Dear 1L, Everyone I talk to is dying right now.

Between midterms, the memo, AND recruiting for summer internships, there simply aren’t enough hours in the day.

And the memo is killing you.

It’s eating up way more time than expected, and you feel lost on how to structure the Discussion section.

You’ve got cases going both ways, arguments that seem to fit in multiple places, and no clear sense of what should come first.

Let’s make that last part easier.

Instead of trying to organize the entire Discussion at once, focus on one section—and the five questions it needs to answer.

1️⃣ How do you predict a court would rule on this prong of the analysis, given your facts?

2️⃣ What does the legal standard say?

3️⃣ How have courts applied that standard in other cases with respect to this prong of the analysis?

4️⃣ Why do your facts support your predicted result?

5️⃣ Why are the cases supporting that result more persuasive here than the cases pointing the other way?

If your Discussion has three sections—A, B, and C—you’ll answer those questions three times. Once per section.

Attached is a paragraph-by-paragraph roadmap to show you what the above can look like for section A, assuming you predict the plaintiff will satisfy that requirement.

I hope this will help you!! I am sending brainwaves and good cheer—

💌 Amanda

#Dear1L