Faculty
Course Instructors
Steven A. McCloskey
Lead Instructor
Steve McCloskey received a Bachelor of Science degree from Virginia Tech in 1974. From 1974 to 1978, he was a police officer in Greensboro, North Carolina. He then spent several years in real estate and entered the School of Law at North Carolina Central University in 1996. He earned his JD degree, cum laude, from North Carolina Central University in 1999.
Since 1999, Steve has had a thriving law practice in Winston-Salem, where he concentrates in the areas of torts and contract law. He has taught paralegal studies since 2004 and has appeared as a guest lecturer for the North Carolina Paralegal Association. He has written two books on the law: Essentials of Real Estate Law, and Surety Law in North Carolina. Steve holds a Master of Legal Letters (LLM) degree in Estate Planning and Elder Law. In 2015, he received the William and Ida Friday Center’s Excellence in Teaching award.
“My passions are the law and teaching, and I am fortunate to be able to combine them in offering this Paralegal Certificate program with UNC-Chapel Hill. I went to law school relatively late, and so I appreciate how important it is for people to have the opportunity to change career paths, which can translate into changing one’s life path. Helping students to learn about the law, and knowing they are using that knowledge to thrive in their new profession, is a privilege and a joy. I invite you to join us for the UNC Paralegal Program … and change your life forever.”
—Steve McCloskey, Lead Instructor
John Nieman
Criminal Law and Family Law Instructor
After graduating from the North Carolina Central School of Law, John Nieman began his legal career as a solo practitioner in Chapel Hill. He then served as prosecutor with the Guilford County District Attorney’s Office and later became a member of the litigation department at the law firm of Donaldson and Black in Greensboro, North Carolina. In 2004, he joined the Office of the Public Defender in Guilford County. He is presently the Chief Public Defender for Guilford County where he oversees an office of 29 attorneys and 12 paralegals.
He has been teaching criminal law, family law, contracts, torts, and property law to paralegals since 1995. He was formerly on the faculty of the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys, where he taught trial advocacy and evidence and co-created the evidence curriculum.
He has lectured at UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke University, Guilford College, Greensboro College, Elon School of Law, and numerous Continuing Legal Education programs on a variety of topics including legal ethics, court systems, and negotiations.
His wife, Martha Massie, is a board-certified Family Law attorney and negotiator and his son, Jeff Nieman, is the elected District Attorney for North Carolina’s 18th Prosecutorial District, which includes Orange and Chatham counties.
Mark Kleinschmidt
Wills and Trusts Instructor
Mark Kleinschmidt received a Bachelor of Arts in Education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and after teaching high school for several years, received his JD degree from UNC School of Law in 2000. He served on the Chapel Hill Town Council from 2001 to 2009 and was elected Mayor of Chapel Hill in 2009.
In 2018, Kleinschmidt was elected as Orange County’s Clerk of Superior Court and was re-elected in 2022. As the Clerk of Superior Court, he serves as Orange County’s Judge of Probate. Kleinschmidt serves on the Executive Committee of the Conference of Clerks of Superior Court (CCSC) and as chair of the CCSC Joint Bar/Clerk Task Force and the CCSC Human Resource Committee. He is also the North Carolina liaison to the National College of Probate Judges and serves on the board of the NC Guardianship Association.
Prior to being elected Clerk, Kleinschmidt practiced law for more than 18 years with a focus in high-stakes criminal defense and civil rights, first at the Center for Death Penalty Litigation, then as Executive Director of the Fair Trial Initiative and finally with the firm Tin Fulton Walker & Owen. He also serves as an adjunct professor at the UNC School of Law teaching trial advocacy.
Marta Kiss
Instructor and Graduate
Marta Kiss has worked as a paralegal since 2015, when she began working for a federal public defender. She graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill’s Paralegal program in December 2017, and has been a paralegal instructor in the program since.
Marta became a North Carolina Certified Paralegal in 2018, and is now on the board of the Raleigh-Wake Paralegal Association as the Vice President of Education, and also serves on the board of the Paralegal Certification Committee. She worked in immigration law from 2017-2020 when she started her own freelance paralegal business focusing on giving paralegal services to solo attorneys in criminal, immigration, and real estate law. Marta is now employed at Jury-X, a jury consulting firm in Chapel Hill. She travels around the country assisting Personal Injury Plaintiff attorneys pick juries for trial.
Marta is originally from San Diego, California and graduated with a BA in Education. Shortly after graduation, she moved to Budapest, Hungary, where she taught English at a private school for five years. She has lived in Durham since 2018. Marta loves sports, yoga, reading, traveling, spending time with family, friends, and her beloved dog Lola.
