The University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law announces the appointment of four new Donald Gaines Murray Teaching Fellows for the 2025-2026 academic year.
“We are thrilled to welcome Amelia Burnette, Kerry Rodgers, Julia Steggerda-Corey, and Justin Van Orsdol to the Maryland Carey Law community,” said Vice Dean Deborah Eisenberg. “They stood out from a highly competitive pool of applicants for the experience they will bring to our Lawyering Program and for their exceptional promise as legal scholars.”
The quartet joins current Murray Fellows Asees Bhasin and Gregory Schwab ’04, who are entering their second year of the fellowship.
Established in 2022, the Murray fellowship is filled by distinguished candidates who are a combination of early-career lawyers and experienced practitioners seeking to enter legal academia. Built into the fellowship is structured mentorship from senior faculty and opportunities for the fellows to workshop their research. Murray Fellows teach in the law school’s innovative first-year Lawyering Program, which seamlessly integrates legal theory, doctrine, and professional skills.
“Their addition to our roster of Lawyering Program faculty greatly benefits our first-year students,” added Eisenberg. “The program attracts dynamic practitioners who bring valuable real-world experience to their teaching and emerging scholars who will contribute to legal knowledge. This year’s fellows are shining examples.”
Amelia Burnette’s research focuses on environmental law, climate change governance and human rights, and the intersection of these fields.
Most recently, she has pursued her research with the support of a Fulbright award at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, and she taught Human Rights and Environmental Protection during a visiting scholar stay at GW Law.
Previously, Burnette practiced environmental law for over a decade as a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center. She is currently a director of the Climate Change Legal Initiative (C2LI).
Burnette started her legal career practicing commercial litigation with K&L Gates in Charlotte, North Carolina. She earned her JD from the University of North Carolina and her BA from UNC Asheville.
Kerry E. Rodgers joins Maryland Carey Law from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) in Washington, DC, where she served as an attorney in the Office of the Secretary, Office of the General Counsel, and in the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Office of the Chief Counsel.
She previously held policy roles in the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Office of the Secretary, the Bureau of Land Management, and the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and she practiced environmental law.
Rodgers taught the Environmental Law Clinic at Maryland Carey Law from June 2005 to June 2007. She earned a JD from New York University School of Law, an MES from Yale University, and an AB from Brown University.
Julia Steggerda-Corey’s scholarship focuses on the child welfare system, civil rights, social justice, and race and the law.
Prior to joining Maryland Carey Law, she served as an instructor of law and director of the Risk Management and Compliance Program at Drake University Law School.
Before entering academia, Steggerda-Corey practiced law in the Business Litigation group at Faegre Baker Daniels LLP (now Faegre Drinker), where she also contributed to civil rights advocacy through pro bono work. She brings additional experience from the nonprofit and intelligence sectors, including roles with the ACLU of Iowa, the U.S. Department of State’s Overseas Security Advisory Council, and the Principal Financial Group.
Steggerda-Corey earned her JD and LLM from Drake University Law School and a BA from Pepperdine University.
Justin Van Orsdol’s research focuses on federal courts, administrative law, and constitutional litigation.
Van Orsdol’s scholarship has been published in prestigious journals, including the Georgia Law Review, Washington & Lee Law Review Online, William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal, and Wisconsin Law Review.
Prior to joining Maryland Carey Law, he was an associate at King & Spalding. Additionally, he clerked for Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, the senior judges of the D.C. Court of Appeals, and Judge Gerald B. Tjoflat of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Van Orsdol earned his JD from the University of Georgia School of Law, and MA and BS degrees from California State University, Bakersfield.