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9 Legal Writing: J. Legal Writing Inst. 185 (2003)
From Cooperative Learning to Collaborative Writing in the Legal Writing Classroom

handle is hein.journals/jlwriins9 and id is 191 raw text is: From Cooperative Learning to Collaborative Writing in the Legal Writing Classroom' Elizabeth L. Inglehart, Kathleen Dillon Narko, and Clifford S. Zimmerman2 Andy and Steve3 were the odd couple of Communication and Legal Reasoning in fall 2000. Andy came to Northwestern University School of Law (Northwestern) from Iowa, and Steve hailed from Louisiana. Andy was tall and quiet, while Steve effused Southern politeness. They did not know each other before their professor randomly assigned them to rewrite their open research office memorandum-together-and for a grade. Each came to the task with Bs on his own memo, but they received a grade of A on their joint rewrite. The difference was collaboration, which allowed them to draw on their complementary strengths and minimize their weaknesses.4 1 This Article is based on a presentation titled Cooperative and Collaborative Learning Made Simple that the Authors made at the Tenth Biennial Conference of The Legal Writing Institute, held on May 29-June 1, 2002, at the University of Tennessee College of Law in Knoxville, Tennessee. Our presentation at the national conference did not address in detail the theory behind the use of cooperative and collaborative learning techniques in the legal writing classroom. However, this Article provides us with the opportunity to elaborate somewhat on the foundational aspects of each. Many of the supporting studies cited here are recent literature. For a longer explication with more extensive resource citations, see Clifford S. Zimmerman, Thinking Beyond My Own Interpretation: Reflections on Collaborative and Cooperative Theory in the Law School Curriculum, 31 Ariz. St. L.J. 957, 986-1001 (1999). See generally David W. Johnson & Roger T. Johnson, Learning Together and Alone: Cooperative, Competitive, and Individualistic Learning (4th ed., Allyn & Bacon 1994). 2 Elizabeth L. Inglehart is Clinical Assistant Professor of Law at Northwestern University School of Law. Kathleen Dillon Narko is Clinical Assistant Professor of Law at Northwestern University School of Law. Clifford S. Zimmerman is Clinical Associate Professor of Law at Northwestern University School of Law. The authors would like to thank our colleagues Grace Dodier and Susan Provenzano for their insightful comments on an earlier version of this article and our director, Judith Rosenbaum, for her encouragement and support throughout the process. 3 Steve and Andy were actual students in Communication and Legal Reasoning in 2000-2001. 4 Their joint paper showed strengths that neither student's prior work had shown. Both students reported to their professor that collaboration was the key factor in improving their work. They felt that they both performed at a higher level when each had to defend his analysis to his partner. Both reported that when working in teams each had to respond immediately to the other's comments. They felt that this practice forced them to consider their writing more carefully than if they had waited to receive the professor's comments days later. E-mail from Steven Doe, Student, to Kathleen Dillon Narko, Clinical Asst. Prof., Nw. U. Sch. L., Information for Article (July 2, 2002) (copy on file with Professor Narko); E- mail from Andrew Roe, Student, to Kathleen Dillon Narko, Clinical Asst. Prof., Nw. U. Sch. L., Information for Article (July 30, 2002) (copy on file with Professor Narko).

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