Faculty

Susan Bakhshian: After graduating from Loyola Law School's evening program, Susan Smith Bakhshian practiced with a Los Angeles law firm as a trial attorney, representing clients in a variety of environmental and general litigation matters. Her clients ranged from multinational oil companies to a small chain of non-profit retail stores here in Southern California. Before joining the faculty at Loyola, Bakhshian taught at Whittier Law School. She has been a member of the Loyola Law School faculty since 1997 and she became the Director of Bar Programs and Academic Success in 2011. E-Mail

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

Kristen Burzynski:  Kristen Burzynski teaches Legal Research and Writing. After graduating from UCI Law, Professor Burzynski was a Fellow at the New York Civil Liberties Union, where she focused on LGBTQ rights and other civil rights litigation. Subsequently, she was a Social Justice Fellow at the New York City Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, where she worked on a wide range of policy reforms. Following her fellowships, Professor Burzynski practiced Plaintiff-side employment litigation at Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho, and represented labor unions at Reich, Adell & Cvitan. Professor Burzynski was also Chair of the Board of Directors at GSA Network, a nationwide, non-profit, racial and gender justice organization. Before pursuing her legal career, Professor Burzynski was a middle school teacher and California Teachers’ Union representative. 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

Jazzirelle Hill: Professor Jazzirelle Hill brings her diverse public and private practice experience in the Washington, D.C. area to teach Legal Research & Writing at Loyola. A graduate of the University of Virginia and Howard Law School, she clerked for the Hon. Raymond A. Jackson of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. She then practiced at Covington & Burling, where in addition to representing global corporate clients in federal, state, and international litigation and arbitration, she performed significant pro bono work, writing about it in From Corporate to Custody Battles: Being a Loaned BigLaw Associate at a Nonprofit, DOCKET CALL. Hill also has worked for the IRS Office of the Chief Counsel, the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, and the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. 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

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