Laurie Zimet, Director, Academic Support Program

Professor Laurie Zimet is a recognized expert in academic and bar support as well as diverse teaching methods. She has planned and presented workshops at national conferences sponsored by the AALS, LSAC, Institute for Law School Teaching, SALT, and numerous law schools. One of these presentations inspired the collaboratively written article, "Inclusive Teaching Methods Across the Curriculum: Academic Resource and Law Teachers Tie a Knot at the AALS," 31 U.S.F.L.R. 875 (1997). Since 1999, she has made annual plenary presentations on learning theory at the AALS New Law Teachers Conference. She has been on the Advisory Committee for the Institute for Law School Teaching and is a founding member of the Academic Support sections of the AALS and SALT.

With two colleagues and grants from the Institute for Law School Teaching, she created videotapes on teaching and learning. The videotapes are part of two faculty-training kits that have been purchased by over 170 law schools and individuals. In "Teach to the Whole Class: Barriers and Pathways to Learning," students discuss factors that enhance and impede their learning. The second video, "Principles for Enhancing Legal Education," addresses essential principles involved in good teaching. The videos have been showcased at conferences and faculty colloquia across the country.

At UC Hastings, Professor Zimet teaches bar and legal analysis courses and runs one of the largest academic support programs in the country. Prior to UC Hastings, she directed the Academic Success Program at Santa Clara University School of Law for eight years. Prior to Santa Clara, she taught Legal Writing and Research at UC Hastings. In addition, she taught law courses at Mills College and served as an advisor for the school's interdisciplinary law major.

She has lectured on legal writing and litigation related topics for the Practising Law Institute, Chevron, and the Federal Deposit Corporation. Subjects of her articles range from using paralegals in pre-trial litigation to the constitutional right of privacy in discovery. Her coauthored chapter on civil liability for rape appeared in Women and the Law, which was selected Best Law Book by the Association of American Publishers.

She received her B.S., summa cum laude, from State University College at Buffalo with a double major in social work and criminal justice. She graduated from UC Hastings and practiced in the area of civil litigation, emphasizing third party liability.

Expertise: Academic Support, Bar Preparation, Legal Analysis, Teaching Methods & Learning Theory