Six members of the Class of 2015 have been selected to be members of the National Order of Scribes based on their excellence in legal writing.
“We are proud every year that our students are honored with membership into this esteemed group,” Associate Dean Anthony Niedwiecki, director of John Marshall’s Lawyering Skills Program said. “Their invitation to the Scribes is a testament of their advanced writing skills and mastery of the law.”
The National Order of Scribes was created in 2007 by The American Society of Legal Writers as an honorary organization to recognize graduating law students who excel in legal writing. Each year, any law school that is a current institutional member of Scribes may nominate students to be inducted into the National Order of Scribes. This year the following John Marshall students have been selected:
- Daniel Cetina
- Chandra Critchelow
- Kyle Gruca
- Jennifer Hunter
- Blair Pooler
- Joseph Swee
To be eligible for the honor, a student must be a candidate for the J.D. degree in the current academic year, demonstrate the highest levels of professionalism and be an outstanding legal writer. A student may demonstrate outstanding legal writing by satisfying some of the criteria below:
- earning superior grades in legal-writing or legal-drafting courses;
- serving as a member or editor of a law journal;
- authoring or co-authoring an appellate brief that receives a “best brief” award in a regional, national, or international moot-court competition;
- authoring or co-authoring a book on a legal topic;
- writing a paper that wins a state, regional, national or international writing contest.
John Marshall’s legal writing program has been ranked in the top five programs in the country for the past several years, according to U.S News & World Report.
