Professors Ashley B. Armstrong, Rosa Castello, Eric W. Shannon, and Dean Rachel H. Smith, attended the 2026 Biennial Legal Writing Conference, hosted by Minnesota Law from July 15–18.
Professor Shannon presented on “Teaching with Vision: Accessibility Lessons for LRW Professors.” Shannon urged participants to move beyond accommodation compliance and offered a practical look at why visual accessibility matters in legal writing right now, along with tools and teaching practices to make courses more accessible.
Dean Smith shared her knowledge with those who are newer to the field of Legal Writing in, “Lessons Learned the Hard Way: Tips for Newer Legal Research and Writing Professors.” Along with her co-panelists, Smith shared lessons learned throughout her career and offered practical advice for avoiding common pitfalls.
Professor Armstrong presented a work in progress, “Law in Context, Law in Possibility,” with her co-authors. This piece argues that legal education should situate judicial opinions in their broader context by examining their limitations, encouraging students to expand their legal imagination, and offering pedagogical approaches that challenge assumptions of legal neutrality and invite transformative thinking. The chapter will appear in the Clinical Legal Education Association’s next edition of its Best Practices Book Series, to be published by Carolina Academic Press in 2028.