Faculty and Administration

2022 Academy Distinguished Faculty

Judge Rodney Gilstrap

Faculty, The School of the Trial
U.S. District Judge, Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division

Judge James Rodney Gilstrap was born in Pensacola, Florida. He is an Eagle Scout. He received a Bachelor of Arts from Baylor University in 1978, where he graduated magna cum laude. As an undergraduate he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. He also earned a Juris Doctor from Baylor University School of Law in 1981, where he was associate editor of the Baylor Law Review. He later served as president of the Baylor Law Alumni Association.

Prior to taking the bench in 2011, Judge Gilstrap was a partner at the law firm of Smith & Gilstrap in Marshall, Texas, since 1984, where his practice covered a wide range of issues, including oil and gas, real estate, and probate law. From 1989 until 2002, Gilstrap also served as County Judge in Harrison County, Texas. Prior to founding Smith & Gilstrap, Judge Gilstrap was an associate at the law firm of Abney, Baldwin & Searcy from 1981 to 1984.

Judge Ed Kinkeade

Faculty, The School of the Trial

U.S. District Judge, Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division

Kinkeade

Judge Ed Kinkeade serves as a United States District Judge for the Northern District of Texas. Judge Kinkeade was appointed to the federal bench of the Northern District of Texas by President George W. Bush in 2002. The son of the late Dr. Henry H. Kinkeade and Mrs. Henry H. Kinkeade, Judge Kinkeade’s father pastored Irving’s First Baptist Church for 32 years. Judge Kinkeade earned his undergraduate degree and his law degree from Baylor University. He earned a Master of Laws degree from the University of Virginia and was in private practice from 1974-1980, becoming partner at the firm of Power and Kinkeade in Irving. In 1981, Judge Kinkeade left private practice at the age of 29 when he was elected judge of County Criminal Court No. 10 in Dallas. Eight months later, he was appointed judge of the 194th Judicial District Court. After seven years on the district bench, he was appointed to the Court of Appeals, Fifth District, in 1988 by then-Texas Gov. William P. Clements.

Judge Kinkeade is the jurist in residence at Baylor Law School where he teaches professional responsibility. He also was an adjunct professor teaching legal ethics at Texas Wesleyan University School of Law for over 20 years. He was named Outstanding Adjunct Professor at Texas Wesleyan University School of Law eight times. He has co-authored two books, Kinkeade & McColloch’s Texas Penal Code Annotated and A Practical Guide to Texas Evidence: Objections, Responses, Rules and Practice Commentary, and numerous law review articles. In 2004, Texas Wesleyan University awarded Judge Kinkeade an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree, and that same year, Dallas Baptist University awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Humanities degree. He was chosen as the ABOTA Texas Lawyer of the Year in 2010, and as Baylor Lawyer of the Year for 2010.

In addition to his law career, Judge Kinkeade is committed to his community, having served on the Baylor Medical Center at Irving board of trustees, the Dallas Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on Alcoholism, the Baylor University Alumni Association, and the board of the Downtown YMCA. From 2006-2008, he served as chairman of the Baylor Health Care System board of trustees. Judge Kinkeade also served as chairman of the Dallas Volunteer Center and as a charter member of the Board of Irving Schools Foundation. He was named an Outstanding Young Alumni of Baylor University in 1988, and received the W. R. White Meritorious Service Award from the Baylor University Alumni Association in 2003. He currently serves as a trustee with Baylor Scott & White Health and as a national board member of Canine Companions for Independence, an organization that trains service and assistance dogs. Under Judge Kinkeade’s guidance, Baylor Scott and White partnered with Canine Companions for Independence to build Irving’s first hospital sponsored facility to train and donate service dogs. The facility’s campus is named in honor of Judge Kinkeade. In January 2016 a new puppy named Kinkeade was born and is now in the first phase of training to be a service dog.

As part of his responsibilities of teaching ethics, Judge Kinkeade serves as a teaching mentor in the Baylor Academy of the Advocate program at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. He travels to St Andrews every July through August to mentor the law students in the program, helping them see a career path as future attorneys. In addition, he teaches the students what to expect from judges and serves as a source of encouragement. Against the wonderful backdrop of St Andrews, Judge Kinkeade helps these young people see how they can serve others, and make a living pulling lives out of ditches. His Scottish heritage goes back to the Kinkeades who were alongside William Wallace and became the protectors of the Edinburgh Castle.

Judge Kinkeade is a member of First Baptist Church in Irving. His wife, Melissa, also a Baylor graduate, retired from teaching after 26 years with the Irving Independent School District, where she was named district Teacher of the Year in 2008-2009. Their children are, Mandy, a Baylor graduate; Brad, a graduate of Baylor University, MBA graduate of Baylor University Business School, and graduate of Baylor Law School; Thomas Anderson, Mandy’s husband, a graduate of Baylor University and Texas Wesleyan University School of Law; and Jenna Kinkeade, Brad’s wife, also a graduate of Baylor University. Judge Kinkeade and his wife have four grandchildren, Carole Beth Anderson, Tripp Anderson, Boyd Kinkeade, and Henry Bennett Kinkeade; all of whom are certainly future Baylor graduates. A little known fact about Judge Kinkeade is that he was the batting and bench coach for former Texas Ranger baseball player, Prince Fielder very early in Fielder’s baseball career.

Judge J. Rich Leonard

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Dean, Campbell Law School, Raleigh, NC

Judge J. Rich Leonard, former United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina, assumed the role of dean at Campbell University’s Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law in 2013. Judge Leonard is a 1971 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a Morehead Scholar. He earned a master's degree in education from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1973, and then earned a law degree from Yale Law School in 1976.

He has served as a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina since 1992 acting as Chief Judge from 1999 through 2006. Prior to that time, he was a United States Magistrate Judge (1981-92) and Clerk of Court of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina (1979-92). For more than a decade Leonard also acted as a consultant to the U.S. Department of State, working with judiciaries in many developing countries, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa.

Leonard has also been active in the classroom. He has worked as an adjunct professor for North Carolina Central University School of Law (1985-86; 1995-98); UNC School of Law (1994-95); and, most recently, Campbell Law (2009-13) prior to becoming dean. In 2012, Campbell Law’s Delta Theta Phi Fraternity presented Leonard with the Judge Robinson O. Everett Award for Legal Excellence.

Judge Lora Livingston

Faculty, The School of the Trial

District Judge, 261st Civil District Court, Travis County, Texas

Livingston

Judge Livingston is a 1982 graduate of the UCLA School of Law. She began her legal career as a Reginald Heber Smith Community Lawyer Fellow assigned to the Legal Aid Society of Central Texas in Austin, Texas. After completion of the two-year fellowship program, she continued to work in the area of poverty law until 1988 when she entered private practice with the law firm of Joel B. Bennett, P.C. In 1993, she and S. Gail Parr formed a partnership and opened the law firm of Livingston & Parr. She was engaged in a general civil litigation practice with an emphasis on family law. In January 1995, she was sworn in as an Associate Judge for the District Courts of Travis County, Texas. After her successful election, Judge Livingston was sworn in as Judge of the 261^st District Court in January 1999. She is the first African-American woman to serve on a district court in Travis County, Texas. Since 2011, she has served as the Local Administrative Judge for the Travis County Courts.

Judge Livingston has been active in local, state and national bar association activities and has served on the boards of the Texas Equal Access to Justice Foundation, Texas Access to Justice Commission, the National Center on Women and Family Law, the National Association of IOLTA Programs, the Judicial Section of the State Bar of Texas, and the Board of the Texas Center for the Judiciary. She is a member of the National Bar Association, the American Bar Association and the National Association of Women Judges. She has served as a delegate to the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association (ABA) representing the State Bar of Texas and the Travis County Bar Association. Her ABA service includes Chair of the Commission on Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts (IOLTA), Chair of the Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services, Chair of the Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants (SCLAID), member of the Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service, member of the Commission on the Future of Legal Services, the ABA Center for Innovation and member of the ABA Judicial Division. She is a Texas Delegate to the ABA Judicial Division National Conference of State Trial Judges. She has also served on a number of committees in various state and local bar associations, including the Austin Bar Association, the Austin Black Lawyers Association and the Travis County Women Lawyers Association.

Judge Livingston is a proponent of pro bono activities and has served on the Board of Volunteer Legal Services (formerly Austin Lawyers Care). Judge Livingston is the 2015 Chair of “And Justice for All: An ABA Day of Service,” a National Pro Bono Celebration. Judge Livingston was instrumental in the establishment of the Travis County Self Help Center for self-represented litigants, and she led the effort to adopt a language access plan in the Civil Courts. She is a passionate supporter of access to justice initiatives on the local, state and national level.

Judge K. Nicole Mitchell

Faculty, The School of the Trial

U.S. District Court Judge, Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division

Mitchell

Judge Mitchell, a native Texan, was born and raised in Victoria, Texas. She graduated with honors from Baylor Law School after receiving both bachelors and masters degrees from Texas A&M University. While at Baylor, Judge Mitchell served as the Senior Executive Editor of the Baylor Law Review, as well as Managing Editor of the Law Review’s Texas Practice Edition.

After law school, Judge Mitchell clerked for the Honorable Chief Judge Leonard Davis in the Eastern District of Texas before starting her civil practice at Fulbright & Jaworski (now Norton Rose Fulbright) in Houston, Texas. Judge Mitchell’s practice focused primarily on the area of Health Law Litigation, but she also worked on patent cases and is licensed to practice before the USPTO. After her time at Fulbright & Jaworski, Judge Mitchell returned to the Eastern District of Texas to serve as the Chief Staff Attorney to Judge Davis.

Judge Mitchell was sworn in as a United States Magistrate Judge on August 16, 2013. In her time on the bench, Judge Mitchell has overseen numerous patent and general civil litigation cases as well as criminal cases. She also mediates cases pending in the Eastern District of Texas and the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. In addition, Judge Mitchell serves as an adjunct faculty member and Jaworski Fellow at Baylor Law School where she regularly teaches in the Baylor Law Academy of the Advocate study abroad program in St. Andrews, Scotland. Judge Mitchell is currently working on her LLM in Judicial Studies at Duke University School of Law. Judge Mitchell serves as the president of the T. John Ward Inn of Courts and the president-elect of the Federal Magistrate Judges Association.

When not working, Judge Mitchell enjoys running, fishing, and spending time with her husband and four active boys.

2022 Academy Faculty

Jeremy Counseller

Academy of the Advocate Program Director
Faculty, The Advanced School of the Trial
Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Professor Jeremy Counseller joined the faculty of Baylor Law School in 2003. He graduated from Baylor Law School with honors and was a member of the Baylor Law Review, the Order of the Barristers, and the interscholastic moot court and mock trial teams. He also earned an M.B.A. from Baylor's Hankamer School of Business and a B.A. summa cum laude from Stephen F. Austin State University. Professor Counseller served as a law clerk to the Honorable Reynaldo G. Garza of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Professor Counseller then entered private practice in Houston, Texas, with Bracewell & Patterson, LLP (now Bracewell & Giuliani LLP), where he was an associate in the trial section. Professor Counseller also served as an Assistant Criminal District Attorney in McLennan County, Texas, where he prosecuted both misdemeanors and felonies. Professor Counseller has authored articles and presented papers on various evidentiary and procedural issues. He is also the co-author and editor of the Handbook of Texas Evidence (Civil Practice). In 2006, the President of the State Bar of Texas appointed him to serve on the Administration of the Rules of Evidence Committee. He is also the Contributing Evidence Editor of the State Bar of Texas's General Practice Digest. In 2007, Baylor designated Professor Counseller an outstanding tenure-track faculty member in recognition of his distinguished teaching. Professor Counseller teaches Civil Procedure and Texas and Federal Procedure in Baylor's nationally renowned Practice Court program. He also is a coach of the law school's interscholastic moot court and mock trial teams. In 2005, he was the coach of Baylor's Association of Trial Lawyers of America national championship mock trial team.

Brian Serr

Dean, The School of the Appeal

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Serr Professor Brian Serr has been a member of the Baylor Law School faculty for more than 25 years. He teaches Criminal Law, Constitutional Law, and a Supreme Court Seminar. He is also a highly successful moot court coach. His appellate advocacy teams have recorded five national championships, one national second-place finish, and five national third-place finishes, in addition to winning numerous regional competitions. Professor Serr brings his own considerable appellate practice experience to bear in the classroom and the courtrooms of Baylor Law School. Professor Serr has briefed and argued cases before both the United States Supreme Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Professor Serr also has tremendous experience organizing and directing law school study abroad programs. He was the director of the law school's study abroad program in Guadalajara, Mexico, for more than 15 years.

Jim Wren

Dean, The School of the Trial

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Wren Professor Jim Wren has more than 30 years of trial experience. Baylor Law School recruited him to join its faculty in 2006, where he serves as a tenured professor teaching the law and practice of civil litigation. He was named as a Baylor University Outstanding Professor in 2012. While in private practice, Professor Wren was designated as a Texas Super Lawyer in Business Litigation every year from the time the designation originated in 2003. He is author of the book Proving Damages to the Jury (James Publishing, San Francisco, 2011). He is board certified in Civil Trial Law and in Personal Injury Trial Law (by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization), and in Civil Trial Advocacy and Civil Pretrial Practice (by the National Board of Trial Advocacy). He is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocacy, and is a graduate of the Gerry Spence Trial Lawyers College. Professor Wren has just completed a two-year term as President of the National Board of Legal Specialty Certification (2009-2011), which is the largest ABA-accredited national certifying board for civil trial, criminal trial, and other legal specializations. He is licensed for federal practice before the United States Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, and the Western, Northern, Eastern, and Southern Districts of Texas, and he continues to represent clients in other federal and state courts by special admission.

Robert Little

Dean, The Advanced School of the Trial

Director of Advocacy Programs, Baylor Law School

Little

Robert Little joined the faculty of Baylor Law School as Director of Advocacy Programs in 2019. He graduated from Baylor University with a B.A. in political science in 2002, and graduated from Baylor Law School in 2005. During law school he was a member of the Order of the Barristers, various moot court teams, and various mock trial teams. In fact, in the spring of 2005, he was a member of the mock trial team that won a National Championship at the prestigious American Association of Justice Student Trial Advocacy Competition. After graduating from Baylor Law School, over the course of his almost fourteen years with Naman, Howell, Smith & Lee, PLLC, Robert handled cases in areas like personal injury, construction, probate, commercial litigation, and appeals.

In 2008, Robert began coaching mock trial teams at Baylor Law School as an adjunct member of the faculty. In his first year as a coach Robert coached the team that won the National Championship at the 2009 National Trial Competition, which was hosted by the Texas Young Lawyers Association and the American College of Trial Lawyers. In 2012, Robert again coached a team that won the National Championship at the National Trial Competition and coached a second team that got second place at that same tournament. In 2012, Robert also coached a team that won a National Championship at the Tournament of Champions, which was hosted by the Chicago-Kent College of Law. Robert has also coached two different teams that made the quarterfinals at the National Trial Competition (2015 and 2018) and one team that made the semifinals at the National Trial Competition (2019). Teams coached by Robert Little have won ten Regional Championships as part of the National Trial Competition as well.

As part of his work for Baylor Law School Robert has taught as part of Baylor Law School’s Practice Court program for third-year law students and has taught trial advocacy as part of the Academy of the Advocate since it began in 2013. Robert has also assisted in running Baylor Law School’s Top Gun tournament for the past ten years, which brings the top advocates from law schools around the country to Waco, Texas. Robert was also named Baylor Law School’s 2013 Young Lawyer of the Year.

Larry Bates

Faculty, The School of Appeal

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Bates Professor Bates joined the faculty of Baylor Law School in 1996, after almost nine years In practice as a corporate bankruptcy specialist with the Dallas law firm Carrington. Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal. Professor Bates teaches Contracts, Sales, Secured Transactions, and on occasion, Constitutional Law. He was director of the Law School's Legal Writing and Appellate Advocacy Program for 10 years. He coaches multiple interscholastic teams, winning multiple national competitions, and is currently chair of the A.B A.'s National Appellate Advocacy Competition Committee, which administers the largest moot court competition in the country. He is the only member of the Baylor Law faculty to have argued before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals sitting en banc. Professor Bates has twice been named a Baylor University Outstanding Professor. He earned his JD, magna cum laude, from Marquette University School of Law in 1983 after receiving his B.A., magna cum laude, from the University of Minnesota in 1978. He received an LL.M degree from Harvard Law School in 1986, where he was an editor for the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. Professor Bates clerked for the Hon. John L. Coffey of the United States Courts of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from 1986-87.

Elizabeth Fraley

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Executive LL.M. in Litigation Management, Baylor Law School

Fraley Elizabeth Fraley graduated from Baylor Law School in 1988. She teaches Practice Court at Baylor Law School while maintaining an trial practice around the State of Texas. Mrs. Fraley has been named a Super Lawyer by Texas Monthly Magazine every year since 2004, and has been named one of the Best Lawyers in Dallas by D Magazine annually since 2010. She serves as faculty member for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy's Southern Deposition Institute and the Notre Dame Intensive Trial Academy. She is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates and is president-elect of the Waco Chapter.

Elizabeth Miller

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Miller Award Elizabeth Miller holds the M. Stephen and Alyce A. Beard Chair in Business and Transactional Law at Baylor Law School. She is a nationally recognized expert in her fields, and lawyers nationwide rely on the case law updates she prepares for American Bar Association publications and programs. She frequently speaks on topics involving corporate, partnership, and limited liability company law at continuing legal education programs, and is the author of two treatises on those subjects. In 2013, Miller received the Martin I. Lubaroff Award, and in 2011, she received the Jean Allard Glass Cutter Award from the American Bar Association Business Law Section. Miller has been involved in the drafting of legislation affecting Texas business organizations for many years and has served in an advisory or membership capacity on the drafting committees for numerous prototype, model, and uniform statutes and agreements relating to unincorporated business organizations. She has held leadership positions in the Business Law Section of the State Bar of Texas, as well as the American Bar Association Business Law Section. Miller is an elected member of the American Law Institute, the American Bar Foundation, and the Texas Bar Foundation. She received her JD with highest honors from Baylor Law School in 1985, and was first in her law school class. During her time as a student, she served as Editor in Chief of the Baylor Law Review. Upon graduation, she received the highest score on the State of Texas July 1985 bar examination. Miller was in private practice for six years before she returned to Baylor Law School to join the faculty in 1991. While in practice, she represented banks and bank holding companies, as well as other privately and publicly held companies in a variety of matters, including formations, reorganizations, and acquisitions.

Gerald R. Powell

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Professor Emeritus, Baylor Law School

Powell Prior to his retirement from the full-time faculty, Professor Powell served as the Director of Baylor's nationally renowned Practice Court Program. He earned his JD from Baylor Law School in 1977. During his time at Baylor University School of Law, he was a member of the national mock trial team, the national moot court team and was Executive Editor of the Baylor Law Review. He joined the Dallas law firm of Vial, Hamilton, Koch & Knox in 1977 and had an active litigation practice with the firm. He was made a partner in 1982. In 1986, Professor Powell returned to Baylor Law School to teach, and in 1987 he was appointed the Abner V. McCall Professor of Evidence Law. Professor Powell has been named a Master Teacher by Baylor University, the highest honor granted to Baylor faculty members. Before his retirement in 2021, Professor Powell taught Practice Court II: Trial Evidence, Procedure and Practice, as well as Practice Court III: Trial and Post-Trial Practice, Procedure and Evidence. In addition to his teaching responsibilities, he coached Baylor's award-winning mock trial teams. He has also written and spoken extensively on evidence, procedure and trial advocacy topics, and has co-authored two books on Texas evidence: A Practical Guide to the Texas Rules of Civil Evidence and Texas Rules of Civil Evidence with Objections. Professor Powell is an associate of the American Board of Trial Advocates, a professional association of experienced trial lawyers, and was appointed by the President of the State Bar of Texas to the Court Reorganization Task Force. He has served on the Administration of Rules of Evidence Committee for the State Bar of Texas. In 2011 he served on the Expedited Jury Trial Task Force as a representative of the American Board of Trial Advocates.

Brad Toben

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Dean, Baylor Law School

Brad Toben looks upon his position as dean of Baylor Law School, indeed he looks upon the profession of law, as a way to help individuals, his community and our larger society.

"The law is a calling to serve. As lawyers, we meet people in their hour of greatest need. Their family relationships, their property, their business interests, and maybe even their civil liberties may be at stake. They're scared, worried, and feel adrift, and they come to their lawyer for guidance and solutions they can trust," he said. "I hope all our law students adopt the mindset that they are not in this profession to advance self, for prestige or for hoped-for financial security – they are here to serve others. This truly is a vocation."

Dean Toben graduated from Baylor Law School with the J.D. degree, with honors, in 1977, after completing his B.A., with honors, in political science at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He received the LL.M. from Harvard Law School in 1981 and then taught at Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis.

He joined the Baylor Law School faculty in 1983 and was named as Dean of the Law School in 1991. His academic interests have focused in the areas of commercial law and the relationship of debtors and creditors under state and federal law.

Dean Toben, the M.C. and Mattie Caston Professor of Law, is an elected member of the American Law Institute and has served by appointment of the Governor of Texas as a Commissioner to the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. He has been recognized as an Outstanding Young Alumnus of Baylor University. He also has been recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Missouri- St. Louis and has received the University of Missouri-St. Louis Distinguished Alumni Political Science Award. Dean Toben was recently recognized by the Texas Trial Lawyers Association at a reception in his honor, for "exemplary service and commitment as a guiding light in legal scholarship and the pursuit of justice."

Additionally, Dean Toben has participated regularly in accreditation and membership inspections of law schools for the American Bar Association and Association of American Law Schools, and has been active in the State Bar of Texas, especially in the bankruptcy specialization certification program. He is licensed in Texas and Missouri, practiced in St. Louis, Missouri, and was previously of counsel to the firm of Dawson & Sodd in Texas. He is a Master of the Bench in the Judge Abner V. McCall American Inns of Court and is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and the Texas Bar Foundation.

Dean Toben has been active in numerous civic and charitable activities and has served as an elder, trustee, deacon, and chair of the board of Central Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). For many years, he also has taught an adult Sunday School class at Central Christian. His wife, Beth, is a long time child sexual assault and abuse prosecutor. The Tobens have two children.

2022 Academy Guest Faculty

A.J. Bellido de Luna

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Assistant Dean for Advocacy Programs

St. Mary’s University School of Law, San Antonio, TX

A.J. Bellido de Luna is the Assistant Dean for Advocacy Programs and Hardy Service Professor of Law at St. Mary’s University School of Law. He teaches Trial Advocacy and Arbitration and directs the law school’s Advocacy Program National Team consisting of The National Moot Court Team, National Trial Team, National Dispute Resolution Team, Jessup International Moot Court Team, and is the faculty advisor to the Board of Advocates.

Bellido de Luna practiced law in Maryland with the Law Offices of G. Russell Donaldson and Palmer Cooper and was the Managing Director of the Clinical Law Program of the University of Maryland School of Law and a Special Prosecutor for Baltimore City. He joined the University of Maryland School of Law full-time in 2008 as the Managing Director of the Clinical Law Program and the Director of the National Trial Team. As a Clinical Law Instructor and Lecturer in Law, Professor Bellido de Luna taught the General Practice Clinic as well as Advanced Trial Advocacy. During his tenure as coach and director, he led the program to their first Tournament of Champions victory.

Prior to joining St. Mary’s University, Bellido de Luna was the Board Executive Officer for the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners, where he supported the board in directing and facilitating the district’s strategic direction and managing effective and efficient operations in the areas of board governance and oversight. Bellido de Luna provided high-level professional, managerial and operational advice to the board. He helped oversee the management and implementation of the district’s legislative agenda and served as the point of contact for intergovernmental affairs. Bellido de Luna trained and supervised the district’s hearing examiners.

Bellido de Luna is a former Marine and retired police lieutenant. During his law enforcement career, he served in command positions and supervised Traffic Enforcement & Accident Reconstruction, and spent several years as a child abuse detective.

In 2020, he was elected Vice President as part of the inaugural leadership for the National Association of Legal Advocacy Educators (NALAE).

David Deaconson

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Pakis Giotes Page & Burleson, P.C., Waco, TX

David N. Deaconson joined the firm in September 1986. Prior to joining the firm, Dave served as an assistant district attorney in McLennan County. He received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Baylor University in 1981 and his Juris Doctor degree from Baylor University School of Law in 1983. In 1990, Dave was selected as the Outstanding Young Lawyer by the Waco-McLennan County Young Lawyers Association.

Dave is a past president of the Waco-McLennan County Bar Association and he is a Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation. Dave also serves as an adjunct professor for Baylor University School of Law, where he coaches mock trial competition teams. Primary areas of practice include Litigation in State and Federal Courts, Commercial and Employment Litigation, Personal Injury Litigation and Municipal Law.

Robert Galloway

Faculty, The School of the Appeal

South Texas College of Law, Houston, TX

Rob Galloway earned his JD from South Texas College of Law in 1991. During his time at South Texas, he was a law review member and Board of Advocates President. He accumulated many advocacy awards, including First Place Team in the intramural moot court competition, First Place Team in the intramural mock trial competition, Best Brief in the F. Lee Bailey Moot Court Competition, and First Place Team in the TYLA's State Moot Court Competition. Following law school, he had a one-year clerkship for Judge Pete Benavides before joining the Houston law firm of Brown, Parker & Leahy. Soon after Galloway became a partner in 1999, Brown, Parker & Leahy merged with Thompson & Knight, one of Texas' largest law firms. Named a Senior Partner in 2001, he specialized in federal and state appeals. He also directed the Houston office's recruiting efforts and developed a Trial Academy to train the firm's litigation associates. In 2007, Galloway joined the faculty as the Distinguished Lecturer of Appellate Advocacy. Though he had coached moot court teams since his graduation, his new role involves teaching brief writing workshops, coordinating the day-to-day efforts of the moot court and mock trial teams, and planning other advocacy events. In addition to his work with the Advocacy Program, he operates a private appellate practice through the firm, Robert L. Galloway, P.C.

John Henry

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Byrne Team Coach

Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA

J Henry John Henry is a 1999 graduate of Loyola Law School. During his time at Loyola, John spent two years as a member of the Byrne Trial Advocacy Team, where he and his teammates won the Georgetown White Collar Crime Invitational, the National Trial Competition regional competition, and competed in the final round of that national competition. After graduation, John began his coaching career, leading teams to several regional and national championships. In addition to coaching, John works as a Deputy District Attorney in Riverside County, where he supervises the gang and homicide units. John and his wife Kamaria are the proud parents of two children.

Marty Jones

Faculty, The School of the Trial

President, Sprouse Shrader Smith, P.L.L.C., Amarillo, TX

Marty Jones Marvin (Marty) W. Jones is a member of Sprouse Shrader Smith whose practice areas include complex commercial litigation of various sizes, power and utilities, and natural resources. He focuses on litigation in a wide range of substantive areas, including litigation against public utilities and in products liability, oil and gas, fiduciary, groundwater law, and insurance defense. Marty also has substantial experience in representing clients in matters relating to groundwater rights, including representing clients before groundwater districts, the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).

Beth Klusmann

Faculty, The School of the Appeal

Assistant Solicitor General, Texas Attorney General's Office, Austin TX

Beth Klusmann graduated summa cum laude and first in her class from Baylor Law School in 2002, where she was an Executive Editor of the Baylor Law Review and participated in moot court and mock trial teams. She received her undergraduate education at Texas A&M University, graduating summa cum laude with degrees in Political Science and Applied Mathematical Sciences. After beginning her legal career as an associate at Carrington, Coleman, Sloman and Blumenthal, LLP, in Dallas, Texas, she then served as a law clerk for the Honorable Jane J. Boyle in the Northern District of Texas and for the Honorable Edward C. Prado on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Beth currently works for the Texas Attorney General’s Office as an Assistant Solicitor General, where she represents the State, its agencies, and employees on appeal. In that capacity, she has over two dozen appellate arguments, including multiple arguments before the Texas Supreme Court, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and Texas courts of appeals. She has also second chaired several cases in the United States Supreme Court, as well as authored numerous briefs filed there and in other courts across the country.

Mark Mann

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Mann Tindel Thompson, Henderson, TX

Mann Born in Henderson, Texas, Mark Mann is a 1981 Baylor Law School graduate. is a founding partner of Mann Tindel Thompson in Henderson, Texas. His complex civil litigation practice focuses on Patent Litigation, Personal Injury, Products Liability, Commercial Litigation, Unfair Insurance Practices, Probate and Oil and Gas. He is Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and a Certified Civil Trial Specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. Mann has been names a “Super Lawyer” by Texas Monthly each year since 2004.

Shane Read

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Adjunct Faculty and Attorney/U.S. Department of Justice

SMU Dedman School of Law, Dallas, TX

Read Shane Read is a former associate at Akin Gump and currently an Assistant United States Attorney where he has primarily worked on civil cases brought against the federal government. He has tried over 100 cases to verdict and is the author of award-winning textbooks on deposition and trial skills that have been adopted by law schools throughout the country. His latest book, Winning at Persuasion for Lawyers, received the honor of a Kirkus starred review which is given to only two percent of the books that are reviewed. He has trained lawyers throughout the country on persuasion, deposition, and trial skills.

Kent Streseman

Faculty, The School of the Appeal

Associate Clinical Professor of Law and Faculty Advisor

Honors Moot Court Internal

Santa Clara University School of Law, Santa Clara, CA

Professor Streseman received his JD magna cum laude in 1995 from Cornell Law School, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif, served as notes editor for the Cornell Law Review, and won the school's Cuccia Cup moot court competition. He received a B.A. with high honors and a graduate certificate in education from the University of California-Davis. After law school, he practiced as a litigator at Jones, Day, Reavis and Pogue, which has been honored by The American Lawyer for having the best litigation department and the top products liability practice in the nation. Professor Streseman represented corporate clients in complex products liability cases and consumer actions in federal and state courts. Professor Streseman joined the faculty at IIT Chicago-Kent in 1998. He left in 2001 to teach at Baylor University School of Law, then returned to Chicago-Kent in 2003 to direct the award-winning Ilana Diamond Rovner Program in Appellate Advocacy. He teaches Appellate Advocacy, Federal Courts, and Products Liability.

Daniel R. Tilly

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Director, Advocacy Program, Assistant Professor of Law

Campbell Law School, Raleigh, NC

Tilly Dan Tilly earned his degree in political science from the University of Texas and thereafter began working in politics and government in Austin, Texas. He served as the deputy director of the statewide campaign for a Supreme Court of Texas justice and campaign manager for two members of the Texas House of Representatives. He later served as a chief of staff in the Texas legislature. Professor Tilly earned a JD from Baylor Law School, graduating with honors. As a student he served as a senior executive editor of the Baylor Law Review, competed as a mock trial advocate, and published an article concerning the rights of adoptive children. Dan Tilly is an experienced litigator and trial attorney who teaches students the application of evidence, procedure, and advocacy in the courtroom. He came to Campbell Law from private law practice in Texas, where he litigated claims in civil trial courts involving a range of legal issues including real estate disputes, construction defects, personal injury claims, and medical malpractice torts. During his practice, Tilly represented clients on both the plaintiff and defense side of the docket for cases taken to trial, arbitrated or resolved through mediation. While in private practice he also worked as an adjunct professor at Baylor Law School, teaching core principles of real property to first-year students. He was also instrumental in developing the second-year trial advocacy program at Baylor by teaching mock trial competitors the fundamentals of advocacy, evidence, and procedure in a courtroom environment. Tilly serves as the Director of Advocacy Programs at Campbell School of Law.

Beth Toben

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Limestone County Attorney's Office, Groesbeck, TX

Beth Toben has tried to a jury verdict over 200 felony cases and is in her 28th year as a prosecutor. In 1989, she became Assistant District Attorney in McLennan County, where she prosecuted for 22 years and served as the Deputy First Assistant DA. She principally handled child and adult sexual abuse and assault cases. She currently is an Assistant District Attorney in Limestone County. She has served as an instructor for the Texas District and County Attorneys’ Association (the state prosecutors’ association) in its prosecutor education programming.

Beth was instrumental in the establishment the Advocacy Center for Crime Victims and Children in McLennan County. She has been honored for her work with sexual abuse and assault victims by many organizations, including the Texas Governor’s Office, the Texas Senate, the Baylor/Scott & White Healthcare system, the McLennan County Advocacy Center, the VFW and the Bluebonnet Girl Scout Council.

Beth was the first female president of the McLennan County Bar Association and has been active in many professional and community activities involving victims’ rights in the justice system. Beth received her legal education at Indiana University and Baylor Law School and was licensed in Texas in 1984.

2022 Academy Administration

Jeremy Counseller

Faculty, The Advanced School of the Trial

Academy of the Advocate Program Director

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

The Program's Director is Jeremy Counseller, Professor of Law, Baylor Law School. Professor Counseller is a full-time and tenured member of the law school faculty. He has taught trial advocacy (a significant component of the proposed program) at the law school since 2003. He also has significant experience in foreign study programs. He was a member of the faculty of Baylor Law School's study abroad program in Guadalajara, Mexico from 2004 to 2010.

Additional administrative staff includes Kathy Serr, director of Baylor Law School's advocacy programs, as well as Associate Program Director Stephen Rispoli. During the course of the program, the administration of the program will be housed at the University of St Andrews office for International Summer Programs.

Angela Cruseturner

Senior Assistant Dean, Baylor Law School

Angela Russell Cruseturner serves as the Senior Assistant Dean for Baylor Law School. In this role, she coordinates Baylor Law’s academic support, admissions, alumni relations, career development, information technology, and marketing efforts.

Dean Cruseturner’s longstanding commitment to and passion for working on behalf of Baylor Law students, whom she characterizes as “the most dedicated and hardest-working law students in the country,” fuels her commitment to their success. After more than a decade of leadership in Career Development, and four years prior as Director of Admissions and Student Recruitment, she relishes the opportunity to counsel law students on a variety of educational and career-related matters.

After receiving a B.A. in history from Baylor University, Dean Cruseturner attended Baylor Law and received her J.D. in 2002. She joined Pakis, Giotes, Page and Burleson, P.C. in Waco after graduation and then served as a staff attorney for Judge Bill Vance at the Tenth Court of Appeals.

Dean Cruseturner is committed to serving the legal profession and the greater Waco community. She is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and the Texas Bar Foundation. She also serves on the executive committees of the Judge Abner V. McCall American Inn of Court and the McLennan County Dispute Resolution Center and serves on the board of directors of the Waco-McLennan County Bar Association. The Law School honored her in 2020 as the Young Baylor Lawyer of the Year, and she is a past recipient of the McLennan County Outstanding Young Lawyer Award.

She has two sons. Caleb, an infant when she entered law school, is now a graduate of Baylor University and pursuing a teaching career. Cade, who came into this world in between law school quarters, now serves as a United States Marine.

Chandler Dean

Practice Court Associate

Dean Chandler Dean is a native Texan born in El Paso and raised in Aledo. He attended the University of Utah, graduating cum laude with an Honors Bachelor of Science in Business Management and minors in both Philosophy and Leadership Studies. Chandler also interned for the Eisenhower Memorial Commission in Washington D.C. through the university’s Hinckley Institute of Politics and wrote an undergraduate thesis entitled Virtual Reality and Its Effects on Empathy and Leadership Theory.

Chandler received his J.D., cum laude, from Baylor Law School in May 2021. While at Baylor Law, Chandler served as the ABA Representative and the Executive Treasurer for the Student Bar Association, the Vice President of the Sports Law Society, and as a member of the Baylor Public Interest Legal Society. He worked as a Student Ambassador and an Executive Editor for Baylor Law Review. A member of the Baylor Barrister Society, Chandler competed on the 2019 Mack Kidd Administrative Law Moot Court Team, 2020 Cardozo/BMI Entertainment Law Moot Court Team, 2020 Drexel Battle of the Experts National Mock Trial Competition Team, and the 2021 South Texas Mock Trial Competition Team. During law school, he received the Baylor Law Pro Bono and Public Service Program Bronze Level Award, the Clark Hill Strasburger Mock Trial Award, and the Baylor Law Review Association Award. According to Chandler, the most impactful and formative of his law school experiences were serving as a judicial intern for the Honorable Jeffrey L. Cureton in the Northern District of Texas, serving as a judicial extern for the Honorable Jeffrey C. Manske in the Western District of Texas, and serving as both a judicial intern and judicial extern for the Honorable Alan D Albright in the Western District of Texas.

Chandler and his beautiful wife, Michelle, met during their undergraduate studies at the University of Utah. They enjoy trying new recipes, reading, watching movies, and playing ultra-competitive board games and card games.

Stephen Rispoli

Academy of the Advocate Associate Program Director
Assistant Dean of Student Affairs and Strategic Initiatives
Director of Innovation and Scholarship,
Executive LL.M. in Litigation Management, Baylor Law School

Rispoli Stephen Rispoli earned his political science degree from Baylor University in 2009 and his J.D. from Baylor Law School in 2012. Service has always been an integral part of the law school’s mission and one to which Stephen has been dedicated since starting his career at Baylor Law. As the Assistant Dean of Pro Bono Programs, Stephen is also actively involved in all other areas of pro bono service at Baylor Law School. Stephen describes pro bono work at Baylor as a great learning experience for the students and much-needed help for the Waco community. He also strives to learn more about the access to justice gap our nation is facing, and what legal education can do to help.

Another integral part of Baylor Law’s mission is to prepare all students to be competent, ethical lawyers as soon as they cross the graduation stage and pass the bar. As Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, Stephen is always seeking new ways to accomplish this mission and help law students succeed academically at Baylor Law School. Stephen also assisted Professor Jeremy Counseller in developing the Baylor Academy of the Advocate, and continues to be involved as co-director of the program. The Academy brings law students from around the country to immerse themselves in the art of trial and appellate advocacy in St. Andrews, Scotland every summer.

Kathy Serr

Academy of the Advocate Program Coordinator
Advocacy Program Coordinator, Baylor Law School

Kathy Serr is the Advocacy Program Coordinator at Baylor Law School. Prior to that she served as a coach to many of Baylor's winning moot court and mock trial teams for more than a decade. She continues to coach teams but is now responsible for the administrative aspects of maintaining and improving Baylor's nationally ranked advocacy program including recently coordinating the highly successful National Top Gun Mock Trial Competition. Serr is a 1991 Baylor Law graduate. As a student, she competed on many of the teams she now coaches and was recognized as a member of the National Order of Barristers. After graduation, she worked as a felony prosecutor in her hometown of Midland before returning to Waco.

2019 Academy Distinguished Faculty

Judge Royal Furgeson

Dean Emeritus, University of North Texas, Dallas College of Law

Royal Furgeson, Jr. was named as the founding Dean of the UNT Dallas College of Law in January 2012. He assumed his position as Dean in mid-year 2013 after retiring from the federal district bench.

Royal Furgeson is the former Senior U.S. District Judge in the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division. Prior to taking Senior Status, he served in the El Paso, Midland, and San Antonio Divisions of the Western District of Texas. He served as a federal judge for over eighteen years.

A native of Lubbock, Judge Furgeson graduated from Texas Tech University with a Bachelor of Arts in English and earned his law degree at the University of Texas School of Law, where he was an Associate Editor of the Texas Law Review. After law school, he served the U.S. Army for two years, attaining the rank of Captain. Following a tour in Vietnam, he returned to Lubbock as law clerk to the Honorable Halbert O. Woodward.

Before taking the bench, he was a practicing lawyer for twenty-four years with the Kemp Smith firm in El Paso, Texas. He is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, a member of the American Law Institute, and Board Certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in Civil Trial Law. While in private practice, he was general campaign chair and president of the El Paso United Way, president of the El Paso chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates, and president of the El Paso Bar Association.

During his time on the bench, in addition to his ongoing district court obligations, he was a panel judge on the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, President of the Federal Judges Association, and a member of the Judicial Branch Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. He has also served as chair of the Judicial Resources Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States.

He has been honored on numerous occasions, including the Distinguished Alumnus Award by the Texas Tech Alumni Association, the West Texas Legal Legend Award by the Texas Tech University School of Law, the 2010 Distinguished Counselor Award by the State Bar of Texas Antitrust and Business Litigation Section, the Luke Soules Award by the State Bar of Texas Litigation Section, the Leon Green Award by the Texas Law Review, and the Faculty Award by the University of Texas School of Law.

Judge Rodney Gilstrap

Faculty, The School of the Trial
U.S. District Judge, Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division

Judge J. Rich Leonard

Faculty, The School of the Trial
Dean, Campbell Law School, Raleigh, NC

Judge Lora Livingston

Faculty, The School of the Trial
District Judge, 261st Civil District Court, Travis County, Texas

Magistrate Judge K. Nicole Mitchell

Faculty, The School of the Trial
Magistrate Judge, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division

2019 Academy Faculty

Jeremy Counseller

Academy of the Advocate Program Director
Faculty, The Advanced School of the Trial
Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Brian Serr

Dean, The School of the Appeal
Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Gerald R. Powell

Dean, The School of the Trial

Abner V. McCall Professor of Evidence, Baylor Law School

Robert Little

Dean, The Advanced School of the Trial
Director of Advocacy Programs, Baylor Law School

Larry Bates

Faculty, The School of Appeal
Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Elizabeth Fraley

Faculty, The School of the Trial
Assistant Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Elizabeth Miller

Faculty, The School of the Trial
Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Brad Toben

Faculty, The School of the Trial
Dean, Baylor Law School

Patricia Wilson

Faculty, The School of the Appeal
Associate Dean and Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Patricia A. Wilson was named associate dean of Baylor Law in 2021 and has been a member of the Baylor Law faculty since 1993. During that time, she has taught courses on Employment Discrimination, Employment Relations, Labor Law, Family Law, and Property. She taught the first year Property course for 12 years, and she has also taught courses on Antitrust, Intellectual Property, Consumer Protection, and Legal Writing. Dean Wilson also serves as a Minority Law Student Advisor. She is currently taking a hiatus from serving as the Faculty Advisor to Baylor Law's Client Counseling Team given her duties as a member of the ABA Law Student Division Competitions Committee, which include writing the problems used in the Regional and National Client Counseling Competitions.

In the classroom, students benefit both from Dean Wilson's professional and personal experience, where she supplements textbook cases with real-life examples. Before joining the Baylor Law Faculty, she practiced law for seven years, including four years with American Airlines, Inc. There, she managed litigation matters worth millions of dollars, negotiated and drafted contracts for topics as diverse as software licensing and health care plan administration, and handled matters involving airline regulation and employment discrimination.

Family Law is of particular importance to Dean Wilson. In addition to raising two children of their own, she and her husband, Michael Jones, have fostered more than twenty children over the past two decades and adopted two children in the process. This immersion in the foster care system has given Wilson has a clearer understanding than most of the complexities of family law. Easy black-and-white answers give way to multiple shades of grey when it comes to dealing with families and children. It is Dean Wilson's goal to train her students to become fair, ethical advocates in the face of such complicated, life-altering issues.

Dean Wilson speaks regularly at continuing legal education seminars in New York, San Francisco, and Chicago on such topics as legal ethics and complex real estate negotiations. She has presented and led discussions at the Oxford Round Tables at Oxford University on gender issues in the tenure process. She is a former member of the State Bar of Texas Consumer and Commercial Law Council, and served as the Council secretary from August 2006 to July 2008. She is currently contributing editor for the Family Law section of the General Practice Digest of the State Bar of Texas. Wilson is a trained mediator and she is actively involved in the Waco community serving on the boards of a number of local nonprofit organizations.

Dean Wilson earned her undergraduate degree from Purdue University (B.A., 1982, Sociology), graduating With Distinction. She received her law degree from Northwestern University School of Law (J.D., 1985), where she was named a Wigmore Scholar and was a member of the Board of Editors of the Journal of International Law and Business.

Jim Wren

Faculty, The School of the Trial
Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

2019 Academy Guest Faculty

David Deaconson

Faculty, The School of the Trial
Pakis Giotes Page & Burleson, P.C., Waco, TX

Robert Galloway

Faculty, The School of the Appeal
Houston College of Law, Houston, TX

Marty Jones

Faculty, The School of the Trial
President, Sprouse Shrader Smith, P.L.L.C., Amarillo, TX

Mark Mann

Faculty, The School of the Trial
Mann Tindel Thompson, Henderson, TX

Spencer Pahlke

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger, San Francisco, CA

Pahlke Spencer is a Shareholder at Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger, a personal injury and wrongful death firm founded in 1959. Based in San Francisco, the firm handles cases not only throughout California, but also the western and central United States. Spencer’s practice focuses on cases involving defective products, vehicular collisions, dangerous conditions of public and private property, and medical malpractice.

Outside of his practice at Walkup, he also teaches at the University of California-Berkeley Law School (Boalt Hall) as a lecturer in trial advocacy. In addition to his teaching, he directs Berkeley Law’s external trial competition program, and coaches multiple trial advocacy teams. Under Spencer’s guidance, the program has risen to national prominence, having won many national honors and distinctions, including several national championships. Spencer has also taught and lectured on trial advocacy and tort law at institutions including the University of Michigan School of Law, Universidad de Monterrey (Mexico), and San Francisco State University.

Spencer was selected as a Super Lawyer from 2013-2018, and before that was Rising Star in 2011 and 2012. In 2014-2018, he was listed by Best Lawyers. Before starting practice, he graduated with Highest Distinction from the University of Nebraska with a double major in Economics and Psychology, then attended law school at Berkeley Law, receiving his J.D. in 2007. At Berkeley, Spencer was a member of the California Law Review as well as an associate editor for Ecology Law Quarterly. Academically, he won Prosser Awards in Legal Ethics and in Environmental Law.

Kent Streseman

Faculty, The School of the Appeal
Associate Professor of Appellate Advocacy and Director of the
Ilana Diamond Rovner Program in Appellate Advocacy
Chicago-Kent College of Law, Chicago, IL

Daniel R. Tilly

Faculty, The School of the Trial
Director, Advocacy Program, Assistant Professor of Law
Campbell Law School, Raleigh, NC

Beth Toben

Faculty, The School of the Trial
Limestone County Attorney's Office, Groesbeck, TX

2019 Academy Administration

Jeremy Counseller

Faculty, The Advanced School of the Trial
Academy of the Advocate Program Director
Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Kathy Serr

Academy of the Advocate Program Coordinator
Advocacy Program Coordinator, Baylor Law School

Stephen Rispoli

Academy of the Advocate Associate Program Director
Assistant Dean of Student Affairs and Pro Bono Programs, Baylor Law School

Bailey Strohmeyer

Academy of the Advocate Associate Program Assistant
Practice Court Associate, Baylor Law School

Strohmeyer

Bailey received her B.B.A. in Marketing from Mays Business School at Texas A&M University in 2015, as well as certificates in Advertising and International Business. While at A&M, she interned at Wallace Myers International in Dublin, Ireland, served as secretary of the Aggie Advertising Club, and competed at the 2015 National Student Advertising Competition in Dallas, Texas.

After Texas A&M, Bailey received her Juris Doctorate from Baylor in April 2018. During her time at Baylor, she was a member of the 2017 ABA Labor Law mock trial team and competed in Washington, DC. She competed as a member of the 2018 AAJ mock trial team, winning the Regional Competition in Houston and advancing to the quarterfinals at the National AAJ Competition in Raleigh, NC. She was involved in the National Adoption Day Program for three years, served as Vice President of the Texas Aggie Bar Association, and was a member of the Baylor Barrister Society.

In her free time, Bailey is a 200-hour registered yoga teacher, a keelboat and cruising certified sailor, an avid reader, and adopted a cocker spaniel, Sampson, from a rescue while prepping for the Texas Bar Exam this past July.

2018 Academy Distinguished Faculty

Judge Royal Furgeson

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Dean, University of North Texas, Dallas College of Law

Judge Rodney Gilstrap

Faculty, The School of the Trial

U.S. District Judge, Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division

Judge Ed Kinkeade

Faculty, The School of the Trial

U.S. District Judge, Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division

Kinkeade

Judge J. Rich Leonard

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Dean, Campbell Law School, Raleigh, NC

2018 Academy Faculty

Jeremy Counseller

Academy of the Advocate Program Director
Faculty, The Advanced School of the Trial
Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Brian Serr

Dean, The School of the Appeal

Professor Law, Baylor Law School

Gerald R. Powell

Dean, The School of the Trial

Abner V. McCall Professor of Evidence, Baylor Law School

Robert Little

Dean, The Advanced School of the Trial

Naman Howell Smith & Lee, P.L.L.C., Waco, TX

Larry Bates

Faculty, The School of Appeal

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Elizabeth Fraley

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Assistant Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Elizabeth Miller

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Brad Toben

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Dean of Baylor Law School

Jim Wren

Faculty, The School of Trial

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Bridget Fuselier

Faculty, The School of Appeal

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Professor Bridget Fuselier received her undergraduate degree in political science from Lamar University in 1994. While at Lamar, she was selected for the Pi Sigma Alpha Political Science Honor Society. She earned her J.D. magna cum laude from Baylor Law School in 1998, where she served as Editor-in-Chief and Assistant Managing Editor of the Baylor Law Review. She also competed in the 1998 George Washington Law School National Security Law Moot Court Competition, where she was a member of the first place team and was named Best Orator. She also was a member of the Order of Barristers.

After receiving her J.D., Professor Fuselier moved to Beaumont, Texas and joined the firm of Mehaffy Weber, PC, as an associate in 1998. She was elected as a shareholder in 2004. During her time in practice she authored and published articles for the Baylor Law Review, Texas Lawyer, and Houston Lawyer. In 2006, she was selected as the Jefferson County Outstanding Young Lawyer. She was also selected as a Rising Star by Texas Monthly in 2005 and 2006 in civil litigation.

While in practice, Professor Fuselier actively participated in professional, community, and charitable organizations. She said that she was fortunate to be a part of a local bar association that stressed service. “I watched lawyers, who had much more responsibility and time constraints than I, take the time to selflessly give to others. It became clear early on that while making this commitment took time, it is vital to the community and is really a big part of being a lawyer and a public servant,” she said.

Professor Fuselier was selected as a member of the 2001 class of Leadership Beaumont. She has served on various committees and boards, including the Jefferson County Bar Association and the Jefferson County Pro Bono Board and Fundraiser Committee. She has served on the board and as president of the Jefferson County Young Lawyers Association and volunteered as an attorney in the Jefferson County Pro Bono Program. She also participated in many hours of community service through her membership with the Beaumont Junior League.

Professor Fuselier joined the faculty of Baylor Law in 2006. She teaches Property, Real Estate: Texas Title Issues, Real Estate: Land Use Planning and Development, and is an instructor in the LARC 3 program. In addition to teaching, she also coaches moot court competition teams and works with several student organizations. Professor Fuselier is the faculty sponsor of the Public Interest Legal Society and in 2008 created the Baylor Law Adoption Day Program. She also serves as the faculty sponsor for the Military and Veterans Law Society. In 2012, Professor Fuselier founded the Baylor Law Veterans Clinic and serves as the clinic's Executive Director. In recognition of her service to veterans, the Military Law Section of the State Bar of Texas honored Professor Fuselier with the Colonel Bryan Spencer Award at the State Bar Annual Meeting in 2017.

In 2011, Baylor University recognized Professor Fuselier with the Outstanding Professor Award for Tenure Track Research. She has published articles in journals at The University of Texas, St. Mary's Law School, and Cardozo Law School. She has presented at the State Bar of Texas Advanced Estate Planning & Probate CLE and to various local organizations. Professor Fuselier was also selected as a Baylor University Fellow for excellence in teaching. Her book, Defining & Acquiring Interests in Property, was published by Aspen in 2015.

In addition to her work with the law school, she has also been a guest member for the National Board of Bar Examiners Real Property Drafting Committee, has served as a contributing editor for the Probate & Property magazine published by the ABA, and currently serves as a contributing editor for state bar publications, including the Real Estate Probate & Trust Law Section Newsletter and the General Practice Digest.

2018 Academy Guest Faculty

David Deaconson

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Pakis Giotes Page & Burleson, P.C., Waco, TX

Rob Galloway

Faculty, The School of the Appeal

Houston College of Law, Houston, TX

Marty Jones

Faculty, The School of the Trial

President, Sprouse Schrader Smith, P.L.L.C., Amarillo, TX

Mark Mann

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Mann Tindel Thompson, Henderson, TX

Kent Streseman

Faculty, The School of the Appeal

Associate Professor of Appellate Advocacy and Director of the

Ilana Diamond Rovner Program in Appellate Advocacy

Chicago-Kent College of Law, Chicago, IL

Daniel R. Tilly

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Director, Advocacy Program, Assistant Professor of Law

Campbell Law School, Raleigh, NC

Beth Toben

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Limestone County Attorney's Office, Groesbeck, TX

2018 Academy Administration

Jeremy Counseller

Faculty, The Advanced School of the Trial

Academy of the Advocate Program Director

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Kathy Serr

Academy of the Advocate Program Coordinator

Advocacy Program Coordinator, Baylor Law School

Stephen Rispoli

Academy of the Advocate Associate Program Director

Assistant Dean of Student Affairs and Pro Bono Programs, Baylor Law School

Joshua Weaver

Program Coordinator and Technical Adviser

Weaver A double Baylor Bear, Joshua Weaver graduated from Baylor University in 2009 with a BA in Philosophy and again from Baylor Law with a JD in 2015. Soon after passing the bar, he joined the staff at Baylor Law to help develop a innovative new program called Legal Mapmaker, which teaches lawyers how to design better law firms and helps address the access to justice gap. He has since served as the interim marketing and public relations specialist, overseeing all media communications for the law school, as a semi-regular guest lecturer for Baylor Law's Professional Development Program, and as a coordinator and technical adviser for Legal Mapmaker, the Executive LL.M. in Litigation Management, and the Academy of the Advocate at St. Andrews. A serial entrepreneur at heart, Weaver is also the CEO and Founder of two startup companies: Weaver Innovations, LLC (a technical consulting company), and Everything but the Law, LLC (a business growth consulting company for attorneys). In his spare time, he enjoys tinkering with artificial intelligence and taking evening walks with his Great Dane, Luna.

2017 Academy Distinguished Faculty

Jeremy Counseller

Academy of the Advocate Program Director
Faculty, The Advanced School of the Trial
Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Brian Serr

Dean, The School of the Appeal

Professor Law, Baylor Law School

Gerald R. Powell

Dean, The School of the Trial

Abner V. McCall Professor of Evidence, Baylor Law School

Robert Little

Dean, The Advanced School of the Trial

Naman Howell Smith & Lee, P.L.L.C., Waco, TX

Larry Bates

Faculty, The School of Appeal

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Elizabeth Fraley

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Assistant Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Elizabeth Miller

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Brad Toben

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Dean of Baylor Law School

Jim Wren

Faculty, The School of Trial

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

2017 Academy Distinguished Faculty

Judge Royal Furgeson

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Dean, University of North Texas, Dallas College of Law

Judge Rodney Gilstrap

Faculty, The School of the Trial

U.S. District Judge, Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division

Judge Ed Kinkeade

Faculty, The School of the Trial

U.S. District Judge, Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division

Judge J. Rich Leonard

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Dean, Campbell Law School, Raleigh, NC

2017 Academy Faculty

Jeremy Counseller

Academy of the Advocate Program Director
Faculty, The Advanced School of the Trial
Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Brian Serr

Dean, The School of the Appeal

Professor Law, Baylor Law School

Gerald R. Powell

Dean, The School of the Trial

Abner V. McCall Professor of Evidence, Baylor Law School

Robert Little

Dean, The Advanced School of the Trial

Naman Howell Smith & Lee, P.L.L.C., Waco, TX

Larry Bates

Faculty, The School of Appeal

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Elizabeth Fraley

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Assistant Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Elizabeth Miller

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Brad Toben

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Dean of Baylor Law School

Jim Wren

Faculty, The School of Trial

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Laura Hernandez

Faculty, The School of the Appeal

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Hernandez Award Laura A. Hernández joined the faculty of Baylor Law School in 2008 following 11 years as a litigator at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, L.L.P. in Los Angeles , Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer, & Feld, L.L.P., in San Antonio, and Bickel & Brewer, L.L.P. in Dallas. Her clients included publicly held Fortune 100 companies involved in the oil and gas, entertainment and insurance industries. She currently teaches Immigration Law, Insurance Law, Civil Rights Actions and Separation of Church and State. Professor Hernández attended Stanford University and Southern Methodist University Law School. Among other honors at SMU, she was named the Sarah T. Hughes Law Scholar for the Class of 1996, a full scholarship awarded by the Dallas Bar Foundation.

Professor Hernández’s legal scholarship to date has focused on constitutional issues facing immigrants to the United States. She has written for numerous publications, including the Cornell Journal of Law and Policy, the Stanford Journal of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, the Duke Forum of Law and Social Change, the Texas Hispanic Journal of Law and Policy, and the Southern California Review of Law and Social Justice. Most recently, she contributed a chapter to the book Controversies in Equal Protection Cases in America, joining other notable constitutional scholars including Erwin Chemerinsky, Francisco Valdes, and Ian Haney López.

Professor Hernández is also the founder of the Baylor Law Immigration Clinic. To date, students volunteering at the clinic have assisted approximately 300 Waco area residents with their immigration needs.

2017 Academy Guest Faculty

David Deaconson

Faculty, The School of the Trial
Pakis Giotes Page & Burleson, P.C., Waco, TX

Rob Galloway

Faculty, The School of the Appeal
Houston College of Law, Houston, TX

Marty Jones

Faculty, The School of the Trial
President, Sprouse Schrader Smith, P.L.L.C., Amarillo, TX

Mark Mann

Faculty, The School of the Trial
Mann Tindel Thompson, Henderson, TX

Kent Streseman

Faculty, The School of the Appeal
Associate Professor of Appellate Advocacy and Director of the
Ilana Diamond Rovner Program in Appellate Advocacy
Chicago-Kent College of Law, Chicago, IL

Daniel R. Tilly

Faculty, The School of the Trial
Director, Advocacy Program, Assistant Professor of Law
Campbell Law School, Raleigh, NC

Beth Toben

Faculty, The School of the Trial
Limestone County Attorney's Office, Groesbeck, TX

2017 Academy Administration

Jeremy Counseller

Faculty, The Advanced School of the Trial

Academy of the Advocate Program Director

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Kathy Serr

Academy of the Advocate Program Coordinator

Advocacy Program Coordinator, Baylor Law School

Stephen Rispoli

Academy of the Advocate Associate Program Director

Assistant Dean of Student Affairs and Pro Bono Programs, Baylor Law School

Victoria Ford

Practice Court Associate

Academy of the Advocate Program Assistant

Ford

Victoria Ford (Tori) joined the Baylor Law School staff in May 2016 as the Practice Court Associate. She works with the practice court students and professors, scheduling advocacy exercises, answering student questions, and conducting research for the professors.

She received her B.A. in forensic psychology from the University of New Haven in 2013 and her J.D. from Baylor in 2016. While in law school, she was active in Baylor’s advocacy program and competed in two national moot court competitions. She was also a member of the Baylor Law Review, Woman’s Legal Society, and involved with the Innocence Project.

Tori is originally from Pennsylvania and moved to Texas to go to Baylor Law School. Over the past few years, she has made Texas her home. When not working, she enjoys going to Cameron Park, eating at the food trucks, and reading.

2016 Academy Distinguished Faculty

Judge Royal Furgeson

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Dean, University of North Texas, Dallas College of Law

Judge Rodney Gilstrap

Faculty, The School of the Trial

U.S. District Judge, Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division

Judge Ed Kinkeade

Faculty, The School of the Trial

U.S. District Judge, Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division

Judge J. Rich Leonard

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Dean, Campbell Law School, Raleigh, NC

Magistrate Judge K. Nicole Mitchell

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Magistrate Judge, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas,
Tyler Division

2016 Academy Faculty

Jeremy Counseller

Academy of the Advocate Program Director

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Brian Serr

Dean, The School of the Appeal

Professor Law, Baylor Law School

Gerald R. Powell

Dean, The School of the Trial

Abner V. McCall Professor of Evidence, Baylor Law School

Robert Little

Dean, The Advanced School of the Trial

Naman Howell Smith & Lee, P.L.L.C., Waco, TX

Larry Bates

Faculty, The School of Appeal

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Elizabeth Fraley

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Assistant Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Elizabeth Miller

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Brad Toben

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Dean of Baylor Law School

Patricia Wilson

Faculty, The School of the Appeal

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Jim Wren

Faculty, The School of Trial

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Scott Fraley

Faculty, The School of the Appeal and The School of the Trial

Director of Legal Writing, Baylor Law School

Fraley

Professor Scott Fraley joined Baylor Law School in 2015 and serves as the Director of Legal Writing.

Professor Fraley works with Professors Greg White, Brandon Quarles, Matt Cordon, Michael Berry, and Susan Kelley-Claybrook Ortiz as research and writing instructors in an expanded Legal Analysis, Research, and Communications (LARC) program.

Professor Fraley attended college at the University of Texas at Austin, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in 1982 from the Plan II Liberal Arts Honors Program. Fraley then completed law school at the University of Texas School of Law in 1985 where he was a member of the Texas Law Review. Fraley has a Masters of Arts in the History of Ideas from the University of Texas at Dallas, where he is currently a Ph.D. candidate.

Following law school, he joined Scott, Douglass & Luton (now Scott, Douglass & McConnico) in Austin, becoming a partner in 1989. In 1995, Scott and his wife Liz founded Fraley & Fraley, LLP, a litigation law firm in Dallas, where he practiced for the last twenty years. He previously served as an adjunct Professor of Law at Baylor Law School and at the University of Texas School of Law. He is a member of the Legal Writing Institute and the Association of Legal Writing Directors. Fraley is also a certified health care arbitrator with the American Health Lawyers Association.

2016 Academy Guest Faculty

David Deaconson

Faculty, The School of the Trial
Pakis Giotes Page & Burleson, P.C., Waco, TX

Rob Galloway

Faculty, The School of the Appeal
Houston College of Law, Houston, TX

Marty Jones

Faculty, The School of the Trial
President, Sprouse Schrader Smith, P.L.L.C., Amarillo, TX

Mark Mann

Faculty, The School of the Trial
Mann Tindel Thompson, Henderson, TX

Kent Streseman

Faculty, The School of the Appeal
Associate Professor of Appellate Advocacy and Director of the
Ilana Diamond Rovner Program in Appellate Advocacy
Chicago-Kent College of Law, Chicago, IL

Daniel R. Tilly

Faculty, The School of the Trial
Director, Advocacy Program, Assistant Professor of Law
Campbell Law School, Raleigh, NC

Beth Toben

Faculty, The School of the Trial
Limestone County Attorney's Office, Groesbeck, TX

David Schott

Faculty, The School of the Trial
Professor of the Practice and Director of The Advocacy Program
University of Denver - Sturm College of Law, Denver, CO

D Schott David began his legal career in Cook County, Illinois (Chicago), where David completed a four-year tenure with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. David then served as General Counsel for an international toy company. In 1997 David immigrated to Denver, Colorado where he opened his law practice. David’s Federal and State Court practice has consisted primarily of civil trial and domestic relations litigation. David has also served as business counsel, operations advisor, Board of Directors advisor, and trial/litigation counsel, to a range of entities. In 2005, David began serving on the Adjunct Faculty of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and also as head coach of the school’s national ABA Trial Team. In July 2008 the school appointed David as the Director of the school’s Advocacy Department.

2016 Academy Administration

Jeremy Counseller

Academy of the Advocate Program Director

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Kathy Serr

Academy of the Advocate Program Coordinator

Advocacy Program Coordinator, Baylor Law School

Stephen Rispoli

Academy of the Advocate Associate Program Director

Assistant Dean of Student Affairs and Pro Bono Programs, Baylor Law School

Tara Gough

Academy of the Advocate Program Assistant

Student, Baylor Law School

Gough Tara Gough is a current Baylor Law student and a graduate of the 2015 Baylor Academy of the Advocate. Tara graduated from Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina, where she played Division I Volleyball. Tara would like to pursue a career as a District Attorney in Texas after graduating from law school.

2015 Academy Distinguished Faculty

Judge Royal Furgeson

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Dean, University of North Texas, Dallas College of Law

Magistrate Judge K. Nicole Mitchell

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Magistrate Judge, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division

Mitchell

Judge Mitchell graduated with honors from Baylor Law School after receiving both bachelors and masters degrees from Texas A&M University. Judge Mitchell's undergraduate background was primarily in genetics and life sciences. After law school, Judge Mitchell clerked for the Honorable Chief Judge Leonard Davis in the Eastern District of Texas before starting her civil practice at Fulbright & Jaworski in Houston. Judge Mitchell's practice was primarily in the area of Health Law Litigation, but she also worked on patent cases and is licensed to practice before the USPTO. After her time at Fulbright & Jaworski, Judge Mitchell returned to the Eastern District of Texas to serve as the Chief Staff Attorney to Judge Davis. Judge Mitchell was sworn in as a United States Magistrate Judge on August 16, 2013. In her time on the bench and while working with Chief Judge Davis, Judge Mitchell has overseen numerous patent and general civil litigation cases. She also mediates cases in the Eastern District of Texas.

Judge Ken Starr

Former Solicitor General of the United States

Former President of Baylor University

Starr A distinguished academician, lawyer, public servant and sixth-generation Texan, Judge Ken Starr served as the 14th president of Baylor University from 2010-2016. He also held the title of Chancellor from 2013-2016.

Judge Starr has argued 36 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, including 25 cases during his service as Solicitor General of the United States from 1989-93. He also served as United States Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1983 to 1989, as law clerk to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger from 1975 to 1977 and as law clerk to Fifth Circuit Judge David W. Dyer from 1973 to 1974. Starr was appointed to serve as Independent Counsel for five investigations, including Whitewater, from 1994 to 1999.

Prior to coming to Baylor, Judge Starr served for six years as The Duane and Kelly Roberts Dean and Professor of Law at Pepperdine, where he taught current constitutional issues and civil procedure. He has also been of counsel to the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where he was a partner from 1993 to 2004, specializing in appellate work, antitrust, federal courts, federal jurisdiction and constitutional law. Judge Starr previously taught constitutional law as an adjunct professor at New York University School of Law and was a distinguished visiting professor at George Mason University School of Law and Chapman Law School. He is admitted to practice in California, the District of Columbia, Virginia and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Judge Starr is the author of more than 25 publications, and his book, First Among Equals: The Supreme Court in American Life, published in 2002, was praised by U.S. Circuit Judge David B. Sentelle as “eminently readable and informative…not just the best treatment to-date of the Court after (Chief Justice Earl) Warren, it is likely to have that distinction for a long, long time.”

2015 Academy Faculty

Jeremy Counseller

Academy of the Advocate Program Director

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Brian Serr

Dean, The School of the Appeal

Professor Law, Baylor Law School

Gerald R. Powell

Dean, The School of the Trial

Abner V. McCall Professor of Evidence, Baylor Law School

Robert Little

Dean, The Advanced School of the Trial

Naman Howell Smith & Lee, P.L.L.C., Waco, TX

Larry Bates

Faculty, The School of Appeal

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Elizabeth Fraley

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Assistant Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Bridget Fuselier

Faculty, The School of Appeal

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Elizabeth Miller

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Brad Toben

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Dean of Baylor Law School

Jim Wren

Faculty, The School of Trial

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

2015 Academy Guest Faculty

Rob Galloway

Faculty, The School of the Appeal
Houston College of Law, Houston, TX

Marty Jones

Faculty, The School of the Trial
President, Sprouse Schrader Smith, P.L.L.C., Amarillo, TX

David Schott

Faculty, The School of the Trial
Professor of the Practice and Director of The Advocacy Program
University of Denver - Sturm College of Law, Denver, CO

Kent Streseman

Faculty, The School of the Appeal
Associate Professor of Appellate Advocacy and Director of the
Ilana Diamond Rovner Program in Appellate Advocacy
Chicago-Kent College of Law, Chicago, IL

Daniel R. Tilly

Faculty, The School of the Trial
Director, Advocacy Program, Assistant Professor of Law
Campbell Law School, Raleigh, NC

Beth Toben

Faculty, The School of the Trial
Limestone County Attorney's Office, Groesbeck, TX

Wayne Lindsey "Lyn" Robbins, Jr.

Faculty, The School of the Trial
Adjunct Professor of Law, Baylor Law School
Robbins Travis, P.L.L.C., Southlake, TX

L Robbins Lyn Robbins is currently the senior in-house counsel primarily responsible for BNSF personal injury claims litigation – focusing on FELA, crossing accident, derailment, and pedestrian cases – along with appellate work, major damage collection litigation, and commercial dispute resolution. He also represents BNSF on various industry-wide committees and working groups as well as within the National Association of Railroad Trial Counsel. He also teaches Advanced Trial Advocacy Skills to third-year law students, involving extensive exercises in trial techniques and studies of strategies and tactics.

2015 Academy Administration

Jeremy Counseller

Academy of the Advocate Program Director

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Kathy Serr

Academy of the Advocate Program Coordinator

Advocacy Program Coordinator, Baylor Law School

Stephen Rispoli

Academy of the Advocate Associate Program Director

Assistant Dean of Student Affairs and Pro Bono Programs, Baylor Law School

Jacqueline Hamer Altman

Academy of the Advocate Program Assistant

Associate, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, San Diego, CA

Altman Jacqueline Altman is an associate in the San Diego office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where her practice focuses on patent litigation. Prior to joining the firm, Jacqueline served as a law clerk to the Honorable K. Nicole Mitchell of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. She also served as a post-graduate teaching assistant for Baylor Law School's nationally ranked Practice Court trial advocacy program.

2014 Academy Distinguished Faculty

Judge A. Lee Harris

Faculty, The School of Trial

District Judge of the 66th District Court, Hillsboro, TX

Harris Judge Lee Harris is a 1993 graduate of Baylor Law School. Judge Harris received his undergraduate degree from Stephen F. Austin State University where he graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture. Since September 1, 2005, he has served as the first judge of the county court at law of Hill County, Texas. Harris is the judge elect of the 66th District Court in Hill County, and will assume those duties January 1, 2015. Since 2010, Judge Harris has served as an adjunct professor in the Practice Court program at Baylor Law School and as a Jaworski Fellow.

Judge Ed Kinkeade

Faculty, The School of Trial

U.S. District Judge, Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division

2014 Academy Faculty

Jeremy Counseller

Academy of the Advocate Program Director

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Brian Serr

Dean, The School of the Appeal

Professor Law, Baylor Law School

Gerald R. Powell

Dean, The School of the Trial

Abner V. McCall Professor of Evidence, Baylor Law School

Robert Little

Dean, The Advanced School of the Trial

Naman Howell Smith & Lee, P.L.L.C., Waco, TX

Larry Bates

Faculty, The School of Appeal

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Elizabeth Miller

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Brad Toben

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Dean, Baylor Law School

Jim Wren

Faculty, The School of Trial

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

2014 Academy Guest Faculty

Elizabeth Fraley

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Assistant Professor, Baylor Law School

Rob Galloway

Faculty, The School of the Appeal
Houston College of Law, Houston, TX

Kent Streseman

Faculty, The School of the Appeal
Associate Professor of Appellate Advocacy and Director of the
Ilana Diamond Rovner Program in Appellate Advocacy
Chicago-Kent College of Law, Chicago, IL

Daniel R. Tilly

Faculty, The School of the Trial
Director, Advocacy Program, Assistant Professor of Law
Campbell Law School, Raleigh, NC

Beth Toben

Faculty, The School of the Trial
Limestone County Attorney's Office, Groesbeck, TX

Marianne Auld

Faculty, The School of Trial

Kelly Hart & Hallman, L.L.P., Fort Worth, TX

Marianne Auld graduated first in her class from Baylor University School of Law, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Baylor Law Review. Following law school, she served as Law Clerk for the Honorable Thomas M. Reavley of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Ms. Auld was a Professor of Law at Baylor University School of Law, teaching Federal Civil Procedure, Remedies, and Legal Analysis, Research and Communications.

Joe Rivera

Faculty, The School of Trial

Naman Howell Smith & Lee, P.L.L.C., Waco, TX

Rivera Joe’s practice is devoted to civil litigation, with a focus on business litigation, employment matters, and tax litigation and controversies. Joe’s training and experience fosters his representation of clients in these areas. In addition to his work at Naman Howell, Joe teaches as an adjunct professor at Baylor University School of Law, teaching in the classroom and coaching some of the school’s mock trial teams, including the American Bar Association Labor Law team. Joe has presented employment-law topics at various professional education events, and has provided anti-discrimination and anti-harassment training to firm clients.

2014 Academy Administration

Jeremy Counseller

Academy of the Advocate Program Director

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Kathy Serr

Academy of the Advocate Program Coordinator

Advocacy Program Coordinator, Baylor Law School

Stephen Rispoli

Academy of the Advocate Associate Program Director

Assistant Dean of Student Affairs and Pro Bono Programs, Baylor Law School

Michael Clinton

Academy of the Advocate Program Assistant

Associate, Blizzard & Nabers, Houston, TX

Clinton

As an associate attorney at Blizzard & Nabers, Michael Clinton pursues personal injury claims, pharmaceutical cases, and medical device litigation, with his current docket including cases involving Mirena and the Multiple Sclerosis drug Tysabri.

Mr. Clinton earned his Bachelor of Business Administration in Financial Consulting from Southern Methodist University in 2010. He then attended Baylor Law School on a Dean’s Scholarship. While studying at Baylor, he participated in the NYU Immigration Law Moot Court Competition, the ABA Labor Law Mock Trial Competition, and the UMKC Voir Dire Competition. On graduating with his Juris Doctorate, he was named to the Order of Barristers, a legal honor society recognizing the top performers in each graduating class.

He continued to work as a practice court associate at Baylor until joining Blizzard & Nabers in 2014. In addition to his work in courts across Texas, he has also appeared pro hac vice before the U.S. District Courts for the Districts of Utah, New Jersey, and the Southern District of New York, as well as the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in Middlesex County.

2013 Academy Distinguished Faculty

Judge Ed Kinkeade

Faculty, The School of the Trial

U.S. District Judge, Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division

Justice Jan Patterson

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Justice in Residence, Baylor Law School

Justice Patterson earned her JD at the University of Texas School of Law, where she later served as a visiting and adjunct professor teaching courses in international war crimes, criminal and civil procedure, and The Ethics in Government Act. Justice Patterson also received a Masters in Judicial Process at the University of Virginia Law School. Justice Jan Patterson currently serves as a senior judge by appointment of the Texas Supreme Court. Justice Patterson served on the State of Texas Third Court of Appeals for 12 years, writing extensively on administrative law, natural resources law and criminal law issues, among other things. While on the court of appeals, she served on the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct and as Vice Chair of the Commission in 2009-2010. She also served as chair of the Appellate Judges of the Judiciary Section of the State Bar of Texas. As a lawyer, Justice Patterson handled complex civil litigation and white-collar defense. She is an elected member of the American Law Institute and Founder, past President and Master of the Bench in the Justice Calvert American Inns of Court. She also has served as a lecturer at the FBI Academy and was recognized by the Department of Justice for outstanding contributions in the field of drug law enforcement and for federal agent training programs and by the Department of Agriculture for outstanding contribution in fraud prosecutions.

2013 Academy Faculty

Jeremy Counseller

Academy of the Advocate Program Director

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Brian Serr

Dean, The School of the Appeal

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Gerald R. Powell

Dean, The School of the Trial
Abner V. McCall Professor of Evidence, Baylor Law School

Robert Little

Dean, The Advanced School of the Trial

Naman Howell Smith & Lee, P.L.L.C., Waco, TX

Larry Bates

Faculty, The School of Appeal

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Elizabeth Miller

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Brad Toben

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Dean, Baylor Law School

Jim Wren

Faculty, The School of Trial

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

2013 ACADEMY GUEST FACULTY

Elizabeth Fraley

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Assistant Professor, Baylor Law School

Rob Galloway

Faculty, The School of the Appeal
Houston College of Law, Houston, TX

Kent Streseman

Faculty, The School of the Appeal
Associate Professor of Appellate Advocacy and Director of the
Ilana Diamond Rovner Program in Appellate Advocacy
Chicago-Kent College of Law, Chicago, IL

Daniel R. Tilly

Faculty, The School of the Trial
Director, Advocacy Program, Assistant Professor of Law
Campbell Law School, Raleigh, NC

Lee Coppock

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Visiting Professor of Law, Stetson University, Gulfport, FL

Coppock Lee A. Coppock is the Trial Advocacy Fellow for Stetson University College of Law. In addition to teaching courses, he is responsible for Stetson's nationally-recognized trial team. Lee graduated from the University of South Florida with honors in 1994 and from Stetson with a JD in 1996, also with honors. After being admitted to Florida's Bar, he practiced in Orlando at the firm of Fisher, Rushmer, et. al., and then at Paul and Coppock, P.A., before returning as a visiting professor to Stetson Law in August 2004. As a student member of Stetson's trial team, he was recognized as the Best Advocate in both state and national competitions and was a national champion at the Association of American Trial Lawyers competition in 1996.

Judy Paterson

Guest Lecturer

British born but educated mainly in Australia, Judy also lived in Papua New Guinea before coming to Scotland in 1980. She has been a teacher, a headteacher, an honorary Sub-Inspector with the Royal Constabulary of Papua New Guinea, a hotelier in the Highlands, and a book seller in Edinburgh. She is also the author of 18 books, fiction and non-fiction, and are mostly Scottish. Judy Paterson tells traditional Scottish stories, stories from the Australian Dreamtime; and from Papua New Guinea she tells stories from the Tumbuna, the time before memory. These diverse cultures have a great deal in common and in particular Judy loves those stories about humanity's interdependence with the world in which we live. For this reason she is fond of the Scottish Traveller tales and stories of place.

Susan Poehls

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Director, Trial Advocacy Program, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, CA

Poehls As a student at Loyola Law School, Susan was named Best Advocate in Loyola's annual Scott Moot Court Competition, and went on to receive the Best Advocate award for the Western regional rounds of the National Moot Court Competition, sponsored by the ABA. She also received the American Board of Trial Advocates award, won Loyola's annual Byrne competition, and participated as a member of the Loyola trial team, where her team won the regional rounds of the National Trial Competition. After graduating from Loyola in 1989, she joined the Los Angeles office of O'Melveny & Myers as a member of their litigation department, where she had an opportunity to argue in the California Court of Appeal. Two years later, in 1991, Susan began her work as a trial lawyer at the Los Angeles County Public Defender's Office and later moved on to the LA Alternate Public Defenders office, where she tried more than 50 cases, ranging from misdemeanor shoplifting to gang homicides. During her time in practice, she also began working as an adjunct professor at Loyola Law School, where she developed Loyola's Byrne Trial Advocacy Team into one of the top ranked trial teams in the country. Since 1990, the team has won seven national championships and numerous regional championships, regularly landing in the U.S. News and World Report annual ranking of the Top Trial Advocacy programs in the nation. In 1996, Susan joined the Loyola faculty as a full-time clinical professor, where she now oversees the Hobbs District Attorney Clinic and the Byrne Trial Advocacy Team. In 2002, she was the creator and Director of Loyola's National Civil Trial Competition, which has grown to be one of the most prestigious invitational tournaments in the country.

2013 Academy Administration

Jeremy Counseller

Academy of the Advocate Program Director

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Kathy Serr

Academy of the Advocate Program Coordinator

Advocacy Program Coordinator, Baylor Law School

Stephen Rispoli

Academy of the Advocate Associate Program Director

Assistant Dean of Student Affairs and Pro Bono Programs, Baylor Law School

James Willis

Academy of the Advocate, Program Assistant

Attorney, Daly & Black, P.C., Houston, TX

Willis

Early in his career, James has already established himself in the courtroom. Prior to joining Daly & Black, James represented both homeowners and mortgage companies in lender liability suits, wrongful foreclosure claims, and bankruptcy. Through this litigation experience, he has learned that large companies are only concerned with the bottom line. James takes great pride in protecting the rights of small businesses and working people to make sure their rights are protected when litigating against large companies.

James graduated with honors from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Philosophy and English where he competed on the debate team. After graduating from UT, James spent several years as a touring bass-player, backing up multiple international recording artists.

James graduated in 2012 from Baylor Law School. While a law student, James served as class president and won multiple advocacy competitions. After graduation, James served as the post-graduate teaching assistant for Baylor’s nationally renowned Practice Court program.

The Baylor Law School Academy of the Advocate at St Andrews has been approved by the American Bar Association Accreditation Committee.

Monday - Friday	8:00am - 5:00pm
Saturday - Sunday	Closed
Holidays	Closed

Faculty and Administration

Faculty and Administration

2022 Academy Distinguished Faculty

Judge Rodney Gilstrap

Faculty, The School of the Trial U.S. District Judge, Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division

Judge Ed Kinkeade

Faculty, The School of the Trial

U.S. District Judge, Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division

Judge J. Rich Leonard

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Dean, Campbell Law School, Raleigh, NC

Judge Lora Livingston

Faculty, The School of the Trial

District Judge, 261st Civil District Court, Travis County, Texas

Judge K. Nicole Mitchell

Faculty, The School of the Trial

U.S. District Court Judge, Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division

2022 Academy Faculty

Jeremy Counseller

Academy of the Advocate Program Director Faculty, The Advanced School of the Trial Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Brian Serr

Dean, The School of the Appeal

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Jim Wren

Dean, The School of the Trial

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Robert Little

Dean, The Advanced School of the Trial

Director of Advocacy Programs, Baylor Law School

Larry Bates

Faculty, The School of Appeal

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Elizabeth Fraley

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Executive LL.M. in Litigation Management, Baylor Law School

Elizabeth Miller

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Gerald R. Powell

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Professor Emeritus, Baylor Law School

Brad Toben

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Dean, Baylor Law School

2022 Academy Guest Faculty

A.J. Bellido de Luna

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Assistant Dean for Advocacy Programs

St. Mary’s University School of Law, San Antonio, TX

David Deaconson

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Pakis Giotes Page & Burleson, P.C., Waco, TX

Robert Galloway

Faculty, The School of the Appeal

South Texas College of Law, Houston, TX

John Henry

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Byrne Team Coach

Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA

Marty Jones

Faculty, The School of the Trial

President, Sprouse Shrader Smith, P.L.L.C., Amarillo, TX

Beth Klusmann

Faculty, The School of the Appeal

Assistant Solicitor General, Texas Attorney General's Office, Austin TX

Mark Mann

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Mann Tindel Thompson, Henderson, TX

Shane Read

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Adjunct Faculty and Attorney/U.S. Department of Justice

SMU Dedman School of Law, Dallas, TX

Kent Streseman

Faculty, The School of the Appeal

Associate Clinical Professor of Law and Faculty Advisor

Honors Moot Court Internal

Santa Clara University School of Law, Santa Clara, CA

Daniel R. Tilly

Faculty, The School of the Trial

Director, Advocacy Program, Assistant Professor of Law

Faculty, The School of the Trial
U.S. District Judge, Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division

Academy of the Advocate Program Director
Faculty, The Advanced School of the Trial
Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Academy of the Advocate Associate Program Director
Assistant Dean of Student Affairs and Strategic Initiatives
Director of Innovation and Scholarship,
Executive LL.M. in Litigation Management, Baylor Law School

Academy of the Advocate Program Coordinator
Advocacy Program Coordinator, Baylor Law School

Faculty, The School of the Trial
U.S. District Judge, Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division

Faculty, The School of the Trial
Dean, Campbell Law School, Raleigh, NC

Faculty, The School of the Trial
District Judge, 261st Civil District Court, Travis County, Texas

Faculty, The School of the Trial
Magistrate Judge, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division

Academy of the Advocate Program Director
Faculty, The Advanced School of the Trial
Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Dean, The School of the Appeal
Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Dean, The Advanced School of the Trial
Director of Advocacy Programs, Baylor Law School

Faculty, The School of Appeal
Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Faculty, The School of the Trial
Assistant Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Faculty, The School of the Trial
Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Faculty, The School of the Trial
Dean, Baylor Law School

Faculty, The School of the Appeal
Associate Dean and Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Faculty, The School of the Trial
Professor of Law, Baylor Law School

Faculty, The School of the Trial
Pakis Giotes Page & Burleson, P.C., Waco, TX

Faculty, The School of the Appeal
Houston College of Law, Houston, TX

Faculty, The School of the Trial
President, Sprouse Shrader Smith, P.L.L.C., Amarillo, TX

Faculty, The School of the Trial
Mann Tindel Thompson, Henderson, TX