The great Melanie Kalmanson is hosting a free webinar with special Bluebook tips just for you, and it’s happening TOMORROW.

Sign up so you can get the recording to watch after exams, if you can’t attend.

I’m thinking of you all and sending good cheer through this May slog—

When my LinkedIn notifications stopped being reliable, I looked for another way to make sure I kept up with my friends’ and fellow creators’ posts.

First I tried looking up all the names that I could think of off the top of my head, and I checked their profiles. Sure enough, they had posts I’d never seen.

I once had a debate with a BigLaw partner over the expression, “The game is not worth the candle.” He wanted to include it in our federal, 4th Circuit brief.

I had never heard the saying before, and, after looking it up, I was even more sure it was too obscure for a brief. We didn’t want to sound pedantic (~snooty in a scholarly way), I pleaded with this partner.

Sometimes, when a final (or a bar exam) was just days away, I would still be trying to master a lot of concepts and memorize rules. I just didn’t have it in me to take practice tests.

So I didn’t try.

I just read a lot of model essay answers.

Dear 1L,

Don’t forget to answer these questions to earn extra points in your exam essays:

1. Is there a fact that, if different, would change your conclusion?

2. Would your conclusion differ if the case were judged at another time in history?

Dear 1L,

Create an exam ritual to stamp out nerves on test day.

Here’s what worked for me.

Quickly, but methodically, I skimmed the entire exam to assess:

I hope you start!

Giving a TL to someone means relaying a compliment about them that came from another person (i.e., from a complimenter you heard or overheard.)

Here’s an example:

I hear a senior partner say that your brief was particularly well-written.

1️⃣ Brainstorm and outline your answer before you start to write.

If I had allotted 1 hr. for a question, I’d typically spend at least 15 minutes thinking about, planning, and organizing my essay before starting to write.

The more disciplined you can be about this pre-writing work, the more organized and thorough your final product will be.

Dear Matt,

Marrying you was the best decision I ever made.

What an extraordinary life journey we’ve had together.

Happy, happy 25th Anniversary—

I am so excited for another 25, and more!

Here are book recommendations contributed by hundreds of lawyers & law students for pre-law summer.

🗳️ If you could pick only 1 or 2, which would you choose & why?

1. 1L of A Ride (Andrew McClung)

2. Getting to Maybe (Richard Fishl)

Dear 1L, I was an associate at two firms. Both were BigLaw.

♦️ FIRM A

Associates were not allowed to send department-wide emails, such as emails seeking models or asking if anyone had faced an issue before.

I believe the theory was that receiving associate emails was annoying for partners; it wasted their valuable time.

I had to take the NY-state bar exam lying on the floor of a private office, about a mile from the main test site. Here’s the backstory.

Things all started going downhill for me during 3L spring. On the outside, it looked like I had it all together:

—grades that put me atop the class;
—a BigLaw job set for fall; and
—a law-review Note ready to publish.

Dear Legal Writer: I once had a BigLaw partner wave an imaginary assault rifle and simulate a scene from “The Terminator” when imparting feedback on my writing:

“Who are you, the Terminator?” she asked.

The partner was very senior, and she was also rather rotund, wearing a floral house dress & ballet flats at the time—all of which made her act quite amusing.

Dear 1L,

Last year, you had to write a personal statement to persuade a law school to admit you.

You may have been told to aspire for an essay that would be “a pleasure to read.”

If so, you got some very good advice.

Dear 1L,

I just heard this memorable motto by Motown Records founder, Berry Gordy Jr., and I want you to say it over and again when getting ready for your oral argument.

If you can say only ONE thing to the panel, what will it be?

Don’t get caught stammering.

Have ONE refrain on the tip of your tongue.