Jagged Rocks of Wisdom - The Memo: Mastering the Legal

Product Review

This is the second in a series of four Jagged Rocks of Wisdom guidebooks for new attorneys. The first book, Jagged Rocks of Wisdom: Professional Advice for the New Attorney, focused on issues of professional deportment and training.

This book focuses on one of the most complex aspects of professional work for a new attorney: researching, drafting, and refining the crucially important legal memorandum. It is difficult to convey to a non-lawyer just how stressful the world of the new law associate is—the nearest comparison is to that of the medical resident—and much of the reason for that stress is the legal memorandum, upon which a client’s fate can rest (along with the associate’s).

This book breaks the process of the legal memorandum into “21 Rules.” By design these rules are conflicting and even internally inconsistent—just as with the practice of law itself ( . . . and one of Lund’s first points about legal memoranda). In this, the only book available to the new attorney on the proper approach to legal memoranda, the mysteries are revealed. The process and survival will be no less arduous, but with this book the journey will not be nearly as treacherous.

Jagged Rocks of Wisdom--The Memo is written by a current law partner, in a style that is direct and informative. While many guidebooks are filled with platitudes and generalities, there is a serious need for genuine professional guidance. That’s where these focused guides step in.

With more than a decade of experience in law practice at a national law firm, as well as many years coaching new attorneys, the advice on drafting the legal memorandum perfectly complements the advice in the first Jagged Rocks of Wisdom book. A no-nonsense approach is absorbed eagerly by summer and junior law associates desperate for an insider’s look at the scary new world they enter.

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review

(9 customer reviews)

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

Please use in legal writing classes, May 11, 2010

M. Paa "La Jolla Associate" (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jagged Rocks of Wisdom - The Memo: Mastering the Legal Memorandum (Paperback)

This book should be read by all first year law students. While it is crucial to understand the structure of a memorandum, Lund's book provides the "between the lines" instruction for writing a proper memorandum. Once any law student understands how to research, I highly recommend reading Mr. Lund's book to learn what exactly the attorneys senior to you want from your memo. Not only does this book instruct the uninitiated how to write a proper memorandum, it also gives the reader insight into the workings of what is actually required of you as a junior associate. Instead of learning these lessons through trial and error, do yourself and your career a favor and read this book first. Its a quick read but contains crucial information for your career and personal development as a young attorney.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

Learn it from this book..., March 3, 2010

Derrick Hibbard "Author of The Double Strolle... (Key Biscayne, Fl) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jagged Rocks of Wisdom - The Memo: Mastering the Legal Memorandum (Paperback)

...Rather than from mistakes in real life.

I'm right in the middle of law school, and I had the opportunity to read this book before starting my second clerkship--where I am required to write several memos a week. This book is fantastic: short, concise and full of helpful advice.

For me, one of the hardest parts of law school was legal writing--and the legal memo is part of the foundation to legal writing.

Law school writing classes try to teach the skills conveyed in this book, but as with everything in law school, it is hard to derive all the nuances of real-life practice. This book does a great job at pointing out the aspects of the legal memorandum that are especially hard to learn from a class. A lot of the skills in this book are unique to practice: which means that you'll either learn it from this book, or by making a mistake and being corrected. Trust me on this one, it is much more enjoyable to learn from this book than making mistakes in...Read more

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

An extraordinary second book, June 1, 2011

Charles Cooper - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jagged Rocks of Wisdom - The Memo: Mastering the Legal Memorandum (Paperback)

Lund has done it again: another concise, readable, and most importantly, extraordinarily insightful book for the new attorney. "Jagged Rocks of Wisdom - The Memo" takes a down-to-earth look not just at how and why partners expect their associates to produce high quality legal memoranda, but provides an unusually-frank glimpse into the formal and informal interaction between partner and associate. This book won't just improve your written work product; it'll improve your working relationship with your boss.

The book makes it clear that there's a rather large chasm between what law students are taught in law school and the realities of the practice of law. "It depends" is almost never a good answer to give your supervising partner, and lazy, carefree research and analysis doesn't fly in the real world. This book explains the role of an effective attorney as someone who can give timely, practical advice to clients, and draw sound, useful conclusions from very specific sets...Read more