By Edward Twohig (Suffolk Law Student)

Most law students, whether transitioning straight from undergraduate studies or a professional role, arrive on their first day of Legal Practice Skills (LPS) with assumptions about their writing skills, and what constitutes “good” legal writing. Because of this, often times law students are disappointed when they receive a lower than anticipated grade on their first objective memorandum (OM1) assignment. To make matters worse, this is often the first graded assignment 1L students receive and can lead a student to mistakenly think that their OM1 grade is a representation for their overall law school performance early in the semester. To help you “get over the hump” of early challenges in LPS, and develop as a legal writer, I recommend these five strategies:

1. Actively Listen and Participate During Class
The organization of the LPS course provides building blocks for students to create their first memos. Each block builds upon the prior, so understanding each lesson is essential to writing a successful memo. Some former liberal arts students may dismiss LPS class exercises as a review of lessons learned in an English class. Unfortunately, writing a twenty-page essay on Fitzgerald’s Role as the Standard Bearer of the Lost Generation is an entirely different style of writing compared to a five-page, 1.5-inch margin, objective memorandum on applying Georgia’s Shopkeeper’s Privilege statute. The latter requires greater precision and structure, focusing on a subject few students have written about previously. Paying close attention and earnestly participating in class will help you master the skills your professor is looking for when grading your next memorandum.

2. Meet With Your Teaching Assistant
This advice applies to classes across the law school curriculum but is especially true in LPS. Your LPS TA is most likely a student who recently excelled on similar assignments for the same professor. Because of this unique position, they are a wealth of information that should be your starting point for a wide range of questions which will help you clarify and resolve gaps in your legal research and writing skills, and help you tailor your writing to the particular nuances of your professor.

3. Review Your OM1 Feedback and Meet with Your Professor
As philosopher George Santayana famously said, “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Most LPS professors provide “common issues” rubrics. When your LPS professor flags anything, especially one of these common issues, on your memo you know two things for certain: (1) what you wrote deviated from the work product they are guiding you towards; (2) the issue is likely a habit in your writing that needs to be corrected. For example, you may need to write more concisely or improve your transitions between paragraphs. Regardless of the issue, thoroughly review your feedback and meet with your professor to help you better understand the reason why something was flagged and then apply the lesson to future assignments. This sounds simple, but like any undesired habit, adjusting your writing style requires time and practice.

4. Practice Legal Citations
In law school, the sooner The Bluebook becomes your best friend the better. I’m not saying you have to go dressed as it for Halloween—which law students have done—but become familiar with its layout and general principles. I highly recommend tabbing the first page of key rules and tables to save time and reduce paper cuts for future assignments. Errors in legal citations are easy to make, but most are also easy to fix through practice applying the rules and attention to detail when proofreading.

5. Don’t Let Your LPS Grade Dictate Your Focus On LPS
There are varying ways to respond to the potential challenge of OM1 disappointment. Some students may choose to brush off legal writing, downplaying the importance of LPS or deprioritize the class for their courses with more credits. This approach is flawed, learning how to concisely summarize and convey your opinions on any legal matter will be critical in your other classes and in the long term when you are an attorney. Your demonstrated success in LPS is evidence of talents sought after by law firms and judges far more than your performance in any individual class.

Last, it is important for 1L students to remember that LPS is snapshot of your writing skills within the context of a highly competitive class filled with many other talented writers. OM1 is not the ballgame for your development as a legal writer, but merely your first at-bat. It will be followed by months and years of practice, and there is far less of a correlation than you assume in the moment between students receiving top grades for OM1 and awards for their persuasive briefs during the spring semester. The shift in results is often determined by your practice and attention to the research and writing skills the course is seeking to impart as well as your ability to incorporate feedback. I encourage all 1Ls to use these strategies to help them continue to improve and overcome any early challenges in LPS.