Penn State Dickinson Law welcomes 10 new faculty members for 2025-’26

August 2025 — Penn State Dickinson Law has added two new professors of law, three visiting professors of law, one professor of practice, and four new adjunct professors of law to its distinguished faculty for the 2025-2026 academic year.

Ido Kilovaty joins the Law School as professor of law, teaching courses in the areas of torts, criminal procedure, and law and technology. Emily Spottswood, previously a visiting professor at Penn State Dickinson Law, becomes professor of law, teaching courses in the areas of evidence and transgender rights. Timothy Peterkin joins as a visiting assistant professor, teaching legal analysis and writing as well as contributing to academic success support. Cleve Lisecki joins as a visiting professor during the fall only, teaching classes on tax law, while James Hunt joins as a visiting professor during the spring only to teach business law courses.

Additionally, Ambassador Andrea Canepari has joined the School of International Affairs as a professor of practice and will teach classes on comparative law for the Law School.

“The new professors joining us in 2025-26 bring meaningful experiences with teaching and learning that complement the student-focused program of legal education at Penn State Dickinson Law. Our community is eager to welcome our new colleagues to begin a new academic year dedicated to engagement, growth, and development in the praxis of law,” said Penn State Dickinson Law Dean and Donald J. Farage Professor of Law Danielle M. Conway.

The new adjunct faculty are Anna Knych ’13, Drew McLaughlin ’17, and Mirelle Rebeiz ’24. The Hon. Jessica Brewbaker ’00 also rejoins the Law School as an adjunct professor, having last taught in spring 2020. Additional adjunct faculty will be added to teach in the spring 2026 semester.

“Adjunct faculty at Penn State Dickinson Law make impactful contributions to our highly engaged teaching and learning community. We value their expertise and dedication to delivering a program of legal education that supports the teaching and learning environment. I welcome our new and returning colleagues at Penn State Dickinson Law with enthusiasm,” said Conway.

Faculty joining Penn State Dickinson Law

Ido Kilovaty

Kilovaty was previously associate professor of law at the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville, Arkansas, where he taught criminal law, criminal procedure, cybercrime, and cybersecurity law. Before that, he served as the Frederic Dorwart and Zedalis Family Fund Associate Professor of Law (2021-2023) and the Frederic Dorwart Endowed Assistant Professor of Law (2018-2021) at the University of Tulsa College of Law in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Kilovaty, who received his LL.B. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, earned his Master of Laws at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, then received his S.J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. He followed his S.J.D. graduation with two years as a research scholar in law at Yale Law School.

Emily Spottswood

Spottswood spent the past two years as a visiting professor at Penn State Dickinson Law. Previously, she served as the David and Deborah Fonvielle Professor at Florida State University College of Law. She was also a visiting assistant professor at Northwestern University School of Law, where she earned her J.D. and B.S.

Spottswood focuses her research on the process of fact-finding in courts, including issues in evidence law, jury decision-making, the structure of trials, and pre-trial procedure. Her scholarship has drawn attention to a number of structural biases in the design of jury trials. Spottswood has also taught Criminal Law and Evidence at Penn State Dickinson Law.

Timothy Peterkin

Peterkin comes to the Law School from Widener University Commonwealth Law School, where he was a visiting legal writing professor. Prior to that, he served as a visiting assistant professor of law at the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law. He also led academic support and bar preparation at the University of South Dakota School of Law, where he oversaw the school’s first academic support program.

At North Carolina Central University (NCCU), where he earned his B.A., Peterkin worked in a program preparing undergraduate students for law school. He also taught legal writing at NCCU School of Law, where he earned his J.D. He is a longtime senior lecturer with Law People USA, LLC, a legal education company, where he trains about 1,000 licensed attorneys annually.

Cleve Lisecki

Lisecki recently retired from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Office of Chief Counsel after 21 years of service, most recently as branch chief in the International Office of Chief Counsel. He also held positions as senior counsel and special counsel (international) in the Large Business and International division, and he worked on two details in the IRS, including as acting program manager for the Treaty Assistance and Interpretation Team (TAIT). Additionally, he has been an adjunct professor teaching federal income taxation at Northern Virginia Community College since 2020.

Prior to Lisecki’s government service, he was a senior manager (tax) at KPMG LLP and a tax associate at Arthur Andersen LLP. He received his Bachelor of Science in accounting from the University of Delaware, J.D. from Pace University (Elizabeth Haub) School of Law, and LL.M. (tax) from the Georgetown University Law Center.

James Hunt

Hunt has been teaching at Mercer University’s business and law schools since 1998. He also served as associate dean for Macon graduate business programs from 2016 to 2021. In 2005-2006, Hunt served as a Fulbright Scholar in Law in Kyiv, Ukraine, where he was affiliated with the National University Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. During the 2021-2022 academic year, he became a distinguished visiting professor in the Law Department at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Hunt received his J.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Law School. He earned his MA and PhD from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and a Master of Laws from Harvard Law School.

Andrea Canepari

Ambassador Canepari is an Italian diplomat who has served as the ambassador of Italy to the Dominican Republic and the consul general in Philadelphia. He has authored a number of books, including The Italian Legacy in Philadelphia, examining the impact of Italians on the Philadelphia community.

He has also served as first secretary of political affairs and relations with the United States Congress at the Embassy of Italy in Washington, D.C., and chief of the Economic and Commercial Office at the Embassy of Italy in Ankara. He earned a B.A. and Master’s in Economics from Bocconi University and a law degree from the University of Parma and received an LL.M. from the University of Pennsylvania Penn Carey Law.

Adjunct professors joining Penn State Dickinson Law

Knych began her legal career as a family law attorney in Central Pennsylvania before moving to Europe, where she served as staff attorney for an international human rights nonprofit organization, among other positions. She returned to Central Pennsylvania in 2020 and now works for Walters & Galloway, PLLC.

McLaughlin is the managing shareholder of Elliott Greenleaf, P.C.'s Wilkes-Barre office. Previously, he served as assistant district attorney and later chief of the major crimes unit with the Luzerne County District Attorney’s Office. He focuses his practice on civil litigation, representing governmental entities, public officials, and police officers in state and federal civil rights cases.

Rebeiz, chair of Middle East studies and associate professor of francophone studies and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies at Dickinson College, earned her S.J.D. at Penn State Dickinson Law. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on international law and terrorism, issues of statehood, armed conflicts and state and non-state actors, international humanitarian law, international criminal law, and gender and sexuality.

Brewbaker served as an attorney in the Cumberland County Public Defender Office from 2000-2005, when she was elected Magisterial District Judge for the Carlisle Borough. She is currently a judge on the Court of Common Pleas and presides over Cumberland County’s mental health court (“TOMS” Court) as well as Overdose Intervention Court (“OIC”).