It’s easy to make it. I did.

It was fatal.

Here’s what happened and 3 lessons learned.

***

RULE:

In addition to the obvious (that you must capitalize “court” whenever you write out its full Bluebook citation), there are only 3 other instances that require or permit capitalization:

1️⃣ CAPITALIZE SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States)

Scope: U.S. Legal Writing*

Here are two examples.

1️⃣ NO COMMA IN ORIGINAL

Original:  “The complaint lacked sufficient facts to survive summary dismissal, but we grant plaintiff leave to file an amended complaint.”

🔷 PRIMER

🔸 Most 1L exams (and all bar exams) present a hypothetical fact pattern followed by a general “Discuss” prompt (or a set of questions that identify which issues you are to discuss).

I’ve noticed that many of you start posts with the word “As,” as in:

“As a lawyer,”
“As a law student,” or
“As an [anything].”

⚠️ Doing that is dangerous. In fact, you need to watch out for any sentence that starts with “As a . . .”

But it does.

And I’m not just talking about Bluebook cites. I’m talking about your prose.

Here’s the deal: Lawyers need to use 2 commas when other writers don’t.

Just learn them now: the Oxford Comma & the TICTAC Comma.

1️⃣ Fully justify your body text.

—That will cut lines b/c full justification fits more letters per line than left justification.

2️⃣ Working from the bottom up, systematically attack each paragraph with only a few words in its final line of text.

Here’s the built-a-business side of the story.

1️⃣

In 2016, I got laid off from a BigLaw firm. I can’t lie: that stung.

In the intervening years, I “tried on” many roles. None quite fit.

THIS is what it’s all about.

The comment on my post from a 2L made my day. It stands for everything I longed for when I started Dear 1L®.

Thank you to every member of my community.

Some gunner with a briefcase asked me that during my very first week. I didn’t even know what an “Outline” was.

Here’s what I wish I knew then:

🔷 It’s not the Outline itself that matters.

I can’t wait to dive in.

What’s on your reading list today?

💌 Amanda

But be careful after a negative verb: “because” causes ambiguity.

Here are some examples:

1️⃣ She was not promoted because she is female.

—Was she promoted? That isn’t clear.

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.