Patrick Barry is a clinical assistant professor of law and the director of digital academic initiatives at the University of Michigan Law School and a visiting lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School and the UCLA School of Law. His teaching and research focus on creating a new vocabulary to talk about advocacy, especially in the age of artificial intelligence.

Among his teaching awards are the Wayne Booth Prize for Excellence in Teaching, the Provost’s Innovation in Teaching Prize, and the Outstanding Research Mentor Award. In addition, he was recently selected as a faculty fellow by the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’s Center for Educational Outreach and a Public Engagement Fellow by the Center for Academic Innovation.

An All-American soccer player in college, Barry focused on the theatrical aspects of Supreme Court confirmation hearings as a PhD student in English at the University of Michigan. During that time, he also worked with other Michigan faculty to create Clinnect, a global network of legal clinics devoted to combating human trafficking. 

Barry is the author of ten books—including Good with Words: Writing and Editing, Good with Words: Speaking and PresentingFeedback Loops: How to Give and Receive High-Quality Feedback, and The Syntax of Sports. He has also created several online courses for the educational platforms Coursera and Michigan Online and regularly collaborates with the Human Trafficking Clinic, the Child Welfare Appellate Clinic, and the Social Enterprise Clinic, as well as with various law firms, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations. He is a member of the California Bar.