We have long believed that we live in a culture subject to the rule of law. But longstanding American practices are considered in many other countries to violate the rule of law. To illustrate what the rule of law really looks like, the article will describe in detail how it has operated for centuries in Sweden, Finland, and Britain.

This session examines historical preferences in the legal academy for what counts as scholarship and enables legal writing faculty to conceptualize and defend legal writing scholarship.

This panel highlights ALWD, LWI, and LWRR—their missions, journals, conferences, and committees—to help new professors find their place and become engaged with the legal writing community.

Panelists will discuss how peer tutoring programs can enrich legal writing instruction. They will discuss different peer tutoring models, pedagogical benefits of peer tutoring, and pitfalls to avoid.

Scaffolding is a tool for structuring student learning. Learn the cognitive science, see classroom examples, and explore how scaffolding aids in metacognition and self-directed learning.

You spend hours on feedback, but do your students use it? Education research and the PRIME model show how teacher clarity turns students into learners who understand and want to act on your comments.

Grounded in research and volunteer experience as a Court Appointed Special Advocate, participants will be guided through practitioner inquiry to reconnect with their "why" and practice engaged pedagogy

The widespread availability of high-quality generative artificial intelligence (GAI) programs, in combination with existing practices for accommodating learning disabilities has created a new dilemma in legal education. This Article maps the potential methods for balancing the tensions by prioritizing some tradeoffs over others, depending on a particular faculty’s pedagogical goals and administrative resources.

An ‘Evergreen” panel discussion on the benefits of meeting with a writing group. Beyond just scholarship, a writing group can help with all three “legs of the stool.”

Learn how to effectively teach students one of the most notoriously challenging legal reasoning skills: synthesizing implicit legal principles that cross multiple ambiguous cases.

We will discuss assignment drafting, including: Should we reuse assignments? Is there an optimal number of legal writing assignments? And, perhaps most importantly, how to draft a quality assignment.

We understand the value of talk for teaching but not for learning. This presentation will present metacognitive talk strategies as powerful writing catalysts underutilized in legal writing classrooms.

This essay probes the connection between scholarship, status, and identity in the legal writing community.

Move beyond accommodation compliance. A practical look at why visual accessibility matters in legal writing right now, plus tools and teaching practices for every LRW professor.

How do we make thoughtful choices to write inclusively? This presentation assembles scholarship from different fields to show how, with practical guidance and application to different identities.

This project codes the steps of legal memo creation with AI collaboration modalities, pointing law school curriculum toward foundational skills, human strengths, and steps that shouldn't be delegated.

We scrawl "be precise" in the margins, but could we explain what we mean? This session breaks precision into teachable parts—with live exercises you can use in your classes.

With AI now a third wheel in the student-professor dynamic, live grading matters more than ever. This presentation reviews its benefits and drawbacks and how to use it to counter AI deskilling risks.

Join us to discuss three different grading systems: (1) an A-F grading system; (2) a numerical grading system; and (3) a hybrid system using Pass/No Pass (fall) and A-F (spring) specific to Lawyering.

We will share our experience building out a practice-oriented email research and writing activity to supplement our coordinated legal writing program, with data and insights gleaned from the exercise.

Scholarship can be daunting and it’s easy to say no to ourselves. Instead, it’s time to call on the advice we give our students about writing and follow it ourselves.

Transform student evaluations into a meaningful learning experience by teaching students to use rhetorical situation analysis when providing course feedback—with ready-to-use classroom materials.

This session will address how to design effective problems for the first-year legal writing course and will also make the case for reusing assignments from year to year.

We invite participants to explore two questions, one ethical, one disciplinary: Should legal communication scholars write with generative AI, and should they write about generative AI?

An “Evergreen” Discussion Group where each member will present a specific example of a lesson they learned the hard way and tips to help newer professors avoid that pitfall.

Our work in progress argues that legal education should situate judicial opinions in their broader context. This contextual case method challenges law's neutrality and invites transformation.

Traditional and reimagined practices to enhance teaching and communication with students including: mid-semester evaluations, “parallel play” writing workshops, and “eavesdropping” office hours.

Explore the balance between engaging visuals and accessibility. Leave with actionable tools to craft legal writing slides that are both attractive and accessible to all.

A presentation about teaching punctuation through poetry. And why doing so still matters.

Learn about Baltimore’s required upper-level enhanced writing courses in response to the NextGen Bar Exam’s emphasis on analysis and writing. We will discuss challenges, rewards, and lessons learned.

My article explores concurrences and dissents as mechanisms for preserving factual truth. Rigorous factual scrutiny promotes accountability, preserves litigants’ stories, and advances justice.

If everything about GenAI seems confusing and intimidating, this presentation will give you places to start learning about it and provide examples of exercises to incorporate it into your classroom.

Join us for a conversation about how to teach the skills students need before they CREAC: the ability to isolate and organize key information from legal authorities.

Is an academic specialty a “discipline” if outsiders fail to recognize it as one? Legal Writing as a discipline will only meaningfully grow if external groups view us as a distinct specialty. We will present five action steps to further this goal.

Like pilots learning to fly without autopilot, law students must master legal writing without over-relying on AI. This session explores oral exams as a tool to verify authentic learning.

It's time to raid the supply closet! Use just five items to add a tactile learning element to any LRW lesson. Transform reading citations and weighing legal authorities into engaging hands-on lessons!

NextGen UBE requires new skills in writing for the bar! Learn to create revision-focused problems to address the changes in testing and priorities.

Listening sessions are a means to reconnect with judges and receive feedback on how we are preparing students for practice. Based on a pilot program in Indiana, this presentation provides a step-by-step guide for holding sessions in your community.

Attorneys write briefs for screen-reading judges. It’s time for judges to return the favor. Join me for a scholarly discussion of why and how judges should craft opinions for digital readers.

How do law students actually use GenAI tools in their summer jobs? We surveyed students and employers. Let’s discuss the themes that emerged and potential implications on our GenAI pedagogy.

Despite extensive scholarship on feedback, few have examined feedback from the students’ perspective. We’ll report on a survey giving students an opportunity for feedback on our feedback.

This interactive panel presentation will use the Human Torch, The Thing, Invisible Woman, and Mr. Fantastic as metaphors to explore four important pillars of Legal Research and Writing.

This session explores research on the importance of cultivating a sense of belonging among your law students and low-effort, high-impact strategies to increase community and belonging in your classes.

This article explores an unconventional yet research-backed pedagogical innovation: the use of music in legal instruction. Drawing on interdisciplinary literature from neuroscience, educational psychology, and music cognition, I argue that music can improve cognitive performance, reduce student anxiety, and enhance both the enjoyment and effectiveness of legal education.

Discover how AI-created games can transform legal writing instruction by engaging students in Bluebook citation practice and fact-pattern analysis through interactive play.

 LWI and ALWD Mentors will be available for informal 1:1 or small group chats for those who are new to legal writing or new to legal writing directing (four years or less) and would like to converse about topics of interest. Please bring your coffee and join us for this informal session.        

A flash talk on the benefits of a final exam in legal writing, focusing on practice, bar prep, and how it helps professors accurately gauge student ability without AI.

Women remain underrepresented in appellate advocacy. My article urges early training in law school to build confidence and ensure equal speaking opportunities essential for justice and democracy.

Lawyers joke about an inability comprehend math, although many disputes turn on math and science issues. This presentation provides examples, communication techniques, and teaching tools.

Discover the “secret sauce” of student learning: feedback. Grounded in neuro-educational research, explore evidence-based feedback strategies to maximize contemporary student engagement and learning.

How can schools hire tenure-track legal writing candidates who will thrive? This presentation shares recommendations based on a survey of candidates, hiring committee chairs, and LRW faculty.

AI prompt engineering is a core competency and must be taught in objective, persuasive, and contract drafting classrooms to foster digital literacy and practice-ready legal skills.

This presentation will offer recommendations for supportive language and phrases that allow faculty to be present with the student while also maintaining healthy boundaries. The final half of the presentation will include consultation time with a licensed mental health professional who can offer suggestions and feedback for real-life scenarios

As genAI increasingly handles routine legal work, lawyers need stronger critical thinking skills—yet law students are entering with significant deficits in these vital skills.

From Star Wars to Gone Girl, reversals in plot and character make for compelling storytelling. This literary technique also has a place in teaching persuasion skills and formulating writing problems.

Experienced scholars and editors will offer practical tips and best practices for new(er) legal communication scholars to join ongoing scholarly conversations and participate in discipline-building.

We will discuss LRW program administrative work, the audience and purpose of labels for that work (e.g. director, coordinator, autonomous program), and how labels relate to staffing and status issues.

Legal writing professors perform. Drawing on research in both performance theory and pedagogy, this panel explores techniques to foster more intentional, dynamic, and effective teaching.

With the explosion of online JD programs, we must prepare to teach students we may never meet. This presentation explores the challenges & opportunities that arise when teaching fully online students.

Judges, like all good readers, will “visualize” elements of a written story that the storyteller leaves out, including the physical appearance of the main characters. We will discuss.

This presentation will explore examples of the “think-aloud” – a pedagogical strategy that allows students to “eavesdrop” on an expert reader’s thoughts and enhance their legal analysis skills.

This session highlights how peer editing in 1L legal writing promotes collaboration, reflection, and precision while training students to engage critically rather than rely solely on generative AI.

Explore how hybrid program standards can clash with legal writing pedagogy and explore strategies to design and adapt courses that meet requirements without losing integrity.

This presentation will include comments on the same memo by three experienced LRW professors. Common themes and differences in commenting style and substance will be shown and discussed.

Discover your legal writing teaching style through the Avengers! Take a self-assessment quiz, reflect on your strengths, and leave with personalized strategies to teach with authenticity.

No doubt the worst mistake in legal drafting is missing—or creating—ambiguity. This presentation will discuss the types of ambiguity and how to avoid them, with examples for classroom use.

Small teaching strategies can help to build a global mindset in law students. Using practical exercises, from cross-cultural role plays to feedback simulations, panelists share innovative ways to integrate global perspectives into law courses.

This presentation will discuss easy design changes to your CV that can help you to highlight your strengths, and how to write a tenure letter for a colleague that highlights their strengths.

This presentation will describe a framework for giving effective feedback on writing assignments and highlight the importance of individualized feedback on overall law school performance.

This article examines the contradictory and hypocritical use of “consumer confusion” and “transparency” rhetoric in contemporary food and agricultural law. It explores how these food advocacy narratives have shaped public opinion and the food system as a whole. This article joins the larger conversation about the power of persuasive storytelling in law, policy and democracy.

Calling all student-conference enthusiasts! The author of Invigorating Conferencing in JLWI's Volume 30 wants to discuss your thoughts, questions, counter-arguments, and more.

We will introduce and discuss ways to deliberatively teach legal reasoning forms, such as analogical and narrative, and how they interact with types of legal arguments, such as intent and policy.

When we began teaching, we realized that today’s students learn differently from past generations. We’ll share insights from that discovery and strategies to meet law students’ needs—without judgment.

By decentering written text in favor of a “re-sequencing” process based in creative writing, this presentation identifies how generative AI can introduce more craft and intention into legal writing.

Lawyers are leaders. This presentation will explore how leadership development in law school begins organically in the LRW classroom as students begin developing skills that make them great leaders.

This presentation demonstrates how guest speaker reflections in legal writing classes translate abstract concepts into practical learning, while also advancing professional identity formation.

Our presentation will explain the results of surveys sent to students and alumni regarding their communication skills, and will detail changes we made to our curriculum as a result of those surveys.

Committee Posters:

A creative pedagogical tool using Deming's Red Bead Experiment to help first-year students get out of their own way and improve writing systematically.

Judicial policies now endorse AI brief summarization. My research explores the gap between how AI reads legal narratives and how judges actually decide.

Join this conversation about whether legal writing course materials should avoid “triggering” topics like immigration, abortion, or transgender rights.

This panel features research that redefines how legal communication can drive equity and systemic change. The panelists will also discuss how collaborative, mentored writing strengthens the field.

This presentation is based on my recent scholarship advocating for the use of AI tools by contract drafters to assist them in crafting contracts that can become vehicles for social good.

This session will empower newer instructors to facilitate effective group exercises with well-defined roles, efficient sharing strategies, and practical takeaways that maximize clarity and engagement.

A context engineering framework for teaching client counseling and ethical judgment through AI simulation—told through doctrine, design, and dialogue from two classroom deployments.

Live conferencing gives students authentic connection and immediate feedback. Hear insights gained from 14 years of live conferencing, guidance on practical details, and answers to your questions.

The Next Great Works in Progress: Discussing Future Scholarly Projects, Including Half-Baked Ideas and "Just Gathering Ingredients" Ideas, Inspired by Conference Presentations, Looking Ahead toward AppLS 2027

The Future of Legal Writing Pedagogy: The NextGen Bar, generative AI, and the ever-evolving practice of law are undoubtedly bringing about changes. How are we updating? What are we cutting?

The Legal Writing Academy in Five Years: Potential changes in ABA Standard 405, university financial pressures, new demands from employers, and more. What does it mean for our careers? How are we charting our collective paths?

Justice Robert Jackson's rhetoric at Nuremberg and in Barnette, Korematsu, and Youngstown built a language of constraint that offers guidance in confronting today's expansive executive power claims.

This final leadership academy will focus on teaching resiliency, character, and supporting student development in the 21st Century. Professors Sinsheimer and St. Val will discuss the program they created called LIFT "Legal Initiative for Fortitude & Transformation." 

An Evergreen panel discussion on assembling mentors and benefiting from mentorship as a newer professor. We’ll focus on various opportunities to find support and how to thrive in these relationships.

Learn how executive function challenges affect law students and discover teaching strategies that boost success for neurodiverse and neurotypical students alike.