Michael H. Frost
Professor of Legal Analysis, Writing, and Skills Emeritus
B.A., English, 1967, University of California, Davis; M.A., English, 1974, California State University, Sacramento; Ph.D., English, 1984, State University of New York at Binghamton
Michael Frost is fascinated by the use of language and is especially interested in the study of legal discourse. He has written extensively on the rhetorical works of Aristotle, Cicero and Quintilian. In his view, Greco-Roman rhetorical treatises contain the most comprehensive, adaptable and practical analysis of legal discourse ever devised. Professor Frost is also the author of a book and several articles on modern judicial rhetoric. SCRIBES, a national organization of legal writers and educators, has honored him for his excellence and high attainments in meritorious writing.
"Writing is not the only way of discovering what it is you think...but it is the best way of discovering how to express what it is you think."
Professor Frost joined the Southwestern faculty in 1979 after teaching at the State University of New York for several years. As a teacher of legal writing, legal rhetoric, and as an advisor to the Southwestern Law Review, Professor Frost emphasizes the close relationship between writing style and legal analysis. In 2006, he was named as Southwestern's Irwin R. Buchalter Professor.
Professor Frost served as a legal writing consultant for over 18 years at the National Judicial College, where he taught judicial opinion writing. The NJC recently recognized him for his fifteen plus years of service. Since the college was founded in 1963, fewer than 150 individuals have taught for NJC for fifteen or more years.
He has also taught opinion writing to judges in Arkansas, California, Idaho, Massachusetts, Oregon, Nevada, Washington, West Virginia and elsewhere. He has been a featured speaker at the Legal Writing Institute, the annual Conference of the Modern Language Association and the Conference on College Composition and Communication.