Director of Academic Support Kristen Dusseau provides services aimed at helping all students navigate law school and achieve their personal best. Dusseau holds a series of fall workshops for 1Ls that focus on strategies for success in law school, including how to effectively read and brief cases, properly create course summaries (outlines) to help students attain mastery over the material, and prepare for and take final exams. Dusseau is also available to work individually with students who want to continue fine-tuning their legal analysis, writing and study skills.
Student Success Program
The Student Success Program (SSP) includes a peer-led tutoring program designed to provide guidance and assistance to students in their law school courses and in their legal writing throughout all stages of the law school journey.
The SSP provides students with access to both subject-specific and writing tutors. Tutors are 2L and 3L students who have excelled in law school, demonstrate the ability to facilitate the learning of core tasks associated with legal education, and can communicate an understanding of the legal writing process and legal doctrine. They are dedicated to helping students succeed in their courses and improve legal skills necessary for law school success.
Peer tutors are available for all 1L doctrinal courses, “Legal Writing, Leadership, Experiential Education, Advocacy and Professionalism” (LLEAP) I, II, and III courses, and several upper-level courses, including “Evidence,” “Criminal Procedure,” “Business Associations,” “Constitutional Law” and upper-level writing. These tutors hold weekly drop-in office hours in the Peer Tutoring Center (room 165) and are also available to meet with students one-on-one by appointment.
Doctrinal Tutors
Doctrinal tutors specialize in, and are assigned to, a designated doctrinal 1L course and section/professor. In addition to offering individualized support, they hold weekly group tutoring sessions open to all 1Ls. In those sessions, tutors review the material covered in the 1L doctrinal courses during the preceding week, help students better understand that material, and present practice problems and examples to aid students in mastering the material. First-year doctrinal tutors work in teams of three during the weekly sessions, with each team assigned to the Advocates or Barristers section.
Writing Tutors
LLEAP writing tutors aid first-year students with LLEAP assignments and are usually designated to the specific professor with whom they took LLEAP because they are familiar with that professor’s expectations. They can help students at any stage of a LLEAP writing assignment or project, providing insight on techniques and methods to improve students’ legal writing. Upper-level writing tutors are also available to help students on any writing course or writing assignment outside of their LLEAP coursework. All writing tutors can help students at any stage of a project or papers for upper-level courses and notes—provided that your professor has authorized you to seek help from writing tutors for that project. The writing tutors aim to help students become better writers overall and not just to improve the written product. Writing tutors will not, therefore, simply edit or proofread a paper.
You are encouraged to meet with the writing tutors to get help with brainstorming, drafting, or revising a paper, as well as discussing methods and techniques to improve your legal writing.
Student Success Center
The Student Success Center (SSC) consists of both an online Canvas site and the SSC Suite—room A67 on the ground floor—for student use.
The SSC Canvas site provides a wealth of important resources for students, including peer tutoring information and office hours, supplementary class and writing resources, academic success materials, law student and campus services, and bar support information.
The SSC Suite offers private and semi-private areas for peer tutoring, individual or group studying and remote interviewing.
Students are encouraged to frequently check out the SSC Canvas site for new information or announcements, and to use the SSC Suite throughout the semester.