Following an internal search, one finalist has emerged for the position of dean of the University of Nebraska College of Law. The finalist, Richard Moberly, will attend open forums and meet with the university community March 27. The announcement was made March 14 by Donde Plowman, the university’s executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer.

Moberly is the interim dean of the college and the Richard and Catherine Schmoker Professor of Law. He has been at Nebraska since 2004, was named associate dean in 2011 and has been interim dean since 2016.

Richard Moberly

The public will have the opportunity to interact with Moberly on two occasions March 27 at the law college. He will give a presentation from 4 to 4:45 p.m. in the college’s auditorium, followed by a public reception outside the law library from 4:45 to 5:30 p.m. The college community also is encouraged to attend a series of specified forums on March 27 – for law students, Moberly will be available from 10 to 10:45 a.m. in the auditorium; college staff will meet with him from 10:45 to 11:30 a.m. in Room 131, and law faculty can attend a forum from noon to 1 in Room 124.

Established in 1891, the College of Law is a prestigious regional institution with a growing national reputation. Many of the 31 faculty at the college are nationally known for their scholarship and law reform activities. The college provides more than 400 students with a rigorous and challenging education, and graduates compete well in national employment markets.

In addition to teaching Evidence and Employment Law courses, Moberly is an active scholar who researches issues related to whistleblowing and the law of secrecy. He has published numerous articles and book chapters on whistleblowing, including research on national security whistleblowers and codes of ethics, as well as an empirical study of Sarbanes-Oxley retaliation claims.

He has testified before the U.S. House of Representatives, spoken internationally on whistleblower protection, and also co-edited The International Handbook on Whistleblower Research (2014). The U.S. Secretary of Labor has twice appointed Moberly to the Whistleblower Protection Advisory Committee to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Upperclass law students have voted Moberly “Professor of the Year” twice and he has also won the College Award for Distinguished Teaching. In 2014, the College of Law Alumni Council presented him with the Distinguished Faculty Award. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review.