Here are 7 sayings that I heard for the first time at a firm.

Learn these today, so you won’t hear them, feel clueless, and be left to wonder.

⬇️

🔸 “I forgot how ‘green’ they are.”

It’s called “Dear 1L: Notes to Nurture a New Legal Writer,” and it’s due out June 25, 2024.

🔹 If you read it, you’ll learn:

-What to expect every month of 1L
-How to research & write the 1L fall memo

I’ve seen several hundreds of these resumes. Law students send them to me AFTER everyone’s already signed off, and AFTER they think the resume is “blessed,” “final,” and “good-to-go.”

BIG problem:
—I see nits & formatting errors.
—I see things SO easy to improve.
—It always breaks my heart.

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.

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.

✏️ 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.

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.

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.

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.

Please know that the court cases you’re dealing with are NOT “simple and easy.”

(In the back of my mind, I confess, I was also hoping I’d find a job working for someone else.)

That was in September 2021.

Well, I did find law students. 🙂