Law School Academic Support Blog

Unique--and call for proposals for the AASE Diversity Conference

Unique:

For the last two weeks, I taught a class for undergraduates who wish to attend law school. I had 20 amazing students from historically excluded communities in the study and profession of law. As an ice breaker on the first day, we did a bingo game where we needed to find people who played a sport, or an instrument, or currently had nail polish on. The rules stated that you needed to find one person for each square (no doubles), and you could not count yourself. The grand prize went to someone who filled out the entire board.

One square that appeared on every board was (to find) "someone who was left-handed." There were 25 people playing this game: all the students, the faculty teaching in the program, and the program coordinators. And only one left-handed person amongst all of them. That was me. While this was a tiny and trivial example of how it feels to be the "only" in a room, the fact that everyone needed to find me in order to succeed--but I could not possibly win-- was very clear. 

Let me preface this next part by saying that I am not sure this is my story to tell. The stakes for me were extremely low and had virtually no impact on me or how I value myself. But I thought, in that moment, that it may be similar to how purely performative diversity initiatives feel to students. Do students of color (or first gen students, or any historically excluded law student) feel that everyone needs their presence to "win," but that the student cannot?

Remember, being left-handed (at least in this current time and place) is a relatively neutral difference-the stereotypes associated with being left-handed are not particularly negative (sure, feel free to think I am artistic or clumsy); and being left-handed doesn't really have implications for me academically or professionally. But the stereotypes and assumptions and micro-aggressions (or just aggressions) associated with race, gender, socioeconomic status etc. are toxic to students. Are law schools guilty of valuing the presence of a diverse student body, but still setting them up to fail? In the the game we played to break the ice, the rules were the reason I couldn't win.

Rules can be changed. 

Call for Proposals:

The AASE Diversity Committee is pleased to announce the Call for Proposals for the 4^th Biennial AASE Diversity Conference, October 11-13, 2023 at American University Washington College of Law in Washington, DC. Please see attached document or visit the following link to submit your proposal. (be sure to click through the ad if it pops up). The conference will offer an in-person and virtual experience. The theme for the October 2023 Diversity Conference is “The Choices We Make Matter: Revisioning Legal Academia’s Structures and Systems to Build More Inclusive Spaces for Historically Excluded Communities.” We welcome proposals on diversity, inclusion and belonging as it relates to legal education, academic support, bar examination and licensure. Proposals are due by July 31, 2023. Presenters will be notified no later than August 31, 2023.

If you have any questions, please contact [email protected]

(Liz Stillman)

 

Director of Academic Success and Bar Passage at University of North Dakota

Salary/Position Classification

• $82,000 Annual, Exempt
• 40 hours per week
• 100% Remote Work Availability: No
• Hybrid Work Availability: No
• Link to Posting:  https://careers.und.edu/jobs/director-of-academic-success-bar-passage-grand-forks-north-dakota-united-states

Purpose of Position

The Director of Academic Success and Bar Passage shall coordinate and assume primary responsibility for academic success and bar preparation programming at the University of North Dakota School of Law. The ability of our students to succeed academically – and to pass any licensure examination required for bar admission – is critical to the ongoing success of the School of Law. The position reports directly to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Administration of the School of Law.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Coordination and implementation of all major support services related to bar examination success/bar passage.
  • Teach regular bar exam workshops on core skills required for success on the bar exam, including skills relating to success on all portions of the Uniform Bar Examination (e.g., multiple choice, essay examinations, and practical examinations), and on the most commonly tested subjects, for UND Law students and alumni.
  • Administer practice tests at workshops and provide students with individualized feedback and scoring on practice tests.
  • Administer a simulated practice exam upon the completion of each workshop cycle and provide students with individualized feedback and scoring on the practice exam.
  • Provide counseling to students and alumni studying for the bar exam.
  • Advise students on course selection to maximize bar exam success.
  • Teach the School of Law’s primary bar preparation course each year.
  • A substantial in-person/on-campus presence is required; this responsibility cannot be adequately satisfied through fully online/remote operations. 
• Coordination and implementation of all major support services related to academic success and academic support.
  • Provide academic support counseling (e.g., providing students with practice problems and tests and providing individualized feedback to students on those practice problems and tests, advising students on course selection, discussing taking class notes and other general academic success skills, etc.) for students who have been referred to the School of Law’s mandatory academic advising program through regular one-on-one appointments.
  • Provide academic support counseling to all law students who wish to meet to discuss academic skills.
  • Conduct frequent academic success workshops on a range of topics such as class preparation, reading and briefing cases, classroom participation, outlining, exam strategies and skills, and time management.
  • Administer a practice exam for first-year students prior to their first graded mid-term exam each year.
  • Provide intensive instruction in academic skills during the first-year orientation.
  • Supervise academic success teaching assistants.
  • Teach academic skills/academic success courses as needed.
  • A substantial in-person/on-campus presence is required; this responsibility cannot be adequately satisfied through fully online/remote operations. 
• Provide programming and professional administrative support.
  • Work with Assistant Dean to coordinate, implement, and administer academic success programming during required first-year orientation program.
  • Compile information for various reports and develop and implement policies and procedures related to academic success and bar examination reporting.
  • Provide support to law students at the North Dakota bar examination in February and July
  • Other related responsibilities as assigned.
  • A substantial in-person/on-campus presence is required; this responsibility cannot be adequately satisfied through fully online/remote operations. - (Essential)
• Assist with School of Law administration.
  • Contribute to the success of the School of Law through collegial and constructive participation in senior administrative efforts.
  • Serve on School of Law and external committees.
  • Represent the School of Law in various public settings and interact effectively with the bench and bar, as well as with government officials.
  • Other related responsibilities as assigned.
  • Attendance at on- and off-campus events during and outside of ordinary business hours may be required; some additional travel may be required.
  • A substantial in-person/on-campus presence is required; this responsibility cannot be adequately satisfied through fully online/remote operations.

Required Competencies

• Strong commitment to public legal education and student success.
• Strong business communication skills.
• Ability to explain complex legal concepts clearly and effectively.
• Strong interpersonal and collaborative skills.
• Clear ability to interact effectively and appropriately with students, staff, faculty, alumni, and appropriate external constituencies.

Minimum Requirements

• Juris Doctor from an ABA-accredited law school.
• Passage of a bar examination.
• Successful completion of criminal history background check

In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the US and to complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire. This position does not support visa sponsorship for continued employment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Three or more years of experience in academic success/bar examination preparation programming at a law school.
• Passage of the Uniform Bar Examination.
• Current bar membership within the United States (and, if not already admitted to the North Dakota bar, the ability to become admitted to the North Dakota bar).
• Prior instructional experience in a law school environment.
• Prior experience counseling law students.
• Prior experience supervising law students.
• Record of strong academic performance in law school.

Associate Director of Academic Success and Bar Support, SUNY University at Buffalo School of Law

The University at Buffalo, School of Law (UB Law) Academic Success Program is designed to provide students with support through every stage of their legal education. The Associate Director of Academic Success and Bar Support will report to and work closely with the Director of Academic Success and the Vice Dean of Student Affairs to support student academic progress, including teaching or co-teaching UB Law’s summer JumpStart program, running small group academic sessions, managing an individualized academic counseling program, and potentially developing and teaching coursework for students who need to strengthen foundational skills. The primary responsibility of this position and program is to support bar exam success initiatives. The associate director will also coordinate this work with various vice deans, faculty, and staff. The associate director must show an aptitude for working with diverse populations in an inclusive environment.

Additional Responsibilities:

• Assist the director and various vice deans and faculty in developing new programming for student success, especially for students from diverse backgrounds.
• Maintain high level of integrity and confidentiality of student records and information.
• Communicate regularly and respond promptly to students, staff, and faculty.
• Assist the director and various vice deans and faculty in developing and implementing cohesive and comprehensive programming for students to promote their academic success through graduation and bar exam passage.
• Develop curriculum as needed to meet program goals.
• Data collection and analysis to impact decision making targeted at enhancing student academic success
• Implement data-driven processes for evaluating the success of students and program goals.
• Develop and maintain up-to-date knowledge of the law and rules necessary for successful completion of JD and LLM degrees in New York State as well as current and future exams, materials, and other requirements necessary to seek admission to the New York Bar.
• Regularly review the academic and bar success programs, research best practices for these programs, and make recommendations to improve them.
• Prepare and disseminate a variety of written communications to students including events, programs, and more.
• Host and/or attend a variety of student events, activities, and workshops related to academic success.
• Some evening and weekend hours required.

All applicants must have the following qualifications:

• JD from an ABA-accredited law school.
• Admission to practice in good standing in at least one state (or have been admitted to practice previously in at least one state in good standing with the ability to renew license).
• A demonstrated commitment to working with diverse populations.
• At least three years of experience in legal practice.
• Experience working in either academic support at a law school, teaching at a law school, or working for or with a law school, law firm, or law-related organization in a teaching or mentoring capacity.
• Applicants must also possess an academic and/or practice history showing superior analytical, verbal, and legal research and writing skills.
• Experience working in a collaborative team setting, with a preference for those who have done so in connection with the development and implementation of an academic support program or in a similar academic setting.

Given the central role that the Associate Director serves in the academic success efforts at the law school, it is expected that the successful candidate will also possess some or all of the following:

• Prior experience managing or providing individualized academic support services in a law school setting.
• Teaching experience in a bar preparation or academic support program, a legal research and writing program, and/or in any other capacity requiring an emphasis on analyzing and applying the law.
• Familiarity with the subjects covered by the Uniform Bar Exam.
• A demonstrated ability to assist students with a diverse array of identified needs, including students for whom English is a Second Language (ESL), students with learning disabilities, and students with disparate learning styles.

How to apply: Applications should be submitted (and more information can be found) via the job posting link at the University at Buffalo website.  A cover letter, curriculum vitae, and writing sample are required; teaching evaluations may also be submitted.  Feel free to contact the Director of Academic Success, Bill MacDonald, at [email protected] or 716-645-5130 if you have any questions.

Assistant Dean for Academic Success and Director of Bar Writing Positions at Barry University

The primary responsibility of the Assistant Dean for Academic Success, Bar and Bar Prep. is to direct and implement the Law School’s Bar Preparation programs and initiatives designed to prepare students for success on the bar examination. This position is also a tenure track faculty position on the skills track.

The Assistant Dean supervises the Director of Bar Multiple Choice Initiatives , the Director of Bar Writing Initiatives, the Director of Bar Data Collection and Assessment, the Director of Academic Success and support staff.

Essential Duties

1. Organizing and facilitating Bar Preparation lectures and workshops by:

• Working with the Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs on the Comprehensive Exam and the Multistate Bar Exam (MBE) workshops.
• Being a resource to the faculty to increase teaching effectiveness.
• Teaching one or two Bar Preparation related courses and workshops each semester designed to increase bar exam readiness and legal analysis and test-taking skills.
• Advising and assisting students in the interpretation of their Individual Student Reports regarding their performance on the Comprehensive Exam.
• Organizing, overseeing and presenting Bar Application workshops.
• Organizing, overseeing and administering simulated bar exams.
• Organize, oversee and administering simulated MBE and Florida Bar exams.

2. Conduct and oversee all aspects relating to the Florida Bar exam and Florida Bar applications by:

• Organizing and overseeing all Bar application related issues.
• Organizing and overseeing the delivery of  Bar applications presentations at Orientation.
• Serving as the Law School’s liaison with the Florida Board of Bar Examiners and with commercial bar preparation providers.
• Travel to Tampa Bar Exam twice a year.

3. Coordinate the implementation of periodic program assessment by:

• Collecting and analyzing bar examination statistics.
• Tracking students through law school.
• Reporting data related to bar exam outcomes and pass rates.
• Maintaining all information on bar exam outcomes from all jurisdictions for all law graduates.
• Providing data to, and working collaboratively with, faculty and staff.
• Keeping accurate records and data for reporting on the ABA’s annual bar passage questionnaire.

4. Assist in the direction of the CLASP Program by:

• Working collaboratively with the CLASP team on academic success and bar preparation.
• Meeting with and counseling students on their academic progress and bar readiness.
• Working with students from the point of admission, through matriculation and through bar admission.
• Updating and maintaining the Academic Success and Bar Preparation webpage.

5. Work with the Director of Multiple Choice Initiatives to oversee the MPRE Process including tracking students taking the MPRE, administering the MPRE Milestone Exam, overseeing the MPRE Required Reviews and simulated exams including scheduling and makeups.

Qualifications/Requirements

• Juris Doctorate required.
• Current member of the Florida bar.
• Demonstrated high score on The Florida Bar Exam, Part A and Part B. 
• Demonstrated high scores on Part A Essay Questions of the Florida Bar.
• One to three years of relevant experience to include supervisory and general management skills.

 

Director of Bar Writing Initiative & CLASP Counselor is responsible for providing support to students from matriculation through admission to the bar examination, with the primary goal of enhancing the learning and study skills of students; primarily responsible for all bar writing initiatives and programs.

Individual Academic Counseling: 

• Provide intensive individual academic counseling to assigned students and advise them on various academic issues.  For those students on probation, advise students on the petitioning process to obtain an additional semester of discretionary probation.
• Provide individual academic counseling to all students considered at-risk and/or those seeking to improve their academic performance.
• Advise and approve course selections for students below an established GPA with the goal of providing a balanced legal education that aims to improve students’ success in law school and on the bar exam.
• Counsel with the student’s assigned faculty mentor to provide the best advice to students.
• Assess individual students’ learning styles and assist students in identifying the most effective study plans and strategies.  Review and provide individual feedback on students’ practice exams, outlines, and overall study and exam-taking skills.  Upon request by students or faculty, conduct individual exam reviews with students.
• Continually evaluate student performance, identifying which students appear to be struggling or at-risk; initiate and maintain contact with those who are at-risk or on probation.
• Monitor progress and compliance with requirements of assigned students to include bar application, AMP and BEAT workshops, MPRE requirements, and other CLASP requirements through the creation and maintenance of student portfolios; notify students of due dates; file Student Conduct Code violations where appropriate.
• Counsel and advise students regarding bar applications and admission, including all issues pertaining to the bar application.
• Assist students in reviewing answers to practice bar exams and provide advice regarding exam strategy.
• Attend and support students at each Florida Bar exam administration.

Oversee Bar Writing Initiatives:

• Maintain primary responsibility for bar writing initiatives, with the primary goal of enhancing the writing of students preparing to take the bar examination.
• Maintain responsibility for training CLASP Counselors on providing individual academic counseling on bar writing.
• Maintain resource center of study aids and practice exam materials for students’ utilization and review.
• Select, train, and supervise Dean’s Writing Fellows to assist students with their law school-related writing in the areas of grammar, punctuation, structure, style, and citations.
• Prepare Dean’s Writing Fellow Handbook that outlines specific duties, responsibilities, policies, and procedures.
• Work collaboratively with participating Legal Research and Writing (LRW) faculty who sponsor a Dean’s Writing Fellow to assist the professor’s students with student writing assignments.
• Plan and organize workshops designed to assist students with legal grammar and citations for LRW assignments and the Upper-Level Writing Requirement (ULWR).
• Supervise the development of a student-authored citation manual to assist students with their ULWR; collaborate with Barry Law Review for input and participation in the manual.
• Collect and maintain records on student visits to the Writing Center; collect and study student evaluations of program for making continued improvements and adjustments to overall program.
• Monitor Dean’s Writing Fellows’ “billable hours” and university time sheets (for those who are paid) to ensure proper time and effort is devoted to services provided by the Writing Center.
• Coordinate with other CLASP counselors to disseminate information provided in workshops and to facilitate workshops and programming.
• Work collaboratively with the Faculty Administrator of Bar Preparation, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, and other Bar Writing Course instructors on developing the curriculum for bar writing courses; continue to assess and review the effectiveness of the bar writing curriculum and revise as appropriate.
• Teach Bar Writing Courses as appropriate.

Oversee Bar Grading Initiatives:

• Prepare rubrics and grading devices for bar examination essays.
• Coordinate grading program and facilitate grading of bar essays with bar essay graders.
• Provide training on bar essay grading to bar essay graders and CLASP counselors.

Faculty Committees:

• Serve on faculty committees where appropriate and assigned.

• Assist in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of student data, performance, and outcome measures and assessments consistent with ABA standards. 

Scholarship:

• Remain educated on bar preparation and ASP pedagogy, trends, and developments.
• Attend professional conferences aimed to improve students’ success.

Educational/Experiential Requirements

• JD from an ABA accredited law school, admission to a state bar, and strong academic records
• 3-5 years of related work experience; legal work experience in private practice, non-profit organizations, government, corporate, or judicial clerkship preferred.
• At least one year experience teaching legal writing/legal methods, or working in academic support and/or counseling law students from diverse backgrounds.