Rachel I. Gurvich

Clinical Professor of Law

Email
gurvich@email.unc.edu
Work
(919) 966-1371
Social
@RachelGurvich
Curriculum Vitae Download Photo

Areas of Expertise

  • Academic Support
  • Courts
  • Legal Education
  • Legal Profession
  • Legal Research
  • Legal Technology
  • Legal Writing
  • Litigation
  • Patent Law

Biography

Rachel Gurvich is a Clinical Professor of Law. She teaches first-year and upper-level research and writing courses. Her research interests include legal writing, pedagogy, and legal education more generally. In 2022, she received the McCall Award for Excellence in Teaching. In 2023, she received the Robert G. Byrd Award for Excellence and Creativity in Teaching.

Gurvich earned her B.A. with highest distinction from UNC Chapel Hill in political science and Spanish. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where she was editor-in-chief of the Harvard Latino Law Review and worked in the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic. Gurvich clerked for the Honorable Kermit V. Lipez on the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Portland, Maine, and practiced for 7 years at the law firm of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP in Boston. At WilmerHale, Gurvich specialized in patent and appellate litigation, and was an integral part of trial teams for high-profile patent cases throughout the country. She also maintained an active pro bono practice focused on housing, immigration, and civil rights issues. In 2013, Gurvich completed a six-month rotation as a Special Assistant District Attorney in Middlesex County, where she carried a full caseload, handled evidentiary motions and plea agreements, and tried cases to verdict. During the spring of 2015, Gurvich was an adjunct professor at Boston College law school, where she co-taught a class on Patent Litigation.

Education

  • J.D. (magna cum laude), Harvard University (2007)
  • B.A. (With Highest Distinction), Political Science and Spanish , University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2004)

Selected Publications

Reimagining Langdell's Legacy: Puncturing the Equilibrium in Law School Pedagogy (R. Gurvich, D. Tully, L. Webb, A. Chew, J. Cross, and J. Kanwar), 101 N.C. L. REV. F. 118 (2023).
Westlaw | Lexis/Nexis | SSRN | Hein | BEPress | Document Link

Saying the Quiet Parts Out Loud: Teaching Students How Law School Works (A. Chew and R. Gurvich), 100 NEB. L. REV. 887 (2022).
Westlaw | Lexis/Nexis | SSRN | Hein | BEPress | Document Link

Tweets to a Young 1L, 21 GREEN BAG 2d 281 (2018).
Westlaw | Lexis/Nexis | BEPress | Document Link

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