John H. Faricy Jr. Professorship for Empirical Research in the Law
Professor of Law
Professor Natalie Netzel teaches Criminal Law, Evidence, and courses related to child welfare law, professional identity formation, and well-being in the legal profession. Her scholarly and professional interests include lawyer and law student well-being, trauma-informed pedagogy, moral injury in the legal profession, and healing-centered approaches to legal education and practice.
Professor Netzel is actively involved in national and local well-being initiatives within the legal profession. She serves on the Board of Directors for Minnesota Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers and is involved with the Association of American Law Schools’ Section on Balance and Well-Being in Legal Education, as well as the Minnesota State Bar Association’s Well-Being Committee.
Professor Netzel has extensive experience representing parents, youth, and relatives in child protection proceedings in both district court and appellate matters. She continues to draw on that experience in her teaching, scholarship, and professional training work with lawyers, judges, and interdisciplinary professionals.
During her time at Mitchell Hamline, Professor Netzel has served in a variety of leadership and teaching roles, including Director of Clinical Legal Education, Education and Advocacy Director of the Institute to Transform Child Protection, and Director of the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project.
Prior to joining the faculty, Professor Netzel was a judicial law clerk for the Minnesota Court of Appeals. She received her B.A. from Hamline University, her M.S.E. in counseling from the University of Wisconsin-Superior, and her J.D. from Mitchell Hamline School of Law.
Education
J.D., magna cum laude, Mitchell Hamline School of Law
M.S.E., counseling, University of Wisconsin, Superior
B.A., cum laude, psychology, Hamline University
Experience
Mitchell Hamline School of Law: professor of law, 2025– ; director, clinical education program, 2023–; associate professor of law, 2023–25; co-director, clinical education program, 2022–23; assistant professor of law, 2018–23; education and advocacy director, Institute to Transform Child Protection, 2018–; staff attorney, Institute to Transform Child Protection, 2016–18; director, Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project, 2018–22; seminar professor, Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project, 2016–18
Minnesota Court of Appeals: judicial law clerk, Judge Denise Reilly, 2015–16
United States District Court, District of Minnesota: federal judicial extern, Magistrate Judge Leo I. Brisbois and Judge Susan R. Nelson
Duluth Denfeld High School, career counselor, 2011–12
