“On the first day of class, I welcome my students to the profession, and tell them they have signed on for careers as communicators. Attorneys negotiate, counsel, argue, agree, write, advocate, and educate. All of these tasks involve communication. A student’s introduction to legal communication is often in Legal Research and Writing. The lessons my students learn in Legal Research and Writing are lessons they will, hopefully, use throughout their legal careers. The need for good, well-researched legal communication is a constant an attorney’s work life.” 

View Instructor Tofte's research: SSRN Author Page -- Brenda Lea Tofte

Before coming to Hamline, Instructor Tofte served as a judicial clerk to the Honorable Jonathan Lebedoff and the Honorable Michael J. Davis, both of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. She also taught legal writing at the University of St. Thomas School of Law and in the Hamline College of Liberal Arts. Instructor Tofte is a member of the Legal Writing Institute, and has presented at writing conferences on the topics of organization in legal writing and the ways legal writing instructors can foster student professionalism. Instructor Tofte focuses her pro bono work in the area of child advocacy.