UA School of Law ranked 94th in the nation
Jack Willems
Issue date: 4/29/09 Section: News
Kathryn Sampson, a professor in the legal writing department, is pleased that her department was ranked 22nd in the nation because the faculty have been working hard at getting the word out, she said. The legal writing program at the law school is comprised of three classes, one for the first three semesters of law school, that are worth seven hours total, she said.
Orientation and Legal Research and Writing I is the first class, and it requires that law students write two 15-page memorandums and teaches those students to use legal research materials and methods.
In the second semester, students take Appellate Research: Legal Research and Writing II, and they are required to write an Appellate's brief and make an oral argument before a professor and alumni judges.
In the third semester, students must take Pretrial Practice: Legal Research and Writing III, where they must prepare client letters, pleadings, discovery documents and other documents. The classes include one-on-one time with professors to review drafts of documents, Sampson said. Each class is taught by five professors: Sampson, Angela Doss, Karen Koch, Kim Coats and Ann Killenbeck.
"We see ourselves as a working unit," Sampson said.
Exposure is important to the law school, and to gain that exposure, members of the legal writing department have joined committees on and off campus, Sampson said.
"It is a double-edged process," she said. "You have to have a good program, and you have to tell people about it."
Lauren Ruff, a third-year law student from Fairbanks, Alaska, works with the legal writing department as a clerk, and she is thrilled at its rank.
"I don't think we could ask for a better legal writing faculty," she said.
The legal writing program teaches students how to use many legal research tools, and it should be promoted in upcoming years, said Christopher Antus, a second-year law student from Freehold, N.J.
The law school should perhaps even be ranked higher because of its legal writing program, said Jordan Voor, a second-year law student from Houston.
"I have friends at other law schools, and their legal writing programs do not even compare to ours," Voor said.
Orientation and Legal Research and Writing I is the first class, and it requires that law students write two 15-page memorandums and teaches those students to use legal research materials and methods.
In the second semester, students take Appellate Research: Legal Research and Writing II, and they are required to write an Appellate's brief and make an oral argument before a professor and alumni judges.
In the third semester, students must take Pretrial Practice: Legal Research and Writing III, where they must prepare client letters, pleadings, discovery documents and other documents. The classes include one-on-one time with professors to review drafts of documents, Sampson said. Each class is taught by five professors: Sampson, Angela Doss, Karen Koch, Kim Coats and Ann Killenbeck.
"We see ourselves as a working unit," Sampson said.
Exposure is important to the law school, and to gain that exposure, members of the legal writing department have joined committees on and off campus, Sampson said.
"It is a double-edged process," she said. "You have to have a good program, and you have to tell people about it."
Lauren Ruff, a third-year law student from Fairbanks, Alaska, works with the legal writing department as a clerk, and she is thrilled at its rank.
"I don't think we could ask for a better legal writing faculty," she said.
The legal writing program teaches students how to use many legal research tools, and it should be promoted in upcoming years, said Christopher Antus, a second-year law student from Freehold, N.J.
The law school should perhaps even be ranked higher because of its legal writing program, said Jordan Voor, a second-year law student from Houston.
"I have friends at other law schools, and their legal writing programs do not even compare to ours," Voor said.
Be the first to comment on this story