I had the privilege of speaking yesterday on a panel supporting New Legal Writing Professors at the Legal Writing Institute’s (LWI) New Teacher Training Bootcamp. I was thrilled to join colleagues from other law schools and offer advice for new members of the profession who teach legal writing to first-year law students. My advice included:

Be authentic. Your teaching persona is important, and if you don’t consciously define it for yourself, students will define it for you. Be intentional in determining how funny/serious, formal/informal, and personal/impersonal you wish to be. Whatever you decide, make sure it’s true to yourself. If you aren’t naturally like Prof. Kingsfield from the Paper Chase, don’t try to be like him! Others can smell BS a mile away. Connecting with your students in a way that motivates them to succeed is critical. The first step toward connecting with your students is simple: be authentic.