Dear 1L, Hi. I hope you’re hanging in ok. I’ve had students tell me they had some of their darkest days of law school when trying to get the brief done, and I know you’re in pretty deep.

Please know that the court cases you’re dealing with are NOT “simple and easy.”

In fact, there are no “simple and easy” cases when you’re writing about a brand new area of law.

✏️ You have to teach yourself that law before you can decide what you want to say about it, much less write something persuasive about it.

When I had to write a brief on a legal topic I’d never written about before, I had to spend some time understanding each court case INDIVIDUALLY first, before I could make sense of a group of them.

It helped me to write out a full, formal description of the case in a scratch document.

—I know doing that will seem cumbersome to you, but the process of articulating what a court did in your own words—on paper, in full sentences—has 2 big positives:

1️⃣

It can help you cut through the noise in the case and get you focused on what matters most.

For me, writing up some cases in a separate document often ended up being the only way I could get a real handle on things.

I thought you might try it.

✏️ You never really “know” a case until you go to try to write about it.

2️⃣

It can give you placeholder paragraphs to insert into your Argument section so you’re not starting with a blank page when you go to write.

True, you’ll have to shorten and tweak your descriptions for purposes of the final brief.

✏️ But it’s always easier to cut & condense than it is to add.

***

I’m sending you brain cells and good cheer.

This is a really brutal time of year.

Fondly,

💌 Amanda

#Dear1L

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