Education
B.A., University of Massachusetts
M.Ed., Antioch University
J.D., Northeastern University School of Law
Background
After graduation from Northeastern University School of Law, Professor Orlen served as the Law Clerk for the Honorable Alexander O. Bryner, Chief Judge of the Alaska Court of Appeals, and later served as a clerk in the Superior Court of Massachusetts. After her clerkships, she worked as a Staff Attorney for the University of Massachusetts Student Legal Services Office in Amherst and as an Associate in a Northampton, MA, law firm. Professor Orlen has taught at Western New England law since 1995. She was Director of Academic Success Programs from 2011-2020.
Professor Orlen is a member of the post-conviction panel and the children and family law appellate panel of the Committee of Public Counsel Services.
Professor Orlen serves as a consulting mediator with Collaborative Resolutions Group, formerly The Mediation and Training Collaborative. As a consulting mediator with the Collaborative Resolutions Group, Professor Orlen mediates in the On-site Mediation Programs in the Hampshire County and Franklin County Probate and Family Courts. Professor Orlen also serves as a mediator with the Family Resolutions Specialty Court within the Hampshire County Probate and Family Court. She has also served as a trainer in TMTC's Divorce Mediation trainings.
Professor Orlen was co-chair of the programming committee for the 2015 Conference of the Association of Academic Support Educators and co-chair of the Awards Committee of the Legal Writing Institute (2016-2018). Professor Orlen also served on the Academic Support Committee of the Legal Writing Institute (2018-2020). She has presented at various conferences focused on legal writing and law school academic support, including the 2016 Biennial Conference of the Legal Writing Institute and the 2017 annual conference of the Association of Academic Support Educators.
Courses Taught
Academic Success
Appellate Moot Court
Client Counseling & Negotiation
Interviewing/Counseling/Negotiation
Lawyering Skills
Legal Writing & Analysis
Negotiation, Mediation, and Arbitration
Persuasion in Legal Writing
Public Interest Externship
Scholarly Works
Journal Articles
Myra Orlen, Celebrating Twenty-five Years of the Legal Writing Institute, The Second Draft (The Legal Writing Institute), Spring 2010, at 16. SSRN Digital Commons
Myra Orlen, Beyond the First Year: A Brief Look at Ways to Use Implicit Reasoning and Implicit Communication, The Second Draft (The Legal Writing Institute), Fall 2009, at 11. Digital Commons
Jeanne Kaiser & Myra Orlen, Using a Literary Case Study to Teach Lawyering Skills: How We Used Damages by Barry Werth in the First-Year Legal Writing Curriculum, 12 J. Legal Writing 59 (2006). SSRN Digital Commons
Myra G. Orlen, The Transition to Legal Analysis Begins with Orientation, The Second Draft (The Legal Writing Institute), July 2003, at 7. SSRN Digital Commons
Myra G. Orlen, Modeling: Placing Persuasion in Context, The Second Draft (The Legal Writing Institute), Dec. 2001, at 7. SSRN Digital Commons
Beth Cohen, Jocelyn Cuffee, Harris Freeman, Jeanne Kaiser & Myra Orlen, Commenting on Student Writing, The Second Draft (The Legal Writing Institute), Nov. 1999, at 2. SSRN Digital Commons
Shorter Writings
Myra G. Orlen, Resolving Family Dissolution Cases in a Way that Is Better for All Family Members, Af-Am Point of View, Apr. 1, 2022, at 23.
Myra Orlen, How to Reduce Conflict in Divorce and Family Dissolution, Af-Am Point of View, March 1, 2020, at 23.
