Establishing and Maintaining Good Working Relationships with 1L Writing Students

Perspectives: Teaching and Legal Research and Writing, Vol. 8, p. 4, Fall 1999

4 Pages Posted: 8 Nov 2011

See all articles by Mary Dunnewold

Mary Dunnewold

Hamline University School of Law

Date Written: January 1, 1999

Abstract

Effective teaching always depends to some extent on the quality of the relationship between the teacher and the students. Legal writing instructors, however, face at least two important barriers to establishing good working relationships with their students. First, many students are surprised to discover when they get to law school that “writing,” a skill they thought they had mastered (and which some have mastered, in nonlegal arenas), must be “learned” all over again. Second, perhaps somewhat paradoxically, legal writing instructors are in fact responding to students’ writing, and many entering law students have not experienced in-depth response to their writing in a number of years. Because of these peculiarities of the legal writing course, legal writing instructors must take particular pains to develop good working relationships with their students early in the course. The article covers the following recommendation for establishing and maintaining good working relationships: (1) clarify purpose and scope of course early, (2) recognize skills students bring to the course, (3) convince students that legal writing is not boring writing, (4) convince students that they need a trusted reader, and (5) respect students as people with complicated lives.

Keywords: Legal writing, legal writing instructors, legal writing teacher, relationship, students

Suggested Citation

Dunnewold, Mary, Establishing and Maintaining Good Working Relationships with 1L Writing Students (January 1, 1999). Perspectives: Teaching and Legal Research and Writing, Vol. 8, p. 4, Fall 1999, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1954848

Mary Dunnewold (Contact Author)

Hamline University School of Law ( email )

1536 Hewitt Avenue
Saint Paul, MN 55104-1237
United States

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