Robin Boyle Laisure

Professor of Legal Writing
J.D. Fordham University School of Law, 1989B.A. Vassar College, 1980

Robin Boyle Laisure is Professor of Legal Writing and a full-time member of the faculty at the law school. She teaches first-year sections of Legal Writing I and II. She additionally teaches in the upper division - Drafting: Contracts; and Scholarly Research and Writing.

Since the program’s inception in 2004 until 2021, she has taught college students in the Ron Brown Prep Program, to help raise the number of diverse and disadvantaged students in law schools. She also taught abroad at Beijing Jiaotong University, in Beijing, China, at their law and undergraduate schools.

Prof. Boyle is the author of two books:  Teaching Contract Drafting (Edward Elgar 2023) and Becoming a Legal Writer:  A Workbook with Explanations to Develop Objective Legal Analysis and Writing Skills (Carolina Academic Press 2019) (with Christine Coughlin and Sandy Patrick).

Her articles, essays, and book chapters appear in legal and academic publications. Prof. Boyle presents on topics concerning legal writing, human trafficking, and undue influence in high-demand groups.

 

Community Service

Perspectives: Teaching Legal Research and Writing: Editor in Chief, Editorial Board Member (Board member since 2017)

EDNY Federal Bar Association: Faculty Advisor for SJU student chapter, since 2015

Vincentian Research Fellow: Senior Fellow since 2021; Research Fellow since 2019.

Empire Legal Writing Biennial Conferences: Co-Founder & Steering Committee member, since 2010

LWI Annual One-Day Workshops: Co-Founder & Frequent Presenter, since 2009.

LWI Board of Directors: Member and Officer, July 2008 to July 2012

The Journal of the Legal Writing Institute: Editorial Board Member, July 2008 to July 2012

AALS Section on Academic Support: Chair, Jan. 2010 to Jan. 2012.

International Cultic Studies Association: Member of the Board, 2023 to present.

Books

Persuasive Advocacy in Action:  A Workbook for Law Students, with Laura Graham (forthcoming Carolina Academic Press 2024).

Teaching Contract Drafting, appearing in the Elgar Guides to Teaching series (Edward Elgar publisher 2023).

Becoming a Legal Writer:  A Workbook with Explanations to Develop Objective Legal Analysis and Writing Skills, with Chris Coughlin and Sandy Patrick (Carolina Academic Press 2019).

Online Formative Assessments

Modular Legal Research & Writing Units five modules within a series, each module to be comprised of three 50-minute self-directed PowerPoint exercises for students on topics of objective writing, persuasive document-drafting, and contract drafting (West Academic Publishing 2022).

Core Knowledge online platform with formative assessment self-directed exercises for students, complementing Becoming a Legal Writer workbook (Carolina Academic Press Fall 2021).

Connected Quizzing: Contract Drafting, A Formative Assessment 125 Multiple Choice Questions (Wolters Kluwer 2020).

Articles: Human Trafficking & Laws Protecting Victims

Undoing Undue Influence:  How the Doctrine Can Avoid Judicial Subjectivity by Omitting the Vulnerability Element, 47(1) Am. J. Trial Advoc. __ (forthcoming).

Human Trafficking, Cults, & Coercion:  The Use of Drugs as a Tool, 10 Int'l J. Coercion, Abuse, & Manipulation __ (2023) (peer-reviewed).

Preventing Predatory Alienation by High-Control Groups: The Application of Human Trafficking Laws to Groups Popularly Known as Cults, and Proposed Changes to Laws Regarding Federal Immigration, State Child Marriage and Undue Influence, International Journal of Coercion, Abuse and Manipulation, Vol. 1, No. 2 (2021)

Employing Trafficking Laws to Capture Elusive Leaders of Destructive Cults17 Or. Rev. Int'l L. 205 (2016), reprinted in 9 Int'l J. Cultic Stud. 1 (2018) (peer-reviewed).

Current Status of Federal Law Concerning Violent Crimes Against Women and Children: Implications for Cult Victims, 1 (1) Cultic Studies Rev. 65 (2002) (peer-reviewed).

How Children in Cults May Use Emancipation Laws to Free Themselves16 (1) Cultic Stud. J. 1 (1999) (peer-reviewed).

Women, the Law, and Cults: Three Avenues of Legal Recourse - New Rape Laws, VAWA, and Anti-Stalking Laws15 (1) Cultic Stud. J. 1 (1998) (peer-reviewed). 

Articles: Pedagogy, Learning Styles, Legal Writing, Contract Drafting

Merging the Bench, Bar, and Law Schools:  How a Student Scholars Program Achieves Professional Identity Through Scholarly Writing, Mentorship, and Presentation, with Joan Foley & Troy Kessler, 93(1) UMKC L. REV. __ (forthcoming Aug. 2024). 

Swimming with Broad Strokes:  Publishing and Presenting Beyond the LW Discipline, with Stephen Paskey, 29(2) Perspectives:  Teaching Legal Research and Writing 77 (Spring 2022) (peer-reviewed).

Should Laptops Be Banned? Providing a Robust Classroom Learning Experience Within Limits20(1) Perspectives: Teaching Legal Research and Writing 8 (Fall 2011) (peer-reviewed).

Law Students Are Different from the General Population: Empirical Findings Regarding Learning Styleswith Jeffrey Minneti and Andrea Honigsfeld, 17 (3) Perspectives: Teaching Legal Res. & Writing 153 (2009) (peer-reviewed).

How to Critique & Grade Contract Drafting Assignments, Special Report, Tenn. J. Bus. L. 297 (2009). 

Suggestions on How to Conduct Empirical Research: A Behind-the-Scenes Viewwith Joanne Ingham, 15(3) Perspectives: Teaching Legal Res. & Writing 176 (2007) (peer-reviewed).

Generation X in Law School: How These Law Students are Different from Those Who Teach Them, with Joanne Ingham, 56 J.  Legal  Educ. 281 (2006) (peer reviewed).

Contract Drafting Courses for Upper-Level Students: Teaching Tips14(2) Perspectives: Teaching Legal Res. & Writing 87 (Winter 2006) (peer-reviewed).

Law Students with Attention Deficit Disorder: How To Reach Them, How to Teach Them, 39(2) J. Marshall L. Rev. 349 (2006).

Applying Learning Styles Theory in the Workplace:  How to Maximize Learning-Styles Strengths to Improve Work Performance in Law Practice, 79 St. John's Law Review 97 (2005).

Employing Active-Learning Techniques and Metacognition in Law School: Shifting Energy from Professor to Student, 81 U. Det. Mercy L. Rev. 1 (2003).

Presenting a New Instructional Tool for Teaching Law-Related Courses: A Contract Activity Package for Motivated and Independent Learners, with Karen Russo & Rose Frances Lefkowitz, 38:1 Gonzaga L. Rev. 1 (2003). 

Providing Structure to Law Students - Introducing the Programmed Learning Sequence as an Instructional Toolwith Lynne Dolle, 8 Legal Writing: J. Legal Writing Inst. 59 (2002) (peer-reviewed).

Teaching Law Students Through Individual Learning Styles, with Rita Dunn, 62 Alba. L. Rev. 213 (1998).

Book Chapters

“The Times They are a Changin’”: Lessons Imparted from the 1960s Civil Rights Movement and the Current-Day Climate Movement, in Generations in American Politics (forthcoming Univ. Mich. Press, Sally Friedman & David Schultz eds., 2022) (invited).

Human Trafficking and Cults, in Human Trafficking: Emerging Legal Issues and Applications ch. 11 (Lawyers & Judges Publishing Co., Nora M. Cronin & Kimberly A. Ellis eds., 2017).

Co-author, Intercultural Effectiveness, in Building on Best Practices: Transforming Legal Education in a Changing World, Chapt. 6 (Lexis 2015).

How Learning-Style Treatments Contributed to Helping Low-Performing Law Students Gain a Positive Verdict with Personal Conviction, in 6(2) insights on learning disabilities: from prevailing theories to validated practices 29 (an International Journal Published by Learning Disabilities Worldwide) (2009) (invited).

How Schools, Parents, and Courts can Respond to Federal Law and Improve Classroom Teaching for At-Risk Students, in Differentiating Instructions for At-Risk Students, by Rita Dunn and Andrea Honigsfeld (2009).

A Blueprint for a Truly Innovative Law School, in What If . . . : A Guide to Improving Education (R. Dunn & S.A. Griggs, eds., 2007).

Impact of Learning Styles and Law School Teaching, in Synthesis of the Dunn and Dunn Learning-Style Model Research: Who, What, When and What? (St. John's Univ. Center for Study of Learning & Teaching) (R. Dunn & S.A. Griggs, eds., 2007).

Research on Learning Style and Legal Writing, in Synthesis of the Dunn and Dunn Learning-Style Model Research: Who, What, When and What? (St. John's Univ. Center for Study of Learning & Teaching) (R. Dunn & S.A. Griggs, eds., 2007).

Bringing Learning Styles Instructional Strategies to Law School, in Practical Approaches to Using Learning Styles Application in Higher Education (R. Dunn & S.A. Griggs, eds., 2000).

Essays

The Beauty of Shorts: Ten Tips on Writing a Publishable Short Piece, __ Proceedings: An Online Journal of Legal Writing Conference Presentations __ (forthcoming 2024) (peer-reviewed) (with Brooke Bowman).

Didn’t I Cover This in Class:  Low-Stakes Technique of Quizzing to the Rescue, Essay, 27 Legal Writing: J.  Legal Writing Inst. 299 (2023) (peer-reviewed). 

Staying Safe:  Observing Warning Signs of a Dangerous Liaison, with Andrea Laisure, 8(3) ICSA Today 6 (2017) (peer-reviewed).

Erasing Boundaries: Inter-School Collaboration and its Pedagogical Opportunities, AALS Newsletter, Section of Legal Writing, Reasoning and Research, Spring 2014 (with Ian Gallacher, Amy Stein, and David Thomson).

The Blind Leading the Blind: What if They're Not all Visual or Tactile Learners, with James B. Levy, 22(2) The Second Draft 6 (2008).

In Response to the Remarks by Lawrence H. Summers, Presenting Empirical Data on the Differences in Learning Styles Between Males and Females, with Andrea Honigsfeld, 11(3) Cardozo Women's L. J. 505 (2005).

Book Review

Review of: Scarred: The True Story of How I Escaped NXIVM the Cult that Bound My Life, by Sarah Edmondson, 1(2) Int’l J. Coercion, Abuse, & Manipulation 98 (2021) (peer-reviewed).

Review of:  Cult Recovery: A Clinician's Guide to Working with Former Members and Family, a collection of chapters written by mental health professionals (Lorna Goldberg, William Goldberg, Roseanne Henry, & Michael Langone, eds.), 9:2 ICSA Today 16 (2018) (peer-reviewed).

Review of:  Teaching Law by Design: Engaging Students from the Syllabus to the Final Exam by Michael Hunter Schwartz, Sophie Sparrow, & Gerald F. Hess, the law teacher, Fall 2009 (peer-reviewed).

Review of: Grandparents’ Rights: What Every Grandparent Needs to Know by Patricia Perkins Slorah, 3 (3) Cultic Stud. Review (2004) and at www.culticstudiesreview.org.

Legislative/Administrative Histories

Studies in Community Action: A Legislative and Administrative History of War on Poverty Programs, along with a chronology and bibliography, with Kathryn Lazar, Esq. & Laura Zeisel, Esq. (Community Serv. Admin, 1981).

Community Serv. Admin., Studies in Community Action:  A Legislative and Administrative History, with Kathryn Lazar & Laura Zeisel (1981).

Admin., Studies in Community Action:  A Chronology and Bibliography, with Kathryn Lazar & Laura Zeisel (1981).