Meet The
Faculty
Nationally recognized leaders in the legal profession, our professors have top-flight academic credentials and years of experience as practicing attorneys. More than 50 percent of full-time ONU Law faculty hold a Ph.D. or L.L.M. degree in addition to their J.D.
Committed to Teaching
In law school, it is critical to have access to top legal scholars to assist you in understanding and dissecting the law. Our law professors have graduated from some of the best law schools in the country and are experts in the field. Teaching is their number one priority. They will mentor you, open doors to opportunity, and equip you with the tools and skills needed for success in today’s complex legal environment.
Rick Bales, Professor of Law
Rick Bales teaches a wide variety of ADR and labor/employment courses, Torts, and Civil Procedure. He has spoken throughout the world (particularly in Southeast Asia) on using full-course simulation projects to enhance experiential learning. He has published more than 80 scholarly articles and authored or co-authored eight books on a variety of topics related to labor/employment/ADR. His most recent book is Cambridge Handbook of US Labor Law: Reinventing Labor Law for the 21st Century (co-edited with Charlotte Garden). In addition to teaching and writing, Bales is a part-time labor arbitrator. He is a member of the National Academy of Arbitrators and serves on FMCS and AAA panels.
Joanne Brant, Professor of Law
Joanne Brant has taught law students at Ohio Northern since 1991. During that time, she has received multiple awards for teaching, scholarship and advising the ABA National Moot Court team. She has also taught law students at The Ohio State University, the University of Alabama, and the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. She has delivered presentations at AALS Annual Meetings, served as chair of the AALS Section of Law and Religion, served on an ABA inspection team and served on the Ohio Attorney General's Ethics and Professional Responsibility Council. She clerked for the Honorable Pierce Lively, who was then the chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Her undergraduate degree is from Cornell University and her law degree from Case Western Reserve University.
David Crago, Professor of Law
David Crago joined the ONU Law faculty in 1991. Prior to joining the faculty, he was a partner with the firm of Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue in Columbus, Ohio, where he specialized in business and commercial litigation. He served as dean of the college from 2001 to 2012 and as provost of the University from 2012 to 2017. He was awarded the 2007 Legal Educator Award by the Ohio State Bar Association for his contribution to the OSBA, the lawyers of Ohio and the public.
Kaylan Ellis, Interim Co-Director & Technical Services Librarian, Assistant Professor
Kaylan Ellis joined the College of Law faculty in June 2016. Prior to her appointment, she worked at Eastern Florida State College as the college-wide cataloging specialist. She previously worked at the Illinois Fire Service Institute Library as a graduate assistant while pursuing her master's degree in library and information science. She has also held positions at the University of Illinois's Velde Book Conservation Laboratory and Spurlock Museum, Florida State University's Warren D. Allen Music Library, and the Florida Department of State's Records Storage Center.
Dallan F. Flake, Associate Professor of Law
Dallan Flake joined the ONU Law faculty in 2016. He writes on topics related to employment discrimination law, focusing primarily on religious accommodations and initiatives to increase ex-offender employment. His current research addresses how professional sports teams and schools can be held liable when spectators harass athletes. His work has appeared in numerous top law journals, including the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Washington University Law Review, and Minnesota Law Review. He has also published in several leading sociology journals. Before coming to ONU, Flake taught sociology at Brigham Young University. Prior to that, he practiced law in Dallas, Texas, with Ogletree Deakins and Winstead, where he represented employers in all aspects of labor and employment law.
Bruce Frohnen, Professor of Law
Bruce Frohnen joined the ONU faculty in 2018. Previously, he served as legislative aide to a United States senator, visiting scholar at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and secretary and director of program at the Earhart Foundation. He publishes extensively in the areas of public law and constitutionalism. His co-edited volume, American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia was the subject of a front-page article in The New York Times. He has published over 100 articles, essays, chapters and reviews in journals including the George Washington Law Review and the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy.
Scott Gerber, Professor of Law
Scott Douglas Gerber joined the ONU Law faculty in 2001. He is also an associated scholar at Brown University’s Political Theory Project and a member of the Ohio Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. He has published nine books and more than 180 articles, book reviews, op-eds, and sundry pieces. He has made approximately 100 presentations, including at Harvard Law School, Princeton University, Stanford Law School, and Columbia Law School. He is a four-time winner of the Fowler V. Harper Award for excellence in legal scholarship and a three-time recipient of the Daniel S. Guy Award for excellence in legal journalism. In 2020, he was awarded the inaugural Christopher Collier Prize from the Connecticut Supreme Court Historical Society.
Dustin Johnston-Green, Interim Co-Director & Reference Librarian/Assistant Professor
Dustin Johnston-Green currently serves as the Taggart Law Library's reference and electronic resources librarian and holds the rank of associate professor. Prior to his appointment at Ohio Northern, he worked at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo’s Charles B. Sears Law Library while completing his Master of Library and Information Science and his Juris Doctor. He graduated with both degrees from SUNY at Buffalo in 2016.
Jean-Marie Kamatali, Professor of Law, Director of the Center for Democratic Governance and Rule of Law
Jean-Marie Kamatali teaches in the areas of human rights, immigration law, transitional justice and law reform. He is former dean of the law school at the University of Rwanda. He also participated in the legal and institutional rebuilding and reform of post-genocide Rwanda. He has taught at the University of Notre Dame Law School, Kent State University, and Indiana University Indianapolis and South Bend. He has also taught at the University of Leuven in Belgium. He is a regular consultant for the U.S. Government and the United Nations. His media appearance and op-ed contributions include NPR, Voice of America, Democracy Now, C-Span and New York Times.
Melissa Kidder, Director of Legal Clinics and Externships, Assistant Professor of Law
Melissa Kidder, BFA ‘05, JD ‘08, graduated from Ohio Northern University in 2005 with a BFA and degrees in musical theatre and criminal justice. Rather than going into theatre, she decided to go to law school and graduated from the Pettit College of Law in 2008. She began her career as a staff attorney at the Ohio 3rd District Court of Appeals and then came to ONU as assistant director of academic support. Having an opportunity to practice law, she went to work for Eastman & Smith Ltd. as an associate attorney in the estate planning section. She was thrilled to return to ONU as director of legal research and writing, and she now serves as the director of legal clinics and externships and assistant professor of law.
Allison A. Mittendorf, Instructor of Legal Writing
Allison Mittendorf has taught at ONU Law since 2004 and was appointed director of legal research and writing in 2019. Prior to joining the Ohio Northern University law faculty, she served as an assistant public defender and legal aid attorney for five years and worked in private practice specializing in insurance defense and property rights. Currently, Mittendorf is the District Three trustee for the Ohio Women's Bar Association and a Title IX investigator for Ohio Northern University.
Lauren A. Newell, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Professor of Law
Lauren A. Newell joined the ONU Law faculty in 2012. Prior to joining the faculty, she practiced corporate law with Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP in New York City. Newell teaches and writes in the areas of business and securities law, dispute resolution, and marijuana law. She is qualified as a nonpublic arbitrator of securities industry disputes through the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Newell received her B.A., summa cum laude, from Georgetown University and her J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School.
Liam O'Melinn, Professor of Law
Liam O'Melinn joined the College of Law in 2001 and was promoted to full professor in 2007. He has also taught as a visiting professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Law School and Syracuse University College of Law. Prior to joining the law faculty at ONU, O'Melinn was an assistant professor in the Department of Justice, Law and Society at American University, where he earned the Award for Outstanding Teaching in the General Education Program. Prior to teaching at American University, he was a lecturer and instructor in history at Yale University. O'Melinn served as a law clerk to the Hon. Leonard I. Garth, United States Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, and held a Golieb Fellowship in Legal History at NYU Law School.
Liannie Parahoo, Staff Attorney, Assistant Director of Legal Clinics
Liannie Parahoo joined the Ohio Northern University Legal Clinic in December 2017. Prior to ONU, she practiced at a small firm in Barbourville, Ky., in various areas including state and federal criminal defense, personal injury, bankruptcy, appellate work and social security disability. She was an active member of the Criminal Justice Act panel representing indigent defendants at the federal level. She previously taught as an adjunct professor at Union College (Ky.) and Southeast Community College. Parahoo received her JD, with honors, from Roger Williams School of Law and her BS, magna cum laude, from Union College (Ky.).
David W Raack, Professor of Law
David Raack is originally from St. Louis, Mo. After attending law school in Missouri, he practiced law for three years. He did graduate programs in law at Temple University and Columbia University. In addition to contracts law, his primary area of interest is environmental law. Raack is also the faculty advisor to the Moot Court program at the College of Law.
Charles Rose III, Dean of the College of Law
Prior to joining ONU, Charlie Rose served on active duty in the United States Army for 20 years, retiring from the Judge Advocate General’s Corps prior to joining the faculty at Stetson University College of Law. He led their nationally recognized Trial Advocacy Program, maintaining their no. 1 ranking in trial advocacy for 12 consecutive years. Rose is an expert in trial advocacy, evidence, skills teaching pedagogy, criminal procedure and military law. He is a prolific author and lecturer in these fields and has presented to audiences worldwide.
Stephen C. Veltri, Professor of Law
Stephen Veltri practiced law in Pittsburgh, Pa., where he engaged in commercial, bankruptcy, securities and antitrust litigation. He has published many articles in the field of commercial law.
Bryan Ward, Professor of Law
Bryan Ward joined the ONU Law faculty in 1999 after five years in the general practice of law with a focus on bankruptcy and commercial litigation in Troy, Ohio, and the greater Dayton, Ohio, area. He received his JD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his Ph.D. in political science from Ohio State University. Ward teaches in the areas of criminal law and criminal procedure. He writes in the areas of criminal sentencing and criminal procedure. Ward also frequently gives continuing legal education presentations in the areas of legal ethics and professionalism, as well as legal issues affecting churches.
Faculty Impact
ONU Law faculty make great mentors because they are supportive of your passions and invested in your success.