Why are students reluctant to attend faculty office hours? For years, this issue has confounded me. Students’ meeting with faculty outside of class has been shown to increase their comprehension and retention of material, satisfaction, engagement, and sense of belonging.[1] That is why I tell my students that I am almost always in my office, my door is always open, and they may drop by with any questions they have—no appointment needed.

In Summer 2023, I was scheduled to teach Legal Analysis, Research, and Writing I (LARW I) asynchronously online for the summer start students. One week before summer semester started, I was told I would have a visually impaired student in my class.

The legal writing class is the heart and soul of the first-year experience.  This is largely so because much of the vital work legal writing professors do is outside of the actual curriculum. In addition to teaching substantive legal writing skills, legal writing faculty also teach process-based skills—how to manage time, how to study effectively, how to maintain mental well-being, and how to begin to develop a professional identity.

Integrating an Oral Presentation Assignment into a Course on Drafting Contracts

Patricia Montana

Professor of Legal Writing

Director of Street Law: Legal Education in the Community Program

Lessons from a Retiring Legal Writing Professor    

Mary Ann Robinson

Professor Emeritus

Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law

Published: November 2023

Pondering Parentheticals:  Problems and Possibilities[1]    

Peggy Kline Kirkpatrick

Legal Writing Instructor  

Mitchell Hamline School of Law

Wendy Shea

ARTICLE

Before the Final Draft: Oral Argument as a Student-Centered Feedback Tool    

Stephanie Juliano

Assistant Professor of Practice

Touro University Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center

Published: November 2023

Developing writing assignments can be one of the most challenging aspects of teaching first-year legal writing. Collaborating with other professors, using research assistants, and reworking old problems[1] can all make it easier.

1. Introduction

Recent revisions to ABA accreditation standards provide yet another exciting opportunity for faculty teaching lawyering skills[1] to position our courses as central to preparing students for excellence in professional practice, particularly in terms of offering opportunities for professional identity formation in the first-year curriculum.

One of the best ways to prepare students to practice in a modern and diverse world is to expose them to as many different types and styles of writing as possible. But, how do you do this in an upper-level writing class when limited both by time and by topic? Enter: The Best Upper-Level Legal Writing Assignment. Period. This an assignment that you can give in any upper-level legal class—no matter the topic—that will expose students to many styles and types of writing in a short period of time.