Sabrina  DeFabritiis

Biography

Sabrina DeFabritiis is a Professor of Legal Writing and the Director of Bar Programs and Initiatives. As a Professor of Legal Writing, Professor DeFabritiis has been a leader in the legal writing field on a national level. She has served as Chair of the AALS Section on Legal Writing, Reasoning, and Research. She has also served as Chair-Elect, Secretary, and as an Executive Board Member of the AALS Section on Legal Writing, Reasoning, and Research.

Professor DeFabritiis has also published numerous law review articles and presented in the fields of legal writing, oral advocacy, animal law, and bar exam preparation. Most recently she has written a book on the new bar exam. NextGen Bar Exam Past Lessons, Future Skills and Strategies. This publication is forthcoming in Summer 2026.

Professor DeFabritiis graduated, cum laude, from Suffolk University Law School and received her BS, from Boston College. As a student, Professor DeFabritiis served as Vice President of the Moot Court Honor Board and the Journal of Trial & Appellate Advocacy. Additionally, she was a member of the Moot Court Tax Team, which won the National Competition in 2002. Before joining the faculty at Suffolk Law School, she clerked for the Justices of the Massachusetts Superior Court and spent several years as an associate in the Boston office of Campbell Campbell Edwards & Conroy P.C., where she practiced in their advanced motions and appellate practice department.

Education

• BA, Boston College
• JD, Suffolk University

Publications

Articles

• Keeping it Real: How to Make Research Engaging (co-author Kathleen Elliott Vinson), SECOND DRAFT (Forthcoming Fall 2017). 
• 1L Is the New Bar Prep, CREIGHTON L. REV. (Forthcoming December 2017).
• Fido's Fallacy: Insurers Undermining Bans on Breed Specific Legislation,  9 ALB. GOV'T L. REV. 168 (2016).
• Lost in Translation: Oral Advocacy in a Land Without Binding Precedent, 35 SUFFOLK TRANSNAT'L L. REV. 301 (2012)
• Barking Up the Wrong Tree: Companion Animals, Emotional Damages and the Judiciary's Failure to Keep Pace, 32 N. ILL. U.L. REV. 237 (2012)
• Can You Hear Me Now? Using Voice Comments to Provide Feedback on Students' Memoranda, 23 :2 THE SECOND DRAFT 7 (2009)
• Clarity, Organization: Watchwords for Client Correspondence, MASS. LAW. WKLY. (2009) (March 9)

Books

• PRODUCTS LIABILITY DEFENSE: A STATE-BY-STATE COMPENDIUM (Defense Research Institute, 2004) (Co-author of the Massachusetts section for the 2004 and 2007 editions).

Media

AALS Newsletter

• Spring 2015 (PDF)
• Summer 2015 (PDF)
• Fall 2015 (PDF)

Bar Admittance

• MA
• United States District Court, Mass
• United States District Court, Conn.