New Faculty Faces

Robin Maril

Maril joined the full-time faculty following her term as a visiting professor during the 2021-22 academic year. Her previous work at the Human Rights Campaign focused on federal programs, administrative policies and legislation impacting the LGBTQIA community.

“Willamette is really a special place because of the people,” Maril says. “The faculty is so engaged and focused on both scholarship and teaching. I have also been impressed by the energy, professionalism and passion of Willamette students.” In her first year, Maril taught Constitutional Law, Administrative Law and Family Law. She will continue to teach those, along with courses in Health Law.

Sheryl Buske

Buske joined the faculty in fall 2021. Buske has more than two decades of teaching experience in Legal Writing and Child Law. She has also served as the director and assistant director of Legal Writing for multiple schools.

Before joining Willamette, she had been the director of the Legal Writing program for Washington and Lee University School of Law, located in Virginia, since 2018.

“I believe strongly that skill development should be the core of legal education,” Buske says, “and I’m delighted to join a faculty that values experiential learning.”

Sarah Matsumoto

Matsumoto joined Willamette Law in summer 2021 from Sturm College of Law at the University of Denver. For the last three years, Matsumoto was a clinical teaching fellow for Sturm’s Environmental Law Clinic. A Washington native, she was excited to return to the West Coast to offer a new Environmental Justice Clinic.

“My hope is that clinic students and I will help people access meaningful legal options and opportunities that truly impact their everyday lives,” Matsumoto says. “Experiential offerings like a clinic are an essential part of students’ legal education, and I am thrilled to work with the outstanding students at Willamette Law.”

Susan Cook

Cook JD’96 was appointed to the full-time faculty in the summer of 2021 after serving as a part-time lecturer since 2000, teaching overwhelmingly popular sections of Elder Law and the Trusts and Estates Clinic. Along with Matsumoto, she directs the Clinical Law Program.

“When I started teaching as an adjunct professor, I was unsure how long I would continue,” she says, “but the more time I spent with students, I realized my true passion lies in teaching.”

Cook’s private practice in Salem focused on protective proceedings, estate planning, and probate and trust administration

Dustin Buehler

Buehler ’00, a Willamette University alumnus, began teaching 1L Civil Procedure in the fall of 2021. Buehler is general counsel for the Office of Oregon Gov. Kate Brown. From 2010 to 2015, he was a tenured law professor on the faculty at the University of Arkansas School of Law with now Willamette Law Dean Brian Gallini.

“First-year students are so eager to learn, and they bring so much raw passion and an already well-developed sense of what is fair and what is unfair,” Buehler says. “It is such an honor to harness that energy and to serve as one of their guides during their first year of law school

Terrence Greed

Green JD’11 returned to his alma mater in the fall of 2021 to teach Immigration Law.

“I am excited to share my knowledge of immigration law and advocacy for immigrant communities with law students,” Green says. “My goal is to teach the black letter law and take them on a journey of what it’s like to navigate the immigration process as a new immigrant.”

A first-generation immigrant, Green says his experience, along with 10 years of practice, is an asset to students taking the course. Green owns Terrence Green Law LLC in Salem, which focuses on immigration, personal injury and car accidents.

Stephanie Davidson

Davidson joined Willamette as the new director of the law library in May 2022 after the retirement of longtime Director and Professor Ann Kitchel.

“I saw opportunities at Willamette to make a lasting impact on young lawyers,” she explains. “I was drawn to the small size of the program and the enthusiasm for supporting students in innovative, meaningful ways.”

Davidson previously was the associate director of the law library and an associate professor of library administration at the University of Illinois College of Law. There for 17 years, Davidson taught first-year Legal Research for JD students and Legal Research and Writing for LLM and JSD students

Beth Zilberman

Zilberman primarily teaches within the Clinical Law Program, working to expand upper-level immigration curricular offerings. She previously was an assistant professor and director of the Immigration Clinic at the University of Arkansas School of Law.

“The Immigration Clinic will allow students to take their knowledge outside the classroom to develop a deep understanding of the real impact our nation’s laws and policies have on the lives of some of the most vulnerable members of their community,” she says, “while effectively advocating for their clients and against systemic inequities.”

Zilberman’s scholarship focuses on access to justice in immigration adjudications and intersects with family, education and juvenile justice law