PRE-LAW
Dear 1L® Academy
Rising 1L Prep Course
Dear 1L® Academy—Rising 1L Prep Course
Dear Rising 1L, Hello, welcome, and major kudos to you on getting into law school. This was a particularly tough cycle! So I have way too much to say, but I know that if I could sit down and talk with you today, I’d be warning you about two things right away, so here goes—
1️⃣ A tutor can’t help you on your 1L fall memo.
The first thing that surprises 1Ls every year is that most law schools have honor codes that prohibit you from getting outside help on your 1L legal writing assignments once they are assigned. That means a tutor can’t help you structure, edit, or polish the big fall memo that will count for almost all of your grade.
Therefore, your best—and only—chance to practice writing a 1L memo and get individualized feedback on your writing needs to come before law school starts. I’ve seen too many strong students get a disappointing grade on their 1L memo either because they weren’t ready for how hard it would be or because they had to learn everything for the very first time under time pressure. I don’t want that for you.
In the Dear 1L® Academy—Rising 1L Prep Course, you’ll get individual feedback on your writing and the chance to practice writing a full legal memo like the one you’ll be asked to do in the fall. That way, when it’s time for the real 1L memo, you’ll have a model, and it won’t be the first time you’re doing one.
2️⃣ Law firms are looking at candidates before law school starts.
Here’s the other surprise I wish someone would tell every incoming 1L: Law firms are looking at candidates for 2L summer jobs before law school even starts. That means your résumé, LinkedIn profile, and early networking choices may start mattering much sooner than you think.
Once law school begins, your days will fill up with reading, briefing cases, outlining, and just trying to stay afloat. It will be incredibly hard to carve out calm, focused time to reflect on what kind of legal work you might want to do, much less to thoughtfully update your resume and start networking.
The summer before law school is a rare quiet window. It’s the perfect time to work on your résumé, learn about different practice areas, and begin building relationships with attorneys and law students in a low-pressure way. A few intentional steps now can make the whole recruiting process feel less mysterious and much less scary later.
That’s why I created the Dear 1L® Academy—Rising 1L Prep Course.
I designed the course to help you with both of these things at once: learning the basics of legal writing and getting yourself ready for the 1L recruiting world. I wanted a space where incoming law students could practice, ask questions, and make mistakes before the curve and honor code kicked in.
This is not a giant anonymous course. It’s a small, supportive program where you’ll get to know me and your cohort, and where your individual work on your writing and your career plans will get my personalized attention.
How the program works
The Rising 1L Prep Course is a 6-week hybrid cohort/individual program. We’ll meet as a group each week, and then I’ll meet with you one-on-one to talk through your writing and your questions.
Each week, you can expect:
One 60-minute live group session over Zoom (and recordings if you can’t attend live)
About 1–4 hours of structured homework
One 30-minute individual phone meeting with me for feedback and questions
You’ll be learning alongside other incoming 1Ls, but our one-on-one meetings will be focused completely on you—your drafts, your résumé, and what you’re worried or curious about.
What we’ll cover together
Over the six weeks, we’ll walk through the core skills that will serve you from your very first week of law school all the way through exams and recruiting. We’ll take things step by step, and you’ll have concrete assignments to practice each skill.
Topics include:
Ten rules for clear legal writing
How to read and brief a court case
How to write an exam essay in IRAC
How to write the 1L fall memo in CREAC
Legal résumés and early career decisions
Networking and using LinkedIn as a future lawyer
Each week you’ll complete short, targeted writing assignments—case briefs, parts of a memo, and exam-style answer essays. I’ll review those with you individually so you can see exactly what’s working and what needs adjusting.
All group sessions will be recorded and made available if you need to miss a day or re-watch something.
Here’s what past students have said about the program:
🔹 “I took the Harvard zeroL course prior to working with Amanda. I learned more in one hour of time with her than eight hours of modules from Harvard’s course. If you are undecided about if you should take her course or not, you are wrong! Take her course even if everything is a refresher your confidence level heading into a completely unknown adventure will skyrocket! Thank you for everything!” —Dalton Kindt
🔹 “I recommend this course! 5 Stars. I love how it helps with the foundations and has grown my confidence. Interacting with other law students, a former established attorney, and getting feedback on assignments helped me feel much more prepared and confident to start this upcoming fall. The networking lesson in our initial week on resume and networking through LinkedIn was another lesson that I truly took a lot from: from being nervous about cold emailing attorneys to now having talked with an actual attorney before my first year really grew my confidence. I enjoyed the lessons on all the different grammar rules I have not covered since middle school, and it’s helped my writing. Working 30-35 hrs/week and doing this course I found it to be a manageable courseload. Thank you for this course!” —Brandon Kreyling
🔹 “I can already see the skills I’ve learned in Amanda’s class being put to use during my 1L orientation and I feel much more prepared than I was prior to participating in this course. Amanda was and continues to be so supportive when it comes to wanting to help her students succeed and her feedback on my assignments has been invaluable. I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to take this course and would definitely recommend it to any 1L looking to improve their legal writing skills!” —Kendall Wasynuk
🔹 “I recommend this course 100%. I feel a lot more confident heading into 1L, having already read cases and worked on our legal writing and networking skills. Amanda brings a wealth of experience to the table, and her ability to explain that wealth in a way still helpful to 0L's with little knowledge on the subject, was highly valuable. Everything was so helpful! Thank you!!!!” —Aidan Conner
🔹 “This was immensely helpful practice, both to learn more information about networking, resumes, and summarizing cases, but also to remind me of some important writing concepts. And thank you for telling me the specific rules about verb choice for the courts. More broadly, thank you for your capitalization slides, they are helpful to know specifics so as to appear more professional and correct in writing. I recommend this course!” —L.C.
🔹 “I am extraordinarily grateful for this course. The time and energy that Amanda put into editing my writing and meeting with me personally was very valuable. I am currently doing legal research for my legal research and writing class, and I know I would feel quite a bit more overwhelmed if I had not taken this summer course. I recommend it—it improved my confidence before law school by a lot!” —Anonymous
🔹 “I was one of the lucky ones who got the chance to work with Amanda Haverstick. After following her for a year on LinkedIn, I reached out in 2024 asking about a legal writing course. I later became one of the first buyers of her book, “Dear 1L” (truly gold!), but I didn’t stop there. I had 1:1 sessions that helped when I didn’t know how to apply for my J.D., and I also became one of the first to enroll in her pre-L summer prep course (100% worth it, especially because [we’re] not allowed to get [legal-writing] help once the semester starts).” —Daya Parra
🔹 “I feel like I won the lottery! This course gave me the opportunity to practice short writing assignments similar to what will be expected in law school and to receive feedback on those assignments. It has given me realistic confidence that I can handle law school, with actionable feedback so I know where I can improve before classes even begin. I am so grateful I had this opportunity!” —Abby W.
🔹 “I feel so much more confident going into fall semester after taking this course. Amanda pours her heart into things. She is an awesome teacher who made legal writing fun and enjoyable.” —Anonymous
🔹 “I am a first-generation law student, and I didn’t really have any connections to receive advice or suggestions from, but now that I took Amanda’s pre-L course, I actually feel prepared for law school. The writing assignments and feedback I received also gave me confidence in my writing for law school. I really think this will make a big difference for me, and I highly recommend it!” —Virginia Z.
🔹 “In this course, you get Amanda’s dedicated time, resources, knowledge, training, experience, and talent. She provided a thorough, individual analysis of my work and took the time to provide helpful, individualized tips. I know I am a better writer because of Amanda’s feedback, and I recommend that other students take advantage of the opportunity to learn from her!” —Anonymous
Law school application materials
Each fall, I help a handful of students applying to law school. My specialty is writing, so my focus stays on student resumes, personal statements, and supplemental essays. I do not consult on law-school admissions generally. Contact me for availability.