Steve Johansen came to the law school as a student in the late 1980s, attending law school at night while teaching in the Beaverton School District. As a student, he was hired to be a teaching assistant in the legal writing program and saw its limitations first hand. “It was not the perfect model,” he says. “Hiring students to teach other students, grading their papers, etc., with just one professor overseeing the work, was just not effective.”
A Commitment to Lawyering
After Johansen graduated, he practiced law for nine months before the law school asked him to return as a legal writing instructor, replacing Judith Miller. In 1990, Johansen became the first director of the Legal Writing Program, where he began the work towards creating the nationally recognized Lawyering Program.
“It was critical to have full-time professors teach Legal Writing, Reasoning and Research, now known as Lawyering,” recalls Johansen, “We were one of the first law schools to make that leap.”
Since the 1990s, Johansen has led national and international efforts to promote the discipline of legal writing, serving as president of the Legal Writing Institute from 2002–04.
Then, he turned his focus to legal storytelling: “A few of us started the conference on Applied Legal Storytelling some 18 years ago. We just finished our 10th conference, held every other year.” In 2009, the Legal Writing Institute and Association of Legal Writing Directors awarded Johansen the Thomas Blackwell Memorial Award, recognized as the highest honor in legal writing.
Leading Admissions
During his many years as a faculty member, Johansen served on the admissions committee, reviewing applications and helping to decide who to admit. When the law school was searching for a new admissions director in 2022–23, Johansen offered to step in and assume that role.
Since the summer of 2023, Johansen has hired a new team of admissions officers, orchestrated a return to robust participation in law fairs all over the country (after COVID), and welcomed increasingly talented incoming classes. Johansen’s quiet and humble leadership and his loyal friendship and support of Lewis & Clark will be sorely missed. He tells us he’s still doing “some traveling” for the law school this fall, but mostly he’s embracing new adventures in travel and life.
Bon voyage, Steve, and thank you for your service!
