Tammy Brown Asher
Professor
B.A. University of Vermont, 1983
A.S. University of Vermont, 1981
J.D., magna cum laude, Cooley Law School, 1993
ashert@cooley.edu
"As a legal writer, your job is to make the reader's job as easy as possible."
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I joined the Cooley Law School faculty in 2004 as a visiting professor, teaching Research & Writing, and became a full-time faculty member in 2006. In 2021, I relocated from the Michigan Campus to the Tampa Bay Campus.
Over the past two years, I’ve taught Torts, Research & Writing 1, and Equity and Remedies. I have also taught Advanced Writing, Advocacy, Drafting, Introduction to Law, and Bar Exam Skills. Since 2023, I’ve served as the Chair of the Torts Department. In addition to my teaching and leadership roles, I’ve also served as the faculty specialist for the Academic Resource Center and was honored to receive the Stanley E. Beattie Teaching Award for excellence in teaching.
Before joining Cooley, I practiced environmental law as an attorney with Howard & Howard, P.C. and Seyburn, Kahn, Ginn, P.C.
While in law school, I served as Casenotes Editor of the Law Review and received numerous awards and scholarships, including the National Association of Women Lawyers Outstanding Law Student Award; the Julia Darlow Award from the Women Lawyers Association of Michigan; the Timothy Kovach Peace Corps Scholarship; and Cooley’s Alumni Association’s Distinguished Student Award. I was also the first recipient of the Carolyn Stell Scholarship Award, presented by the Mid-Michigan Chapter of the Women Lawyers Association of Michigan.
Before law school, I was a high-school biology teacher and a Peace Corps volunteer in Niger, West Africa. -
Articles (Law Reviews and Law Journals)
- Rhonda L. Ross and Tammy Brown Asher, A Fatal Flaw in the Clean Air Act: How the Clean Air Act Fails to Adequately Regulate Ambient Concentrations of Hazardous Air Pollutants, 32 Utah Envtl. L. Rev. 55 (2012).
- Tammy Asher, Unprecedented Antitrust Investigations into the Lyme Disease Treatment Guidelines Development Process, 46 Gonz. L. Rev. 117 (2011).
- Tammy L. Brown, Environmental Law: Annual Survey of Michigan Law, 42 Wayne L. Rev. 793 (1996).
- Carolyn M. Claerhout & Tammy L. Brown, Environmental Law: Annual Survey of Michigan Law, 41 Wayne L. Rev. 827 (1995).
Book and Chapters in Books
- Editorial Advisor for Bryan Garner, The Redbook: A Manual on Legal Style (3d ed. 2013) & (4th ed. 2019)
- Tammy Asher, “Improving Students' Essay-Writing Skills,” in Teaching Law Practice: Preparing the Next Generation of Lawyers, edited by Charles Cercone, Nelson P. Miller & Christopher Trudeau (Vandeplas 2013).
Short Works
- Rhonda L. Ross and Tammy Asher, Dangerous Air Apparent: How EPA’s Hazardous Air Pollutant Program Has Failed to Address Toxic Hotspots, 42 Envtl. L. Rep. 10475 (2012).
Presentations
- Tammy Asher, Co-Presenter with David Tarrien and Jeanette Buttrey, Flipping the Curriculum: Teaching through Assessment (2015 Association of Academic Support Educators Conference, Chicago, Illinois, May 27, 2015).
- Tammy Asher, Presenter, American Bar Association: During summers, the ABA Council of Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO) offers intensive, high-quality academic programs to low-income, minority, and other disadvantaged college students who aspire to become members of the legal profession. In 2010, CLEO partnered with Cooley’s Auburn Hills Campus to provide the first-ever program in Michigan, and for six summers, I taught the CLEO legal writing course. (2010-2015).
- Tammy Asher, Presenter, Plain Language (2008 Michigan Family Planning Update, Grand Rapids, Mich., Sept. 17, 2008).
- Tammy Asher, Presenter, Plain Language Principles and Techniques (2007 Annual Michigan Cancer Consortium, Lansing, Mich., Oct. 31, 2007).
- Tammy Asher, Speaker, How, Why, and When to Conduct Environmental Site Assessments (National Business Institute Seminar, Jan. 1999).
- Tammy Asher, Speaker, Audit Privilege (Michigan Chamber of Commerce Seminar, Nov. 1995).