Home Law School News Drake Law School Welcomes Three New Faculty Members

Drake Law School Welcomes Three New Faculty Members

Three new faculty members are joining the Drake Law faculty this semester, bringing professional experience and new depth of knowledge to the classroom.

Andrew Jurs, Assistant Professor of Law

Jurs previously taught as an assistant professor at the Florida Coastal School of Law and as a visiting assistant professor at the Wake Forest University School of Law.

He has worked as an assistant attorney general for the State of Colorado, as a deputy district attorney for Colorado’s 18th Judicial District and as an associate at Johnson, McConaty & Sargent.

“I am excited about the opportunities presented by the Drake community,” Jurs says. “The Drake Law School has a vibrant, exciting group of faculty that I am excited to join. I am also excited about the opportunities presented by the larger intellectual community of the University, as I hope to reach out to colleagues in other colleges to collaborate through interdisciplinary scholarship.”

Jurs’ areas of expertise include criminal law and procedure, law & medicine, and science and the law. His work has appeared in the Connecticut Law Review, the Virginia Journal of Law and Technology and the Journal of Legal Medicine.

In recent years, Jurs served as a member of the New Scholars Committee for the Southeastern Association of Law Schools.

He received his bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

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Brent Pattison, Director of the Lyle and Joan Middleton Children’s Rights Center and Associate Professor of Law

Brent Pattison, Director of the Lyle and Joan Middleton Children’s Rights Center and Associate Professor of Law

For the first nine years of his career, Pattison was a staff attorney with TeamChild, an innovative program at Washington State that provides free civil legal advocacy to young people involved in the juvenile justice system.

Pattison began his career with TeamChild as a Soros Justice Fellow. For the last three years, he has served as an associate at Thompson & Howle, litigating complex trust and estate issues and doing pro bono work in the area of children’s rights.

Pattison’s areas of expertise are juvenile and education law. He is the coauthor of “Make a Difference in a Child’s Life,” a manual on the educational rights of foster children for caseworkers, foster parents and lawyers.

Pattison received his bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University and his law degree from the University of Minnesota Law School.

“I’m thrilled to be joining Drake’s faculty and honored to have the opportunity to carry on the important work of the Middleton Children’s Rights Center,” Pattison says.

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Anthony Gaughan, Assistant Professor of Law

Anthony Gaughan, Assistant Professor of Law

Prior to joining Drake’s faculty, Gaughan worked as an attorney for Milwaukee”“based law firm Godfrey & Kahn. A U.S. Navy Reserve Officer since 2006, he served as a joint task force staff officer in Iraq for a year and received the Defense Meritorious Service Medal and Iraq Campaign Medal.

“I am very excited to have the opportunity to teach Drake students,” Gaughan says. “It is an honor to be part of such a great university and such a warm and welcoming community.”

While a history lecturer at the University of Wisconsin”“Madison, Gaughan received an Excellence in Teaching Award in 2000. His areas of expertise include civil procedure, federal jurisdiction, legal and constitutional history and election law. His article “Watergate, Judge Sirica, and the Rule of Law” was published in McGeorge Law Review. Earlier this year his most recent book, “The Last Battle of the Civil War: United States versus Lee, 1861-1883,” was published by Louisiana State University Press.

He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota, his master’s degree from Louisiana State University, his doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his law degree from Harvard Law School.