Professor Miyoko T. Pettit-Toledo ’15 Recognized for Innovative Teaching Practice

HONOLULU, Hawaiʻi (Nov. 13, 2025) — William S. Richardson School of Law Professor Miyoko T. Pettit-Toledo ’15 has been selected as a 2025–2026 Innovation and Impact Showcase awardee by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. The annual showcase honors faculty whose teaching practices demonstrate exceptional innovation and measurable impact on student learning, engagement, and program development.

Professor Pettit-Toledo was recognized for her teaching practice, Procedure in Practice: The Critical Writing Lab, which she developed for both first-year and advanced civil procedure courses. The approach blends traditional doctrinal instruction with genre-based legal writing, critical inquiry, and reflection, helping students explore how procedural rules not only structure the law but also shape access to justice and reinforce or disrupt power dynamics.

At the heart of the course is a sequence of real-world writing assignments that guide students to ask, “What’s really going on?,” a question that drives deeper understanding of both the legal and human dimensions of procedure. Through assignments written for audiences such as clients, judges, and peers, students strengthen their analytical skills, communication abilities, and professional identity.

“In my civil procedure courses, the focus on writing and critical analysis—beyond traditional legal writing classes—underscores our shared goal across the Law School to strengthen students’ skills for both the bar exam and real-world law practice. This recognition for innovative and impactful teaching reflects the dedication by the faculty and administration to that goal, as well as Richardson law students’ willingness to embrace new challenges and their commitment to excellence. Through Procedure in Practice: The Critical Writing Lab, I hope our students continue to think critically about the law (both in concept and in operation), question “what’s really going on,” and feel empowered to be changemakers—especially for those powerless and vulnerable in our community who most need legal protections, or as Chief Justice William S. Richardson said, for ‘the little guy downstream,’” Professor Pettit-Toledo said.
More about the Innovation and Impact Showcase and Professor Pettit-Toledo’s award can be found on the UH Mānoa IIS website.

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About William S. Richardson School of Law

The William S. Richardson School of Law is a collaborative, multicultural community preparing students for excellence in the practice of law and related careers that advance justice and the rule of law. We develop highly qualified, ethical professionals through excellence in teaching, scholarship, and public service. We embrace Hawai‘i’s diversity and values and recognize a special responsibility to our state and the Pacific region.

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