Carol McCrehan Parker

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Associate Professor, and Director of Legal Writing
B.S., 1975 Northwestern University
M.A., 1977 Northwestern University
J.D., 1984 University of Illinois

Intellectual Property, Law and Medicine, Legal Process

Parker@libra.law.utk.edu

Professor Parker helps students master the complex skill of legal writing as director of writing and also as coordinator of UT’s academic support program. She was director of the writing programs at DePaul University and Indiana University before joining the UT faculty in 1994. She has written articles on legal writing and torts and has served as chair of the Association of American Law Schools Section on Legal Writing, Reasoning and Research. Professor Parker has received the Carden Award for Outstanding Service to the Institution and the Forrest W. Lacey Award. She has also worked in private practice in Chicago.

Publications

       Books & Chapters:

Building Persuasive Arguments, in Family Law, Tennessee Bar Association Continuing Legal Education Seminars (1995).

DePaul Legal Writing Manual, (1988-89 & 1989-90).

       Articles & Other Publications:

A Liberal Education in Law: Engaging the Legal Imagination Through Research and Writing Beyond the Curriculum, 1 ALWD 129 (2002).

Camping Trips and Family Trees: Must Tennessee Physicians Warn Their Patients’ Relatives of Genetic Risks?, 65 Tenn. L. Rev. 585 (1998).

Writing Throughout the Curriculum: Why Law Schools Need It and How to Achieve It, 76 Neb L. Rev. , 561 (1997).

Thinking Like a Reader, Second Draft, Nov. 1997.

Co-author with Judy Cornett, Bibliography of readings on Law and Narrative, published in the AALS Newsletter for the Section on Legal Writing, Reasoning, and Research, Spring 1995.

Recent Professional Presentations and Service

Speaker, Plenary Panel Presentation on Site Evaluation of Writing Programs and the New ABA Standards, Association of Legal Writing Directors Annual Meeting, Ann Arbor, Mich., July 1998.

“Above the Din: Student Voices in Legal Scholarship,” Speaker, University of Tulsa Annual Comparative Literature Symposium, Tulsa, March 1998.

“Writing Across the Curriculum: Why Law Students Should Write in Non-Writing Classes,” Speaker, Biennial Conference of the Association of Legal Writing Directors, Chicago, July 1997.

“Autonomy, Interdependence and Informed Consent,” Speaker, Centripetals presentation, UTK, October 1996.

“Applying Modern Communications Theory to Legal Writing: Improving Your Writing Process,” Speaker, Legal Education Seminar, “The Challenge of Legal Writing in the Technological Age: The Tradition of the Quill in the Era of the Keyboard,” Indiana University Law School, Bloomington, Ind., September 1996.

“Who Cares About Legal Writing?,” Speaker, Conference of the Association of Legal Writing Directors, San Diego, July 1995; revised version of the speech published in Proceedings of the Conference of the Association of Legal Writing Directors, West Publishing Co., 1996.

“Serving Multiple Clients while Preserving Undivided Loyalty,” Speaker, Ethical Issues in Intellectual Property Law Symposium, Tennessee Intellectual Property Lawyers Association, November 1995.

“Legal Writing Throughout the Law School Curriculum,” Speaker, UTK College of Law Faculty Forum, June 1996.

“Teaching Effectively Using In-Class Exercises” and “Classroom Communication: Dealing with Difficult Students,” Speaker, Legal Writing Institute Conference, Seattle, Wash., July 1996.

“Legal Writing Workshop,” Speaker, presentation for Tennessee Bar Association Continuing Legal Education Seminar, Nashville, Memphis, and Knoxville, March 1995.

“Writing in Large Classes,” Speaker, UTK College of Law Teaching Luncheon presentation, December 1994.

Immediate past chair, AALS Section on Legal Writing, Reasoning and Research, 1998.

Selected Achievements and Affiliations

Chair, AALS Section on Legal Reasoning, Writing, and Research, 1997.

Chair-elect, AALS Section on Legal Writing, Reasoning, and Research, 1996.

Group facilitator for Legal Writing Institute conference, Chicago, Illinois, July 1994.

Secretary, Section on Legal Writing, Reasoning, and Research, American Association of Law Schools, 1995; Chair, 1997.

Works in Progress

Peck’s Writing Persuasive Briefs, textbook for course on written advocacy based on practitioner’s text, to be published by Little Brown & Company (co-author).

Family Secrets: Does Informed Consent to Genetic Testing Require Knowledge of Implications Genetic Information May Have Concerning Family Members?