Writing Clinic
| Writing Specialist: | Kate Stoker | |
| Email: | ||
| Office | Room 476 | |
| Office Hours | Monday & Wednesday | 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM |
| Tuesday & Thursday | 4:15 PM to 6:15 PM | |
Additional office hours by appointment and before due dates for major Lawyering Process assignments.
The Legal Writing Clinic provides writing advice and assistance to DU College of Law students, particularly first-year students in the Lawyering Process program. Writing Specialist Kate Stoker, whose office is room 476, staffs the Writing Clinic. Click here to access the writing clinic TWEN page.
- Assistance on LP Assignments
The Writing Specialist meets with first-year students individually to help them with Lawyering Process writing assignments, including assistance with issues such as organization, analysis, and style, as well as grammar, punctuation, and usage. Students may visit the Writing Specialist at any stage in the writing process.
While the Writing Specialist offers specific advice and suggestions, her role is to help students improve their own writing and self-editing skills, not to edit or proofread papers for them. Therefore, she is not normally able to read entire assignments or to review papers in advance of meeting with students. In addition, she is not able to “check” citations for students, although she does answer questions about citations.
- Diagnostic and Proficiency Testing
The Writing Clinic administers the diagnostic and proficiency testing the law school has implemented to help assure that all first-year students are proficient in basic grammar, punctuation, and usage. The Writing Specialist helps students identify specific areas for improvement through workshops and individualized study and otherwise assists them in preparing for the final proficiency test. Practice exercises for the proficiency test are available under the link “Proficiency Practice Quizzes” on the Writing Clinic TWEN page.
- Writing Clinic Workshops
Again this fall, the Writing Clinic offered two workshops on grammar, punctuation, and usage to help first-year students prepare for the writing proficiency test. Click here to view the streaming videos, power points, and handouts for the workshops.
- Writing Tips
The Writing Clinic e-mails weekly Writing Tips to all students in the Lawyering Process program. These brief tips address common writing problems in student papers, including some of the topics that are covered on the proficiency test. The tips are also posted under the Writing Tips link on the Writing Clinic TWEN page.
- Writing Samples and Other Assistance
Although first priority goes to Lawyering Process students before assignment due dates, first-year and upper-level students may also seek assistance throughout the academic year with assignments for courses other than Lawyering Process (with the professor’s prior permission) or writing samples for the job search. Students who would like assistance with writing samples for OCI or other job opportunities should provide their writing samples to the Writing Specialist at least two business days before a scheduled appointment. Except for writing samples, the Writing Specialist does not review papers in advance of meeting with students.
- Scheduling Appointments
First-year students seeking assistance with Lawyering Process assignments may make appointments by using the sign-up sheets on the Writing Clinic TWEN page or by dropping in during the Writing Specialist’s regularly-scheduled office hours (see schedule above). If the sign-up sheets are full, you may contact her to see whether it is possible to schedule another mutually convenient time. Students seeking assistance with assignments for classes other than Lawyering Process or writing samples should contact the Writing Specialist directly to schedule appointments.
- Canceling Appointments
Please delete your name from the sign-up sheets on TWEN as soon as possible if you find you are unable to make a scheduled appointment. If you need to cancel at the last minute, please e-mail the Writing Specialist to let her know.
- About the Legal Writing Specialist
Before joining the Lawyering Process team at DU, Kate Stoker practiced in the business and tax departments at Holme Roberts & Owen LLP in Denver for more than 11 years. While in private practice, Ms. Stoker served for several years as a governing council member of the Health Law Section of the Colorado Bar Association and editor of the Section’s newsletter. She is the author of two articles in The Colorado Lawyer: “Control and Accountability of the Nonprofit Corporation” (March 1995) and “H.B. 94-1193: Health Care Purchasing Reform” (December 1994). She has also served as an officer or director of several nonprofit organizations. Ms. Stoker received her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1985 and a B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communication and Political Science from the University of Iowa in 1981. During law school, she was a teaching assistant in the legal research and writing program and Articles Editor of The Journal of Law & Politics.