College of Law Faculty
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
CV View Nicholas W. Allard's CV
Dean 鈥淣ick鈥� Allard joined 小蓝视频 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 鈥淰isionary鈥� 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鈥檚 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鈥檚 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.).
Mary Adkins
Visiting Professor of Law
B.S., M.A., and J.D. University of Florida
Telephone number Office Phone: (904) 256-8869
Email address Email: madkins637@ju.edu
Professor Mary Adkins joins JU Law as a Visiting Professor of Law following a distinguished career at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where she is an Emeritus Master Legal Skills Professor. Her teaching has focused on legal writing, appellate advocacy and Florida constitutional history, and she has held national leadership roles in legal writing education, including serving as chair of the Association of American Law Schools Section on Legal Writing, Reasoning and Research.
Adkins also brings significant expertise in Florida constitutional history. She is the author of Making Modern Florida: How the Spirit of Reform Shaped a New State Constitution and Chesterfield Smith, America鈥檚 Lawyer, which received the Rembert Patrick Award from the Florida Historical Society. She has also published articles on Florida constitutional history and constitutional revision and co-authored a casebook on Florida Constitutional Law titled Florida Constitutional Law: Cases in Context.
Adkins earned her B.S., M.A., and J.D. from the University of Florida.
碍测鈥椭颈蝉丑补 Black
Visiting Assistant Professor of Law
M.S., Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University
J.D., Howard University School of Law
Telephone number Office Phone: (904) 256-1591
Email address Email: kblack759@ju.edu
Professor 碍测鈥椭颈蝉丑补 Black joins the College of Law as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Law, bringing experiences in movement lawyering, civil rights advocacy, education justice and legal education.
Before joining JU Law, Black served as Assistant Director of Student Affairs at Howard University School of Law, supporting students鈥� academic and professional development. Her recent scholarship examines the use of policing, surveillance and other legal and policy mechanisms in Florida schools and their role in perpetuating the school-to-prison pipeline.
Black earned her M.S. from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University and her J.D. from Howard University School of Law.
Krista Bordatto
Assistant Professor of Law
M.S. and J.D., St. Thomas University
Telephone number Office Phone: (904) 256-8861
Email address Email: kbordat@ju.edu
Professor Krista Bordatto joins JU Law as an Assistant Professor of Law after serving on the faculty of Campbell University School of Law, where she taught Legal Research and Writing as well as courses in workplace and employment law.
A retired U.S. Army veteran, Bordatto began her legal career as a litigator handling labor and employment, civil and appellate matters. Her teaching and scholarship draw on those experiences, with scholarly work examining issues involving the military justice system and its relationship to the civilian legal system. Her recent scholarship includes law review articles, and she has contributed to an open-source textbook on legal analysis, reasoning, research and writing. Her 2025 scholarship includes work examining appellate review of public-trial violations and the relationship between sexual violence, the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Feres doctrine.
Bordatto earned her M.S. and J.D. from St. Thomas University.
Melissa Coll
Associate Professor of Law
J.D., Stetson University
Telephone number Office Phone: (904) 256-8857
Email address Email: mcoll1@ju.edu
Theophilus Coleman
Assistant Professor of Law
LL.M. and LL.D., University of Johannesburg
Telephone number Office Phone: (904) 256-7928
Email address Email: tcolema17@ju.edu
CV View Theophilus Coleman's CV
Dr Theophilus Edwin Coleman earned his Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Political Science and Information Studies from the University of Ghana in 2016. He then achieved a Bachelor of Laws (LLB), summa cum laude, from the University of Cape Coast Faculty of Law in 2016. In 2017, he obtained his Master of Laws (LLM) in International Commercial Law, summa cum laude, from the University of Johannesburg. The following year, the University of Johannesburg awarded him the Global Excellence Stature Scholarship (GES) to pursue his Doctor of Laws (LLD), which he completed in 2020.
Edwin is an alumnus of the Hague Academy of International Law in the Netherlands and completed internship programs at the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), also in the Netherlands. He also served as a Research Fellow at the Institute of European Law in Saarland, Germany.
Theophilus is currently an Assistant Professor of Law at the 小蓝视频 College of Law, Florida (USA). He also serves as a Senior Research Associate at the Research Center for Private International Law in Emerging Countries (RCPILEC) in South Africa. Dr. Coleman routinely teaches labor law at the University of Ghana School of Law LLM/MA program.
He previously served as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Law (VAP) at the University at Buffalo School of Law in Buffalo, New York, where he taught courses such as Employment Law, Conflict of Laws, the Uniform Commercial Code, and Remedies. He also served as a Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Center for International and Comparative Labor and Social Security Law (CICLASS) and as a Lecturer in the Department of Practical Business Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Johannesburg.
Dr. Coleman鈥檚 research focuses on inequality in private international law, particularly the intersection of private international law and employment in the era of emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI). He also publishes on labor and employment law, contract law, international commercial law, conflict of laws, and African legal philosophy. He is the co-author of the leading and authoritative textbook on Labour Law in Ghana, published by LexisNexis. Dr. Coleman has authored or co-authored numerous journal articles and book chapters. He is currently the lead author for two forthcoming books, Individual Labour Law in Ghana (with Letlhokwa G. Mpedi) and Private International Law of Employment in Africa (with Chukwuma S.A. Okoli).
Beyond the classroom, Theophilus is passionate about public interest matters, especially labor education and access to labor justice in Africa. He is currently the Co-Founder/Co-President of the Labor Law Society of Ghana. He is also a member of the African Labor Law Society, the International Human Rights Group (under the auspices of the Human Rights Center of the Central South University, China), the South African Society for Labor Law (SASLAW), and the International Law Association. He also served as an editor for the Private International Law Interest Group of the American Association of International Law. Dr Coleman has also served as a reviewer for several journals and publishers, including the Journal of Comparative Law in Africa, Juta, University of Johannesburg Press, Journal for Juridical Sciences, Speculum Juris, University of Ghana Law Journal, South African Public Law, Society and Discourse, among others.
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
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
Jessica Moeller
Assistant Professor of Law
B.A., Wisconsin Lutheran College
J.D., University of Wisconsin Law School
Telephone number Office Phone: (904) 256-8851
Email address Email: jmoelle@ju.edu
Professor Jessica Moeller joins JU Law as an Assistant Professor of Law, bringing experience in experiential legal education, law practice and academic administration.
Before joining 小蓝视频, Moeller served as Assistant Dean of Experiential Learning and Visiting Professor of Law at Charleston School of Law. In that role, she helped advance opportunities for students to connect classroom learning with the practice of law through clinics, externships and other experiential programs.
Moeller also brings an active scholarly agenda. Her recent work has addressed access to effective legal representation in rural communities, including the challenges facing indigent clients in juvenile delinquency and termination-of-parental-rights proceedings.
Moeller earned her B.A. from Wisconsin Lutheran College and her J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School.
Patrick Murphree
Assistant Professor of Law
J.D., LOYOLA UNIVERSITY NEW ORLEANS
PH.D. IN THEATRE HISTORY, THEORY, & LITERATURE, INDIANA UNIVERSITY
Telephone number Office Phone: N/A
Email address Email: pmurphr@ju.edu
Dr. Murphree鈥檚 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 . 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鈥檚 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.
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
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
CV View Nathan Richardson's CV
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
CV View Colleen M. Skinner's CV
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
Adjunct Faculty
Danshera Cords
Adjunct Instructor
J.D., SEATLE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW
B.A. ARTS, BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
Telephone number Office Phone: N/A
Email address Email: N/A
After completing her LL.M., Prof. Cords served for two years as an attorney-advisor to the Hon. Maurice B. Foley of the U.S. Tax Court, in Washington, D.C., before entering the legal academy. She has taught at schools including Seattle University, University of Pittsburgh, Albany Law School, 小蓝视频, was a Distinguished Foreign Professor in Shanghai, China, and has directed multiple graduate tax programs.
Margaret Dees
Vice Dean, Adjunct Professor
J.D., UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
B.M., 小蓝视频
Telephone number Office Phone: (904) 256-7885
Email address Email: mdees@ju.edu
Rebekah Gleason Hope
Adjunct Professor
J.D., The George Washington University Law School
Master of Law in Advocacy, Georgetown University Law Center
Telephone number Office Phone: N/A
Email address Email: rhope3@ju.edu
CV View Rebekah Gleason Hope's CV
Trace Jackson
Adjunct Instructor
J.D., UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
B.S/B.A., UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
Telephone number Office Phone: N/A
Email address Email: tjackso47@ju.edu
Professor Jackson is an intellectual property and technology attorney with a strong academic background and a growing national reputation in the legal implications of artificial intelligence. Professor Jackson represents a wide range of clients鈥攆rom startups to multinational corporations鈥攐n matters involving patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and AI-related legal issues. He is a frequent speaker on emerging technologies, particularly generative AI, and has provided CLE presentations on AI, IP, and legal ethics to attorneys, judges, and business leaders across the country.
A 鈥淭riple Gator,鈥� Professor Jackson earned his B.S. in Mathematics, B.A. in Physics, and J.D., summa cum laude, from the University of Florida, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Florida Law Review and earned 12 book awards. He also holds an M.S. in Engineering Science and Applied Mathematics from Northwestern University, with a concentration in computational physics.
Katelyn Johnston
Adjunct Professor, Mock Trial Coach
J.D., Stetson University College of Law
M.P.A. Florida State University
Telephone number Office Phone: N/A
Email address Email: kjohnst8@ju.edu
Katleyn Knaak Johnston has been an assistant state attorney with the Fourth Judicial Circuit for over ten years and is a Board-Certified Specialist in Criminal Trial Law. SAs an ASA she has prosecuted a wide range of cases from misdemeanor to complex multi-defendant homicide including trying over 50 jury trials. Professor Johnston was named Division Chief of County Court in 2017 supervising, training, and mentoring young lawyers within the office. Professor Johnston serves on the Florida Bar鈥檚 standing Code and Rules of Evidence Committee and the Criminal Procedural Rules Committee.
Professor Johnston attended law school at Stetson University College of Law where she graduated with a concentration in advocacy. While at Stetson Professor Johnston was a member of the Trial Team winning multiple national and state championships including the National Trial Competition in 2010. She recently graduated from Florida State University with a master鈥檚 in public administration.
Scott Makar
Adjunct Professor
J.D., UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
M.A. in Economics, University of Florida / MBA, University of Florida
Telephone number Office Phone: N/A
Email address Email: smakar@ju.edu
Judge Scott Makar serves on Florida鈥檚 Fifth District Court of Appeal in Florida. He was initially appointed to the First District Court of Appeal by Governor Rick Scott on February 6, 2012, and later recommissioned by Governor Ron DeSantis on January 1, 2023, when Northeast Florida was made a part of the Fifth District.
Prior to his appointment to the district court, Judge Makar served as the Solicitor General for the State of Florida from 2007 to 2012, appointed by Attorney General Bill McCollum and reappointed by Attorney General Pam Bondi. In that position he argued five cases in the United States Supreme Court, four in a single term, which is a record for state solicitors general. He also served as the Chief of the Appellate Division in the Office of General Counsel for the City of Jacksonville from 2001 to 2007. His private practice experience includes nearly two decades with Holland & Knight in Jacksonville, Tallahassee, and Tampa. He also clerked for Thomas A. Clark of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals and interned for the U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division.
Judge Makar was a founding member of The Florida Bar's Appellate Practice and Advocacy Section and the Appellate Practice Section of the Jacksonville Bar Association. He is the Master Lawyer and an alumnus of the William H. Stafford American Inn of Court and the Master Lawyer of the First District Appellate Inn of Court.
Over the past four decades, he has taught sixteen different law related courses at colleges and universities including the University of Florida, FSU College of Law (where he held the Richard Ervin Chair), Florida Coastal School of Law, University of North Florida and 小蓝视频. He has also published numerous articles on a wide range of topics in law reviews and journals.
William Maule
Adjunct Professor
J.D., Texas Southern University
Telephone number Office Phone: N/A
Email address Email: wmaule@ju.edu
Wiliam Maule is a Jacksonville-based attorney specializing in federal tax and military law. He currently serves as a supervisory trial attorney with the Internal Revenue Service Office of Chief Counsel, leading a group of trial attorneys representing the IRS in Tax Court. William鈥檚 group is currently assigned hundreds of cases in various stages of litigation with over $75 million dollars of tax revenue at issue. Prior to joining the IRS, William served as an Assistant Chief Counsel for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and as an Asylum Officer for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
In addition to his full-time work with the IRS, William also serves as a commissioned officer in the United States Army Reserve鈥檚 Judge Advocate General鈥檚 Corps (JAG). William鈥檚 service includes one combat tour to Baghdad, Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and two tours to the Republic of South Korea. His current rank is Major, and his job title is Chief of Administrative Law for the 143rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command, Orlando, Florida.
William is married to his best friend, Dana, and they have three sons. William is a faithful member of the Household of Faith Church where he serves as a deacon.
Chad Roberts
Adjunct Instructor
J.D., FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF LAW
B.S., GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Telephone number Office Phone: N/A
Email address Email: crobert35@ju.edu
Chad Roberts serves as an Adjunct Professor of Law and co-Instructor in an advanced Civil Procedures course focusing on modern Electronic Discovery. In 2014, after a successful twenty-year career representing consumers in complex litigation, Mr. Roberts established a law firm focusing exclusively on Electronic Discovery practice.
A frequent lecturer at leading national conferences in Electronic Discovery, Mr. Roberts holds an Engineering Science degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology and graduated with high honors from Florida State University College of Law. He has been a litigation partner at both a large, multi-national law firm (Holland & Knight, LLP) as well as a small boutique trial firm (Spohrer & Dodd, LLP) and has won multi-million dollar trial verdicts as lead trial counsel.
For the last decade, Mr. Roberts鈥� national practice has been to counsel litigation parties and Courts facing the most challenging, cutting-edge tasks of modern electronic discovery in civil litigation.
Penny W. Schmidt
Adjunct Professor
J.D., St. Thomas University School of Law
Bachelor of Arts, University of Florida
Telephone number Office Phone: N/A
Email address Email: pschmidt@ju.edu
Ms. Schmidt is AV Preeminent rated by Martindale-Hubbell and is actively involved in the Jacksonville Bar Association, the Jacksonville Women Lawyers Association and The Florida Bar ADR Section. She has taught ADR to law students for more than a decade and regularly speaks and trains mediators across Florida.
Magistrate Judge Natalie Tuttle
Adjunct Professor
J.D., Florida STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF LAW
B.A. IN POLITICAL SCIENCE, Florida State University
Telephone number Office Phone: N/A
Email address Email: nnice@ju.edu
CV View Magistrate Judge Natalie Tuttle's CV
Natalie Tuttle currently serves as a General Magistrate/Hearing Officer for the Fourth Judicial Circuit presiding over family law matters. Magistrate Tuttle has been a member of the judiciary since 2017. Prior to becoming a member of the judiciary, Magistrate Tuttle was a full time Professor, and later, the Supervising Attorney/Professor of Law for the In House Family Law Clinic at Florida Coastal School of Law. During her fifteen years of teaching, Magistrate Tuttle, has taught first year and upper level Legal Writing Courses, Florida Practice and Procedure Courses, including Florida Civil Procedure, Florida Criminal Procedure and Florida Family Law Practice and Procedure. Magistrate Tuttle has also taught Family Law (doctrinal course) and family law related Alternative Dispute Resolution courses.
Prior to teaching, Magistrate Tuttle was a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Douglas B. Shivers and Larry G. Smith at the First District Court of Appeal, Tallahassee, Florida. While serving as an Adjunct Professor and before becoming a full time Professor, Magistrate Tuttle continued to practice in the area of complex commercial litigation, appellate litigation, and family law, actively litigating cases in both Federal and State Courts.
Magistrate Tuttle is a Certified Family, Appellate, and County Mediator and has conducted over 800 mediations in Northeast Florida. Magistrate Tuttle has also served as a Custody Evaluator/Social Investigator and Guardian Ad Litem for the Fourth Judicial Circuit and surrounding circuits and Southeast Georgia. She has performed over 150 evaluations and has appeared as an expert in State Court on numerous occasions.
Lisa Varon
Adjunct Professor, Reference Law Librarian
J.D., FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF LAW
B.S. in Public Relations, University of Florida
Telephone number Office Phone: N/A
Email address Email: lvaron@ju.edu
Lisa Varon is a highly experienced trial lawyer with over 30 years of practice in criminal and civil law. She has tried more than 50 felony jury trials to verdict and has extensive knowledge of Florida statutes, case law, and rules of evidence.
Prior to joining JU Law, she was a partner at Fallgatter Catlin & Varon, PA in Jacksonville, representing clients in juvenile, criminal, civil, and post-conviction matters. She has defended juveniles in delinquency court and adults in misdemeanor and felony cases, while also handling civil injunctions and family law issues.
Previously, Varon served as an Assistant Conflict Counsel and an Assistant Public Defender. Lisa earned her Juris Doctorate from Florida State University College of Law and a Bachelor of Science in Public Relations from the University of Florida. She is an active member of the Florida Bar and various professional associations, including the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, where she served as President.
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Accreditation Information
Accreditation is the hallmark of quality and high standards for legal education and admission to the Bar. The 小蓝视频 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.
小蓝视频
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