Laurel Currie Oates
Professor Laurel Currie Oates is a legal author and teacher. She was a co-founder of the Legal Writing Institute, which now has more than 2400 members; helped establish its newsletter known as The Second Draft; and helped organize and host seven of its national conferences, including the 1984, 1986, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 conferences. She is the co-author of five books, including The Legal Writing Handbook, which is now in its sixth edition, and Just Research, Just Memos, Just Briefs, and Just Writing.
After graduating from the University of Puget Sound Law School (now the Seattle University School of Law) she clerked for the Washington Court of Appeals and in 1980 joined the faculty at her alma mattar where she still teaches.
She designed and teaches in the Legal Writing program at Seattle University School of Law, which has been ranked as the best or second best legal writing program in the United States by U.S. News and World Report in 14 or the last 15 years.[1]
In 2014, Oates launched the Law School's first online course, a course on effective legal writing.[2]
During the last fifteen years, Oates has taught multiple courses and workshops on legal writing in Afghanistan, Botswana, China, Ethiopia, India, Liberia, South Africa, Uganda and the United States. She has hosted programs for both students and lawyers in South Africa. In 2018, she helped design an online Legal Writing course, which is now being used in South African law schools.
Awards
In June 2007, Oates received the Burton Award for Outstanding Contributions to Legal Writing Education at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.;[3] in October 2009 she received the Marjorie Rombauer Award for Contributions to the Teaching of Legal Writing;[4] in October 2012 she received the Tom Holdych Award for Meritorious and Transformational Service,[5] and in 2016 she received both the Global Legal Skills Award and the Terri LeClercq Courage Award for her work in Afghanistan.[6]