My goal is to help you learn what those terms mean and, hopefully, if we get good comments, to learn about some different practice areas and how real lawyers actually spend their time.

1️⃣ “Transactional” lawyers work on deals.

Some of these lawyers’ functions include:

Some 2Ls sign up for every committee.
They do a journal and moot court.
They attend every social event.
They even work part-time.
They have no free time.

Don’t be like that.

You’ll start to give up “me” time.
You’ll stay up too late at night.

Dear 2L,

They really didn’t give you much of a break this summer, did they?

Since right after exams, you’ve had:
- the write-on,
- your first “legal” job,
- early recruiting,
- OCI, and
- whatever you’ve had going on in your personal life.

Dear Legal Writer, Next time you’re trying to cut words or add some punch, try this:

Replace “is not required to” with “need not.”

For example:

❌ Instead of: “The defendant is not required to disprove the plaintiff’s claims.”

Dear 1L,

If you’re “beyond confused,”
If you think you’re “the only one” experiencing self-doubt, or
If you worry everyone else “gets” it, when you don’t:

🔷 I am sorry you’re experiencing these feelings. The cases at the beginning of law school can be bewildering.

From Lindsey Avalos.

Everyone’s 1L experience is different, but I always found it comforting to hear stories from students who had just been through something new that I was about to start, so I’m sharing in the hopes of reaching more of you.

Dear 1L, Here’s a legal-writing tip that will save you time this fall.

1️⃣ 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.

Dear 1L, At the start of law school, there will be braggarts.

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

🔹 They may boast that they already:
-read the first month’s worth of reading, 

Dear Legal Writer: As a junior associate, you’ll be asked to complete a lot of written projects, and you’ll want to show that you take ownership of your work.

One way to do that is by being proactive about gathering all relevant background information BEFORE you start.

Dear 1L, Please don’t stress about cold calls.

I did, and I regret it.

Scenes from movies like “The Paper Chase” made law-school professors seem like monsters, and before law school started, I played out a dozen scenarios in my mind for what my first cold call could look like.

Lawyers on LinkedIn attack law schools for not teaching students the practical skills necessary to be a “real” lawyer.

But on one skill, it’s the law schools getting it right, and, too often, the “real” lawyers getting it wrong:

👉 The skill is legal analysis.

When I left BigLaw after 20 years, I had 3 plans.

Each failed. Here’s the story.

🔷 Plan A: doctrinal law professor.

Naively, I thought I had a real shot. But as it turned out, I was missing “half the package.”

Dear 1L, Beware these 3 key differences btw college writing & legal writing.

1️⃣ LENGTH

In college, your papers had to be LONG enough to meet a minimum page or word length (e.g. “must be at least 25 pages”). Essentially, you had to keep writing more words to complete the task, and for that, you were rewarded.

It’s wonderful advice from 2L, Amanda Freeman. Make sure to pay attention to #8, and definitely reach out to Amanda!

💌 Amanda

Dear 1L,

If you want to succeed in legal writing this year, you’ll need to forget what you’ve learned about how to organize a body paragraph.

For high-school and college writing, you likely did something like: