Originally from Italy, Laura Soprana-Dec earned her law degree at UC Irvine and became a California-barred attorney. During her time in practice, she discovered a passion for guiding others. Whether mentoring young associates, interviewing incoming summer associates, or ensuring those associates had enriching experiences, Laura found joy in building connections and supporting professional development. That passion eventually led her to academia.

When Laura joined the Academic Success Program team at George Mason’s Antonin Scalia School of Law in June 2025, she brought with her not only years of legal practice but a philosophy that places students’ well-being and growth at the center of every interaction. Her journey from practicing attorney to ASPer reflects a deep commitment to mentorship and a belief that preparing students for success means more than teaching bar tested rules. Laura’s advising philosophy is grounded in listening first. She values the exchange of information, noting that these conversations help her stay attuned to students’ evolving needs. Her goal is to create a space where students feel heard, respected, and supported.

Laura’s holistic approach extends beyond bar exam preparation. While her motto, “Don’t be scared, be prepared,” captures her practical focus, she emphasizes that academic success is about more than passing a test. “ASP is not just one class in the final year,” she says. “It’s about preparing students for practice, for the realities of lawyering.” Laura expressed her excitement for the upcoming NextGen bar exam. As a former practitioner, Laura sees this reform as an opportunity to align legal education more closely with professional readiness.

One-on-one advising remains the most rewarding part of her role. These sessions allow Laura to address immediate concerns while fostering long-term confidence. Her sensitivity to individual learning styles is informed by personal experience: as a parent of a child with special needs, Laura has developed a heightened awareness of how strengths and challenges manifest in educational settings.

Laura’s son plays tennis and volleyball—sports Laura herself played. Laura’s experience gives her confidence when coaching her son. That same principle guides her work with law students. Having navigated the bar exam and practice of law herself, Laura understands what it takes.

The family is embracing their new East Coast home, trading San Diego’s perpetual sunshine for four distinct seasons of the DC Metro Area. Laura will be at LexCon in Savannah next month, and looks forward to connecting with other ASPers there.

Amanda Compton's journey into ASP is both inspiring and heartfelt. Initially a tenured law professor at Charleston School of Law, Amanda made a significant life change to be closer to her husband in the DMV area. This move led her to pivot to ASP, but her dedication to student success in bar exams had long been a part of her teaching philosophy. Even as a doctrinal professor, Amanda infused her pedagogy with ASP practices, such as review sessions, practice questions, and final exams designed to mirror bar exam questions. Her personal experiences as a law student deeply influenced her approach to teaching, ensuring her students were well-prepared for the bar exam.

Amanda's commitment to academic support extends beyond her classroom. She has actively participated in scholarly activities, including presenting at LexCon '24, where she presented strategies to help LLM students prepare for the bar exam. Her work involved examining curriculum, policies, and procedures to better support these students.

At her previous institution, she played a crucial role in directly assisting LLM students, showcasing her versatility and dedication to diverse student populations.

For Amanda, the most rewarding part of her role is witnessing the "lightbulb moments" when students grasp complex concepts. She finds immense satisfaction in easing student concerns and helping them embrace the bar skills class, which is sometimes initially met with resistance. Her ability to clarify and set students' minds at ease is a testament to her effectiveness and passion as an educator.

In her new role at GW Law, Amanda is excited about the opportunity to be the architect of an integrated bar support program. She looks forward to pulling together various pieces of programming and developing new initiatives under the bar support umbrella.

Amanda offers valuable advice for both new and seasoned ASP professionals. For newcomers, she emphasizes the importance of patience with all stakeholders, including students, faculty, and administrators. Understanding the holistic needs of students and advocating for the necessary resources are key to a successful program. For seasoned ASPers aspiring to teach doctrinal law, Amanda highlights the importance of producing scholarship and advocating for support and parity within their institutions. She encourages collaboration and collective efforts to enhance the status and recognition of ASP and legal writing professors.

Amanda's journey and contributions to academic support are reminiscent of the transformative journeys in "The Wizard of Oz,” “The Wiz,” and "Wicked." Just as Dorothy and Elphaba navigated their paths with courage and determination, Amanda has navigated her career with a steadfast commitment to student success. Her story serves as an inspiration to educators and academic support professionals alike, proving that with heart, brains, and courage, one can achieve great things.

Jennifer Ciarimboli's recent recognition as a 2024-2025 AASE AccessLex Scholarship Grant recipient is a testament to her innovative work and commitment to legal education. The grant supports her research, which has led to a significant achievement: her article, "Honing Homework: Assigning Less and Better to Increase Learning and Quality of Life in Law School," has been accepted for publication in Volume 32 of the Widener Law Review. This accomplishment highlights her dedication to improving student learning outcomes and well-being.

Professor Ciarimboli's journey to her current role as an Associate Professor in the Suffolk University Law School Academic Support Program is marked by a diverse and accomplished legal career. Before entering academia, she served as an in-house counsel at both Re:Sources, a Publicis Groupe Company, and at Sapient Corporation.

In these roles, she advised on various global legal issues, including contracts and compliance. Her career began as an associate at Goodwin Procter LLP. Her experience with academic support started even before law school, at the New England Institute of Art. This multifaceted background provides her with a unique and valuable perspective on legal education and the challenges students face.

Professor Ciarimboli's academic credentials include a B.A. in English, cum laude, from Boston University and a J.D., cum laude,from the University of Notre Dame Law School, where she was an Article Editor for the Notre Dame Law Review. She is a member of the Massachusetts bar. Her passion for both the law and the success of future legal professionals is evident in her work, where she continues to make a significant impact on legal education.

Eurilynne has entered her tenth year of dedicated service in ASBP at Florida A&M University College of Law, emerging as a respected expert in her own right. She enjoys exploring new ways to shift the needle on bar passage by implementing holistic, targeted interventions into the law school experience. She is an inaugural Fellow of the AccessLex P.L.E.D.G.E. Fellowship (class of 2022) and continues to build programming based on the research and findings from her capstone project, Should They Be Here? Exposing the Hidden Challenges of Underperforming Students in Law School.

Inspired by her passion for guiding underprepared students to success on the bar exam, Eurilynne aims to dispel the narrative that bar preparation is a task reserved for the months immediately following law school graduation. She is the innovator behind FAMU College of Law’s Resources for Increasing Success on Exams (R.I.S.E.) Program. The program cultivates a bar readiness perspective that permeates the law school community. By providing access to supportive and tangible resources with a focus on exam readiness from the first year of law school through the bar exam, the R.I.S.E. Program positively impacts students’ exam outcomes. The program has been applauded by FAMU’s Provost, who recently charged the University’s other licensure programs to use Eurilynne’s model as a basis for developing similar programs in each of their disciplines.

Eurilynne’s achievements in the legal academy led to her promotion in Fall 2024 to Associate Professor and Director of ASBP at FAMU College of Law.  She supervises a team of instructors, oversees the administration and operations of the ASBP Department, and facilitates the design and implementation of curriculum for first year and upper-level critical skills courses. Eurilynne also manages her signature R.I.S.E. Bar Prep Program, hosting bar prep activities ranging from “prep” rallies to mindfulness and wellness sessions to skills-centered workshops, simulated exams and more.

As a proud graduate of FAMU College of Law, Eurilynne treats her service to the new generation of learners at her alma mater as ministry. “I am privileged to play a role in sharpening the skills of future lawyers who, but for FAMU College of Law, may not have had access to the profession. Witnessing our students’ journeys from the professionalism oath administered during orientation to the swearing-in ceremony upon bar passage makes the work well worth it.”

Before joining FAMU’s faculty, Eurilynne devoted eight years to public and private law practice, representing some of Florida’s most vulnerable citizens. A true servant at heart, Eurilynne spends much of her time away from ASBP spearheading her church’s quarterly CommUnity Giveaway where she collects donations of gently used clothing, household appliances, furniture and more and distributes them free of cost to neighborhood families in need. Her most cherished form of self-care is spending quality time with her family and frolicking in the magnificent waters of the Caribbean.

Erin recently returned to the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law after several years working at Chicago-Kent College of Law and is excited to continue building upon UIC’s extensive academic achievement and bar prep programming.

Whether an applicant is preparing for the bar for the first time or is retaking the exam, Erin aims to create programming that incorporates various learning tools and addresses different learning styles. As a first-gen law student herself, Erin is particularly mindful of ensuring these students have the necessary tools for success in law school, on the bar, and eventually in their careers. Receiving messages of bar exam success from alumni is by far the most rewarding part of her job.

While at Chicago-Kent, Erin stepped into a newly created position and was tasked with developing post-COVID bar preparation programming. Under the Office of Student Affairs, she oversaw the academic success and bar prep programs. She worked closely with Kent’s Assistant Dean for Student Affairs to grow both the programs and the team. Their collaborative efforts allowed more opportunities to get to know the students and develop programming tailored to this generation of students.

In her former role, Erin was also the co-principal investigator of an Access Lex Bar Success Intervention Grant. The grant was designed to provide targeted support to law school graduates facing significant challenges in passing the bar exam on the first attempt. In addition to alleviating some financial stressors, the program aimed to address the mental health aspects of the bar by reducing psychological barriers and mental stress.

She credits her achievements to the many ASP and law school colleagues she’s worked with over the years. The support and collaboration within the ASP community is unlike that in other organizations. Whether at a conference or just chatting with colleagues, she always feels she comes away with new ideas and perspectives.

Fun fact: before returning to work full time, Erin and two friends started an informal gaming business and created community scavenger hunts (The Amazing Chase) that raised money for local causes.

Krishnee began her career as a law school academic success professional eighteen years ago at her alma mater. Since joining the University of Richmond School of Law in July 2023, Krishnee has made a significant impact at UR and the larger ASP community. As a passionate advocate for student success, Krishnee has expanded UR’s Academic Success Program (ASP) to offer more comprehensive services, including a continuing orientation program designed to reach all 1Ls, an additional bar prep course focused on MBE strategies, and an enhanced post-graduation bar preparation support program for students taking the bar exam in jurisdictions outside of Virginia. Her work ensures that all students receive tailored, strategic support for academic success.

Beyond Richmond, Krishnee has served the broader legal education community in numerous ways. She served as a member of the editorial board for the AASE Newsletter and has served as a faculty expert with the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) LawReady Academic Framework, in support of pre-law programs designed to enhance law school readiness. Krishnee’s commitment to academic excellence is also evident in her scholarship: she has co-authored an article, “Integrating Academic Success” that was recently published in Raising the Bar: Vol. 8 – Issue 2 by AccessLex, a book chapter on first-gen law students in the forthcoming book, Fostering First Gen Success and Inclusion: A Guide for Law Schools, and a book on academic success, Investing in Your Success: A Practical Guide to Achieving Your Best Results in Your First Year of Law School. She also recently completed a manuscript review for a soon-to-be-published ASP book by Carolina Academic Press.

Whether inside the classroom, supporting graduates, or shaping the future of legal education through scholarship and service, Krishnee exemplifies the values and mission of AASE. Her work reflects a deep commitment to equity, access, and academic excellence in legal education.

Like many of us, Megan works with students at the most academically challenging time of their lives – preparing for the bar exam. She has the privilege of teaching several courses, including Professional Writing Skills (PWS) and Legal Analysis and Writing (LAW), Legal Writing for FLLMs, Professional Responsibility for FLLMs, Legal Methods, and Education Law: K-12. Additionally, she developed a workshop series to support alums preparing for the bar exam and supervises a cadre of adjuncts.

Megan is passionate about designing interventions to develop critical legal writing and reasoning skills. This drive and commitment to her students, their professional goals, and their successes drove her students to earn University of Houston Law Center  (UHLC)’s highest bar passage in over a decade on the July 2024 exam. She has developed new curriculum in several intervention and bar courses that is deployed uniformly by a cadre of adjuncts and faculty. Each course has a series of practice-based exercises, fosters mentorship and faculty involvement, and focuses on students seeing their progress and opportunities for growth. Megan said, “I firmly believe that we can craft and develop positive study habits and strong writing skills and provide more opportunities for students if we intervene early.”

She also enjoys sharing her passion for cultivating success with the community. She serves on the AASE Bar Advocacy Board and the AALS Academic Success Board. In 2024, she joined the Global Legal Skills Conference Planning Committee and coordinated presentations on legal writing and connecting with students from various international backgrounds. Megan has lectured on recommended methods and curricular changes to prepare for the NextGen Bar Exam, best practices for working with FLLMs, and post-COVID professionalism. Among these presentations in 2024 were three speaking engagements at the AALS Conference and the Global Legal Skills Conference in Bari, Italy. Megan recognizes she is privileged to present to the legal writing community, academic success professionals, and doctrinal professors worldwide.

Megan Davis joined the University of Houston Law Center, her alma mater, as a lecturer in 2018. She was promoted to Clinical Assistant Professor in 2022 and the faculty voted this fall to promote her to full Clinical Professor (effective Fall 2025 – yay!). As the first full-time academic support faculty member at UHLC, she has developed a program with tangible results.

When Megan isn’t at work, she continues to practice law on the side and tries to keep up with her two daughters and khaki mutt. She also loves to travel.

Andrew has served within the Dean of Students Office at George Washington Law since March 2019 where he built and oversaw the school’s formalized academic support program.  In his role, he counseled students on their academic performance, oversaw the management of the tutor matching program, prepared reports related to academic performance, managed the annual Academic Awards Ceremony, and delivered workshop programming. Beginning in summer 2021, he assumed the bar advising portfolio.

In 2023, Andrew‘s article Camera-aware and camera-scared: 2020-2021 1L’s was published in INSIGHTS FROM THE FIELD, AALS Student Services Section Publication, Volume 3, Issue 1. This article gave him an opportunity to summarize one of his dissertation’s findings.  He sought to understand how 1Ls experienced the Socratic Method on virtual learning platforms, and found that student self-consciousness was extreme.  Many students shared that they felt intense pressure to perform well during cold-calls, fearing that mistakes could negatively impact their academic and professional futures.  The virtual setting exacerbated their feelings of anxiety and imposter syndrome.  To mitigate these potential issues, he made the recommendation that law professors adopt-camera optional policies and utilize warm-calling (‘panel method’).

Andrew began his doctorate at George Washington University in spring 2020 when the COVID19 pandemic was on the horizon.  He completed his coursework in 2022, and defended his dissertation in spring 2023.  He is currently working on his next project which examines the experience of first-generation law students and their ability to form a community of inquiry.

Chelsea Baldwin continues to make numerous significant contributions to the ASP field. Washburn University School of Law recognized her many accomplishments when they recently promoted her to Director for Academic Enrichment & Bar Passage.

Chelsea is a distinguished member of the ASP community and all working in ASP have benefitted immensely from her many contributions. She is particularly savvy at utilizing technology and has generously shared her tech knowledge with the greater ASP community through presenting, sharing, and mentoring. Like the excellent educator she is, she is endlessly patient with those who are less technologically gifted.

Chelsea plays a pivotal role in maintaining the supportive and cohesive ASP community. She single-handedly created and manages the Academic Support and Bar Prep Google group. This indispensable group proves ASPers with an endless source of much needed support, knowledge sharing, community building, and camaraderie.  In addition, AASE benefits from her tech expertise through the Online Presence Committee, which she has Co-Chaired for several years.

Chelsea has dedicated her career to helping students transition into the rigors of law school and then again into the rigors of bar exam preparation. Chelsea is an excellent professor, a gifted teacher, and is beloved by her students. She always goes the extra mile to ensure her students get precisely what they need to flourish and succeed.

In addition to the topic of technology and project management in legal education, Chelsea has presented to national legal education audiences on topics such as stereotype threat in legal education, teaching skills in legal education, and supporting the mental and emotional health of students during legal education. Her scholarship is currently focused on finding scalable ways to mitigate some harmful emotional effects of the intense cognitive restructuring that legal education produces in many individuals. You can read about it in her fascinating article in St. Mary’s Law Journal titled, Bad Therapy: Conceptualizing the Teaching of “Thinking Like A Lawyer” as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which is available on her SSRN page.

On January 5, 2024, Tia Gibbs was awarded the Junior Faculty Award by the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT) in Washington, D.C. This award is presented to an outstanding recent entrant into legal education who demonstrates a commitment to justice, equality, and academic excellence through their teaching, scholarship, and/or social justice advocacy.  Tia was presented with this award at SALT’s 50th Anniversary Celebration on Friday, January 5, 2024, at American University Washington College of Law in Washington, D.C.  SALT is an organization committed to advancing teaching excellence, social justice, and diversity.  It includes a community of progressive law teachers, law school administrators, librarians, academic support experts, students, and affiliates.  For more than 40 years, the organization has worked to improve the legal profession, the law academy and expand the power of law to underserved communities.

The SALT award was based on her work helping individuals pass the bar exam and her volunteer work in the legal community. Tia represented individuals in evictions during the Covid 19 pandemic. She also curated two exhibits as the Historian for the TJ Reddick Bar Association.  The first exhibit in 2023 was the Chambers v Florida exhibit at Old Dillard Museum which explored the 1940s Supreme Court Case Chamber v Florida.  The 2024 exhibit was Brown to Broward, which explored the Brown v Board of Education decision and the local implications in the Allen v Broward School of Public Instruction case of 1970.  More information about the award is available at SALT, which is excited to honor champions of justice, diversity, and teaching excellence – Society of American Law Teachers (saltlaw.org)

Tia Gibbs is currently a member of the faculty at the Georgia State University College of Law and serves as the Director of Academic Advisement and Bar Success.

Zach returned to his Alma Mater as the Assistant Director of Academic Success in October of 2022 and immediately jumped into the space where ASP meets diversity. Previously, Zach served as the Legal Clinic Outreach Coordinator with Equality Ohio, and was able to offer courses on LQBTQ+ issues.  He has taken that same passion for justice to Akron Law, where he has been instrumental in developing the ReBound Program for students who are retaking the bar exam.  Zach co-presented on the program in May at the AASE conference.

At Akron Law, Zach spends most of his time working with students who are preparing for the bar exam and teaches our Advanced Legal Applications course and administers our MBE course.  Zach also assisted in revamping Akron’s pre-law course, Fundamentals of Lawyering, where he focused on many of the skills that students will need to be successful law students.  Zach also sits on a committee which focuses on diversity.

Zach also presented at the AASE Diversity Conference, discussing ways to advocate for less able-bodied students in systems designed against them.  As a member of the AASE Diversity Committee, Zach also assisted in the planning and preparation for the Diversity Conference.

If you attended the AASE conference in May, you likely were greeted by Liza-Jane Capatos. She, and the rest of the team at Santa Clara University School of Law, did a wonderful job welcoming AASE to Charney Hall, and the beautiful Santa Clara University campus.

Liza-Jane is an Associate Clinical Professor of Law and since 2015 has been the Assistant Director of Santa Clara Law’s Office of Academic & Bar Success (OABS). Liza-Jane specializes in academic support and is responsible for training and overseeing the Academic Success Program Fellows, who are upper-division peer mentors tasked with meeting weekly with small groups of 1Ls to provide academic skill instruction and support. She teaches Advanced Legal Writing: Bar Exam, or Santa Clara’s in-house bar writing course, Criminal Procedure: Adjudication, and Community Property. She has also recently developed and taught a Performance Test Workshop course. In collaboration with her OABS colleagues, she developed a newly approved 1L first-semester academic skills course, which debuted in Fall 2023.

Before transitioning into academia, Liza-Jane worked in Criminal Appeals. While she loved research and writing, she missed interacting with people as a part of her daily work, so she finds great professional satisfaction in teaching and advising her students. Liza-Jane particularly loves helping first-gen students acclimate and make sense of their new environment. As a first-gen student herself, Liza-Jane pairs her personal experience with her academic wisdom when working with Santa Clara’s robust first-gen student population.

Liza-Jane lives in the beautiful Santa Cruz mountains, where she can smell the redwood trees daily, with her family, which includes two children and a small zoo (a dog, a cat, a hamster, a bearded dragon, and two chickens). She is also a talented artist and creates watercolors and ceramics in her limited free time.

Steven Foster has long been an inspirational leader in the Academic Support community and in recognition of his many contributions, he received the 2023 AASE Inspiration Award.

Steven has taken on the important role of AASE Bar Advocacy Committee Chair and he has already been impactful in leading the publication of AASE’s concerns regarding recently announced changes to the Next Gen bar exam. Steven is the lead editor of the Academic Support Blog on the Law Professors Blog Network and served as a Law School Success Fellow for CALI.

Steven Foster currently serves as the Director of Academic Achievement at Oklahoma City University School of Law. His time in Academic Support began at OCU in December 2008, where he built a comprehensive program over the next 14 years. He enjoys teaching all the 1Ls and nearly every 3L, but his greatest joy each year is attending the swearing-in ceremonies. Prior to joining OCU law school, he was an associate at Fenton, Fenton, Smith, Reneau, and Moon where he practiced insurance defense. Steven received his J.D. from Oklahoma City University School of Law and his BA from the University of Oklahoma.

Taylor Israel’s journey to ASP is similar to many ASPers. We are engaged with our legal education as a student, and, after a period of time following bar licensure, we return to legal education to find professional fulfillment. Returning to legal education becomes a celebrated homecoming. This journey has nuances for each person, and Taylor’s story provides insight on how impactful the gravitational forces are that bring us to the profession.

Taylor received her JD from the University of San Diego School of Law. As a student, she had the opportunity to be a student representative for one of the major commercial bar review courses, and later worked as a full-time staff member for that same company. But, when an opportunity presented itself to return to her alma mater to fill a temporary vacancy, Taylor leaped at the chance. Eventually, Taylor found her current home at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, and currently serves as the school’s Director of Academic Success and Bar Preparation. In summer of 2022, she was promoted to a faculty position, giving the school’s ASPers a voice in faculty meetings and votes. She was also recently voted Full Time Faculty Member of the Year by the student body.

Taylor leads a team of two others in her office. As the office’s leader, she tries to be a good role model of work-life balance. As a part of that balance, Taylor recognizes the importance of celebrating wins, including the completed bar licensure of her students. In 2020, Taylor organized virtual swearing in ceremonies for the students unable to have a in-person ceremony. Creating these smaller swearing in ceremonies was rewarding for both her, and the students. When asked why her office orchestrates these and not another, Taylor replied, “Our job is licensure, not just the bar exam.  We want to see the job done all the way.” Taylor has possibly discovered the most effective way to mentor future ASPers to come home to ASP.

Common attributes of ASPers include “student-focused, hard working, and dependable.” These words describe so many of our AASE community so well: superheroes doing important work, but not seeking recognition.  Bryan McDermott is an ASP superhero who deserves recognition. Bryan McDermott currently serves as Assistant Dean for Academic and Bar Support at the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law—his alma mater.  He oversees all bar passage efforts, provides academic support, and is responsible for management of the externship program and experiential curriculum.

Prior to returning to Catholic, Bryan served as a judicial clerk in the Montgomery County, Maryland Circuit Court and practiced insurance defense at a small Montgomery County law firm. While the work provided many opportunities for professional development and learning, he found the work unengaging. As happens with many in ASP, a new job was posted at his alma mater with emphasis on academic support and bar passage. Bryan applied, was offered the position, and began a career transition. Having begun at the ground floor, he now acts as one of the school’s key leaders in welcoming new students and leading them through their academic journey all the way to bar passage.

The key to finding fulfillment in his current role is witnessing the academic success of his students as they journey from 1L orientation all the way through bar admission. Bryan’s greatest joy is reviewing bar pass lists, and seeing his students. These names appear because of the attention Bryan gives his students, how hard he works, and his steady and reliable presence at the Columbus School of Law. Thank you, Bryan, for your superhero work.  You deserve this recognition for your contribution to the ASP community.

Kris Franklin, a core founder of AASE, is a name well known to those in the academic support world. But did you also know that Kris is an enthusiastic member of a Brooklyn curling team? Or did you know that Kris was a U.S. Presidential Scholar and graduated cum laude from Yale University with a B.A.? These are only two quick facts about an impressive life and career.

Kris, who has been conducting ASP and ASP-adjacent work at New York Law School for 20 years, has co-authored two recent articles of note –

“Directed Questions: A Non-Socratic Dialog about Non-Socratic Teaching” unpacks the “directed questions” method of law teaching. This pedagogy still requires students to read and understand judicial opinions before class, but the cases and statutes are “tools” to help students respond to a series of questions that must be answered before class. Those questions are then reviewed and discussed during the class period. This active learning approach helps students to “develop a cognitive schema” that enables them to “understand the material in a richer way,” according to co-author Rory Bahadur.

“How to Train Your Supervisor”, co-authored with Paula J. Manning, offers excellent advice to law students and new attorneys about how to get the best supervision possible. The article notes that a shared sense of responsibility for supervision creates more effective and efficient interactions. The article also discusses what law professors can do to help prepare their students for supervision, including how to get the most from feedback.

Both articles provide practical advice that would benefit any legal educator. This sentiment is well understood by anyone who has previously read Kris’ books, including Legal Reasoning Case Files: A Contemporary Approach to Lawyers’ Methods (Carolina Academic Press 2019), Strategies and Tactics for Academic Support Teaching (Wolters Kluwer 2014), and The Lawyer’s Practice: A Context & Practice Case File (Carolina Academic Press 2011). A second edition of Legal Reasoning Case Files is due out sometime next year.

Kris’ accomplishments go well beyond academia, including spending many years involved in direct action organizing in New York City around AIDS advocacy, LGBTQ+ rights, reproductive rights, and community gardens.

Before closing this spotlight, let’s share one more fun – and inspiring – fact: Kris also designs and builds custom furniture!

There are those who pursue the law as a means to be an advocate for others.  There are those who want to teach and mentor.  Jenny Lane never thought the pursuits were mutually exclusive.  As 2015 graduate of Elon University School of Law, Jenny practiced general public interest law with Legal Aid, and later narrowed her practice area to elder abuse. Lane had a fulfilling practice advocating for elders in North Carolina, educating them about strategies to protect themselves. But, when she received a phone call to return to her alma mater to teach, she was instantly confident that it was the right move for her to make.  Teaching and academic support of law students had always been a passion she was interested in further exploring.

Lane had already served as a Academic Teaching Fellow while a student at Elon Law, and with the familiarity, she jumped right into program and became an academic advocate for current students.  Lane currently serves as the Director of Bar Exam Success Programs.  In the role, she works with students, coaching them on how to prepare for success on the bar exam.  She offers workshops on how to seek bar admission, and strategies for strong performance on the exam itself.

Earlier this year, Lane, along with her colleagues, co-presented Technology Tools to Support Bar Exam Preparation at the South Florida Regional ASP Conference.  The presentation focused on the pros and cons of utilizing Remind for text messaging, Canva for creating visual study skill graphics, and Kahoot! to gamify information for students enrolled in bar prep courses prior to graduation.  Lane and her colleagues are hopeful to present on the same topic at future ASP conferences and through publications.

In the academic year ahead, Lane expects to continue to offer workshops and get inside the classroom as much as possible.  When asked for her opinion on the most rewarding part of being an ASPer, Lane said, “Connecting with students.  Watching them succeed and become more-self directed.  Witnessing the professional development.”  Thank you, Jenny, for your service to your students and being a role model for other ASPers.  As you celebrate the milestone first five years in ASP, we hope you have many more in you.

Sarah was honored at AALS as a Trailblazer with the following tribute: “It is our opinion that Sarah embodies the scholarly engagement and advocacy that we value in our Section and ASP community. She is entering her fifth year of Academic Support teaching, and she has made a name for herself and increased the presence of ASP scholarship. She has published a total of three law review articles in 2020-2021, and all have been well-placed. Sarah is a vocal advocate on blogs and social media for bar takers and especially for those unsuccessful on the exam. For all of these reasons, Professor Schendel is an ASP trailblazer who is helping to make greater inroads for the academic support profession and our quest for status parity in the legal academy.”

As noted by AALS, Sarah has been an impressively busy scholar and has contributed much to our field by producing excellent scholarship on various topics related to academic support. During the short period from 2020-2021, she published the following law review articles: Listen! Amplifying the Experiences of Black Law School Graduates in 2020, 100 Neb. L. Rev. (2021);The Pandemic Syllabus, 98 Denv. L. Rev. F. (2020); and What You Don’t Know (Can Hurt You): Using Exam Wrappers to Foster Self-Assessment Skills in Law Students, 40 Pace L. Rev. Vol. 154 (2020). She is especially proud that she hit “accept” on her first article while holding her beloved (and at the time newborn) daughter, Stella.

Sarah has several finished projects that will be published shortly. Look for the forthcoming article, “Due Dates in the Real World: Extensions, Equity, and the Hidden Curriculum,” which will be published in the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics this Spring. She also has a short essay coming out in the next volume of Legal Writing: Journal of the Legal Writing Institute, titled “The Medium Is the Message: A Summer Book Club on Abolition.”

Sarah also has two book chapters in the works: the first is a rewritten SCOTUS opinion for the Feminist Judgements: Immigration Law volume, and the second is an essay on incorporating mental health issues into the Professional Responsibility curriculum. The impressive list above is only a sampler of Sarah’s recent contributions to our field. Sarah also has other publications and blog posts and is a frequent presenter. We can’t wait to see what she does next!

Sarah says that while she has come to love writing and takes pride in her publications, she knows that much of her work – and the work of so many other academic support professionals – is the unquantifiable, rewarding but exhausting, and incredibly necessary one on one work with students. She is so grateful for the academic support community that continues to provide her with guidance, support, encouragement, and wisdom.

The decision to pursue a legal education occurs at a wide variety of times.  For Afton Cavanaugh, it came in the 10th grade while preparing for a mock trial.  The decision to pursue ASP is similarly eclectic and often arises from personal discovery.  Afton developed an interest in teaching and worked while in law school as both a Teacher’s Assistant and as a Research Assistant.  Despite discouragement about barriers into the academic marketplace, Afton landed a position as an instructor at his alma mater (St. Mary’s) and now currently serves as the Assistant Dean for Law Success.  In this role, Afton manages a team of ASPers who focus on academic support, legal education, legal research and writing, and bar preparation.

Earlier this year Afton published Testing Privilege: Coaching Bar Testing Privilege: Coaching Bar Takers Towards “Minimum Competency” During the 2020 Pandemic.  Throughout the pandemic, Afton had been working with bar takers, and was inspired to write the article based on his experiences with coaching students during the unprecedented pandemic conditions.  The article is an insightful collection of emotions and experiences that he observed.  It is available here.

This past summer, Afton pioneered a new bootcamp at St. Mary’s for 49 incoming first-generation 1L students.  He is currently working on a paper that summarizes his experience in developing a program that makes the law school more welcoming to first-generation students.  In his own words, Afton remarked “We are molding a future generation of lawyers that will make the legal community a better and more welcoming place.”

This spring Afton will be busy helping with the launch of the nation’s first fully online JD program.  It is the first of its kind to be approved by the ABA.  Afton will teach legal research and writing to the inaugural class of the online program.

When asked for his opinion on the most rewarding part of being an ASPer, Afton said, “It’s all about the students…helping someone accomplish their dream is a big deal to me.”  Thank you, Afton, for your service to your students and being a role model for other ASPers.

2021 has been an especially busy year for Tania Shah. In June she published the book, The Ultimate Guide to the Uniform Bar Exam, which was co-written with Melissa Hale and Antonia Miceli. This thorough guide provides a “one stop shop” for all things UBE and covers everything from the basics of what is tested on the UBE to how to maximize scores on each section of the exam. She was also recently promoted to Director of the Academic Success Program at Western State College of Law. However, these accomplishments are just the tip of the iceberg.

Tania is vastly organized and high energy, which allows her to work on a variety of interesting projects simultaneously.  In addition to teaching at Western State, Tania is a legal instructor in the Master of Legal Studies Program at Washington University School of Law. Tania also teaches for the Law Division of Sponsors for Educational Opportunity, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing supplemental educational and career support to incoming Ivy League law students from underserved communities.

Tania is a successful serial entrepreneur. Tania owns LawTutors, LLC (a legal education company), Shah Law, LLC (a business law firm,) and is co-owner of In The Know Legal (a legal template company for women-owned businesses). Tania was recently featured in Boston Business Journal for her unique approach to business law for women entrepreneurs, and was noted as one of the Top 100 Attorneys for 2020, all while working full time in academia.

Tania was born and raised in Southern California, where she currently resides with her beloved rescue dog, Toothless Johnny. In her spare time, she loves to dance to 80’s and 90’s hip-hop.

Tina Schindler recently published an innovative bar preparation book, MBE Decoded. The book takes a fresh approach to MBE study, making the vast amount of MBE-tested rules manageable and understandable. The book includes rules for all MBE-tested black-letter law and instruction on an approach to use in solving MBE questions, with numerous visual examples. Rooted in learning science, the book facilitates student engagement, promotes deep rule understanding, increases MBE pattern recognition, and aids in critical memorization efforts. The book was written with frequent co-author, Mary Basick, and they presented on their MBE teaching methodology at the May 2021 AASE Conference in the session “Maximizing MBE Success in a Post-COVID World.” Utilizing the book principles with their students last year led to substantially increased MBE scores.

For more than a dozen years, Tina has designed numerous academic and bar exam support programs, created innovative curricula, directed bar preparation programs and pre-admission law school programs, taught courses and workshops in all bar-tested subjects, and published books that enable students to pass the bar exam. In addition to the new MBE book, Tina has also co-authored the popular bar preparation books Essay Exam Writing for the California Bar Exam and California Performance Test Workbook: Preparation for the Bar Exam. Both books are published with Wolters Kluwer and are in their second edition. Through her publications, she hopes to provide the tools necessary for bar takers nationwide to succeed on the bar exam.

Twinette Johnson began her teaching career in Academic Support program at Saint Louis University School of Law, where she also served as an Associate Professor of Legal Writing. Later she served as an Associate Professor of Law and Director of the Academic Success Program at Southern Illinois University School of Law where she earned tenure. While teaching full-time, Twinette earned her Ph.D. in Public Policy, with an emphasis in Higher Education Policy. Twinette is a groundbreaking member of the academic support community first, as one of the earliest academic support faculty members to earn tenure, and second as one of a growing number of ASPers appointed as a law school dean. Twinette served as Dean of the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law until 2024, when she became Dean of Saint Louis University School of Law. Twinette is a groundbreaking leader in every sense of the word.

Given her impressive accomplishments, not surprisingly, Twinette was recently selected (as one of the few representing the Academic Success community) to be a member of the National Conference of Bar Examiner’s Content Scope Committee for the Next Generation Bar Exam. She will represent the expertise of the Academic Success community well since in addition to her education and voluminous teaching experience, Twinette also recently co-authored a bar preparation book, Advanced Legal Analysis and Strategies.

Twinette grew up in New Orleans and attended an all-girls Catholic high school, which had its roots in the black community. The school reinforced that its students, as black young women, were worthy and special.  The school’s nuns presented a rigorous curriculum as well as a service oriented approach to community.  The nuns demanded hard work and instilled in students a desire to support others with their gifts – traits that continue to guide Twinette’ s path as an educator.

Twinette is an avid walker and a skillful Galaga player. She also recently learned to belly dance. Twinette is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, where she is now recognized as a Silver Star since celebrating her 25th year as a member.

As a testament to her dedication to students, Queena Mewers was named Staff Member of the Year in a Student Development Role at the 2020-2021 UCI Law Leadership and Service Awards. This award is voted on by the SBA and student body. Her accomplishment is even more impressive in light of the heavy work load she undertook over the past year as the only member of the ASP department. She created and presented many skills-based presentations for 1Ls and 2Ls, while also overhauling the 3L skills-based curriculum and early bar prep resources.

Queena also recently co-authored, with Rachel Croskery-Roberts, a chapter titled “Helping Traditional Students Become Effective Online Learners in Both Synchronous and Asynchronous Environments,” which will appear in the timely book on online legal education by Tessa L. Dysart and Tracy Norton titled Law Teaching Strategies for a New Era: Beyond the Physical Classroom, with publication by Carolina Academic Press expected in August 2021. This scholarship evolved out of her work on UCI Law’s Teaching and Learning Committee, where Queena took a leadership role in training the faculty to transition to online learning, with many faculty members continuing to view her as a knowledgeable resource on effective online or remote teaching and learning methods. Students also benefitted from her targeted online learning instruction and a Canvas page full of resources. 

In recognition of her expertise, in October 2020, Queena was an invited presenter at the “Study Law Anywhere and Everywhere: Best remote learning practices” workshop organized by the National Consortium of Public Interest Law Schools (NCPILS) as part of its Public Interest Symposium. In addition to her expertise in online learning, Queena regularly presents at ASP and legal writing conferences on various topics including improving rule comprehension, crafting effective and actionable self-assessment questionnaires, and demystifying reading and understanding judicial opinions.

Allie Robbins is a well-known contributor to the Academic Support community and we congratulate her on her recent promotion at CUNY. Effective January 1, 2021, Allie was named the Interim Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Allie is well-liked and respected by students and colleagues alike, and was voted Outstanding Professor of the Year in 2019.

Allie has a history and passion for helping others. Her early scholarship focused on issues pertaining to employee rights, particularly marginalized workers in the garment industry. As she has devoted herself to working in the Academic Support field, her passion has been directed into preparing CUNY students to pass the bar exam. To that end she authored a bar prep reference guide, Passing The Bar: A Quick Reference Guide for Today’s Law Student, and writes and edits The Activist Guide to Passing the Bar Blog.

Allie recently wrote a creative piece for the COVID Care Symposium titled, Everything I Know about Teaching Was Reinforced by Auditing Remote Kindergarten.  Allie was inspired watching her son’s kindergarten class and identified six parallels between his class and what she knows about good class design. Her most recent article, Preventing Attrition: Critical Interventions to Close the Racial Gap in Non-Transfer Attrition, explores the hot topic issue of the high non-transfer attrition rate for students of color and provides concrete suggestions law schools can implement to close the attrition gap, which includes among other suggestions, greater faculty engagement in teaching metacognition and academic skills. Allie also co-authored another recent article, Measuring Law Student Success from Admissions Through Bar Passage: More Data the Bench, Bar and Academy Need to Know, which analyzed data pursuant to various factors and their relationship to bar passage at two schools over seven years, finding LSAT scores had a relatively low predictive value for bar passage.

At the 2021 meeting, the AALS section on Academic Support gave Marsha the Trailblazer Award. Marsha is a uniquely resonant voice in speaking to the current moment, and in leading the charge for change to professional licensure for the future. 

Marsha’s academic writing and conference presentations have moved bar prep into the mainstream of legal education. Most recently, she authored The Bar Exam and the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Need for Immediate Action, Ohio State Public Law Working Paper No. 537(2020), which provided a national voice for bar reform during the global pandemic. This article was followed immediately by another important work: An Epic Fail, which will be published in the upcoming edition of the Howard Law Journal. Additionally, she is a frequent contributor to the Law School Academic Support Blog and has presented at numerous national and regional conferences. She has also had her work cited by numerous national magazines and publications, including The National Jurist, the ABA Journal and Law.com. Her expertise has been sought by boards of law examiners and supreme courts across the nation. Prior to her most recent scholarship, she has published in the SMU Law Review Forum, and the Texas A&M Law Review.

Marsha is a colleague who always looks for opportunities to lend a helping hand. She not only diligently serves her current students and recent graduates at her law school, but assists law graduates across the entire country who seek out her guidance and input on the challenges ahead for alternative paths to licensure and how to improve access, opportunity and diversity in the legal profession.

At the 2021 meeting, the AALS section on academic support gave Paula Manning the Legacy in Leadership Awards. Paula has been instrumental in building and nurturing the discipline of academic support.  Paula is a mentor and guiding force for ASP colleagues across the country. Whatever the topic, Paula has provided guidance and wisdom to countless ASPers on the evolution of their programs, their teaching, their scholarship, and their professional development. Her advice is always insightful and thoughtful, and countless ASPers now possess stronger programs, students, and professional opportunities because of Paula’s contributions to our discipline. 

She worked with LSAC as a frequent organizer of early national and regional ASP conferences, and was a driving force behind the creation and evolution of AASE. Put simply, the field of Academic Support has grown stronger through Paula’s energy, passion, and insight.  

Paula’s research and scholarship have had a profound impact on the field.  Paula co-authored with Michael Hunter Schwartz the most recent edition of the field-changing Expert Learning for Law Students, wrote a Torts casebook in the Carolina Academic Press “Context and Practice” series, and has produced numerous influential law review articles on such topics as how to inspire creative growth-minded lawyers, and how to give productive feedback to law students.  

Paula is a gifted educator. She has been innovative in her own teaching and has developed strong programs that maximized the potential of her students at numerous schools. Her devotion to students is unparalleled, as she offers feedback that fosters effective, precise, and positive reinforcement. Her scholarship has also influenced many educators by examining core premises of what it means to be an effective legal educator.  Paula’s work has promoted progress in ASP and instilled change to law school classroom pedagogy.