Tom teaches not only what to do, but how to do it. He focuses on the process of advocacy and its written expression, providing concrete tools that improve lawyers’ persuasive memoranda. He speaks from principle, identifying specific reasons why his suggested approaches are effective and how those approaches can be meaningfully applied in multiple contexts.

Tom’s workshops focus on problem-solving and exercises, encouraging attorneys to practice their own writing rather than solely listening to lecture. His exercises require attorneys to apply and internalize the writing and advocacy techniques he teaches in his sessions. By requiring active rather than passive learning, Tom’s workshops ensure that attorneys will retain his techniques after the session is over.

Skillful debriefs are part of Tom’s clinical teaching methods. He collaborates with the attorneys in his sessions, working with and learning from them as they discuss their own writing and Tom’s examples after each exercise. Tom doesn’t discount ideas simply because they are different from his own. Instead, he embraces participants’ ideas, using them to build a deeper discussion. He focuses on approaches and strategic choices lawyers make in their writing. Tom recognizes that different attorneys may use multiple approaches to achieve the same end, and that their writing will change if they make different strategic decisions.