Meet the Palmer Center Faculty
Get to know the faculty that teach at the Palmer Center for Entrepreneurship and the Law's Certificate Program at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law. Each member of our faculty employs years of experience, passion, and knowledge, and have studied at some of the most prestigious schools in the country.
Law School Professors
Nick Kublicki
is an LA native who obtained his BA from UCLA, his JD from Pepperdine, and his LLM in environmental law from George Washington University. He worked in the policy and environmental departments at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC then practiced real estate finance at Buchalter, Nemer, Fields & Younger in LA and real estate transactions and environmental law at Ervin, Cohen & Jessup in Beverly Hills, from which he retired as a partner.
Barry P. McDonald
Barry P. McDonald has published several articles on the law governing freedom of expression in such prominent journals as the Emory Law Journal, the Notre Dame Law Review and the Ohio State Law Journal. In law school, Professor McDonald received the Order of the Coif, the Arlyn Miner Legal Writing Award, and was an associate editor of the Northwestern Law Review. Upon graduation 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.
Gregory S. McNeal
Professor Gregory S. McNeal, JD/PhD, is a Professor of Law and Public Policy at Pepperdine University. He is an expert on technology law and policy and teaches courses related to surveillance and crime. Dr. McNeal has on multiple occasions testified before Congress and state legislatures about the legal and policy issues associated with emerging technology and has aided state legislators, cities, municipalities, and executive branch officials in drafting legislation and public policies related to technological advances.
Deanna S. Newton
Professor Deanna Newton completed her B.A. in political science from Loyola Marymount University in 2013, her J.D. from Pepperdine Caruso Law School in 2017, and her LL.M. in taxation from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law in 2018. After her education, she joined KPMG's International Tax Group in Los Angeles, where she provided tax planning advice to multinational enterprises as an Associate and later as a Senior Associate from 2018 to 2022.
Alan Tzvika Nissel
Alan Nissel is a real estate practitioner and an expert in international property law. In 2019, Professor Nissel joined the Pepperdine Caruso Law faculty where he teaches property and international law and also serves as the Co-Director of the Palmer Center for Entrepreneurship and the Law. For the past decade, Professor Nissel has served as In-House Counsel and later, Managing Principal of Wilshire Skyline, a real estate firm in Los Angeles.
Shelley Saxer
Professor Saxer is a co-author of Contemporary Property, American Casebook Series, Thomson West (5th ed. with Colleen Medill, Grant S. Nelson, and Dale A. Whitman) and a co-author of Land Use, American Casebook Series, Thomson West (8th ed. with David L. Callies, Robert H. Freilich, and Ashira Pelman Ostrow). She is co-author of Social-Ecological Resilience and Sustainability, Aspen Coursebook series, Wolters Kluwer (with Jonathan Rosenbloom). While in law school, Professor Saxer served as the chief 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.
Mark S. Scarberry
Mark S. Scarberry decided during his first year at UCLA Law School that he wanted to teach law. He graduated first in his class and then joined the Pepperdine law faculty in 1982 after four years' practice experience with Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue, Los Angeles. His major academic interests are bankruptcy (particularly Chapter 11 business reorganization), contracts, legal philosophy, and constitutional law.
Steven Schultz
Professor Schultz is a two-time graduate of UCLA. He earned summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa honors with his bachelor's degree in 1984 and graduated from the UCLA School of Law in 1987. Immediately following law school, Professor Schultz served as a law clerk to the Honorable Stephen V. Wilson of the US District Court for the Central District of California. Professor Schultz practiced labor and employment law for more than a decade with Gibson Dunn in Los Angeles. He was elected to Gibson Dunn's partnership in 1995. In 1998, Professor Schultz joined one of his clients, MiniMed Inc., a publicly-traded biomedical device company focused on helping people with diabetes.
Victoria L. Schwartz
Professor Schwartz joined the Pepperdine faculty in 2013 from the University of Chicago Law School where she was a Bigelow Teaching Fellow and Lecturer in Law. Prior to her time at the University of Chicago, Professor Schwartz practiced as a litigation associate as part of the Business Trial and Litigation practice of the Century City, California office of O'Melveny & Myers LLP. Professor Schwartz's practice focused on complex and appellate litigation, contract law, entertainment law, and intellectual property. While at O'Melveny, Professor Schwartz taught at the UCLA Ninth Circuit Appellate Clinic and co-authored an article about areas of uncertainty in trademark law.
Ahmed Taha
Professor Taha's research focuses primarily on consumer and investor protection law. This research reflects both his training in law and in economics in which he holds a PhD His research has been discussed in national media outlets, including the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Prior to joining the Pepperdine faculty, Professor Taha was a professor at Wake Forest Law School, an attorney in the Antitrust Division of the U. S. Department of Justice in Washington, D. C., an associate with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto, California, and a corporate finance analyst at McKinsey and Company in New York. Professor Taha teaches, Civil Procedure, Corporations, and Accounting and Finance for Lawyers.
Peter Wendel
Professor Wendel was born and raised in Webster Groves, Missouri, and attended the University of Chicago, where he graduated in 1979 with a BS in Political Science. He earned a master's in Urban Affairs from St. Louis University, and then promptly returned to the University of Chicago where he received his JD in 1983. Professor Wendel began his legal career in 1983 in St. Louis. After four years, he returned to the University of Chicago as a Bigelow Instructor and Lecturer in Law. He served for three years as an assistant professor at St. Louis University School of Law before joining the Pepperdine faculty in 1991.
Maureen Arellano Weston
Maureen Weston is Professor of Law at Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law and Director of the Entertainment, Media & Sports Dispute Resolution Project. She received her JD from the University of Colorado, and BA in Economics/Political Science at the University of Denver. Professor Weston teaches courses on arbitration, mediation, negotiation, international dispute resolution, legal ethics, and U.S. and international sports law. She serves as Faculty Advisor to the Sports & Entertainment Law Society and Dispute Resolution Journal, and as coach for ICC Mediation Advocacy and Sports & Entertainment Law Negotiation competitions.