Law School Academic Support Blog

Faculty interface for non-faculty ASP'ers

Each law school has a different "fit" for the ASP staff member within its community.  Some of us are contract administrators for 9, 10, or 12 months.  Some of us are tenure-track faculty.  Some of us have multiple hats: doctrinal teaching or legal research and writing plus ASP or bar prep.

At the law schools where ASP'ers are not full faculty members, they sometimes can feel a bit "out of the loop" from the faculty - especially if their offices are in isolated locations or their schedules do not bring them into contact with faculty on a regular basis.  ASP'ers should not be shy, however, about becoming integral members of the law school community.  

Here are some tips for having more involvement with faculty and getting more exposure for your ASP program:

• Give every faculty member a general flyer on your ASP services for students.  Make it a handy reference sheet so that they can tell students more about the types of services that you offer and the topics that you cover.  
• Give every faculty member information regarding dates/topics for your workshops or other events that you are holding for students each semester.  Again, it gives them a handy reference when they are talking with students. 
• Give every faculty member a small stack of your business cards so that they can hand them out to students.  A student is more likely to e-mail for an appointment if the address is right in front of her.
• Give every faculty member a flyer on how you may be able to help them.  Include services such as consultation on a specific student's learning problems, solving typical student learning problems for their course material, developing visuals in the classroom, understanding how learning styles affect the classroom dynamics, in-class workshops on particular study skills, etc.  Your own expertise will guide what services you might be able to offer professors.
• Ask a new faculty member to lunch to tell her more about your office and ask how you may be able to help her settle in to your law school/city. 
• Attend faculty functions that may not relate to your duties directly but allow you to have more time with faculty.  Show your interest in what they do: in-service talks on faculty research, coffee klatch time, lunches to honor faculty publications, dinners for faculty awards.  The more faculty see you as part of the overall law school community, the more you will be seen as a colleague rather than a satellite function of the law school.
• Attend faculty meetings if you are allowed to do so.  You will learn a great deal about your law school, faculty concerns, and faculty colleagues' personalities.  Know the etiquette for your school, however.  Speak only if that is allowed.  Vote only if you have that privilege.
• Volunteer to be ex officio on faculty committees as appropriate.  For example, your expertise might be helpful on a faculty subcommittee considering a for-credit bar prep course.
• Announce your presentations and publications within your school's newsletter or news website as appropriate.  Your colleagues will be interested in your contributions to the law school's reputation regionally and nationally.
• Offer to teach a course outside ASP in a specialty area that you have if your law school will allow that option.  If your practice expertise was in entertainment law or admiralty law, your law school might welcome an elective course in that area.  Make sure that you will have the time to juggle teaching with your ASP duties before you offer though!

I have always been fortunate to have good faculty colleagues to work with at each law school.  But, I have to remind myself to make the time to keep up those relationships.  We all get so busy that it is easy to become isolated in ASP and "not get out much" as a result.  (Amy Jarmon)

  

Do you have someone new at your law school in ASP or have you moved?

It is the time of year when we begin collecting short profiles, pictures, and web links for folks who are joining ASP work for the first time or who have moved to different ASP positions over the summer. 

If someone new has joined your ASP staff since May 1st or if you have moved to a different school or position, please send us a one paragraph blurb (title, duties, law degree, work experience, awards, hobbies, etc.) as well as a link to your law school's faculty/administrator profile on the web.  If that profile does not include a picture, please also send us a picture of the person as an e-mail attachment.

We will begin a series of Academic Support Spotlight postings after the new academic year begins so that all of us in ASP can meet the new members of our community and congratulate our current colleagues on their job moves.  Our community is so friendly that it will give folks a "heads up" so that they can watch for new colleagues at conferences and workshops.

If you would like us to do a spotlight posting on you or someone new to your ASP staff, please send the requested information to amy.jarmon@ttu.edu. 

Welcome to everyone new!  Congrats to all of you who have re-located this summer!  I look forward to hearing from you.  (Amy Jarmon)

Bar Exam Counselor Position at La Verne

Bar Exam Counselor, College of Law

The University of La Verne has an opening for a full-time Bar Exam Counselor at the College of Law located in Ontario, CA. Reporting directly to the Coordinator of Bar Support Services, the primary function of this position is to assist in providing Bar Exam support services to students at the College of Law.

The duties of the position include: tutoring La Verne Law graduates studying for the California Bar Exam; providing feedback on student practice assignments; counseling students on attorney licensing requirements; presenting Bar-related workshops; collecting data regarding the success of the Bar Support Program; and other related duties as assigned.

This position requires a Juris Doctor degree with at least 1 year of academic experience in either law school teaching or Bar Exam tutoring. Experience working with diverse populations is preferred. Additionally, the successful candidate will be a member of the California State Bar. Evening work is necessary to accommodate students enrolled in the part-time and evening division, and occasional attendance at weekend events is required.

The hiring range for this position is dependent upon qualifications and departmental equity. Benefits of employment include a comprehensive health and welfare plan, tuition remission program for employee, spouse and dependent children and a generous 10% contribution to the University’s 403B retirement plan. To apply, please send a resume and cover letter to Malana Jones, University of La Verne College of Law, 320 East D Street, Ontario, California 91764. Alternatively, you may submit your application materials via email to mjones@laverne.edu.

Position at Georgetown Law

DIRECTOR OF ACADEMIC ENHANCEMENT PROGRAMS – GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY LAW CENTER

Georgetown University Law Center seeks applicants for a new senior administrative position, the Director of Academic Enhancement Programs.
The successful candidate will report to the Associate Vice President/Dean of Students at the Law Center and have four primary areas of responsibility, with additional responsibilities as assigned. First, the Director will develop, implement and manage programs to support the academic development of the school's nearly 2,000 JD students. Currently, such programs include individual and group tutorial programs for the first year JD students and periodic seminars on topics such as study habits, case briefing, outlining, and exam-taking. Supplementing the first year Legal Research and Writing classes, it is anticipated that the new Director will re-examine and expand these programs and periodically teach group skills workshops and tutorials. Second, the Director will develop resources for and counsel JD students who are having difficulty and/or for whom English is a second language. Third, the Director will supervise and support the growth of the Barrister's Council, one of the nation's premier student-run appellate advocacy, trial advocacy and alternative dispute resolution competition programs. Fourth, the Director will serve as an academic adviser. In that role, the Director will counsel individual students on academic policies, upperclass course selection, the intersection of academic and career planning, and related personal and academic development issues.

Requirements: (1) JD from an ABA-accredited law school with a record of academic and extracurricular success in law school; (2) at least three years of law practice experience and/or law teaching experience, with a focus on legal writing and analysis; (3) superior written, oral and interpersonal communication skills; (4) the ability to think imaginatively and critically about how to measurably improve law student's academic development, and to design, implement and manage programs to promote that development; (5) the ability to work collaboratively with a diverse population of students, faculty and administrators; (6) the ability to juggle multiple competing priorities and meet firm deadlines; (7) the ability and initiative to forge partnerships with faculty, staff, students and the DC legal community; (8) knowledge of and interest in recent changes in legal pedagogy and the legal profession; and (9) an appreciation of the Jesuit tradition and mission of Georgetown University.

Preferred: Significant teaching and counseling experience at the law school, post-secondary or secondary level; and significant experience as a competitor in law school moot court and/or trial advocacy competitions.

Applications may be submitted at:  http://www12.georgetown.edu/hr/employment_services/joblist/job_description.cfm?CategoryID=7&RequestNo=20100617