Welcome to the University of Nebraska College of Law's Space, Cyber and Telecommunications Law Program! Our LL.M. degree is the first of its kind in the United States and the only degree of its kind in the world taught in English. We have an outstanding faculty, including Professors Frans von der Dunk and Jack Beard, and Professors and Program Co-Directors Matthew Schaefer and Gus Hurwitz. We also have exceptional adjunct faculty who teach, and work, in areas of space law, cyber law and telecommunications law.

Our alumni council features top graduates from our LL.M. program, including those working US Cyber Command, SpaceX, McKinsey Consulting (satellite group), and the U.S. State Department. We draw speakers from the Air Force, NASA, Federal Communications Commission, Federal Aviation Administation, the White House, DirecTV, US Strategic Command, Clearwire, Skype, Virgin Galactic, AT&T, Boeing, and many Washington, D.C. law firms and other companies. While our advisory board has top lawyers and executives from private industry and government and helps mentor our students.

Major Erik Mudrinich received his Bachelors of Arts degree with a major in Political Science and International Relations from Saint Olaf College in 1996. He attended Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota where he received his Juris Doctor in May of 1999. Major Mudrinich also studied at the University of Oslo, Norway, completing his concentration in International Law. Major Mudrinich is the Chief of Space and International Law for Headquarters Fourteenth Air Force, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. In this capacity he is responsible for advising the dual-hatted 14 AF/CC (AFSPC) & Commander JFCC SPACE (USSTRATCOM), staffs, and the Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg on a wide variety of legal specialties including space operations, military operations, international law, and national security law. Major Mudrinich participates in planning for and execution of global and theater military space operations and exercises, and coordinates with the supported geographic combatant commanders' staffs. As a member of the LL.M. class of 2011, Erik prepared a thesis dealing with cyber-warfare, specifically delineating what the cyber domain is and how this domain impacts military operations and national security at a technical level. It was published in Vol 68 of the AF Law Review 2012, titled "Cyber 3.0: The Department of Defense Strategy for Operating in Cyberspace and the Attribution Problem."

In 2013, he earned a Master of Laws degree from the University of Nebraska College of Law (LL.M. Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications law). Since receiving his LL.M. degree, Mr. Schmitt has developed a specialty practice in cyber law and currently represents corporations and individuals in a variety of cyber, computer fraud, and internet-related matters. He recently published an article on computer fraud in the Creighton Law Review: David J. Schmitt, The Computer Fraud And Abuse Act Should Not Apply To The Misuse Of Information Accessed With Permission, 47 Creighton L. Rev. 423 (2014).

Mr. Schmitt graduated from the University of Iowa (B.B.A. 1985) and Creighton University School of Law (J.D., cum laude, 1989), where he was the Assistant Editor of the Creighton Law Review. After receiving his Juris Doctor, he served as a federal judicial law clerk for the Honorable Lyle E. Strom, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska. He has also served on the adjunct faculty at Creighton University School of Law teaching courses in trial practice and legal research and writing. He is admitted to practice in both federal and state courts in Nebraska, state court in Iowa, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court.

Major Keira Poellet is currently the Chief of the Operations Training Division at the Pentagon where she advises The Judge Advocate General, Chief of Staff of the Air Force and senior leaders on legal matters pertaining to operations training, plans and policy. After graduating from the LL.M. program, Keira was an Operational Law Attorney at United States Cyber Command at Fort Meade in Maryland. She advised on the global mission for the Department of Defense network operations, was the legal advisor to an operational planning team in support of full spectrum cyber operations, coordinated and advocated for the Department of Defenses cyber strategy and policies with DoJ, DoS, and CIA, as well as key nations, and instructed operators, policy-makers, and other operational attorneys on cyber law.

Major Poellet coauthored an article with Colonel Gary Brown (UNL J.D. Class of 1987),The Customary International Law of Cyberspace, Strategic Studies Quarterly (Fall 2012). While a candidate in the LL.M. program, Keira focused her research on network neutrality and published an article with her thesis advisor, Professor Marvin Ammori,Security versus Freedom on the Internet: Cybersecurity and Net Neutrality, SAIS Review (Summer Fall 2010).

Major Poellet has served her country in other JAG Corps positions, including deploying as a Staff Judge Advocate in the Middle East; Deputy Staff Judge Advocate at Lajes Field in Portugal; and Chief of Military Justice and of Civil Law at Goodfellow Air Force Base in Texas. Prior to joining the JAG Corps, Keira was an acquisitions officer in the Strategic and Nuclear Deterrence Command and Control System Program Office at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado where she was a project manager on emerging satellite command and control programs for U.S. and Air Force Space Command. Keira graduated,cum laude, from Whittier College School of Law, Costa Mesa, California in May 2005, where she was a published member of the Law Review, an extern for the Honorable David G. Sills, a fellow in the Intellectual Property Law program, and received the Outstanding Student in IP Law Award. Keira graduated from Marquette University with a B.S. in Mathematics and is a native of Oak Creek, Wisconsin.

Sarah J. Morris is a true Nebraska native born and raised in Omaha, she migrated to Lincoln in 2002 for her undergraduate studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Graduating with a B.A. in English and political science in 2006, she continued her education there, receiving her J.D. from the College of Law in 2009. As an undergraduate, Morris developed an interest in law and public policy through her involvement as a senator and committee chairwoman for the Universitys student government, as a legislative page with the Nebraska State Unicameral, and as an intern in the D.C. office of Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson. As a policy counsel for the Open Technology Institute at New America Foundation, Morris assists in the research and development of policy proposals related to open technologies, broadband access, and emerging technological issues.While at the law school, Morris clerked at the Omaha, Nebraska, law firm Lamson, Dugan and Murray doing general litigation work and spent her semesters researching telecommunications law for Professor Marvin Ammori.

Morris culminated her legal education in the Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications Law LL.M. program. As part of the LL.M. program, Morris completed her thesis on privacy and security concerns related to Smart Grid technology. After graduation Morris served as a Google Policy Fellow with the Media Access Project, where she assisted with research and drafting of FCC comments on issues including media ownership, the open Internet and retransmission consent.

Jeff Nosanov grew up in Los Angeles, California. At 5 years old, he went to the Griffith Observatory with his parents and knew at that moment he was going to spend his life as part of the space exploration effort. After attending the University of California-Irvine and receiving his degree in Environmental Analysis and Design, Jeff enrolled in New York Law School as a result of his interest in the legal and policy component of space exploration. The University of Nebraska created its Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications LL.M. program just in time for Jeff to come to Nebraska Law straight from NYLS in 2008. He was the programs first graduate.

While a student, Jeff found that his thesis was career determining. Focusing his research on export control law resulted in a job in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at NASA in Pasadena, California. He then moved to the Radioisotope Power Systems Program office at JPL., where he works on research proposals, writes on space policy affecting power sources for NASA missions, and helps bridge the gap between legal and technical issues when it arises. In August of 2012 Jeff was named as a NIAC (NASA Innovative and Advanced Concepts) Fellow at NASA. He continues his research at UCLA and The California Institute of Technology into novel space mission financing arrangements. He currently manages an engineering project and is in the process of proposing several more.In May of 2012 his family grew by one with the birth of his son Nathan and he and his wife began another adventure - parenting.

Maria-Vittoria "Giugi" Carminati is a trial attorney in Houston, Texas. She practices commercial litigation, qui tam litigation, and white collar criminal defense at the trial boutique Berg & Androphy. Her practice focuses on complex multi-jurisdictional cases ranging from mortgage fraud to allegations of conversion to pharmaceutical company's off-label marketing, and everything in between. Giugi is also co-owner and co-manager of ADE Aerospace Consulting, LLC, a human physiologic consulting company for extreme environments, including high altitude jumps and suborbital flights. Prior to joining Berg & Androphy, Giugi practiced Complex Commercial Litigation and (briefly) International Arbitration in the Houston office of Weil, Gotshal & Manges from 2008 to 2013.

Giugi has published numerous articles on commercial space, including a recurring column for Space Safety Magazine called "Cross-Talk: Space Law in Down-To-Earth English." In 2012, Giugi co-authored The Laws of Spaceflight: A Guidebook for New Space Lawyers published by the ABA, which became a best-seller and is currently used as a space law textbook in several law schools around the country. In May 2013, Giugi was the first graduate of the University of Nebraska's online LLM program when she obtained her LLM in Space, Cyber & Telecommunications law. Her LLM thesis analyzed the Space Activities Statutes in the six states which, at the time, had passed such legislation and discussed whether and how such statutes would be enforced by the various courts. Giugi is currently working on her Space Law JSD at the University of Nebraska Law School. Her doctoral dissertation analyzes management of liability exposure for commercial human spaceflight companies.

Giugi has taught Pre-Trial Litigation at the University of Houston Law Center and will teach Law and the Commercial Space Industry in Fall 2014. She is also Vice Chair of the ABAs Science & Technology Section Space Law Committee. Giugi also regularly lecture on topics relating to space law, including delivering an annual lecture at UTMB's Aerospace Medicine Short Course where she provides aerospace medicine students and residents an overview of space laws and regulations.

She will become Chair at the ABA Annual in August 2014. She is also an IISL Observer to UNCOPUOS, for which she attends UNCOPUOSs Legal Subcommittee meetings in Vienna in the Spring. In addition, Giugi is Associate Regional Organizer for the IISL's Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition, North American Regional Rounds, which takes place at Georgetown Law School in March-April of every year. Finally, in 2012, Giugi published her first science fiction novel, Sparcus: Broken Worlds.

Jessica Tok is a civilian Strategic Communications Analyst (Space) in the Communication Synchronization branch of the Campaign Plan Division, Plans and Policy Directorate for the United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), Offutt AFB, NE. Prior to joining USSTRATCOM, Ms. Tok obtained a law degree (J.D.) and a Masters of Law (LL.M.) specializing in Space and Telecommunications Law, and worked for multiple state and federal organizations, including the University of Nebraska College of Law, U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, and the U.S. District Court of Nebraska. Ms. Tok also worked closely with top-level diplomats and scientists, serving previously as the Secretariat to the Association of Space Explorers standing committee on Near Earth Objects, and as the editor of their 2009 policy document, Asteroid Threats: A Call for Global Response. In 2010-2011, she was a U.S. delegate to the United Nations Committee of Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. She is admitted to practice law in Nebraska and currently serves as the Secretary of the Board of Directors for the Lux Center for the Arts in Lincoln, Nebraska. Jessica resides in Lincoln, Nebraska with her husband, Mr. Matthew Carper.

Dennis J. Kamph received his Bachelor of Art's degree in Criminal Justice from Saint Cloud State University in February, 2002. After obtaining his undergraduate degree Dennis completed a post-baccuralette paralegal certificate program at the Minnesota Paralegal Institute where he graduated top of his class. After obtaining his certificate, Dennis enrolled at the Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan, whereupon he successfully completed his JD in May, 2008. While at Cooley, Dennis was an honors scholar and served as the Senior Research Editor for the Thomas M. Cooley Journal of Practical and Clinical Law. After graduating law school, Dennis worked in private practice, focusing on Criminal defense; Wills, Estates and Trusts; and Bankruptcy law. Dennis left private practice in 2011 to take a position with the Federal Government. Shortly after Dennis began the Space, Cyber and Telecommunications Law Online LL.M. program at Nebraska Law. While studying at Nebraska Law, Dennis focused on Domestic Telecommunications and Cyber Law. The program provided Dennis a better understanding of the intersection of the law and technology and, upon graduation, helped Dennis take a more active role within the Government. Dennis is now working on protecting the United States' technological infrastructure and works with foreign governments to address their similar technological issues. Dennis is admitted to the Michigan and Minnesota bar.

Stephen Rooke grew up in neighboring Colorado and was always enthusiastic about space. He presented on quasars for his fifth grade science project, which included running through the halls of his elementary school with an alarm clock to illustrate red shift. Stephen received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science & Policy Studies from Rice University and his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.

While at Michigan, Stephen served as the Managing Editor of the Michigan Journal of International Law and interned in Intelsat's international trade compliance and regulatory departments. He also wrote a blog article on the potential for National Trademark DNS servers for the Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review.

Stephen was a member of the 2012 LL.M. class. During his stay in Nebraska, Stephen helped promote space law by lecturing on the subject to Lincoln's Prairie Astronomy Club and was an avid bowler. Stephen's LL.M. thesis focused on the intersection of international satellite telecommunications law and the right to health care. He explored the capacity of satellites to bridge the urban-rural health care divide in developing countries and the conflict between national obligations to provide access to health care and state sovereignty over wireless communication technology. His thesis was published as a student note in volume 34 of the Michigan Journal of International Law. After graduation, Stephen joined McKinsey & Company's office in Stamford, CT. As a consultant, he has advised corporations, nonprofits, IGOs, and governments on a variety of topics including health care, telecommunications, oil and gas, media and advertising, and finance.

Jenifer Lamie grew up in Cheshire, CT. For undergrad, she attended the University of Hartford where she completed her B.A. in psychology and philosophy summa cum laude, with university honors. After, she worked as a children's art teacher until she took a job for a multinational Japanese corporation teaching English in Fukuoka, Japan. She then received a Masters of International Studies with distinction from Otago University in New Zealand and a J.D. cum laude from Vermont Law School before beginning her studies at Nebraska Law. While at UNL, she interned with USSTRATCOM working on cyber issues, competed in the Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition where her team won Best Brief, and completed a thesis on U.S. State Space Launch Legislation: Preemption, Immunity, and International Harmonization. After graduation Lamie co-authored the leading text book on space law, The Laws of Spaceflight: A Guidebook for New Space Lawyers, with Matthew J. Kleiman and 2013 LL.M. student Maria-Vittoria "Giugi" Carminati. She is currently an serving in the Army as a Judge Advocate at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington and continues to write on space law issues in her free time.

Luke Pelican is an Associate at the Ammori Group, a public policy-focused law firm in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining the Ammori Group, Mr. Pelican obtained his Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School in 2010, where he served as an Executive Articles Editor on the Michigan Journal of International Law. He subsequently earned his LL.M. degree in Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications Law at the University of Nebraska College of Law, where his thesis advisor was Marvin Ammori. While at Nebraska, Mr. Pelican was a member of the school's Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Team. The team won the Best Memorial award for the North American Competition, a first for the school. Mr. Pelican was a Google Fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute in 2011.

Mr. Pelicans writing has appeared in the Washington Times, the Sacramento Bee, the Daily Caller, CNET, and Politico. His LL.M. thesis on the treatment of cyber espionage was published in the Spring 2012 volume of Catholic University Law Schools CommLaw Conspectus.

Many are the links between space and music music as the most abstract of arts often offering the most appropriate means to capture and reflect the out-of-the-ordinary character of outer space, where words may easily seem to come up short.

Browse the entire collection.

See the original post:

LL.M. in Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications Law ...