Michelle Dempsey, Michael Moreland, Joy Mullane, Teressa Ravenell, and Chaim Saiman granted tenure and promoted to full professor

Villanova, Pa. –Five Villanova University School of Law faculty members—Michelle Dempsey, Michael Moreland, Joy Mullane, Teressa Ravenell, and Chaim Saiman—were recently granted tenure and promoted to full professor. These individuals represent a cross-section of legal specialties that highlight the breadth of academic offerings at the Law School. Detailed biographical information for each faculty member is listed below.

Michelle Dempsey
Villanova University School of Law Faculty since 2009
Education: University of Oxford (DPhil); London School of Economics (LLM); University of Michigan Law School (JD); University of Illinois (BA)
Specialty Areas: Criminal Law; Jurisprudence; Feminist Legal Theory
Notable scholarship in such publications as University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Modern Law Review, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies and Criminal Law Review.

Michelle Dempsey’s numerous professional highlights include testimony before a United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the chronic failure to report and investigate rape; work as an expert witness and consultant to the Crown Prosecution Service of England and Wales on domestic violence prosecutions; and service as a legal consultant to United Nations Special Rapporteur on Trafficking. Her book, Prosecuting Domestic Violence: A Philosophical Analysis (Oxford University Press, 2009), was awarded second prize in the UK’s Society of Legal Scholars Peter Birks Award for Outstanding Legal Scholarship. In addition to her position at Villanova, she serves as the co-coordinator of the Criminal Law Theory Program at the Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice. Professor Dempsey is an editor of Criminal Law & Philosophy.

Michael Moreland, Vice Dean
Villanova University School of Law Faculty since 2006
Education: University of Michigan Law School (JD); Boston College (MA, PhD); University of Notre Dame (BA)
Specialty Areas: Torts; Bioethics; Law and Religion
Notable scholarship in such publications as Notre Dame Law Review, Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy, Law & Literature, Journal of Health and Life Sciences Law, American Journal of Bioethics, and Journal of Perinatology.

Michael Moreland was appointed Vice Dean of Villanova University School of Law in June 2012. Prior to joining the Villanova faculty, he served as Associate Director for Domestic Policy at the White House, working on a range of legal policy issues, including criminal justice, immigration, civil rights and liability reform. Dean Moreland clerked for the Honorable Paul J. Kelly, Jr., of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, and was an associate at Williams & Connolly in Washington, D.C., representing clients in First Amendment, professional liability and products liability matters. In the 2010–11 academic year, he was the Forbes Visiting Fellow in the James Madison Program at Princeton University.

Joy Mullane
Villanova University School of Law Faculty since 2006
Education: University of Florida Levin College of Law (LLM, JD); University of Florida (BA)
Specialty Areas: Federal Tax; Wealth Tax; Executive Compensation
Notable scholarship in such publications as American University Business Law Brief, Catholic University Law Review, Lewis & Clark Law Review and Florida Law Review.

At a time when executive compensation packages are under intense scrutiny, Joy Mullane focuses her scholarship on tax penalties designed to modify corporate and executive pay practices. She teaches in both the JD and Graduate Tax programs at Villanova and was previously a Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at University of Florida Levin College of Law. As a practitioner, Professor Mullane was a corporate finance associate at the international firm of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker in Atlanta; a clerk for the Honorable Susan H. Black of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit; and an associate specializing in employee benefits and financial products tax at Davis & Harman in Washington, D.C.

Teressa Ravenell
Villanova University School of Law Faculty since 2006
Education: Columbia University School of Law (JD); University of Virginia (BA)
Specialty Areas: Civil Procedure; Civil Rights Litigation; Police Conduct
Notable scholarship in such publications as Seton Hall Law Review, Civil Rights Litigation and Attorney Fees Annual Handbook, Temple Law Review and Villanova Law Review.

Teressa Ravenell has coordinated the visiting assistant professor program at Villanova University School of Law. Prior to joining the faculty, she was a Visiting Assistant Professor at the College of William and Mary Law School, where she taught products liability and a police conduct seminar. Professor Ravenell was previously an associate with Wilmer, Cutler, & Pickering in Washington D.C., and a clerk for the Honorable Raymond A. Jackson of the United Stated District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. She was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar at Columbia University School of Law.

Chaim Saiman
Villanova University School of Law Faculty since 2006
Education: Columbia University School of Law (JD); Georgia State University (BBS); Yeshivat Har Etzion (graduate Talmudic and Biblical studies); Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavne (undergraduate Talmudic and Biblical Studies)
Specialty Areas: Private Law Theory; Jewish Law; Comparative Jurisprudence
Notable scholarship in such publications as Journal of Law and Religion, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, American Journal of Comparative Law and University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law.

A noted scholar of Jewish Law, Chaim Saiman teaches courses in Jewish Law, Tradition in Law and Religion, Legislation and Contracts at Villanova. In the 2012–13 academic year, he will serve as the Gruss Professor of Talmudic Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and as a fellow-in-residence at the James Madison Program at Princeton University. Previously, Professor Saiman was an Olin Fellow at Harvard Law School, a Golieb Fellow in legal history at NYU Law School, and a clerk for the Honorable Michael McConnell of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. He currently serves as the Jewish Law Editor for the Journal of Law and Religion. His book, titled, Halakhah: The Rabbinic Idea of Law, which analyzes the relationship between legal doctrine, philosophy and theology in Jewish law and culture, is forthcoming from Princeton University Press.

Since 1842, Villanova University’s Augustinian Catholic intellectual tradition has been the cornerstone of an academic community in which students learn to think critically, act compassionately and succeed while serving others. Founded in 1953, the Villanova University School of Law tradition is rooted in academic excellence, academic freedom, inclusion and respect for human dignity. The Law School provides broad-based legal education, and its award-winning clinics and Lawyering Together Program provide free legal aid to those in need. The School is accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools.

Notable alumni include Hon. Edward Rendell (Former Governor of Pennsylvania); Hon. Marjorie Rendell (Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit); Hon. Kelly Ayotte (U.S. Senator, New Hampshire); Richard Trumka (President, AFL-CIO);  Joseph T. Sebastianelli (President and CEO, Jefferson Health Systems); Michael R. Haswell (Head of Business Development, Google); David C. Chavern (Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, U.S. Chamber of Commerce); and Jeffrey S. Moorad (Vice Chairman, San Diego Padres).