Every 1L needs a marching band,
Where allies flock to lend a hand.

One who cheers ‘em when they start to soar.

Two who lift ‘em when they’re on the floor.

Three who push ‘em past their familar zone.

Dear 1L,

Doctrinal classes teach you to:

—read legal rules & cases;

—see both sides of an issue.

Writing classes teach you to:

When I first started posting on LinkedIn, I struggled to find my “voice.”

Here are the 3 biggest things that helped me:

1️⃣ I kept a laser focus on a good answer to “WHY?”

There’s something magical about meeting in person.

It was 2-2-2022 when I first reached out to Dena Lefkowitz, Esq., PCC ★

— just to say “hey.” (I sent an out-of-the-blue DM.)

Dear 1L, I thought you might relate to these words by Justice Antonin Scalia.

They were a key theme in his speech on “Writing Well,” as delivered at a 2008 Scribes award dinner in NYC*.

So please know, it is NOT just you.

Dear 1L, These weeks with the memo were the most brutal of 1L for me.

The memo is a bear for everyone, every year.

I know many of you are struggling out there. Please know I think of you EVERY day.

Dear 1L, Every year, I see the EXACT SAME substantive mistakes in 1L legal
memos.

Here are the 4 biggest, common culprits.

I’ll get you a self-editing checklist with technical fixes tomorrow For now, start by fixing these:

Law schools do students a disservice by treating legal-research & writing (LRW) professors like third-class citizens.

It’s been like this since I went to law school in the 1990s, and it’s largely still like this today.

Dear 1L, No 1L wants to spend all weekend inside writing a legal memo, but many of you will be.

Please know that even seasoned lawyers get stuck when writing up a legal analysis that’s new to them.

—Courts’ words sound better than your words
—Courts’ full sentences should be quoted at length
—Courts’ reasoning will be more persuasive than your own

Instead, you should know:

I also started a “book journal,” so I’d have someone to talk to.

It’s been a lonely road, so far.

Going round and round in my own head.
Listening to people who put me down.

Dear 1L,

As you know, law-school ethics codes prevent anyone from assisting with specific, 1L writing assignments before final drafts are submitted.

I see these memos after-the-fact, when I help students with job applications.

There’s also CRAC, TRAC, and TREAC.

I could go on, but won’t.

And instead of explaining it to you in writing now, I’m working on finishing a fictional model “Memo” for you that illustrates the basic structure.

That’s someone just a few years above you.

{—Of course you must follow all your professor’s rules and style preferences, but otherwise, forget them as your Reader.}

This is AFTER these resumes have been through multiple career-services-office reviews,

AFTER these resumes have been sent to hundreds of law firms and other prospective employers, and,

LONG AFTER the students have been through the formalized OCI process.