Dawn Young
Clinical Assistant Professor of Law, Legal Writing
Dawn K. Young is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Law at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, where she teaches Legal Writing I and II.
Prior to joining the Loyola faculty in 2024, Professor Young taught Academic Skills Lab I and II at the University of Idaho College of Law and co-directed the Academic Success Program at the Boise campus. She also supervised student fellows and provided individualized academic advising.
From 2010 to 2022, Professor Young held several roles at Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology. As Director of Academic Skills, she oversaw the Academic Skills Program, supervised teaching assistants, and served as the law school’s writing specialist. From 2018 to 2022, she taught an upper-level legal writing course focused on transactional practice as an adjunct professor. In her earlier role as Director of Institutional Projects, she led cross-departmental initiatives, managed grant-funded programs, and played a key role in strategic planning and accreditation efforts.
Before entering academia, Professor Young practiced law in both private practice and as in-house counsel for a real estate development and marketing company in Chicago.
Education
BA, Boston University
JD, Syracuse University College of Law
LLM, Boston University School of Law
Professional/Community Affiliations
- Editor, The Second Draft, Legal Writing Institute
- Member, Legal Writing Institute
- Member, Association of Legal Writing Directors
- Member, Association of Academic Support Educators
Courses Taught
Legal Writing I
Legal Writing II
Publications/Research Listings
Publications
Dawn K. Young, Visible Learning: Adapting Primary and Secondary Pedagogical Approaches to Legal Education, Journal of Legal Education (forthcoming 2025), AccessLex Institute Research Paper No. 25-02, available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4984274.
Dawn K. Young, Metacognition for Law Students, ABA for Law Students (Jan. 25, 2023).
Ricardo Santiago & Dawn K. Young, Looking at the Challenges Facing First-Generation Law Students (and how to address them), ABA for Law Students (Oct. 14, 2021).
Dawn K. Young, How to Improve Second Semester Grades: Leveraging your First Semester to Fuel Success, ABA Student Lawyer (Jan. 11, 2021).
Uncertain About Whether to Start Your Own Practice? Legal Incubators Can Help, ABA Young Lawyers Division (Nov. 18, 2019).
Musings from an Incubator Director: Do Legal Incubators Really Work?, ABA for Law Students (Oct. 3, 2019).
Eduardo Briceno & Dawn K. Young, A Growth Mindset for Law School Success, ABA Before the Bar (Sept. 12, 2017).
Harold Krent & Dawn K. Young, Self-Interested Fiduciaries and the Incubator Movement, 66 Syracuse L. Rev. 611 (2016).
Media Mentions
Quoted and referenced in Julia Brunette, Grades Got You Down, The National Jurist Magazine, Vol. 32, No. 3 (Winter 2023).
Quoted and referenced in Julia Brunette, 3 Reasons a Hypo a Day will Keep the Bad Grades Away, The National Jurist (Nov. 30, 2022).
The Power of a Growth Mindset, The National Jurist (Jan. 2018) (featured interview with Dawn K. Young).
Speaking Engagements
Teaching Process-Oriented Legal Writing: Insights from K-12 Education, LWI One-Day Workshop, University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law and LWI’s Research and Scholarship Committee (May 2, 2025). Co-Presenter with Maureen Van Neste.
Visible Learning: Adapting Primary and Secondary Pedagogical Approaches to Legal Education (Work-in-Progress presentation), 11th Annual AASE Conference (May 2024).
Gen Z Pedagogy: Strategies for Doctrinal and ASP Collaboration in Educating Today’s Law Students, Joint One-Day Workshop of the Southwestern and Midwestern Consortia of Academic Support Professionals, Saint Louis University School of Law (Mar. 7, 2024). Co-Presenter with Stephen R. Miller.
Guiding Law Students Through the Final Stretch, Let's Talk: A BARBRI Webinar Series for Academic Support Professionals (Oct. 5, 2023). Co-Presenter with Steven Foster.
Rule 303(b)(3)—Defining Your Institution’s Commitment Beyond Mere Compliance, Institute for Law Teaching and Learning Summer Conference (June 1, 2023). Co-Presenter with Brenda Bauges.
Thinking Outside of the Box: 10 Evidence-Based Tools Academic and Bar Success Educators Can Use in the Classroom to Increase Student Engagement and Learning, 10th Annual AASE Conference (May 23, 2023). Co-Presenter with Erin Crist and Debbie Shapiro.
Rebounding From First Semester Law School Grades, ABA/Themis Webinar (Jan. 28, 2022). Panelist with Christopher Ide Don and Kirsha Trychta.
Why Mindset Matters in Law School, in Practice and Beyond, Chicago-Kent College of Law (Feb. 5, 2021).
Virtual Office Hours: How to Improve Second Semester Grades, ABA Student Lawyer (Jan. 21, 2021).
Solo Practice Boot Camp: Best Practices from Legal Incubator Programs to Help You Launch Your Own Practice, Practising Law Institute (Dec. 1, 2020). Program faculty speaker.
End User Experience: Hearing from New Lawyers in Incubator Programs, Association of Continuing Legal Education 55th Annual Meeting (July 30, 2019). Panel moderator.
Assessing the Impact of Incubator Programs to Leverage Resources, Incubator Consortium 5th Annual Access to Justice Conference, Georgia State University College of Law (Apr. 12-14, 2018).
The Impact of a Growth Mindset in Your Legal Careers, SSPI Workshop, Chicago-Kent College of Law (Nov. 15, 2017).
Pricing, Shoestring Budgets and Profit Generation, Incubator Consortium 4th Annual Access to Justice Conference, Texas A&M University School of Law (Mar. 16-18, 2017).