Leah Christensen

Professor Christensen, a University of Iowa College of Law graduate, is a Thomas Jefferson University School of Law professor and a practicing attorney who teaches Professional Responsibility for the Fleming’s Bar Review.

Background

Professor Leah Christensen received her Juris Doctor degree in 1995 from the University of Iowa College of Law where she distinguished herself as a member of the Iowa Law Review. She graduated with High Distinction and went on to pass the Iowa Bar Exam. In 2005, Professor Christensen relocated to San Diego, CA to accept the position of Associate Dean at Thomas Jefferson School of Law. In 2013, Professor Christensen took the CA Bar Exam, which she passed using Fleming's Bar Review as her study partner.

Professor Christensen specializes in Evidence, Lawyering Skills, Legal Writing, and Professional Responsibility. She is a nationally respected teaching and learning expert. Professor Christensen's main scholarship interest focuses on how students learn most effectively in the law school classroom. She possesses particular expertise in the fields of law school pedagogy, cognitive psychology, legal reading, and learning disabilities. Professor Christensen has taught for Fleming's Fundamentals of Law Bar Review since 2013. 

Career

Professor Christensen has nineteen years of experience as a practicing attorney. After graduating from the University of Iowa College of Law, Professor Christensen clerked for Justice William A. Bablitch of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. She then practiced in the areas of medical malpractice, environmental law, and public education law. Professor Christensen currently maintains a full-time practice specializing in ethical issues. 

Professor Christensen has served as an Associate Dean and Professor of Law at Thomas Jefferson University College of Law since 2005.  She has published three books and multiple articles, too extensive to list here, that examine the correlation between the way in which law students read and learn the law, and their success in law school.

Professor Christensen has just had her latest book, “Learning Outside the Box," published by Carolina Academic Press. She is currently drafting a new type of casebook for Professional Responsibility that focuses on the "uncasebook" method of learning the law. She has spoken about a wide variety of law teaching, learning, and curriculum design topics as a conference presenter and as an invited speaker at law schools around the nation. She is currently working to design an innovative and experiential Academic Success and Bar Preparation Program at Thomas Jefferson University School of Law that provides all students with the necessary skills and support to succeed in law school and beyond.

Professor Christensen served as a faculty member at the University of St. Thomas School of Law from 2005 - 2008. She was also a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin Law School during the same time where she taught at the school's Summer China Program in Hangzhou, China. Her scholarship focuses on empirical legal research including studies on legal education, law review article selection, ADR, and civil litigation

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