Associate Director, Legal Writing
Peggy Kline Kirkpatrick has taught in Mitchell Hamline’s legal writing program since 2010. She has taught in both the on-campus and blended learning programs. Her role has also included training and supervising adjuncts and program development. Kirkpatrick worked in private practice for several years at Leonard, Street and Deinard (now Stinson). Her work focused primarily on environmental and land use law, although she worked on a variety of litigated matters. Part of her practice also involved negotiating on behalf of clients before state and federal administrative agencies. Kirkpatrick served on the firm’s recruiting committee and co-led the summer associate program one summer. Kirkpatrick’s experience also includes a clerkship with the Honorable Matthew E. Johnson of the Minnesota Court of Appeals.
During law school, she served as an articles editor on the Minnesota Law Review and received the Minnesota Law Review Volume 35 and 36 Memorial Award for “Outstanding Note or Comment Authored by a Member of the Minnesota Law Review.” Kirkpatrick’s article, “Writing Wrongs: The Common Legal Writing Mistakes of Law Students and Lawyers,” was published in September 2019 on the Mitchell Hamline Law Review’s Amicus Curiae blog.
“I hope to inspire my students to become great legal writers. I want them to see the interplay between strong legal thinking and strong writing. It is often through the process of writing that a lawyer’s analytical thinking and arguments are fine-tuned. Also, I hope my students see that their credibility and professionalism are enhanced when they write well.”
Education
J.D., magna cum laude, Order of the Coif, 2000, University of Minnesota Law School
M.A., American history, 1995, Northwestern University
B.A., history, summa cum laude, 1994, Middlebury College
Experience
Mitchell Hamline School of Law, associate director of legal writing, 2024–; legal writing instructor, May 2021–; adjunct and curriculum coordinator, Legal Writing program, 2019–21; adjunct professor, Legal Writing program, 2010–19; tutor, Lawyering program, 2016–18
Minnesota Court of Appeals, law clerk, Judge Matthew E. Johnson, 2008–09
Leonard, Street and Deinard, staff attorney, environmental law, 2004–07; associate, public law department, 2000–04; summer associate, 1999
University of Minnesota Law School, Legal Assistance to Minnesota Prisoners, student attorney/student clinic director, 1998–2000
Day, Berry & Howard, legal assistant, 1995–97
Leadership and service
McGee National Civil Rights Moot Court Competition: brief scorer, 2021
Legal Writing Institute: Academic Support Committee, member, 2020–
Association of Legal Writing Directors: Publications Committee, assistant to the chair, 2019–
Mitchell Hamline School of Law: Lawyering Program, cabinet member, 2016–17
Kenny Elementary School: PTA, co-president, 2014–16
Minnehaha United Methodist Church, past member of trustees and member/chair of staff-parish relations committee
Bar admission
Minnesota, active since 2000
