June 16, 2009

Distinguished Visitor in Legal Analysis and Writing Project

In the spring of 2009, the school created its Distinguished Visitor in Legal Analysis and Writing Project. This project allows us to attract nationally known teachers and scholars to enrich our Legal Analysis and Writing program. In addition to teaching, the Distinguished Visitor is actively engaged in scholarship and contributes actively to the life of the school.

In the spring of 2009, the school created its Distinguished Visitor in Legal Analysis and Writing Project. This project allows us to attract nationally known teachers and scholars to enrich our Legal Analysis and Writing program. In addition to teaching, the Distinguished Visitor is actively engaged in scholarship and contributes actively to the life of the school.

Our first Distinguished Visitor is Ken Chestek of Indiana University at Indianapolis. Ken is the President-elect of the Legal Writing Institute, an organization of more than 2100 legal writing professionals in the United States and around the world. He served as a member of the Board of Directors and Treasurer of LWI. From 2005-2008 he co-chaired the ALWD/LWI Annual Survey Committee, and from 2004-2008 he served as a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of the Legal Writing Institute, a peer-reviewed academic journal. He currently serves as list manager for the LWI discussion listserv (hosted at IU-Indy law school). He has published and given lectures on a wide variety of subjects, including persuasion, teaching methods, tax exemption policy, hospitals and the uses of computers in law offices.

Future Distinguished Visitors

Next fall, our second Distinguished Visitor will be Dan Barnett of Boston College. Dan is one of the most recognizable names in Legal Writing. He has been active in the Association of American Law Schools, serving as the Chair of the Section on Legal Writing, Analysis and Research and as the Chair of the Military Recruiting Task Force of the Section on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Issues. In addition, he was a member of the Board of Directors for the Legal Writing Institute from 2004 to 2008 and is the Chair of the Planning Committee for the 2010 LWI Conference, a position he also held for the Institute’s 2002 Biennial Conference. Dan designed and led workshops on critiquing student work at the 2000 national conference of the Legal Writing Institute and the 2003 New Teachers Workshop, sponsored by the Association of American Law Schools. Those workshops have become an essential part of the Institute’s program and have repeated at every conference since 2000. Dan’s most recent publications include:

  • ‘Form Ever Follows Function’: Using Technology to Improve Feedback in Law Student Writing 42 Valparaiso University Law Review 755 (2008) and
  • A Methodology for Mentoring Writing in Law Practice: Using Textual Clues to Provide Effective and Efficient Feedback. 27 Quinnipiac Law Review 171 (2009).

Dan spent a semester in France in 2002 as the Visiting Professor of American Law at the University of Avignon where he taught, in French, Le Droit du Contrat aux Etats-Unis. Dan is also a superb teacher. He received the 2004 Boston College Distinguished Teaching Award in 2004 and again in 2007.

Returning to the community

In addition to our Distinguished Visitors, next year we will welcome back Judith Miller to the Lewis and Clark community. Judith directed our Legal Writing program in the 1980s. Since that time, she has been at Yale Law School where she most recently served as the Dean’s Chief of Staff and Director for Academic Research Programs.