Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff to Lead Online Legal Writing Program
SOUTH ROYALTON, Vermont (August 5, 2024) — Vermont Law and Graduate School (VLGS) has named Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff as director of Online Legal Writing within the Online Hybrid JD Program. She will also teach in the Legal Writing Program.
Fordyce-Ruff joins VLGS with a wealth of expertise, including eight years as a program director, and fourteen years of experience teaching legal research and writing courses at institutions such as Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University and the University of Oregon School of Law.
She is a prominent figure in the national legal writing community, having chaired committees for the Legal Writing Institute and the Association of Legal Writing Directors. She currently serves on the Association of Legal Writing Directors’ Board of Directors and was elected to serve as president for the 2025-26 academic year.
“We are delighted to welcome Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff to the Legal Writing Program at Vermont Law and Graduate School,” Greg Johnson, director of the Legal Writing Program, said. “As president-elect of the Association of Legal Writing Directors, Tenielle brings a national reputation for excellence in innovative pedagogy to the program. She will help make VLGS a leader in online legal writing education.”
In her new role, Fordyce-Ruff will work alongside VLGS leadership to bring her experience in legal writing to the online legal writing program, while also teaching to share her expertise with the next generation of lawyers.
“Having grown up in a state with just one university, I am well aware of the barriers to access in the legal education space,” Fordyce-Ruff said. “Vermont Law and Graduate School is committed to removing those barriers with the Online Hybrid JD Program, and I am looking forward to being a part of the team to usher this program forward to open up opportunities for students from all regions and backgrounds.”
Fordyce-Ruff earned her juris doctor from the University of Oregon School of Law, where she was managing editor for the Oregon Law Review and received the Distinguished Service Award and the Maxine Lee Award for Editorial Excellence. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Wyoming.
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About Vermont Law and Graduate School: Vermont Law and Graduate School, a private, independent institution, is home to a law school that offers ABA-accredited residential and online hybrid JD programs and a graduate school that offers master’s degrees and certificates in multiple disciplines, including programs offered by the Maverick Lloyd School for the Environment, the Center for Justice Reform and other graduate-level programs emphasizing the intersection of environmental justice, social justice and public policy. Both the law and graduate schools strongly feature experiential clinical and field work learning. For more information, visit vermontlaw.edu, Facebook and Instagram.