Mother’s Day

I’m starting a list of tips for students and new graduates who’ll be starting their first “lawyer” jobs at law firms soon.

I hope you can help me add to and improve the list.

There have been times in my life that were very, very serious.

20 yrs. BigLaw. So, so serious.

When a daughter would say,

Mommy, come play—

I would say no,

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.

“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)