Skip Navigation

News and Events

Faculty Experts Guide

There were 4 results under the selected topic...
 

Photo of Kris Knaplund

Kris Knaplund, J.D. 
Professor of Law
School of Law

Phone: (310) 506-6890
E-mail: kris.knaplund@pepperdine.edu
Location: Malibu Campus

Areas of Expertise

  • Wills and trusts
  • Bioethics

Prior to coming to Pepperdine, Kris Knaplund was on the faculty at UCLA Law School, where she taught courses in property, torts, and wills and trusts. She has been honored with the Rutter Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Harriet and Charles Luckman Distinguished Teaching Award, and she was selected as Professor of the Year by the 1997 graduating class. In 2010 she was elected an Academic Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Council.

Before moving to Los Angeles, she practiced law with Queens Legal Services in New York City and with a private law firm in New York and Washington, D.C., primarily handling Title VII plaintiffs' employment discrimination cases. She also has served as a full-time volunteer with the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund in New York. She is a member of the New York Bar and a member of the Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Section of the California State Bar. She serves as Co-Chair of the ABA Committee on Bioethics for the Section on Real Property, Trusts and Estates.

Media Contact Information

Office of Public Relations
Pepperdine University
Direct: (310) 506-4138
E-mail:

Photo of Barry McDonald

Barry McDonald, J.D. 
Associate Professor of Law
School of Law

Phone: (310) 506-4668
E-mail: barry.mcdonald@pepperdine.edu
Location: Malibu Campus

Areas of Expertise

  • First Amendment law
  • U.S. Supreme Court
  • Constitutional law
  • Contract law
  • Intellectual property law and copyright
McDonald is an expert on the U.S. Supreme Court, constitutional law, First Amendment law, and intellectual property law.  He is a recognized scholar in the area of First Amendment law.  Prior to joining the faculty, McDonald worked for the U.S. Department of State, the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, and as general counsel to two different technology companies.

McDonald is a member of the State Bar of California, the American Bar Association, and the American Association of Law Schools (AALS).  He also served as the 2008 Chairperson of the Mass Communications Law Section of the AALS, and currently serves on the Executive Committee of that Section, the Section on Defamation and Privacy, and the Section on Law and Religion.  He clerked for the Honorable James K. Logan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, and then served as a law clerk to Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist during the 1989-90 Term of the Supreme Court of the United States.  

McDonald has been quoted as an expert in publications such as The Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, California Lawyer, and The Daily Journal, and his commentary has been broadcast on NPR, KABC, and KNX1070 to name only a few. Additionally, he regularly publishes articles and essays on the law governing freedom of expression and religion in such prominent journals as the Emory Law Journal, Northwestern University Law Review, Notre Dame Law Review, Ohio State Law Journal and Washington & Lee Law Review.

Media Contact Information

Office of Public Relations
Pepperdine University
Direct: (310) 506-4138
E-mail:

Photo of Robert Popovich

Robert Popovich, J.D. 
Professor of Law
School of Law

Phone: (310) 506-4620
E-mail: robert.popovich@pepperdine.edu
Location: Malibu Campus

Areas of Expertise

  • Community property
  • Contract law
  • Estate planning
  • Federal estate and gift taxation

Robert Popovich teaches community property, contracts, estate planning, federal estate and gift taxation, and federal income tax. He also serves as the faculty advisor to the Business and Tax Law Society. Popovich presently serves as the director of international programs and he was twice named a Luckman Distinguished Teaching Fellow and Teacher of the Year.

Popovich is a member of the State Bar of California and is licensed in California as a CPA. He is also a member of the American and California Bas Associations (Taxation, Education, Teaching Taxation, Estate & Gift Taxation, Trusts & Estates, and Real Property, Probate and Trusts sections), the American Institute and California Society of Certified Public Accountants. He also serves on the Association of American Law School's committees of Donative Transfers, Fiduciaries and Estate Planning, and VAT and Other Consumption Taxes.

Popovich was the business editor of the Pepperdine Law Review. Upon graduation from Pepperdine University School of Law, he worked as an associate with the law firm Irell & Manella, practicing the areas of estate planning, taxation, and business transactions. Prior to his tenure as a Pepperdine law student, he practiced as a CPA with Deloitte & Touche, was a director of taxes for a large multinational corporation, and was CEO and Chairman of Lindmar Data Corporation.

Media Contact Information

Office of Public Relations
Pepperdine University
Direct: (310) 506-4138
E-mail:

Photo of Shelley R. Saxer

Shelley R. Saxer, J.D. 
Professor of Law
School of Law

Phone: (310) 506-4657
E-mail: shelley.saxer@pepperdine.edu
Location: Malibu Campus

Areas of Expertise

  • Property law
  • Eminent domain
  • Land use law

Shelley Saxer writes regularly on topics where land use issues intersect with constitutional concerns. She has published articles dealing with liquor store overconcentration in urban areas and the use of religious institutions for homeless shelters. Her published work also addresses conflict between local governmental units over commercial land use decisions that impact surrounding communities, eminent domain, and zoning conflicts with First Amendment rights.

Since joining the Pepperdine faculty, she has taught courses in real property, community property, remedies, environmental law, and land use. Saxer is a member of the Order of the Coif, the American Bar Association, and the California state bar, Property and Environmental Law sections.

While in law school, Saxer served as the managing editor of the UCLA Law Review. Upon graduation, she clerked for the Honorable Wm. Matthew Byrne, Jr. of the Federal District Court for the Central District of California and then worked briefly as a corporate associate for the Century City law offices of O'Melveny & Myers.

Media Contact Information

Office of Public Relations
Pepperdine University
Direct: (310) 506-4138
E-mail: