Daniel L. Barnett

Dan Barnett joined the faculty at the William S. Richardson School of Law as a Professor of Law in 2014. He served as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in 2020 and 2021 and the Director of Legal Writing from 2014 to 2023.

Before joining the faculty at Richardson, Dan taught at Lewis & Clark Law School, where he was the Distinguished Professor of Legal Writing, and Boston College Law School. He has also taught at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, as a Visiting Professor of Law and University of Avignon, France, as the Visiting Professor of American Law. He has received a variety of teaching awards, including the William S. Richardson School of Law Outstanding Teacher of the Year and the Boston College Distinguished Teaching Award.

Dan’s scholarship focuses on student assessment, legal writing, and innovative methodologies in law school teaching. In 2016, he co-authored a cutting edge first-year legal writing textbook, LEGAL REASONING AND OBJECTIVE WRITING: A COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH (Aspen Publishers 2016). His article, Triage in the Trenches of the Legal Writing Course: The Theory and Methodology of Analytical Critique, 38 The University of Toledo Law Review 651 (2007), was used to develop the workshops on effective critique of student writing at the Legal Writing Institute Conference and the Association of American Law Schools Workshop for New Law Teachers.

Dan has been active with the Association of American Law Schools, serving as Chair of the Section on Legal Writing, Analysis and Research and Chair of the Task force on Military Recruiting—Section on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Issues. He also was on the Board of Directors of the Legal Writing Institute and was the National Coordinator of the Campaign to Repeal the Solomon Amendments.

• William S. Richardson School of Law Outstanding Teacher of the Year
• Boston College Distinguished Teaching Award

BOOKS

• Daniel L. Barnett & Jane Kent Gionfriddo, Legal Reasoning and Objective Writing:  A Comprehensive Approach (Aspen Publishers 2016)
• Daniel L. Barnett, Putting Skills Into Practice:  Legal Problem Solving and Writing for New Lawyers (Aspen Publishers 2014)

SELECTED ARTICLES

• Jane K. Gionfriddo, Daniel L. Barnett and E. Joan Blum, A Methodology for Mentoring Writing in Law Practice:  Using Textual Clues to Provide Effective and Efficient Feedback, 27 Quinnipiac Law Review 171 (2009), reprinted in Volume One: The Art of Critiquing Written Work, The Monograph Series of the Legal Writing Institute, available at http://www.lwionline.org/monograph_volume_one.html(link is external)


• Daniel L. Barnett, Triage in the Trenches of the Legal Writing Course:  The Theory and Methodology of Analytical Critique, 38 The University of Toledo Law Review 651 (2007), reprinted in Volume One:  The Art of Critiquing Written Work, The Monograph Series of the Legal Writing Institute, available at http://www.lwionline.org/monograph_volume_one.html