David Dirgo Adjunct Law Professor
Lori Hoetger Assistant Professor of Law
Professor Hoetger primarily researches how individuals make decisions regarding their legal rights, especially in the areas of criminal law and procedure. She is especially interested in applications of the Fourth Amendment, studying how expectations of privacy are evolving and how courts’ approaches to searches might need to change in response to new technological developments. Professor Hoetger uses her background in psychology to inform her research and utilizes empirical methods to help address the behavioral assumptions courts make.
Professor Hoetger received her B.A. from the University of Notre Dame in 2009. As a student in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Law-Psychology Program, Professor Hoetger received rigorous training in both legal reasoning and psychological methods. Professor Hoetger graduated first in her class from the University of Nebraska College of Law in 2014 and completed her PhD in Psychology with an emphasis on quantitative methods in 2018.
Following graduation from law school, Professor Hoetger worked as a Project Evaluator at the Center on Children, Families, and Law, helping government agencies design, implement, and evaluate programs to help improve the child welfare system. Professor Hoetger also clerked on the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals and then represented indigent clients in criminal court as a public defender in Omaha, Nebraska. Before coming to the University of Nebraska, Professor Hoetger was a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois College of Law.
Josephine (Jo) R. Potuto Richard H. Larson Professor of Constitutional Law Emeritus
Professor Potuto joined the faculty in 1974. She currently teaches Federal Jurisdiction, Constitutional Law, Sports Law, and Criminal Procedure. She also maintains a special interest in Conflict of Laws and Appellate Advocacy and, among other courses, has taught Mass Communications, Civil Procedure, Contract and Criminal Law. In 2003 Potuto received the Nebraska Alumni Outstanding Faculty Award.
Professor Potuto is the author of three books – Prisoner Collateral Attacks: Habeas Corpus and Federal Prisoner Motion Practice; Winning Appeals; and Federal Criminal Jury Instructions (co-authored with Perlman and Saltzburg). She has authored numerous articles focused on issues in criminal procedure, federal jurisdiction, and intercollegiate athletics. She is a member of the American Law Institute, the Nebraska State Bar Foundation (and a recipient of its Shining Light Award), and the Douglass Society, the College's "highest honor for its most distinguished graduates." In Spring 2012, Potuto delivered the Chancellor's Distinguished Lecture. Selection as the Chancellor's Distinguished Lecturer is the "highest recognition the Research Council can bestow on an individual faculty member." Lectures are "high profile public events that celebrate significant achievements and contributions made by faculty."
Professor Potuto is a past member of the Federal Practice Committee of the Federal District Court, District of Nebraska; the Nebraska Crime Commission; and the Robert Van Pelt American Inns of Court (Master in the Brandeis Inn). She has been a visiting professor at the law colleges of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Oregon, Arizona, Seton Hall, Rutgers, and Cardozo. She was the project director and a reporter for the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) Model Sentencing and Corrections Act. She was the reporter for the Nebraska Supreme Court project to create model jury instructions for cases. She was an advisor on the NCCUSL Uniform Collegiate Agents Act. She was a consultant and hearing officer for the Nebraska Racing Commission.
Professor Potuto is the Faculty Athletics Representative (FAR) for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and is the immediate past president of the 1A Faculty Athletics Representatives. She currently serves on the 1A FAR executive committee. She represents the University on NCAA committees and is a member of the governance groups of the Big Ten Conference. Professor Potuto is the sole FAR serving on the NCAA Interpretations Committee. She served three terms on the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions (chair 2006 to 2008). She is one of two members of the DI Infractions Committee who worked on an NCAA project to make the NCAA enforcement/infractions processes more accessible to media representatives. Professor Potuto represented the Big 12 Conference on the Division I Management Council and also served on the NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championship Committee and the Region 5 Postgraduate Scholarship Committee. In 2002 she was named Outstanding Faculty Athletics Representative by the All-American Football Foundation. In Summer 2011 she was one of two FARs to participate in the NCAA Division I Presidential Retreat. In April 2011 Professor Potuto gave the keynote address and also was a presenter at the University of Washington's Executive Masters Program, Evans School of Public Affairs. Potuto consults on sports issues and is a regular presenter on panels dealing with sports law issues, including at the National Association of Collegiate Athletic Directors, NCAA Regional Rules Seminars, the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, and at, among others, law schools at Maryland, Marquette, LSU, Arizona State, Santa Clara, and Mississippi. Potuto is on the editorial board of the Journal of NCAA Compliance.
Professor Potuto has a B.A. in Journalism from Douglass College, an M.A. in English Literature from Seton Hall University, and a J.D. from the Rutgers University Law College where she was Editor-in-Chief of the Rutgers Law Review, Best Oralist in the Rutgers Intramural Moot Court Competition, and Captain of the Rutgers National Moot Court Team. She is licensed to practice in Nebraska and New Jersey and is a member of the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Steve Schmidt Associate Professor of Law and Courtesy Associate Professor of Forensic Science
Currently, Professor Schmidt is heavily involved in an on-going project with the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) to assist as Mexico transitions its criminal justice system from a mixed inquisitorial to an oral adversarial model. He spends several weeks each semester in Mexico City teaching advocacy skills and working on that project.
He is an active member of the bar, serving as the Program Chair/President Elect for Inns of Court and as a member of the Lincoln Bar Association, having previously served as its president. In 2010, Professor Schmidt was presented the Warren K. Urbom Mentor Award by the Robert Van Pelt American Inn of Court. When not working, Professor Schmidt enjoys spending time outside - riding his motorcycle, fishing or enjoying time with his sons.
Korey T. Taylor Assistant Professor of Law
Professor Korey Taylor joined the College of Law faculty in 2023. Prior to entering academia, Professor Taylor spent thirteen years as an Assistant Public Defender in Omaha, Nebraska and Orlando, Florida where he practiced in criminal and juvenile parental rights law, including thirty-five jury trials. He has previous corporate experience with Sidley Austin LLP, a top 20 international law firm, and Fortune 500 companies J.P. Morgan Chase, Medtronic and Johnson & Johnson. Professor Taylor is licensed to practice law in Texas, New York, Florida and Nebraska.
Born in the Chicago area, but raised in Houston, Professor Taylor earned a B.S. and M.B.A from Florida A&M University, Summa Cum Laude, with concentrations in Business Administration and Finance, a JD from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, where he was a Levy Scholar and served as a Senior Editor of The Journal of International Law, and a Certificate of Business and Public Policy with a Real Estate emphasis from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
Professor Taylor is the current President of the Midlands (Black) Bar Association (2020 – present), serves on the Executive Council of the Omaha Bar Association and is Chair of the 2023 Nebraska State Bar Association (NSBA) Annual Meeting and a legislative Delegate in the NSBA House of Delegates. Professor Taylor also currently serves as a board member of Community Alliance, an Omaha-based non-profit that focuses on mental health and wellness of in need community members, and by appointment of the Nebraska Supreme Court as a member of the Committee on Equity and Fairness, along with his service in other organizations. Professor Taylor was nominated and selected as the recipient of the 2023 NSBA Diversity Award in recognition for his leadership as President of the Midlands Bar Association and for his efforts to promote diversity and inclusion in Nebraska’s legal community through his service with various bar, student and minority professional development focused organizations and groups.
Professor Taylor will be teaching Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure (Investigation), Advanced Criminal Procedure (Adjudication) and other courses at Nebraska Law. His initial research interests include diversity and inclusion in the law, profession and judicial appointments and special topics in crime and due process.