Professor Tessa L. Dysart and Professor Tracy Norton discuss the first comprehensive book on online law teaching titled Law Teaching Strategies for a New Era: Beyond the Physical Classroom. This podcast offers insight into how to take law school beyond the traditional, in-person experience.
Brought to you by the Touro Law Review.
Our guests today are Professor Tessa L. Dysart and Professor Tracy Norton.
Professor Tessa L. Dysart
Tessa L. Dysart is the Assistant Director of Legal Writing and Clinical Professor of Law at the University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law. She also serves as the Editor-in-chief of the Journal of Appellate Practice & Process, which was acquired by the University of Arizona Law in June 2020.
Professor Dysart writes and speaks nationally on appellate advocacy issues. With the Hon. Leslie H. Southwick of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, she co-authored the third edition of Winning on Appeal: Better Briefs and Oral Arguments. She manages the Appellate Advocacy Blog, which was added to the ABA’s list of best law blogs in 2018. Professor Dysart has also written on human trafficking and constitutional law and lectured nationally on developing effective state anti-trafficking laws.
Professor Dysart is a graduate of Willamette University and Harvard Law School. She clerked for the Hon. Dennis W. Shedd of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Her practice experience includes working for the United States Department of Justice Office of Legal Policy and the Senate Judiciary Committee. Prior to joining the College of Law faculty she taught appellate advocacy and constitutional law courses at Regent University School of Law, where she coached award-winning moot court teams and advised the program to a national ranking.
Professor Tracy Norton
Professor Tracy Norton is a leader in the fields of legal writing and legal education, both nationally and internationally. She is best known for her research and presentations on cross-generational competence in legal education and the legal profession. Among her contributions to the field of legal writing are her Interactive Citation Workbook (formerly with co-authors Prof. Christine Hurt) and accompanying online Workstation, published originally in 1999. The ICW was the first digital teaching tool in widespread use in American law schools and is used in more than half of American law schools. A longtime member of the Legal Writing Institute, Professor Norton served two four-year terms on its Board of Directors.
Her current scholarly interests are at the intersection of narrative factual theory and disaster law. She also writes and speaks nationally about changes to legal education that have been inspired by the Millennial generation. Her current teaching interest is making legal education more accessible through digital platforms. In addition to her classroom teaching, she teaches Advanced Persuasion and Judicial Writing online. She has also developed a fully online pre-law legal analysis program for students interested in attending law school. Professor Norton is currently creating a digital textbook for 1L legal analysis and writing courses. During the 2020 pandemic, Professor Norton assisted faculty throughout the country in asynchronous and synchronous online course delivery.
She began her teaching career in 1997 at Texas Tech University School of Law, where she taught from 1997-2001. In 2001, she joined the faculty at South Texas College of Law. She has been with the faculty of Touro Law Center since 2007. Prior to teaching, Professor Norton practiced criminal law in Texas.
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