Leadership Team

Hon. Mark Martin is the Founding Dean and Professor of Law at the Kenneth F. Kahn School of Law at High Point University. He is a respected voice in both judicial and academic circles, an accomplished attorney, jurist and professor, as well as an advocate for access to justice, legal reform, and innovation in legal education.

 

During his judicial career, Martin served at every level of the state court system and ultimately as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina from 2014- 2019. At the time of his respective installations, Martin was the youngest member in history of the Supreme Court and the North Carolina Court of Appeals.

 

Martin successfully advocated for juvenile justice reform through a program called “Raise the Age.” In addition, he established the NC Pro Bono Resource Center to improve access to justice. Martin has served on the Committee on Federal-State Jurisdiction of the United States Judicial Conference. He also served on the Board of Directors and as chair of the Professionalism and Competence of the Bar Committee of the Conference of Chief Justices, an organization with a direct influence on the development of codes of ethics and legal best practices nationwide.

 

Martin has served as the dean at two U.S. law schools. He currently serves as the founding dean of High Point Law and formerly served as dean at Regent University School of Law. He has taught law students at five law schools—Duke, High Point, NC Central, Regent, and UNC. Martin has expertise in multiple areas of the law. He co-taught a course on the various modes of constitutional interpretation with Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. of the Supreme Court of the United States. He has also taught law courses in appellate advocacy, election law, professional identity formation, professional responsibility, and trial practice.

 

Martin previously served as chair of the American Bar Association (ABA) Judicial Division and Appellate Judges Conference. He has also chaired the Appellate Judges Education Institute (AJEI) Board of Directors. He is a member of the American Law Institute, where he assisted with the Third Restatement, Conflict of Laws, and served on the Region 15 Advisory Committee. He chairs the Thomson Reuters Judicial Advisory Council. He also served as a founding board member of the Bolch Judicial Institute at Duke Law School. At the state level, Martin serves as a member of the Judicial Independence Committee of the North Carolina Bar Association and previously served as chair of the NC Professionalism Commission and the NC Equal Access to Justice Commission. He chaired the Commission on the Future of the North Carolina Business Court and led the effort to expand the business court.

 

Dean Martin’s advocacy for the rule of law has extended beyond the United States. He served on the Commission for the World Justice Project and was a two-time delegate to the World Justice Forum, the first-ever global convening to promote the multidisciplinary importance of the rule of law. Martin has served as an expert witness in the Queen’s Bench, Commercial Division in London, England.

 

Dean Martin’s lifetime of public service and devotion to the rule of law has been widely recognized. Martin has been inducted into the Warren Burger Society of the National Center for State Courts. He is a recipient of the Patriotic Employer Award of the United States Department of Defense. Martin received the ABA Robert Yegge Award for Outstanding Contribution in Judicial Administration, the Liberty Bell Award of the North Carolina Bar Association, and the Order of the Long Leaf Pine (the highest award given to a civilian in North Carolina). He is an honorary member of the American Counsel Association.

 

Martin has been married to Kym Martin for over 30 years, and together they have raised five children.

Kip Nelson is an Associate Professor of Law and the Assistant Director of Advocacy at HPU Law. Prior to his role at HPU Law, Professor Nelson had an active appellate practice for thirteen years at Fox Rothschild LLP, where he represented clients in state and federal appellate courts across the country on a broad array of matters, ranging from the unconstitutional conditions doctrine to land-use permits to waiver of child support. He also developed and taught a law school seminar course titled Children in the Law, which addressed the allocation of rights among children, parents, and the government.

 

Professor Nelson is certified by the North Carolina State Bar as an Appellate Practice Specialist. He is active in the American Bar Association and North Carolina Bar Association. He currently serves on the NCBA’s Appellate Rules Committee and is a member of the Appellate Practice Section Council. Professor Nelson is also the Rules Committee Chair for the ABA’s Council of Appellate Lawyers.

 

Professor Nelson was selected to the Triad Business Journal’s 2022 list of 40 under 40 and was a member of the Leadership Greensboro Class of 2018. He is also an active contributor to the North Carolina Appellate Practice Blog. In his pro bono work, Professor Nelson takes part in the state’s appellate guardian ad litem program—serving as appellate counsel on behalf of abused and neglected children.

 

Professor Nelson has published on several different topics, including the admissibility of battered child syndrome evidence, the scope of North Carolina’s unfair and deceptive practices statute, bifurcation of liability and damages, the role of the United States Sentencing Commission, the federal removal statutes, and the history of amicus briefs.

 

Professor Nelson graduated summa cum laude and first in his class from Duke University School of Law, where he served on the Moot Court Board and was an Articles Editor for the journal Law and Contemporary Problems. He then joined the inaugural class of Duke Law’s LL.M. program in Law and Entrepreneurship. Prior to obtaining his legal degrees, he received his B.S. in Psychology and a minor in Music, magna cum laude, from Brigham Young University.

Nelson’s primary responsibility is to assist with the legal research and writing program. Prior to joining the faculty, he worked as an appellate litigator at a large law firm. He earned a B.S. in psychology from Brigham Young University and a J.D. and LL.M. (Master of Law) from the Duke University School of Law. He is certified by the North Carolina State Bar as an appellate practice specialist.

Shively has been working in law school admissions for over 23 years. Most recently, Jay worked with the Spivey Consulting Group advising aspiring law students and helping law schools refine their admission processes. Before that role, he served as the Assistant Dean for Admissions at three law schools: Wake Forest University School of Law, Penn State Law, and the University of North Carolina School of Law. Dean Shively earned his JD from the University of Houston Law Center and began his law school admissions career there. From 2004-2009, he also served as the Director of Law School Services at the Law School Admission Council (LSAC), where he worked with a team that developed, tested, and implemented databases and services utilized in every LSAC member law school. His efforts while at LSAC yielded important advances in the ability of schools to operate in a paperless environment and enhanced applicant services.

 

Associate Dean Shively has been a featured speaker at LSAC Annual Meetings, the LSAC Electronic Services Conference, the Pre-Law Advisors National Conference (PLANC), several regional prelaw advisor conferences, and the Association of American Law Schools (AALS). He has been interviewed, quoted, and consulted by numerous media outlets, including US News and World Report, Above the Law, the National Jurist, Prelaw Magazine, and The New York Times. His service to the profession has been extensive. He has served as chair of the AALS Section on Pre-Legal Education and Admission to Law School; and he has served on numerous LSAC governance committees.

After obtaining her bachelor’s degree from Ohio University in 2009, Prof. Castillo attended Western Michigan University, Cooley Law, where she graduated with honors. While in law school, she interned for the Michigan House of Representatives, Ingham County Circuit Court, and Fauquier County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office. Upon graduation in 2013, she served as a Special Assistant Commonwealth Attorney in Virginia until joining the VA Board of Veterans Appeal as an attorney and a few years later serving as an Acting Veterans Law Judge.

At the Board of Veterans Appeals, Prof. Castillo developed a robust proficiency in interpreting and applying complex legal principles, litigating over 1,700 appeals for VA disability benefits and presiding over 94 appeals as an Acting Veterans Law Judge. Along the way, she found her passion: serving those who fought for our Country. Propelled by this passion for veterans, she has received numerous accolades for excellence in writing and productivity and was selected to mentor newly hired attorneys and Veteran Law Judges. In her role at HPU Law, Prof. Castillo looks forward to sharing her love of veterans law with the next generation of lawyers.

As assistant dean for students, Castillo serves as the liaison between students and law school faculty and staff. She helps to integrate students into the law school and community, and ensures students uphold the Honor Code, understand policies and expectations, and manage student organizations and resources. She will teach veterans law and assign VA disability benefits appeals to students as director of the Veteran’s Law Clinic, which will launch in fall 2025. Castillo holds a B.A. and has been practicing as an attorney since passing the Virginia bar in 2013.

Sola Babatunde serves as the director of the Kahn School of Law Library, where he oversees library programs, services, and administration. Reporting to the dean, Sola manages the library’s strategic planning, budget, and staff, and ensures the collection and resources meet the teaching and research needs of faculty and learning needs of students.

 

He previously served as the Associate Librarian for Access and Head of Public Service at Liberty University School of Law Library. At different times, he also served as Reference Librarian at Liberty University Law Library and Government Documents Librarian at Thurgood Marshall Law School.

 

He holds degrees from the University of Lagos (LLB, LLM), Southern Methodist University (LLM), University of North Texas (MILS), and Liberty University (MDiv). Sola is active in the professional community. He is a member of the International Association of Law Libraries, Association of American Law Libraries, Southeastern Association of Law Libraries, Dallas Association of Law Libraries, and the Law Library Association of Greater New York. He has also chaired the Community Service Committee of the Southeastern Association of Law Libraries. Sola’s leadership is defined by his commitment to strategic growth, technology integration, and collaboration with stakeholders.

Jennifer L. Martin is a Clinical Associate Professor of Law and the Director of Clinical Programs at HPU Law.

 

Prior to joining the academy, she dedicated her twenty-five-year legal career to public service. After graduating from law school in 1999, she began serving as a District Court prosecutor in the Forsyth County District Attorney’s Office. She served that office with distinction and finished as the Chief Assistant District Attorney.

 

In her past position as Chief ADA, Professor Martin has tried 80 jury trials, including 15 First Degree murder trials, to verdict. She often worked closely with law enforcement agencies to advise preliminary investigations and comfort grieving families, guiding them through the trial process.

 

Professor Martin has a track record of starting positive community programs, including an Elder Abuse Task Force and a community outreach license restoration program. She also developed a long-term collaborative partnership between local universities, campus police, and university athletic departments to support student-athletes off the field.

 

Professor Martin is actively engaged with community initiatives. She serves on the Forsyth County Commissioner’s Commission on Ending Homelessness, the CURE Violence steering committee, her local Juvenile Crime Prevention Council, and the Forsyth County School Justice Partnership. In addition, she has served on the board of The Ronald McDonald House, The Parenting Path, the Bethesda Center for the Homeless, and Mediation Services of Forsyth County. She is a frequent guest speaker at law schools and universities across North Carolina, as well as law enforcement agencies.

 

Professor Martin graduated from Wake Forest University with a B.A. in English and a minor in Women’s Studies and received her J.D. from Wake Forest University School of Law. She will teach Criminal Law in addition to her role overseeing HPU Law’s community law clinic.

Martin teaches criminal law to first-year students and implements HPU’s vision for the Community Law Clinic to help the community while providing practical real-world experience for law students. She teaches the classroom component of the clinical course for law students to prepare them to advocate in court for clients on issues ranging from driver’s license restoration to expungement of criminal records. She also works with the law school’s Clinical Advisory Board to supervise the students as they offer these services to members of the High Point community to increase their access to justice. Martin earned her B.A. in English at Wake Forest University in 1996 and her J.D. at Wake Forest University in 1999.

Prior to serving as the Director of Career Development at High Point University, Kenneth F. Kahn School of Law, John held leadership roles in higher education administration for nearly two decades. He has worked in Student Development, Human Resources/Compliance, and Institutional Integrity. Most notably, John served as the Dean of Students at UNC School of Law for over 10 years. In addition to his administrative leadership, John has worked as an adjunct professor teaching courses on Leadership, Writing, and Advocacy. He earned his Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from Western Carolina University, J.D. from UNC School of Law, M.A.T. from UNC School of Education, and B.A. from St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Prior to attending law school, he was a high school mathematics teacher at Southern High School in Durham, North Carolina. After graduating from law school, he clerked for the Honorable Linda Stephens at the North Carolina Court of Appeals.

Mr. Berger is joining the faculty of High Point University, Kenneth F. Kahn School of Law. He will serve in the law library and lecturer on law. He begins his new position after finishing a term as a judge on the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court in Virginia. His judicial service included serving on the Juvenile Domestic Relations Digital Systems Advisory Committee and the Department of Education Superintendents and Judges Liaison Committee. In addition, Mr. Berger served on the Executive Board of the Association of District Court Judges of Virginia, Inc., as treasurer.

 

Prior to serving as a judge, Mr. Berger practiced law for 17 years in Virginia. His main practice areas were in family law, which included experience as a guardian ad litem for children, and criminal defense. He served as the Executive Vice-President on the Board of Rappahannock Legal Services (currently Legal Aid Works), and a term as president of the Culpeper County Bar Association. In 2006, the Virginia Business Magazine recognized Mr. Berger as a Legal Elite (Family/Domestic Relations).

 

Mr. Berger received his Juris Doctor from Regent University School of Law, Cum Laude, and his B. A. in Geography from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Lori Livingston serves as the Director of Administration for the Law School.  She graduated magna cum laude from Wake Forest University majoring in Speech Communications and minoring in Spanish.

 

Always drawn to the mission of public service, Livingston worked for over 21 years in the office of Richard Burr starting when he was in the U.S. House of Representatives and serving through his retirement from the U.S. Senate.  As Senator Burr’s Director of Veterans and Military Affairs, she helped thousands of veterans and service members navigate the difficulties of government bureaucracy to obtain the benefits they earned.

 

Livingston brings her experience managing multiple constituencies to the law school and hopes to aid in the development of our next generation of public servants.