Four new faculty members joined UBalt Law this academic year. One is a clinical teaching fellow, and three are focused on a newly revamped Introduction to Lawyering Skills curriculum with smaller class sizes and an increased emphasis on writing and legal analysis.
Danielle Burs joined the faculty as a clinical teaching fellow in the Community Development Clinic. Previously, she held a variety of positions at the intersection of law, public policy, and community advocacy. Burs has focused on transactional, legislative, and regulatory work in her career, while also representing clients in administrative and civil cases. Her professional experience includes positions at nonprofit organizations, government offices, and private practice. Burs also maintains roles on volunteer boards focused on community development.
Burs received a Bachelor of Arts in Government Relations and English from Clark University in Worcester, Mass., and a Juris Doctor from The American University Washington College of Law.
Afton Cavanaugh joined the law school as an assistant professor. Prior to joining the faculty, he was a service professor of law and assistant dean at St. Mary’s University School of Law, where he taught a wide range of courses, including Legal Communications, Analysis, and Professionalism; Experiential Legal Analysis; Estate Planning; and Bar Prep for Credit.
At UBalt Law, Cavanaugh teaches Introduction to Lawyering Skills (ILS) and Trusts and Estates. Prior to his academic career, Cavanaugh practiced law as co-founder and managing member of Cavanaugh Quintanilla, PLLC in Austin, Tex., where he specialized in real estate, business law, and wills and estates.
Throughout his career, Cavanaugh has displayed a commitment to student success, from the development of courses that implement innovative active learning techniques, to research that focuses on student success both inside and outside of the classroom. He has presented at numerous conferences on topics such as legal education innovation, diversity in law schools, and the use of technology in legal writing instruction. His scholarship focuses on inheritance rights, tax law, and legal education reform. His work has been published in journals such as the UMKC Law Review, Hofstra Law Review, and The Scholar.
He earned a B.A. from St. Edwards University and a J.D. from St. Mary’s University School of Law.
Richard Luedeman teaches Introduction to Lawyering Skills (ILS) and Federal Civil Rights Claims. Previously, at the University of Connecticut School of Law, Luedeman taught lawyering courses and Advanced Civil Procedure. He is very active in academic service, and currently serves on the programming committee of the AALS Section on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Issues. He is also a member of the legal writing community, following pedagogical developments in the field and serving on the awards committee for the AALS Section on Legal Writing, Reasoning, and Research.
In addition to his scholarly work and academic service, Luedeman has taken on several pro bono projects while in academia, including successfully appealing the dismissal of a client’s civil rights claims in federal court.
Prior to teaching, Luedeman was a practitioner specializing in complex and appellate litigation. Before private practice, he clerked for judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.
He received an A.B. in government from Harvard University and a J.D. from Yale Law School, where he was a member of the Yale Law Journal editorial board and the New Haven Legal Assistance housing clinic.
Jessica Lynn Wherry joined the faculty as an associate professor teaching legal analysis and writing to first-year students, and upper-level writing in veterans law. Wherry began her teaching career as associate professor of legal research and writing, associate director of the legal research and writing program, and co-director of the scholarly writing program at The George Washington University Law School. Previously, she taught legal research and writing courses at Georgetown University Law Center. Prior to her career in education, she served as assistant counsel in the U.S. Department of the Navy’s Office of the General Counsel and as a cryptologic technician in the U.S. Navy.
Wherry’s scholarly interests are veterans and military law, legal communication and narrative, and the intersection of the two. She assists veterans with disability compensation claims and discharge upgrades through her pro bono work with the Homeless Persons Representation Project and The Veterans Consortium. Wherry also serves as reporter to the Standing Committee on Maryland Pattern Jury Instructions-Civil and as co-editor-in-chief to Legal Communication & Rhetoric: JALWD, the peer-reviewed flagship journal of the Association of Legal Writing Directors.
She is also a board member of the National Law School Veterans Clinic Consortium and serves as the editor to the Social Science Research Network’s Veterans & Military Law & Policy eJournal. She earned her B.A. from Lawrence University, an M.S.Sc. from Syracuse University, and her J.D. from The George Washington University Law School.