Kimberly Dasse, Ariana Meyers, and Paul Traynor will begin their new assignments in August 2024
UND School of Law is pleased to announce the hiring of three new tenure-track faculty as Assistant Professors of Law – Kimberly Dasse, Ariana Meyers, and Paul Traynor.
Professor Kimberly Dasse
Professor Kimberly Ann Dasse joined the faculty at UND School of Law in 2023 as a full-time Assistant Professor of Law. She teaches lawyering skills, legal writing, and contract drafting.
“Professor Dasse has an incredible background,” said Dean Pappas. She spent more than 15 years in China working as a legal educator and solicitor. In Hong Kong, she practiced family law, representing clients from the UK, Brazil, Philippines, England, India, and the United States in their matrimonial and guardianship actions. In her role as a trainer, she directed the Risk Management Education program for The Law Society of Hong Kong and taught fraud, ethics, conflicts, and confidentiality.
Prior to moving to China, Professor Dasse worked at the Office of the Attorney General for the State of New York where she represented the State in a variety of litigation matters, including two class actions.
As a new resident of Grand Forks, Professor Dasse looks forward to getting involved in the community and furthering her interest in capturing natural beauty through watercolors. As a new faculty member, she is eager to pursue her research interests: legal writing pedagogies especially as related to international students, comparison of international legal systems, and the impact of AI on the legal profession.
Professor Ariana D. Meyers
Professor Ariana D. Meyers joined the faculty at UND School of Law in 2018 as a full-time special appointment faculty member. She now has been filed to fill a tenure-track clinical position. Professor Meyers will continue to teach Family Law and supervise the Family Law Clinical Practicum wherein second- and third-year law students represent live clients in divorce, custody, guardianships and restraining order actions. She joined the law school faculty after practicing in the areas of domestic relations and serving as a guardian ad litem for minor victims of sexual crimes in North Dakota. She is a proud graduate of the UND School of Law. Professor Meyers currently serves as the President of the Randy H. Lee Inns of Court and as Vice President of the Family Law Section of the State Bar of North Dakota.
“Professor Meyers has been instrumental in developing our family law clinical practicum, in supporting and facilitating our bar success efforts, in helping us attract and develop our Canadian students, and so much more,” said Dean Brian Pappas. “She is an incredible supporter of our law students and our entire law school.”
Professor Paul Traynor
A native of Devils Lake, ND, Professor Traynor received his BA in History and Classical Languages from UND in 1985 and his Juris Doctor degree from UND in 1988. He furthered his education by completing a Master of Insurance Laws in 2002 from the University of Connecticut School of Law. Throughout his career in corporate law, he has worked for companies in Fargo (Nodak), Minneapolis (State Farm), Springfield, IL (Horace Mann), Chicago (Kemper Cos.) and Boston (Coverys). He returned to North Dakota in 2019 and joined the faculty at the UND School of Law as a special appointment member of the faculty. Professor Traynor has law licenses in Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and North Dakota and is admitted to the federal courts of Minnesota and North Dakota. He has published in the Connecticut Insurance Law Journal and the DePaulUniversity School of Law Business and Commercial Law Journal. He recently went under contract with West Publishing to write a casebook on Insurance Law in 2024.
“He has been a utility fielder- teaching a multitude of courses from Business Associations to Health Law to Insurance to first-year classes,” said Dean Pappas. “Among a long list of activities, Professor Traynor supports our students’ work at the UND Center for Innovation and consistently attends so many university, law school, and community events.”