B: The cake was comprised by 6 ingredients.
C: The cake was comprised of 6 ingredients.

Here’s the “how-to”:

For any writing project, cut your process into 4 stages. It helps to think of the stages building a house:

This is for all law students about final exams. I’ve been working really hard on something for you.

It’s a template for an IRAC essay.

It shows my mental process and how I OUTLINED my analysis of each issue--BEFORE I wrote a single word.

—EXAMS: How to Structure an IRAC Essay—

Dear 1L, Follow these 9 steps to make sure you don’t miss out on points.

***

1️⃣ Identify the BIG ISSUES.

1: What kind of lawyer are you going to be?
2: Where will you be working this summer?
3: Where will you be working after law school?

🔸 For 1Ls, they likely have absolutely no idea.

Your questions will surely cause great stress.

Every 1L needs a marching band,
Where allies flock to lend a hand.

One who cheers ‘em when they start to soar.

Two who lift ‘em when they’re on the floor.

Three who push ‘em past their familar zone.

Dear 1L,

Doctrinal classes teach you to:

—read legal rules & cases;

—see both sides of an issue.

Writing classes teach you to:

When I first started posting on LinkedIn, I struggled to find my “voice.”

Here are the 3 biggest things that helped me:

1️⃣ I kept a laser focus on a good answer to “WHY?”