💌 But today I could not contain my joy. My daughter just got back from her first trip to the law school bookstore, and she brought me this big sweatshirt! Proud new Penn Law mom here!

💌 Dear 1L Writer,

This quick guide will help you write more clearly.

🟢 A, B, and C = ✔️ best practice

🔴 A, B and C = ✖️ not best practice

RULE:  DO use a comma before “and” in a list of 3 or more. 

💌 Dear 1L,

If you’re new to “engaging” on LinkedIn, please don’t be intimidated. I was like you last August. I still get terrible anxiety before posting. It makes me feel better when I can help you.

Today I share some info that helped me understand better how LinkedIn works. If you want to follow a real expert, I recommend the wonderful John Espirian.

💌 Dear 1L,

If you want to succeed in legal writing, you’ll need to shift your mindset. Here’s what I mean.

In college:

Your papers and essays had to be long enough to meet a minimum page or word length (e.g. “must be at least 20 pages”).

💌 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.

💌 Dear 1L,

Don’t worry about cold calls. I get it. I was worried, too. Scenes from movies about law school made it all seem beyond stressful. I wasn’t quite sure how I would handle them. I mean, I had always been good at class participation (when I wanted to be), but everyone said law school was so different.

Here’s some info to help you.

Dear 1L,

✏️ Read a lot of essay answers. Just read them. You don’t even need to think. Just let their wording absorb into your brain passively.

I took three different state bar exams during my pre-UBE career. Same experience each one:

💌 Dear 1L,

My goal is to help new law students get started on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn can seem scary sometimes. I still find that today, nearly one year into my own journey here.  But I’ve learned that the legal community on here is very supportive. 

Dear 1L,

In case you’ve been away, here’s a recap on advice to help you get a job at a law firm.

🔹 FIRST:  I’ve added to my website a free, 16-point checklist to help you self-edit your legal writing. You can download from my Writing Law Tutors website.  (See link at top of my profile, and DM any questions.)

Dear 1L,

Will I make friends at law school?

Will there be parties and bar scenes?

Or will I have zero time for social life at all?

These are all concerns that swirled inside my head, that July of 1993. 

💌 Dear 1L,

OCI writing samples: 3 steps to increase the odds yours is well-received by law firms.

1️⃣ CRAFT A COVER MEMO.

Include a short, concise cover memo to introduce your OCI writing sample. 

💌 Dear 1L,

I’ve recently been making my way through a big stack of your legal writing samples for OCI.

A lot of you are using 7-9 page excerpts from longer briefs you wrote in your spring-semester, legal-writing class.  

Dear 1L,The first interview question you’ll likely be asked is “Tell me about yourself.”

Please don’t recite your resume!

We’ve looked at that already.

Tell us something NOT on your resume. 

Dear 1L,

Add a comma to break apart a sentence when you have 2 actors doing different verbs. Always.

🟢 CORRECT:

A did x, and B did y.

🔴 INCORRECT:

Dear 1L,

🚫 Starting right now, I want you to ban “judgement” from your writing.

🔸 In fact, set your autocorrect settings to make “judgement” a typo.

“But the dictionary says that spelling is accepted,” you might retort.