Biography

Terry Jean Seligmann has expertise in special education law and is a nationally known teacher of legal research and writing. 

Professor Seligmann joined the law school as a member of its inaugural faculty in the position of Director of its nationally ranked Legal Writing program. Before coming to the law school, Professor Seligmann directed the Legal Writing and Research program at the University of Arkansas School of Law, where she was also a professor of law. She previously taught at Suffolk University Law School.

Professor Seligmann has served on the Boards of Directors of the Association of Legal Writing Directors and the Legal Writing Institute, and has played a leadership role in organizing conferences and roundtables to advance legal research and writing programs. She is a former president of the Legal Writing Institute.   

Her articles include “Muddy Waters: The Supreme Court and the Clear Statement Rule for Spending Clause Legislation,” in Tulane Law Review, “Rowley Comes Home to Roost: Judicial Review of Methodology Disputes in Autism Special Education Cases,” in the University of California-Davis Journal of Juvenile Law and Policy, and “Why is a Legal Memorandum Like an Onion: A Student’s Guide to Reviewing and Editing,” in the Mercer Law Review.

Professor Seligmann earned her J.D. at New York University School of Law, where she was editor of the New York University Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif.

After clerking for Judge W. Arthur Garrity, Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, during his supervision of the Boston school desegregation case, she served as an assistant attorney general for Massachusetts, where she worked on cases in the areas of education, public health, welfare and taxation.

She subsequently practiced in Boston with Herrick & Smith, with Heidlage & Reece, and served as staff counsel for the Supreme Judicial Court in Massachusetts.

She has served as president of the Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts, as vice-chair of the Ethics Advisory Committee of the Massachusetts Bar Association and as a hearing officer for the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers.

Professor Seligmann is an amateur flutist who plays in community bands and orchestras.