Overview 

Dawn Anderson is a Professor of Instruction and irector of the Iowa Law Writing Center at the University of Iowa College of Law. Her expertise includes legal writing and analysis, legal education and pedagogy, academic success, and the development of professional judgment, with a particular focus on the effective and responsible integration of artificial intelligence into legal education and practice.

At Iowa Law, Anderson creates opportunities for students to develop as both legal writers and teachers. Through the Iowa Law Writing Center, she trains and supervises upper-level students who tutor their peers in legal writing and professional communication. Her teaching spans the law-school experience, from introductory legal reasoning and first-year legal writing to academic success and experiential learning.

Anderson’s work extends beyond the classroom to curriculum, assessment, faculty development, and educational innovation. She has led major curricular and assessment initiatives at Iowa Law, served as Associate Dean of Innovation, and currently chairs the College of Law’s AI Task Force, which is developing an institutional approach to integrating artificial intelligence into teaching and learning at Iowa Law. Her current work focuses on professional judgment and lawyer development in an AI environment, and she regularly presents to law faculty, lawyers, and judges on legal writing, teaching and learning, professional communication, and artificial intelligence. Before joining Iowa Law full time, Anderson practiced law for eleven years in private practice and in-house as corporate counsel.

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Research areas

• Legal writing and professional communication 
•  Legal education and pedagogy 
• Professional judgment and lawyer development 
• Artificial intelligence in legal education and practice 

Teaching areas

• Legal analysis, writing, and research 
• Legal reasoning and professional judgment 
• Academic success 
• Artificial intelligence and lawyering 
• Writing center pedagogy 
• Experiential legal education 

Professional affiliations and memberships

• Legal Writing Institute
• Iowa State Bar Association
• Member of the Iowa Bar

Awards and honors

• Ferguson-Carlson Law Fellow, 2026 
• Outstanding Legal Analysis, Writing & Research Faculty Award, 2026 
• Hubbard-Walder Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2023 
• Big Ten Academic Alliance Academic Leadership Program Fellow, 2022–23 
• President & Provost Award for Teaching Excellence, 2018