How to Succeed in 1L Legal Writing

💌 Dear 1L,

If you want to succeed in legal writing, you’ll need to shift your mindset. Here’s what I mean.

In college:

Your papers and essays had to be long enough to meet a minimum page or word length (e.g. “must be at least 20 pages”). Essentially, you had to keep writing more words to make your writing long enough, and if you did, you were rewarded.

Your professors also used big, *pedagogical* words and abstract phraseology to teach you. The scholars who authored your textbooks did, too. As a student, you likely picked up on the trend and started using such language and phrases in your own papers and essays. For that, you were also rewarded.

In law school:

Your memos and briefs will have to be short enough to fit within a page maximum (e.g. “must be no more than 12 pages”).  At first, you might think writing 12 pages in law school will be faster and easier than writing 20 pages in college. It won’t be. You must learn to say the same thing in fewer pages.

You’ll also need to cut the lofty language and phrasing. Law school rewards basic language. Little words. Baby phrases. Simple sentences. Think 9th grade.

Over the next 12 months, my aim will be to help you shift your writing mindset. The earlier you start, the better.

We can try to make this fun, too!

Fondly,

💌 Amanda

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