—So if Dick and Dennis go play tennis, do NOT next say that “he” wins 6–3.

—If Mary and June take a walk at noon, do NOT write that “she” stops for tea.

Here’s the convention to follow:

🔷 When to keep them lowercase—

That’s my acronym for 4 bad words in legal writing:

“comprise” — lawyers always get this wrong

“𝐍𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬?
𝐍𝐨 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒???
𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐨 𝐚 7-𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐍𝐎 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬?”

The partner was incredulous, her voice rising in pitch and exasperation with each question

And unfortunately, you’re likely to fall into these traps.

—That’s because you haven’t focused on grammar or punctuation for ages.

—Legal writing also requires you to use new words and terms about which you know zilch.

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

They may boast that they’ve already:

 —read the first month’s reading,

1: Your reader is busy.

2: Your reader will NOT be reading for pleasure.

3: Your reader WILL be reading to extract information.

Dear 2L, We spoke a lot about IRAC essay exams last year, but it’s been several months. I thought a refresher was due.

Key Reminder: You must do a complete IRAC analysis for every Element of every Claim and Defense or for every Factor in the court’s applicable test.

Learn them early so you don’t lose points when it counts.

1. 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.

Here’s a classic example:

👿 “She was not promoted because she is female.”

Hmm. Was she promoted?
That’s not clear.

Old law-school deans apparently used to say this to 1Ls on the first day of law school.)

Here’s what I want you to think about today instead:

—That’s one of Bryan Garner’s famous quotes, and I want you to think about what it means.

I also want you to go back to the pre-iPhone and pre-Mapquest days when Garner said it:

Nothing requires it.
Your signature block covers it.
Your hackneyed legalese adds nothing.

STOP!

In fact, it’s my No. 1 tool.

(And it’s not some fancy, new AI program; I’ve been using this same tool for decades.)

It’s hard to know a law firm’s true culture before you actually start working there.

But no law student wants to start working somewhere only to find out it’s a mismatch.

You really need to do some detective work first.