Derek H. Kiernan-Johnson
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Legal Writing; Appellate Court Advocacy; Judicial Opinion Writing
401 UCB
2450 Kittredge Loop Drive
Wolf Law Building
Boulder, CO 80309
Office: 428
Phone: (303) 492-5863
E-mail: derek.kiernan-johnson@colorado.edu
Curriculum Vitae: View (PDF format)
| Educational Background: | |||
| J.D. | Michigan Law School | 2000 | |
| B.A. | Princeton University | 1997 | |
Derek Kiernan-Johnson studies the ethics of using narrative and visual rhetoric in legal persuasion and how judges make decisions and express them in writing. He teaches students how to dissect and synthesize law and fact, how to express and critique legal analysis and argumentation, and how to understand the American judicial opinion in historical and comparative context.
Derek went to public schools in Boulder, Colorado, and to college at Princeton University. At Princeton, he studied religion, dramatic performance, and music, writing Experiencing Toxcatl: an Ixiptla's Perspective (1996), a study of an Aztec sacrifice from the sacrificee's viewpoint, and Durch Sühn und Buß der Gnade Heil: Suffering and Salvation in the Operas of Richard Wagner (1997). He then studied English cathedral architecture at Wadham College at Oxford University before returning for law school at the University of Michigan. His studies at Michigan focused on constitutional law, education law, and meaning and performance in the law, the last interest of which culminated in Meaning in Miranda (1999).
After law school Derek returned to Colorado to clerk for Justice Michael L. Bender of the Colorado Supreme Court. He practiced law for six years at Caplan and Earnest, LLC, representing public-school clients in general-counsel, transactional, and litigation settings. Derek joined the CU Law faculty in 2007.
Derek enjoys spending time with his family, following UK & European soccer, hiking, cooking, playing billiards, enjoying beverages such as tea, beer, wine, and distillates, and identifying & tracking things like birds, cultural trends, and mammals.
Articles
| The Potemkin Temptation or, The Intoxicating Effect of Rhetoric and Narrativity on American Craft Whiskey, 15 Legal Communication & Rhetoric: JALWD 1 (2018). |
| A Shift to Narrativity, 9 Legal Comm. & Rhetoric 81 (2012). |
| Telling Through Type: Typography and Narrative in Legal Briefs, 7 J. Ass'n Legal Writing Directors 87 (Fall 2010). |
Courses:
| Fall 2025 | Legal Writing I | LAWS 5226-804 |
| Spring 2025 | Legal Writing II | LAWS 5223-804 |
| Spring 2025 | Judicial Opinion Writing | LAWS 6236-801 |
| Fall 2024 | Legal Writing I | LAWS 5226-804 |
| Spring 2024 | Legal Writing II | LAWS 5223-804 |
| Spring 2024 | Judicial Opinion Writing | LAWS 6236-801 |
| Fall 2023 | Legal Writing I | LAWS 5226-804 |
| Spring 2023 | Legal Writing II | LAWS 5223-804 |
| Spring 2023 | Judicial Opinion Writing | LAWS 6236-801 |
| Fall 2022 | Legal Writing I | LAWS 5226-804 |
| Spring 2022 | Legal Writing II | LAWS 5223-804 |
| Spring 2022 | Judicial Opinion Writing | LAWS 6236-801 |
| Fall 2021 | Legal Writing I | LAWS 5226-804 |
| Spring 2021 | Legal Writing II | LAWS 5223-804 |
| Spring 2021 | Judicial Opinion Writing | LAWS 6236-801 |
| Fall 2020 | Legal Writing I | LAWS 5226-804 |
| Spring 2020 | Legal Writing II | LAWS 5223-804 |
| Spring 2020 | Judicial Opinion Writing | LAWS 6236-801 |
| Fall 2019 | Legal Writing I | LAWS 5226-804 |
| Spring 2019 | Legal Writing II | LAWS 5223-801 |
| Spring 2019 | Judicial Opinion Writing | LAWS 6236-001 |
| Fall 2018 | Legal Writing I | LAWS 5226-804 |
| Spring 2018 | Legal Writing II | LAWS 5223-801 |
| Spring 2018 | Judicial Opinion Writing | LAWS 6236-001 |
| Fall 2017 | Legal Writing I | LAWS 5226-801 |
| Spring 2017 | Legal Writing II | LAWS 5223-802 |
| Spring 2017 | Judicial Opinion Writing | LAWS 6236-001 |
| Fall 2016 | Legal Writing I | LAWS 5226-801 |
| Spring 2016 | Legal Writing II | LAWS 5223-802 |
| Spring 2016 | Judicial Opinion Writing | LAWS 6236-001 |
| Fall 2015 | Legal Writing I | LAWS 5226-801 |
| Spring 2015 | Legal Writing II | LAWS 5223-802 |
| Spring 2015 | Legislative and Policy Drafting | LAWS 6123-001 |
| Fall 2014 | Legal Writing I | LAWS 5226-802 |
| Spring 2014 | Legal Writing II | LAWS 5223-802 |
| Spring 2014 | Judicial Opinion Writing | LAWS 6236-001 |
| Fall 2013 | Legal Writing I | LAWS 5226-805 |
| Spring 2013 | Legal Writing II | LAWS 5223-806 |
| Spring 2013 | Judicial Opinion Writing | LAWS 6236-001 |
| Fall 2012 | Legal Writing I | LAWS 5226-806 |
Our Vision
With our roots in Colorado and a global outlook, we are ...
a supportive and diverse educational and scholarly community in a place that inspires vigorous pursuit of ideas, critical analysis, contemplation, and civic engagement to advance knowledge about the law in an open, just society.
Our Mission
To be an outstanding public law school that: provides students with a state-of-the-art legal education and prepares them to serve wisely and with professionalism; advances the development of knowledge through scholarship, testing of new ideas, and challenges to the status quo; and serves as a vehicle and catalyst for meaningful public service, all of which deliver high value to our students and have positive impacts?both locally and globally?on the legal profession and society.