She only received two, according to reports, and they came as a shock:

a B in Crim;
a B- in Torts.

True, Justice Kagan was at Harvard Law School—where simply passing might be cause to celebrate—but her story should inspire you wherever you attend.

“Find” and “hold” mean very different things.

▪️ “Find” refers to determining facts—what actually happened. This is the job of a fact-finder (a jury, or sometimes a judge in a bench trial or preliminary hearing).

▪️ “Hold” refers to a legal conclusion—a court’s determination of what the law means or what the law requires, given the facts.

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Well, here’s why we use it and how you can do so effectively in your spring brief:

🔷 “To be sure” signals, “I will now acknowledge the point that most hurts me, in hopes of defusing it on my own terms.”

— “The date was amazing for Brad and myself.”
— “Sarah and myself have a real connection.”
— “This journey has really helped myself grow.”

❌ NO! NO! NO!
(Somewhere, a grammar teacher is sobbing into a rose.)

Please, if you didn’t get what you’d hoped for, please know there’s nothing wrong with you, and you are not some sort of screwup.

—> What happened is you got screwed by a brutal curve.

I’ve heard the expression articulated in a number of different ways over the years, and they all piss me off.

So here’s what I want you to remember instead:

I hadn’t worked a “real job” in 5 years;
I’d let my lawyering skills lapse;
I’d let my people skills lapse;
I’d let my self-worth lapse;
I’d become a nobody.

But the worst part was having no community.

It’s unnecessary, and it’s considered redundant.

WRONG: The teacher said “hi” to only one student, (whose name was Charlie).

WRONG: The plaintiff, (who had a strong case), looked confident at the hearing.

In 2026, I will:

Put more verbs in the active voice (1)
& use “that,” not “which”
when given the choice (2).

I’ll use “therefore” or “thus”
(but never “as such”) (3),
and I’ll throw away my “However, . . .” crutch (4).