Georgetown University Law Center

Associate Professor of Law, Legal Practice

Visiting Associate Professor of Law, Legal Practice

How I Lawyer

I host a podcast where I interview lawyers from across the profession about what lawyers do, why they do it, and how they do it well. Ranked in the Top 50 Career Podcasts on iTunes. Subscribe above or wherever you get your podcasts. More than 200,000 downloads to date!

Host

Williams & Connolly LLP

Associate

Adjunct Professor

US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

Law Clerk

United States District Court for the District of Columbia

Associate* (Admitted only in New York)

U.S. Department of Justice

Intern, Civil Appellate Division

Summer Associate

U.S. District Court for District of Columbia

Intern for Hon. Senior Judge Gladys Kessler

Jonah Perlin is an Associate Professor of Law, Legal Practice at the Georgetown University Law Center. Jonah teaches and writes about legal communication, legal ethics, and technology of law. His prior work has appeared in the Yale Journal of Law & Technology, Legal Communication & Rhetoric, and the Georgetown Law Journal. Jonah is also the host of How I Lawyer, a Top-30 Careers Podcast for junior lawyers. Previously, Jonah was a litigator at Williams & Connolly LLP and a law clerk on the District Court for the District of Columbia and the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

"Make sure to teach them not to use passive voice."

That was the advice that one lawyer offered me when I announced I was leaving Big Law to head to my alma mater to teach #legalwriting as a visiting professor. I don't think the comment was meant to be malicious or critical. But I do think it showed a fundamental misunderstanding of what we do and how we do it. 

Today, I am proud to start my seventh year of full-time teaching legal writing/legal practice at Georgetown Law. In this role, I get the chance to teach the next generation of lawyers how to communicate effectively for legal and non-legal audiences. In doing so, I stand on the shoulders of giants in our field who built a richly theorized discipline at the intersection of rhetoric and law school pedagogy. We may discuss grammar in passing in our courses (and I'll add passive voice can be an effective rhetorical tool when used intentionally) but this is really a class about so much more. I am reminded about that this week as I read some of the canonical works of our field with my incoming 2L Law Fellows (TAs) who will support our in-depth and individualized legal practice program. 

Teaching legal practice skills at scale is always a challenge. But after a few months off from teaching, I am energized by the chance to work with this next generation of legal leaders (and legal writers). Here's to a great school year--and many more in the future.

Jonah Perlin

Are you about to start law school? Here's one thing not enough people recommend:

Focus on a process that serves your ultimate goal.

In my experience, one of the biggest challenges for new law students is that they tend to focus on the wrong goal. Instead of preparing to succeed on an exam they focus on how to look smart to their classmates if they get the dreaded cold call.

Don't do that. Cold calls are a teaching tool often used with the socratic method that supposedly train you to "think" like a lawyer in your feet by requiring you to actively induce rules of law from specific facts in cases LIVE in class. Don’t fear them. COLD CALLS ARE NOT GRADED OR LIKE PRACTICE. I am not saying say you shouldn't prepare for class--you should--but you should not do so out of fear that you might get it wrong. You may get something wrong during a cold call. That is OK.

Here is what I think you should instead:

1️⃣ Read and "Brief Brief" 
2️⃣ Take Detailed Class Notes 
3️⃣ Create a "Textbook" 
4️⃣ Turn "Textbook" into an Outline 
5️⃣ Turn Outline into a "Toolbox" 
6️⃣ Take As Many Practice Exams as You Can

1️⃣ READ AND BRIEF BRIEF. The first step in legal learning is reading. There is a mythology to case briefing but don't stress. Briefing=notetaking. Briefing is whatever keeps you focused and active. But no one gets top grades for "prettiest brief." Best brief = briefest brief.
2️⃣ TAKE DETAILED CLASS NOTES. Briefing helps prime you for class. If you don't read, you won't be able to follow. BUT class is where you are exposed to "the answer" for the first time--even if its hidden. Focus. Turn off wifi. Take detailed notes so you have them later.
3️⃣ CREATE A TEXTBOOK. This is where my approach becomes less conventional. Read 1 hour less and spend that hour reviewing notes after class. Edit them for clarity. Diagram. Make them into a polished "Textbook" for the class according to your prof to study from. Then each week spend some time practicing applying your material to new facts. Old exams. E&Es.
4️⃣ TURN THE TEXTBOOK INTO AN OUTLINE. Now you have a textbook for the class. The next step is to distill the generally applicable RULES from that textbook into an outline. The outline is a TOOL (again no grades for BEST) to apply established law to new facts.
5️⃣ TURN OUTLINE INTO A TOOLBOX. You have now gone through the material at least 4 times. A few days pre-exam, take the outline and make a table of contents/toolbox. One-to-two page max about what is covered in the outline. This helps crystallize rules and spot all the issues!
6️⃣ PRACTICE EXAMS. The last step (and I'd do it even earlier) is to go through old exams (ideally from your prof) to (1) spot the issues and (2) test yourself on the law. Its like a scrimmage in sports. You can't just do drills. You need to *use* the knowledge to test it.
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What's your biggest concern about starting law school? Share in the comments, and let's discuss strategies to address it.

Want to be a connector and help friends/family/colleagues?  

Just remember you don't need to know who to call. You need to know who would know who to call and then share those connections generously.

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