Jack M. Beard Associate Professor of Law and Director, Space, Cyber, and Telecom Law Program
Professor Jack Beard joined the law faculty in 2011. Before coming to Nebraska, he was a member of the faculty at the UCLA School of Law. He previously served for fourteen years as the Associate Deputy General Counsel (International Affairs) in the Department of Defense where he was responsible for a variety of legal matters related to arms control agreements, defense cooperation and basing agreements in the Middle East region, and programs assisting states of the former Soviet Union in dismantlement of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and other nonproliferation activities. These latter activities included the removal of nuclear weapons from Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine and the elimination of other WMDs and related infrastructure in those countries. He served as the senior lawyer on numerous U.S. delegations negotiating international agreements on a wide range of U.S. military operations and activities. He also served on active and reserve duty as an officer in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps, where his assignments included Chief of the International Law Section, International and Operational Law Division, Office of The Judge Advocate General of the Army. He is a Lieutenant Colonel in U.S. Army JAG Corps (Retired).
Professor Beard is a Director of the Space, Cyber and Telecom Law Program, teaching courses in International Cyber Security and National Security Space Law. He also teaches courses in National Security Law, Arms Control, and Human Rights & International Criminal Law. His primary research interests focus on public international law and national security law, with a particular emphasis upon space law and military uses of space, cyber capabilities, arms control, the law of armed conflict, and the international legal implications of modern military technologies. He was recognized as a Cyber Security & Data Privacy Trailblazer by the National Law Journal.
Professor Beard is the Editor-in-Chief of the Woomera Manual on the International Law of Military Space Activities and Operations (Oxford University Publishing, forthcoming 2023).
Professor Beard is the Chairman of the Committee on the Use of Force of the American Branch of the International Law Association (ABILA), a member of the ABILA Board of Directors, and is one of the U.S. representatives on the London-based International Law Association’s Committee on the Use of Force. He is also a member of the International Institute of Space Law.
Watch to see how Professor Beard is guiding the laws of military space operations.
Elsbeth Magilton Director of Externships, ADJUNCT LAW PROFESSOR, and Executive Director of Space, Cyber, and Telecom Law
Elsbeth Magilton is an attorney and educator serving as the Director of Externships and the Executive Director of the Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications Law programs at the University of Nebraska College of Law. She formerly served as the Executive Director of the Nebraska Governance and Technology Center, an interdisciplinary research center combining law, engineering, business, and journalism. Elsbeth speaks internationally on space law and representation in technology. She is a passionate academic leader with a background in building connections across industries and facilitating practical and experiential learning.
She has appeared at SXSW in 2021 and has been quoted in The Atlantic, The Verge, and a host of other regional publications. Elsbeth is a member of the American Society of International Law and served as the Co-Chair (2020-2021) for the Space Law Interest Group. She is part of the U.S. State Department Speaker’s Program under the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Under that program she most recently visited the Digital Learning Hub and Women In Digital Empowerment groups in Luxembourg, discussing tech workforce development. She also facilitated a roundtable discussion for the UzSpace agency and the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent on Uzbekistan’s commercial and governmental space interests, and a lecture series for the New Zealand and Australian Space Council on behalf of the U.S. Consulate in Auckland, New Zealand.
In 2022 Elsbeth was named a “NExt Pioneer” fellow with the Nebraska Tech Collaborative – a workforce initiative examining tech talent retention in the Midwest. She is also a member of the Legal Expert Pool for the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats. Magilton sits on the editorial board for the U.S. Air Force Academy Eisenhower Center for Space and Defense Studies Journal. In September 2018 Elsbeth and Matt Schaefer received a major NASA Space Law pilot-program grant to create a nationwide network of students, faculty, and practitioners interested in space law and policy.
Elsbeth is the board president for Girls Code Lincoln, a nonprofit organization striving to ignite passion for technology and leadership in 4th-9th grade students of underrepresented genders by hosting multi-week technology clubs. Elsbeth was the host of monthly Girls Code Lincoln Podcast, interviewing and profiling underrepresented people in technology each month throughout 2021-2022. She also sits on the Advisory Board for the Branched Oak Observatory, an outdoor and indoor (open-roof) sky park supported by science education professionals and astronomy enthusiasts. The observatory’s goal is simple: to share the wonders of the night sky with Eastern Nebraska. Elsbeth is also a Lincoln Public Schools volunteer and a Girl Scout Troop Co-Leader. She would almost always rather be outside or making art and building robots with kids.
Elsbeth received her B.A., cum laude, from Doane University in 2008 in graphic design. After starting her career in web development, Elsbeth shifted into technology policy during law school. She earned her J.D. from the University of Nebraska College of Law and received a concentration in Cyberlaw. During law school Elsbeth also attended the William and Mary College of Law, working with the Center for Legal and Court Technology.
In 2021 Elsbeth was nominated for two Inspire Lincoln Awards in the Education and Large Business Categories. Run by the Lincoln Journal Star these community awards recognize women leaders and the impact they are making in the community
Personally, Elsbeth enjoys being a mother of two, reading, and hanging out with her chickens. She is married to a concert and event chef who has fed musicians and athletes around the country.