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Lighting the Way for 10 Years:
A Symposium on Leadership in Law and Lawyering
October 24 - 25, 2024
Thursday, October 24
12:30 - 2 p.m.
How ABA Standard 303(c) Informs the Development of Lawyers as Leaders
Facilitator: Becky Jacobs (University of Tennessee College of Law)
Panelists:
- Sherley Cruz (University of Tennessee College of Law)
- Kendall Kerew (Georgia State University College of Law)
- Andrew King-Reis (University of Montana School of Law)
- Aric Short (Texas A&M School of Law)
This session will explore the role of ABA Standards 303(b)(3) and 303(c) in the development of law students into lawyer-leaders. These standards mandate that law schools provide “substantial opportunities” students for the development of a professional identity and education to law students on bias, cross-cultural competency, and racism at the start of the program of legal education and at least once again before graduation. Panelists will consider the ways in which leadership pedagogy may offer substantial opportunities for students to reflect on their individual values and to consider how they align with the professional values they are expected to uphold, including the obligation to promote equal access to our justice system and to eliminate bias, discrimination, and racism in the law. They also will examine how “Lawyers as Leaders” courses can incorporate teaching methodologies that educate students on cultural competency, bias, and racism.
2 - 3:30 p.m.
Workshop Panel
Facilitator: Carlos A. Yunsan (University of Tennessee College of Law)
Presenters:
- Jan Baker (University of South Carolina School of Law) Crisis Response Day One: Management v. Mayhem
- Tom Stipanowich (Pepperdine University School of Law) Lincoln’s Lessons for Modern Lawyers & Leaders
- Kathy Vinson (Suffolk University Law School) Inclusive Leadership & Lawyering
This panel features three scholars presenting innovative and practical ideas for incorporating the time-tested leadership skills of crisis management, cross-cultural competency, and self-reflection into lawyer leadership training. These scholars were selected from proposals submitted in response to a national call for workshop proposals. The panel follows an interactive workshop format, engaging attendees in hands-on exercises and eliciting feedback on the applicability and effectiveness of the ideas shared for both pedagogy and practice. Specifically, the panel’s themes include responding to crises on day one, developing a global perspective, and Abraham Lincoln’s lessons for lawyers and leaders—all as springboards to further develop leadership in the legal profession.
3:30 - 5 p.m.
Why Take Leadership Courses
Facilitators from the University of Tennessee College of Law and Hardwick Fellows:
- Kirksey Croft (3L)
- Grant Peterson (3L)
Panelists from the University of Tennessee College of Law:
- Paul Henken (3L)
- Drew Roberson (3L)
- Trinity Sandifer (3L)
This panel of students led by two fellows in the Institute for Professional Leadership will discuss the reasons for a student to enroll in the leadership curriculum. The student panelists will offer their insights as to the current leadership landscape for young professionals; how their participation has helped them in school; and what effect it might have on their future career.
5:30 - 6:30 p.m.
Gala (by invitation only)
Friday, October 25
8 - 8:30 a.m.
Registration & Breakfast
Outside of Room 132
8:30 - 8:45 a.m.
Introductions – Dean Lonnie T. Brown, Jr. (University of Tennessee College of Law)
8:45 - 9:30 a.m.
Leadership in Law Schools: The Idea, The Implementation, The Future
- Doug Blaze (Dean & Professor Emeritus, University of Tennessee College of Law)
- Beth Ford (University of Tennessee College of Law)
- Buck Lewis (University of Tennessee College of Law)
This panel describes the genesis and history of the Institute for Professional Leadership at the University of Tennessee College of Law, discusses the evolution and current state of leadership programs and courses in U.S. law schools, and forecasts exciting prospects for the future of law leadership education and training.
9:30 - 10:45 a.m.
The Shifting Landscape for Diversity Initiatives: A Leadership Challenge
Facilitator: Michelle Kwon (University of Tennessee College of Law)
Panelists:
- Brooklyn Belk (Senior Corporate Counsel & University of Tennessee College of Law)
- Bob Dinerstein (American University College of Law)
- Judge Judy Levy (District Judge, MI-E)
- Leah Teague (Baylor Law School)
- Kellye Testy (Executive Director &CEO, AALS)
The law, policies, and practices surrounding and governing diversity initiatives have been undergone seismic changes in the last 3 years due to new legislation and new court decisions. This group of speakers will discuss the changes and how they have affected their work and practices. The breakouts which follow will allow symposium participants to do the same in facilitated small groups.
10:45 - 11 a.m.
Break
11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
Breakout Sessions – Facilitated exercise/discussion of issues raised by panel
Facilitator: Lucy Jewel (University of Tennessee College of Law)
Group leaders:
- Kate Atchley (Haslam School of Business, University of Tennessee)
- Judge Lee Bussart (Marshall County Sessions & Juvenile Court)
- Laura Durbin (Sr. Labor & Employment Counsel, Eastman)
- Buck Lewis (University of Tennessee)
- Aric Short (Texas A&M School of Law)
- Leah Teague (Baylor Law School)
12:15 - 1:30 p.m.
Lunch
College of Law Commons
1:30 - 2:45 p.m.
Self-Leadership in the Bar and Our Communities
Facilitator: Paula Schaefer (University of Tennessee College of Law)
Panelists:
- Lisa Cole (President & Managing Shareholder Lewis Thomason)
- Shailini Jandial George (Suffolk University Law School)
- Mike Murphy (Duke University School of Law)
- Candice Reed (Latitude Legal)
- Ron Tyler (Stanford University Law School)
This panel will explore issues surrounding self-leadership and leadership of lawyers and law students in our bars and our communities. Some themes we expect to discuss include the benefits of mindfulness practice and reflection in developing as leaders, the lessons of failure for ourselves and our teams, the ways in which our lives and careers are enriched through service to the bar and our communities, and the power of self-leadership to enhance the leadership we provide to—and model for—our teams.
2:45 - 3 p.m.
Break
3 - 4:15 p.m.
Empowering Lawyers to Lead Clients, Organizations, and Advocacy Groups
Facilitator: Lee Fisher (Cleveland State University College of Law)
Panelists:
- Michael Han (Nike Senior Director, Assistant General Counsel)
- Kendall Kerew (Georgia State University College of Law)
- Zee Scout (Bertha Justice Fellow Center for Constitutional Rights)
Certain aspects of lawyer leadership are universal. Others are contextual and may vary based on, among other things, the context in which a lawyer practices. Lawyers represent many types of clients in different settings from large businesses to small town general practices. They act as advocates in resolving disputes and accomplishing transactions as well as advisors to entities and individuals on legal compliance and other legal and law-related matters. The panelists, representing different law practice contexts, offer examples of how they engage with and empower their clients as lawyer leaders in a variety of different attorney-client relationships
4:15 - 5:30 p.m.
Paper Presentations
Facilitator: Joan Heminway (University of Tennessee College of Law)
Presenters:
- Tony Ghiotto (University of Illinois College of Law) Trial Lawyers & an Ethos of Leadership
- Karl Lockhart (DePaul University College of Law) Rethinking Servant Leadership for Lawyers
- Elsbeth Magilton (University of Nebraska College of Law) Law Students Learning to Lead through Non-Profit Board Service
- Ben Rigney (Wake Forest University School of Law) Defining “Leadership” for Lawyers & Law Students
This panel features four authors presenting ideas from their research and experiential learning relating to law leadership. The four papers being presented were selected from works submitted in response to a national call for papers. The selected papers cover a range of topics from law leadership in specific contexts (e.g., trial work and volunteer board service) to applied leadership and leadership styles in law practice and legal education. Draft papers are being made available to symposium attendees.
5:30 - 7 p.m.
Reception
College of Law Rotunda
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Speakers
Jan Baker serves as Director of the Konduros Leadership Development Program at the University of South Carolina, where she teaches Lawyers as Leaders and Liturgy for Law and Leadership in the law school curriculum. Her other courses include Legal Writing, Writing in Law Practice, Consumer Bankruptcy Drafting, and Civil Litigation Drafting. Baker also teaches an undergraduate course, Tell Me a Story: Storytelling and Argumentation Ethics in Legal Advocacy, in the South Carolina Honors College.
Jan M. Baker
Director, Konduros Leadership Development Program Joseph F. Rice School of Law University of South Carolina
Brooklyn Belk is senior corporate counsel for Ingram, an international company based in Nashville, Tennessee, where she manages global employment law matters, and an adjunct professor at Vanderbilt University Law. Belk graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Law, and currently serves on the Emory & Henry University Board of Trustees, and is president-elect of the Community Coalition Against Human Trafficking.
Brooklyn Belk
Senior Corporate Counsel and Adjunct Law Professor
Douglas “Doug” Blaze joined the faculty in 1993, and has served in various roles on the faculty of the University of Tennessee College of Law, including Director of Clinical Programs, Director of the Center for Advocacy, Associate Dean, and Dean. Blaze retired in 2022 to travel and hike.
Douglas “Doug” Blaze
Professor and Dean Emeritus
Lonnie T. Brown, Jr. is the Dean and Elvin E. Overton Distinguished Professor of Law. He joined the College of Law in 2022, after spending 20 years at the University of Georgia School of Law where he was the A. Gus Cleveland Distinguished Chair of Legal Ethics and Professionalism and Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor, the university’s highest honor for teaching excellence. From 2013 to 2015, he served as Georgia Law’s associate dean for academic affairs.
Lonnie T. Brown, Jr.
Dean and Elvin E. Overton Distinguished Professor of Law
Lisa Ramsay Cole is a distinguished attorney with extensive expertise in civil trial litigation, focusing on employment law and professional liability. As president and managing shareholder of Lewis Thomason, she also serves as General Counsel, oversees the firm’s Nashville office, is an ex-officio member of the Board of Directors and chairs the firm’s Shareholder Compensation Committee. A Supreme Court Rule 31 Mediator, Cole is committed to alternative dispute resolution, offering efficient and cost-effective solutions for her clients.
Lisa Ramsay Cole
President and Managing Shareholder of Lewis Thomason
Kirksey Croft is a 3L student from Blount County, Tennessee, and a Hardwick Fellow for the IPL She is interested in pursuing a career in criminal defense and trial advocacy following graduation.
Kirksey Croft
JD Candidate, Class of 2025, UT College of Law
Sherley Cruz teaches with the Advocacy Clinic, and her scholarship explores the intersections of access to justice, low-wage workers’ rights, and cross-cultural communications. Her service includes leadership roles with AALS’s Section on Employment Discrimination Law, the Civil Rights Section, and the Section on Critical Theories. She also serves on the Board of Governors for the Society of American Law Teachers and is a past co-chair of the AALS Clinicians of Color Committee. Prior to joining UT Law, Cruz taught at American University’s Washington College of Law, Suffolk University Law School, and Boston University School of Law. She joined academia after over a decade as a public interest attorney that included service with the Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Wage and Hour Division and the Employment Law Unit of Greater Boston Legal Services.
Sherley Cruze
Assistant Professor of Law, University of Tennessee College of Law
Robert Dinerstein is Professor of Law at American University Washington College of Law, where he taught from 1983-2023. His areas of academic specialization have been clinical legal education and disability rights, and he is the founder of the law school’s Disability Rights Law Clinic. Dinerstein is chair of the ABA Commission on Disability Rights and co-chair of the Disability Rights Committee of the ABA Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice.
Robert “Bob” Dinerstein
Professor of Law Emeritus American University Washington College of Law
Lee Fisher is the Dean of Cleveland State University College of Law and Chair of the American Association of Law Schools (AALS) Leadership Section. He has served as State Representative, State Senator, Attorney General and Lieutenant Governor of the State of Ohio. Fisher also practiced law for many years at the Cleveland law firm of Hahn Loeser and served as president and CEO of two large nonprofit organizations – The Center for Families and Children and CEOs for Cities.
Lee Fisher
Dean of Cleveland State University College of Law and Chair of the American Association of Law Schools Leadership Section
Beth Ford is the interim director of the IPL, and has taught a variety of criminal law and trial practice courses as an adjunct professor at the University of Tennessee College of Law. Ford served as the federal defender for the Eastern District of Tennessee for more than 20 years, and she is active in the Knoxville Bar Association where she is the co-chair of the Wellness Committee.
Beth Ford
Interim Director for the Institute for Professional Leadership at the University of Tennessee College of Law
Tom Galligan is a Professor of Law at LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center; he teaches and writes about Torts, Admiralty, and Constitutional Law. Galligan has also served as Dean of the University of Tennessee College of Law, President of Colby-Sawyer College (Professor Emeritus), Dean of LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center, and President of LSU (President Emeritus). Galligan enjoys reading, watching baseball, and walking.
Thomas “Tom” C. Galligan Jr.
Professor of Law
Shailini J. George is a professor at Suffolk University Law. George is a passionate advocate for law students and lawyer well-being, and is the author of The Law Student’s Guide to Doing Well and Being Well (Carolina Academic Press 2021), as well as law review articles on distraction and the cognitive science of learning and why law students need mindfulness training. George pursues her passion for well-being through her leadership in local and national organizations which are dedicated to advancing the well-being of legal professionals, serving as the Vice President of Law Schools for the Institute for Well-Being in Law, as a member of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s Standing Committee on Lawyer Well-Being, and as the chair-elect of the AALS Balance and Wellbeing in Law Section, where she was the winner of the 2022 award for her work on law student well-being.
Professor Shailini J. George
Professor and Associate Dean of Professionalism and Community Engagement
Tony Ghiotto is a teaching assistant professor at the University of Illinois College of Law where he directs the Anderson Center for Advocacy and Professionalism. Ghiotto teaches courses in foundational and advanced evidence and trial advocacy, in addition to directing trial advocacy and moot court programs. Ghiotto received his BA from the University of Illinois, his JD from Emory University School of Law, and prior to joining academia, he spent twelve years as an active duty judge advocate with the U.S. Air Force, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Tony Ghiotto
Assistant Professor of Law
Michael Han is a 2003 graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law. He currently leads the IP Transactions & Licensing team at Nike. In his spare time, he runs, surfs the cold waters of the West Coast and watches his rescue greyhound run zoomies in the backyard.
Michael Han
Senior Director, Assistant General Counsel
Joan MacLeod Heminway is the Rick Rose Distinguished Professor of Law at The University of Tennessee College of Law and a research fellow of the Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, the Neel Corporate Governance Center, and the Center for the Study of Social Justice. Heminway's teaching at the College of Law includes doctrinal and experiential courses in business law as well as a small group communication offering in the Institute for Professional Leadership’s curriculum. Heminway also currently serves as non-core faculty in the Haslam College of Business Professional MBA program and as a faculty fellow in the Haslam Leadership Scholars program at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in which she teaches leadership to undergraduate honors students from across the campus.
Joan MacLeod Heminway
Rick Rose Distinguished Professor of Law
Becky L. Jacobs, Waller Lansden Distinguished Professor of Law, teaches and writes in a number of interconnected areas, including conflict resolution; global public health law; gender and the law; environmental and natural resources law, the built environment, and infrastructure; international business and trade law; and development issues. Her articles have appeared in numerous journals, including Harvard Negotiation Law Review, the Berkeley Journal of Gender Law & Justice, and others. Jacobs is a co-organizer of the Energy & Environment Forum at UT’s Baker School and participates in numerous interdisciplinary activities at UT. Jacobs and several of her co-panelists have presented and written together on ABA Standard 303(c).
Becky L. Jacobs
Waller Lansden Distinguished Professor of Law
Lucy Jewel is the Joel A. Katz Distinguished Professor of Law and Director of Legal Writing at the University of Tennessee College of Law. Jewel teaches legal writing, property, appellate advocacy, and entertainment law. Her scholarship focuses on the connections between law and rhetoric, culture, and critical theory.
Lucy Jewel
Joel A Katz Distinguished Professor of Law and Director of Legal Writing
Kendall Kerew runs the Externship Program and teaches Contracts, Elder Law, and the Externship Seminar at Georgia State University College of Law, where she has been teaching since 2005. Kerew’s scholarship focuses on topics related to the formation of professional identity and externship pedagogy. She is a Fellow of the Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, Chair-Elect of the AALS Aging and the Law Section, a member of the Executive Committee of the AALS Balance and Well-being in Legal Education Section, and serves on the AALS Clinical Legal Education Section’s Externships and Teaching Methodologies Committees and CLEA’s Advocacy and Externships Committees.
Kendall Kerew
Clinical Professor and Externship Program Director, Georgia State University College of Law
Professor King-Ries teaches courses at the Blewett School of Law at the University of Montana in Professionalism, Race and Racism, Criminal Law and Procedure, Domestic Violence, Clinic, and Law and Literature. A former prosecutor in Seattle, Washington, he writes and presents on professional identity, race and racism, and domestic violence. He lives in Missoula, MT and spends the majority of his free time outdoors.
Andrew King-Ries
Professor and Associate Dean of Professionalism and Community Engagement
Michelle Kwon has been a tax professor at the University of Tennessee College of Law for the last 12 years and served as its inaugural interim Associate Dean for Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement. As a multi-racial woman who has spent her professional career in predominately white institutions, including 10 years in private practice in a male-dominated practice group, and the only person in her family to go to college, issues of diversity and inclusion are important to her.
Michelle Kwon
Professor of Law
Judith E. Levy is a District Judge on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, where she has served since 2014. She previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Michigan since 2000, and she was the Civil Rights Unit Chief for the last three years. Judge Levy taught policing and fair housing seminars at the University of Michigan Law School from 2002 through 2019.
Judith E. Levy
District Judge on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
George “Buck” Lewis is the Baker, Donelson Senior Litigation Partner and Chair of Appellate Group Former President, Tennessee Bar Association and Memphis Bar Foundation Former chair, TN Judicial Selection Commission, TN Access to Justice Commission, and ABA Pro Bono Committee.
George “Buck” Lewis
Larry Wilks Distinguished Practitioner in Residence, UT Law
Karl Lockhart is an assistant professor of law at DePaul University, focusing his research and teaching on the intersections of corporate law and other business-related topics. Lockhart's scholarship has been published or is forthcoming in the Virginia Law Review, the Boston College Law Review, and the Washington University Law Review, and his article “Ameliorative Infringement and Public Interest Damages” was selected for the 2024 Harvard / Stanford / Yale Junior Faculty Forum. Prior to entering the legal academy, Lockhart worked as a lawyer in both the corporate and investigations practice groups at Hogan Lovells’s Washington, D.C. and Singapore offices, consulted for a private equity company in Casablanca, Morocco, and clerked for federal appellate and district court judges in Jackson, Mississippi and Portland, Oregon.
Karl Lockhart
Assistant Professor of Law
Elsbeth Magilton is the Director of Externships and a Resident Lecturer at the University of Nebraska College of Law. As the inaugural director of Nebraska’s externship program, she developed a new experiential learning curriculum and teaches the general externship course and the nonprofit board service course. From 2012-2024 Magilton served as the Executive Director of the Space, Cyber, and National Security Law Program at Nebraska, where she now continues her research in the space security field and teaches U.S. Space Law and Policy.
Elsbeth Magilton
Resident Lecturer of Law and Director of Externships, University of Nebraska College of Law
Michael Murphy joined Duke Law in 2023, where he supervises live client work in the Start-Up Ventures Clinic and teaches a Happiness, Well-Being and Lawyering course. His research explores social entrepreneurship, how technology changes legal practice, and how members of the legal profession can lead happier lives. Outside of academia, Murphy is an entrepreneur, a storyteller, a stand-up comedian, and an improviser.
Michael Murphy
Clinical Professor of Law & Supervising Attorney, Start-Up Ventures Clinic
Grant Peterson serves as a Hardwick Fellow at the Institute of Professional Leadership. A Murfreesboro native, Peterson has competed and won over two dozen debate and trial competitions during his academic career. In his free time, you can find him biking around Knoxville and writing fiction.
Grant Peterson
JD Candidate, Class of 2025
Candice L. Reed has extensive experience as an attorney, business executive, legal recruiter, and teacher and is a frequent speaker on topics such as attorney wellbeing, professional development and leadership, workplace engagement, and career satisfaction and transition. She is a double graduate from The University of Tennessee, earning her JD (magna cum laude) in 2000, and was among the nation’s first lawyers to obtain a Master of Applied Positive Psychology (M.A.P.P.) degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 2009. In addition to currently serving as EVP of Latitude, a Chambers-ranked flexible legal talent company, she also teaches an upper-level course on Thriving as a Lawyer and sits on the Advisory Board for the Institute for Professional Leadership at The University of Tennessee College of Law.
Candice L. Reed
Executive Vice President & Partner, Latitude Legal; Adjunct Professor, UT College of Law
Dr. Benjamin “Ben” Rigney is the Assistant Director for Leadership and Character in the Law School with the Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University School of Law. Rigney earned his B.A. from Carolina University, M.A.T.S. from Liberty University, Ph.D in leadership studies from Carolina University, and his JD from the University of Richmond School of Law. Rigney also teaches Professional Responsibility at Wake Forest School of Law and Lawyers as Leaders–with Professor Janice Craft–at the University of Richmond School of Law.
Dr. Benjamin “Ben” Rigney
Assistant Director for Leadership and Character in the Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University School of Law
Paula Schaefer joined the faculty of the University of Tennessee College of Law in 2008 and served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from 2019 to 2023. She teaches Professional Responsibility, Civil Procedure, Contracts, and Lawyering & Professionalism. Schaefer also coordinates and teaches in the Semester in Residence program.
Paula Schaefer
Art Stolnitz Distinguished Professor of Law
Zee Scout just concluded a Bertha Justice Fellow at the Center for Constitutional Rights, where she helped represent incarcerated people in a challenge to forced labor conditions; trans and nonbinary people in their complaints to bathroom bans and cruel and unusual prison conditions; and community organizers in corporate accountability and abolitionist challenges to militaristic policing projects like "Cop City" and to legislative tampering by model bill giants like the American Legislative Exchange Council. Scout is a graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law in Knoxville, where she was a member of the Lambda Legal Society and worked in the legal clinic on expungements and voter registration issues. She has clerked for the Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee and the Knoxville County Public Defender’s Community Law Office, and prior to that, she was an investigative criminal justice reporter in the Southeast covering state and federal courts and incarceration issues.
Zee Scout
Aric Short is Professor of Law and Director of Professional Identity and Leadership Development at Texas A&M Law School, where he previously served as Interim Dean, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, and Vice Dean. Short teaches Torts, Property, Professional Identity, and Leadership and Interpersonal Dynamics and has won multiple teaching awards at the college and university levels. He speaks and writes primarily in the areas of identity formation, leadership, and well-being (although he’s currently spending a lot of time learning about generative AI and thinking about how we can best prepare our students for the future).
Aric Short
Professor of Law and Director, Professional Identity and Leadership Development
Tom Stipanowich is an internationally known scholar and thought leader who has led two of the most visible organizations in the fields of arbitration and conflict resolution. From 2001 to 2006 he served as President of the New York-based International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR), after which he headed Pepperdine's highly regarded Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution (2006-2020). Stipanowich is currently writing a book on lessons that may be learned from the life and career of Abraham Lincoln.
Tom Stipanowich
William H. Webster Chair in Dispute Resolution & Professor of Law, Pepperdine University/Caruso School of Law
Prior to joining AALS in 2024, Testy served as the president and chief executive officer of the Law School Admission Council, where she led the organization in its committed efforts to advance law and justice by encouraging diverse, talented individuals to study law and by supporting their journeys from prelaw through practice. Testy served as dean and professor of law at University of Washington School of Law from 2009 to 2017 and at Seattle University School of Law from 2005 to 2009. Her areas of expertise include leadership, business and corporate law, gender and the law, and legal education. In addition to her role at AALS, she serves on the boards of the Washington Law Institute and LSSSE and teaches law and leadership at a number of law schools across the country
Kellye Testy
Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Association of American Law Schools
Ron Tyler is a Professor of Law and Director of the Criminal Defense Clinic at Stanford Law School. The Clinic represents clients in state and federal court. Tyler’s scholarly agenda focuses on self-care skills for lawyers and criminal practice and procedure. He is also active in the nonprofit arena, serving on the Executive Committee of the National Board of Directors of the American Civil Liberties Union, and as Board Chair of the National Criminal Defense College.
Ron Tyler
Professor of Law, Director of the Criminal Defense Clinic at Stanford Law School
Kathleen Elliott Vinson, co-author of the books, Legal Analysis: The Fundamental Skill and Mindful Lawyering, is a leader in the legal writing field and has taught numerous courses at Suffolk University Law School and abroad, including: Lawyers as Inclusive Leaders, Global Leadership for Lawyers, Problem Solving, Legal Practice Skills, Persuasive Advocacy in a Global Context, and Advanced Legal Writing. Vinson received the Legal Writing Institute Mary S. Lawrence Award, for pioneering scholarship and innovative curriculum; and the Catherine T. Judge Teaching and Service award, recognizing a distinguished female faculty member for unwavering commitment to student mentorship and thoughtful pedagogy. Professor Vinson is also a Fulbright Specialist.
Kathleen Elliott Vinson
Professor of Legal Writing & Director of Legal Writing, Research, & Written Advocacy, Suffolk University Law School
Carwina has served as a Senior Strategist with the LSAC and was a clinician at Seattle University School of Law, Indiana University Maurer School of Law, and Boston College School of Law. She practiced with the New York Legal Aid Society and the Greater Boston Legal Services and clerked for the Hon. Frank M. Coffin on the First Circuit. Carwina was born in Taipei, Taiwan and is a first-generation US college and law student.
Carwina Weng
Legal Education Consultant
Carlos Yunsan, a native of Panama City, Panama, teaches predictive and persuasive legal writing at the University of Tennessee College of Law. He is the current President of the Knoxville Bar Association and an NCBP 2023-2024 Diversity Scholar. Before entering academia, Yunsan served as a judicial law clerk for the Tennessee Supreme Court and Court of Appeals after practicing law as a civil litigator with an emphasis on appellate practice.
Carlos A Yunsan
Professor of Law, President, Knoxville Bar Association