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.
Donald Anderson, Visiting Assistant Professor of Practice, Director of Trial Team
Donald Anderson will serve as Visiting Assistant Professor of Practice and Director of the Trial Team, teaching a Trial Advocacy for Trial Teams course. Professor Anderson comes to ONU Law from Stetson University College of Law in Florida, where he served in a similar role and coached their trial teams to regional and national championships. Professor Anderson is also a Criminal Defense and Civil Trial Litigation attorney, representing individuals in the state, federal and administrative court systems. In addition to managing his own firm, Professor Anderson has also worked for several leading law firms and worked as an Assistant Public Defender handling hundreds of criminal cases including murder, 10-20-Life, drug trafficking, DUI’s, and all felony crimes. He obtained his JD from Stetson University College of Law.
H. Beau Baez, Assistant Professor of Law
H. Beau Baez joined the ONU faculty in 2022. Baez has significant experience in federal income tax, business entities income tax, and state & local tax. Prior to coming to ONU Law, he served on the law faculties at the University of Idaho, Northern Illinois University, University of North Dakota, Purdue University Global (Concord Law School), Charlotte School of Law, and Liberty University. Professor Baez obtained his J.D. and his LL.M. (Tax) from Georgetown University in Washington, DC. After graduating law school, he worked for the Multistate Tax Commission in Washington, D.C., and in 2004 transitioned to full-time teaching. In his free time Professor Baez is a YouTube creator; producing academic success videos for law and pre-law students. He is also an avid hiker, enjoying time in the great outdoors.
Rick Bales, Professor of Law
Professor Rick Bales teaches a wide variety of ADR and labor/employment courses, Torts, and Civil Procedure. He has published more than 100 scholarly articles and authored or co-authored 10 books on a variety of topics related to labor/employment/ADR. Bales teaches regularly in China at China University of Political Science & Law (Beijing) and Peking School of Transnational Law (Shenzhen), and has been a Fulbright Specialist at Monash University (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) and University of Tarumanagara (Jakarta, Indonesia).Bales also is a labor arbitrator. He is a member of the National Academy of Arbitrators, the American Bar Foundation, and the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, and is on panels for the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, American Arbitration Association, State Employment Relations Board (Ohio), Minnesota Bureau of Mediation Services, Michigan Employment Relations Commission, Beijing Arbitration Commission/ Beijing International Arbitration Center, and Abu Dhabi Global Market Arbitration Centre.
Kimberly Breedon, Assistant Professor of Law
Kimberly Breedon joined the ONU faculty in 2022. Breedon comes to ONU Law with extensive teaching experience in the areas of Wills & Estates, Constitutional Law, Civil Procedure, and Legislation & Statutory Interpretation. Breedon most recently served as an Assistant Professor of Law at Barry University Law School in Orlando, Florida. Prior to that she was a Visiting Professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Law and Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School. She also served as a Visiting Legal Researcher at Columbia Law School in New York through the sponsorship of the Columbia Law School Center for Law Teaching. She obtained her Juris Doctor with Order of the Coif honors from the University of Cincinnati College of Law, and her Master of Laws with highest honors from Columbia University Law School in New York.
Bridget Buckley, Reference and Instruction Librarian
Bridget Buckley joined ONU's Taggart Law Library in 2022 as a Reference & Instruction Librarian. Bridget graduated from Capital University with a double major in English Literature and Criminology. After graduation, she worked at the Columbus Metropolitan Library before moving to Portland, Oregon to attend Lewis & Clark Law School where she received her JD in 2020. Before joining ONU, Bridget served as an International Wildlife Law and Policy Analyst at the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA US), focusing on research related to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). She is currently working toward her Master's in Library and Information Science from Indiana University and Purdue University.
Bruce Frohnen, Professor of Law
Bruce Frohnen joined the ONU faculty in 2008. 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.
Jennifer Gregg, Assistant Director of Academic Success
Jennifer Gregg joined ONU Law in 2021 and serves as Assistant Director of Academic Success. Professor Gregg graduated from Miami University with a double major in Public Relations and Journalism. She then worked as a legal secretary at a medium sized law firm in Cleveland, OH. After two years, Professor Gregg left the law firm to attend law school at Michigan State University; graduating magna cum laude in 2007. After passing the Virginia Bar Exam, she began her career as a lawyer at a small law firm in Alexandria, VA. From there, she worked at George Mason University School of Law as the Judicial Education Coordinator at the Law & Economic Center, then as Senior Associate at Keithley Law, and as an Associate at Malinowski Hubbard, PLLC.
Garrett Halydier, Assistant Professor of Law
ONU Law welcomes Assistant Professor of Law Garrett Halydier. Prior to joining ONU, he served as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the William S. Richardson School of Law where he taught Secured Transactions, business and cannabis law courses, and coached the Jessup Moot Court Team. Halydier obtained his J.D. from Richardson and MBA from Liberty University.After graduating law school, he founded the first cannabis trade association in Hawai‘i, clerked at the Hawai‘i Intermediate Court of Appeals, and advised the Hawaiʻi State Legislature on cannabis reform. Currently, he runs his own law and management consulting practice and co-directs the Institute for Asian-Pacific Business Law. He started his teaching career as an award-winning college policy debate coach and international prep test instructor. He is originally from Texas and has taught in Virginia, Hawai‘i, Ohio, and internationally.
Dustin Johnston-Green, Professor of Law and Director & Reference Librarian
Dustin Johnston-Green currently serves as the director of the Taggart Law Library as well as reference and electronic resources librarian and holds the rank of professor of law. 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 Associate 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 associate professor of law.
Lisa Light, Instructor, Legal Research & Writing
Lisa Light serves as an Instructor for Legal Research and Writing. She is a 2012 Ohio Northern University graduate majoring in Sports Management. Lisa then returned home and obtained her JD from the University of Akron School of Law. Prior to joining ONU Law, Lisa was working as an assistant prosecutor with Montgomery County in the appellate division. While there, she wrote numerous appellate briefs and argued numerous cases in the Second District Court of Appeals. Lisa also filed memoranda with the Ohio Supreme Court. Prior to her experience with the prosecutor’s office, Lisa practiced domestic relations and probate law with a firm in Columbus. Lisa is excited to return to Ohio Northern University and looks forward to making an impact with ONU Law.
Daniel Maurer, Associate Professor of Law
Professor Dan Maurer teaches Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure - Adjudication, and national security law subjects. He’s a Fellow with the National Institute of Military Justice and Advisor for the Center for Military Law and Policy at Texas Tech University School of Law.Prior to joining ONU Law, Maurer served 22 years as an active-duty Army officer, first as a combat engineer and later as a judge advocate (military lawyer), including two combat deployments and a Strategy Fellowship with the Chief of Staff of the Army at the Pentagon. He advised senior Army commanders and coached foreign partner nation military lawyers in international law and the law of armed conflict. He has prosecuted felony-level cases, argued appellate cases before the Army Court of Criminal Appeals and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and was the chief prosecutor at a large midwestern Army installation supervising and mentoring junior prosecutors. He taught constitutional and criminal law at West Point and various national security law subjects at The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Maurer earned his J.D. from The Ohio State University and his LL.M. from The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School. Licensed to practice in Ohio, he is also a member of the bars of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Allison A. Mittendorf, Instructor of Legal Research & Writing, Director of Distance Education
Allison Mittendorf has taught at ONU Law since 2004 and serves as both Director of Legal Research and Writing and Director of Distance Education, overseeing our newly accredited, fully online J.D. program. 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.
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 & Director of Advocacy
Professor David Raack was born in St. Louis, Mo. He graduated from the University of Kansas and attended law school at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where he was Research Editor of the Law Review and an elected member of the Student Bar Association. He returned to St. Louis where he practiced law for three years before deciding to enter legal academia.Professor Raack earned advanced legal degrees from Temple University Law School in Philadelphia and Columbia University Law School in New York. He teaches Contracts Law, Environmental Law, and Administrative Law. He has published articles in a variety of legal journals. His research interests include wetlands and wilderness preservation, and endangered species protection. Prof. Raack has served as ONU Law's Director of Advocacy and the faculty advisor to the Moot Court program at the College of Law. He has won awards for his service in those roles, and for his scholarship. He also serves as faculty advisor to the law college Environmental Law Society.
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 R. Shaw, Externship Director
After 36 years serving as Third District Court of Appeals Judge, Stephen Shaw, JD ‘75, serves as ONU Law’s externship director. Prior to serving on the bench, Shaw served as chief assistant Allen County prosecutor, felony and appellate divisions, assistant Allen County prosecutor for juvenile court and also worked as a private practice attorney in Lima and as an adjunct professor of law at ONU Law. As externship director, retired Judge Shaw works one-on-one with students to find an experiential learning opportunity that best suits their needs, experience level and interests. Throughout the semester, he serves as the faculty advisor while the student is working with their supervisor and getting invaluable hands-on practical lawyering experience. He continuously mentors students on their work product, professionalism, and professional development. Retired Judge Shaw obtained his LL.M in Judicial Process from the University of Virginia in 1995.ONU Law proudly has 100 percent placement in its externship program.
Kelly Stevens, Assistant Director of Bar Preparation
Kelly Stevens, JD '18, serves as the Assistant Director of Bar Preparation, teaching ONU Law's Bar course of study throughout the academic year, and supporting our students as they prepare for the Bar Exam throughout the summer months.Professor Stevens is a licensed attorney whose primary focus was Family Law where she negotiated separation agreements, prenuptial agreements, access and custody of children, and specific issues relating to Family Law. Professor Stevens is a proud ONU Law alumnae and is thrilled to provide the level of support and connection to our current students that she received when she attended ONU.
Stephen C. Veltri, Professor of Law
Stephen Veltri practiced law in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he engaged in commercial, bankruptcy, securities and antitrust litigation. He has published many articles in the field of commercial law and has served in several leadership positions with the Uniform Commercial Code Committee of the Business Section of the American Bar Association. He has chaired the Section’s Subcommittee on Payments and served as an editor of the Business Lawyer. He has served as Interim Dean and Associate Dean of the College of Law and has been honored by the Student Bar Association as the most effective teacher in the College 12 times. Professor Veltri earned his bachelor’s degree in History and Philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh, his law degree from Georgetown University and his master’s degree in law from Columbia University.
Bryan Ward, Associate Dean and 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 serves as Associate Dean and 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.
Preparing You for Life After Law School
Faculty members bring a wealth of real-world experience and professional insights into the classroom. This ensures students will develop the necessary skills for a successful legal career.
We may be a small law school, but our graduates are doing big things and others are taking notice. When you choose ONU Law, you are choosing a college with a rich tradition and a vast and accomplished network of attorneys—5,300 strong—who want to see you succeed.