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Four new faculty members have been selected to join the William S. Richardson School of Law for the upcoming academic year. Mary Apodaca, Lucy Brown, D Dangaran, and Guy Rubinstein will be joining our dynamic group of legal scholars who are already at the forefront of novel research and advocacy. Each new faculty member brings a unique complementary skill set and area of specialization focused on bar success, environmental law, constitutional law, and criminal law.
Mary Apodaca, Bar Success
Mary Apodaca is a licensed attorney and seasoned legal education professional with over a decade of experience supporting law students in academic achievement and bar exam preparation. She has collaborated with various law schools across the United States on strategic initiatives that enhance bar passage outcomes and support students throughout the bar preparation journey.
A graduate of the University of New Mexico School of Law, Mary has long been committed to student success, having served as a teaching assistant in Criminal Law and Legal Writing, as well as an instructor for the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project. With a strong foundation in data analysis, institutional collaboration, and student engagement, she brings a student-centered and results-driven approach to bar success programming. Her work is rooted in a passion for legal education and a deep commitment to advancing outcomes for all students.
Lucy Brown ’18, Environmental Law
Raised on a small coffee and avocado farm in the ahupuaʻa of Hōnaunau on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi, Lucy Brown is a proud graduate of the William S. Richardson School of Law. She will join the faculty after nearly six years with the U.S. Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division, in the Attorney General’s Honors Program. During her time at the Department of Justice, Lucy represented the United States in complex civil litigation arising under a broad range of environmental statutes, including the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act. Lucy served as Senior Attorney for Career Development and Training and was honored to receive the Attorney General’s John Marshall Award for Support of Litigation.
Before joining the Department of Justice, Lucy clerked for the Honorable Michael D. Wilson, who was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Hawaiʻi at the time. During law school, Lucy served as a Case Note Editor for the University of Hawaiʻi Law Review and was an oralist on the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court team. She also volunteered at the Domestic Violence Action Center and served as an extern for the Honorable Richard W. Pollack (Ret.).
“I am most excited to engage with the students and help them navigate the many wonderful opportunities and experiences that Richardson offers,” Brown said.
Guy Rubinstein, Criminal Law
Rubinstein will join Richardson as an Assistant Professor of Law, teaching Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure. He is completing his Doctor of Juridical Science from Harvard Law School, where he was a Clark Byse Fellow and John M. Olin Fellow in Law and Economics. Guy also holds a Bachelor of Laws degree (LLB) from Tel Aviv University. His research focuses on judicial remedies for rights violations in the criminal process. In his work, he explores how such remedies shape professional decisions made by various actors in the criminal justice system, including judges, prosecutors, and police officers.
Guy’s research and teaching interests also include critical approaches to criminal justice, primarily focusing on penal abolitionism and penal minimalism, evidence, and anticorruption. His publications have appeared or are forthcoming in the George Washington Law Review, Washington University Law Review, Boston College Law Review, and Wisconsin Law Review. His work has been cited in several judicial opinions, including by the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois and the Supreme Court of Israel. Guy served as a Law Clerk and Senior Law Clerk for Justice Menachem Mazuz of the Supreme Court of Israel, and as a Fair and Just Prosecution Summer Fellow at the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.
D Dangaran, Constitutional Law
Born and raised in Wahiawa, Hawai‘i, D Dangaran (they/them pronouns) is a first-generation college graduate of Yale University and received their J.D. from Harvard Law School, where they were an articles editor for the Harvard Law Review. After law school, D Dangaran clerked for Judge Corinne Beckwith on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals and Judge Mark Bennett on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
They will join the William S. Richardson School of Law as an Assistant Professor of Law. They will teach courses in Family Law, Constitutional Law II, and Civil Rights Litigation. D is the Director of Gender Justice at Rights Behind Bars, where they argued numerous federal appeals and trial matters, specializing in using litigation and other advocacy to help incarcerated trans people access necessary gender-affirming care. Their published and forthcoming scholarship explores prison abolitionist theory and legal claims centered on trans rights in prison.
D serves as the co-chair of the National Trans Bar Association. In 2024, D was named one of the Best LGBTQ+ Lawyers Under 40 by the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association.
On being part of the Law School, D Dangaran shared, “I am thrilled to be joining a Native Hawaiian place of learning. I was born and raised on Oʻahu and have tried to bring Hawaiian values with me throughout my career. Coming to Richardson feels like returning to my roots and digging in deep to grow intellectually and support the future lawyers of Hawaiʻi as they, too, take Hawaiian values into legal practice on the islands and beyond.”
The William S. Richardson School of Law is excited to welcome our new faculty and acknowledges their expertise in leading our students to success.
Learn more about our faculty here.