Faculty

Robert Brain: BS, Biology, Stanford University, with honors and with distinction; MS, Biochemistry, Stanford University; JD, Boalt School of Law, UC Berkeley.  Robert Brain began his legal career in the litigation department of Gibson, Dunn & Crutche. He later joined the faculty at Pepperdine University School of Law where he taught contracts, torts, constitutional law, sales and trial practice. While at Pepperdine, he co-taught a course on the history of the Supreme Court with Chief Justice Rehnquist. Thereafter, as a partner at the litigation firm of Howarth & Smith, he tried fraud, defamation, securities, products liability and assault matters. He joined the Loyola faculty in 2006. E-Mail

Jonathan Bremen: After graduating from Loyola Law School, Professor Bremen joined the California Appellate Project, where he represented indigent criminal defendants in their appeals. He then served as an Annual Staff Attorney at the California Supreme Court, drafting over 100 detailed memoranda on petitions for review in criminal cases, in which he evaluated the merits of the issues presented and offered recommendations to the Justices. Following his tenure at the Supreme Court, he worked as a Judicial Law Clerk for the Honorable Judge Maren E. Nelson in the Complex Civil Program at the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles. Subsequently, as an Impact Litigation Staff Attorney at the Public Law Center, he conducted large-scale litigation and public policy advocacy on behalf of low-income residents in Orange County.

In addition to his extensive legal practice, Professor Bremen served as a Writing Specialist at Loyola Law School and taught part-time in the Paralegal Program at Oxnard College. Prior to his legal career, he was a tenured Music Professor and Department Chair of Arts and Humanities at Los Angeles Southwest College. E-Mail

Stephanie Der: Professor Stephanie Der joined the full-time faculty to teach across the research and writing curriculum. Previously, she spent a decade honing her litigation skills at Hunton Andrews Kurth and at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. She also served as adjunct faculty, focusing on innovative programming to prepare students for legal research in practice. She developed and taught the law school's Legal Research Fundamentals for the Litigator course and Prepare to Practice workshop series. Der now joins LLS full time. She received her B.A., J.D., and M.L.I.S. from the University of California, Los Angeles and is a contributing author in the forthcoming Henke's California Law Guide, 9th ed. E-Mail

Vince Farhat: Professor Farhat served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Major Frauds Section of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California. As a federal prosecutor, he investigated and prosecuted white collar crimes, including healthcare fraud, bank fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, bankruptcy fraud, and money laundering. While in the Major Frauds Section, Professor Farhat served as the criminal healthcare fraud coordinator for the U.S. Attorney's Office and oversaw the investigative activities of the U.S. Department of Justice Medicare Fraud Strike Force for the Central District. Before becoming a criminal prosecutor, Professor Farhat was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office, where he represented the United States in commercial litigation and other civil cases. Professor Farhat served as a Judicial Law Clerk to the Honorable Edward Rafeedie, U.S. District Court Judge for the Central District of California. Before joining the law school as a clinical faculty member, he was a partner at Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP, where he served as chair of the firm's White Collar Defense & Investigations Group, and before that a partner at Holland & Knight LLP. In private practice, Professor Farhat represented financial services companies, government contractors, real estate and construction companies, healthcare providers, nonprofits, and trustees and fiduciaries in government investigations, and complex, high-stakes litigation. E-Mail

Patricia Jones Winograd: Prof. Jones Winograd received her B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, with distinction, and holds a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.  Following attainment of her law degree, Winograd enjoyed a near decades-long stint as a litigator in Los Angeles firms with local and global presence.  She has done work on behalf of a range of clients, including Fortune 500 companies, in diverse tribunals—from arbitration to the grand jury. Winograd’s litigation experience includes extensive work in complex litigation spanning primarily the business, insurance and employment arenas.  Prior to coming to Loyola Law School, Winograd received a Master’s Degree from the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education—allowing her to merge her passion for teaching and the law.  Although now a member of the Legal Writing team, Winograd has also taught Remedies at LLS as an Adjunct Professor. E-Mail

Geoff Kehlmann: Prof. Kehlmann has taught Appellate Advocacy and has practiced as an appellate attorney at Greines, Martin, Stein & Richland LLP. Early in his career, he practiced at Sidley Austin LLP and served as a law clerk to the Honorable Harry Pregerson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Mr. Kehlmann received his B.A. from Boston College and his J.D. from LLS, from which he graduated summa cum laude and Order of the Coif. During law school, he served as a Production Editor of the Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review. He also externed for the Honorable Dean D. Pregerson of the United States District Court for the Central District of California. E-Mail

Amy Levin: Professor Levin is a graduate of the UCLA School of Law, Program in Public Interest Law and Policy, and the Department of Social Welfare, where she was an editor on the UCLA Law Review and earned membership in Order of the Coif. Professor Levin clerked for the Honorable Richard A. Paez of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit during 2002-2003. Before joining the Loyola faculty, she was on the faculty at Pepperdine University School of Law for eight years and Co-Director of the Wm. Matthew Byrne, Jr. Judicial Clerkship Institute for five years. She taught Legal Research and Writing and Appellate Advocacy, and created and taught the Legal Research and Writing for Non-Lawyers course for the online Master of Legal Studies program. In 2019, Professor Levin earned the Pepperdine Waves of Excellence (Teaching) award. Before teaching, she was an associate at Arnold & Porter LLP, specializing in civil commercial and trademark litigation. E-Mail

Katherine Lyons: BA, Miami University; JD, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles. Katherine J. Lyons is an associate clinical professor of law and currently teaches Legal Research and Writing and Ethical Lawyering. Upon graduating from Loyola’s evening program, Lyons litigated wage and hour class actions for one of California’s largest plaintiff firms and then transitioned to defending claims of professional liability made against physicians and attorneys. She spent eight years litigating employment related matters and providing advice and counsel to California employers. Lyons co-founded a law firm specializing in workplace investigations for public entities and private employers. Prior to joining Loyola’s faculty, Lyons was an adjunct professor, teaching Legal Drafting and the Civil Litigation Practicum.  E-Mail

Anna Morkos: A civil litigator turned corporate counsel, Professor Morkos worked at the firms Davis, Rothwell, Earle, & Xóchihua, PC and Markowitz Herbold, PC before transitioning to an in-house role at the multi-national consumer goods company, Jafra Cosmetics Int’l, Inc. There, as the Director of Legal, she led the legal departments for the company’s US businesses. Additionally, she served on the General Counsel Committee of the Direct Selling Association and the Attorney Well-Being Committee of the Association of Corporate Counsel, Southern California Chapter.

Before attending law school, Professor Morkos was a Fulbright grantee in Colombia where she taught at the Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga. Subsequently, she served as the President of the Fulbright Alumni Association, Oregon Chapter. E-Mail

Yan Slavinskiy: Yan Slavinskiy is an Associate Clinical Professor and teaches Legal Research and Writing and Adjudicative Criminal Procedure.  He clerked for the Honorable Frank Maas of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York during 2014-15, and for the Honorable Jean P. Rosenbluth of the United States District Court for the Central District of California during 2019-21.  Before joining the Loyola faculty, he served as an Assistant District Attorney in the New York County District Attorney’s Office’s Appellate Division, where he briefed and argued over 40 appellate cases. 

Professor Slavinskiy graduated summa cum laude from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.  He was an editor on the Cardozo Law Review and received the faculty’s Felix Frankfurter Award for outstanding academic achievement, maturity, responsibility, diligence, and judgment.  His note, Protecting the Family Home by Re-understanding United States v. Bajakajian, 35 Cardozo L. Rev. 1619 (2014), was published in the Cardozo Law Review. E-Mail

Nadine Tan: Nadine Tan teaches Legal Research & Writing and advises students in the law school’s Academic Success Program.

She began her career as a law clerk to the Honorable S. James Otero (Ret.) of the United States District Court for the Central District of California before practicing general and employment litigation at Parker, Milliken, Clark, O’Hara & Samuelian APC. Professor Tan taught legal ethics part-time at her alma mater, the USC Gould School of Law, and was most recently Associate Counsel at Green Dot Public Schools California, a nonprofit network of public charter schools in Los Angeles.

Professor Tan serves as this year’s President-Elect of the Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association (SCCLA), the first Asian-Pacific American bar association in the country. She is passionate about improving diversity, equity, and inclusion outcomes in the legal profession. E-Mail