8:15 - 8:45
8:45 - 9:00
9:00 - 9:30
Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) refers to a calming sensation some people experience in relation to certain audio and visual stimuli. In this presentation, my goal is to explain what ASMR is, how I experience it, and how it impacts my work as a Legal Writing Instructor. I will also try to dispel some myths about ASMR (it’s not all about whispering!). I hope my shared experience will provide insights that might be helpful to other LRW colleagues.
Quizzes are a powerful tool for educators and students. Quizzes offer immediate feedback and engagement, while also motivating students to arrive prepared. This presentation focuses on innovative quiz-based teaching methods to transform the legal writing classroom into an interactive learning environment. We will showcase techniques, such as live-action quizzes, scratch-off quizzes, and other gamified assessments. These methods invigorate the classroom, enhance student outcomes, and encourage enthusiastic participation. Attendees will gain practical insight into creating and implementing their own interactive quizzes.
9:30 - 10:00
Presenters: Amy Levin (Loyola Law School) and Hilary Reed (University of Houston Law Center)
Law students are experiencing serious mental health challenges. What was a crisis pre-pandemic has worsened post-pandemic. As professors teaching smaller legal writing classes, we see how anxious, depressed, and isolated many students feel. In this presentation, we will discuss strategies we have implemented, based upon self-determination theory concepts of authenticity and relatedness, to raise awareness of mental health and build connections among students and faculty. We look forward to a collaborative conversation about ways we can support our students.
Room: Costantino A
Professional Identity Formation: Helping Students Protect What Matters
Presenter: Melissa Weresh (Drake University Law School)
Standard 303 requires law schools to provide instruction on professional identity formation and cross-cultural competency. In this presentation, I will explain an exercise that I adapted from medical school, professional identity education. This exercise encourages students to consider what aspects of their identity they will protect in law practice. Audience participants will then be asked to consider the following questions: “What did you protect, or what should you have protected, about your pre-law identity as you transitioned to a legal career? What personal identity characteristics do you imagine your students will feel compelled to cover?”
Room: Costantino B
Presenter: Claudine Caracciolo (New York Law School)
Practice makes perfect? Well maybe not perfect, but it is well known that the only way to learn a new skill or improve upon a skill is by...practice. When junior lawyers are asked what they wished they learned more of in law school, the answer often is, more practical skills. How can we create simulations that mirror real world experiences? Use real actors! Learn how to create more opportunities for students to practice these skills in a Legal Practice course by incorporating interviewing, counseling and negotiation exercises with real actors playing the part of the client.
Room: Costantino C
10:00 - 10:30
Presenters: Heather Ridenour and David Spratt (American University Washington College of Law)
This talk will consist of both presentation and group discussion and focus on successful teaching strategies and methods inside and outside the legal writing classroom to reach students of varied educational backgrounds, experiences, and learning styles. By engaging in group discussion at the end of the presentation, we will further develop creative ways of reaching all students in a legal writing classroom.
Room: Costantino A
Generations in the Legal Writing Classroom
Presenter: Lucy Jewel (University of Tennessee College of Law)
In this presentation, I will discuss how veteran legal writing teachers have successfully shifted to meet student needs on some things but have kept other teaching strategies the same. I will begin by giving several interactive examples of how to engage Gen Z students with legal writing concepts. I will discuss issues related to student preparedness, generating a discussion as to how preparedness has shifted due to generational dynamics, pandemic learning, and other issues. Finally, I will discuss managing student expectations while still maintaining the highest standards for excellence.
Room: Costantino B
The Gordian Knot of Hybrid Assessments
Presenter: Irene Ten Cate (Brooklyn Law School)
Education theory distinguishes between formative assessments, which provide an opportunity to learn, and summative assessments, which measure a student’s knowledge or skill at the end of a course/module. Legal writing assessments are often hybrid, in that they are graded but primarily intended to help students improve foundational skills. This presentation explores the tensions inherent in hybrid assessments due to the different objectives that underlie formative and summative assessments. It then provides suggestions for how to address these tensions.
Room: Costantino C
10:30 - 11:00
Finding Harmony in the False Dichotomy Between Persuasive, Predictive, and Objective Legal Analysis
Presenters: Cindy Archer and Alison Mikkor (University of California, Irvine School of Law)
We propose that contrary to the typical practice of teaching them in silos, blending instruction on persuasive, predictive, and objective legal writing deepens students’ understanding of the legal analysis fundamentals that transcend all three forms. The three modes of analysis share a central nervous system, in that the effectiveness of the substantive analysis in each form depends on the same core techniques. We suggest that these shared traits permit teaching the three forms together. The presentation will share teaching strategies that we have employed in our courses.
Room: Costantino A
Presenter: Ian Gallacher (Syracuse University College of Law)
This presentation describes two projects designed, in part, to reach incoming and former law students in order to help them improve their skills but also to improve their relationship with the law school.
Room: Costantino B
This semester we incorporated a realistic e-mail memo assignment as an optional final project for first-year legal writing students. We will share the assignment with attendees and discuss how we went about designing, administering, and grading it. We will conclude with some lessons learned about our students’ performance and our own teaching decisions.
Room: Costantino C
11:00 - 12:00
Exploring the Implications of the NextGen Bar: Generative AI, Database-Free Testing, and Beyond
Presenters: Ashley Arrington (Texas Tech University School of Law), Marcia Goldsmith (St. Louis University School of Law) and Karen Sanner (St. Louis University School of Law)
The NextGen Bar Exam’s impact on legal research and writing education will be significant. This presentation will open with a discussion on integrating AI training into LRW while simultaneously preparing students for NextGen Bar Exam changes. Presenters will address the current exam structure, AI advancements, and the absence of a research database in NCBE’s strategy. We’ll explore strategies for LRW instructors to equip students for the NextGen Bar Exam and real-world legal practice.
Room: Costantino B
11:00 - 11:30
Presenter: Misti Duvall (Columbia Law School)
Lessons and challenges in the art of human-to-human legal writing support from the Columbia Law School Writing Center.
Room: Costantino A
Presenters: Anna Hemingway & Amanda Sholtis (Widener University Commonwealth Law School)
Could there be a way to provide meaningful feedback to students that doesn’t involve endless commenting and conferencing? Could that way also provide feedback that is just as useful, if not better, for student learning? Thanks to the guided, in-class critique, we think the answer is an enthusiastic "Yes!" to both questions. This presentation will provide a step-by-step explanation of how we conduct the guided, in-class critique. We will share our students’ responses to our efforts, and the materials that worked for us.
Room: Costantino C
11:30 - 12:00
Presenter: Lauren Sancken (University of Washington School of Law)
This presentation will focus on ways to help first-year students learn the art of precise and concise legal writing using tools from creative writing disciplines. I hope to share some of the exercises I use in class with a wider audience: (1) having students warm-up by writing a six-word life story and then applying that technique to issue statements and brief answers; (2) using haiku to teach subheadings and issues/brief answers; (3) using poetry to teach tools of close-reading and interpretation. The goal of these exercises is to help students identify and eliminate filler language.
Presenters: Paul Koster and Robert Parrish (Emory University School of Law)
This presentation will discuss the pros and cons of assigning grades to students’ introductory writing assignments. In so doing, the presentation will consider the goals of introductory writing assignments and whether assigning grades to students’ work for these assignments is consistent with those goals. The presentation will further explore alternative ways to convey to students “how they are doing” without assigning grades, as well as various grading options if grades are assigned.
Room: Costantino C
12:00 - 1:00
Lunch
12:30 - 1:00
Miche Jean, Bloomberg Law
Room: 201 A
1:00 - 1:30
Let's Work Together: Integration and Collaboration Between Casebook Courses and LRW Courses
Presenter: Stephanie Thompson (University of The Pacific McGeorge School of Law)
Creating connections between classes is critical to a law student’s understanding of the materials they are learning. These connections also are critical to dismantling the silos that exist within many law schools. We need to develop exercises and assessments that apply across multiple courses, embrace consistent messaging, and help students see the connections among everything they are learning. This session will provide five specific ideas on how LRW faculty can collaborate with casebook faculty to develop cross-curriculum assessments and exercises.
Room: Costantino A
Presenter: Katherine Renee Schimkat (University of Miami School of Law)
Legal analysis courses often give primacy to the written word: write first, speak second. In a new public speaking course, I flip that order. My students evaluate the written word only after speaking, arguing, and persuading. Students develop a spoken-word lens: What words would they edit? What portion of the writing did they focus on during presentations? In the end, I propose that honing the skill of speaking the law first can strengthen the skill of writing the law second.
Room: Costantino B
Presenter: Robin Boyle Laisure (St. John's University School of Law)
Are you looking for new classroom strategies to stimulate your students? This presentation will focus on designing classroom exercises that will actively engage your students. Suggestions will be provided for creating effective focused skill sets, which are scaffolded to introduce new skills while reinforcing past lessons. The context is for the first-year legal writing class, but it can be adapted for upper-level classes.
Room: Costantino C
1:30 - 2:30
Room: Costantino B
1:30 - 2:00
Presenters: Jennifer Mitchell and Charlie Amiot (University of Baltimore School of Law)
This presentation explores the unique challenges and potential of neurodiverse (ND) law students, highlighting their often overlooked needs within traditional legal education. It will cover the definition of neurodiversity, ND traits, the early educational experiences of ND students, and the strategies for fostering an inclusive environment in law schools at the intuitional and instructional levels. We will link inclusive teaching techniques to specific ND traits that will better support ND students and enrich the educational landscape for everyone.
Room: Costantino A
Presenters: Erika Pont (The George Washington University Law School) and Bryan Schwartz (University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law)
Two years ago, a civil litigator and a criminal litigator set out to design an exercise to put students “in role” negotiating with opposing counsel. We were most interested in exposing students to “how it felt” to advocate for a client’s interests and having student’s reflect on their role as the client’s agent. Ultimately, we designed a plea negotiation exercise that resulted in an “Ah-HA” moment about client centered lawyering. Our presentation will provide an overview of the exercise and lessons learned from it.
Room: Costantino C
2:00 - 2:30
Presenters: Alberto Rodriguez and Alissa Bauer (Brooklyn Law School)
This program will address teaching quotations to achieve substantive and skills-oriented curricular goals. First, the program will discuss how to use quotes as “lesson starters,” or prompts that will draw students into deep conversations on critical topics ranging from professional identity to cultural competence. Second, the program will tackle the importance of teaching students when and how to use quotations in their legal writing, a skill that many students struggle with.
Room: Costantino A
Presenters: Emily Dinsmore , Kate Rowan & Carina Schoenberger (University at Buffalo School of Law)
Interviewing, counseling, and negotiating skills are essential for any lawyer. While advanced classes teach, reinforce, and practice these skills, introducing them in the first year helps students develop the “foundational lawyering skills” tested on the Next Gen bar and their sense of professional identity. Plus, it’s fun. Our presentation will show how to integrate these skills into the problem-based structure of the 1L writing course, focusing on litigation, transactional, and real-life applications.
Room: Costantino C
2:30 - 3:00
Presenters: Carina Schoenberger and Robert Stark (University at Buffalo School of Law)
While it’s easy to take for granted that students (and professors) know what to do with office hours, these valuable sessions may be an under-utilized resource on both sides. This presentation explores ideas for eliminating potential barriers to student attendance at office hours and intentionally designing office hours to create learning opportunities and help prepare students for professional interactions.
Room: Costantino A
Presenters: Ilene Strauss (Fordham University School of Law), Jhody Polk (NYU Law School) & Devon Simmons (Columbia Law School)
The Paralegal Pathways Initiative and the Jailhouse Lawyers Initiative bring skills-based legal training to people who have been directly impacted by the criminal justice system. By teaching people how to communicate effectively within the law, these programs empower people to advocate for themselves, for others, and for broader change. This program will discuss the development and goals of these two initiatives, as well as their impact on the legal community and law school pedagogy.
Room: Costantino B
Cross-Cultural Teaching: Adventures of a Legal Writing Professor in China
Presenter: Susan Greene (Hofstra University Maurice A. Deane School of Law)
As the practice of law becomes increasingly global, this presentation will reflect on years teaching American Professional Responsibility Law to students in China, both online and in person. I will talk about the transition from teaching Legal Writing to American law students to teaching Professional Responsibility to foreign students and how each experience informed and influenced the other.
Room: Costantino C
3:00 - 3:30
Students can learn to draft persuasive facts by analyzing the statement of the case in the petitioner’s Supreme Court brief in Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation v. E.P.A. Chief Justice John Roberts, then in private practice, is the brief’s primary author. The brief turns a seemingly dull issue into a compelling, persuasive story. The presentation will share suggested questions to ask students, sample answers, and an annotated version of the brief's statement of the case.
Room: Costantino A
Rule Breakers: The U.S. Supreme Court Justices Routinely Break Traditional Grammar Rules. Shouldn't You Do the Same?
Presenter: Jill Barton (University of Miami School Of Law)
U.S. Supreme Court justices regularly break grammar rules. These are the same rules that many of us teach our students to strictly follow. This presentation will describe the Court’s evolving, modern approach to grammar and writing style, based on a five-year study of 10,000 pages of Court opinions that focused on analyzing 30 points of grammar and style. The presentation will detail the grammar rules most justices ignore—and how and when they do it. In doing so, it will provide tips on how to adapt your writing and your teaching to follow modern, more conversational trends.
Room: Costantino B
Presenters: Rachael Liebert (NYU Law School), Amanda Sen Villalobos & Sophia Bernhardt (Columbia Law School)
Giving and receiving peer critique helps students to improve their legal writing, critical thinking, and communication skills. Incorporating peer critique into the LRW classroom also helps to set the class tone, encourages students to consider and respective diverse perspectives, and sets students up for success upon graduation. In this presentation, we will explore these benefits, provide practical recommendations for how to incorporate peer critique in the LRW classroom, and discuss best practices.
Room: Costantino C
3:30 - 4:00
The Pursuit of Plain Language
Presenter: Rachel Stabler (Arizona State University Sandra Day O'Conner College of Law)
It has been over a decade since the Plain Writing Act of 2010 took effect, but many federal agencies are still struggling to comply with the mandate to use plain language. The most recent Plain Language Report Card gave an average grade of C for writing quality, down from a B- the previous year. This presentation will analyze why the Plain Writing Act is struggling to meet its goals. It will also highlight a new act currently pending in Congress that would replace the Plain Writing Act.
Room: Costantino A
Presenter: Christina Lockwood (University of Detroit Mercy Law School)
Evolving outlines generate class participation and community. Using this simple, yet effective tool, students create an outline together in class that evolves over several class periods. The result is a cryptic outline. It is cryptic because, as the scribe, I only use abbreviations and brief phrases to convey the students’ ideas. Consequently, only students who were in class and paying attention can completely decipher the outline. I then use the outline to create the rubric for grading the papers. Using this tool has resulted in students asking organization and substantive questions early in the writing process, and students sharing with each other and working through the analysis together.
Room: Costantino B
Presenter: Ann Nowak (Touro University - Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center) and Carina Fung (University of Memphis - Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law)
In this presentation, we will discuss what we learned about teaching legal writing from shamelessly binge-watching rom-coms. There are parallels in the way rom-coms and legal memos are constructed. Demonstrating this to first-semester law students helps them to better understand how to construct their legal memos. In this presentation, we will show movie clips and explain.
Room: Costantino C
4:00 - 4:30
Presenter: Lauren Roberts (Brooklyn Law School)
This presentation outlines the importance of effectively and responsibly bringing social justice issues into the Legal Writing Classroom. I will discuss the subtle ways in which implicit bias has made its way into predictive and persuasive writing and judicial opinions. By integrating social justice into the curriculum, we can fulfill the new ABA mandate of incorporating issues of race, bias, and cross-cultural competence, thereby training our students to be sensitive, client-centered advocates in a culturally diverse setting.
Moving Beyond Law: Lessons from Other Disciplines About Oral Communication Skill Development
Presenters: William Rhynhart and Colleen Settineri (The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law)
Lawyers recognize the need to hone their verbal skills. Litigators must be comfortable arguing a case, and non-litigators must be able to speak persuasively to clients and colleagues. Yet many law students are afraid of public speaking. In the hopes of (1) learning how to empower lawyers and students and (2) developing ways to think about verbal skills, we turned to literature from outside the law. We’ll share lessons learned from psychology, theater, military studies, and religious studies. Participants will leave with activities to take to their classrooms
Room: Costantino C
4:30
Closing
Ilene Strauss & Aysha Ames
Room: Costantino B