Faculty

Professor Potuto joined the faculty in 1974. She taught 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 Placzek joined the Schmid Law Library faculty in October 1998 as an Assistant Professor and Reference Librarian. She received her B.A. in Art History from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1986, her J.D. from Creighton University School of Law in 1993, and a Masters in Library and Information Science from the University of Texas-Austin in 1995. Before coming to Nebraska, Professor Placzek worked as the Acquisitions/Reference Librarian at the Drake Law Library.

Professor Perlman received his B.A. in History in 1963 from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and his J.D.

Professor Pearlman is an Associate Dean, a professor of law library, and reference librarian. She teaches legal research in the First Year Legal Analysis, Writing, and Research course. She is a faculty editor the Nebraska Journal on Advancing Justice and runs the Schmid Research Fellowship Program.

Professor Pearlman is active in the American Association of Law Libraries and the Mid-America Association of Law Libraries. She is also a Commissioner on the Nebraska Access to Justice Commission.

Michelle Paxton joined the College of Law in April, 2017 to create and lead the newest clinical program, the Children’s Justice Clinic. Ms. Paxton has served as the Director of Legal Training at University of Nebraska’s Center on Children, Families and the Law (CCFL). She develops curriculum and trains child welfare workers, probation officers, and mental health professionals on all aspects of juvenile court process and procedure in Nebraska. Ms. Paxton also receives Guardian ad Litem appointments from the Lancaster County Juvenile Court.

Matt Novak is a professor and reference librarian at the Marvin and Virginia Schmid Law Library of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Law. Prior to joining the Schmid Law Library, he was an Assistant Public Defender with the Missouri Public Defender System. In addition to his reference duties, Professor Novak co-teaches the legal research component of the First Year Legal Research and Writing Course. He has lectured on legal research and legal information technology issues. Professor Novak received his B.A. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, his J.D.

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.

Professor Colleen Medill is nationally recognized as a scholar of Employee Benefits Law and as a teacher of Property and Legal Skills Development. Students who take one of her classes in Real Estate, Property, or Employee Benefits Law will have not only an award-winning teacher, but also a professor who is an elected member of the prestigious American College of Real Estate Lawyers and the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel.

Elsbeth Magilton is the Director of Externships and a Lecturer at the University of Nebraska College of Law. From 2012-2024 Elsbeth served as the Executive Director of the Space, Cyber, and National Security Law Program, and she continues to teach U.S. Space Law and Policy and publish on space and security issues. Elsbeth was a 2023-2024 Scowcroft National Security Fellow at the Eisenhower Center for Space and Defense in the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Mr. Lyons joined the faculty in 1981. He received his B.A. degree from Colby College in Waterville, Maine in 1969 and his J.D. degree (Cum Laude, Order of the Coif) from Boston College Law School in Newton, Massachusetts in 1973. Mr. Lyons was a member of the law review publications staff during his second year at Boston College Law School and served as Coordinating Casenote and Comment Editor of the Annual Survey of Massachusetts Law during his third year. Admitted in Maine, Massachusetts, and Nebraska and to the Bar of the United States Tax Court and the U.S. Supreme Court, Mr.

Professor Lepard is a leading expert in the fields of international law, human rights law, comparative law, and tax law.  He joined the faculty in 1995. He received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University in 1983. At Princeton, he was named a Scholar of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and concentrated on the study of international law and organization, receiving a prize from the Woodrow Wilson School for his thesis on the development of the idea of the League of Nations in France during the First World War.

Professor Lenich joined the faculty of the College of Law in 1984 and taught for 36 years before retiring in 2019.  Among the courses he taught were Antitrust, Appellate Advocacy, Federal Courts, Civil Procedure, and Remedies.  He also served as the Coach of the College’s National Moot Court Team from 1988 to 2007, as the Faculty Advisor to the Nebraska Moot Court Board from 1994 to 2002, and as a Special Assistant to the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs from 2017 to 2018.