Vermont Law and Graduate School (VLGS) Professor Michael Kovac recently received a Fulbright Specialist Program Award from the U.S. Department of State and Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. The program aims to exchange knowledge and establish partnerships benefiting participants, institutions, and communities in the U.S. and overseas through a variety of legal education and training activities.
Fulbright Specialists are selected for academic and professional achievement, demonstrated leadership in their field, and the potential to foster long-term cooperation between institutions in the U.S. and abroad. In June, Professor Kovac used his Fulbright Award to teach a three-week course on United States common law at KIMEP University in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
“I’ve always been interested in working overseas, but time doesn’t really allow for it in a more traditional position,” Professor Kovac said. Like his legal writing students in the Online Hybrid JD (OHJD) program, Kovac’s relationship to VLGS is primarily online.
Created for working professionals and people who have other obligations that may prevent them from enrolling in a full-time residential program, the OHJD’s part-time nature allows students to manage their careers, lives, and families, all while building a strong connection with fellow students and faculty.
“A lot of my students remind me of myself, because I was in the same situation—I worked full time and went to law school in the evening.”
While maintaining strong relationships with his VLGS students online, over the past year, Professor Kovac has traveled to teach stints at Parul University in Gujarat, India, and Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia.
“It’s as much a learning experience for me as it is for the students,” said Professor Kovac, reflecting on his recent moments in international classrooms.
Courtside Commentary: Legal and Sports Writing in Practice
Before he began teaching full time, Kovac served as Chief Deputy Attorney General for the Criminal Prosecutions Division of Nevada’s Office of the Attorney General, where he prosecuted and supervised the prosecution of the state’s criminal cases. His significant litigation experience gives him a unique perspective on teaching law students, particularly on the building blocks of legal writing.
“I try to emphasize to students that when you’re writing, it should be understandable to someone who doesn’t have a law degree,” Professor Kovac says. “Even judges have different levels of knowledge.”
Kovac employs the same philosophy in his own writing. His essay, “To Free a Predator: The Flawed Rationale for Overturning Bill Cosby’s Conviction,” was recently published in the Dickinson Law Review. His time as a prosecutor in Las Vegas informed his take on the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania’s overturning of the conviction.
In addition to his legal writing, Kovac has also published several articles relating to his interest in basketball with the Pittsburgh City Paper, one of which, “The Extraordinary Life and Death of Pittsburgh Basketball Legend John Brisker,” was selected as the cover story for its Black History Month edition.
Building Confidence in Law School and Legal Writing
As a writer, both personally and professionally, we asked Professor Kovac about legal writing misconceptions and helpful tips for students.
“I think for students, it’s making things more complicated than they need to be,” Kovac said. “The biggest challenge is not knowing enough about what the terminology means. Students want to incorporate new terminology, but they don’t know how to use it. And that’s very, very normal.”
For students who are completely new to legal writing, he cautions against the assumption that it will be easy to master straight away.
“It can be difficult to take a step back and adopt a different style of writing than what you’re used to and have had some success with,” he said. “When you’re doing this for the first time, just think about learning the fundamentals. That’s going to feel very mechanical and restricted, and there will be times when it might be better to break away from this mechanical writing. But you must learn the fundamentals before you know when it makes sense to deviate from them. That’s what I try to drive home.”
For anyone beginning law school, Professor Kovac stresses patience.
“Patience is key. Going through law school is a long process, and it feels like you depend on every grade, but one small mistake probably isn’t going to be a big deal in the long run.”