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Washburn University Schoolof Law Alumni Association

BOARD OF GOVERNORS

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Steven G. Cooper ‘73, President

Stephen W. Cavanaugh ‘80, President-Elect

Winton M. Hinkle ‘68, Vice President

David E. Pierce ‘77, Secretary Treasurer

Linda D. Henry Elrod ‘72, Executive Secretary

D. Duke Dupre ‘73, Past President

Bernard A. Bianchino ‘74, Foundation President

The Hon. Richard D. Anderson ‘80

Mark V. Beshears ‘76

Rita J. Bicknell ‘95

The Hon. J. Patrick Brazil ‘62

Dana E. Brewer ‘77

William D. Bunten ‘56

The Hon. Nancy Caplinger ‘85

Richmond M. Enochs ‘63

David A. Fenley ‘79

Paul R. Hoferer ‘75

Carol G. Green ‘81

Ward E. Loyd ‘68

Terry L. Mann ‘86

Gary D. McCallister ‘75

Carol Duffy McDowell ‘75

Philip C. Pennington ‘84

Shoko Sevart ‘73

James C. Slattery ‘75

Sabrina K. Standifer ‘99

Stephen J. Torline ‘97

The Hon. Gregory L. Waller ‘73

M. Kathryn Webb ‘83

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SUMMER 2006

Washburn Law is one of onlyeight law schools employingtenure-track professors of legalwriting – LWI 2006 Survey Report

in need of care through thecourt system – a WashburnLaw education path isgrounded in fundamentalsand paved with concreteskills to ensure students’ marketability to employersand preparedness for lifeafter law school.

In the next several issues of The Washburn Lawyer,we will focus on the

specialty programs that set WashburnLaw apart from other law schools, andthe impact these programs have on students, the faculty who administer theprograms, and the alumni volunteerswho make all of it happen.

Legal research and writing programs(LRW) are not new to law schools butthe shift to employing tenured or tenure-track teachers specifically to teach legalwriting is in its infancy. According to the 2006 Association of Legal WritingDirectors/Legal Writing Institute(ALWD/LWI) Survey Report, only eightof 184 law schools responding to thesurvey employ full-time tenure-trackteachers of legal writing. Washburn Lawis one of those eight. 5

E X P E R I E N C EReal Wo r l d

The Washburn Lawyer

There is no substitute for experience, andin the legal profession practice helps per-fect the real world skills law students willneed when courting employers.Balancing legal reasoning and analysis with hands-on programsdesigned to offer law students practical experience is one objective ofWashburn Law. With specialty programs designed to offer a slice of the real world – whether it is a chance at arguing a case in competition or representing a child

Although the need for legalwriting programs emerged in the 1950s, it was not untilthe early 1980s that legalwriting was generally offeredas a separate course. The model followed then by many law schools offered two hours of LRW and rotated doctrinal facultyto teach legal methods and writing. Other lawschools staffed their programs using teacherswith low status, low pay, little support forscholarship, and in some cases legal writingwas taught by second- and third-year law students.

In the early 1990s, the MacCrate Report findings jump-started the movement towardrecognizing the need for law students toacquire these special set of skills while attending law school. Specifically, the reportnoted “the continuing complaints… concerninglaw graduates’ writing skills” and “the widelyheld perception that new lawyers today aredeficient in writing skills.” Thus, the authors of the MacCrate Report recommended thatlegal education “teach writing at a better

level than is now generally done.”

6SUMMER 2006

Real World

J. Lyn Entrikin GoeringDirector, Legal Analysis, Research,and Writing Program AssociateProfessor of LawB.G.S., University of Kansas, 1976M.P.A., University of Kansas, 1982J.D., Washburn University School of Law, 1987

Before attending law school, ProfessorGoering worked as a legislative fiscal analystfor the Kansas Legislature. She attendedWashburn Law where she served as editor-in-chief of the Washburn Law Journal. Shelater worked as a research attorney forJustice Richard Holmes of the KansasSupreme Court. Thereafter, she served asadministrative assistant to Chief JusticeRobert Miller and then to Chief JusticeHolmes. She clerked for federal district courtJudge Dale Saffels before joining the Topekalaw firm of Wright, Henson, Somers,Sebelius, Clark & Baker. She also served asan assistant attorney general in the LegalOpinions and Government Counsel Division.

A subsequent study by staff of the AmericanBar Foundation found that the top three skillsthat hiring partners look for in new lawyerswithout the need for additional on-the-jobtraining included written communication, oralcommunication, and library research, coreskills taught in most legal writing programs.

The Washburn Lawyer 7

E X P E R I E N C E

In 1996, Goering was appointed to theKansas Board of Tax Appeals, which adjudi-cates state and local tax disputes. After com-pleting her term, she established a solo lawpractice in Topeka, focusing primarily on advalorem tax litigation and appellate practice.She has also worked for Lexis-Nexis as aSenior Case Law Editor.

She is licensed to practice in Kansas andColorado and has been admitted to practicebefore the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.

❝We have a core

team of people whojust love teachinglegal writing. We

discuss being visible and

accessible to the students, and

we talk about newideas for the program, . . .

❞– J. Lyn Entrikin Goering

Lyn Goering, director of Washburn Law’s LegalAnalysis, Research, and Writing Program (LARW),credits Professor Sheila Reynolds, who chaired aWashburn Law faculty committee in the late 1990sthat reviewed the law school’s LRW program andmade recommendations on how to improve it. In1999, the law school hired its first full-time profes-sor who specialized in teaching LARW. In 2003, thefull faculty voted to hire a tenure-track director tolead the program.

In January 2004, Goering accepted the LARW direc-tor position and later that year presented her pro-posal that included full-time, tenure-track LARWfaculty and phasing toward a three-year programincorporating more upper-level writing electives.

“The demand for hands-on, process-oriented teach-ing was emerging. Law firms were no longerinvesting as much in training their new hires.Instead they wanted graduates with solid profes-sional skills,” said Goering.

In October 2004, the Washburn Law faculty madewhat Goering calls a “true commitment” by votingunanimously in favor of her proposal to hire exclu-sively full-time, tenure-track LARW faculty.

This fall, the LARW program will be fully staffedfor the first time with tenure-track faculty specifi-cally hired to teach Legal Analysis, Research, andWriting.

8SUMMER 2006

E X P E R I E N C E

Real World

Tonya KowalskiAssociate Professor of LawB.A., Political Science, University ofFlorida, 1992J.D., Duke University School of Law,1995

Before joining Washburn Law, ProfessorKowalski was visiting associate clinical pro-fessor for the Sandra Day O’Connor Collegeof Law at Arizona State University. She wasalso a staff attorney for the Indian LegalClinic, Tempe, Ariz. Professor Kowalski spent several years liti-gating commercial, domestic, and appellatecases in Oregon and Washington as well asthe U.S. Court of Appeals for the NinthCircuit. She also worked as a legal writingconsultant. During law school, she was a member of theDuke Law Journal and a co-director of theDomestic Violence Advocacy Project.

Her affiliations include membership in theLegal Writing Institute, Association ofAmerican Law Schools, Clinical LegalEducation Section, and membership in theFederal Bar Association, Indian Law Section.

The Washburn Lawyer

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Jeffrey D. JacksonAssociate Professor of LawB.A., Washburn University, 1989J.D., Washburn University School of Law, 1992 LL.M., GeorgetownUniversity Law Center, 2003

Jeffrey D. Jackson previously worked forthe Kansas Supreme Court where he wasstaff attorney for Death Penalty andConstitutional issues. Prior to that, he wasa law clerk for the Honorable Mary BeckBriscoe on the U.S. Court of Appeals forthe Tenth Circuit, law clerk to TheHonorable Justice Robert E. Davis at theKansas Supreme Court, an associate atBennett & Dillon LLP, in Topeka and staffattorney for the Kansas Court of Appeals.

While attending Washburn Law, Jacksonwas assistant editor for the WashburnLaw Journal. He is admitted to practice inKansas, Missouri, U.S. District Court forthe District of Kansas, U.S. District Courtfor the Western District of Missouri andthe U.S. Court of Appeals for the TenthCircuit. He is a member of the KansasJudicial Council Death Penalty AdvisoryCommittee.

“Washburn Law is unique inthat we have a fully tenure-track program now, and wehire professors who have apassion for it,” she said.

The LARW program’s process-oriented teach-ing requires a hands-on approach by facultywhere projects begin with drafts that are thengraded and returned to the students withdetailed feedback so they can improve specif-ic areas noted by the professors. Shifting theemphasis from the “writing product” to the“process of writing” challenges the traditionalmethod of showing law students a modeldocument, assigning a document project, andgrading the final document without a draftprocess in between.

According to Goering, the move to process-oriented teaching within the scope of theLARW program allows students “to get backon track by giving them early feedback toencourage the learning process.”

“The whole world of legal writing has changed. Process-oriented teaching allowsus to intervene as much as possible,” sheadded.

Success of the program depends on the cohe-sion among LARW faculty as well as theircontinuous input into the program’s curricu-lum and processes. Goering said the LARWfaculty meets frequently to discuss new ideasfor the following year.

“We have a core team of people who just love teaching legalwriting. We discuss being visible and accessible to the students,and we talk about new ideas for the program,” Goering added.

Another area in which Washburn Law excels when compared toother law schools is the credit hours offered within the LARWcurriculum. The first year offers three credit hours in the fall andthree in the spring. The average according to the ALWD/LWISurvey Report is 2.31 credit hours in the fall and 2.16 hours in the spring. “This demonstrates Washburn’s commitment to theprogram,” Goering said.

Students entering law school in the fall are required to take LegalAnalysis, Research, and Writing I, which introduces students tothe fundamentals of legal research, problem solving through legalanalysis, and reasoning — the fundamentals of thinking, writing,and speaking like a lawyer.

The spring follow-up course, Legal Analysis, Research, andWriting II, further develops the students’ legal analysis andresearch skills and introduces them to legal advocacy throughpersuasive legal writing, such as trial and appellate briefs, andoral argument.

The writing process throughout the first year improves the stu-dents’ ability to not only analyze and reason but also explainlegalese to clients. “The students don’t realize how much theyhave learned until they can translate legal mumbo jumbo to

10SUMMER 2006

E X P E R I E N C EAïda M. AlakaAssociate Professor of LawB.A., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1981J.D., Loyola University Chicago, 1993

Before joining Washburn Law, ProfessorAlaka was a lecturer at the University ofKansas, where she taught courses in legalresearch and writing, race discrimination law and higher education law.

Prior to that, she was a partner at theChicago law firm of Winston & Strawn,focusing on employment law counseling and litigation and was seconded to Sears,Roebuck and Company’s corporate lawdepartment, where she counseled manage-ment on employment-law issues and man-aged litigation. Professor Alaka was also amember of the litigation practice group atHolleb & Coff.

During law school, Professor Alaka was editor-in-chief of the Loyola University LawJournal and a staff writer for the LoyolaUniversity Consumer Law Reporter . She islicensed to practice in Kansas and Illinoisand has been admitted to the bar of the U.S.District Courts for the Northern and CentralDistricts of Illinois and the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

Real World

11The Washburn Lawyer

Curtis J. WaughAssistant Professor of LawB.A., Williams College, 1970J.D., Washburn UniversitySchool of Law, 1987

Upon his graduation from law school, Professor Waugh joined the Topeka firm of Goodell,Stratton, Edmonds & Palmer,where he worked in the areas of civil litigation and appellatepractice for 16 years.

Before joining the Washburn Lawfaculty as a supervising attorney inthe Washburn Law Clinic, he taughtPretrial Advocacy as an adjunctprofessor at the School of Law.Prior to attending law school,Professor Waugh taught high schoolEnglish and was an adjunct profes-sor of English at Emporia StateUniversity.

Professor Waugh is admitted topractice in Kansas state courts, theU.S. District Court for the District of Kansas, and the U.S. Court ofAppeals for the Tenth Circuit.

clients,” Goering said. One of the recent innovations inthe Washburn Law program requires students to write aclient letter based on the research memo they wroteduring the fall semester.

Concerned that LARW courses were not offered beyondthe first year, Goering proposed and then taught Writingfor Law Practice (LARW 901) for the first time in fall2004, an upper-level elective worth three credit hours.It is designed to supplement the first-year curriculum bystrengthening legal writing, analysis, and critical think-ing skills. According to Goering, students learn to applyprinciples of logical analysis, plain English, proper plan-ning, organization, and drafting by preparing legal doc-uments commonly assigned to new law firm associates.

“The students produce a writing portfolio with 10 grad-ed writing assignments that may include client letters,proposed jury instructions, and judicial opinions,” shesaid.

Goering was not surprised when 37 students ended upon a waiting list for the first offering of Writing for LawPractice. “Students knew they wanted more and neededmore legal writing skills to compete,” she said.

Enrollment in Writing for Law Practice is limited to 18students to ensure a low student-faculty ratio.

A precursor to Washburn Law’s Writing Program thatcontinues to play an integral role in the law school’swriting curriculum is the Washburn Law Journal, ofwhich Goering served as editor-in-chief while attendingWashburn Law.

Now teaching at her alma mater, Goering has set hersights high for producing a nationally recognized LARWprogram.

“The next two to three years will be a real watershedfor the program,” Goering said.

“My goal is for other law schools to gear their programstoward ours and ask, ‘What’s Washburn doing? Let’s doit Washburn’s way.’ That’s my goal for this program.”

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Each year, the board of editors narrowsall of the staff-written papers down tothe top three notes and comments andsends them to the GNIP-GNOP mem-bers for review. After consultation, thegroup awards significant cash prizes tothe best note and comment each year atthe annual awards banquet.

The group’s name is derived from itsfounders’ fondness for ping-pong, whichspelled backward is gnip-gnop.

John F. Kuether AwardsThe Washburn Law Faculty establishedits own awards for the best note andcomment to provide an additionalincentive and to recognize successfulcompletion of the students’ WashburnLaw Journal experience. Each year thefaculty selects student writers for theawards based on the students’ ability todevelop and explain an area of the law.

In 1999, the awards were renamed inmemory of Professor John F. Kuether,long-time faculty advisor of theWashburn Law Journal. Recipients ofthe Awards have their names engravedon a plaque permanently on display atWashburn University School of Law.The Hinkle Elkouri Law Firm LLC ofWichita, Kan., has established a fundthat helps sponsor this award.

Students sharpen skills through competitions,

journalsWashburn Law Journal isoffered to students who have successful-ly completed their comments and whohave written or will write a note, as cer-tified by the managing board of the LawJournal. Students who take these cours-es must enroll in at least one gradedhour and may enroll in an additionalone or two hours. Students who enrollin two hours may also enroll in oneadditional graded hour for a total of oneto four hours. The Law Journal facultyadvisor grades performance after consul-tation with the managing board, basedon successful completion of the entireLaw Journal experience.

GNIP-GNOP AwardsNine Washburn University School ofLaw graduates formed The Free Societyof GNIP-GNOP in 1947 to recognize thetop instructor at the law school. Asmembers dispersed across the countrythrough the years, it became difficult forthem to track faculty achievements.Consequently, they redirected their gen-erosity toward the Washburn LawJournal.

Real World

13The Washburn Lawyer

John D. Ensley Memorial Awardfor Excellence in Legal WritingWashburn Law presents the John D. EnsleyMemorial Writing Award semi-annually tothe student who writes the top memo in the Washburn Law Journal writing competi-tion. The award memorializes John D.Ensley, a 1983 graduate of Washburn Law,whose experience on the Law Journalmade him a careful practitioner of the craft of legal writing.

Family Law Quarterly

The Family Law Quarterly is a scholarly journalpublished by the American Bar AssociationSection of Family Law, which focuses on impor-tant and emerging family law issues. WashburnLaw students have edited the Quarterly since1992.

In addition to three issues each year, theQuarterly publishes an annual review of thechanges in family law throughout the fifty states,commonly referred to as the “Law in 50” issue.

The student editors are the heart and soul of theQuarterly. It is through their hard work that theQuarterly has remained at Washburn Law and hasbecome one of the most cited specialty journalsin the United States.

Mentor ProgramThe stress and uncertainty inherent in the tran-sition from undergraduate studies to law schoolmakes for a tough first-year for law students.Washburn Law recognized the need for first-year law students to connect with others whohave had similar experiences and responded bycreating the Washburn Law Mentor Program in2003. The Mentoring Program connects first-year law students with alumni and friends ofthe law school for discussing issues related tolaw school and their future career.

First attracting only 20 mentors pooled from asmall group of Washburn Law alumni threeyears ago, the second year of the programattracted enough mentors to assist all studentswho applied for the program.

“Last year, almost all first-year students signedup and all had mentors,” said Julie Olson, dire c-t o r, Alumni Affairs, who, with Margann Bennett,d i re c t o r, Professional Development, designedthe Mentor Program at Wa s h b u rn Law.

Their goal was to not only assist students intheir first year of law studies but to also offerarea alumni the opportunity tore-connect with the School ofLaw. “We saw it as a way to gettwo important constituents onthe same page,” said Bennett.

In June of each year, Bennettand Olson mail letters to poten-tial mentors within close proxim-ity of the law school asking for their participa-tion in the program. The amount of time men-tors commit to the students is flexible with theunderstanding that at least one substantive con-tact with the assigned student will take place.The program encourages mentors to invite theassigned student to lunch, for an office visit, toa court date and/or to participate in other perti-nent learning experiences.

The recent June mailing produced “an over-whelming number of new mentors this year,”according to Bennett.

Morgan Steele, a student who par-ticipated in the program last year,at first believed the contacts shemade through the program wouldbe the most helpful, but soon real-ized the one-on-one conversationsoffered her the most benefit.

“The conversations, advice, andunderstanding from Max (Halley)and all the other law graduates Ispoke with are what have reallyhelped me the most,” Steele said. “The firstyear can seem a bit overwhelming, especially ifyou don’t know what kind of law you want topractice, but learning that these successful peo-ple had the same struggles made the uncertain-ties diminish so I could focus more on studyingand less on whether I would find a job,” sheadded.

Steele’s mentor, Dr. Max Halley, ’66, met withSteele at least a dozen times over coffee, lunchor other events such as a Rotary Club luncheonwith speaker Governor Kathleen Sebelius andlunch with Justice Larson. Sometimes the meet-ings included a friend or two of Halley’s, whowere law school graduates too.

14SUMMER 2006

To participate in the Mentor Program, pleasecomplete and return the Mentor RegistrationForm on the Washburn Law Web site athttp://washburnlaw.edu/career/mentor/form

Morgan Steele

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Real World

“Had I known about it previously it definitelywould have set Washburn apart from otherschools,” she said.

Once Olson and Bennett identify the potentialmentors and students interested in participatingin the program in a given year, they begin theprocess of pairing mentors and students basedon three criteria: career interest or practicearea, undergraduate experience and interest,and the “hometown” factor that attempts to pairthose from the same city or region.

Two Mentor Program receptions early in thefall semester offer the students and their men-tors a chance to meet and exchange ideas.From there it is up to the students and mentorsto make the most of the opportunity.

Steele agrees that the Mentor Program is a“two-way street” but students should never passup the opportunity to spend time with some-one who identifies with what you are goingthrough.

“Don’t wait for your mentor to take the firststep,” advises Steele. “You will never be suc-cessful if you wait for things to happen to you.”

When asked if she would consider being a men-tor to a law student in the future, Steele said shewould “love to be a mentor” and recalled a con-versation she had with an attorney.

“She was telling me stories of lunches she had with practicing attorneys while she was in school and that it is not an obligation or aninconvenience but an investment in the futureof the judicial system. Most attorneys can thinkof someone who helped them in school or inpractice. If someone helped you, return thefavor and continue investing.”

Dr. Halley looks forward to another year assist-ing with the Mentor Program.

“Based on this one-year experience, I believethat the Mentor Program is of value to interest-ed students, who in this instance were wellrepresented by the outstanding and articulateK-State graduate assigned to me. The associa-tion was a privilege as well as a learning expe-rience for me, the mentor, and hopefully a sat-isfactory experience for the mentee. I am look-ing forward to next year’s assignment.”

“Last year was my first experience with the LawSchool Mentor program,” Halley said. “The pro-gram seems to me to be a valuable addition tothe law school curriculum, since it enables stu-dents to obtain additional first-hand views oflife in the ‘real world’ after three years of larg e l yacademic introduction to the legal pro f e s s i o n . ”

Halley, who after receiving his law degree atWashburn pursued his med-ical degree, believes a men-toring program would haveserved him well while attend-ing law school, and a similarprogram would have hadbenefits while immersed inhis surgical training.

“The program can establish asphere of contacts, beyondthe immediate mentor, forpotential benefits both duringand after the school years.Such a program would havebeen helpful during my timeat Washburn Law. It wouldalso have been valuable dur-ing my medical school yearsand subsequent six years’surgical specialty training,

which provided in-depth exposure to the pro-fession, but largely ignored the practical aspectsof life beyond the “ivory” towers,” Halley said.

Halley said he mainly planned, scheduled, andprovided opportunities for Steele to interactwith his friends and colleagues, graduates ofWashburn and other law schools, some inactive law practice or in the judiciary, some inother fields, to relate their particular experi-ences in making choices and developing suc-cessful careers.

“Max would ask me if there was anyone Iwanted to talk to and try to find someone in afield of my interest to talk to me,” Steele said.They discussed various legal paths they hadtaken and how they used their law degrees inthe banking industry and other professions.

Steele said she was not aware of the MentorProgram prior to her choosing Washburn Lawbut believes the program gives Washburn Lawan edge. 15

The Washburn Lawyer

Max Halley ‘66