Three accomplished attorney educators join Elon Law's communications faculty, Dr. Julee Flood, Tim McFarlin and Cassandra Thomas Roberts, as the Law School broadly expands its extensive communication skills programs for students.
“It’s hard to get lawyers to agree on anything, but one thing they agree on is that writing skills are not strong enough among law school graduates nationally,” said Elon Law Dean Luke Bierman. “Through Elon Law’s redesigned curriculum, we have more than doubled our resources devoted to communication skills, especially writing, helping to meet one of the key challenges facing the legal profession today.”
In addition to expanding the roster of faculty and legal writing specialists focused on building students’ communication skills, Elon Law expanded the number of required first-year Legal Method & Communication credits from five to seven. Further, as part of its groundbreaking new approach to legal education, Elon Law has instituted a communications requirement in each of students’ seven trimesters at the Law School.
“We know that lawyers almost universally lament the decline of communication skills among law school graduates nationally,” said Andy Haile, associate dean for academic affairs at Elon Law. “We also know that lawyers often note their appreciation for the communication skills of Elon Law students and graduates. Through our investment in this hallmark of an Elon Law education, our goal is to set a national standard of excellence in the development of law students’ communication skills.”
Dr. Julee Flood, Tim McFarlin and Cassandra Thomas Roberts join
the Elon Law faculty as Legal Method & Communication Fellows
“Writing and oral communication skills are essential to lawyers,” said Professor Catherine Wasson, director of Elon Law’s Legal Method & Communication Program. “The addition of Dr. Julee Flood, Tim McFarlin and Cassandra Thomas Roberts to Elon Law’s faculty is a significant programmatic investment that signals our strong commitment to exceptional communication skills development for all Elon Law students.”
Dr. Julee Flood’s diverse consulting and practice experience includes clerkships in federal and state appellate courts in Maine, New Hampshire, Tennessee and North Carolina. Her primary area of scholarship addresses education law and policy, with a particular focus on constitutional issues and higher education governance. She has published in the Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy, the Journal of College and University Law, the New Hampshire Bar Journal and Theory Into Practice. Dedicated to professional and leadership development, Dr. Flood has mentored law students during their internship, moot court and writing experiences. She has taught at the University of Tennessee’s College of Law and Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, and at Duke University’s Paralegal Program. Dr. Flood is a graduate of the University of Florida (BS, MS), the University of Maine (MPA), the University of New Hampshire (JD) and the University of Tennessee (PhD).
Tim McFarlin’s experience prior to joining Elon Law includes teaching constitutional law, employment law and mock trial courses as an adjunct professor at Washington University in St. Louis and Fontbonne University, and practicing business litigation in the St. Louis metropolitan area. McFarlin’s interests and experiences center on intellectual property law, particularly the areas of copyright and trademark. His scholarship aims to ensure that the law aligns with the realities of human creativity. McFarlin earned his law degree from St. Louis University School of Law in 2006, magna cum laude, where he was editor in chief of the St. Louis University Law Journal and awarded the Order of the Woolsack. He graduated summa cum laude in 2003 from the University of Missouri-Columbia, with degrees in history and political science, and was elected to the University’s Phi Beta Kappa chapter, of which Mark Twain was a member.
Cassandra Thomas Roberts has served as counsel for commercial and wealth lending at BB&T Corporation, as an associate with Alston & Bird law firm and as law clerk to The Honorable Sheila R. Tillerson Adams of the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County in Maryland. She has taught business law at High Point University. She holds a bachelor’s degree from North Carolina A&T State University and a JD/MBA from Howard University School of Law. Prior to law school, Thomas Roberts worked as a compliance examiner for the National Association of Securities Dealers and as a treasury management analyst for SunTrust Bank.
Flood, McFarlin and Thomas Roberts join the following faculty members of Elon Law’s Legal Method & Communication Program: Catherine Wasson, associate professor of law and director of legal method and communication, and member of the national board of directors for the Association of Legal Writing Directors; Tom Noble, assistant professor of law; and, Patricia Perkins, assistant professor of law. Together, the faculty members of Elon Law’s Legal Method & Communication Program help to develop lawyers who are excellent, ethical counselors and advocates, emphasizing the ability to communicate effectively with clients, colleagues, judges, juries and the public at large.
Jackie Connors joins Elon Law as Legal Writing Specialist
In conjunction with the addition of three Legal Method & Communication Fellows, Elon Law welcomes Jackie Connors as a legal writing specialist. Connors has served as an adjunct faculty member at Elon Law and brings a variety of legal practice experience to her teaching, including service as a judicial clerk in the N.C. Court of Appeals and as an attorney with law firms and corporations in Greensboro, N.C. Connors joins Dr. Janet Keefer in the legal writing specialist position. Dr. Keefer is former dean and professor of Drake University’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication, with teaching and leadership experience at Penn State University and Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates.
Elon Law expands communication skills programs
By expanding its required first-year Legal Method & Communication credits from five to seven, Elon Law has ensured that all first-year students will benefit from a minimum of 70 hours of classroom study focused on communication skills that are essential to lawyering success. Within Elon Law’s redesigned curriculum, first-year students will take a two-credit Legal Method & Communication course in each of their first three trimesters. In addition, first-year students take a one-credit Legal Research course that runs from October to March. Entering students also benefit from an in-depth writing component in the School’s new August term, establishing a foundation of knowledge and skill in writing to support their success throughout law school. Elon Law’s redesigned curriculum incorporates a communication requirement in every trimester of study, advancing the progressive attainment of refined communication skills and competencies among all Elon Law students.
More information about the Legal Method & Communication Program at Elon Law is available here.
Elon University School of Law is leading innovation in legal education by integrating traditional classroom instruction with highly experiential full-time residencies-in-practice in a logically sequenced program of professional preparation. This unique approach to legal education provides graduates with the knowledge, skills and ethics focus necessary to excel as 21st century lawyers. Designed to accelerate professional maturation, Elon Law’s groundbreaking approach is accomplished in two and one-half years, which provides distinctive value by lowering tuition and permitting graduates early entry into their professional careers. Learn more at law.elon.edu.