Derek H. Kiernan-Johnson

Teaching Professor
Legal Writing; Appellate Court Advocacy; Judicial Opinion Writing


Selected Publications

Purple Zones and Traffic Cones: Navigating Bluebook & Redbook Overlaps, 5 Proceedings 17 (2024).
A Grammar of Legal Thought, 18 Legal Comm. & Rhetoric 169 (2021)(book review).
The Potemkin Temptation or, The Intoxicating Effect of Rhetoric and Narrativity on American Craft Whiskey, 15 Legal Comm. & Rhetoric 1 (2018).
A Shift to Narrativity, 9 Legal Comm. & Rhetoric 81 (2012).
Losing Twice: Harms of Indifference in the Supreme Court, 40 Colo. Law. 114 (2011)(book review).
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.