Tracy Simmons

Office: Swen Parson 175B

Phone: 815-753-1057

Email: tsimmons@niu.edu

About

Tracy Simmons teaches Legal Writing and Advocacy I and II and Legal Writing and Generative AI. She also assists with the Academic Success Program. Before joining the faculty at NIU's College of Law, she taught Legal Research and Writing and Civil Litigation at Wilbur Wright College and Social Work and the Law at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She also served as a career advisor at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. In addition to her experience in legal education, Professor Simmons worked as a legal content manager at Illinois Legal Aid Online, where she drafted and edited plain-language legal resources. Professor Simmons started her career as an Equal Justice Works Fellow and attorney at the Legal Aid Society of Columbus.

Professor Simmons is admitted to practice in Illinois. She is also a member of the Legal Writing Institute (LWI) and serves on LWI’s Artificial Intelligence Committee.

Education

• B.S., Ball State University
• J.D., The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law

Publications

• All Rise to the AI Challenge: Lessons from Building an Oral Argument Chatbot, The Second Draft (forthcoming 2026).
• Networking to Get (or Create) a Public Interest Job, Nat'l Ass'n for L. Placement Bull., Sept. 2010, at 20.
• Relinquishing Custody in Exchange for Mental Healthcare Services: Undermining the Adoption and Safe Families Act's Promise of Reasonable Efforts Towards Family Preservation and Reunification, 10 J. L. & Stud. 377 (2008).
• Note, Mandatory Mediation: A Better Way to Address Status Offenses, 21 Ohio St. J. on Disp. Resol. 1043 (2006).