Laurel Currie Oates is a professor of law at Seattle University School of Law and has been the director of Seattle University’s Legal Writing Program since 1984. With Professor Anne Enquist, Professor Oates has authored five books on legal writing: The Legal Writing Handbook, which is in its fifth edition, and Just Research, Just Memos, Just Briefs, and Just Writing, which are in the fourth edition. Professor Oates has also authored numerous law review articles, including articles on legal reading, writing to learn, the transfer of learning, and the outsourcing of legal work.

Professor Oates is also one of the co-founders of both the Legal Writing Institute and APPEAL, an organization that provides opportunities for academics in Africa and the United States to share ideas about helping students, lawyers, advocates, and judges improve their writing. During the last five years, Professor Oates has worked in Uganda, South Africa, Kenya, Afghanistan, and India, providing workshops on effective writing.

In June 2007, Professor Oates received the Burton Award for Outstanding Contributions to Legal Writing Education at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and this year she received the Marjorie Rombauer award from the Association of Legal Writing Directors.