• Faculty

Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Titles

• Professor of Law in Legal Writing
• Director of Online Legal Writing

Degrees

• JD, University of Oregon School of Law, 2004
• BA, University of Wyoming, 1999

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Biography

Professor Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff joined the faculty at VLGS in July 2024 as a Professor of Law in the Legal Writing Program and the Director of Online Legal Writing in the OHJD program. Prior to that she taught legal research and writing for fourteen years at several law schools and directed a legal research and writing program for eight years.

Professor Fordyce-Ruff has an extensive list of publications including law review articles, books, book chapters, and a monthly column on legal writing. She is the series editor for Carolina Academic Press’ state legal research series. She has also presented at both national and regional conferences and taught CLE’s on legal writing.

Additionally, she is involved in the national legal writing community, having chaired committees for both the Legal Writing Institute and the Association of Legal Writing Directors. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Association of Legal Writing Directors and was elected to serve as president during 2025-26.

Professor Fordyce-Ruff received her JD from the University of Oregon School of Law where she was a Managing Editor for the Oregon Law Review and received the Distinguished Service Award and the Maxine Lee Award for Editorial Excellence. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Wyoming.

Expertise

• Legal Research Instruction
• Legal Writing

Departments

• Legal Writing