Students first

Professor Barrett Schreiner leverages personal experience and learning science to help law students succeed

Professor Barrett Schreiner’s approach to legal education is inspired by his own memories as a law student.

“I vividly recall my own days in law school,” says Schreiner, first in his family to enroll in law school. “It was really destabilizing at a deep level, and I was full of anxiety, a sense of inferiority and felt that I didn’t belong. My hope is that no Gould student will have that experience, and I want to do what I can to build students up on the academic side so they develop confidence and a sense of belonging.”

Schreiner, associate professor of lawyering skills and associate director of Gould’s Academic Success program, comes to USC from Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, where he was an assistant professor of law and practice and director of Academic Mastery. After graduating from UCLA School of Law, he took a job at a Big Law firm in Downtown L.A. Seven years later, he opened a small practice, and as that was taking shape, began teaching as an adjunct at Pepperdine. That’s when the appeal of teaching and advocating for students took hold, inspired in part by one of his mentors at UCLA, Professor Jack Beard.

“He was a fierce advocate for students and their wellbeing, and challenged law school orthodoxy,” Schreiner says. “I learned to push back on law school orthodoxy in my own way.  Traditional law school pedagogy is not a great match for all students, and a lot of my work is about equity in legal education … giving students the access, opportunities and support they need to thrive academically and otherwise. It’s about creating a level playing field.”

With Director Sara Berman, Schreiner is picking up the Academic Success program where former Director Sue Wright left off, using his passion for student achievement as a guide. Schreiner team-teaches Legal Analysis of Evidence for 2Ls with Berman, helping students refine their analysis and writing skills, and also will team-teach the 1L course Topics in Legal Analysis with Berman. He also meets with students for advising — a big part of his role at Gould.

Schreiner is especially concerned with helping students understand the science of learning so they can become better learners.  He also works with them on overcoming the challenges posed by the pandemic’s disruption of learning, and fractured attention spans rooted in distractions such as digital devices, the internet and multitasking.

Schreiner is excited that Gould’s focus lines up with his own student-centered goals, which was obvious from the get-go.

“I noticed on my first day here that it feels like a real community, and I’m very impressed by the sense of collegiality I’ve experienced in my interactions with students, staff, faculty and administrators,” he says. “What I’m doing at Gould is an extension of what I was doing before, and I appreciate that all of the law school is behind that mission.”