Faculty

Matt Lyon became the Vice President and Dean of LMU Law in July 2020. Prior to that, Lyon served as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at LMU Law for five years. In that role, Lyon oversaw LMU Law’s program of legal education and coordinated its successful efforts to obtain full approval from the American Bar Association.

From 2008 to 2011, Lyon served as the Senior Judicial Clerk to Justice Gary R. Wade of the Tennessee Supreme Court. He later served for one year as Chief of Staff to Chief Justice Wade. Prior to working for Justice Wade, Lyon was an associate at Sidley Austin LLP in Chicago. His practice focused on securities litigation, mergers and acquisitions litigation, and energy regulatory work. He has represented corporations and their officers and directors in federal securities fraud class actions, SEC investigations, and directors’ and officers’ liability claims. He also counseled Illinois’ largest electric utility regarding a variety of regulatory and legislative matters. In addition, he was involved in the firm’s pro bono efforts, representing a death row prisoner in Alabama in his post-conviction proceedings.

Lyon is a member of the Tennessee bar and is also licensed (but inactive) in Illinois. He is a member of the Executive Council of the Business Law Section of the Tennessee Bar Association, served as Chair of the Business Law Section in 2017-19, and was a member of the TBA’s Leadership Law Class of 2017. He is a member of the Publications Committee of the Knoxville Bar Association and coordinates the feature article in KBA’s monthly publication, DICTA. The KBA recognized Lyon’s contributions by awarding him its DICTA Award in 2017. Lyon is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and the Knoxville Bar Foundation.

Prior to law school, Lyon worked as a Social Science Analyst in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C. In that role, he helped develop a research agenda to evaluate the effects of the 1996 welfare reform law and worked with states and private research organizations to conduct and analyze that research. He was a participant in the prestigious Presidential Management Intern (PMI) program, during which time he worked for the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.

Lyon believes that a successful law school course is one that is consistent, challenging, and fair. Course expectations should be clear and the professor should keep his or her commitments to the students, while at the same time regularly forcing the students outside of their comfort zones. Law students, even 1Ls, should become familiar with how the abstract legal doctrines they study will apply both in practice and in their everyday lives. He also requires students to break out of the “law school bubble” and be aware of current events related to the subjects they are studying. The law school’s student body voted Lyon Professor of the Year in 2014-2015.

Lyon’s research has been focused on business law and civil litigation, particularly variations among the states and between the state and federal systems in those areas. He studies how state courts and legislatures use their rules of civil procedure and/or substantive laws governing corporations to achieve their explicit or implicit policy goals. He also believes strongly in writing and presenting on issues of interest to local and state bar.

When he is not at the law school, Lyon is usually at home with his wife, two children, and two pit-bull mixes. Dean Lyon and his family are active in their church, First Baptist Church of Knoxville, where he serves as a deacon. In his limited spare time, he enjoys running, watching sports, and listening to all genres of music, but particularly power pop, old-school hip hop, and ’70s and ’80s “yacht rock.”

Business Organizations

Contracts

Civil Procedure

Payment Systems

Externship

William Gill joined LMU Law as a visiting professor in 2015. In 2016 he became an assistant professor and teaches in the Academic Success and Legal Writing programs. From 2012 until 2015, he served as a Judicial Law Clerk for Justice Gary R. Wade in the Tennessee Supreme Court. Gill also spent two years clerking for U.S. Magistrate Judge W. Leon Barfield in the Southern District of Georgia.

Gill graduated cum laude from the Emory School of Law, where he served as a managing editor on the Emory Law Journal; completed an externship with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; and worked as a research assistant for Dean David Partlett, conducting research for and editing the 12th edition of Prosser, Wade, and Schwartz’s Torts. He also completed a judicial internship in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia and spent a summer in the Atlanta office of Holland & Knight, LLP. Prior to law school, Gill worked as a private investigator specializing in fraud and identity theft; an Assistant Professor of English Language at the University of Guanajuato in Guanajuato, Mexico; and a short-order cook and server at Waffle House.

Gill strives for maximum student participation in class and endeavors to help students reach their full potential by developing the skills needed for both academic success and the practice of law. While away from the law school, he enjoys vegetable gardening, cycling, and the occasional karaoke night at Marie’s Olde Towne Tavern.

Gill is a member of the Tennessee and Georgia bars. He has published articles in the areas of constitutional law and torts.

Academic Success

Legal Writing

LL.M., University of Connecticut School of Law 

J.D., University of Tennessee College of Law 

Vonda M. Laughlin is licensed to practice in Tennessee and is a member of the Tennessee Bar Association and the Jefferson County Bar Association. At the University of Connecticut School of Law where she received her LL.M. degree, with honors, she received the LL.M. Prize for exemplifying the law school’s commitment to distinguished scholarship in the field of insurance law and for dedication to serving the community. She was also awarded CALI Excellence for the Future awards in Principles of Insurance and Surety Law. At the University of Tennessee College of Law, where she received her J.D. degree she was ranked first in her class. There, she received several honors including the Outstanding Graduate Award from the Michie Company, the Hornbook Award for the highest GPA, the Corpus Juris Secundum Award for scholastic performance, American Jurisprudence (now CALI) awards in Constitutional Law I, Criminal Law, Evidence, Jurisprudence, Legal Profession, Products Liability, Sales and Secured Transactions, and Torts II. 

Upon graduation from law school, Professor Laughlin served as a judicial clerk to federal U.S. District Court Judge Thomas G. Hull who at the time was Chief Judge for the Eastern District of Tennessee. 

She later practiced with a New York-based firm that is now Milberg, Coleman,, Bryson Phillips, Grossman, PLLC  and with Butler, Vines, and Babb in Knoxville. She also served as in-house counsel for Permanent General Insurance Company, where she tried cases and handled policy disputes. 

In addition to experience teaching in law school, Professor Laughlin taught for a number of years at the undergraduate and graduate MBA levels where she obtained significant experience in the field of distance education. 

Professor Laughlin is a listed general civil and family mediator in Tennessee. 

Her articles have been accepted in a number of publications including the Drake Law Review, the Connecticut Insurance Law Journal, the Whittier Journal Child and Family Advocacy, and most recently, the Baylor Law Review. She also published in American Law Reports.  Following is a link to her scholarship: https://works.bepress.com/vonda-laughlin/.   

Professor Laughlin believes students have different and varied strengths and abilities, and her goal is to help each student excel and reach his or her chosen goals.  

Professor Laughlin lives in Jefferson City with her husband, Mike Dockery. She enjoys travel, water sports, reading, beekeeping, and time with her cat, Miss McGoo. 

Contracts 

Secured Transactions 

Insurance Law 

Bar Preparation 

Melanie Reid is the Associate Dean of Faculty and a Professor of Law. Prior to joining LMU Law, Professor Reid was a trial attorney in the Narcotics and Dangerous Drug Section at the U.S. Department of Justice as well as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of Florida. She is a former law clerk for Judge Charles Wilson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and a member of the Florida Bar.

Reid has lectured on various topics, including prosecuting international narcotics trafficking cases, proactive investigations, money laundering and asset forfeiture, federal wiretap and conspiracy laws, discovery obligations and prudential searches, advanced trial advocacy and evidentiary foundations, and evidentiary issues in international criminal cases. These lectures were sponsored by various agencies, including the DEA Office of International Training in Quantico, Virginia and in South America, the National Advocacy Center in South Carolina, the International Law Enforcement Academy in Budapest, Hungary, the Department of Justice in the District of Columbia, and the Regional Counterintelligence Working Group in the FBI Tampa Field Office. Reid has also lectured at the National Forensic Academy in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

In 2016, Reid was a guest lecturer at Liaocheng University, Shandong Province in China and discussed select topics on constitutional law, comparative law, and criminal procedure and evidence. Reid received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar grant to teach U.S. criminal law and procedure at the University of Latvia Faculty of Law in Riga, Latvia in 2018. In 2022, Reid taught criminal law and procedure courses at the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, Poland.

Reid has also presented and written articles on the criminal law implications of autonomous vehicles and road surveillance, robo-cops, economic espionage, drones, marijuana, narcotics trafficking in West Africa and Mexico, the culture of mass incarceration, the impact of restitution on child pornography possession cases, the role of intelligence and the use of intelligence-derived information in criminal prosecutions, and the global perspective on crime and punishment.

When not teaching, Reid prefers reading recent crim pro cases with a cup of coffee and oat milk in hand. She also enjoys learning about the latest innovative teaching ideas and using various learning styles in the classroom. She is passionate about inspiring her students to dream big, work hard, and become empathetic, compassionate, practice-ready lawyers.

You can learn more about Professor Reid’s publications here: https://works.bepress.com/melanie_reid/

Criminal Procedure

Criminal Law

Criminal Practice

Federal Criminal Law

Police Law, Policy, & Practices

Comparative Legal Traditions

Prior to joining, Dean Gordon Russell was the founding Associate Dean for Library and Information Technology and Professor of Law at Charleston School of Law.

Russell received his B.A. and M.L.S. from Brigham Young University, LL.B. from University of Western Ontario, J.D. from the University of New Mexico, and MBA from Lincoln Memorial University. He is a Rule 31 listed Mediator in Tennessee. He currently serves on the board of the Community Mediation Center of East Tennessee and the Tennessee Association of Professional Mediators (TAPM). He has served on several ABA Site Team Evaluations.

B.A., State University of New York at Albany

J.D., Golden Gate University School of Law

Professor Alfieri joined the Duncan School of Law in 2023.  In the immediately preceding years, she taught doctrinal, bar preparation and academic success curriculum at Alliant International University Law School.  Prior to teaching law school, Professor Alfieri practiced law as a federal, criminal appellate and post-conviction attorney for many years.  She is a member of the State Bar of California and is admitted to practice in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and the Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeals. Professor Alfieri received her B.A. from the State University of New York at Albany and her J.D. from Golden Gate University School of Law.

B.A., University of Nevada, Las Vegas

J.D., Nova Southeastern University

M.S., University of Edinburgh

Professor Arléne Amarante grew up between the United States and Mexico and spends much of her time thinking and writing about borders. Prior to joining the LMU faculty in the fall of 2019, she served as an instructor, a clinical supervisor, the executive director of a nonprofit law firm, and a legal aid attorney.

Professor Amarante has received a number of national awards, including the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s Pro Bono Champion award in 2016 and Pro Bono Hero “Artesia First Responders” award in 2014, and she is a frequent contributor to various media outlets, including National Public Radio, Democratic TV, the Las Vegas Review Journal, the Las Vegas Sun, and Telemundo.

In her free time, she pretends to be working on a novel and plays with her silly dogs, Manu and Kiko.

She is a member of the New York bar.

Legal Communication I, II, & III
Legal Foundations
Immigration Law
Asylum Practice
Critical Race Theory

J.D., University of Tennessee College of Law

B.A., University of Tennessee 

An experienced trial lawyer with a passion for teaching, Professor Beckman taught at the Charleston School of Law and was an adjunct professor at Texas Wesleyan University School of Law before joining the LMU Law faculty. He regularly gives presentations on the effective use of technology in the classroom for teaching and assessment. He has authored dozens of articles and numerous books. His interests include evidence, technology and the law, and domestic relations.

Prior to becoming a full-time educator, Beckman practiced law with the firm of Goodman, Clark and Beckman in Arlington, Texas, and also served as a Municipal Judge Pro Tem for the City of Fort Worth. He is Board Certified in Family Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, is a member of the Texas Bar and is admitted to the Northern District of Texas.

“I try to create an environment where students want to be engaged and interactive,” Beckman says. “My teaching philosophy is to adapt. The students we teach now are not the same as they were 20 or even 10 years ago. They are plugged in and live with many distractions. I try to get them energized and focused on the classroom.”

When Beckman isn’t teaching or writing, he relishes his roles as a dad and a husband. Other hobbies include woodworking, amateur radio and magic.

Evidence

Advanced Evidence

Civil Procedure I & II

Technology and the Law

Intellectual Property

Conflict of Laws

Prior to starting at LMU Law, Professor Bruce Beverly practiced family law litigation primarily in Ft. Worth, Texas, for over 17 years, where he is board certified as a family law specialist by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Beverly has extensive bench and jury litigation experience as well as appellate experience in family law and personal injury tort litigation.

In addition to his busy litigation practice as a partner and solo practitioner in private practice, Mr. Beverly previously taught as an adjunct professor in the paralegal programs at the University of Texas at Arlington, and the State University of Ohio – Lima/Lima Technical College in Lima, Ohio. He has since written and presented dozens of articles and papers on family law, law and technology, and practical tips for lawyers, and he has co-authored three published books on direct and cross-examination in family law cases.

Beverly has been an officer and director for a number of years in the Tarrant County Family Law Bar Association and is a member of the State Bar of Texas, Family Law Section.

Beverly is active in the Texas Bar, the Tennessee Bar, and the Northern District of Texas and is a Rule 31 Certified Mediator in TN family law cases.

Locally, Beverly was a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Board of the Knoxville Family Justice Center, an organization that provides legal support, physical protection and emotional support for victims of domestic violence, from 2010-2016.

Beverly teaches Tort, Remedies, Domestic Relations, Advanced Domestic Relations Drafting, and Law Office Management.

B.A., McGill University

B.Sc., McGill University

J.D., University of Notre Dame Law School

B.A., University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill

J.D., University of Tennessee – Knoxville

Professor Katie Tolliver Jones joined LMU Law in August of 2017. Before joining the faculty of LMU Law, Professor Jones worked at the law firm of Holbrook, Peterson, Smith, PLLC in Knoxville. While at the firm, she focused on estate planning and civil litigation. Professor Jones handled matters involving appellate litigation, estate administration, worker’s compensation, tax, contract law, and real estate, among other practice areas. Professor Jones previously operated a solo practice and advised clients in matters of wills and estates, tax law, family law, employment law, and worker’s compensation. She represented individuals and small businesses and assisted fellow attorneys with appellate advocacy and brief writing.

In 2010 Professor Jones was selected by the American Bar Association Section of Taxation for one of two national fully-funded, two-year public service tax fellowships. As a public service fellow, she worked as an attorney with the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands to set up a low-income tax clinic serving eight counties in Appalachia. Professor Jones represented clients in administrative proceedings, negotiated settlements with the IRS, and represented clients in complex Federal Tax Court litigation. She also handled matters involving housing law, domestic violence, family law, juvenile law, elder law, disability law, and employment law and taught continuing legal education seminars. Professor Jones worked for the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands for a total of ten years, having begun as a volunteer and law clerk.

Professor Jones grew up in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and completed her undergraduate studies at The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She graduated with honors in political science and sociology with a minor in social and economic justice.

Professor Jones earned her J.D. at The University of Tennessee College of Law. During law school, she received authorization from the IRS to represent clients in administrative hearings and litigation. She was also licensed as a student attorney by the TN Supreme Court to handle other types of cases. She represented clients in the domestic violence clinic and the education law practicum and served on the Tennessee Law Review.

Professor Jones enjoys legal writing and strives to help students use their individual strengths to succeed and develop the skills needed to practice law.  

In her spare time, Professor Jones volunteers for community organizations and enjoys hiking, reading, cooking, Tar Heels basketball, and traveling. She is fluent in conversational and written Spanish.

Legal Foundations I & II

Estate Planning

Bar Examination Skills

B.A., Lincoln Memorial University

J.D., Samford University, Cumberland School of Law

Ed.D, Lincoln Memorial University

Domestic Relations

Juvenile Law

Adoption Law

Professional Responsibility

Law Office Management

Domestic Relations Drafting

Torts

B.A., Clemson University

J.D., University of Tennessee College of Law

Rice previously taught for seven years at the University of Tennessee College of Law, the University of Massachusetts College of Law, and the Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University. Rice teaches and writes about the legal environment of business and social change, civil procedure, professional responsibility, and legislation. He is devoted to excellence in teaching and endeavors to provide students with training in legal theory, practice skills, and professionalism. Additionally, he has spoken nationally about Corporate Social Responsibility, corporate governance, legal ethics, and anti-discrimination laws, and his scholarship has been published in the Northeastern University Law Review and the FIU Law Review.

Prior to entering law school teaching, Rice served as a judicial clerk for the Supreme Court of Tennessee and practiced civil litigation in Knoxville. He is a member of the Tennessee and South Carolina Bars, and he is admitted to practice in the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He has a distinguished record of service with the American Association of Law Schools and the American, Tennessee, and Knoxville Bar Associations, and he is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

A native of Greenville, South Carolina, Rice graduated from Clemson University and then earned his law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law. While in law school, Rice served as the President of the Student Bar Association and the Vice Chair of the Moot Court Board, competed in the Dean Jerome Memorial Evidence Moot Court Competition at Brooklyn Law School, and was honored with the Order of the Barrister and the ALI-ABA Scholarship and Leadership award.

Outside of class, Rice enjoys exploring the vibrant Knoxville community, spending time with family and his beagles, and attending events at the Tennessee Theatre. The highlight of his year is a trip to New York City to take in a Broadway show or two and enjoy the Christmas festivities.

B.A., Davidson College

J.D., University of Tennessee College of Law – Knoxville

Professor Rickels joined the LMU Law School in 2021 to work with the Academic Success Program.  She spent the majority of her legal career practicing criminal defense with downtown Knoxville firm Oberman & Rice.  Professor Rickels also spent a brief term with the UT College of Law Legal Clinic as a Reentry Fellow with a focus on expungement work.  A Knoxville native, she graduated from UT College of Law with honors after attending Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina for her undergraduate degree.

Legal Foundations

Advanced Legal Reasoning

Legal Communication II

MEE Skills I

DUI Law in Tennessee

B.A., University of Tennessee

J.D., University of Tennessee

Jason R. Smith joined the LMU Law faculty in 2019.  Prior to joining the LMU Law faculty full-time, he served as an adjunct professor teaching Legal Communication III in the fall of 2017 and 2018.

From September 2010 to July 2019, Professor Smith served as a law clerk for Judge D. Kelly Thomas, Jr., of the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals.  During that time, Professor Smith assisted in drafting over 250 judicial opinions covering all aspects of Tennessee criminal law.  He also edited judicial opinions drafted by other law clerks and from other judges’ chambers.

Before clerking with Judge Thomas, Professor Smith was a research attorney at Butler, Vines & Babb, PLLC in Knoxville, Tennessee.  In that role he provided research services for the firm members, focusing primarily on civil procedure, torts, and insurance law.  This included drafting research memoranda and various pleadings.

Professor Smith graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 2009 summa cum laude and Order of the Coif. In law school, he received certificates of academic excellence for Advanced Criminal Law, Civil Rights Actions, Legal Profession, and Legislation. He also received the Warren Wesley Kennerly Scholarship for Achievement in Legal Ethics.  During law school, Professor Smith was a law clerk for the University of Tennessee Office of the General Counsel and interned with the Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee, Inc.  Professor Smith also graduated summa cum laude from the University of Tennessee in 2004 with a B.A. majoring in English Literature and Political Science.

He is also a member of the American Bar Association, the Tennessee Bar Association, and the Knoxville Bar Association. Professor Smith currently serves as a member of the ABA’s Death Penalty Due Process Review Project and Death Penalty Representation Project.

Legal Communication I, II, & III

Death Penalty Seminar

Post-Conviction Remedies

Professor Swanson joined the LMU Duncan School of Law in 2021. She has over nineteen years of teaching experience as a law professor. Most recently, she taught at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law, but she has also taught at the University of Michigan Law School, and Western Michigan University Cooley Law School.

Professor Swanson is the 2022 LMU Duncan School of Law Professor of the Year. At WMU Cooley, Professor Swanson was awarded Professor of the Year three times, the Equal Access to Justice Award twice, the Stanley E. Beattie teaching award twice, the Distinguished Service Award, and the Great Deeds Award.

Professor Swanson practiced law for five years. The bulk of her practice experience centered around real estate development work in an affordable housing context. She also practiced with a small general practice law firm in the Lynchburg, Virginia in the litigation department.

Professor Swanson has published both on property topics and on human trafficking. Her forthcoming law review article on racially restrictive covenants will be completed in the Summer of 2022.

Professor Swanson received her undergraduate degree from Yale University where she majored in African and African American Studies. She graduated from Yale with Distinction in the Major. She obtained her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Michigan Law School where she was an Associate Editor on the Michigan Journal of Race and Law.

Professor Swanson served as an appointed Member of the Michigan Land Title Standards Committee for five years. She also served as Co-Chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee of the Hillsborough Association for Women Lawyers in Tampa, Florida.

Professor Swanson is a native of the Blue Ridge Mountains in rural Central Virginia. She grew up, from age eleven, working in her parents Bar-be-Que restaurant. She enjoys spending time with her teenage daughter, being outside, good food, roasting marshmallows over the firepit, ‘90’s hip-hop, and going to Disney.

Professor Swiney previously worked as an adjunct law professor at both LMU Law and South College, teaching legal writing and a variety of other legal topics. Swiney has several years of private practice experience consisting of federal employment law, family law, and criminal defense. Following private practice, she was a law clerk for four Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals judges, most recently finishing her tenure with Presiding Judge Curwood Witt, Jr. in Knoxville. Swiney is a “Double Railsplitter,” having earned her undergraduate degree from Lincoln Memorial University in 2013 and worked for Knox County Schools before earning her J.D. cum laude from the Duncan School of Law in 2017.  While attending LMU Law, Swiney was the Symposium Editor for the LMU Law Review and President of Mock Trial. 

Bianca White has worked with law libraries as a legal research attorney for eight years. In that role, White worked closely with law students and professors developing and refining their legal research skills. Prior to this experience White worked as a labor and employment attorney.

She graduated cum laude and with honors from the University of Memphis School of Law. While in law school White participated in moot court and finished in the semi-finals. White received the Excellency in Trial Advocacy award and scholarship and the CALI award for Trial Advocacy. White also graduated summa cum laude with her M.B.A. and B.A in History. White most recently obtained in Masters in Information Science, summa cum laude, from the University of Tennessee, where she continues to conduct research in the area of legal reference services and Access to Justice.

White maintains an active law license in Tennessee and is a member of the American Bar Association and the Tennessee Bar Association. She has presented CLEs on a number of topics from legal research to discovery.

White’s teaching philosophy focuses on learning through experience and context. White is a firm believer that one learns far more from failure than success and encourages trial and error in her classroom to best foster these teaching moments. It is White’s goal that all students feel confident, included, and safe in expressing their beliefs, thoughts and ideas in the classroom.

White enjoys spending time with her two daughters, son and husband. White’s hobbies include leisure reading, foreign television and all things chocolate.

Legal Research I, II & III

MEE Skills