Legal Methods & Writing Faculty
Our Legal Writing faculty are respected scholars and accomplished practitioners. These professors, the majority of whom hold tenure-track positions, have published widely in scholarly journals. They’ve held leadership positions in the Association of Legal Writing Directors and the Legal Writing Institute. They are often invited to present their work at regional, national and international conferences of legal educators.
Professor Coleman is a Professor of Law, Director, International Student Programs and our Writing Specialist. An experienced writing teacher, editor and writer, Professor Coleman has also practiced law with Conrad, O'Brien, Gellman & Rohn, Hangley Aronchick Segal & Pudlin and Drinker Biddle & Reath. Her professional experience includes magazine editing and teaching fiction writing.
Professor Deborah Gordon is a former counsel and associate with Day Berry & Howard, LLP in Stamford, Conn., where she handled sophisticated estate and tax planning, business and succession planning, pre-marital planning, estate administration and litigation involving fiduciaries and beneficiaries. Previously, she was an associate with Sullivan & Cromwell in New York City. She was Editor-in-Chief of The New York University Law Review.
Professor Kukura’s research explores the intersections of health law and gender, with a particular focus on reproductive health and the law and politics of childbirth.
Lisa A. Tucker is an Professor of Law at the Thomas R. Kline School of Law, where she has been a member of the faculty since 2007. Her scholarship focuses on the “underdogs” in family law, or those family members whose interests are underrecognized, undervalued, and underrepresented. Professor Tucker is also an expert on the United States Supreme Court and has published numerous articles in scholarly journals and the mainstream media about the Court as an institution. Her work has been published in the Duke Law Journal, the Washington University Law Review, the North Carolina Law Review, the Indiana Law Journal, the BYU Law Review, the University of Chicago Law Review Online, the Georgetown Law Journal Online, and many more.
Kevin Oates is an expert in professional responsibility and conflicts of law.
He came to the law school from Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center, where he was an assistant professor of legal methods, served on the Appointments and Curriculum Committees, coached the ABA Negotiation and Client Counseling teams and was administrator for the Alexander Hamilton Inn of Court. Previously, he held a similar post at William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, where he was voted Law Professor of the Year in 2004. He also served as a teaching fellow at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law.
Before teaching, he practiced with Cozen O'Connor, in New York and Philadelphia and was a partner at Gartner, Bloom & Greiper, in New York, where he handled litigation, appeals, arbitrations and mediations.
Emily Zimmerman conducts empirical research to assess strengths and weaknesses in legal pedagogy and methods for promoting student enthusiasm. She has served on the Professional Development Committee of the Legal Writing Institute, on the board of Academics Promoting the Pedagogy of Effective Advocacy in Law and as co-editor of the Legal Writing Journal of the Social Science Research Network.
Before teaching, Professor Zimmerman was the chief of the Civil and Exceptional Litigation Unit for the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, where she had also supervised the Municipal Court Unit and worked as a trial prosecutor.