James E. Beasley School of Law of Temple University

Temple is a very large law school, and the LRW courses in the day division of the J.D. program are usually taught by the director, four full-time LRW professors, and six Graduate Fellows; the evening division courses are taught by eight adjunct faculty. The full-time faculty this year are Susan DeJarnatt, Jan Levine, Ellie Margolis, Douglas Miller (visiting), Kathryn Stanchi, and Bonny Tavares. We have a century’s worth of LRW teaching experience in our program, and each of our full-time professors taught LRW at other law schools for three to twelve years before coming to Temple. Professors Levine, DeJarnatt, Margolis, and Stanchi having been with the program since its inception in 1996-97 (Professors DeJarnatt and Stanchi are each on paid sabbatical for one semester this year). Professor Levine, the director, is tenured; professors DeJarnatt, Margolis, and Stanchi are in the fourth year of six-year contracts (and all were promoted to the rank of Associate Professor after extensive internal and external peer reviews). These four professors have produced over 25 scholarly pieces about legal writing from 1996 to 2004, resulting in citations in more than 150 books, treatises, and law review articles. We have offered many presentations at national conferences of the AALS, ALWD, and LWI; we have served on the boards of directors of ALWD, LWI, and Scribes; and we have worked on many committees for those organizations and the ABA. The full-time LRW professors are on contracts that comply with ABA Standard 405(c); they vote on all matters except awards of tenure, serve on all faculty committees, and are awaiting imminent salary increases which will result in pay parity with tenure-track faculty hires. The Graduate Fellows are experienced attorneys enrolled in a program resulting in an LL.M. in Legal Education. They teach one LRW section in their first year and a half-section in their second year, and since 1996, eight Graduate Fellows have taught legal writing at other law schools since leaving Temple. Professor Robin Nilon runs a separate writing program and writing center for international students in our LL.M. programs in Philadelphia and China.

Each professor in the J.D. writing program teaches one LRW section; in the day division the typical class size is thirty-two students, and in the evening the section size is six to ten students. Each professor comes up with his or her own 1-L courses within a shared general curricular framework, but the full-time faculty’s assignments are usually used by the Fellows and new adjuncts, who benefit from the guidance and mentoring of the five full-time LRW faculty. The program begins with an intensive week-long orientation before the other classes begin, and each LRW assignment integrates research, analysis, and writing. In the fall semester, the students prepare three office memoranda (of six, twelve, and sixteen pages in length) as well as outlines and short intermediate drafts for faculty review and critique. Each student has two required post-critique conferences with faculty, followed by a revision of the memo for further review. The spring semester course addresses persuasive writing via a twenty-five page appellate brief; a student will submit several drafts of portions of an appellate brief, and will have one scheduled conference with a faculty member, followed by another revision. The course ends with oral arguments judged by LRW faculty and Philadelphia-area lawyers and judges. Both 1-L LRW courses are fully graded, in the same manner as other 1-L courses. In addition, Temple requires all students to complete two upper-division advanced writing courses for graduation. Each of Temple’s LRW professors teaches a spring semester upper-division legal writing course (limited in size to 12 students) or a doctrinal seminar.

For more information, contact:
Jan M. Levine
Associate Professor
Director, LRW Program
Temple University School of Law
1719 North Broad St.
Philadelphia, PA 19122
jan.levine@temple.edu
tele. 215-204-8890