Mary Bowman

Professor Bowman joined the faculty in 2019, teaching Legal Method & Writing and Legal Advocacy.  She is on the Board of Directors of the Legal Writing Institute and co-chairs its Professional Status Committee. She is also an active member of the AALS Section on Legal Writing, Reasoning, and Research. Her scholarship focuses on innovations in legal education to help students transfer what they learn into law practice; the role of legal writing in the legal academy; and legal decision-making, particularly in the criminal justice context. She presents on these topics at conferences around the country and incorporates these topics into her teaching.

Prior to joining ASU, Professor Bowman taught legal writing at Seattle University School of Law, where she also served as Director of the Legal Writing Program. While at Seattle University, she played a key role in the integration of professional development concepts and lawyering skills into the required legal writing curriculum. She also partnered with the school’s clinical program on the school’s “Real Client in the First Year Project,” which brought live issues from the clinic or external nonprofits into the school’s 1L legal writing course. Professor Bowman also taught pretrial and appellate oral advocacy and writing.

Professor Bowman graduated Order of the Coif from Stanford Law School and Summa Cum Laude from Seattle University. She served as a law clerk for The Honorable Thomas Zilly, United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, and she practiced environmental and employment law at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP in Seattle.