THE LEGAL WRITING
CORNER
Introducing Professor Carolyn Williams
By Jennifer Cook , Denitsa Mavrova Heinrich , and Jenny Samarzja
As we prepare to welcome our newest class of University of North Dakota ( UND ) law students in the fall , we will also be extending a warm welcome to the newest faculty member of our Lawyering Skills Program – Professor Carolyn Williams . In addition to teaching our required first-year sequence of Lawyering Skills courses , she will be teaching a new course on Legal Research and Writing for Practice . We are thrilled to have her , so let us introduce you to her !
Professor Williams comes to UND Law from the University of Arizona James E . Rogers College of Law , where she served as an associate professor of Legal Writing and Assistant Clinical Professor of Law . She has taught legal writing , research , and advocacy for six years . But that ’ s not all . Professor Williams is also a sought-after consultant , who frequently teaches lawyers in the military , court staff , law review editors , and attorneys in private law firms . She is the author for the 7th edition of the “ ALWD Guide to Legal Citation ” and is publishing a chapter in “ A Manual for Law Review Editors .” And , most recently , she was appointed by the National Conference of Bar Examiners as a subject-matter expert to help develop the NextGen bar exam .
Professor Williams holds positions in each of the three national legal writing organizations : the Legal Writing Institute ( LWI ), the Legal Writing , Reasoning , and Research Section of AALS , and the Association of Legal Writing Directors ( ALWD ). She is the recipient of the prestigious LWI-ALWD-LexisNexis Legal Writing Scholarship Grant . And she was recently recognized for her meaningful contributions with ALWD ’ s Outstanding Service Award .
Carolyn Williams
How long have you taught legal writing and how did you get into it ?
In July 2015 , I heard from a friend at Arizona State University Law School that so many students had accepted ASU ’ s offer to attend , that it didn ’ t have enough legal writing professors to teach the 1L legal research and writing course . I immediately called up some of my old law professors there who knew me when I was a legal writing teaching assistant , the chair of the moot court board , and the editor in chief of the “ Arizona State Law Journal ” and asked if I could be an adjunct that fall at ASU . They said yes , and at the end of that fall semester , ASU offered me a full-time , one-and-a-half year visiting assistant professor position . I then worked at the University of Arizona for five years .
Why legal writing ? What excites you about teaching the subject ?
Legal analysis and communication are the core of what attorneys do . Attorneys need to be able to find the law , interpret the law , synthesize the rules , think deeply about issues , and then communicate that in a variety of ways , both orally and in writing . I love that process . In my experience , law students understand the importance of those skills and work hard to master them . Every decision I make as a legal writing professor is designed to push students to be better communicators than they imagined they could be . What excites me the most is receiving the emails , letters , or personal visits from former students telling me about a writing assignment they had in practice where they applied something I taught them . I take pride in their success .
Before joining academia , Professor Williams spent eight years in big firm practice . Super Lawyers named her a Rising Star in 2016 , an honor bestowed on no more than 2.5 % of the lawyers in a state . She received her bachelor of arts degree in communications and juris doctorate from Arizona State University .
We recently sat down with Professor Williams to talk about legal writing – her passion for teaching it and her thoughts on some hotly-debated grammar topics .
In your experience , what do students tend to find most rewarding about legal writing ? What do they tend to find most challenging ?
Students love the practicality of legal writing . It ’ s rewarding in the first year to learn something more than theory – to learn the nuts and bolts of practice , which is what legal research and writing is . The most challenging skill law students learn is how to critically read case law and statutes . They mistakenly believe reading
Jennifer Cook , Denitsa Mavrova Heinrich , and Jenny Samarzja are faculty members in the Lawyering Skills Program at the University of North Dakota School of Law .
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