On the outside, I seemed to have it all together:
—a top GPA,
—a job lined up for fall, and
—a law review Note ready to publish.

What could I be stressed about?

As it turned out, a lot.

Truth is: I’ve been scared to write about it before.

And please don’t say, “ just follow the easy ‘he/him’ rule.”
I know that “easy rule.”
The topic is more nuanced.

So here I go.

By the time you’re a mid-level associate, you’ve put in some tough time—

You’ve endured the early years of 0% control over your schedule.

—You’ve canceled social plans;
—you’ve sacrificed umpteen weekends; and

Judges hate surprises.

Like “surprise facts.”

Those are ones you didn’t describe neutrally in your Facts section.

Yet increasingly, I’m seeing briefwriters get sloppy.

Here are the rules, and I’ve also attached a chart you can save, print, and pin on your wall.*

RULES:

In addition to capitalizing the word “court” whenever you write out its full, formal name (obviously), only 3 other situations require or permit you to capitalize that word:

▪️ What’s better in legal writing? “prior to” or “before”?

▪️ Should you add extra spaces below the first line of a post?
 
▪️ What should you do if your case has multiple corporate entities?

Last week I sent answers to these 3 questions to 𝟭,𝟬𝟳𝟵 people.

It’s the winter before you start law school.

You’re excited but nervous.

You’re not really sure what to expect.

You want to be prepared.

You want to do the best you can.

“The same” wreaks havoc.

To illustrate:

🔹 "She delivered the goods to the warehouse and then sold the same."

—Does "same" refer to the goods or the warehouse?

🔹 “The contract has a 30-day notice rule. Failure to comply with same will result in penalties."

I thought I’d pass it along.
It is good advice!

➡️ Because when you start to think about your reader as you’re writing, something really cool happens:

You realize it’s not just you sitting there alone,
banging at that keyboard.

So please listen closely.

—> Most people think that “as such” means something like “therefore,” or “accordingly,” and they use it as a catch-all to stand for what they said in the preceding sentence.

For instance, many writers would use “As such” in sentence pairs like these:

Your book is ridiculously good. I got up through page xiv and 5 and then died. I had to stop reading and pen this note.

No. 1️⃣: Your book is exceptionally written. Let me say that again. Your book is exceptionally written.

That is the highest possible praise I, Amanda Dealy Haverstick, could possibly say to an author.

A woman sees it & checks 9 of 10.

“I’m not qualified. I’ll never get it,” she tells herself.

—She slinks away and doesn’t apply.

A man comes across the same job listing.

He reads the 10 qualifications & checks off 3.

Perhaps you prefer the hand-written letter by snail mail.

We sure don’t get them often enough these days.

A good one can really make your day.

The email newsletter?

We get too many of them these days.

Do you question what I say?

Let’s do a little play—

1/ Recall the concept, “collective noun.”

A “company” is one.

Others are are:

You’re making 3 big mistakes.

Here’s why, how you can fix them, and
some cool follow suggestions:

1️⃣ MISTAKE No. 1: You post with a FIREWALL.

You post an article you’ve written.
We can’t read it.