Mercer University School of Law is proud to welcome three new professors to its faculty: Bonnie Carlson, Ishaq Kundawala and Latisha Nixon-Jones. Their combined expertise and practice will reinforce Mercer Law School’s reputation of providing a challenging and practical legal education.
“We are excited for Professors Carlson, Kundawala and Nixon-Jones to join the Mercer School of Law faculty as we continue to enhance our legal curriculum,” said Dean Cathy Cox. “The vast experience, creativity and dedication that these professors bring to the classroom will prove invaluable to our instruction and preparation of students for all aspects of law practice.”
Bonnie Carlson, Assistant Professor of Law
B.A., University of Virginia
J.D., The George Washington University Law School
Carlson joins the faculty with extensive expertise in advocating for domestic violence victims. As a clinical teaching fellow in the Domestic Violence Clinic at the Georgetown University Law Center, she co-taught the clinic seminar and supervised clinic students in their representation of domestic violence victims in civil protection order litigation.
Prior to working at Georgetown, Carlson was a training and technical assistance staff attorney with the American Bar Association Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence and a family law staff attorney representing victims of domestic violence. She was awarded the National Association of Women Lawyers Outstanding Law Graduate Award for her work with domestic violence victims during law school.
At Mercer School of Law, Carlson will teach courses including Law of Lawyering and Family Law. She will also coordinate and launch a domestic violence clinic in fall 2022.
Ishaq Kundawala, Professor of Law and as the Southeastern Bankruptcy Law Institute and W. Homer Drake Jr. Endowed Chair in Bankruptcy Law
B.A., Austin College
J.D., Tulane Law School
Kundawala joins Mercer School of Law as a tenured professor of law. Prior to Mercer, he taught at Nova Southeastern University’s Shepard Broad College of Law for 13 years. He created a consumer bankruptcy externship program allowing students to gain hands-on experience representing consumer debtors in bankruptcy proceedings on a pro bono basis. He intends to launch a similar program for Mercer Law students.
Prior to his teaching career, Kundawala was in private practice in Dallas, Texas. As an associate at the international law firm of Baker Botts LLP, he handled the estimation and ultimate resolution of approximately $1.5 billion of toxic tort related bankruptcy claims against one of the nation’s largest copper producers. He also clerked for the chief bankruptcy judge of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas.
Kundawala’s research interests include bankruptcy reform and legal ethics. He has also discussed bankruptcy and contract-related issues on national and local radio and television stations. He enjoys writing and speaking about areas of the law that will enable scholars and practitioners to better understand some of the more complex areas of bankruptcy law.
Kundawala is licensed to practice law in both Texas and Georgia. At Mercer Law, he will teach courses including Contracts and Bankruptcy.
Latisha Nixon-Jones, Assistant Professor of Law
B.S.M., Tulane University
J.D., Southern University Law Center
Nixon-Jones is an emerging voice in the developing field of disaster law. Prior to joining Oregon University School of Law’s Legal Research and Writing faculty, she was assistant clinical professor of the Disaster Law Clinic at Southern University Law Center (SULC). She was the recipient of the University of Oregon’s 2020 COVID-19 Research Innovation Award. Her research on COVID-19 and its disparaging effects on vulnerable populations was presented in The Conversation and several other national publications.
A 2017 AmeriCorps Equal Justice Works Fellow, Nixon-Jones was responsible for establishing, coordinating and expanding SULC’s Disaster Law Clinic. The clinic helped low-income individuals who have been affected by natural or man-made disasters with civil legal issues.
Nixon-Jones is a member of the Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition and is a certified business coach and a national SCORE mentor. She also serves on the Association of Legal Writing Directors’ members committee and the Legal Writing Institute’s diversity committee.
Nixon-Jones will teach a first-year course on Torts, Legal Writing and Disaster Law at Mercer.
