Biggest Challenges Faced by a Clinical Professor of Law at Loyola Law School Los Angeles
Amy, a Clinical Professor of Law, finds the most significant challenge in her role to be grading, specifically the "hundreds if not thousands of pages" of legal writing requiring meticulous attention to legal citations and analysis. The process is time-consuming, demanding careful evaluation to provide students with "quality feedback that will help them progress".
Higher Education, Legal Profession, Legal Writing, Instructional Design, Feedback and Assessment
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
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Traits
Amy Levin
Clinical Professor of Law
LMU Loyola Law School, Los Angeles
University of California, Berkeley 1994
University of California, Los Angeles JD/MSW
Psychology
Education, Law
Education
Honors Student
Video Highlights
1. Grading large volumes of student legal writing and providing quality feedback.
2. The challenge of balancing the assessment of legal accuracy with the evaluation of writing quality.
3. The time-consuming nature of providing detailed feedback that helps students improve and progress in their legal education and careers.
Transcript
What is your biggest challenge in your current role?
That's a very easy question. I think probably every professor would give you the same answer: grading.
Especially for me, because I'm a writing professor, I read hundreds, if not thousands, of pages of legal writing every semester. What differentiates legal writing from writing in an English class are the legal citations students have to include, such as case law, statutes, and regulations.
As professors reading this work, we have to understand and make sure those citations are accurate. We also need to verify that what students are saying about a case, for example, is accurate. So, we have to know the law and the analysis. It's complicated.
It's not easy writing to read, and that's the most time-consuming part, just trying to give papers a grade. I've been doing it long enough that I know an "A" paper when I see it and I know a "B" paper when I see it.
But it's the fine gradations between papers and really feeling like I'm giving students quality feedback that will help them progress in their education and careers. So definitely, grading—that's the bane of my existence.