Four new faculty members are joining the UConn Law community this year, bringing a wide range of experience from academia, legal practice, advocacy, and the courts. As scholars, teachers, and practitioners, they will contribute to the law school’s vibrant, intellectually rigorous, and engaged culture of teaching, research, and service.

The new appointments include Gregory Antill, Melissa Stewart, Maegan Faitsch ’19, and Brianne Felsher.

“We are excited to welcome these outstanding scholars and educators to UConn Law,” says Dean Eboni S. Nelson. “Their scholarship and professional experience reflect our commitment to connecting rigorous academic inquiry with meaningful practice and service. I look forward to the contributions they will make to our classrooms, our intellectual life, and the preparation of our students.”

Gregory Antill

Gregory Antill joins the faculty as an associate professor of law and will teach Legal Profession, a course that explores the ethical responsibilities of lawyers and the professional standards that guide their work with clients, the courts, and the justice system.

Antill comes to UConn Law from the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University. His teaching and research interests include criminal law, tort law, and evidence. His scholarship applies developments in philosophy and cognitive science to traditional legal questions about mens rea, culpability, causation, and expert testimony. His work has been published or is forthcoming in the Yale Law Journal, the California Law Review, and the University of Chicago Law Review, among other publications.

Previously, Antill was an academic fellow and lecturer in law at Columbia Law School and held academic appointments at Yale University, Pomona College, and Claremont McKenna College. He earned his JD from Yale Law School, a doctorate in philosophy from UCLA, and a bachelor’s degree from Brandeis University.

“I am thrilled to join UConn Law and contribute to its long tradition of innovative scholarship in legal theory and jurisprudence,” says Antill. “I especially look forward to becoming part of a public institution committed to making an outstanding legal education accessible and affordable to students from every background.”

Melissa Stewart

Melissa Stewart joins UConn Law as an associate professor of law and will teach International Human Rights Law and Civil Procedure. She holds a joint appointment with the Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute.

Her research combines theoretical and practical approaches to international law, with a focus on the rights of stateless people, refugees, migrants, immigrants, and internally displaced people. Her scholarship has appeared in the American Journal of International Law, Virginia Journal of International Law, Stanford Journal of International Law, and other publications.

Stewart previously taught at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa William S. Richardson School of Law and held appointments at Georgetown Law, the Australian National University College of Law, and the Center for Transnational Legal Studies. Before entering academia, she practiced at Foley Hoag LLP, representing clients in complex civil litigation and before international courts, tribunals, and United Nations bodies.

She earned her JD and LLM from Georgetown University Law Center, a master’s degree in international economic law, global governance studies from SciencesPo in Paris, and a bachelor’s degree from Butler University.

“I’m delighted to join the faculty at UConn Law and the Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute,” Stewart says. “It is a privilege to be a part of such a vibrant intellectual community, and I am looking forward to engaging with students, faculty, and staff at the law school and HRI.”

Maegan Faitsch ’19

UConn Law graduate Maegan Faitsch ’19 returns to campus as the William R. Davis Clinical Teaching Fellow in the Asylum and Human Rights Clinic. She has represented immigrants and refugees in Connecticut for six years, first as a staff attorney with Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS) and then with Connecticut Legal Services. For the past two years, Faitsch has also taught as an adjunct instructor in UConn Law’s Legal Practice program, working with students on interviewing, counseling, negotiation, and advocacy. Before entering practice, she served as a law clerk to then-Chief Justice Richard Robinson of the Connecticut Supreme Court.

“I am honored to be returning to UConn Law as a faculty member in the Asylum and Human Rights Clinic,” says Faitsch. “As a former student of the Clinic, I know firsthand the importance of clinical education, and I look forward to helping our students prepare for their future roles as advocates.”

Faitsch earned her BA from Grove City College prior to earning her JD from UConn Law.

Brianne Felsher

Brianne Felsher, a PhD candidate in the Jurisprudence and Social Policy program at Berkeley, is UConn Law’s new Stuart F. Smith Fellow. The fellowship supports emerging scholars whose writing and research contribute to a more inclusive legal academy.

Felsher studies the legal history of queer families and marriages in the United States from the early 1800s through World War I. Their research examines how queer individuals navigated legal institutions, created contracts, and formed relationships, as well as the implications of queer legal history for constitutional law. Their paper, “‘Sex Changed by a Court’s Decree’: The History and Tradition of Gender Transitions in the United States,” was recently published in the Georgetown Law Journal.

Felsher earned their JD from Berkeley and a bachelor’s degree from Columbia University.

“I am excited to join UConn Law,” says Felsher. “I have already been amazed by the kindness and welcoming nature of the faculty. I am looking forward to learning more from all my colleagues.”