Leila Lawlor Director of Academic Excellence and Professor of Practice

Phone: 540-458-8517

Email: llawlor@wlu.edu

Office: 461 Lewis Hall

Area of Expertise

Professional Development, Lawyering Skills, Academic Success 

Education

JD, Georgia State University

BA, University of Georgia

About

Leila Lawlor is the first director of W&L Law's Academic Excellence Program. Lawlor began teaching at Georgia State University in 2008, and she soon found teaching to be a perfect fit. Lawlor has taught Evidence, Introduction to U.S. Law, Lawyering Skills, First Year Professional Development and Academic Success, Constitutional Law, Civil Procedure, Insurance, and Business Law. In addition to teaching, Lawlor simultaneously directed the Academic Success Program, the LL.M. Program, and study-abroad partnerships at GSU College of Law.

She earned her J.D., magna cum laude, from GSU College of Law. While a law student, Lawlor served as associate editor for the Georgia State University Law Review, volunteered in the tax clinic, and worked as a graduate research assistant for Professor Lynn Hogue. She received the American Jurisprudence Awards for excellence in Constitutional Law and Research, Writing and Advocacy; the Outer Barrister Guild Award; and the Best Brief Award in a competition among all Georgia law schools.

After law school, Lawlor clerked for Judge Orinda Evans of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. She then practiced real estate law in metro Atlanta and began teaching part-time while clerking for Judge Wayne Purdom of the State Court of DeKalb County. While teaching, Lawlor has returned to graduate studies, earning an M.B.A, an M.S. in Criminal Justice, and an M.A. in Applied Linguistics. She has also earned certification in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages).

Lawlor is a member of the Georgia Bar Association and several other professional organizations, including the Association of Academic Support Educators, the American Academy of Legal Studies in Business, and the Western Academy of Legal Studies in Business, in which she has served several terms as president. She is also an active member of several philanthropic educational societies and has received a teaching award for incorporating technology in her classroom. In 2022, Lawlor was honored to receive the Georgia State University Faculty Award for Global Engagement - Teaching, Service & Outreach. In 2021, she received the GSU College of Law annual award for excellence in service - the Steven J. Kaminshine Award. In 2021, Lawlor received the inaugural Scholarship Award from AccessLex and the Association of Academic Success Educators.