“Is comprised by” is always wrong.

Here’s why. ⤵️

“To comprise” = “to contain,” “to consist of,” “to be composed of.”

✅ All these sentences are correct:

-The whole contains its parts.

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 Legal Writer:

My friend, Min Cho, suggested that I write about “i.e.” and “e.g.”  To begin, please know that unless you’re a Latin scholar, getting these correct is not intuitive.

Both abbreviations get used a lot in legal writing, so you’ll want to make sure you learn and can use them.

Here’s a short guide.  ⤵️

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 Legal Writer:

“Prior to” is NOT a good synonym for “before” in legal writing.

It’s stiff.
It’s stilted.
It’s stuffy.

🔻 “Prior to” will not make you sound smarter than “before.”

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.

Dear Legal Writer:

Before you use your next em-dash, make sure you know what you’re doing.

📍 Apparently, almost no 1Ls have been taught how to use an em-dash.

📍 I haven’t seen a law student use an em-dash properly in any of the writing samples I’ve reviewed these past 3 years.

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.