Sophie Sparrow
Professor of Law
- AB, Harvard University
- JD, Harvard Law School
- ssparrow@piercelaw.edu
- (603) 513-5205
- Courses: Legal Skills I & II, Remedies, Torts
- Committees: AALS Membership/Scholarship, Faculty Handbook Draftsperson (ad hoc), Dean Review Committee (Chair), Conduct Code Officer (ad hoc)
- Scholarship
Professor Sparrow's speciality is teaching and learning. One of the co-authors of Teaching Law by Design: Engaging Students from Syllabus to Final Exam (2008), she is particularly interested in active teaching strategies which help students develop the skills they need for a balanced life practicing law: working with others; writing well; navigating complex legal doctrine and facts; engaging in self-assessment; and practicing professionalism.
Professor Sparrow has conducted more than 50 workshops and presentations on teaching, professionalism, writing and assessment to professors, judges and lawyers, including the conferences hosted by the Institute for Law School Teaching, the American Association of Law Schools, the Legal Writing Institute, and the New Hampshire Judicial College.In January, 2004, she won the Inaugural Award for Innovation and Excellence in Teaching Professionalism, sponsored by the American Bar Association and Conference of Chief Justices.In September 2008, she became an approved candidate on the Fulbright Specialists Roster.
While at Pierce Law, Professor Sparrow has been engaged in building sustainable and effective programs. She built the legal writing curriculum, serving as Director of Legal Skills from 1998-2008; and helped design New Hampshire’s alternative to the bar exam, the Daniel Webster Scholar Honors Program. In 2005, she worked with faculty and administrators in designing and implementing a new law school curriculum while visiting at Phoenix School of Law.
To her teaching, Professor Sparrow brings her experience practicing law, directing Pierce Law's Career Services Center, and teaching students ages 5 to 50.Before joining the Law Center in 1991, she worked as a staff attorney for New Hampshire Legal Assistance, representing very low-income clients, and as an associate with a New Hampshire law firm.
Her two best teachers are her teenage children.
