Institute Leadership

Professor Michael Colatrella serves as a Co-Director of the Institute. He joined the University of the Pacific MeGeorge School of Law in 2009 as an Assistant Professor of Law. He served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from June 2015 to May 2019 and Interim Dean from July 2019 to June 2020. Recognized as being at the forefront of legal education reform, Professor Colatrella is an expert in alternative dispute resolution with more than 20 years of innovative work in mediating disputes. His expertise in alternative dispute resolution includes mediation, negotiation and conflict management. He is co-author of the interdisciplinary text Mediation — Skills & Techniques, which is widely used in law schools, graduate schools, and schools of diplomacy. His current dispute resolution scholarship focuses on improving mediator techniques and mediation processes so that self-represented litigants may participate more meaningfully and effectively. His most recent article on this topic is entitled, Informed Consent in Mediation: Promoting Pro Se Parties' Informed Settlement Choice While Honoring the Mediator's Ethical Duties, was published in the Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution.

Professor Colatrella is also a noted scholar on legal education. He co-developed McGeorge's innovative, required first-year course "The Legal Profession," and is a nationally sought-after contributor on legal education reform issues.

Professor Colatrella can be contacted at mcolatrella@pacific.edu.

Professor Emily Grant serves as a Co-Director of the Institute. She joined the faculty at Washburn University School of Law in 2011, where she teaches courses in legal writing and estates and trusts. Prior to coming to Washburn, she taught legal writing courses at her alma mater, the University of Illinois College of Law, where as a student she served as articles editor for the University of Illinois Law Review. Professor Grant then joined the University of Kansas School of Law faculty as a part-time lecturer in the Lawyering Program; she was later named as a full-time lawyering professor while also working with students as part of the Academic Resources Program.

Before transitioning to a teaching career, Professor Grant was senior court counsel for the Palau Supreme Court, which serves the small island nation located in the Pacific Ocean. She also clerked for the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois, and the United States District Court for the District of Kansas.

Professor Grant can be contacted at emily.grant@washburn.edu.

Professor Lindsey Gustafson serves as a Co-Director of the Institute. She joined the faculty at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law in 1998. Since that time, she has worked extensively on improving student scholarship and supporting faculty-edited, peer-reviewed journals. She was hired as the founding Executive Editor of The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process, and still serves on its editorial board. She is also a Managing Editor for The Journal of Legal Writing Institute and a Co-Editor of The Law Teacher, published by The Institute for Law Teaching and Learning. She has published articles on improving student scholarship and on the impact of technology on student writing, and has created three new classes to train students in writing and editing legal scholarship. She has also frequently presented at both regional and national legal writing conferences on effective teaching methods. Professor Gustafson has been nominated four times for the Bowen School of Law Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award, and has won the award twice, in 2004 and 2014.

Prior to joining the law school, she clerked and then served as staff attorney for several Utah trial court judges. Professor Gustafson is a graduate of the J. Reuben Clark School of Law, Brigham Young University, where she was the Executive Editor of the Brigham Young University Law Review and elected to the Order of the Coif.

Professor Gustafson can be contacted at lpgustafson@ualr.edu.

Professor Sandra Simpson serves as the Institute’s Communications Director. She joined law faculty at Gonzaga University School of Law as an Assistant Professor of Legal Research and Writing in August 2007 and was promoted to Associate Professor in August of 2012. She served as the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs from 2013 – 2017. Professor Simpson joined the Institute for Law Teaching and Learning as a contributing faculty member in the fall of 2008. Professor Simpson took over as the co-director of the Institute in the fall of 2013.  As a contributing faculty member and co-director, Professor Simpson has edited a book for Carolina Academic Press, writes for The Law Teacher, organizes and writes for the Institute’s teaching blog, organizes and presents at numerous conferences, and participates in training of international law teachers. Professor Simpson also researches, publishes, and speaks in the area of assessment, rubric creation and utilization, and teaching.

Prior to joining the law faculty at Gonzaga Law School, Professor Simpson spent three years teaching at Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington. Before entering the teaching field, she spent two years in general practice in Iowa City, Iowa, and five years as an employment defense litigator for Workland and Witherspoon, P.L.L.C., in Spokane, Washington.  She also has a Master’s in Teaching from Whitworth University.

Professor Simpson can be contacted at simpsons@gonzaga.edu.