Mimi Samuel

Associate Director, Legal Writing Program at Seattle University School of LawProfessor Samuel is Associate Director of Seattle University School of Law’s nationally acclaimed Legal Writing Program. After law school, Professor Samuel practiced business litigation for approximately eight years, first in Washington, D.C., at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, and then in San Francisco, at Thelen Marin Johnson & Bridges. An avid traveler, Professor Samuel has pursued opportunities to work with law students, lawyers, and judges overseas. In 2003, she taught the foundations of the American legal system to Russian law students at Far Eastern National University in Vladivostok. During a leave of absence in 2007, Professor Samuel and colleague Professor Laurel Oates conducted a series of trainings and workshops in India, Uganda, and South Africa. In addition, Professor Samuel co-organized the Conference on the Pedagogy of Legal Writing for Academics in Nairobi, Kenya, which brought academics from the U.S. together with academics from East Africa. At the end of the conference, the participants decided to form a new organization dedicated to promoting the teaching of legal writing and the exchange of information among academics in the U.S. and Africa. Professor Samuel serves as the first U.S. co-president of that organization. In addition, Professor Samuel has taught in Seattle University’s Global Justice Advocacy Program in Johannesburg, South Africa. In 2008, Professor Samuel was awarded the first Bronson Dillehay Award for her article Focus on Batson: Let the Cameras Roll. That award is given by the American Society of Trial Consultants for a proposal for addressing a significant and persistent problem that undermines both the right to a fair trial and public confidence in the legal system.