(35 out of 100.)

It was Oct 1993.
It was my first & only feedback.
I thought the world was going to end.
And it forced some intense soul-searching.

🩳 “Little kids” are short.
Periods and commas [.,] are little kids.
They sit on or below the line.
They’re too short for cars to see.
They must play safely INSIDE the fence (the quotes).

🛑 The WRONG WAY is to:

-Pick a random lawyer
-Learn nothing about them
-Send them a generic message
-Explain you want to “pick their brain”
-Make clear you seek a 1-time transaction
-Suggest that they “jump on” a 60-min Zoom

—All I said to myself was, ‘I can’t wait to finish law school and start making money,’ and ‘I long to get married + have children.’

When I was 34, I was married with 3 girls under age 5.

(That’s for 𝟐𝐋 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫 jobs; yes, it is nuts).

👉 And it means you’ve got FIVE urgent tasks.

1- Update and perfect your resume. (Yes, it really needs to be “perfect.”)

They all say something to the effect of:

“I haven’t found a friend group.
Everyone seems to be in their established cliques already.
I feel isolated and alone.
Any tips?”

In the U.S.:

🔹 A “company” is a “collective noun” that functions like every other SINGULAR noun.

Other common, collective nouns in legal writing include:

When you’re new to legal writing, it’s natural to think:

—Courts’ words sound better than yours.
—Courts' sentences should be quoted in full.

—So if Dick and Dennis go play tennis, do NOT next say that “he” wins 6–3.

—If Mary and June take a walk at noon, do NOT write that “she” stops for tea.

Here’s the convention to follow:

🔷 When to keep them lowercase—

And unfortunately, you’re likely to fall into these traps.

—That’s because you haven’t focused on grammar or punctuation for ages.

—Legal writing also requires you to use new words and terms about which you know zilch.

They may say they took a comprehensive pre-law prep course and feel “ready to go!”

They may boast that they’ve already:

 —read the first month’s reading,

Learn them early so you don’t lose points when it counts.

1. In the legal world, we spell the word “judgment” without an “e.”

—> Change your Word settings so they autocorrect “judgement” to “judgment” when you type.

Old law-school deans apparently used to say this to 1Ls on the first day of law school.)

Here’s what I want you to think about today instead:

It’s hard to know a law firm’s true culture before you actually start working there.

But no law student wants to start working somewhere only to find out it’s a mismatch.

You really need to do some detective work first.