Professor Vinson Has the Write Stuff
At Suffolk University Law School, Professor Kathleen Elliott Vinson's mantra to her students is deceptively simple: 'Write fast, edit slow.' But this traditional wisdom belies the cutting-edge approaches that helped her earn the prestigious Thomas F. Blackwell Award at the American Association of Law Schools conference in January 2025. From creating legal writing apps to organizing national conversations about ChatGPT, Vinson has spent the past 25 years transforming how future lawyers learn to communicate.
A few of her ventures include the "Legal Writing Matters" blog and the "Law FaculTEAS" podcasts, which tackle everything from AI in law to workplace bullying. Both of the far-ranging publications refuse to pigeon-hold legal writing as a purely technical skill, and represent Vinson's philosophy that effective legal writing must evolve alongside the profession itself.
"Every time our program starts to feel settled, Kathy is the first to suggest a new approach or improvement," says Professor Dyane O'Leary, who was once Vinson's student and is now her colleague at Suffolk Law. "Her enthusiasm is contagious, both within Suffolk and throughout the national legal writing community."
Past innovations include a "Research Blitz," where students partner with alumni to answer real legal questions posted by low-income Massachusetts residents through an online legal advice clinic. It's part of her broader initiative to use legal writing education to address access to justice issues – teaching students not just how to write, but why their writing matters.
She has also embraced technology, developing one of the first iPhone apps for legal writing and creating a series of podcasts that help students master everything from rule synthesis to email etiquette. When ChatGPT emerged as a disruptive force in legal education, Vinson didn't look away–instead, she organized one of the first nationwide conversations within the legal writing community to address its implications.
The Blackwell Award, jointly presented to Vinson by the Legal Writing Institute and the Association of Legal Writing Directors, recognizes Vinson’s many contributions to the field. But for Vinson's former students, her impact is personal.
"While all students will be criticized on their path to mastering these essential skills," one former student wrote in support of her nomination, "Professor Vinson's uncanny ability to tailor her feedbackto every student continuously motivated us to refine our technique. Even those who struggled appreciated her approach."
Her book "Mindful Lawyering: The Key to Creative Problem Solving," co-authored with Suffolk Law colleagues Professors Samantha Moppett and Shailini George, reimagines traditional legal writing, confronting common myths, for instance, that creativity is confined to the arts or limited to a gifted few. Instead, it presents creativity as an essential lawyering skill. Through detailed chapters on embracing ambiguity, adjusting attitudes toward failure, and understanding the cognitive science of learning, the book offers a radically different approach to training lawyers.
"Traditional law school courses or textbooks do not explicitly cover these topics," Vinson and her co-authors note. Their work suggests that lawyers need both the grit to persist through challenges and the mental space to think creatively about legal problems.
"The legal profession is changing rapidly," says Beth Cohen, Director of the Legal Writing Program at Western New England School of Law, who supported Vinson's nomination. "Kathy has shown us how to embrace that change while keeping sight of what matters most: teaching future lawyers to communicate effectively and serve their communities well."
About Professor Vinson
Under Professor Vinson's leadership, Suffolk Law’s Legal Practice Skills program has been ranked in the Top 10 nationally by U.S. News and World Report for over a decade. Along with "Mindful Lawyering," she co-authored "Legal Analysis: The Fundamental Skill," a textbook widely used in first-year legal writing courses. The fourth edition of the book was released this month.
She received the Mary S. Lawrence Award from the Legal Writing Institute for pioneering scholarship and has earned several Suffolk University Teaching and Learning Innovation Grants. In 2023, she received Suffolk Law’s Catherine Judge Award, in recognition of her commitment to student mentorship and thoughtful pedagogy.
As co-founder of the New England Legal Writing Consortium, she has helped shape legal writing education throughout the region.
Professor Vinson served on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Advisory Committee for Professionalism in Practice and regularly consults with law firms and government agencies on legal writing. She teaches a “Lawyers as Leaders” class at Suffolk and plans to teach the course as a Fulbright Specialist this coming fall.