Richard E. Moberly | College of Law

Dean and Richard C. & Catherine S. Schmoker Professor of Law

About
Courses
Scholarship
Noteworthy

Biography

Richard Moberly was appointed as the College of Law’s 17th Dean on April 1, 2017. Prior to this appointment, he served as the College’s Interim Dean in 2016 and as Associate Dean for Faculty from 2011 until 2016. He joined the law faculty in 2004 and has taught Evidence, Employment Law, a capstone course in Litigation, the Law of Secrecy, and in the Civil Clinic. In 2006 and 2011, he was voted the Professor of the Year by upperclass law students. In 2014, the College of Law Alumni Council selected Professor Moberly to receive the Distinguished Faculty Award, and in 2007, students and faculty awarded him the College Distinguished Teaching Award. In 2007-08, he received the Cline Williams Research Chair.

Professor Moberly's research interests include employee whistleblower protection and the law of secrecy. Professor Moberly has published numerous articles and book chapters on whistleblowing, including research on national security whistleblowers and codes of ethics, as well as an empirical study of Sarbanes-Oxley retaliation claims. He has spoken internationally on whistleblower protection and also co-edited The International Handbook on Whistleblower Research (Edward Elgar Publishing 2014). The United States Secretary of Labor has twice appointed Professor Moberly to the Whistleblower Protection Advisory Committee to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. In May 2007, the United States House of Representatives invited Professor Moberly to testify on his research and as an expert on federal whistleblower protections in a hearing before the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections entitled Private Sector Whistleblowers: Are There Sufficient Legal Protections? Look here for a copy of Professor Moberly's Written Testimony and videos of his Testimony & Q & A from the hearing.

Professor Moberly has appeared numerous times in the national and international media to discuss whistleblowing and retaliation issues, including an invited op-ed with The New York Times, a Q&A with the Wall Street Journal, and stories for USA Today, The Economist, London Financial Times, Washington Post, CBS News, ABC News, Bloomberg Radio, France TV, and Voice of America (please click on the Noteworthy tab for a more complete list of, and links to, his media appearances). He regularly tweets (@Richard_Moberly) and blogs (lawofsecrecy.tumblr.com) about developments in the law of secrecy and whistleblowing law.

Before joining the law faculty, Professor Moberly practiced as an attorney with McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP in Atlanta, Georgia. He received his B.A. degree in History, summa cum laude, from Emory University, and graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review. After law school, he worked as a law clerk for the Honorable N. Carlton Tilley, Jr., United States District Judge for the Middle District of North Carolina.

Courses

Employment Law Law 647/G (1-4 cr hr)
Analysis of the employment relationship as it has developed outside of the collective bargaining context. History and current status of the employment relationship, including discharge-of-will, occupational safety and health, minimum wage/maximum hour legislation, unemployment compensation and noncompetition agreements.
Evidence Law 646/G (EDAD 971) (1-4 cr hr)
This Evidence course will cover the Federal Rules of Evidence and its application to the courtroom. The Rules govern whether and how information can be submitted to a judge and jury to consider when resolving a case. Therefore, a lawyer must be able to understand and use the law of Evidence to prepare a case for trial and, ultimately, to litigate a dispute in court. This course uses a problem-based approach to teach Evidence. This means that the course centers around two in-depth case files, which simulate the kind of cases that might appear in any lawyer’s office. Students will learn the Evidence rules and apply them by working problems based on these case files. Grades will be based on an out-of-class written assignment, in-class participation and performance, and a final exam. By the end of this course, students should be able to use the law of evidence in a courtroom and examine evidentiary problems that might arise before, during, and after a trial.
Capstone Course in Labor and Employment Law
This course is largely simulation-based. It will provide students with direct experience integrating diverse areas of workplace law with practice skills and professional ethics. Students will play the role of an attorney and will be assigned to work with a team of other students representing a particular client, either a hospital, a doctor, or representing both a nurse and the nurse’s union. The roles of clients and witnesses will be played by a combination of actors and volunteers. Real arbitrators and mediators will play those roles and claims may be brought to certain actual federal administrative agencies. Students will work collaboratively with their team to represent their client and to make all appropriate legal decisions and to take all appropriate legal actions. For example, the client's student attorney team will decide what and how to pursue potential claims or how to defend claims brought against the client. Claims may include unfair labor practice proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board, employment discrimination and sexual harassment charges before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and in litigation, arbitration of employee discipline under a collective bargaining agreement, arbitration under non-union employment contracts, defamation, and claims under the Family and Medical Leave Act and ERISA.

Articles

Confidentiality and Whistleblowing, 96 N.C. L. Rev. 751 (2018)
De-Facto Gag Clauses: The Legality of Employment Agreements that Undermine Dodd-Frank’s Whistleblower Provisions, 30 ABA J. Lab. & Emp. L. (2014)
Sarbanes-Oxley's Whistleblower Provisions - Ten Years Later, 64 C.C. L. Rev. 1 (2012)
Whistleblowers and the Obama Presidency: The National Security Dilemma, 16 Employee Rts. & Emp. Pol'y J. 51 (2012)
The Supreme Court's Antiretaliation Principle, 61 Case Western Res. L. Rev. 375 (2010)
Protecting Whistleblowers By Contract, 79 Colo. L. Rev. 975 (2008)
Unfulfilled Expectations: An Empirical Analysis of Why Sarbanes-Oxley Whistleblowers Rarely Win, 49 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 65 (2007)
Sarbanes-Oxley's Structural Model to Encourage Corporate Whistleblowers, 2006 BYU Law Review 1107
The Americans With Disabilities Act in Cyberspace: Applying the 'Nexus' Approach to Private Internet Websites, 55 Mercer L. Rev. 963 (2004)
Long-term Employment Agreements with In-house Counsel: Employment Security or Ethical Quagmire?, 9 Ga. B.J. 20 (2003) (co-authored article)
Third Circuit Holds That Prayer at Graduation is Unconstitutional Even if it Results from a Student Vote, 110 Harv. L. Rev. 781 (1997)

Books

Problems and Materials in Evidence and Trial Advocacy, (6th ed. 2017) (co-authored)
Evidence in Context, (5th ed. 2017) (co-authored)
International Handbook on Whistleblowing Research, (2014) (co-editor)
Problems and Materials in Evidence and Trial Advocacy, (5th ed. 2010) (co-authored)
Evidence in Context, (4th ed. 2010) (co-authored)

Book Chapters

‘To Persons Or Organisations That May Be Able To Effect Action’: Whistleblowing Recipients, in International Handbook on Whistleblowing Research 273-97 (2014)
Whistleblowing, Its Importance, and the State of Research, in International Handbook on Whistleblowing Research 1-34 (2014) (co-authored)
Strategic Issues in Whistleblowing Research in International Handbook on Whistleblowing Research 522-30 (2014) (co-authored)
An Empirical Study of Whistleblower Policies in United States Corporate Codes of Ethics, in Whistleblowing and Democratic Values 27-55 (2011) (co-authored)

Presentations

External and Internal 'Safety' Methods of Reporting, A Challenge for Czech Republic: Whistleblowing - the Way to Protect the Financial Interests of the EU, Prague, Czech Republic (Sept. 17, 2015)
Implementing Whistleblowers Protection into National Laws, Panelist, A Challenge for Czech Republic: Whistleblowing - the Way to Protect the Financial Interests of the EU, Prague, Czech Republic (Sept. 17, 2015)
CLE: Whistleblowing and Ethics, McGrath North Speaker Series, Omaha, Nebraska (Nov. 12, 2014)
Developments and Trends in SOX and Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Litigation, Moderator, 8th Annual Meeting of American Bar Association Labor and Employment Law Section, Los Angles, California (Nov. 6, 2014)
National Security Whistleblowing, Workshop on National Security Law, Southeastern Association of Law Schools Conference, Amelia Island, Florida (August 5, 2014)
CLE: Everything You Wanted to Know About the Snowden Leaks, but (Because of NSA Surveillance) Were Afraid to Ask, Norfolk, NE (May 12, 2014); Columbus, NE (May 12, 2014); Omaha, NE (Apr. 24, 2014); University of Nebraska College of Law (Apr. 15, 2014)
Law, Policy and Ethics Governing Whistleblowing, Panelist, Conference on Strategies for Investigating and Pleading Securities Fraud Claims, Loyola University Chicago School of Law's Institute for Investor Protection and Institute for Law and Economic Policy (Oct. 25, 2013)
Human Rights and the Boundaries of Speech: Whistleblowing, Leaks, Threats, Violent Videos, and Hate Speech, Panelist, New York University School of Law Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (Nov. 28, 2012)
The Need for (Some) National Security Leaks, University of Nebraska College of Law, (Sept. 27, 2012)
Sarbanes-Oxley at 10, Seventh Annual Labor and Employment Law Colloquium, Loyola-Chicago Law School (Sept. 14, 2012)
Sarbanes-Oxley at 10, International Whistleblower Research Network Conference, Seattle University School of Law (March 24, 2012)
A Whistleblowing Overview, CLE: Whistleblowing: Law, Compliance & the Public Interest, Seattle, Washington (March 23, 2012)
Sarbanes-Oxley at 10, University of Tasmania Law School, Tasmania, Australia (March 2, 2012)
Sarbanes-Oxley at 10, Griffith University Law School, Gold Coast, Australia (Feb. 22, 2012)
Whistleblowing and Retaliatory Discharge: Significant Developments in 2011, Bureau of National Affairs Webinar (Nov. 16, 2011)
Obama and National Security Whistleblowers, University of Nebraska College of Law (Oct. 6, 2011)
A Perfect Storm: National Security, Civil Liberties and Ethics in a Post 9/11 World, University of Nebraska College of Law (Sept. 27, 2011)
Obama’s Whistleblowing Dilemma, Sixth Annual Colloquium on Current Scholarship in Labor and Employment Law, Southwestern Law School (Sept. 16, 2011)
Whistleblower Protection in U.S. Corporate Codes of Conduct, International Whistleblower Research Network Conference, Middlesex University, London, United Kingdom (June 24, 2011)
Antiretaliation Protection for Whistleblowers, Washington University (Sept. 24, 2010)
Crawford and the Supreme Court’s Antiretaliation Principle, Southeastern Association of Law Schools Conference (Aug. 6, 2009)
Strategies for Whistleblower Protection, Seton Hall Law School Faculty Colloquium Series (Oct. 14, 2007)
Contract Protection for Whistleblowers, Second Annual Colloquium on Current Scholarship in Labor and Employment Law, Denver University Law School (Sept. 28, 2007)
Testimony, Private Sector Whistleblowers: Are There Sufficient Protections?, Before the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, Committee on Education and Labor, U.S. House of Representatives, 110th Congress (May 15, 2007)
Sarbanes-Oxley’s Anti-retaliation Protections: An Empirical Perspective, First Annual Colloquium on Current Scholarship in Labor and Employment Law, Marquette University Law School (Oct. 28, 2006)
CLE: Whistleblowing and Ethics, Kutak Rock 2015 Employment Law Seminar, Omaha, Nebraska (Nov. 19, 2015)