We started this whole journey together, you know. You and me. This is year THREE! You guys are my original gang. I know your names. Your faces. Your fears, your triumphs.

🔹 I was hired fresh out of college and had no experience. There were 6 of us, plus a paralegal manager, and she was the only one with prior experience.

—Luckily, when I was brand new here in Sept 2021, Jay’s posts were some of the first in my feed.

—That first year, I didn’t let a work day go by without reading Jay.

We were 4 toddlers strapped across the back seat that day—two to a seatbelt, in the 1972 carpool, as then was the way.

I must have had my mother tell me the story of that morning a million times. It became a bedtime ritual.

“As” has as many meanings as cats have lives: 

NINE to be exact:

9️⃣ to the same degree or amount

              (“it was as hot as the sun”)

8️⃣ for instance

            (“such as”)

✏️ It’s an IRAC essay on Article III standing. Click to View

The structure of the essay shows how I used to set up my answers for issue-spotters in every course and on 3 successful bar exams.

I hope you can adapt this to work for all the issues you face this exam season.

I’m finally becoming less anxious and more excited as the self-publishing process proceeds, so I want to start telling you all about ‘Dear 1L.’

At a high level, the book is a conversation between a first-year law student (1L) and a mentor who writes to them throughout their first year.

I’ve been so excited for your arrival and will have loads to say in the weeks to come, but for today, PLEASE get active on LinkedIn and start networking.

❓ “But Amanda, I just got into law school and am on top of the world; why on earth would I need to worry about networking now?”

This was my response: 

▪️ “It’s not a silly question. The best advice I’ve ever heard on the topic is this:

Stop looking for a mentor. Instead, become someone who attracts one.

Read it out loud.

Not to yourself.
Not in your mind.
I mean out loud—
loud and with conviction.

Here’s what I predict:

Going to law school? Here are tips for this summer:

1: Relax and enjoy!

Bottle up as much fun, carefree time with friends and family now.

2: Get Yourself In Order.

It could list:
—the firm’s style preferences,
—each partners’ pet peeves, and
—common mistakes to search for and avoid.

That would require associates to self-edit and polish BEFORE they hand in a draft. 

I wore 2 hats.

I wore them in all three bar exams I took, too.

One hat was pink, pale pink;
the other blue, denim blue.
And no, I was not going koo-koo.

Here’s a full how-to:

🔷 WHAT is it?

An em-dash—which looks like these here—is a punctuation mark that shows a break in a sentence.

How does one write it: big law?
It’s my burning query of today.

How should I type it: Big law?
I really could go any ‘ol way.

How would YOU do it: Biglaw?
Please tell me what to say.