School: School of Law

Aaron Diaz

Visiting Clinical Assistant Professor of Law

Biography

Diaz (J.D. ’20) is a Visiting Clinical Assistant Professor of Law with the St. Mary’s School of Law Criminal Justice Clinic. Before joining the criminal justice clinic, Diaz spent six years working with the Goldstein & Orr law firm in San Antonio, Texas. Prior to law school, he spent over a decade as a paralegal working for a criminal defense firm in South Texas and various state agencies. During that time, Diaz received his Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from The University of Texas Pan-American, and a Master of Arts degree in Legal Studies from Texas State University. He graduated from St. Mary’s University School of Law, cum laude, in May of 2020.

Since becoming licensed, Diaz has solely practiced juvenile and adult criminal defense, representing clients charged with misdemeanor and felony crimes. He has also handled state and federal appeals and post-conviction writs of habeas corpus cases. Diaz is currently on the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association Board of Directors and serves on several TCDLA committees. He is also a member of the San Antonio Criminal Defense Lawyers Association.

Aaron Diaz

Visiting Clinical Assistant Professor of Law

Contact Information

Education

  • J.D., (cum laude), St. Mary’s University School of Law, 2020
  • M.A., Texas State University, 2014
  • B.S., University of Texas Pan-American, 2012

License to Practice

  • Texas

Specialties and Courses

  • Criminal Law
  • Appellate Law

Publications

  • Aaron Diaz, Comment, Restoring the Presumption of Innocence: Protecting a Defendant’s Right to a Fair Trial by Closing the Door on 404(b) Evidence, 51 ST. MARY’S L.J. 1001 (2020)

Jena Martin

Professor and Katherine A. Ryan Chair for Global and International Law

Biography

Jena Martin is the Katherine A Ryan Professor of Global and International Law at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio TX. Her research is in the field of business and human rights, where she has written extensively on many issues, including: the intersection of human rights with a number of fields including data privacy, AI and securities regulation.

Prof. Martin has emerged as a thought leader on these subjects and her work has been presented in a variety of forums including newspapers (such as The Chicago Tribune and The Houston Chronicle); law journals (including a forthcoming co-authored work in the Yale Journal of Law and Technology and a prior piece in the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law); and the United Nations. Professor Martin has also co-edited and co-authored a number of books in the field of securities regulation and business and human rights, including “The Business and Human Rights Landscape: Moving Forward, Looking Back” (Cambridge University Press); “When the Levees Break: Re-visioning Regulation of the Securities Markets” (Lexington Books), and “Dying to be Heard: Businesses’ Impact of Communities” (Anthem Press).

Prior to coming to St. Mary’s Prof. Martin was the Robert L. Shuman Professor of Law and Ethics at West Virginia University.

Prof. Martin also draws heavily on her practice experience as a consultant and advisor for small businesses and her previous position serving as Senior Counsel for the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement. She earned her LL.M from the University of Texas, Austin and her J.D. from Howard University School of Law.

Publications

Books

  • INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW, POLICY AND PROCESS, 5TH ED., Carolina Academic Press (2021)(with David Weissbrodt)(spearheaded overhaul of the casebook with a new organizational structure and streamlined content. Drafted the casebook’s first Teacher’s Manual)
  • WHEN BUSINESS HARMS HUMAN RIGHTS: AFFECTED COMMUNITIES THAT ARE DYING TO BE HEARD, Anthem Press (2020)(ed., with Karen Bravo and Tara Van Ho)
  • WHEN THE LEVEES BREAK: RE-VISIONING SECURITIES MARKET REGULATION, Lexington Books (2017)(with Karen Kunz)
  • THE BUSINESS & HUMAN RIGHTS LANDSCAPE: MOVING FORWARD, LOOKING BACK, Cambridge University Press (2015)(ed., with Karen Bravo)

Articles:

  • Everything New is Old Again: The Veil of Scale, Platforms as Premises and the Coming Metaverse, __ YALE J. OF L. & TECH. __ (forthcoming 2024)(with Lara Putnam)
  • The Securities and Exchange Commission as Human Rights Enforcer?, 18 VA. LAW. & BUS. REV. 93 (2024)(with Rachel Chambers)
  • “A Change is Gonna Come:” Developing a Liability Framework for Social Media Algorithmic Amplification, 13 UC IRVINE L. REV. 155 (2023)(with Amy Cyphert)
  • Reimagining Corporate Accountability: Moving Beyond Human Rights Due Diligence, 18 NYU BUS. L. J. 773 (2022)(with Rachel Chambers)
  • Reckoning: A Dialogue about Racism, Anti-Racists and Business and Human Rights, 30 WASH. I. L. J. 171 (2021)(with Erika George and Tara Van Ho)
  • Data Privacy Issues in West Virginia: An Overview, WV. L. REV. ONLINE (2021)
  • The United Postal Service—The One Word that Makes all the Difference, 99 Texas L. Rev. Online 72 (2020) (with Matthew Titolo).
  • It’s Complicated: The Challenge of Prosecuting TNCs for Criminal Activity under International Law, 29 IND. INT’L & COMP. L. REV. 219 (2019)
  • Easing “the Burden of the Brutalized”: Applying Bystander Intervention Training to Corporate Conduct, 68 CATHOLIC U. L. REV. 1 (2019) (lead article)
  • Parallel Worlds: Comparing Rural Development to Development in Global Communities, WV. L. REV. (with Karon Powell)(2018)(invited symposium piece)
  • Hiding in the Light: The Misuse of Disclosure to Advance the Business and Human Rights Agenda 56 COLUMBIA TRANS’L L. J. 530 (2018)
  • Changing the Rules of the Game: Beyond a Disclosure Framework for Securities Regulation 118 WV. L. REV. 59 (2015)
  • Business and Human Rights, What’s the Board got to do with it?, 2013 ILL. L. REV. 959 (2013)
  • The End of the Beginning?: A Comprehensive Examination of the U.N.’s Business and Human Rights Agenda from a Bystander Perspective, 17 FORDHAM J. CORP. FIN. L. 871 (2012)(lead article)
  • What’s in a Name? Transnational Corporations as Bystanders under International Law, 85 ST. JOHN L. REV. 1 (2011)(lead article)
  • The SEC and Shareholder Empowerment – Analyzing the New Proxy Regime and its Impact on Corporate Governance, BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES REPORT (2011)
  • In Praise of Process: An Exploration of the SEC, Rule 14a-(8)(i)(8) and AFSCME v. AIG, 5 U.MD. J. BUS. L. & TECH 23 (2010)

Refereed Articles and Book Chapters:

  • “UN Guiding Principle Number 8” in ThE RESEARCH HANDBOOK ON THE UN GUIDING PRINCIPLES ON BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS, Edward Elgar Press (2024)(Barnali Choudhury, ed.)
  • “Commentary, Dodge v. Ford” in FEMINIST JUDGMENTS: REWRITTEN CORPORATE LAW OPINIONS, Cambridge University Press (2023)(Kelli Alces et. al., eds.)
  • “Corporations 101” in TEACHING BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS, Edward Elgar Press (2023)(Anthony Ewing, ed.)
  • “United States: Potential Paths Forward after the Demise of the Alien Tort Statute,” in CIVIL REMEDIES AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN FLUX, Bloomsbury Publishing (2022)(Ekaterina Aristova & Ugljesa Grusic eds.)
  • “The Use of Disclosure-Based Regulation to Advance the State’s Duty to Protect” in THE RESEARCH HANDBOOK ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND BUSINESS, Edward Elgar Press (2020)(Surya Deva ed.)
  • “The Evolving Business and Society Landscape: Can Human Rights Make a Difference,” (with Michael Addo) in THE BUSINESS & HUMAN RIGHTS LANDSCAPE: MOVING FORWARD, LOOKING BACK, Cambridge University Press (2015)(Martin & Bravo, eds.)
  • “Transnational Corporations as Bystanders under International Law,” in BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS, Sage Publications (2013)(Manoj Sinha, ed).
  • Into the Breach: The Increasing Gap between Algorithmic Trading and Securities Regulation, Vol. 44, JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH No. 2 (peer reviewed journal) (co-authored with Karen Kunz)(Oct. 2013)

Awards

  • West Virginia Executive’s Lawyers & Leaders, Class of 2022
  • 2019 Reviewer of the Year Award – Business and Human Rights Journal (Cambridge University Press)
  • Dean’s Award of Distinction in Teaching – Adjunct (College of Business & Economics) 2015
  •  “50 Under 50,” Law Professors of Color, Lawyers of Color
  • WVU ADVANCE Grant Recipient, grant provided to organize a conference on Business and Human Rights (2012 – 2013)
  • Significant Scholarship Award, WVU College of Law, (awarded for “The End of the Beginning?: A Comprehensive Examination of the U.N.’s Business and Human Rights Agenda from a Bystander Perspective”)(2012)
  •  WVU Public Service Grant Recipient, provided to fund an outreach program within the State of West Virginia to help local businesses understand contract pitfalls (2011 – 2012)
  • Shortlist Finalist, Fletcher Fellowship (administered by Harvard University’s W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and African American Research)(2010).
  • Next Generation Fellow, The Next Generation Fellowship (part of the American Assembly Series, run by Columbia University). Invited participant in three-day conference to discuss the future of U.S. global policy. (2007)
    Recipient, Director’s Award, SEC Division of Enforcement. (2004)

Jena Martin

Professor and Katherine A. Ryan Chair for Global and International Law

Contact Information

Education

  • J.D., cum laude, Howard University School of Law, 1997
  • B.A. McGill University, 1994

License to Practice

  • Maryland
  • District of Columbia
  • West Virginia

Specialties and Courses

  • Business and Human Rights
  • Securities Regulation
  • Business Association
  • Corporate Governance

Krystal Moczygemba

Assistant Professor of Practice of Law

Biography

Krystal earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Agricultural Economics with a minor in History from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas in 2017. She then earned a Master’s Degree in Social Anthropology from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom in 2019. She also earned a Juris Doctorate Degree from Notre Dame Law School in South Bend, Indiana in 2021.

Krystal began her career with Chasnoff Valkenaar Pepping & Stribling LLP in San Antonio, Texas, where she advised foreign and domestic insurers in complex matters arising out of director and officer liability, management liability, professional liability, cyber liability, commercial general liability, and excess insurance policies. She also represented foreign and domestic insurers in federal and state court lawsuits concerning declaratory judgments, breaches of contract, bad faith allegations, and statutory violations in complex civil litigation matters.

Krystal joined St. Mary’s University School of Law in the fall of 2024, where she is teaching legal writing and research in the school’s Legal Communications, Analysis, and Professionalism course.

Finally, Krystal married attorney, Cam O’Connor, who she met in law school, in 2024. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband, family, and friends, going to the theater, reading fantasy and mystery stories, various outdoor hobbies, working with her family’s cow-calf operation, and cooking.

Krystal Moczygemba

Assistant Professor of Practice of Law

Education

  • J.D, Notre Dame Law School, 2021
  • M.Sc., University of Oxford, 2019
  • B.S., Texas A&M University, 2017

Contact Information

License to Practice

  • Texas

Specialties and Courses

  • Legal Communication, Analysis, and Professionalism

Match Dawson

Assistant Professor of Law

Biography

Match Dawson (J.D. ’13) began his legal career working for Justice Paul W. Green of the Texas Supreme Court, and later joined the distinguished Austin-based law firm of Giordani, Swanger, Ripp, & Phillips, LLP where he counseled clients on asset protection and estate planning. Prior to joining St. Mary’s University, Dawson formed his own firm, Dawson Law LLP®, and primarily represented high net worth clients with complex estate and asset planning matters.

Dawson earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from California State University Sacramento and a Juris Doctorate, cum laude, from St. Mary’s University School of Law.  Dawson is a Chartered Trust and Estate Planner®, a distinguished Fellow of the Global Academy of Finance & Management, and he’s been awarded the prestigious Accredited Estate Planner® designation by the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils. Dawson is a member of the Real Estate, Probate, and Trust Law section of State Bar of Texas, the Texas Center for Legal Ethics, and the College of the State Bar of Texas, an honorary organization reserved for attorneys dedicated to high ethical standards and advanced legal training. Dawson is also a member of the Society of Financial Service Professionals, a collaborative organization of professional service providers who have distinguished themselves through advanced education.

Dawson and his wife, a large animal veterinarian, favor quiet country living where they raise three spirited children. Dawson is an avid outdoorsman, a passion he shares with his family, and their RV can often be found at campsites across the great state of Texas.

Awards & Highlights

  • Accredited Estate Planner®, National Association of Estate Planners & Councils
  • Charted Trust and Estate Planner®, GAFM
  • Fellow, GAFM

Match Dawson

Assistant Professor of Law

Contact Information

Education

  • B.A, Economics, California State University, 2006
  • J.D., (cum laude), St. Mary’s University School of Law, 2013

License to Practice

  • Texas

Specialties and Courses

  • Asset Protection
  • Wills, Trusts, & Estates
  • Property

Samantha Alecozay

Practicing Faculty

Biography

While a student at St. Mary’s School of Law, Samantha Alecozay (J.D. ’20), received a pro bono service recognition and women in law leadership award. Following law school, she founded Alecozay Law Firm, PLLC. Alecozay practices in the areas of corporate transactions and corporate bankruptcy.

Alecozay is admitted to practice in the Western District of Texas Federal Bankruptcy Court and Supreme Court of Texas. She is an active member of the San Antonio Bankruptcy Bar Association, the Business Law Section of the State Bar of Texas, the Texas Bar College, and the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce.

Alecozay regularly volunteers her time at St. Mary’s Law and local community programs sponsored by the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce and San Antonio Young Professionals to provide educational materials and guest lectures.

Alecozay’s hobbies include advanced culinary arts, sketching, keeping her voice in shape as a former operatic performer, classic car shows, and working on her 1950 Oldsmobile Rocket 88.

Samantha Alecozay

Practicing Faculty

Education

  • J.D, St. Mary’s School of Law, 2020
  • B.A. Music, University of the Incarnate Word 2016

Contact Information

License to Practice

  • Texas

Specialties and Courses

  • Secured Transactions

Publications

  • Author: The Small Business Killer: How FinCEN Enforcement of the CTA Could Destroy the Last Bastion of the American Dream,12 Lincoln Memorial U. L. Rev. 1 (2024).
  • Co-Author/Co-Presenter: Subchapter V of the Bankruptcy Code: A Breakthrough; The Hon. Larry E. Kelly Bankruptcy American Inn of Court – January 2022.

Awards

  • 2023 Rising Star Lawyer – Scene In S.A.

The Hon. Henry Bemporad

Practicing Faculty

Biography

Judge Bemporad has been a United States Magistrate Judge for the Western District of Texas in the San Antonio Division since 2012. He was the Federal Public Defender for the Western District of Texas from 2007–12. He previously served as Deputy Federal Public Defender from 1998–2007, as a Supervisory Assistant Federal Public Defender from 1993–98 and as an Assistant Federal Public Defender from 1990–93. From 1988 to 1990, he clerked for United States District Judge Edward C. Prado.

Judge Bemporad recently served on the Committee on Pattern Jury Instructions for the District Judges Association of the Fifth Circuit, assisting in the preparation of Pattern Jury Instructions (Criminal Cases) (2015 ed.). Judge Bemporad served the U.S. Courts as the appellate representative to the Office of Defender Services Training Expert Panel, as co-chair of the Defender Supreme Court Resource & Assistance Panel and as Defender Liaison to the Judicial Conference Criminal Law Committee.

He also previously served as co-chair of the National Association of Federal Defenders Amicus Committee, as Fifth Circuit vice-chair of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Amicus Committee, and as a member of the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. Judge Bemporad also co-founded and has served for many years as regular faculty of the Federal Judicial Center’s Appellate Writing Workshop.

Honors and Awards

  • Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, Presidents Award, 2007, 2010, 2012
  • National Outstanding Assistant Federal Defender, National Association of Federal Defenders, 2002
  • University of Texas, Phi Beta Kappa, 1988

Publications

Books

  • An Introduction to Federal Sentencing (1st through 13th editions).  This publication, formerly titled An Introduction to Federal Guideline Sentencing, was originally prepared on behalf of Federal Public Defenders nationwide and published by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. The Introduction has been reprinted in whole or part in many legal treatises, manuals, and magazines. Large portions of the Introduction were included in Volume II of Defending a Federal Criminal Case, published by the Federal Defenders of San Diego in 2010.

Articles in a Periodical

  • “Supreme Court Vacancy? Rehnquist Is the Real Story of the Supreme Court’s 2004 Criminal Cases” Voice for the Defense (Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association Sept. 2005)
  • With Sarah P. Kelly, Novel Issues, Futile Issues, and Appellate Advocacy: The Troubling Lessons of Bousley v. United States, 35 St. Mary’s L.J. 93 (2003)

The Hon. Henry Bemporad

Practicing Faculty

Education

  • J.D. Stanford University with honors, 1988
  • B.A. University of Texas at Austin with highest honors, 1985

License to Practice

  • Texas
  • U.S. Court, Western District of Texas
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
  • U.S. Supreme Court

Specialties and Courses

  • Advanced Legal Writing
  • Federal Criminal Law
  • Federal Sentencing
  • Federal Civil Procedure
  • Federal Criminal Procedure

Ernesto Ballesteros

Practicing Faculty

Biography

Ballesteros serves as the Cybersecurity Advisor for the Capitol Region of Texas, for the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Agency (CISA). Prior to that he served the State of Texas, as the State Cybersecurity Coordinator and Chairman of the Texas Cybersecurity Council, at the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR), pursuant to Texas Government Code, Section 2054.511 and 512, where his primary charge was to “oversee cyber matters” for the State of Texas.

Prior to joining the DIR, Ballesteros‘ career spanned several industries, including: academia; financial services; private consulting; and public utilities. Of note, his prior professional roles included the following: Information Security Officer for the Alamo Colleges District, Information Security Officer (ISO) at Jefferson Bank; Information Security Consultant at Omnikron Systems, Inc; Assistant Professor of Computer Information Systems and Security (CISS) at Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU); Director of the Center for Information Assurance Management and Leadership at OLLU; and Information Systems Auditor for CPS Energy.

Academically, Ballesteros holds several degrees and professional certifications pertaining to cybersecurity, law, management information systems, and risk management. He holds a Bachelor and Master of Science in Computer Information Systems and Security (CISS) from OLLU; an NSA/DHS designated Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education (CAE-CDE). Additionally, Ernesto completed his legal education at St. Mary’s University School of Law, where he received his Doctor of Jurisprudence (JD). Lastly, Ballesteros is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), and CompTIA Security+ professional.

Ernesto Ballesteros

Practicing Faculty

Education

  • J.D., St. Mary’s University School of Law
  • M.S., Our Lady of the Lake University
  • B.S., Our Lady of the Lake University

Aaron Barton

Practicing Faculty

Biography

Aaron M. Barton is a Member at Branscomb Law in the firm’s Real Estate Group. Aaron has been practicing in the area of real estate law for over a decade, representing businesses, title companies, developers, lenders, and individuals in a wide variety of business, financing, leasing, and real estate transactions.

Prior to joining Branscomb Law, Aaron also represented title insurers and businesses in real estate litigation matters. This experience has assisted Aaron in delivering legal services to his clients with an eye to avoiding litigation, and structuring transactions to better protect clients in the event a dispute arises in the future.

Aaron has been a practicing faculty member at St. Mary’s University School of Law since 2012, and graduated from the School of Law in 2007. Aaron enjoys giving back to the Law School by sharing his knowledge and practical expertise with the law students to prepare them for practicing in the “real world.”

Honors and Awards

  • Texas Super Lawyer (Real Estate), Thomson Reuters, 2022

Publications

Presentations

  • Purchase and Sale of Commercial Real Property (TX), LexisNexis Practical Guidance Practice Note (2021)

Aaron Barton

Practicing Faculty

Contact Information

Education

  • J.D., St. Mary’s University School of Law, 2007
  • B.A., Texas State University – San Marcos, 2004

License to Practice

  • Texas

Specialties and Courses

  • Real Property
  • Mortgages and Real Estate Financing

Donna Coltharp

Practicing Faculty

Biography

Coltharp’s (J.D. ’97) areas of interest include criminal law and procedure, punishment and incarceration policy, sentencing la and procedure, legal history, capital punishment, and appellate advocacy, and evidence. She has presented on these subjects nationally. In addition, she has been interviewed and quoted both locally and nationally about the immigration crime and punishment on the southern border.

Before coming to St. Mary’s, Coltharp served as a law clerk to Chief Justice Phil Hardberger, of the Texas Fourth Court of Appeals, and then to United States District Court Judge Edward Prado. She then moved to the Federal Public Defender’s Office, where she worked as appellate counsel and eventually became First Assistant Federal Public Defender for the Western District of Texas. She served on the National Defenders’ Supreme Court Advocacy Assistance Program and was co-chair of the National Association of Defender Services Amicus Committee. In both capacities, she has drafted briefs and contributed substantial work to many significant cases argued in the Supreme Court.

Coltharp has taught courses in legal research and writing, Texas Criminal Procedure, Criminal Evidence, and Constitutional Criminal Procedure. Her current scholarship is focused on judicial prejudice assessments for ineffective assistance of counsel.

Donna Coltharp

Practicing Faculty

Contact Information

Education

  • BA, Missouri State University
  • J.D., St. Mary’s University School of Law (summa cum laude)

Anthony Ciolli

Practicing Faculty

Biography

Ciolli is a past President of the Virgin Islands Bar Association. He currently serves as Senior Law Clerk and Special Assistant to the Chief Justice of the Virgin Islands. He remains active in both the Virgin Islands Bar Association as well as the American Bar Association, where he serves as one of the Virgin Islands delegates to the ABA House of Delegates. He also serves on the Executive Council of the National Conference of Bar Presidents.

Anthony Ciolli

Practicing Faculty

Education

  • B.S., Cornell University, 2003
  • M.A., Queens College, 2004
  • J.D., University of Pennsylvania Law School, 2007
  • A.L.M., Harvard University, 2008
  • Exec LL.M., New York University, 2012
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