Villanova Law Welcomes New Faculty Members in Fall 2023
Mark C. Alexander, the Arthur J. Kania Dean of Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law, has appointed five new faculty members beginning in the 2023-24 academic year.
- Won Kidane, Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the International Entrepreneurship Program
- Preston Lim, Assistant Professor of Law
- Daniel Cortes, Assistant Professor of Law and Director of the Clinic for Asylum, Refugee and Emigrant Services (CARES)
- Waseem Moorad, Assistant Professor of Law and Director of the Intellectual Property Law Clinic
- Caroline Wick, Assistant Professor of Law and Director of the Health Law Clinic
Villanova Law also brings practitioners and scholars to campus through the Visiting Assistant Professor program, providing guidance and mentorship as they prepare for academic careers. This year, Villanova Law welcomes four visiting faculty members:
- Gregg Polsky, Scarpa Distinguished Visiting Professor of Entrepreneurship
- Rebecca Scalio, Visiting Assistant Professor of Law
- Kibrom Teweldebirhan, Visiting Assistant Professor of Law
- Jane Winn, Visiting Professor of Law (beginning in the spring semester)
"I am thrilled to welcome a new group of faculty to Villanova Law," said Dean Alexander. "These individuals bring expertise and innovative legal education to the classroom, positively impacting our students and the community. They will undoubtedly be an excellent addition to the outstanding faculty at Villanova Law."
Before joining Villanova Law, Won Kidane taught at Seattle University School of Law for 15 years, which followed three years of teaching at Penn State Law. Prior to teaching, he practiced law in Washington, DC with Hunton & Williams, and Piper Rudnick (now DLA Piper) for four years. His areas of expertise include international arbitration and litigation, comparative law and the legal aspects of China-Africa economic relations.
Preston Lim's teaching and research interests include public international law – particularly China’s relationship with the international legal system – and comparative constitutional law, with a focus on Canadian constitutional interpretation. He has served as a Policy Advisor to the Honourable Erin O’Toole (then foreign affairs critic in Canada’s House of Commons) and a law clerk to the Justices of the Court of Appeal for Ontario and to Chief Justice Richard Wagner of the Supreme Court of Canada
Daniel Cortes is a lawyer whose work focuses on the intersectionality of immigration and social justice. Daniel was born in Colombia and migrated to the United States at a young age with his family. His personal experience as an immigrant has shaped his passion in advocating for an equitable immigration system. His legal career has focused on a holistic centered approach and community empowerment.
Waseem Moorad is the inaugural director of the newly-established Intellectual Property Law Clinic. As an engineer, attorney and entrepreneur, he guides his students to tackle legal matters from a practical and business standpoint in order to effectively and strategically navigate potential clients through various stages of the intellectual property protection process. Prior to joining Villanova Law, Waseem directed the Detkin Intellectual Property and Technology Legal Clinic at Penn Carey Law, and served for 15 years at the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Before joining Villanova Law's faculty, Caroline Wick was a was a practitioner-in-residence at American University Washington College of Law with the Disability Rights Law Clinic for three years, where she co-taught the clinic seminar and supervised students representing clients in a wide range of cases implicating disability rights, including special education and Medicaid appeals. She also taught Legal Ethics.
Gregg Polsky is the Francis Shackelford Distinguished Professor in Taxation Law at the University of Georgia School of Law. He teaches and writes in the areas of federal income taxation and business law. His recent articles on private equity and venture capital tax strategies, corporate transactions, and executive compensation have appeared in leading academic law reviews and professional tax journals.
Prior to joining Villanova Law, Rebecca Scalio taught in various positions for Delaware Law School Widener University and Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law. She was also an adjunct professor for the University of Dayton School of Law, where she created and taught the Appellate Practice & Procedure course in the Hybrid JD Program.
Kibrom Teweldebirhan is a visiting assistant professor of law at Villanova Law and a research fellow at Harvard Law School East Asian Legal Studies Program. Before joining Villanova Law, he was a visiting scholars coordinator at Harvard Law School East Asian Legal Studies. His teaching and research interests include international law, race and international law, law and economic development, Chinese law and legal thought, and legal thought in colonial and postcolonial Africa.
Jane Winn, who will join us beginning in spring 2024, is a leading international authority on electronic commerce law as well as regulatory governance issues arising from technology innovation in global markets. She joins us from the University of Washington School of Law. Her current research interests include electronic commerce law and governance developments in the United States, the European Union, India and China.