Job Description

The Associate Director participates in the development and implementation of a comprehensive program that partners with students and alumni from admission through bar passage. The Associate Director is primarily responsible for bar preparation counseling, planning, and presenting skills workshops, and coaching alumni who are studying for the bar exam in Uniform Bar Examination and NextGen Uniform Bar Exam jurisdictions.

Education and Experience

• JD degree from an ABA accredited law school, required.
• Member of bar in good standing in any U.S. jurisdiction, required within 6 months of hire.
• 3+ years’ experience in legal academic support and bar preparation, preferred.
• Teaching or experience with student advising as related to academic issues, preferred.
• High level of organization, flexibility, sound judgment, and interpersonal skills, required.
• Strong written and verbal communications skills required.
• Large group and small group presentation ability, required.
• Legal practice experience, preferred.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality pursuant to FERPA and other regulations, required.
• Ability to conduct basic statistical analysis, preferred.
• Experience with SUCOL Academic Success program, preferred.
• Experience with the SUCOL Bar Preparation Program, preferred.

Skills and Knowledge

• Sound judgment and discretion sufficient to build relationships with students, alumni, and colleagues that foster trust and cooperation.
• Ability to develop rapport with students in an individual counseling setting. Ability to complete tasks in an expeditious and courteous manner.
• Ability to collaborate to build highly effective bar exam outcomes, while also promoting harmony within the office.
• Sufficiently strong minded to impart unambiguous directions to students who need motivation, both in law school and on the bar exam.
• Maintains a collaborative work environment and works well with others.
• Must establish and maintain positive working relationships within department and within the College of Law.
• Works to build an environment that promotes and facilitates the success of Diversity and Inclusive Excellence.
• Must be a dependable, responsible contributor committed to excellence and success.
• Flexibility to work outside the normal assigned schedule when requested.

Responsibilities

Bar Exam Counseling and Advising:

• Provides academic advising on course selection and planning.
• Guides students on the path to licensure from bar exam application through preparation.
• Coaches at-risk students identified by COL metrics.
• Counsels on study techniques, exam prep, and course choices.
• Reviews student work to improve bar writing and preparation strategies.
• Meets with graduating students to create individualized bar exam plans.
• Develops and delivers bar preparation workshops covering long-range planning and exam skills.
• Answers student questions on bar exam applications across U.S. jurisdictions.
• Collaborates with Kaplan Bar Review to implement the institutional agreement and deliver comprehensive services.
• Assists alumni with study plans, coaching them through meetings, essay reviews, and performance feedback.

Bar Exam Success Programming:

• Develops and presents comprehensive and supplemental bar preparation workshops tailored to support students and alumni prepare for the Uniform Bar Exam and the NextGen Bar Exam.
• Focuses workshop content on the skills and strategies needed to pass the Uniform Bar Exam or the NextGen Uniform Bar Exam while addressing any future reforms.
• Integrates programming with COL traditional and interactive distance education learning models, ensuring all students receive personalized support.
• Designs and implements comprehensive programming to support bar exam retakers particularly those who have not passed a bar exam within two years of graduation.

Data Collection:

• Collaborates to engage in bar exam data collection and analysis for purposes of internal and external reporting.
• Develops and implements formative assessment tools to evaluate the impact of first-time bar taker preparation and remedial programming efforts.

Administrative Tasks:

• Oversees and maintains the COL exam administration process.
• Assists in planning and presenting at New Student Orientation.
• Participates in campus-wide initiatives in collaboration with other student services offices at the College of Law to provide a comprehensive and meaningful academic experience for COL students.
• Other duties as assigned.

Interested candidates can access the full job description and apply for the position using this link: https://www.sujobopps.com/postings/110962

Many law students start exam prep the month (or sometimes weeks) before final exams. This often includes a heavy focus on outlining (or creating study tools) and maybe a few practice problems, spurred from the thought “Oh crap! My final is next month!”

Instead, exam prep should be a consistent practice that law students start now—within the first several weeks of classes starting. Starting exam prep now means reducing the time pressure trying to relearn concepts from nearly ten weeks ago. Starting exam prep now means fitting in consistent time for practice problems, rather than hoping to cram in at least one practice test before the exam. Starting exam prep means reducing the anxiety tied to final exams.

What does consistent exam prep look like this early in the semester?

• Create Your Own Outline or Study Tool: Creating an outline (or what I now like to call a “study tool” because outlining can have a negative connotation for some) allows you to review what you’ve learned, synthesize & process concepts, and draw connections between them. Plus, starting a study tool early allows you more time to condense it as you better understand the law. You should absolutely create your own study tool (or outline) to take advantage of these important cognitive tasks, rather than relying on one from an upper-level student. For creating your study tool, if you are a first-year student, this process can start about four to five weeks into the semester; if you’re an upper-level law student, this process starts after the first two weeks of the semester. That time is here—so get started!

• Chunk Your Learning: When law students are in “exam mode” that month before finals, they can get so overwhelmed trying to get it all learned and memorized. However, starting earlier—now—allows you to study more purposefully and thoughtfully. And chunking learning means dividing a topic, such as Intentional Torts into its sub-parts like Battery, Assault, False Imprisonment, and so on, can make that task completion much more digestible. So, after a professor completes a major issue or sub-issue (a “unit”) in class, you should immediately review and add that to your study tool. Think of this like a grocery list. If you had a grocery list of 50 items, you might get overwhelmed trying to remember where things are and miss items; but if you put all your produce items together since that’s where your grocery store starts, and then deli items next, and so on, you’ll be much less likely to miss things and stay on track.

• Complete Practice Problems to Check Your Learning: Practice problems are scary. Perhaps not Halloween scary, but the thought of getting a question wrong, or even several questions wrong in a row, can be very scary for law students. However, science shows that completing practice problems is not only active learning that helps students to better understand their knowledge gaps,[1] but is also a tool to help reduce test anxiety.[2] For example, by doing practice questions now, you can assess what you know and what you don’t, remediate the topics you don’t know, and keep practicing and learning. However, for a student who saves practice until their outline is perfect[3] or right before the exam, that student will not be able to close their knowledge gaps and is less likely to see the success they desire. Therefore, you should use multiple choice and short answer questions in a supplement (again in “chunks”) to best test your knowledge on those discrete topics. Doing this will allow this exam prep early will allow you to get to several larger issue-spotter practice questions in the weeks before the final exam.

• Modifications Based on Professor Preferences: Law school supplements are not made for specific professors’ classes; they’re made for students across the country to understand the law and practice applying it to new sets of facts. Sure, your professor will likely emphasize some key areas of law and skip over others. They will likely also want your essay product written a specific way. So, when you use a study aid supplement your school has available, do practice questions on those topics your professor has covered and skip over those your professor has not. If while doing practice questions, you realize that the answer does not seem right or you think your professor would address it differently, approach them about it and get clarification. Again, by starting the process earlier, you are able to make the small adjustments necessary before test day and build your confidence.

• Ask for Help Early & Often: Similarly, as you work on your study tool and complete practice questions, ask for help. Remember, each exam you take at the end of the semester will test information differently and expect slightly different outputs. Your course professors and academic success professors are available (and happy) to help answer your questions now, so let them help you along the way.

So, as you get started, remember that carving out even an extra hour or two for exam prep now can mean the difference between being prepared for an exam in ten weeks and just hoping that you’re exam ready. So, choose the way that builds learning, feedback, and confidence to ace your final exams this semester!

(Erica M. Lux)

[1] See, e.g., Jennifer M. Cooper & Regan A. R. Gurung, Smarter Law Study Habits: An Empirical Analysis of Law Learning Strategies & Relationship with Law GPA, 62 St. Louis Univ. L. J. 361 (2018); Jennifer A. Gundlach & Jessica R. Santangelo, Teaching & Assessing Metacognition in Law School, 69(1) J. Legal Educ. 156 (2019).

[2] Sarah M. Bonner, Breaking the Test-Anxiety Loop: Using Self-Regulated Learning to Improve Bar Exam Performance, 91(4) The Bar Examiner (2022–2023), https://thebarexaminer.ncbex.org/article/winter-2022-2023/breaking-the-test-anxiety-loop/ (discussing how using self-regulated learning with practice tests can help reduce test anxiety in bar prep).

[3] There is no such thing as a perfect outline.

Every year, Academic and Bar Success Departments must engage in conversations with other faculty and campus administration to request resources. This may look like requesting faculty participation in a workshop, collaboration on an academic success initiative, or asking for financial investments into academic and bar programming.

Given faculty’s tight scheduling commitments and institutional financial constraints, we may hear the word “no” in response to our requests. Accepting “no” often means missed opportunities to further explore alternative options and can result in an increase to our own workload.

A potential solution: when making an “ask,” engage in integrative bargaining. Integrative bargaining promotes collaboration and assist parties in finding “win-win” solutions as opposed to positional bargaining which is results in “win-loss” solutions.

Successful integrative bargainers focus on the underlying positions as a means to “expand the pie” before “dividing the pie.” By engaging in this approach to problem solving, you create an environment that is more likely to yield sustained, long-lasting solutions because most, if not all parties, find a “win.”

To best achieve results in integrative bargaining, one must focus on the underlying interests versus the stated positions. Stated positions are the factually asserted “wants” and “needs.” The underlying interests are the motivations for the asserted positions. Asking open-ended questions (which I explored in a previous post) illicit information that you can then use to identify underlying interests. Once you identify the other party’s underlying interests, you can then craft proposals that meet those interests and thus satisfy the stated positions.

Let us examine a simple hypothetical to see how integrative bargaining can better assist your communication.

You need faculty participation in your summer bar workshop series. You approach a faculty member beloved by the students and ask for their participation. The faculty member quickly states that they do not have time during the summer to host a workshop, and politely declines your request.

Positional bargaining results in you accepting the no and moving on to another faculty member. However, integrative bargaining uses active listening to identify the faculty’s underlying motivation to say “no” (in this case, time limitations) to propose a few alternative solutions. These alternatives solutions include a prerecorded workshop that they could complete on their own time during the spring semester, a handwritten postcard that you can share with the students on their behalf, or a short-prerecorded video reminding the students of three key concepts to refresh during bar study.

These alternative solutions better support your underlying motivations (student support and building a positive bar culture) for your stated position (faculty involvement). The alternative solutions also support the faculty’s underlying motivation (scheduling constraints) for their stated position (“no”.) The mentioned alternatives “expand the pie,” provide opportunity to further discussion, and an increase the likelihood of generating a better solution rather than accepting “no” for an answer.

Thus, integrative bargaining is another key communication strategy to add to your ASP/Bar toolbox.

In summary, the next time you make an ask, be an integrative bargainer and do the following:

1. Identify, prepare and list your underlying motivations for your ask.

2. When presenting the requests, ask open-ended, probative questions and actively listen for your counter’s expression of underlying interests.

3. Translate you and your counterparts underlying interests into creative solution proposals. (“expand the pie”)

4. Once creative solutions are on the table, then determine which solution(s) might work best. (“divide the pie”).

(Amy Vaughan-Thomas)

The University of Dayton School of Law invites applications for one Assistant Professor of Lawyering Skills. This is a non-tenure track position with an initial appointment of one year and the possibility of renewal for long-term (three or five-year) appointments after three years of satisfactory service.

The faculty member would join a team of experienced full-time faculty members who make up the School of Law’s nationally recognized Legal Profession Program. The focus of the Legal Profession Program at the University of Dayton School of Law is to help students develop essential lawyering skills. The Program is a broad two-semester six-credit-hour sequence during a student’s first year at the School of Law. These courses, called Legal Profession I and Legal Profession II, are devoted to building the legal research, analysis, and writing skills used in today's law practice. The courses also emphasize the development of cultural humility and competency, professionalism, and ethics. Classes meet in small groups led by experienced full-time faculty who are at the forefront of trends in legal writing and research. Responsibilities of the Assistant Professor of Lawyering Skills will include:

● Teaching Legal Profession I and II, and other legal research and writing courses related to legal reasoning and critical reading;
● Providing service to the School of Law and the University, and
● Participating in the larger community for legal research and writing professionals through regular attendance or presentations at conferences and other relevant endeavors to support the faculty member’s professional development.

UD is one of the nation’s largest Catholic universities, and the largest private university in Ohio. Embedded in the dynamic city of Dayton, OH, and grounded in its Catholic, Marianist tradition, UD provides education to develop the whole student and is committed to experiential learning.

Minimum Qualifications

• A J.D. degree from an ABA-accredited law school;

• Articulable commitment to the field of legal research and writing, including implementing the best models and practices available to teach legal research and writing and utilizing recent developments in pedagogy in law schools in the United States;

• Prior legal practice experience in the United States; and

• Excellent written communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

While not everyone may meet all preferred qualifications, the ideal candidate will bring many of the following:

• Recent successful experience in legal research and writing teaching, including implementing best models and practices available to teach legal research and writing and utilizing recent developments in pedagogy in law schools in the United States;

• Successful experience in any or all of the following:

  • participating and teaching in online education;

  • working independently and collaboratively;

  • effectively engaging, teaching, and mentoring students of socially and culturally diverse backgrounds

• Demonstrable commitment to socially and culturally diverse communities;

• Expressed willingness to engage with Catholic and Marianist educational values including educating the whole person and a commitment of service to the community, university and profession

• Law school achievements and accomplishments, such as high academic achievement, law review, moot court, and/or mock trial;

• Effective presentation skills;

• Effective interpersonal communication skills;

• Effective oral communication skills; and

• Effective classroom management skills 

Required Documents

• Cover Letter that addresses all of the minimum and any preferred qualifications met
• Curriculum Vitae
• A document describing your commitment to legal research and writing, including implementing the best models and practices available to teach legal research and writing and utilizing recent developments in pedagogy in law schools in the United States.

Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis.  The University does not provide work visa sponsorship for this position

Posting closes November 1, 2025 at 11:55 PM EST