David Ziff
@djsziff.bsky.social
Teaching Professor, University of Washington School of Law #LegalWriting
My stuff: https://linktr.ee/djsziff
My stuff: https://linktr.ee/djsziff
Okay but if you amortize the cost of all that newly purchased beard-care product over the next few seasons, then things start to look better.
November 24, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Okay but if you amortize the cost of all that newly purchased beard-care product over the next few seasons, then things start to look better.
Amazing how much more sophisticated the rankings are this year with the progress of computing power and the new AI optimized chips.
November 24, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Amazing how much more sophisticated the rankings are this year with the progress of computing power and the new AI optimized chips.
Do you think he realizes his profile pic was a satirical character?
November 24, 2025 at 4:11 AM
Do you think he realizes his profile pic was a satirical character?
Should I assume you're actually an AI content farm based in Albania?
November 23, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Should I assume you're actually an AI content farm based in Albania?
Reposted by David Ziff
4) back to the mystical ceremony point, an experienced oral advocate with, say, 10 total arguments, can easily do a SCOTUS argument of any kind totally competently. They’re just judges.
November 22, 2025 at 7:19 PM
4) back to the mystical ceremony point, an experienced oral advocate with, say, 10 total arguments, can easily do a SCOTUS argument of any kind totally competently. They’re just judges.
200-ish footnotes would be considered pretty thin, tbh.
November 22, 2025 at 7:14 PM
200-ish footnotes would be considered pretty thin, tbh.
Anyway, you get the point. A good in-class exam answer can (and should) work through the student's thought process and can assume that the reader knows all the cases/references. Not so for a memo! There's a huge difference between writing to explain and writing to demonstrate knowledge.
/fin
/fin
November 22, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Anyway, you get the point. A good in-class exam answer can (and should) work through the student's thought process and can assume that the reader knows all the cases/references. Not so for a memo! There's a huge difference between writing to explain and writing to demonstrate knowledge.
/fin
/fin
4. Also, this back and forth, on the one hand, on the other hand... I'm getting motion sickness. For a memo, the writer should work out tension between the holdings first, before starting to apply law to fact. The reader wants an answer, not a retelling of your internal thought process.
10/
10/
November 22, 2025 at 6:36 PM
4. Also, this back and forth, on the one hand, on the other hand... I'm getting motion sickness. For a memo, the writer should work out tension between the holdings first, before starting to apply law to fact. The reader wants an answer, not a retelling of your internal thought process.
10/
10/
For a legal memo, your analysis needs to actually set out the holding of a case before you use it, because your reader *does not have the cases memorized*! The reference to "roller skates" doesn't mean anything to the real-world reader.
This is why IRAC works. Explain the rule *first*.
9/
This is why IRAC works. Explain the rule *first*.
9/
November 22, 2025 at 6:36 PM
For a legal memo, your analysis needs to actually set out the holding of a case before you use it, because your reader *does not have the cases memorized*! The reference to "roller skates" doesn't mean anything to the real-world reader.
This is why IRAC works. Explain the rule *first*.
9/
This is why IRAC works. Explain the rule *first*.
9/
And you're saying these cases "provide guidance"? Thanks. Any case can provide guidance. What is the guidance!? Just give me the relevant holdings and rules from those cases without all the meta-discourse.
3. "Unlike Jones's roller skates" doesn't work. You can't assume the reader knows Jones.
8/
3. "Unlike Jones's roller skates" doesn't work. You can't assume the reader knows Jones.
8/
November 22, 2025 at 6:36 PM
And you're saying these cases "provide guidance"? Thanks. Any case can provide guidance. What is the guidance!? Just give me the relevant holdings and rules from those cases without all the meta-discourse.
3. "Unlike Jones's roller skates" doesn't work. You can't assume the reader knows Jones.
8/
3. "Unlike Jones's roller skates" doesn't work. You can't assume the reader knows Jones.
8/
Now, on a timed exam, it makes sense to state the issue first, as you work through the analysis. But for a memo, you shouldn't start writing until you know the answer. So cut the suspense.
2. What are these references to Jones and Thompson? Are these cases the reader is supposed to know? Ugh.
7/
2. What are these references to Jones and Thompson? Are these cases the reader is supposed to know? Ugh.
7/
November 22, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Now, on a timed exam, it makes sense to state the issue first, as you work through the analysis. But for a memo, you shouldn't start writing until you know the answer. So cut the suspense.
2. What are these references to Jones and Thompson? Are these cases the reader is supposed to know? Ugh.
7/
2. What are these references to Jones and Thompson? Are these cases the reader is supposed to know? Ugh.
7/
So, that said, let's look at the A+ answer, not as a professor grading an in-class timed exam, but as a legal writing assignment.
1. Ugh, that first sentence. The liability "hinges" on something? Don't tell me what liability hinges on. Just give me the answer! This isn't a mystery novel!
6/
1. Ugh, that first sentence. The liability "hinges" on something? Don't tell me what liability hinges on. Just give me the answer! This isn't a mystery novel!
6/
November 22, 2025 at 6:36 PM
So, that said, let's look at the A+ answer, not as a professor grading an in-class timed exam, but as a legal writing assignment.
1. Ugh, that first sentence. The liability "hinges" on something? Don't tell me what liability hinges on. Just give me the answer! This isn't a mystery novel!
6/
1. Ugh, that first sentence. The liability "hinges" on something? Don't tell me what liability hinges on. Just give me the answer! This isn't a mystery novel!
6/
Moreover, your audience is *not* presumed to be omniscient, someone who already knows the case law and is just checking your work. Rather, the point of the work product is that the *writer* has done the work to research and understand the doctrine, which the hypothetical reader *has not done*. 5/
November 22, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Moreover, your audience is *not* presumed to be omniscient, someone who already knows the case law and is just checking your work. Rather, the point of the work product is that the *writer* has done the work to research and understand the doctrine, which the hypothetical reader *has not done*. 5/
For a memo in a legal writing class (or the real world), you don't have a closed book or an artificial time constraint. You're doing research. The *starting assumption* is that you've developed a detailed, robust, and sophisticated understanding of the law and how it applies to the facts. 4/
November 22, 2025 at 6:36 PM
For a memo in a legal writing class (or the real world), you don't have a closed book or an artificial time constraint. You're doing research. The *starting assumption* is that you've developed a detailed, robust, and sophisticated understanding of the law and how it applies to the facts. 4/
In other words, the audience for the exam is the all-knowing professor! And the writer's goal is to say "Hey, smart person! I'm smart too! Look at the smart and detailed things I can do with this doctrine! I am sophisticated like you!" If the answer demonstrates smarts and sophistication, A+. 3/
November 22, 2025 at 6:36 PM
In other words, the audience for the exam is the all-knowing professor! And the writer's goal is to say "Hey, smart person! I'm smart too! Look at the smart and detailed things I can do with this doctrine! I am sophisticated like you!" If the answer demonstrates smarts and sophistication, A+. 3/
The point of an in-class doctrinal exam is for the student to demonstrate for the professor (the reader and grader) that she has thought precisely and analytically about the legal issue, using the relevant legal materials. In that scenario, the reader already knows the legal materials! 2/
November 22, 2025 at 6:36 PM
The point of an in-class doctrinal exam is for the student to demonstrate for the professor (the reader and grader) that she has thought precisely and analytically about the legal issue, using the relevant legal materials. In that scenario, the reader already knows the legal materials! 2/
I read someone note that people are ASSUMING he's using the term in its journalistic context. But RFK Jr. did like to eat roadkill so you can't be sure.
November 22, 2025 at 4:41 PM
I read someone note that people are ASSUMING he's using the term in its journalistic context. But RFK Jr. did like to eat roadkill so you can't be sure.
There's a website where people share information about her, so you can keep up. It's called the Marjorie Taylor Greene Online Exchange, or Mt Gox for short.
November 22, 2025 at 5:14 AM
There's a website where people share information about her, so you can keep up. It's called the Marjorie Taylor Greene Online Exchange, or Mt Gox for short.
And it's not like Congress has the power to modify the constitution!
November 22, 2025 at 1:09 AM
And it's not like Congress has the power to modify the constitution!
Hmm. I'm not a pedant on this point. But does the statue do anything? Other statutes undoubtedly use the constitutional phrasing. I mean, if I call myself David and my birth cert says David, it's not correct to call me Dan bc my Grandma once addressed a card to me using that name.
November 22, 2025 at 1:05 AM
Hmm. I'm not a pedant on this point. But does the statue do anything? Other statutes undoubtedly use the constitutional phrasing. I mean, if I call myself David and my birth cert says David, it's not correct to call me Dan bc my Grandma once addressed a card to me using that name.