Even when Amy Parrish was practicing law, education was a vocation. A private practice attorney who represented churches, nonprofits, businesses and individuals in the exercise of their religious liberties, she loved educating her clients on laws affecting their ministries. Crafting arguments to educate judges about laws and pertinent cases was also one of the highlights of her job. Perhaps it is because Parrish viewed the courtroom as a place of learning that she is equally comfortable in a classroom.

Parrish’s first introduction to the Heider College of Business was as a part-time adjunct business law instructor after she and her husband moved to Omaha from Chicago in 2014. She now joins the faculty full-time and looks forward to advising pre-law students and perhaps developing new courses.

Legal issues absorb up to 25 percent of a CEO’s time, Parrish says, so “legal astuteness is in demand as a valuable commodity.”

“Students need to be prepared to use the law strategically as a tool to reduce or manage business risk in an efficient, cost-effective and ethical manner,” says Parrish. “I see myself as a translator, removing as much complexity as possible and helping students see how these concepts intersect with the business world.”

Parrish graduated from Dordt College with a Bachelor of Arts in political science and communications in 2002 and earned her Juris Doctor degree from Valparaiso University School of Law in 2005. She spent the majority of her private practice career at Mauck & Baker, LLC in Chicago as an associate attorney specializing in civil rights litigation, constitutional law and religious liberty protection. She brings to the Heider classroom practical legal experience and Constitutional law expertise as well as enthusiasm for learning and for her students.

“Looking back at my own college experience, I greatly value the supportive and caring environment between professors and students that a university like Creighton provides, and I am dedicated to implementing that environment in my classroom,” Parrish says.