I am both a legal writing professor and a language student—I am learning to speak German. In German, some nouns are feminine, some are masculine, and some are neuter. Why? For seemingly no reason at all. This non-explanation is hard for me to accept. First-year law students, too, are learning a new language. In the same way I felt frustration with German gendering, my students felt skepticism, frustration, and doubt in the face of the new norms and expectations I asked them to follow in our first-year legal writing course.

Why are students reluctant to attend faculty office hours? For years, this issue has confounded me. Students’ meeting with faculty outside of class has been shown to increase their comprehension and retention of material, satisfaction, engagement, and sense of belonging.[1] That is why I tell my students that I am almost always in my office, my door is always open, and they may drop by with any questions they have—no appointment needed.

In Summer 2023, I was scheduled to teach Legal Analysis, Research, and Writing I (LARW I) asynchronously online for the summer start students. One week before summer semester started, I was told I would have a visually impaired student in my class.

The legal writing class is the heart and soul of the first-year experience.  This is largely so because much of the vital work legal writing professors do is outside of the actual curriculum. In addition to teaching substantive legal writing skills, legal writing faculty also teach process-based skills—how to manage time, how to study effectively, how to maintain mental well-being, and how to begin to develop a professional identity.

Developing writing assignments can be one of the most challenging aspects of teaching first-year legal writing. Collaborating with other professors, using research assistants, and reworking old problems[1] can all make it easier.

Let’s slow down. Do less. Aim low. This may be controversial to say, but I believe we legal writing professors need to accomplish less in our first-year courses.