On May 21, 2025, HPU Law Professors Pete Nemerovski and Kip Nelson attended the Carolina Legal Research & Writing Colloquium held at Duke Law School. The Colloquium is a biennial legal writing conference, primarily for legal writing professors at the nine law schools in North and South Carolina. Professors Nemerovski and Nelson both taught Legal Research & Writing to HPU Law’s inaugural class, and Professor Nemerovski also serves as Director of Advocacy and Professor Nelson as Assistant Director of Advocacy.
As part of the programming, Professor Nelson delivered a presentation titled “What It Means to Produce ‘Practice-Ready’ Writing.” His presentation described some of the attributes that legal employers seek in junior attorneys, based on industry surveys and Professor Nelson’s independent research. His thesis was that if law schools are supposed to be producing practice-ready lawyers, legal writing professors should be doing their part to focus on the attributes that employers find lacking.
After attending the presentation, Professor Nemerovski said, “Professor Nelson’s presentation was excellent. The lawyers he surveyed highlighted issues like lack of attention to detail, insufficient proofreading, and overly complex sentences. They emphasized the role of the lawyer as a storyteller, weaving the facts into a narrative that is interesting and engaging. The presentation helped me identify things to focus on in my legal writing courses.”
HPU Founding Dean and Professor of Law Mark Martin commented,
“Developing good legal writers is a key curricular emphasis at HPU Law. Professors Nemerovski and Nelson did an exceptional job teaching our inaugural class, and I strongly support their engagement in the legal academy through participation in conferences like the Carolina Colloquium. I look forward to how they will continue to develop as teachers and scholars so they can instruct our students with excellence.”