Jennifer Will has been teaching legal studies at Hamline since 2017. She teaches employment law, legal systems, and legal research and writing to both undergraduates and graduate students who are seeking paralegal certification or a master’s degree in the study of law. Before coming to Hamline, Professor Will practiced employment law for nearly twenty years, first at a large private law firm in Minneapolis, and later as in-house counsel for a nonprofit healthcare organization with over 20,000 employees in hospitals, clinics, and insurance plan operations in Minnesota. She also taught employment law courses as an adjunct at the University of St. Thomas School of Law. Professor Will received her BA, summa cum laude, from Hope College in Holland, Michigan, and her JD, magna cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School, where she was a member of the Michigan Law Review. After law school, she served as a judicial clerk to The Honorable Douglas W. Hillman, Senior District Judge, in the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan.
After practicing law for nearly twenty years, Professor Will brings her work experience to the classroom, teaching practical skills in the context of a liberal arts education. She firmly believes that knowledge of the law is personally empowering to all students, whether or not they ultimately pursue a legal career. In class, Professor Will encourages students to approach their reading and writing with rigor: She challenges her students to identify what is really at issue in a given context; to articulate that issue precisely; to focus on relevant facts and law; and to evaluate sources of information, both for their evidence and their authority. By teaching these habits of thought, which are essential to sound legal analysis, Professor Will hopes her students will develop strong critical thinking skills that they can apply to any discipline.
“As I teach legal research, writing, and analysis, my goal is to help students internalize the critical thinking skills that are so essential to success in college and career. I hope they can carry those skills beyond my classroom, as informed citizens, as sophisticated consumers of news and information in our digital age, and as credible participants in social discourse. Even more broadly, I hope students will leave my classroom with greater clarity of thought, heightened awareness of the world around them, and increased powers of advocacy and expression.”
