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Mario Mainero is the Associate Dean for Bar Preparation and Academic Achievement for the Fowler School of Law. He earned his bachelor of arts in Political Science from Claremont Men’s College (now Claremont McKenna College) in 1975, cum laude. He received a master’s degree in Political Science from the University of New Mexico in 1977, with a major in American Government and a minor in Research Methodology and Statistics. He earned his juris doctor, magna cum laude, from the University of New Mexico in 1980.

Mainero practiced law full time from 1980 to 2001, including 13 years as head of his own law firm. He was a professor at Whittier Law School from 2001 to 2006. He served as Chief of Staff and Senior Policy Advisor for then-Orange County Supervisor John Moorlach from 2007 to 2010. Mainero became an adjunct professor at Chapman University in 2008, teaching Selected Topics in American Law and directing the Supplemental Bar Prep Program, and joined as a full-time faculty member in 2009. He teaches Evidence, as well directing the Bar Preparation Program.

Sarira A. Sadeghi is the Sam & Ash Assistant Dean for Academic Achievement at the Chapman University Fowler School of Law, working to provide academic support and bar preparation services to students. She was previously an Assistant Professor at the University of La Verne College of Law, where she served as Interim Director of the Center for Academic and Bar Readiness. In addition to working with first-year law students on study and exam skills, Professor Sadeghi has developed a foundational skills class for second-year law students, taught bar preparation courses, and worked with doctrinal faculty in developing a skills-based perspective in their course offerings.

A graduate of American University’s Washington College of Law, Professor Sadeghi spent several years as a staff attorney at the Supreme Court of Nevada, where she worked on civil cases, edited opinions for publication, and created and delivered an orientation and training program for incoming attorneys. She is an editor of The Learning Curve and has presented on several occasions to various academic support conferences.