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CLINTON W. (WES) SHINN
Dean and L. Anthony Sutin Professor of Law
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Dean Shinn received a B.S. (cum laude) in 1969 from McNeese State University and a J.D. in 1972 from Tulane Law School, graduating second in his class and being elected to Order of the Coif. At Tulane, he served as Editor-in-Chief and Assistant Articles Editor of the Tulane Law Review. He received an LL.M. from Harvard Law in 1973, and returned to Tulane as an Assistant Professor of Law from 1973 to 1975 (teaching Contracts, Evidence, Oil and Gas, and Environmental Law). He was in private practice in New Orleans with the firm of Stone Pigman from 1975 through 1998 (as a partner from 1978 on), and in Covington, Louisiana with his own firm during 1998-99, practicing primarily in the areas of commercial real estate transactions and finance, oil and gas, environmental law, probate, and estate planning. In 1999, Professor Shinn returned to teaching full-time, at the Appalachian School of Law until 2002 (teaching Property I and II, Law Office Management, Secured Transactions, Natural Resources, Estates and Trusts, and Property - Selected Policy Foundations, and being named 1L Professor of the Year 1999-2000 and 2000-01), and at the Mississippi College School of Law as Associate Professor from the Fall 2002 semester through the Spring 2006 semester (teaching Property I and II, Evidence, Secured Transactions, and three Louisiana civil law courses). He rejoined the Appalachian Faculty as Professor of Law commencing with the Fall 2006 semester (teaching Property I and II, Secured Transactions, and Will and Estates).
Dean Shinn is a member of the Louisiana Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the Louisiana Bar Foundation (Charter Fellow), the Charles Clark Inn of Court (Barrister), and is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. He formerly served as an elected member of the Louisiana Bar Association House of Delegates and as an Assistant Bar Examiner. He is a Public Arbitrator for NASD Disputes Resolution.
SANDRA KEEN MCGLOTHLIN
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Associate Professor of Law
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A native of Grundy with extensive law practice experience, Professor McGlothlin received her B.A. degree from the University of Virginia and her J.D. degree from the T.C. Williams School of Law of the University of Richmond, where she served on the Moot Court Board. She first practiced law as an associate with a Grundy law firm before forming her own law firm. She also has shown her commitment to community service by serving as a member or officer of numerous community, regional, and state organizations, including as a member of the Law School's Board of Trustees and Dean's Advisory Council, as President of the Buchanan County Bar Association, as a member of the Virginia Coalfield Regional Tourism Development Authority, and as Vice Mayor of Grundy and a member of the Town Council. Professor McGlothlin teaches Family Law, advanced Family Law courses, and Virginia Procedure.
CHARLES J. CONDON
Associate Dean for Information Services and Law Library Director
Associate Professor of Law
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Professor Condon earned his B.A. from Florida Atlantic University, his J.D. from Nova Southeastern University, an L.L.M. in Agricultural Law from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and his M.L.S. from the University of Southern Mississippi. He was the Computer Services/Reference Librarian and Associate Professor at Northern Illinois University where he taught Legal Research and presented several lectures on specialized legal research in upper level law classes. He also served as the Public Services Librarian at the University of Toledo College of Law where he provided Reference and Interlibrary Loan services to Faculty and students. He currently teaches a Capstone Course, Remedies, to third year students in their final semester at ASL. Professor Condon's research interests include Electronic Resources, Technology in the Courtroom and Privacy Law. His latest project involves researching privacy issues in the application of RFID technology in society.
TOMMY SANGCHOMPUPHEN
Assistant Dean for Student Learning and Outcomes, Assistant Professor of Law
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Academic Success Program
Professor Sangchompuphen joins the Appalachian School of Law after serving as a bar exam essay-writing instructor and consultant for a national bar review company since 2000. Professor Sangchompuphen received his B.A. from Yale University, where he studied political science and sociology, then received a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He received his J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School. After law school, he was an associate with the law firm of Bassford, Lockhart, Truesdell & Briggs, P.A. (now Bassford Remele, P.A.). Professor Sangchompuphen has written several books, including the course materials for BAR/BRI's Essay Advantage courses in Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, and Virginia, and has been involved with commercial bar preparation courses in Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri and Virginia. He also has written more than a hundred law review, newspaper and magazine articles that have appeared in Hamline Law Review, Minnesota Association of Scholars, The Wall Street Journal, Law.com, The Dallas Morning News, and numerous bar association publications. Professor Sangchompuphen joined the ASL faculty in 2008 to assist students in the Academic Success Program and bar preparation course.
Faculty
We are proud of the faculty led by Dean Clinton W. (Wes) Shinn. Committed to excellent teaching, these faculty members who have been recruited nationally will guide your study of the theory and practice of law. The talented library staff provides extensive services. Our relatively small size fosters close relationships among students, faculty, and staff members.
PATRICK BAKER
Assistant Professor Of Law
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Patrick Baker joins the Appalachian School of Law after practicing at one of Virginia's oldest law firms Penn, Stuart & Eskridge in Abingdon, Virginia. He practiced in the litigation group focusing on Workers' Compensation, Employment, Regulatory, and Mineral and Energy Law. He earned a B.A. in history and minor in psychology from the Virginia Military Institute. At the Institute, he graduated in the top 10 within his discipline while participating in intercollegiate athletics. He earned his J.D. from the Appalachian School of Law in 2007, graduating cum laude. While at ASL, he received a 100% merit scholarship and two Energy & Mineral Law Foundation scholarships. Additionally, he served as Articles Editor of the Appalachian School of Law Natural Resources & Law Journal. He was elected by his peers to serve as Student Bar Association President from 2006 through 2007.
In 2005, he served as a summer clerk in the Chambers of the Honorable Elizabeth A. McClanahan, Virginia Court of Appeals. He is licensed to practice law in Virginia and Tennessee. Additionally, he earned his Virginia State Teaching Certificate in 2002 from Old Dominion University and taught college preparatory history, U.S. Government, economics, and leadership studies for six years before attending law school. He is also an avid outdoor writer and has been published numerous times in The Virginia Sportsman as well as other newspapers and periodicals. Most recently, he was inducted into the Outdoor Writers Association of America. Professor Baker teaches Legal Process at ASL.
JUDITH M. BARGER
Associate Professor of Law
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Judie Barger is currently an Associate Professor of Law at the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Virginia, where she has been on the faculty since Fall 2002. She teaches Criminal Procedure, Advanced Criminal Procedure, Criminal Practice, Advanced Criminal Advocacy and Criminal Law. She is also the faculty advisor to the Moot Court Board and coaches the nationally ranked competitive Moot Court teams, which have won numerous team and individual advocate awards over the past several years. Professor Barger graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center with honors in 1993, after which she clerked for the Circuit Court Judges in Prince William County, Virginia. Professor Barger then joined the Public Defender's Office in Fairfax County, where she practiced for four years, handling felony cases ranging from grand larceny to capital murder. Professor Barger was also an Associate at Piliero, Mazza & Pargament (presently Piliero Mazza, PLLC) for four years where she worked with Native American tribes in forming Tribal Court Systems, developing law enforcement policy manuals and training Native American police officers on criminal procedure issues.
MARK "BUZZ" BELLEVILLE
Assistant Professor of Law
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Professor Belleville plays a central role in the development of ASL's natural resources emphasis. He received his B.A. in Philosophy from Miami University, with Departmental and University Honors and J.D. with Honors from the Ohio State University College of Law. Before coming to ASL three years ago, Professor Belleville practiced 12 years as a business litigator and counselor with the well-respected law firms of Woods Rogers PLC in Blacksburg and Calfee Halter & Griswold LLP in Cleveland and Columbus. His litigation practice focused on commercial contract disputes, tort and products liability, environmental litigation, a variety of business torts, labor litigation and premises liability. On behalf of a utility client, Professor Belleville obtained the first summary judgment in Ohio in defense of a premises liability asbestos claims, and participated in the drafting of significant asbestos reform legislation. He has also successfully negotiated and avoided multi-million dollar environmental claims on behalf of municipal and industrial clients. He is licensed to practice in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia. Professor Belleville teaches Contracts, Sustainable Energy Law and Appellate Advocacy. He serves on the Scholarship Committee for the Energy and Mineral Law Foundation, and regularly presents on EMLF's annual conferences.
M. SCOTT BOONE
Associate Professor of Law
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Professor Boone's specialties include technology and the law and related fields. He received his B.S. degree in Neuroscience from Texas Christian University and his J.D. degree from the Franklin Pierce Law Center, where he was an Articles Editor for IDEA: The Journal of Law & Technology and a member of the moot court team. He also holds an LL.M. degree from the Temple University School of Law and has completed two years in the Ph.D. program in Neuroscience at Emory University. Before entering law teaching, he practiced with the Jones & Askew firm in Atlanta in the areas of intellectual property and litigation. Professor Boone teaches Property, Intellectual Property, Administrative Law, a Cyberlaw seminar, and Appellate Advocacy. He also serves as Director of the Externship Program.
JANICE CRISP
Assistant Professor of Law
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Prior to joining ASL's faculty in 2008, Janice Crisp practiced law with the Public Defender's Office for Wythe, Bland, and Pulaski Counties and the City of Radford and at a small firm in Roanoke, Virginia. She has a J.D. from Washington and Lee School of Law, where she was a Staff Writer and Articles Editor for the Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice (Formerly Race and Ethnicity Ancestry Law (REAL) Journal), and a B.A. in Political Science (magna cum laude) from North Carolina Central University. She is licensed to practice law in Virginia.
PRISCILLA NORWOOD HARRIS
Associate Professor of Law
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Professor Harris has taught Torts, Advanced Torts, Environmental Law, Conflict of Laws, Legal Process, and Criminal Law. She has published articles in the Women's Rights Law Reporter and the National Law Journal. She has chaired the Faculty Recruitment Committee for the past two years, and also advises the Phi Alpha Delta legal fraternity and the Appalachian Women in Law. She has long served on the ASL Annual Gala Committee and was selected by the 1L Class as Professor of the Year" in 2004.
Professor Harris received her J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she worked in the Elderly Advocate Program of the Philadelphia office of Community Legal Services. She received her B.A. in History from Florida State University. She practiced civil litigation and estate planning with Reed Smith in Philadelphia, and with Bell Boyd in Washington, DC. Prior to coming to ASL, Professor Harris operated her own law practice in Orange Park, Florida, where she concentrated on land use, environmental law and civil rights litigation.
Professor Harris devotes a great deal of time to community service, most frequently at the Mountain Mission School, a local residential school for at-risk children. She coaches Mountain Mission's Mock Trial team, which won its regional competition for the first time in 2008. She also coaches the school's Lego Robotics team, which has won various awards at the Virginia State Competition for the past several years. In 2007, she was named Lego Robotics Coach of the Year for the Commonwealth of Virginia.
STEWART L. HARRIS
Associate Professor of Law
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Professor Harris graduated from Princeton University in 1983. He earned an A.B. in public policy from Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, where his studies focused on U.S. foreign policy, particularly nuclear weapons policy. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1986, where he won the Edwin R. Keedy Cup, the school's highest moot court award.
Professor Harris spent a number of years practicing law for the federal government and for private firms both large and small. He notably obtained a half-million dollars for a newspaper's defamation of a public official in Griffin v. Add, Inc., Case No. 1:99-cv-36 SPM, U.S. District Court, N.D. Fla., 2000. He also served as trial counsel in two major environmental cases, HCA, Inc. v. Florida Rock Industries, Inc., 19 FALR 1743 (1998) and Hellmuth v. Carolina Solite Corp., 17 FALR 4072 (1996).
Professor Harris taught at the University of Florida's Levin College of Law from 1999 to 2001. He joined the ASL faculty in 2001, where he has taught Constitutional Law, Civil Procedure and a First Amendment seminar. He has twice taught Constitutional Law during the summer semester at the University of Tennessee College of Law. His primary scholarly interest is in the First Amendment, and his current research centers on the issue of group defamation.
As Chair of ASL's Curriculum Committee, Professor Harris negotiated ASL's new Joint Graduate Certificate Program in Natural Resources with Virginia Tech. This program enables students to take courses dealing with natural resources and the environment at both institutions, either in person or via distance technology. Virginia Tech's College of Natural Resources is among the most respected natural resources programs in the United States.
As part of the Appalachian School of Law's commitment to community service, Professor Harris has designed and taught an SAT preparation course at the nearby Mountain Mission School. The Mountain Mission School is a local charitable institution that, for the past eight decades, has housed and educated underprivileged children. Professor Harris has also assisted with a number of other projects at Mountain Mission, including a college-credit course in American Government.
To provide service to the legal profession, Professor Harris has given presentations on various topics in constitutional law at the annual Bench/Bar Conference of Virginia's 30th Judicial District and also at meetings of the Kingsport, Tennessee Bar Association. In November 2006, he gave a public presentation on the primacy of Virginia's legislative branch to the Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates and other members of the Virginia General Assembly to commemorate the 400th Anniversary of the founding of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Professor Harris won ASL's Faculty Scholarship Award for "The First Amendment and the End of the World," 68 University of Pittsburgh Law Review 785 (2007). He has also been selected by ASL's first-year or second-year students as "Professor of the Year" five times, most recently in 2010.
DERRICK HOWARD
Assistant Professor of Law
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Professor Howard received his B.A. in English Writing from the University of Pittsburgh and his J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. After law school, Professor Howard worked for the internationally regarded law firm of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, LLP, in Pittsburgh, PA. Professor Howard practiced for eleven years before forming and becoming a partner of Howard & Hosay Law Group, P.C. Since then, he has continued practicing law and teaching the Pre-Bar Preparation Program at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.
MICHAEL W. LOUDENSLAGER
Associate Professor of Law
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Professor Loudenslager is the Director of the Legal Process program at ASL. Prior to joining ASL, he served for six years in the legal writing program at the University of Dayton School of Law and had reached the position of Associate Professor of Lawyering Skills. Before entering the academic world, Professor Loudenslager practiced law with the litigation department of Taft, Stettinius & Hollister in Cincinnati, Ohio. He received his J.D. degree cum laude from the Washington & Lee University School of Law, where he served as a Notes and Comments Editor on the school's Law Review. He received his B.A. degree summa cum laude from Miami University in Ohio, where he was selected for membership in Phi Beta Kappa. Professor Loudenslager's scholarship has dealt with the ethics of innovative practice areas such as multidisciplinary practice, practicing law over the Internet, and unbundled legal services as well as state regulation of the Internet under the dormant Commerce Clause. Law journals at Baylor, Brigham Young, William & Mary and Marquette have published his articles. He teaches Legal Process I & II and Professional Responsibility.
DOUGLAS MCKECHNIE
Assistant Professor Of Law
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Professor McKechnie joined the Appalachian School of Law faculty in 2008 after private practice with Healey & Hornack, P.C. in
JOHN MURREY, III
Visiting Assistant Professor Of Law
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Professor Murrey received his B.S. degree for the University of Tennessee and his J.D. degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law, where he was a member of the Law Review and of Order of the Coif. After serving for several years as a Judge Advocate in the United States Air Force, Professor Murrey practiced for over 30 years with the law firm of Witt, Gaither & Whitaker in Chattanooga, Tennessee. For much of that time he had a general business practice, including serving as a general counsel for two publicly-owned corporations. In the course of his practice he handled many mergers, business asset acquisition, and tender offers, participated in various business tax-related and antitrust matters, and was responsible for filing of SEC documents. He also has extensive experience in the litigation of business-related controversies. He has served as Director and Chairman of Southeast Tennessee Legal Services and in other civic capacities, and he served as director of three public companies whose shares are traded on the NASDAQ. He teaches Business Associations, Payment Systems, Debtor-Creditor Law and Small Business Entities.
ALAN OXFORD
Assistant Professor of Law
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Professor Oxford joins ASL after working in his own private practice and of counsel to Drummond Law, PLLC, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, serving clients in matters of real estate, commercial transactions, probate, wills and trusts, banking, and appeals. He received his B.A. degree from Oklahoma Baptist University and his J.D. degree with honors from the University of Oklahoma where he received several academic achievement awards and was a member of the Order of the Coif. Professor Oxford also served for five years as an Adjunct Professor to the University of Tulsa College of Law where he taught Real Estate Transactions and Agency and Partnership. Prior to entering the law profession Professor Oxford practiced as a Certified Public Accountant.
STEVE PARSONS
Visiting Assistant Professor of Law
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Professor Parsons received his B.A. degree with honors from Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee with a double major in Speech and Religion. He received his J.D. from The University of Tennessee College of Law, finishing first in his graduating class, and was selected for inclusion in the Order of the Coif. While a law student, he won the Advocates Prize Moot Court competition and was named Best Oralist in the competition.
DALE RUBIN
Professor of Law
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Professor Rubin received his B.A. in Psychology from Stanford University and his J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. Professor Rubin practiced law for the law firm of Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe in San Francisco, California and with the office of Carl B. Metoyer in Oakland, California. He was in private practice for eighteen years. Professor Rubin was an International Legal Center Fellow in Barbados, West Indies where he drafted a model corporations code and published an article on the development of an antitrust law framework in the English- speaking Caribbean territories. He has published articles in the Journal of World Trade Law, the Anglo-American Law Review, the St. Louis University Public Law Review, the University of Richmond Law Review, the University of Toledo Law Review, the Idaho Law Review, Northern Kentucky Law Review, the Urban Lawyer, the American Bar Association's State and Local Government Section Newsletter and the Oregon State Bar Business Law Digest. Professor Rubin has also authored numerous state-based think-tank papers which have been published by the James Madison Institute (Florida), the Cascade Policy Institute (Oregon), the Calvert Institute for Policy Research (Maryland), the Independence Institute (Colorado), the Washington Institute for Policy Studies (Washington) and the Sutherland Institute (Utah). He has been the editor of the Charles Houston Bar Association Newsletter in Oakland, California, the Oregon State Bar Business Law Digest, the American Bar Association Public Transportation Newsletter, and is presently the editor of the ABA State and Local Government Section Newsletter. Professor Rubin was also a world record holder in the 440-yard relay and an All-Coast football player at Stanford University. He was also the founder of the Stanford Black Alumni Association. Prior to joining the faculty at the Appalachian School of Law, Professor Rubin taught for seven years at the Willamette College of Law in Salem, Oregon. His primary research interest involves the constitutionality of public subsidies to private corporations. Professor Rubin has taught State & Local Government, Torts, Business Associations, Administrative Law, Contracts, Criminal Law, and Evidence.
THOMAS R. SCOTT, JR.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Law and General Counsel
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Professor Scott is a partner with the law firm of Street, Street, Street, Scott & Bowman in Grundy. He is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College and of the T.C. William School of Law of the University of Richmond, where he served on the Moot Court Board. He has practiced for over 25 years and has extensive experience in civil and criminal litigation and in the handling of workers' compensation and other disability matters. He has been named one of the Best Lawyers in Virginia by Virginia Business Magazine, is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and an Advocate of the American Board of Trial Advocacy, and has received the Bill Geimer Award, an award presented annually to a dedicated capital defender. He has served as a substitute judge for the Twenty Ninth Judicial District, as a member of the Grundy Town Council, as a member of the Virginia State Bar Council, and as a faculty member for the Virginia State Bar Course on the Professionalism. He also has served as a member of the Governor's Advisory Commission on Workers' Compensation. He teaches Trial Advocacy, Insurance Law, and an Eminent Domain seminar at ASL and also serves as the Law School's General Counsel.
PAULA M. YOUNG
Associate Professor of Law
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Professor Young has over 1,300 hours of training and experience in alternative dispute resolution. Professor Young received her B.A. degree from Washington University and her J.D. degree from Washington University School of Law, where she served on the staff of the Urban Law Annual and graduated in the top twenty percent of her class at this top-25 ranked school. She recently received her LL.M. degree in Dispute Resolution from the University of Missouri-Columbia, the top ranked program in the U.S. Before joining ASL, Professor Young was a commercial dispute litigator, mediator, and arbitrator specializing in insurance and other commercial disputes. She was general counsel to the largest insurance insolvency in U.S. history, a partner in the law firm of McCarthy, Leonard, Kaemmerer, Owen, Lamkin & McGovern, L.L.C. and the sole proprietor of Pathways Mediation and Arbitration Center. Professor Young also practiced in the energy department of the D.C. office of Skadden, Arps, Slate Meagher & Flom, one of the largest firms in the world. She has published extensively in the alternative dispute resolution field. She writes a column entitled From Conflict to Collaboration" for The St. Louis Lawyer, a publication that circulates to 6,800 attorneys. She teaches Dispute Resolution, Legal Process, and skills courses in arbitration, negotiation, mediation, and client interviewing and counseling.
ADJUNCT FACULTY
JUDGE CHARLES J. ARNOLD
Judge Arnold is a U.S. Administrative Law Judge employed by the Social Security Administration Office of Heatings and Appeals, Lexington, Kentucky. He is a life-long resident of rural Harrison County, Kentucky, where he served as Assistant County Attorney (1978-1980), 18th Judicial District Court Judge (1982-1983) and 18th Judicial Circuit Court Judge (1984-1989) prior to his 1989 appointment as a federal Administrative Law Judge. Judge Arnold is a graduate of Transylvania University (1972) and the University of Kentucky School of Law (1975), and he was selected for a clerkship with the Kentucky Supreme Court (1975-1976) prior to entering private practice in Harrison County. He is an active cattleman and tobacco producer and received the USDA Master Conservationist award in 2001. Judge Arnold teaches Practice before the Social Security Administration at ASL.
EDWARD J. KELLY
Edward J. Kelly is University Counsel for East Tennessee State University and the Quillen College of Medicine. He graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Law and served as Assistant Counsel to the New York State Commission of Correction and as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of New York. He has served on the editorial board of the Journal of College and University Law and the National Employment Law Committee of the Society for Human Resource Management. In 2004 Kelly served as a Fulbright Scholar, teaching Law and Alternative Dispute Resolution in Ukraine and Belarus. This summer Kelly taught ADR in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Krygystan. Mr. Kelly has taught Employment Law and Rights of the Disabled at Appalachian School of Law.
