💌 Dear 1L,

There is a difference between a defense and an affirmative defense. Learn it before doing a law school exam.

—>See link in comments for part 1 of this primer, which describes Claims and Elements of Claims.

💌 Dear 1L,

With midterms on my mind, I write to share something that helped me on exams and learning about litigation more generally:

I thought about how a case starts in the real world. To understand that, I had to learn some terminology and the differences between and among:

Today Dear 1L spotlights retired chemical engineer Renee Austin — the first in her family to attend college or law school.

Renee started law school as a part-time student in Michigan, but she was also working full-time as an engineer. She quickly realized that institutional barriers and insufficient program resources meant no good opportunities for her as a part-time student. She withdrew after two semesters.

💌 Today is my birthday (53), so I’m feeling brave. Here’s a bit about me.

I am a mother and a wife. My daughters have always been my biggest source of pride, and my husband my biggest source of support. I am very lucky. But this September has been challenging.

▪️ Mom has really been aging.

▪️ This fall is also my first with an empty nest.

Dear 1L,

You all must be getting quite sick of hearing, “It depends.” That, plus you keep reading virtually identical cases with diametrically different results.

Exasperating!

It seems backwards. You got into law school because you showed you knew how to find “correct” answers.

Dear 1L Writer,

I’m seeing students use “proscribe” and “prescribe” interchangeably. Wanted to make sure you were clear that the words are near opposites.

🔷 To “prescribe” means to direct or instruct a rule (or course of conduct) to be followed (e.g., a doctor prescribing medicine or exercise). But “prescribe” comes up in law, too.

Dear 1L,

When I worked in BigLaw, I worked with a lot of new associates. One mistake I saw over and over again was this:

They did word searches on Westlaw or Lexis, found a bunch of cases, and then thought they had done “thorough” research.

Don’t be one of those associates.

Dear 1L,

Here are 2 tips I shared yesterday, when I spoke with 1Ls in the Ole Miss Black Law Students Association. Thank you so much to Nivory Gordon III, M.Sc. for inviting me to speak.

1:  Start looking at practice exam questions and answers earlier rather than later.  I regret my delay in starting. 

Dear 1L,

How are you holding up? At this point in the fall of 1L, I remember things still feeling exhilarating, but also exhausting and scary. I wasn’t sure what was coming next. Here are some recommendations.

🔹 When your class notes start to build up and you’ve completed a topic, such as intentional torts, you really need to start regrouping.

Last September, I had less than 600 connections and more than a little self-doubt. But I shared my first original post.

I’ve gained a lot of insight into networking on LinkedIn this past year. I’m still very much a learner, but here are 5 tips that I hope will help you.

***

Dear 1L,

“If everyone chipped in to help those coming after them, the law profession could easily be filled with amazing lawyers. . . .  And law schools could be filled with more confident, happy students.”

I almost fell from my chair.  What refreshing words to hear from a new law student!  Our broken profession may have a chance after all.

Dear 1L,

You’ll hear of “IRAC.” You’ll learn it stands for the words:
▪️ Issue ▪️ Rule ▪️ Analysis ▪️ Conclusion.

But knowing those words won’t tell you how to write an exam. And law school won’t teach you, either.

There are many ways to write an IRAC essay for an “A,” and you may find others that suit you better.

Dear 1L Writer,

I’m not sure why this trips up new law students, but in US English, put the period or comma INSIDE ending quotation marks, regardless of whether the period or comma appeared in the original, quoted material.

Here are two examples.

Dear 1L,

You’ve been through a lot of challenges in life that were hard.
They tested you.
But you came through.

Remember when you tried to ride a bike for the very first time.
You likely fell.

Dear 1L,

You’re likely hearing about “outlining.”

Various schools of thought exist on when you should start, and the answer may differ for each of you.