Aaron Schwabach joins Bowen’s faculty as an Associate Professor of Law after teaching at Thomas Jefferson Law School in San Diego. He will be teaching Real Property and Decedents’ Estates. An international law scholar, Professor Schwabach’s scholarly interests range from property-related topics, including intellectual property, international and domestic environmental law, and the inheritance laws of the European Union, to the law of war and the complex legal and cultural legacy of Thomas Jefferson. An advocate for the Rule of Law internationally, Professor Schwabach has worked with the American Bar Association’s Central and Eastern European Law Initiative and Rule of Law Initiative to strengthen the development of the rule of law across the world. He is the past editor of two pieces in UNESCO’s Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (“Law” and “The Role of International Law and Institutions”) and is the author of several articles within those themes. He is also a current member of the editorial board of the Hungarian Yearbook of International Law and European Law. Professor Schwabach brings a much needed international focus to Bowen’s faculty after the retirements of two of Bowen’s international faculty members, Professor Ken Gallant and Sarah Howard Jenkins.
Rebecca Feldmann began at Bowen this summer as an Assistant Professor of Clinical Education and the Director of Bowen’s new Veterans Legal Services Clinic. An advocate for Americans who cannot afford legal representation, Professor Feldmann began her legal career as an attorney at Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, where she represented low-income immigrants and their U.S. citizen family members in a variety of immigration proceedings. Before joining the Bowen faculty, Professor Feldmann held clinical teaching positions at Villanova, Seton Hall, and Georgetown, where she supervised students representing survivors of trauma in administrative proceedings. Professor Feldmann’s career focus fits well with Bowen’s access to justice core value.
Desireé Slaybaugh joins Bowen as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at Bowen. She will be teaching Research, Writing, and Analysis I and II. Prior to joining Bowen, Professor Slaybaugh served two years as a Westerfield Teaching Fellow at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law teaching in Loyola’s Lawyering program, and one year as a C.V. Starr Lecturer of Law at the Peking University School of Transnational Law in Shenzhen, China, where she also taught contracts drafting and international human rights law. Before transitioning to teaching, she practiced at a nationally recognized plaintiffs’ law firm in Dallas, Texas and devoted pro bono services to a local human rights nonprofit. Professor Slaybaugh brings experience in both the classroom and practice to Bowen.
Carolyn Ryburn joins Bowen as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Law. She will be teaching Research, Writing, and Analysis I and II. A Bowen graduate, Professor Ryburn worked in private practice for the Barber Law Firm in Little Rock and as an in-house counsel prior to transitioning to teaching. In practice, she specialized in insurance coverage defense and workers’ compensation litigation, including practicing before the Arkansas trial and appellate courts. Professor Ryburn then worked as Employment Counsel for Simmons Bank, a multibillion-dollar bank with locations in eight states. While in-house, she managed and practiced in employment litigation before the Arkansas EEOC, various states’ unemployment agencies, and in courts throughout the company’s multi-state footprint.
“Each of these professors brings to the classroom a wealth of experience in both the classroom and practice as well as a passion for teaching. Our students will benefit greatly from that,” said Theresa Beiner, Bowen’s dean. “We are excited to have them join Bowen’s faculty, and I look forward to working with each of them.”