“We can’t underestimate the power of the written word,” said Visiting Professor Udoka Nwanna, describing what she loves about teaching legal writing. A fundamental skill for lawyers, legal writing is often a brand-new way of thinking and writing for law students. Nwanna and three other professors have taken on new positions in legal writing for 2024-25 at Mitchell Hamline.
Assistant Teaching Professor Brandon Robb
For Brandon Robb, joining Mitchell Hamline as assistant teaching professor is the realization of a long-term goal. He previously was a founding partner of the firm Bender & Robb in Miami and Delaney, Robb & Rubin in New Orleans, which was the first law firm in Louisiana dedicated to the legal needs of the LGBTQ+ community. In both Florida and Louisiana, he practiced in the area of estate planning and probate, and he learned about the opportunity to make a change when his husband graduated from Mitchell Hamline in June and told him about the position. The timing, he said, was perfect.
“Even when I was in law school, teaching was always on the radar for me,” said Robb. “While I knew I could do good work for my clients in practice, teaching leaves a really lasting impact, especially with such a foundational course as legal writing.”
He most looks forward to building relationships with his students and helping them reach their potential in his class. “Even for people who were good writers going into law school, it’s an entirely new way to write,” he said. He says he’s also available to help students get past the almost-universal sense of imposter syndrome in their 1L year.
Visiting Professor Udoka Nwanna
Helpful tools for students to combat imposter syndrome, in the eyes of Udoka Nwanna, are to remember to breathe and ask for help.
“I love when students tell me they don’t understand something, because it allows me to find a different way to present the information and be creative,” she said.
Nwanna has been teaching legal writing, academic success, and bar preparation courses for the past 15 years. She served as an adjunct at Mitchell Hamline from 2020 to 2022, during the height of the Covid pandemic. “It’s nice to come back with less restrictions and less angst on top of the regular anxiety of law school,” she said. Based in San Diego, Nwanna will focus on teaching legal writing to blended-learning students.
“I want students to feel resonance between their different identities – who you are as a student, who you are as a practicing lawyer, who you are with your professors – and not check at the door everything that brought them to law school,” said Nwanna. “I’m excited about bringing that sense of resonance, inwardly and outwardly, into the classroom and help students feel whole in the law school experience.”
Visiting Professor DeShayla Strachan
DeShayla Strachan has been a visiting assistant professor at Mitchell Hamline since 2021, but in her new role, as visiting professor, she’ll focus exclusively on legal writing.
Coming from a background in journalism, Strachan has always been surrounded by writing. She was working in courthouses reporting on lawsuits when an attorney in the media room suggested she should pursue law. She found the shift to be seamless.
Strachan worked as an assistant state attorney for Florida and an attorney for the Florida Department of Children and Families’ Children’s Legal Services and the Florida Council Against Sexual Violence before turning to teaching. She briefly served as an adjunct at Mercer University School of Law before joining Mitchell Hamline.
“I enjoy teaching a brand-new style of writing to students,” she said. “I always tell my students I like legal writing better than when I was writing feature stories. You don’t have to be creative. There’s a formula.”
Strachan understands the nontraditional experience of many Mitchell Hamline students, who may have children, families, and jobs all while attending law school.
“I am them,” she said. When she was a part-time day student at Barry University School of Law, with a two-year-old and a full-time job, Strachan turned 30 her first semester amongst colleagues who were all straight out of undergrad. She brings that relatability to her classroom.
Associate Teaching Professor Laura Reilly ’94
Laura Reilly ’94 also has something in common with Mitchell Hamline students: She was one, graduating 30 years ago. “It’s kind of surreal to be back on Summit Avenue,” she says. “I didn’t attend my graduation because I had to get to Denver to take the bar, so I never felt like I had a proper close to my time here. It’s nice to be back.”
Reilly spent a decade serving in various law clerk and attorney roles until she turned to teaching in 2002. She taught at the University at Buffalo School of Law in New York, the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, and the University of St. Thomas School of Law before now joining Mitchell Hamline as an associate teaching professor.
“My favorite moments are the ‘aha’ moments for students,” she said. “I often find that as students learn how to be more concise with their writing, they start to think differently, to talk differently. I love that I get to help them get there.”
In addition to legal writing, Reilly is devoted to teaching her students resilience strategies. “I believe resilience is a critical lawyering skill. I want to give the students strategies that will take them through their career to help them manage expectations but also keep themselves in check when times get tough.”
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