Kamela S. Bridges
Director & Senior Lecturer
Kamela Bridges directs the David J. Beck Center for Legal Research, Writing, and Appellate Advocacy. She teaches legal writing, appellate advocacy, and litigation writing. Before joining the faculty in 2000, Ms. Bridges was a partner at Locke Liddell & Sapp LLP (now known as Locke Lord). Her practice focused on civil litigation and appellate law. Ms. Bridges co-authored Writing for Litigation, a text designed to help students and new lawyers learn to write documents typically used in civil litigation.
Edward Caldwell Dawson
Lecturer
Ed Dawson teaches legal research and writing. Before joining the legal writing faculty in 2020, Ed was an assistant and then associate professor at Southern Illinois University School of Law, where he taught civil rights, constitutional law, criminal procedure, federal courts, and legislation. From 2012-2014 he taught legal writing as an assistant professor of professional practice at Louisiana State University’s Paul M. Hebert Law Center. From 2004-2012 Ed practiced appellate law at Weil, Gotshal and Manges LLP, where he was an associate, and Yetter Coleman LLP, where he was a partner. Ed also served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Anthony Kennedy of the Supreme Court of the United States and the Honorable Ed Carnes of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He is a graduate of the University of Texas School of Law and the University of Notre Dame.
Lori R. Mason
Lecturer
Ms. Mason teaches first-year legal writing. Her courses include Legal Analysis and Communication and Persuasive Writing and Advocacy.
Before joining the full-time faculty in 2016, Ms. Mason was a partner and later of counsel and director of professional development at Cooley LLP and taught advanced legal writing as an adjunct professor. Her practice focused on appellate law with a heavy emphasis on representing technology companies in privacy, securities, and intellectual-property litigation. She is especially proud of annually exceeding her law firm’s challenge to contribute at least 60 pro-bono hours and of receiving the firm’s Pro Bono Achievement Award. Her pro-bono work included serving as counsel for the Innocence Network in the courts of appeals and Supreme Court. Her team’s work contributed to the exoneration of George Souliotes 16 years after he was wrongfully convicted of arson based on faulty fire science. She encourages her students to embrace pro-bono work as a way to gain experience and personal satisfaction and to give back to the community.
Ms. Mason served as a briefing attorney for the Hon. Priscilla R. Owen on the Texas Supreme Court and clerked for the Hon. Fortunato P. Benavides on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Matthew Murrell
Lecturer
Matthew Murrell teaches legal research and writing at Texas Law. Before joining the Texas faculty, Matthew practiced complex commercial litigation in Austin, litigating cases in state and federal court, and clerked on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. Prior to law school, Matthew taught at McNeil High School in Austin, serving as director of the speech and debate program.
Kayla Oliver
Lecturer
Kayla Oliver teaches legal research and writing. Before joining the faculty full-time, she taught an advanced appellate-writing course as an adjunct and practiced civil appellate law at Alexander Dubose & Jefferson, where she remains of counsel. Kayla graduated from the Yale Law School, after which she clerked on the Southern District of Texas and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Shannon L. Peris
Lecturer
Shannon Peris teaches legal writing and research. She received her undergraduate degree in economics from Cornell University and her law degree from Cornell Law School. After law school she began her commercial litigation practice in the New York office of Mayer Brown. She eventually relocated to Texas where she continued her practice and also began teaching as an adjunct professor. She joined the full-time faculty in 2018.
Sean J. Petrie
Lecturer
Sean Petrie started his legal career as judicial clerk (U.S. Dist. Judge Sam Sparks) and an IP litigation attorney (Wilson Sonsini; Susman Godfrey; and Conley Rose & Tayon). Then, in 2005, he was asked to teach as an adjunct at UT Law. He loved it, was fortunate enough to get a full-time position in 2007, and hasn’t looked back.
Sean currently focuses on legal writing and research, teaching the first-year required courses.
Wayne Schiess
Senior Lecturer
Mr. Schiess teaches legal writing, legal drafting, and plain English and speaks frequently on those subjects. He has also written dozens of articles and four books on practical legal-writing skills. He graduated from Cornell Law School, practiced law for three years at the Texas firm of Baker Botts, and in 1992 joined the faculty at Texas. He blogs about legal writing at LEGIBLE.
Julie D. Wimmer
Lecturer
Julie Wimmer teaches legal writing. Her courses include Legal Analysis and Communication and Persuasive Writing and Advocacy.
Before joining the faculty full-time, Julie practiced immigration law and served as an advisor on the intersection of immigration and criminal law in Texas. She began her practice as a Skadden Fellow after clerking for Judge George P. Kazen on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.