Harmony Decosimo

Visiting Clinical Assistant Professor of Law

Email
harmonyd@unc.edu
Work
(919) 962-5106
Curriculum Vitae Download Photo

Areas of Expertise

  • Academic Support
  • Legal Education
  • Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility
  • Legal Profession
  • Legal Research
  • Legal Writing

Biography

Harmony Decosimo joined the Carolina Law faculty in 2024 as a Visiting Assistant Clinical Professor of Law. She teaches first-year research and writing courses. Her scholarly interests include legal writing and pedagogy, legal ethics, and professional identity formation. She is an active member of the national legal writing community, currently serving on committees for the Legal Writing Institute, the Association of Legal Writing Directors, and the AALS Section on Legal Writing and Rhetoric.

Decosimo graduated magna cum laude and Order of the Coif from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law where she was a Dean’s Scholar. As a law student, she served on the executive board of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review as an articles editor, and was recognized for extraordinary dedication to public service. Following graduation, Decosimo worked at Dechert LLP, focusing on complex white collar and securities litigation matters and participating in the firm’s varied pro bono practice. In 2017, she joined Boston University Law School as a Career Advisor within the Office of Graduate & International Programs and was appointed as a Lecturer of Legal Writing in both the LLM and Legal English Programs shortly thereafter. In 2018, Decosimo began teaching in the nationally-ranked legal writing program at Suffolk University Law School. She was appointed to a tenure-track position in that program in 2021.

Selected Publications

Reflections on Purpose and Professional Identity Formation, 75 MERCER L. REV. 5 (forthcoming, 2024). 
BEPress

Taxonomizing Professional Identity Formation, 67 ST. LOUIS U. L. J. 1 (2022). 
Westlaw | Lexis/Nexis | SSRN | Hein | BEPress

Do This, Not That! Tips for Summer Success, Legal Writing Matters Blog, Suffolk University Law School, 2021. 
Document Link

Professor Mom: The Pandemic's Disruption of the Personal-Professional Divide for Mothers in Academia, 25 LEGAL WRITING: J. LEGAL WRITING INST. 67 (2021). 
Westlaw | Lexis/Nexis | SSRN | Hein

More than Grades: Prioritizing the Development of Trustworthiness, Legal Writing Matters Blog, Suffolk University Law School, 2019. 
Document Link