Robert Binning: Deputy Legislative Counsel, State of CA, Introduction to Legal Analysis

As a member of the Office of Legislative Counsel, Professor Binningis uniquely positioned to teach the importance of legal writing, analysis, and research to non-lawyers. As part of his duties, Professor Binning offers nonpartisan legal services relating to the legislative process to the Legislature, the Governor, and other state officers.

Matthew Brandstetter: Leadership in Organizations

Professor Brandstetter is a multidimensional, entrepreneurial educatorwith tenured teaching and administrative experiences at independent schools and universities across the country. He was a founding faculty member for The Harker Upper School in 1998; additionally, he led school-wide technology programs, led accreditation and charter school renewals, and developed communication studies programs within secondary and postsecondary communities. In addition to being a professor at McGeorge School of Law, Professor Brandstetter also currently works at Milton Academy in Massachusetts and at Azusa Pacific University as an adjunct professor in the School of Education.

Adrienne Brungess: Professor of Law, Negotiation & Settlements

Because of her extensive background in ADR and negotiation, Professor Brungess’ students gain comprehensive skills in processes and techniques in a simulation-focused curriculum. Professor Brungess credits her time in practice for giving her significant experience in client interviewing and counseling, dispute resolution, discovery, litigation, complex project management, and development of professional identity. This professional experience also contributes to the skills and techniques she is able to impart to her students, and to the success of the students she coaches in the law school’s top ranking moot court program.

Jessica Gosney: Legislatures & Lawmaking

Jessica Gosney is a deputy legislative counsel with California’s Office of Legislative Counsel. Professor Gosney primarily drafts legislation in the areas of taxation, public retirement, cannabis, and professions and vocations for Assembly Members and Senators in the California Legislature. Prior to joining the Office of Legislative Counsel, she worked in political campaigning and advocacy for various national PACs and nonprofits. Gosney received her J.D. from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, where she graduated valedictorian and was editor-in-chief of the University of the Pacific Law Review. She earned her undergraduate degree in Environmental Science and Policy from the University of California, Davis. She is a member of the California State Bar.

Jennifer Harder: Professor of Law, Water Resources Law, and Environmental Law

Professor Harder joined the McGeorge faculty in 2015 after a decade of practice as an attorney and partner with Downey Brand LLP in Sacramento, and seven years of teaching water law and practice as an adjunct professor. At Downey Brand, she represented local governments and private entities on water, environmental, and public agency issues. She represented clients at the State Water Resources Control Board and acted as lead counsel in transactions and litigation related to the California Environmental Quality Act, the federal Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, water financing, public trust, and constitutional water issues, among others. Prior to private practice, Professor Harder served as a law clerk for the Alaska Supreme Court and for the Office of the Chief Counsel, California Department of Water Resources. These experiences inform the design of Professor Harder’s courses in water resources and environmental practice, which focus on policy implications of legal rules and skills needed for real world practice. Professor Harder also brings these experiences to her work in developing online graduate programming as McGeorge’s Faculty Director for Online Learning. In 2018 Professor Harder received the Hether C. McFarlane Teaching Innovation Award.

Clark Kelso: Government Law & Policy

Professor Kelso is one of the leading public sector administrators in California. Generally recognized as “Mr. Fix-It” for California state government, Professor Kelso has held a number of high-level positions in California’s Executive Branch, including service as California’s insurance commissioner, Director of the Department of Information Technology, Director of the California Performance Review, Director of the Department of General Services, Chair of the California Earthquake Authority, and, for six years, as the state’s Chief Information Officer. Professor Kelso’s service in these various positions garnered state and national attention. He received a “Top 25 Award for ‘2004 Doers, Dreamers, and Drivers’” from Government Technology, was named as one of the “Premier 100 IT Leaders for 2007” by Computerworld, and was inducted into the California Information Technology Hall of Fame in 2014. He was also named by California Lawyer as one of the top “34 Lawyers Who Made A Profound Impact on the Law in 2007” and was listed by the Daily Journal as one of the “Top 100 Lawyers in California for 2007.” In 2008, Professor Kelso was appointed by federal District Judge Thelton E. Henderson as the federal receiver for California’s prison medical care system, charged with making changes in that system to bring it into conformity with constitutional minimums. In recognition of his many accomplishments, Professor Kelso received the “2014 Elizabeth G. Hill Public Official of the Year” award from the American Society for Public Administration – Sacramento Chapter.

Nicole Kuenzi: The Executive Branch & the Administrative State

Nicole L. Kuenzi is senior staff counsel with the California State Water Resources Control Board where she advises the Division of Water Rights and the Groundwater Management Unit. In her role, Professor Kuenzi frequently advises the Board regarding matters of administrative law such as rule-making and adjudicatory proceedings. Prior to entering state service in 2012, she was an associate at law firms in San Francisco, California, and Denver, Colorado. Professor Kuenzi is a graduate of Yale Law School and clerked on the United States Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. She is a frequent speaker on water rights law and is an adviser for the American Law Institute’s Restatement of the Law Fourth, Property.

Brian Landsberg: Election Law

Professor Emeritus Brian K. Landsberg began teaching at McGeorge in 1986 and has continued to teach since taking emeritus status. His teaching is grounded in his experience as an attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice, beginning in the tumultuous 1960s. His career in the Civil Rights Division began with trial work to vindicate the right of African-Americans in Alabama to vote, notably including the case the recognized the right to march from Selma to Montgomery to protest racial discrimination in voter registration. That work also became the basis for his book Free at Last to Vote: The Alabama Origins of the Voting Rights Act. Professor Landsberg also worked on some of the first cases to desegregate public accommodations and on fair employment and fair housing cases. As Chief of the Education Section, he helped litigate the cases that transformed the schools of the Deep South from the most segregated to the most integrated schools in the nation by the mid-1970’s. He then became Chief of the Appellate Section, arguing cases in United States Courts of Appeals throughout the country, as well as working on Supreme Court briefs in seminal civil rights cases. Professor Landsberg’s teaching has covered a wide range of public law and advocacy topics, including Constitutional Law, First Amendment Law, Federal Courts, Federal Anti-discrimination Law, Civil Rights Law, Critical Race Theory, Appellate Advocacy, as well as courses for students in advanced degree programs.

Jay Leach: Professor of Law, Persuasive Public Speaking

Professor Jay Leach teaches in the law school’s award-winning trial advocacy program. Professor Leach has significant experience in courts and in various alternative dispute resolution settings. His scholarly interests are focused on evidence, advocacy in comparative perspective, and the teaching of advocacy. He is a frequent lecturer for programs sponsored by the National Institute for Trial Advocacy, and has also lectured in several Chinese law schools.

Andrew Majeske: Adjunct Professor of Law and Professor of English, Contracts

Andrew Majeske received his doctorate from the University of California Davis, where he worked at the intersection of law, literature & political philosophy, and studied under Margaret Ferguson and Larry Peterman. He also holds a law degree from Loyola University of Chicago, where he studied under George Anastaplo. He was a practicing attorney from 1986 to 1997.

Steve McCaffrey: Distinguished Professor of Law, International Water Resources Law, International Environmental Law

Stephen McCaffrey is one of the world’s foremost authorities on international water law. He received the 2018 Distinguished Elisabeth Haub Award for Environmental Law and Diplomacy for both for his lifetime of service in the development of international environmental law, and in particular for his work as special rapporteur for the International Law Commission on the preparatory work for what became the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses. Professor McCaffrey also was named the 2017 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate for his unparalleled contribution to the evolution and progressive realization of international water law.

Chris Micheli: Principal, Aprea & Micheli, Inc., Lobbying and Politics

Prior to forming Aprea & Micheli, Chris owned his own lobbying and consulting firm, Snodgrass & Micheli, LLC. He has substantial legislative and regulatory experience in the areas of state and local taxation, transportation, civil liability, privacy, insurance, labor and employment, health care, and procurement. He has represented a number of major clients including the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Mercury Insurance, Mattel, Lockheed Martin, Chevron/Texaco, the California Ambulance Association, and the California Grocers Association. As a legislative advocate, Chris regularly testifies before policy and fiscal committees of the California Legislature, as well as a number of administrative agencies, departments, and boards. He regularly drafts legislative and regulatory language, and is considered a leading authority on state tax law developments and California’s knife laws. The Wall Street Journal (July 1998) called him “one of the top three business tax lobbyists in the state.” The Los Angeles Times (May 2005) described him as an “elite lobbyist,” and Capitol Weekly (August 2006) described him as a “prominent lobbyist.”

Francis J. Mootz III: Cannabis Law

Francis J. Mootz III joined the McGeorge School of Law on June 1, 2012, as the school’s ninth dean. After his term as dean ended, he joined the law faculty. Previously, Professor Mootz served as Associate Dean and William S. Boyd Professor of Law at the University of Nevada. He has also taught at Penn State Dickinson School of Law, William and Mary Law School, and Western New England University School of Law. Professor Mootz is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and Duke University. Professor Mootz teaches and writes in areas such as contracts, sales, insurance, and employment law. Most recently, he has written and spoken about the emerging adult-use cannabis industry in California, focusing on insurance and ethical issues. He served as a Member of the Board of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws from 2006 until 2012.

Mary-Beth Moylan: Professor of Law, Election Law

Professor Moylan has a long-standing passion for and expertise in politics and government. Since 2003, she has supervised the publication of the California Initiative Review, an online journal providing objective and neutral analysis of each statewide ballot proposition. Her expertise in politics and government is not limited to the initiative process, and Professor Moylan is often looked to by local news media for expert advice on state constitutional issues, conflicts of interest, and other election related topics. Although Professor Moylan was raised in New England and attended college and law school in the Midwest, she launched her legal career in Sacramento as a law clerk for the Honorable Lawrence K. Karlton of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. She then practiced election law with Olson, Hagel, & Fishburn, and general civil litigation with Downey Brand LLP, both highly regarded Sacramento-based law firms.

Rachael Salcido: Professor of Law, Natural Resources Law

Professor Rachael Salcido is an insightful scholar of domestic, comparative and international environmental and natural resources law, with particular expertise in ocean and coastal law, and ecosystem restoration. Professor Salcido’s articles have appeared in prominent law journals, including Tulane Law Review and Ecology Law Quarterly, and she regularly gives presentations across the country on current environmental issues with a focus on the continued struggle to identify the harmonious role people play in their environment. Professor Salcido identifies this role as “unique” and “powerful, but not always benign.” Professor Salcido is both the founder and director of the law school’s Water and Environmental Law Concentration, where she helps students garner interest in environmental law and connects students with careers in the field. Professor Salcido believes there are myriad opportunities today for students interested in engaging in environmental law — including work on climate change, water, and environmental justice.

John G. Sprankling: Distinguished Professor of Law, Cannabis Law

Distinguished Professor of Law John G. Sprankling is an internationally-recognized authority on property law and the author of six books on this subject. His treatise Understanding Property Law is used by law students across the United States; it has also been translated into Chinese and published by Peking University Press. His casebook Property: A Contemporary Approach casebook, written with Ray Coletta, is the first property textbook to be published in both hard copy and electronic formats, and has been used at over 70 law schools. His articles have appeared in journals published at Chicago, Columbia, Cornell, North Carolina, Stanford, UCLA, and other law schools. Professor Sprankling began his legal career with Miller, Starr & Regalia, one of the nation’s largest property law firms. He practiced there for 14 years, ultimately serving as its managing partner. After teaching at UC Hastings and Stanford, he joined the McGeorge faculty. At McGeorge, he has served as Interim Dean and as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.

Michael Vitiello: Distinguished Professor of Law, Cannabis Law

Distinguished Professor of Law Michael Vitiello is a nationally recognized expert on criminal law, sentencing policy, and marijuana law. He joined the law faculty at McGeorge in 1990. His work on California’s three-strikes law has been cited by the United States Supreme Court and the California Supreme Court. Professor Vitiello is the author of 12 books and over 50 law review articles, including his recent launch of a book he co-authored on the topic of Marijuana Law: Cases and Materials on Marijuana Law. His numerous articles on legalizing marijuana take a careful policy-oriented approach to that area of the law, insisting that, because legalization will occur, policy makers need to craft legislation to avoid undue social harm. He also organized several symposia for the McGeorge community, including symposia on legalizing marijuana, sex offenses, and sentencing reform.