College of Law Faculty
Nicholas W. Allard
Randall C. Berg Jr. Dean
J.D., Yale Law School
M.A., Oxford University
Telephone number Office Phone: (904) 256-7033
Email address Email: nallard@ju.edu
Dean “Nick” Allard joined Jacksonville University as the Founding Dean of the College of Law. He previously served as Dean of Brooklyn Law School (2012 - 2018) where he also concurrently served as President (2014-2018 and Professor of Law (2012-2020).
Nick is a distinguished attorney, having held leadership positions in some of the most highly regarded firms in the world. Most recently, Dean Allard has been Senior Counsel based in the Washington, D.C., office of Dentons US LLP, the largest law firm in the world. He has received recognition as a leading lawyer and awards as a “Visionary” for his work in public policy and counseling clients in the fields of privacy, telecommunications, advanced broadband networked communications, technology, health, energy, environmental law, compliance, and higher education.
Nick has been a member of the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Government Affairs, chaired its Communications Committee, and currently chairs its Standing Committee on the Law Library of Congress. Dean Allard holds prominent volunteer leadership positions at Princeton University, Oxford University, the Rhodes Scholarship Trust, Cambridge University, Catholic University of America, and is a long-time Trustee of the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. He received his JD from Yale Law School and holds a BA from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs.
He is a Rhodes Scholar and holds an MA in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics from Oxford University. Dean Allard’s legal education continued during clerkships with the late U.S. Chief District Judge Robert F. Peckham (N.D. CA) and the late U.S. Appellate Judge Patricia M. Wald (D.C. Cir.).
Courtney A. Barclay, APR
Associate Dean of Academic and Faculty Affairs
Professor of Communication and Law
Ph.D., University of Florida
J.D., University of Florida
Telephone number Office Phone: (904) 256-7114
Email address Email: cbarcla1@ju.edu
Dr. Courtney Barclay has nearly 15 years of experience in higher education. Dr. Barclay joined the faculty at JU as professor in the Department of Communication, specializing in public relations and media law. With an interdisciplinary focus, she holds a joint faculty appointment in Communication and Law. Dr. Barclay's research analyzes First Amendment implications of law and policy impacting the emerging uses of technology and new media platforms, including chat bots, online data tracking, drones, and social media. She has presented this research at national and international conferences, and is the author of "Commercial Speech in a Social Space," a chapter in the third edition of Social Media and the Law (2023). She also holds a national Accreditation in Public Relations. Before joining the faculty at JU, Dr. Barclay taught media law at Syracuse University and, in 2009, served as a Visiting Scholar at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, mentoring summer law clerks and directing a modernization of the organization's tracking of Freedom of Information requests, appeals, and litigation.
Scott DeVito
Associate Professor of Law
J.D., University of Connecticut
PH.D. IN PHILOSOPHY, UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER
Telephone number Office Phone: (904) 256-8865
Email address Email: sdevito@ju.edu
Lindsay Head
Assistant Professor of Law
J.D., FLORIDA COASTAL SCHOOL OF LAW
Ph.D. in ENGLISH, LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY
Telephone number Office Phone: (904) 256-8858
Email address Email: lhead@ju.edu
Dr. Lindsay Head is an active member of the Florida Bar and practiced general civil litigation and family law at a medium-sized law firm in South Florida, where she directed and supervised the firm’s internship program. Recognizing her passion for teaching, she later returned to academia and earned a Ph.D. in English—with a concentration in Writing, Rhetoric, and Culture. Her scholarship and teaching focus on the intersections of rhetorical theory and legal discourse, criminal procedure and Fourth Amendment jurisprudence, rhetoric of citizenship and identity, composition theory, oral advocacy, and legal writing pedagogy. Dr. Head regularly presents her research at local, national, and international conferences, and she founded the Legal Writing and Rhetoric Standing Group for the national Conference on College Composition and Communication. She previously taught at St. Thomas University College of Law, Florida International University, and Louisiana State University.
Lauren Knight
Assistant Professor of Law
Associate Dean for Student Success & Bar Prep
J.D., FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY
B.A., UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
Telephone number Office Phone: (904) 256-8859
Email address Email: lknight4@ju.edu
Professor Lauren Knight began her legal career practicing in Jacksonville, Florida. She has recently served as the Chief Operating Officer for a law firm in Savannah, Georgia. As a law professor, she has taught and tutored law students and undergraduate students in academic success, LSAT and Bar preparation, criminal law, legal writing, professional responsibility, and remedies. Professor Knight’s research centers on the student experience in law school and legal training. She previously taught at Mercer University School of Law, Savannah Law School, and South University.
Robert Mensel
Professor of Law
J.D., University of Pennsylvania
Ph.D. in History, Rutgers University
Telephone number Office Phone: (904) 256-8863
Email address Email: bmensel@ju.edu
Before going into teaching, Professor practiced in the field of Products Liability. He has taught at a number of law schools, including the Charleston School of Law and, most recently, St. Thomas University College of Law. He has taught Torts, Property, Contracts, Wills and Trusts, and other upper-level courses. During his fourteen years at St. Thomas, he received five Professor of the Year awards. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute. Professor Mensel's research and writing have concentrated on Nineteenth Century legal and cultural history. In particular, he has written about the common law right to privacy, the Contracts Clause of the U.S. Constitution, the rise of caveat emptor, and the importance of counterfeiting in antebellum law and culture.
Patrick Murphree
Assistant Professor of Law
J.D., LOYOLA UNIVERSITY NEW ORLEANS
PH.D. IN THEATRE HISTORY, THEORY, & LITERATURE, INDIANA UNIVERSITY
Email address Email: pmurphr@ju.edu
Dr. Murphree’s research into the theatre and drama of the French Revolution first ignited his interest in the law. After law school, he clerked for the Honorable Elizabeth Erny Foote of the Western District of Louisiana before joining a plaintiff-side mass tort, class action, and antitrust firm. Alongside his practice, he gave presentations on professionalism to the American Inns of Court and edited the 2023 edition of the Louisiana Legal Services and Pro Bono Desk Manual. Dr. Murphree has taught acting, theatre appreciation, fine arts, public speaking, and LSAT preparation at Indiana University, Tulane University, Northwestern State University of Louisiana, and Kaplan.
Dr. Murphree’s publications have appeared in the UMKC Law Review, the Tulane Journal of International and Comparative Law, the Seattle Journal for Social Justice, and the Loyola Law Review. He is currently studying performative representations of Law and Justice and researching conceptions of federalism in complex litigation and in French and American constitutional law.
Latisha Nixon-Jones
Associate Professor of Law
J.D., SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY LAW CENTER
B.S.M. MANAGEMENT AND FINANCE, TULANE UNIVERSITYTelephone numb
Telephone number Office Phone: (904) 256-8857
Email address Email: lnixonj@ju.edu
View Professor Nixon-Jones' CV
Professor Latisha Nixon-Jones is a noteworthy emerging scholar in the burgeoning field of Disaster Law, focused primarily on disaster preparedness and resilience. She served as the Assistant Clinical Professor of the Disaster Law Clinic at Southern University Law Center (SULC) and teaches courses in torts, disaster law, and legal research and writing.
Professor Nixon-Jones' scholarly contributions have earned her a well-deserved reputation
as an expert in the field, and in 2020, she was awarded the prestigious COVID-19 Research
Innovation Award from the University of Oregon. Her research also explores the intersection
of administrative and insurance law as they pertain to disasters and community resilience,
with a focus on addressing the challenges faced by communities in accessing adequate
insurance coverage and navigating the complexities of administrative systems in the
wake of a disaster.
Professor Nixon-Jones is licensed to practice law in Louisiana and, in addition to
her role at SULC, taught at Mercer University School of Law and the University of
Oregon.
Matthew Reiber
Associate Professor of Law and Public Policy
J.D., Columbia University School of Law
LL.M in Taxation, New York University School of Law
Telephone number Office Phone: (904) 256-7928
Email address Email: mreiber@ju.edu
Professor Reiber began his legal career as an Associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore where his practice emphasized securities, mergers and acquisitions, and commercial litigation. He then became a partner at Gordon, Thomas, Honeywell where his practice emphasized commercial and professional negligence litigation. Professor Reiber also clerked for the Honorable Ronald B. Leighton, United States District Court, Western District of Washington. Professor Reiber has taught a variety of first-year and upper-level law courses at Seattle University School of Law and Florida Coastal School of Law. He also has lectured on federal and state civil procedure for BarBri and served on the Washington State Bar Association’s Committee on Bar Examiners and Committee on Civil Rules.
Nathan Richardson
Professor of Law
J.D., University of Chicago
B.S., GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
Telephone number Office Phone: (904) 256-8866
Email address Email: nrichar8@ju.edu
View Professor Richardson's CV
Nathan Richardson is a University Fellow with Resources for the Future. He was raised in Jacksonville, where he attended Stanton College Prep. Before joining Jacksonville University, Professor Richardson was a Professor of Law at the University of South Carolina. He is an expert on regulatory environmental law, especially climate change and air pollution, and on institutions, regulatory design, and administrative law. His research has examined the ongoing transition to green energy, carbon pricing, and the relationship between law, regulatory institutions, and policy design. Other interests include law and economics, European environmental and energy policy, and the effects of climate change on the Southeast. His research has been cited by the Supreme Court and has been published in the Virginia Law Review Online, Vanderbilt Law Review, Administrative Law Review, Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Stanford Journal of Environmental Law, Michigan Journal of Environmental and Administrative Law, Columbia Journal of Environmental Law, and many others.
Colleen M. Skinner
Director of Law Library
Assistant Professor of Law
J.D., Florida Coastal School of Law
M.L.I.S., Florida State University
Telephone number Office Phone: (904) 256-8862
Email address Email: cskinne4@ju.edu
Colleen Skinner has been a law librarian since 2008. In that role, she has provided research support in many areas, including immigration and externship clinics, foreign and international law, and being an embedded Librarian for administration and faculty research needs. She also has extensive research skills in Westlaw, Lexis Nexis and teaching research workshops. Ms. Skinner enjoys sharing her skills with students and helping them become expert researchers.
Alexandra Yelderman
Assistant Professor of Law
J.D., University of Chicago
B.A., NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
Telephone number Office Phone: (904) 256-8861
Email address Email: ayelder@ju.edu
Professor Alexandra Yelderman researches online platforms, black markets, technology ethics, and crime-adjacent speech. Her work explores how intermediary liability affects illicit commerce on the internet, with a recent focus on regulations that lead to increased crime. She has previously written about the role of the internet in combatting sex trafficking and other forms of exploitation.
Professor Yelderman was Senior Staff Attorney and continues to serve as Special Counsel at the Human Trafficking Legal Center in Washington, DC. She has previously taught at Notre Dame Law School, University of Lucerne, and at St. Thomas University School of Law's Human Trafficking Academy.
Vanessa Zboreak
Associate Professor of Law
J.D., Wake Forest University School of Law
B.A., GRINNEL COLLEGE
Telephone number Office Phone: (904) 256-8861
Email address Email: vzborea@ju.edu
Professor Zboreak teaches and researches subjects related to Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Environmental Law, and Remedies. Her research focuses on administrative procedure, particularly the public comment process and agency interactions with scientific and other technical expertise, and constitutional questions related to administrative decision-making. She also has an interest in legal pedagogy and legal communication and is an experienced teacher of Legal Writing and Research. Professor Zboreak was previously an Assistant Professor of Law at Elon University School of Law, an instructor at Vermont School of Law, and a Professor of the Practice at Wake Forest University School of Law. She is a commissioner on the North Carolina General Statutes Commission.
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Accreditation Information
Accreditation is the hallmark of quality and high standards for legal education and admission to the Bar. The Jacksonville University College of Law is provisionally approved by the American Bar Association (Council of the American Bar Association Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, 321 North Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60654, 312-988-6738), and, in accordance with ABA rules, will continue to pursue full accreditation. Law schools that are provisionally accredited are entitled to all the rights of a fully approved law school. Similarly, from an ABA perspective, graduates of provisionally approved law schools are entitled to the same recognition that is accorded graduates of fully approved law schools.
Jacksonville University
General Counsel
2800 University Blvd N, Jacksonville, FL 32211
904-256-7549