Contact Information

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Biography

A teacher of torts and an expert in the field of legal writing and research, Jan M. Levine is in his thirty-ninth year of law school teaching and has more than three decades of experience leading legal research and writing programs. In 2007, Levine joined the faculty at the Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University, and the legal research and writing program was ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of the nation's best every year he was the director, between 2007 and 2023, ranking sixth in the country in 2013. Before coming to Duquesne, Levine directed the legal writing program at the Temple University School of Law for eleven years, where the program was also recognized by U.S. News & World Report as one of the nation’s best. Before that, Levine directed the legal writing programs at the University of Arkansas School of Law and the University of Virginia School of Law, and taught as an adjunct writing professor at his alma mater, the Boston University School of Law.

Prior to beginning his full-time teaching career, Levine served the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as assistant general counsel and assistant regional counsel for the Department of Social Services, litigating child protective services cases, and served as deputy general counsel for the Office of Children, providing systemic child advocacy and licensing child care facilities. He began his career as a lawyer as a staff attorney at the Boston University Center for Law & Health Sciences, and at the Boston University Health Policy Institute, working in the areas of the rights of persons with mental and physical disabilities, the rights of older Americans, and health care planning.

A graduate of the State University of New York at Albany, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Levine is a nationally recognized scholar who has published more than 30 articles on legal research and writing; two of his most recent accomplishments were contributing to the second and third editions of the ABA Sourcebook on Legal Writing. He has presented 50 sessions at national conferences on legal research and writing.

Levine was elected to be the founding president of the Association of Legal Writing Directors (ALWD); served as elected member of the ALWD's board of directors; was an elected member of the board of directors of the Legal Writing Institute and the board of directors of SCRIBES, the American Society of Writers on Legal Subjects; and served as chair and member of the ABA Communications Skills Committee.

In 2023 Levine received the Association of Legal Writing Directors Marjorie Rombauer Award.

This award, the most prestigious in the field, has been presented by the Association of Legal Writing Directors only four times since its inception in 2000. The award “salutes a person who has contributed significantly to the field of legal writing: by education about the importance of legal writing; by published scholarship that advances the teaching of legal writing and the understanding of its underlying principles; by contributions to national legal writing organizations; by contributions to individual legal writing programs; and by efforts to improve the status of legal writing faculty.”

In 2014 Levine received the Thomas F. Blackwell Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Legal Writing, which is presented annually by the Association of Legal Writing Directors and the Legal Writing Institute to a person "who has made an outstanding contribution to improve the field of Legal Writing by demonstrating an ability to nurture and motivate students to excellence, a willingness to help other legal writing educators improve their teaching skills or their legal writing programs, and an ability to create and integrate new ideas for teaching and motivating legal writing educators and students."

Also in 2014 he was also given the Section Award by the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Section on Legal Writing, Reasoning and Research, which honors "outstanding contribution to the field of legal writing, reasoning, and research via service, scholarship, and legal-writing program design or other activity valuable to the advancement of the field of legal writing."

Education

  • J.D., Law, Boston University, 1978
  • B.A., Sociology, SUNY Albany, 1975

Research Interests or Expertise

  • Legal Research and Writing
  • Appellate Advocacy
  • Statutory Drafting

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School

About

FALL
  • Advanced Legal Writing: Legal Drafting
  • Legal Research and Writing

SPRING
  • Advanced Legal Writing: Legal Drafting
  • Legal Research and Writing
  • Analytical Assignments for Integrating Legal Research and Writing
    Jan M. Levine, Analytical Assignments for Integrating Legal Research and Writing (Adams & Ambrose 1991-97) (1996 & 1997 editions written with co-author Kathryn A. Sampson).
  • Legal Writing as a Discipline: Past, Present, and Future
    Jan M. Levine, Legal Writing as a Discipline: Past, Present, and Future in Lynn Entrikin, exec. ed., 3d ed., Sourcebook on Legal Writing Programs 29 (Am. Bar Ass'n 2020). https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3605640
  • Sourcebook on Legal Writing Programs
    Sourcebook on Legal Writing Programs (Eric Easton gen. ed., 2d ed., Am. Bar Ass'n 2006) (chs. 5, 6, & 7 written by Jan M. Levine & Susan P. Liemer).
  • Status and Salary
    Jan M. Levine, Status and Salary, in The Politics of Legal Writing: Proceedings of a Conference for Legal Research and Writing Program Directors (Jan M. Levine, Rebecca Cochran & Steve Johansen eds., West & ALWD 1996). http://ssrn.com/abstract=993266
  • Emergency Medical Technician Liability, in Behavioral Emergencies: A Field Guide for EMTs and Paramedics
    Jan M. Levine and Arthur Hoffmann, Emergency Medical Technician Liability, in Behavioral Emergencies: A Field Guide for EMTs and Paramedics (Ellen Bassuk ed., Little-Brown 1982).
  • The Use of Human Tissue in Experimentation
    Stephen M. Weiner and Jan M. Levine, The Use of Human Tissue in Experimentation, in Ethics Advisory Board Report and Conclusions: DHEW Support of Research Involving Human In-Vitro Fertilization and Embryo Transfer (U.S. Govt. Printing Off. 1979).
  • A Curmudgeon's View of the Multi-Generational Teaching of Legal Writing
    Jan M. Levine, A Curmudgeon's View of the Multi-Generational Teaching of Legal Writing, 25 Legal Writing 79 (2021). SSRN
  • Addressing Employers' Citation Systems Confusion
    Maria Comas and Jan Levine, Addressing Employers' Citation Systems Confusion, 34 NALP Bulletin+ 34 (May 2021) https://www.nalp.org/uploads/Publications/NALPBulletinMay2021.pdf
  • Foreword: Artificial Intelligence: Thinking About Law, Law Practice, and Legal Education
    Jan M. Levine, Foreword: Artificial Intelligence: Thinking About Law, Law Practice, and Legal Education, 58 (1) Duq. L. Rev (2020). SSRN
  • Fifth Colonial Frontier Legal Writing Conference Drafting Statutes and Rules: Pedagogy, Practice, and Politics (Foreword)
    Jan M. Levine, Fifth Colonial Frontier Legal Writing Conference Drafting Statutes and Rules: Pedagogy, Practice, and Politics (Foreword), 55 (1) Duq. L. Rev (2017). SSRN
  • Foreword: Teaching the Academically Underprepared Law Student
    Jan M. Levine, Foreword: Teaching the Academically Underprepared Law Student, 53 Duq. L. Rev. 1 (Spring 2015).
  • Designing Spaces: Planning the Physical Space for a Legal Writing Program
    Jan M. Levine, Designing Spaces: Planning the Physical Space for a Legal Writing Program, Perspectives (Spring 2015). https://info.legalsolutions.thomsonreuters.com/pdf/perspec/2015-summer/2015-summ...
  • Guest Blog on Skills: Professor Jan Levine's Legislative Drafting Course at Duquesne.
    Jan M. Levine, Guest Blog on Skills: Professor Jan Levine's Legislative Drafting Course at Duquesne (March 19, 2014). http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/legislation_law/2014/03/skills-professor-jan-le...
  • It's OK to Leave Law School
    Jan M. Levine, It's OK to Leave Law School, 19:2 The Law Teacher 10 (Spring 2013). http://www.law.gonzaga.edu/review-test/files/2016/06/lawteacher2013spring.pdf
  • Remarks: One Path Towards the Future
    Jan M. Levine, Remarks: One Path Towards the Future, 49 Duq. L. Rev. 569 (2011).
  • Commentary, Don't Blame Us!
    Jan M. Levine, Commentary, Don't Blame Us!, The John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy. http://popecenter.org/commentaries/article.html?id=2328
  • The Fruits of Hope: Student Evaluations
    Julia Glencer, Jan M. Levine, Erin Karsman, Tara Willke, The Fruits of Hope: Student Evaluations, 48 Duq. L. Rev. 233 (2010). https://ssrn.com/abstract=1597334
  • Foreword
    Jan M. Levine, Foreword, 48 Duq. L. Rev. 199 (2010).
  • Legal Research and Writing: What Schools are Doing, and Who is Doing the Teaching (Three Years Later)
    Susan Liemer and Jan M. Levine, Legal Research and Writing: What Schools are Doing, and Who is Doing the Teaching (Three Years Later), 9 Scribes J. Leg. Writing 113 (2003-04). SSRN
  • Four Rules To Advance the Status of Legal Writing Faculty
    Jan M. Levine, Four Rules To Advance the Status of Legal Writing Faculty, Sec. Newsltr. of the Assn. Am. L. Schs., Sec. Leg. Writing, Analysis, & Research 12 (Spring 2002).
  • Words from the Podium
    Jan M. Levine, Words from the Podium, Quarterly Col., Winter 1996 - Spring 2002.
  • Women, Writing & Wages: Breaking the Last Taboo
    Jan M. Levine and Kathryn M. Stanchi, Women, Writing & Wages: Breaking the Last Taboo, 7 Wm. & Mary J. Women L. 551 (2001). SSRN
  • Gender and Legal Writing: Law School's Dirty Little Secrets
    Stanchi, Kathryn, Levine, Jan M., Gender and Legal Writing: Law School's Dirty Little Secrets, 16 Berkeley Women's L.J. 3 (2001). SSRN
  • Legal Research and Writing: What Schools Are Doing, and Who Is Doing the Teaching
    Jan M. Levine, Legal Research and Writing: What Schools Are Doing, and Who Is Doing the Teaching, 7 Scribes J. Leg. Writing 51 (2000). SSRN
  • Legal Research & Writing: What Schools are Doing, and Who is Doing the Teaching
    Jan M. Levine, Legal Research & Writing: What Schools are Doing, and Who is Doing the Teaching, 7 Scribes J.L. Writing 51 (2000). SSRN
  • Seven Short Suggestions for Using Your Computer to Teach LRW Better
    Jan M. Levine, Seven Short Suggestions for Using Your Computer to Teach LRW Better, The Second Draft (newsltr. of the Leg. Writing Inst.) 13 (May 1999).
  • Some Concerns About Legal Writing Scholarship
    Jan M. Levine, Some Concerns About Legal Writing Scholarship, Persp. 69 (Winter 1999).
  • Legal Writing Scholarship: Point/Counterpoint
    Jan M. Levine and Grace C. Tonner, Legal Writing Scholarship: Point/Counterpoint, Persps. 68 (Winter 1999).
  • Leveling the Hill of Sisyphus: Becoming a Professor of Legal Writing
    Jan M. Levine, Leveling the Hill of Sisyphus: Becoming a Professor of Legal Writing, 26 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. 1067 (1999). SSRN
  • Standards for Evaluating Legal Research and Writing Teachers
    Jan M. Levine, Standards for Evaluating Legal Research and Writing Teachers, The Second Draft (newsltr. of the Leg. Writing Inst.) 4 (May 1995).
  • Voices in the Wilderness: Tenured and Tenure-Track Directors and Teachers in Legal Research and Writing Programs
    Jan M. Levine, Voices in the Wilderness: Tenured and Tenure-Track Directors and Teachers in Legal Research and Writing Programs, 45 J. Leg. Educ. 530 (1995). SSRN
  • You Can't Please Everyone, So You'd Better Please Yourself: Directing (or Teaching in) a First-Year Legal Writing Program
    Jan M. Levine, You Can't Please Everyone, So You'd Better Please Yourself: Directing (or Teaching in) a First-Year Legal Writing Program, 29 Val. U. L. Rev. 611 (1995). SSRN
  • Designing Assignments for Teaching Legal Analysis, Research and Writing
    Jan M. Levine, Designing Assignments for Teaching Legal Analysis, Research and Writing, Persps. 58 (Spring 1995) (reprinted in Best of Perspectives: Teaching Legal Research & Writing 3 (West 2001)). SSRN
  • The Final Word
    Jan M. Levine, The Final Word, The Second Draft (newsltr. of the Leg. Writing Inst.) 12 (Mar. 1994).
  • Figure Out How You Fit Into the Law School
    Jan M. Levine, Figure Out How You Fit Into the Law School, The Second Draft (newsltr. of the Leg. Writing Inst.) 3 (Mar. 1994). 
  • Evolving Limitations on Guardianship
    Henry A. Beyer and Jan M. Levine, Evolving Limitations on Guardianship, Newsltr. of the Natl. College Prob. JJ. (Fall 1980).
  • Legal Research and Writing Course Materials
    Jan M. Levine, Legal Research and Writing Course Materials (Duq. U. Sch. L. 2009-10, 2008-09, 2007-08).
  • Legal Research and Writing III: Course Materials
    Jan M. Levine, Legal Research and Writing III: Course Materials, James E. Beasley Sch. L., Temp. U. Spring 2006, 2005, 2004, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998.
  • Legal Research and Writing I and II: Course Materials
    Jan M. Levine, Legal Research and Writing I and II: Course Materials, James E. Beasley Sch. L., Temp. U. 2005-06, 2004-05, 2003-04, 2002-03, 2001-02, 2000-01, 1999-2000, 1998-99, 1997-98, 1996-97.
  • The Politics of Legal Writing: Proceedings of a Conference for Legal Research and Writing Program Directors
    Jan M. Levine, Rebecca Cochran & Steve Johansen eds., The Politics of Legal Writing: Proceedings of a Conference for Legal Research and Writing Program Directors (West & ALWD 1996). https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=993266
  • Guardianship and Conservatorship in Massachusetts: An Attorney's Reference Manual
    Guardianship and Conservatorship in Massachusetts: An Attorney's Reference Manual (Dorothy King & Jan M. Levine eds., B.U. & Worcester Cty. B. Assn. 1981).
  • Mental Retardation and the Law
    Mental Retardation and the Law (Jan M. Levine, ed., President's Commn. on Mental Retardation, December 1979 and June 1980). http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/2241456
  • Regulating Science Through Law
    Regulating Science Through Law (George J. Annas & Jan M. Levine eds., B.U. Sch. Med. 1977).
  • Protection and Advocacy Newsletter
    Protection and Advocacy Newsletter, Jan M. Levine ed., B.U. Sch. L. Nov. 1978 to June 1980.
  • Don't Hide the Ball: Using Examples of Past Student Work Without Giving It All Away
    Jan M. Levine and Lori Schweer, Don't Hide the Ball: Using Examples of Past Student Work Without Giving It All Away, presentation at ALWD Conference (June 2021).
  • The Multi‐Generational Teaching of Legal Writing
    Jan M. Levine, et al., Discussion Group, The Multi‐Generational Teaching of Legal Writing, presentation at AALS Annual Meeting (January 2020).
  • Director's Roundtable, Disrupting Hierarchies in Legal Education: Commemorating the Impact of the Freedman Fellows Program
    Jan M. Levine, et al., Disrupting Hierarchies in Legal Education: Commemorating the Impact of the Freedman Fellows Program, Director's Roundtable at Temple Univ. School of Law, Temple Law Review Symposium (October 2019).
  • Doing More With Less, or Just Doing Less: Responses to the Tension Between Scholarship and Teaching
    Jan M. Levine, Sue Liemer, Nancy Soonpaa, & Gail Stephenson, Doing More With Less, or Just Doing Less: Responses to the Tension Between Scholarship and Teaching, presentation at ALWD Conf. (July 2017).
  • "We Don't Need No Or-Ee-En-Tay-Shun:" Why An Early Start to Legal Research & Writing is the Best Way for Students to Begin Law Study
    Julia M. Glencer and Jan M. Levine, "We Don't Need No Or-Ee-En-Tay-Shun:" Why An Early Start to Legal Research & Writing is the Best Way for Students to Begin Law Study, presentation at Legal Writing Institute Conference (July 10-13, 2016).
  • We're Not in Memo and Brief Land Any More: Statues and Rule and Regs! Oh My!
    Ann Schiavone and Jan M. Levine, We're Not in Memo and Brief Land Any More: Statues and Rule and Regs! Oh My!, presentation at Capital Area Legal Writing Conference, Washington D.C. (2016).
  • Leading with Style: Administrative Choices with Institutional and Faculty Consequences
    Nancy Soonpaa, Sue Liemer, Jan M. Levine, & Suzanne Rowe, Leading with Style: Administrative Choices with Institutional and Faculty Consequences, panel presentation and discussion at ALWD Conf. (June 2015).
  • Leading a Successful Law School Curriculum Reform Effort
    Jan M. Levine, Leading a Successful Law School Curriculum Reform Effort, presentation at ALWD Conf. (June 2015).
  • Teaching Drafting Through Collaborations
    Ted Becker, Jan M. Levine, & Sara Rankin, Teaching Drafting Through Collaborations, Panel Presentation and Discussion at Bringing Outside In: Social Justice Collaborations in the Legal Writing Classroom (June 2014).
  • 2014 Blackwell Award Remarks
    Jan M. Levine, 2014 Blackwell Award Remarks (Jan. 3, 2014). http://www.alwd.org/2014-speech/
  • Designing Spaces: Planning the Physical Space for a LRW Program
    Julia M. Glencer, Jan M. Levine, Ann Schiavone, & Tara Willke, Designing Spaces: Planning the Physical Space for a LRW Program, presentation at ALWD Conference (June 2013).
  • Change from Within: Leadership for Law School Curriculum Reforms
    Jan M. Levine & Susan P. Liemer, Change from Within: Leadership for Law School Curriculum Reforms, presentation at ALWD Conf. (June 2013).
  • Switching to the Mac
    Jan M. Levine, Switching to the Mac, roundtable discussion at The Second Colonial Frontier Leg. Writing Conf. (2013).
  • Getting Your Points Across: Effective, Efficient, and Entertaining Critiques of Student Papers
    Jan M. Levine, Getting Your Points Across: Effective, Efficient, and Entertaining Critiques of Student Papers, presentation at The Second Colonial Frontier Leg. Writing Conf. (2013).