Rate My Professor Carolyn Williams

Carolyn Williams is an Assistant Professor of Law in the Law faculty at the University of North Dakota School of Law, where she specializes in legal writing. She holds a BA in Communication from Arizona State University and a JD from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, during which she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Arizona State Law Journal, chaired the Moot Court Board in her second and third years, and worked as a teaching assistant in legal research and writing. Before joining academia, Williams practiced for eight years at a large law firm, focusing on complex commercial litigation involving land use, development, and financial institutions; she was recognized as a Rising Star by Super Lawyers in 2016. Since joining the University of North Dakota School of Law in 2022, she teaches Lawyering Skills I and II, Legal Research and Writing for Law Practice, and Teaching Assistants as Leaders.

Williams is a nationally recognized leader in the legal writing community, with research interests encompassing generative AI, critical reading, team-based learning, learning disabilities in law students, the NextGen bar exam, and the rhetoric of legal citation. She authored the seventh edition of the ALWD Guide to Legal Citation (2021), contributed a chapter titled 'Orientation and Training for Editors, New Staff Members, and Returning Staff Members' to A Manual for Law Review Editors (2022), and designed three interactive video modules for West Academic’s Interactive Legal Research & Writing Lessons. Key publications include 'Bracing for Impact: Revising Legal Writing Assessments Ahead of the Collision of Generative AI and the NextGen Bar Exam,' which earned the Teresa Godwin Phelps Award for Scholarship in Legal Communication from the Legal Writing Institute, 'The Silent Scream: How to Help Law Students with Dysgraphia' (2024), and 'Critical Reading #WickedProblem' (2020). She serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Appellate Practice and Process and Legal Writing: The Journal of the Legal Writing Institute, co-founded the Legal Writing and Generative AI Convo Group (over 550 members), and holds positions as Treasurer and Director of the Legal Writing Institute, co-chairing its recent biennial conferences. Her awards include the Randy H. Lee Faculty Teaching Award (2023–24), Association of American Law Schools Teacher of the Year for UND (2025), Legal Writing Institute President’s Distinguished Service Award (2024), and ALWD Outstanding Service Award (2025). Williams acts as a subject-matter expert for the National Conference of Bar Examiners on the NextGen Bar Exam and serves on the North Dakota Supreme Court’s NextGen Bar Subcommittee.