Joan Ruhtenberg

Born on December 5, 1937, in Memphis, TN, Joan Ruhtenberg, then Joan McElroy, received her B.A. in English from Mississippi University for Women and later taught high school Latin, history, and English in Colorado Springs, CO. Joan graduated her J.D. magna cum laude from the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law.

Joan joined the IU McKinney law school faculty in 1980 as director of the legal writing program in 1982. She co-authored the second edition of “A Practical Guide to Legal Writing and Legal Method” in 1994. This edition remains one of the most definitive legal writing textbooks in the country. The Joan M. Ruhtenberg Scholarship for Achievement in Life and Legal Writing was established in 1997 by Mike and Patricia Mullet.

Joan’s love of language was reflected in her educational background, teaching experience, and devotion to writing poetry. She loved Shakespeare, the wonders of Nature, and Bob Dylan before he went electric, but her greatest love was reserved for her children Maria Ruhtenberg and Vess Ruhtenberg and her grandchildren Hannah, Jackson, and Berlin who survive her.

Joan passed away on March 4, 2022. A private burial is planned for March 12 at Crown Hill Funeral Home & Cemetery at 11 a.m.