Document Type
Presentation
Start Date
12-6-2019 12:05 PM
End Date
12-6-2019 12:35 PM
Presenter Biography
Candace Centeno is a Professor of Law and the Director of the Duane Morris LLP Legal Writing Program; she serves as the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and teaches Legal Analysis and Writing I & II and an upper-level medical malpractice course. She is a graduate of Muhlenberg College (summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa) and Boston College Law School (cum laude).
Prior to joining the Legal Writing Faculty at Villanova Law School in 2006, Dean Centeno was a defense litigator for thirteen years at White & Williams in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she represented physicians, hospitals, and other healthcare professionals in medical malpractice and premise liability actions; she also served as an Arbitrator for the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. Dean Centeno continues to practice as a volunteer attorney at the Support Center for Child Advocates, and she served as a Hearing Officer for the Pennsylvania Disciplinary Board from 2011-2017.
Dean Centeno is actively involved in the national Legal Writing Institute (LWI): she served as Treasurer on the LWI Executive Board from 2014-2018, and she has helped coordinate and plan three national conferences (2010 program committee member and poster presentation chair, 2012 co-chair of program committee, and 2014 conference co-chair). Dean Centeno currently serves on a number of committees for AALS (LRW section), ALWD, and LWI.
Dean Centeno has published articles in Perspectives and the Second Draft, and she regularly presents at regional and national conferences; her scholarly interests focus on legal writing and analysis, with a particular interest in the incorporation of skills training in the classroom.
Description
This presentation will discuss how to incorporate short writing exercises into a traditional exam class & how to encourage others to do the same. The presentation will first briefly discuss a sample writing exercise used in an upper level elective that also has a final examination; in sum, the writing exercise builds upon the email analysis instruction provided in the 1L Legal Writing Program. This short exercise provides an opportunity for the professor to help students refine their writing and organization & to see if the students are understanding basic concepts. The presentation will then explore ways to encourage other faculty members to do the same in their traditional upper-level exam course, including sharing rubrics and faculty presentations about how to do it & why this is important to our students.
Incorporating Short Writing Exercises into Traditional Exam Courses: How to Do It & How to Encourage Others to Do It Too!
This presentation will discuss how to incorporate short writing exercises into a traditional exam class & how to encourage others to do the same. The presentation will first briefly discuss a sample writing exercise used in an upper level elective that also has a final examination; in sum, the writing exercise builds upon the email analysis instruction provided in the 1L Legal Writing Program. This short exercise provides an opportunity for the professor to help students refine their writing and organization & to see if the students are understanding basic concepts. The presentation will then explore ways to encourage other faculty members to do the same in their traditional upper-level exam course, including sharing rubrics and faculty presentations about how to do it & why this is important to our students.