What I am about to share with you is the one piece of advice that I wish somebody—anybody—would have told me as a fresh, green 1L: the key to legal argument lies in asking “why” twice. Allow me to explain. But before I do, come with me on a journey of realization. Keep in mind, although I direct this blog post to 1Ls, many attorneys have not yet grasped the ask-why-twice concept. (To provide a bit of background, the legal positions that I have held in the short two and one-half years that I’ve been in law school have provided me with opportunities to read, analyze, write, distinguish, edit, and otherwise flesh out scores, if not hundreds, of briefs, memoranda, motions, and orders. Specifically, when I worked in the chambers of two federal judges, I read many poorly reasoned briefs and noted how this affected the judges’ decisions and opinions of the attorneys. I only provide this information so that you understand that I have seen time and time again the consequences of poor legal an...
Beyond the "whats" of law school and law practice more generally, here, the "hows" are explained, whether you need them during law school or many years thereafter.