Helping Law Students Thrive, Not Just Survive: Professor Nachman Gutowski’s Mission at Boyd
Written By: Mike Weatherford
It doesn’t matter how good you were as an undergrad — law school is a whole new game. And Nachman Gutowski is here to help Boyd Law students feel okay about that.
Gutowski joined the Boyd School of Law in 2023 to lead its Academic Success Program, which supports students from their first week of law school through the bar exam.
“Everybody has different needs and challenges. That’s why I say the Academic Success Program is for everyone, and we try to meet them where they are,” Gutowski said of the program, which is foundational to all Boyd Law students’ success.
Such programs can carry a “remedial” stigma. Gutowski pushes back on that. “I don’t believe in that focus. Students, especially in their first year, don’t yet know whether they’re in trouble.”
First-year students, he says, can be “deer in the headlights” thanks to law school’s disorienting format: no grades until the end of the semester, self-paced study, and wading through dense case law to “learn how to think like an attorney.”
To smooth the transition, all first-year students now meet with Gutowski and are paired with an upper-class mentor. The program has also expanded workshops on time management, class preparation, note-taking, and exam strategies.
The Center for Academic Success and Enrichment (CASE) serves as a drop-in space where students can meet with upper-class “fellows” who apply for the role. “We clocked north of 800 individual meetings last year,” Gutowski said.
“We see what’s going on in their life, the whole picture of the person,” he added. “I joke with them, but it’s true: we practice a kind of unlicensed therapy. Sometimes you just need to vent and have someone listen.”
Gutowski is also working to integrate academic support into the legal education mainstream. He currently serves as national president of the Association of Academic Support Educators and will host its annual conference at Boyd Law from May 19–21 in 2026.