Law

Professor of Law

"One of the best things about NKU Chase is its metropolitan location which offers diverse opportunities to Chase students. The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is within six miles of the College of Law as are two United States District Courts, and many trial and appellate courts of the states of Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. Numerous law firms of every size and specialty, non-profit organizations, corporations, administrative agencies, and trial and appellate courts of Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana are only a few examples of the richness of the legal community to which Chase students have access through externships, internships, clerkships, special programs, interschool competitions, and pro bono placements."

Profile

Professor Firak joined the Chase faculty in 1984. Prior to coming to Chase, Prof. Firak served as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Miami School of Law in Florida and as Administrative Director of Clinical Legal Education at Cleveland State University, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in Ohio.

Professor Firak received her LL.M. from Harvard Law School, her J.D. from Cleveland State University Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, and her B.S. from Ohio University. She is admitted to practice in state and federal courts in Ohio. She practiced in rural Nebraska as a staff attorney for the Legal Aid Society of Omaha where she specialized in poverty law and public benefits law. While she was Director of Clinical Education at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law she practiced in the areas of federal post-conviction relief, administrative law, and family law.

Professor Firak served as interim Associate Dean of the College of Law from 1992-93. She served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from 2003-2008

Professor Firak has published articles on a variety of subjects including air rage, legal ethics, right to counsel, and causation in tort law. She has published in the University of San Francisco Maritime Law Journal, Albany Law Review, Temple Law Review, Arizona State Law Journal, Law Library Journal, the Journal of Law and Health, Osgoode Hall Law Journal, and Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review.

Professor Firak has taught a variety of course including Torts, Remedies, Conflict of Laws, Products Liability, Mass Accident Law, Federal Post-Conviction Relief, School Law, Clinical Legal Education and Professional Responsibility.

Public Service

Member, Board of Directors, Northern Kentucky Volunteer Lawyers

Latest Publications

Mixed Messages in Maritime Wrongful Death Actions: Norfolk Shipbuilding & Drydock Corp. v. Garris, 14 U.S.F. Mar. L. J. 1 (2002)
Hein   Westlaw   

Air Rage: Choice of Law for Intentional Torts Occurring in Flight over International Waters, 63 Alb. L. Rev. 1 (1999) (co-authored with Kimberly A. Schmaltz)
Hein   LexisNexis   Westlaw   

Threshold Barriers to Title I and Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act: Discrimination against Mental Illness in Long-Term Disability Benefits, 12 J.L. & Health 205 (1997)
Hein   LexisNexis   Westlaw   

The Developing Policy Characteristics of Cause-in-Fact: Alternative Forms of Liability, Epidemiological Proof and Trans-Scientific Issues, 63 Temp. L. Rev. 311 (1990)
Hein   Westlaw   

Alternative Forms of Liability: Developing Policy Aspects of the Cause-in-Fact Requirement of Tort Law, 20 Ariz. ST. L.J. 1041 (1988)
Hein   Westlaw  

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