Law school’s Academic Success Program gets a new team and a revamp

Zachary Lindesmith, Allesan Armstrong, Julie King and Willa Gibson

The Academic Success Program at The University of Akron School of Law started the fall term with a new team and a more robust program. With a new director and two new assistant directors, the department is back at full strength.

Allesan Armstrong, Assistant Director since January 2018, is the new Director of Academic Success, effective in March, following the retirement of long-time Assistant Dean for Academic Success Nancy Reeves. Prior to Akron, Armstrong taught at Park University in Missouri and worked as an essay grader and individual bar exam tutor for a major bar preparation course provider. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and a Juris Doctor from Oklahoma City University. She is licensed to practice in both Ohio and Oklahoma.

Julie King came on board as Assistant Director in June. Previously, she was a magistrate for the Lake County Domestic Relations Court. She also served as the director of the court’s mediation program. Earlier, she was an assistant prosecuting attorney and chief of the Appellate Division for the Lake County Prosecutor’s Office. Over the course of two decades, she also taught in the paralegal program at Lakeland Community College. She received a Juris Doctor from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law and a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs from the George Washington University. She is admitted to the bar in Ohio and Alabama. 

Zachary Lindesmith started as Assistant Director in October. He received his Juris Doctor from the University of Akron Law in 2019 and his Bachelor of Arts in broadcast journalism from Ashland University. He started his legal career primarily litigating plaintiff’s personal injury matters as well as plaintiff’s labor/employment civil rights claims. He recently completed a fellowship with Equality Ohio where he also served as the Legal Clinic Outreach Coordinator, offering courses on LGBTQ+ Lawyering while growing the clinic’s referral network. He also has been a Themis Bar Prep essay grader and a volunteer coach with the Akron Law Trial Team.   
 
A revamped program

The changes to the Academic Success Program (ASP) began last spring with the creation of a Faculty Bar Mentor Program.  
 
“The faculty agreed to each take on a group of graduating students and mentor them through the bar exam process, supplementing what we do in ASP,” Armstrong said. “The professors emailed their students regularly. Some met individually with students over lunch. A number of them did supplemental lectures. I think it was really a great success.” 
 
Another change to the ASP last spring was the appointment of Professor Willa Gibson as Associate Dean of Academic Excellence, in charge of academic success and bar passage. These were among the first steps to strengthen these programs in a broader initiative under new Dean Emily Janoski-Haehlen.  “Willa has just been a phenomenal advocate for our department with the faculty,” Armstrong said. “A lot of things that we had been trying to get accomplished, she came in and did in two months.  She’s been great to work with.” 
 
Another change this fall was dropping the required Fundamentals course that traditionally had been taught during the first 6-7 weeks of the fall semester. “The students were overwhelmed by it,” Armstrong said. “Instead, we’re doing a series of voluntary workshops in the first semester, and we’ll offer Fundamentals II in the second semester. That will be a bit easier on the students and allow us to focus on the students on a more individualized basis.” 
 
The initiative to improve bar passage also includes some changes in the law school’s curriculum.  
“All students will now have to take the UCC Sales and Business Associations courses,” Armstrong said. “These subjects are both highly tested on the current bar exam, especially UCC Sales.”  
 
The changes don’t stop there.  
 
“We’ve heard from some incoming students who are the first in their family to go to law school that they feel they are at a disadvantage compared with some of their fellow students,” Armstrong said. “We think they need a little bit more support and a place to go where they feel like they can ask questions with no judgment, so we’re going to launch a first-generation support program that starts in the summer before classes begin.” 
 
Meanwhile, Julie King is developing some stress management and time management workshops. 
 
“We're also going to work on  soft skills,” King said. “I think knowing how to manage these things is part and parcel of being a law student. When I started in law school, you picked up your books and you went into class. The professor started with the Socratic method and we were all trying to figure out how to handle that and what we needed to do.” 
 
She continued, “Today, with our academic support programs beginning in August, we hope students are better prepared and know what to expect. That should reduce some anxiety going into those first couple weeks of classes and through the first semester. And our support continues through to bar prep in the third year. In fact, we’ve recently started our workshops to prepare the 40 or so students who will take the February bar.” 

SIDEBAR:

The University of Akron School of Law welcomed 142 members of the 2022 juris doctor entering class during Orientation Week, August 16-19. The class includes 137 first-year students, five two-year international students, and three students who transferred to Akron Law to complete their degrees. Thirty of the incoming students are in the part-time program. 

The students are almost equally split between men and women. They range in age from 19 to 48 with an average age of 27. They attended 59 different undergraduate colleges. Ninety-three are from Ohio. The others come from Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington D.C., Argentina, Canada, Ghana, India, Korea and the United Kingdom.

The 101 first-year students starting this fall join 32 additional students who started classes in January and four who started in May. Seven of the incoming J.D. class came via the School’s 3 + 3 program, which means they completed their undergraduate years at one of Akron Law’s partner institutions and will now earn both a bachelor and J.D. degree in six years. The School also welcomed seven Master of Studies in Law (MSL) students, four of whom started in the spring. 

Getting to know you

Orientation Week—aka Roo Law Welcome Week—was a combination of get-acquainted activities during the day with panel discussions, presentations and a welcome reception in the evenings. On the last day of the week, the students observed Akron Law’s Summer Trial Academy, with some serving as jurors and witnesses in the mock trials.

The daytime activities gave the students a chance to get to know their new classmates and the law school faculty, staff and administration in casual, mostly small-group settings. Options included a hike in one of the Metroparks, a run on the Towpath Trail, hitting balls at a driving range, and fresh, hot beignets and morning coffee on a professor’s front porch. 

At the welcome reception at InfoCision Stadium, the Honorable Betty Sutton '90 of the Ninth District Court of Appeals administered the Oath of Professionalism to the incoming class, and Dean Emily Janoski-Haehlen addressed the students and their families.

Getting to know them 

No one knows the incoming class better than Associate Dean for Enrollment Management Barbara DiGiacomo. She’s reviewed every application file and spent time with most of the students on the phone, in emails and in person.

“This class is a talented, interesting and accomplished group,” she said. “They come from a wide range of career backgrounds and experiences. Some are mothers and fathers. Some are business owners, court-appointed special advocates, marathon runners, dancers, and college athletes. Three have military experience. Many are the first in their family to graduate from high school and college, and a vast majority are the first in their family to attend law school.”

She continued, “The most common element I believe they share is a strong desire to use their law degrees to help people and make our world a better place. And that is exactly what the Akron Law community is about. Here they can spread their wings, make their mark and fulfill their dreams.”

Media contact: Cristine Boyd, 330-972-6476 or cboyd@uakron.edu