July 2003
Mary Rose Strubbe
Associate Professor of Legal Research and Writing
To
many, notions about the legal profession are dominated by Hollywood
images of slick lawyers delivering dramatic orations to the "ladies
and gentlemen of the jury." Yet when aspiring lawyers take their
first legal writing course in law school, they discover that, more
often than not, they'll need to make their case on paper. Professor
Mary Rose Strubbe -- a Chicago-Kent alumna who studied law in the
early days of the legal writing program and now directs that program
-- ensures that Chicago-Kent students can "wow" their audiences
with both pen and tongue.
Professor Mary Rose Strubbe, director of Chicago-Kent's Program
in Legal Research and Writing, has a simple explanation for why
it's important for the law school to provide one of the most comprehensive
and respected legal writing programs in the country.
"Lawyers communicate for a living," she says. "As
a lawyer, you have to be able to identify your client's issues,
find the law that governs the situation and either explain that
law to other people or persuade a judge that you should get the
results you want for the client."
With this in mind, Professor Strubbe oversees a writing program
that employs 12 full-time faculty members and approximately 35
adjunct professors and that touches five semesters in the life
of a Chicago-Kent student.
"The five semesters, in particular, enable us to give students
a much deeper exposure to analysis and communication skills than
most other law schools do," she says. "We aim for 30
students per class in the first year and 15 students per class
in the second and third year courses that's really just
about the largest number you can do a good, in-depth job with.
At many law schools, people are teaching 50, 60 or 70 students
per semester."
In fall 2001, Chicago-Kent's Legal Writing Strategy Committee conducted
a survey of recent Chicago-Kent graduates, law firm hiring partners
and judges to better understand what law students need to know
before entering the work force.
"Our graduates and many hiring partners said that new lawyers
understand litigation," Strubbe says. "But what they
haven't spent much time on is the transactional, non-litigation-oriented
work that so many lawyers do. Most of us don't litigate anymore."
The survey was just one part of an overall examination of the Legal
Research and Writing Program that ultimately led the faculty to
approve changes to the legal writing curriculum. Starting with
the August 2002 entering class, students no longer take Legal
Drafting and Advanced Research courses in their second year.
When helping to design a new course sequence, Strubbe drew on experience
from the latter part of her private-practice career at Brigham,
Kane & Strubbe, where she spent much of her time negotiating
out-of-court settlements, such as severance agreements for senior
employees.
"The new Legal Writing III course, which most students will
take in the fall of their second year, will be an introduction
to transactional thinking and writing in a non-litigation context,"
Strubbe explains. "How do you figure out what the applicable
law is and negotiate and write a contract on behalf of a client,
when what you're obviously trying to do is avoid litigation?
"Legal Writing IV, which most students will take in the spring
of their second year, will focus on advanced research training
and writing in a specific subject area, such as labor and employment
law, intellectual property law, or environmental law," she
says.
Strubbe earned her J.D. degree from Chicago-Kent in 1981 and later
spent two years teaching in the program she now runs -- first
as an instructor, then as one of the program's first visiting
assistant professors.
"The truth of the matter is I thought teaching would be fun,
but I didn't realize how much I'd like it," she says of her
first teaching experience at Chicago-Kent. "I rather astonished
myself by how much I enjoyed it and how much I missed it when
I returned to private practice."
Strubbe brought her love of teaching back to Chicago-Kent in 1994
at the behest of then-Dean Richard Matasar. Since then, she's
taught courses in the Legal Research and Writing Program as well
as courses in employment law and estates and trusts. In 1997,
she was named assistant director of the Institute for Law and
the Workplace, where she runs the practicum program and counsels
students on everything from class choice to career path.
In 2001, Strubbe was asked to head the Legal Research and Writing
Program, not only because of her knowledge and ability, but also
because of her past experience with the program.
"I attended law school back in the days when Ralph Brill was
putting together the multi-semester writing program," she
recalls. "And when I first taught at Chicago-Kent, there
were no long-term writing teachers here, only Professor Brill,
who headed the program at the time."
Did teaching come easily to her? "Oh no," she laughs.
"When I started, most of us didn't have any experience. Professor
Brill taught us how to teach writing, and we all worked together."
One of the lessons Strubbe learned during that time is that when
it comes to legal writing, not all students advance at the same
speed.
"I always remind new writing professors that it's a tremendous
mistake to categorize students based on their first assignments,"
she says. "Some students get it quicker than others, and
the first few assignments are no indication of how good they are
going to be at the end of the first year."
As for advice to students just starting out in the program: "Remember
your audience," she says. "You have to remember with
whom you are communicating. Is it a client? Your boss at the law
firm? Opposing counsel? A judge? If you don't keep the audience
in mind, you're going to be less effective in getting your point
across."
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