Issue: Fall 2023
109 results
Graduated in 2020s
2022
Aviram Shahal, SJD, LLM ’15, is part of the inaugural class of fellows at Brandeis University’s Institute for Advanced Israel Studies. Currently, he is a visiting scholar at the Center of Jewish Studies at Harvard University. His areas of interest include legal and constitutional history, comparative law, law and literature, history of Zionism, and the impact of demographic changes.
Aviram Shahal, SJD, LLM ’15, is part of the inaugural class of fellows at Brandeis University’s Institute for Advanced Israel Studies. Currently, he is a visiting scholar at the Center of Jewish Studies at Harvard University. His areas of interest include legal and constitutional history, comparative law, law and literature, history of Zionism, and the impact of demographic changes.
2021
James Pierce is an associate in the Banking & Finance practice of Mayer Brown’s Chicago office. He is one of 25 suitors in The Bachelorette season 20 competing for the final rose given by Charity Lawson, who starred in The Bachelor season 27. Before assuming his current position at Mayer Brown, Pierce interned as a summer associate in 2020. In 2019, he also worked as a legal intern at Thompson Thrift Development/Construction after clerking at Burrus & Sease LLP in Indiana.
Graduated in 2010s
2010
Leah Litman, professor of law at the University of Michigan, was a winner of the American Constitution Society’s 2023 Richard D. Cudahy Writing Competition. She was recognized for co-authoring the article “The New Major Questions Doctrine.”
Cameron G. Smith became deputy general counsel of Golden State Foods in September. The Irvine, California-based company is one of the largest diversified suppliers to the food service and retail industries. Cameron previously served as assistant general counsel for Western Digital Corp., also based in Irvine.
2011
Nelly Almeida was recognized as one of the 2023 Rising Stars by Law360, which is an annual feature recognizing the profession’s top legal talent under the age of 40. She is a partner at Milbank LLP’s New York office and is a member of the firm’s financial restructuring group. She represents debtors, creditors, lenders, official committees, equity holders, and investors in international corporate restructuring.
Melissa “Mel” Jordan has been recognized by Lawdragon as a Global 100 Leader in Legal Strategy and Consulting for her work as founder and CEO of Jordan's Ladder Legal Placements LLC.
Faizah Malik, senior supervising staff attorney in the Community Development Project at Public Counsel, received the 2023 Public Interest Award from the South Asian Bar Association of Southern California. She helped win the largest expansion of tenant protections in Los Angeles in 40 years, which will keep tens of thousands of people housed and prevent families from falling into homelessness. She has been counsel on several impact litigation cases to keep communities from being evicted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, she represented and supported the Bruce family in the historic return of Bruce’s Beach.
Mary Street, a partner at Foley & Mansfield, was appointed co-chair of the firm’s appellate practice group in Miami. She focuses her practice on medical malpractice defense and civil appeals.
James Walker, a partner at Miller Nash LLP, has been elected to serve on the board of directors for Greater Portland Inc., a regional public-private partnership dedicated to creating and expanding Northwest Oregon’s employment and economic outlooks. At Miller Nash, he advises clients, both public and private, on real estate, construction, public contracting, and governance and procurement matters.
2012
Carasusana “Cara” Wall is a 2023 Ohio State Bar Foundation Fellow, recognizing the highest standards of professionalism and commitment to service. She is a partner at Zoll & Kranz LLC in Toledo, Ohio, and volunteers with the Toledo Bar Association, Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, and Legal Aid of Western Ohio. Additionally, she is an active member of the Toledo Junior Bar Association. She is pictured with Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy and OSBF President and Delaware, Ohio, Judge David Hejmanowski.
2013
Melissa A. Barahona was named one of the 2023 Lawdragon 500 X–The Next Generation lawyers, recognizing up-and-comers in the legal profession. She is a partner at Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP in New York, and her practice focuses on employment-related and commercial litigation.
Kenneth Black, who focuses on complex securities litigation and shareholder derivative litigation, was promoted to partner at Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP in San Francisco. Previously, he was a sanctions investigator in the Office of Foreign Assets Control at the US Department of the Treasury.
Zachary Ciullo, a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP in Chicago, has accepted an invitation to join the International Association of Defense Counsel, a global legal organization for attorneys who represent corporate and insurance interests. He focuses his commercial litigation practice on cases involving mass torts, product liability, class actions, life sciences, and contract and commercial disputes. He also maintains an active pro bono practice.
Adam Graham was appointed bureau chief of the Bureau of Civil Rights at the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT). He will oversee the department's programs for equal employment opportunity, affirmative action, federal contract compliance, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Before joining IDOT, he served as director of compliance at Chicago Public Schools.
Julianne M. Landsvik Klein was recently sworn in as assistant US attorney for the District of Rhode Island. She joins the office’s Criminal Division from the Boston office of Cooley LLP, where she served as an associate for the past eight years, handling Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission investigations, working on complex commercial matters, and overseeing pro bono litigation.
Justin S. Platt was promoted to partner at Goodwin Procter in New York earlier this year. His practice focuses on health sciences, capital markets, and corporate matters. He specifically represents issuers and underwriters in initial public offerings, public and private offerings of debt, equity, preferred securities, and a variety of other corporate finance transactions.
2014
Peter S. Borock, a shareholder at Greenberg Traurig LLP in New York, has been named one of Law360’s Rising Stars for 2023, which is an annual feature recognizing the profession’s top legal talent under the age of 40. His commercial real estate practice comprises clients across real estate sectors such as office, residential, industrial, health care, and hospitality. He received the Cornerstone Award from the Lawyers Alliance for his work on behalf of Settlement Housing Fund, a New York City-based nonprofit that creates and sustains quality affordable housing.
Judith Conway, an associate at Cooney & Conway, has been named one of Chicago’s best wrongful death lawyers for 2023 by Forbes. She focuses her practice on helping victims of mesothelioma, asbestosis, and other asbestos-related diseases and their families recover compensation for the injury and wrongful death caused by asbestos-containing products. One of her first cases was on behalf of a Heisman Trophy winner who died of mesothelioma. She has secured a $200 million verdict in a consolidated asbestos trial and a $35.1 million verdict in a single case for a refinery worker.
Tyler B. Peacock joined Wagner Hicks PLLC in Charlotte, North Carolina, as a partner. His practice focuses on business and employment litigation. In addition, he advises healthcare clients on issues related to HIPAA, federal substance abuse regulations, and subpoena compliance.
Joel Pratt, a partner at the Law Office of Dailey & Pratt, was sworn in as a part-time municipal court judge for the City of Colorado Springs, Colorado. In his practice, he represents clients in the appellate and trial courts in family law, juvenile law, and probate cases.
2015
Danielle Bass rejoined Honingman LLP’s Detroit office this spring as a partner in the corporate department with a focus on transactional matters. In September, she was elected president of ACG Detroit, a 400-member nonprofit of middle-market mergers and acquisition professionals. She is the first female leader in the organization’s 40-year history. She also is a lecturer at Michigan Law.
2016
Kya Henley, with Calyssa (Lawyer) Zellars, ’17, has formed Saint Park LLP, a boutique firm with offices in Detroit and Washington, DC, that specializes in investigations, strategic counsel, and crisis management services. Before co-founding Saint Park, Henley regularly represented clients in white-collar criminal and civil enforcement matters before the US Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, other federal agencies, and state attorney general offices.
Adam R. Uth has joined Mansour Gavin's litigation group, where he focuses on real estate matters. He has considerable experience representing businesses in various types of litigation and has secured favorable outcomes at both the trial and appellate levels. He also has experience providing compliance analysis, both in the private sector and for the City of Shaker Heights, Ohio.
Matthew L. Worsham is now an associate in the litigation and dispute resolution and the private wealth, trusts, and estates practice groups at Jones Foster, a commercial and private client firm headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida. He is a past co-chair of the Martin County Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division.
2017
William Quinn was promoted to general counsel at the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), effective in August. He joined the USCCB in March 2022 as a solicitor in the Office of General Counsel, managing all conference litigation matters. Immediately before joining the USCCB, he worked as a trial attorney in the Civil Division of the US Department of Justice.
Calyssa (Lawyer) Zellars, with Kya Henley, ’16, has formed Saint Park LLP, a boutique firm with offices in Detroit and Washington, DC, that specializes in investigations, strategic counsel, and crisis management services. Before co-founding Saint Park, Zellars crafted strategy and managed crisis communications for municipalities, businesses, law firms, and nonprofit organizations facing high-stakes publicity and reputational issues at a top-ranked, New York-based public relations and communications firm.
Graduated in 2000s
2000
Alexandra MacKay was recognized by Managing IP magazine on the 2023 IP Stars list as a Copyright Star and Trademark Star in Tennessee. She is a member of the Nashville office of Stites & Harbison PLLC.
Sean Grimsley and Eric Olson have launched Olson Grimsley Kawanabe Hinchcliff & Murray LLC, a public interest law firm based in Denver. Olson most recently served as the solicitor general of Colorado, during which he was lead counsel on five merits cases at the US Supreme Court, and Grimsley most recently served as general counsel at Ibotta, a technology company.
Sean Grimsley and Eric Olson have launched Olson Grimsley Kawanabe Hinchcliff & Murray LLC, a public interest law firm based in Denver. Olson most recently served as the solicitor general of Colorado, during which he was lead counsel on five merits cases at the US Supreme Court, and Grimsley most recently served as general counsel at Ibotta, a technology company.
Heather Trew is the American Bankers Association’s new senior vice president for Bank Secrecy Act and Anti-Money Laundering. Previously, she was at the US Department of Treasury, where she most recently served as the counselor to the general counsel on virtual assets.
2001
Hun Ohm joined the board of trustees for the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts. He is a senior member and partner at the boutique law firm Fierst Bloomberg Ohm LLP, based in Northampton, Massachusetts. A senior member of the firm’s entertainment and intellectual property practice, he is actively involved in the development, management, and implementation of global brand protection programs for his clients, including children’s book authors and video game companies.
Samir Parikh testified before the US Senate’s Committee of the Judiciary on mass tort bankruptcies, including Purdue Pharma. His invitation was based in part on his essay, “Opaque Capital and Mass Tort Financing,” which is to be published in Yale Law Journal Forum. The essay explores how private equity is infiltrating litigation finance in mass tort cases and distorting resolution. Parikh is the Robert E. Jones Professor of Advocacy and Ethics at Lewis & Clark Law School.
Jennifer Saulino, former assistant chief of the Fraud Section of the US Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, joined Sidley Austin’s Washington, DC, office as a partner in its product liability and commercial litigation group. She specializes in product liability trials, representing pharmaceutical companies and financial institutions, and defending individuals and corporations in investigations and prosecutions.
2002
Linda Clark joined Morrison Foerster in September as a partner in the global privacy and data security group. She is based in Miami. Before joining the firm, she served as the chief data security counsel for RELX, where she led the data security legal compliance efforts in more than 40 countries and across operations in four different market segments worldwide. She previously was a litigator at a large New York law firm.
Elizabeth Khalil wrote US Financial Privacy and Data Security: A Practical Guide, a book published by the American Bar Association in July 2023. She is the chief privacy officer for the US region of CIBC, one of Canada’s largest financial institutions.
Lumen “Lou” N. Mulligan is the new dean of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. He previously served as interim vice provost for faculty affairs and the Earl B. Shurtz Research Professor of Law at the University of Kansas.
2003
Jennifer Scheller Neumann recently became chief of the US Department of Justice's Environment and Natural Resources Division, Appellate Section. She supervises appeals and petitions for review involving the United States in federal and state appellate courts around the country. The section's practice areas include environmental, natural resources, worker safety, Indian, property, administrative, and constitutional law.
2004
Heather L. Fesnak, a partner at Akerman LLP in Tampa, Florida, was appointed deputy chair of the firm’s consumer financial services, data, and technology (CFS+) practice. She began her work with Akerman in 2011 as an associate and was promoted to partner in 2015. She has led the CFS+ team since becoming partner and represents a range of financial services providers within the residential mortgage lending and service industry. She serves internally on Akerman’s professional development council.
Alison Gillis Vratil became the director of compliance at Excellere Partners in September. The Denver-based private equity firm specializes in partnering with entrepreneurs and management teams through recapitalizations and management buyouts.
Yan Zhang has joined the San Francisco office of Norton Rose Fulbright as a partner. His expertise is in cross-border transactions, representing private and public companies in corporate and securities matters. He also represents financial institutions that invest in or provide services to those companies. Previously, he was a partner at Baker Botts in Palo Alto, California.
2005
Reena R. Bajowala joined Greenberg Traurig LLP after five years with Ice Miller LLP, where she was a partner and chair of the data security and privacy practice. She is a shareholder in Greenberg Traurig’s data security and cybersecurity practice, based in Chicago.
Jennifer DeCasper made history as the first woman of color to run a Republican presidential campaign by serving in that role for South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott. In 2022, she started her own firm after serving as Scott’s chief of staff—also making her the first woman of color to hold that position in the Senate.
Daniel C. Scripps was reappointed chair of the Michigan Public Service Commission by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, with responsibility for oversight of electric and gas utilities, oil pipelines, and telecommunications. He represents the commission on the Michigan Council on Climate Solutions, Michigan Dam Safety Task Force, and Upper Peninsula Energy Task Force. He will continue serving as chair until 2029. He lives in Northern Michigan.
2006
Kevin Bettsteller joined Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in June as a member of the investment funds practice group in the firm’s Los Angeles office. His experience includes the structuring, formation, and operation of private investment funds and mergers and acquisition transactions. He also advises on regulatory, compliance, governance, and operational matters.
Matt Nolan joined Honeywell in Charlotte, North Carolina, in July, serving as assistant general counsel in support of its sensing and safety technologies business. He spent the last few years building a legal department for Safeguard Medical. Earlier this year, he was elected to the board of Carolina Crown Inc.
Timothy Ofak became a member of Weiner Brodsky Kider PC in July and is leading its litigation practice group. He joined the firm in 2016 and is based in Washington, DC. He represents companies in the financial services and mortgage industries nationwide in federal and state litigation and government investigations.
Rachel Turow joined Walmart earlier this year, first as lead counsel, FDA regulatory, and now as managing counsel, regulated products, in which she oversees all FDA regulations. Previously, she was the US Food and Drug Administration regulatory counsel for Teva Pharmaceuticals for six years.
2007
Dustin Calkins joined Goodwin Procter LLP’s real estate practice earlier this year as a partner in the San Francisco office. He has experience representing public, private, national, and international real estate investors on industrial, multifamily, office, hotel, and retail property commercial assets.
Jeetander Dulani joined Stinson LLP as a financial services and class action partner in the firm’s Washington, DC, office. As an antitrust and False Claims Act attorney, he specializes in competition law, class actions, mergers and acquisitions, government investigations, and complex litigation.
Robert F. Harmon Jr. became general counsel at ICON in July. The Austin, Texas-based construction technologies company is developing large-scale 3D printing. He most recently served as associate general counsel and director at Amazon, where he led a global team supporting Amazon Fresh. In another role at Amazon, he led legal counsel for the site selection and negotiation of the company’s new corporate headquarters in Northern Virginia and the Nashville Center of Excellence.
Stefan Richter, LLM, has joined Clifford Chance’s patent practice in Düsseldorf, Germany. The focus of his work is on national and multijurisdictional patent infringement litigation and parallel opposition and nullity proceedings before the European Patent Office and the German Federal Patent Court. He further advises and represents clients in the fields of digital copyright and data protection law.
2009
Elizabeth Crouse joined Perkins Coie in Portland, Oregon, this spring. Before joining Perkins Coie, she co-led K&L Gates’s global renewables and power group. She has served as the co-director of the Seattle chapter of Women of Renewable Industries and Sustainable Energy and as chair of the Renewable Hydrogen Alliance’s Oregon Policy Subcommittee, and she is a member of the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Association Board Advisory Committee.
Justina “Tina” Sessions, who focuses on antitrust-related litigation and enforcement, joined Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP as a partner in the firm’s Redwood City, California, office. She has worked on business antitrust disputes, helped to defend a major tech platform in a monopolization case, and was a key trial and appellate team member in Federal Trade Commission v. Qualcomm.
Graduated in 1990s
1990
Colin J. Zick received a Band 1 rating for health care law in Massachusetts from Chambers USA. He is a partner at Foley Hoag LLP in its Boston office. His practice focuses on compliance issues related to life sciences, pharmaceutical and medical device companies, laboratories, hospitals, health care providers, and provider organizations.
David Meyer was installed as president and dean of Brooklyn Law School in September, the 10th person to serve in that role since the school was founded in 1901. Meyer had served as the dean of Tulane University Law School since 2010. Before that, he was on the faculty of the University of Illinois College of Law.
Kevin A. Mills joined GMTO Corp. as vice president for legal affairs and general counsel after eight years serving as general counsel to University of the Pacific. GMTO Corp. is an international nonprofit whose mission is to design, build, and operate the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), part of the United States’ Extremely Large Telescope Program. Now under construction in the high mountains of Chile, the GMT will be one of the most powerful telescopes in the world when completed.
Ronald Wheeler was promoted to associate dean of law libraries at Boston University's Fineman & Pappas Law Libraries. He joined the faculty of the Boston University School of Law in 2016 as director of the law libraries and associate professor of law and legal research. In his 22-year career as an academic law librarian, he has taught and mentored law students and aspiring law librarians at law schools throughout the US, in Shanghai, and in study abroad programs in Germany and Brazil. He served as the first Black male president of the American Association of Law Libraries from 2016 to 2017, and he is a proud resident of Providence, Rhode Island.
1991
Kevin Conroy has been named one of the Top 50 Healthcare Technology CEOs of 2023 by The Healthcare Technology Report. He is a director at Epizyme Inc. and Adaptive Biotechnologies. Previously, he was the chief executive officer and later the chairman of Exact Sciences, where he led a team of more than 6,500 experts through the development, clinical trial, regulatory approval, and commercialization of its noninvasive colorectal cancer screening test, Cologuard.
Lisa Crooms-Robinson has been serving as interim dean of the Howard University School of Law since June. She earned her undergraduate degree at Howard University and has served as a faculty member since 1993. She also served as the School of Law’s associate dean of academic affairs from 2012 to 2019. Her expertise includes constitutional law and human rights, and she has been a consultant for human rights organizations such as the United Nations, the US Human Rights Network, the Urban Justice Center, Amnesty International USA, and the Paul Murray Center for History and Social Justice.
1992
Phyllis Marcus has been recognized by Business News as one its 2023 top 10 transactional and regulatory lawyers. Marcus is a partner at Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP in Washington, DC, where she leads the firm’s advertising compliance and counseling team.
1993
Julie Manning Magid has been named vice dean of the Indianapolis campus of Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. Since fall 2022, she had served as the campus’s executive associate dean. She joined the school nearly nine years ago as a venture fellow and then a professor of business law. For the past seven years, she also has served as the executive and academic director of the Tobias Leadership Center.
1994
Ann-Marie Anderson received a third Outstanding Leadership Award from her lawyer peers at the 2023 Arizona State Bar Convention. She was chairperson and keynote speaker at the convention’s Securities Law Symposium, along with Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and US Securities and Exchange Commission lawyers. She also was reelected to a 12th year on the Securities Regulatory Council. She is the longtime general counsel to a national engineering and architectural corporation.
Steve Baumer is now the global chief executive officer of the St. Louis office of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP after the firm changed its leadership from co-chairs to a single CEO. He joined the firm in 1996 as a partner and became co-chair in 2020. Before becoming co-chair, he led the firm’s global transactions practice.
Jane Marshall is the new vice president, co-general counsel of Graham Media Group. Since joining the group in 2006, she has served as the associate general counsel and deputy general counsel. Before joining Graham Media Group, she worked in employment litigation at Bodman LLP in Detroit.
1995
Michael Carrier was named a Board of Governors Professor of Law, the highest rank at Rutgers University. His areas of expertise include antitrust law and intellectual property, particularly in the pharmaceutical, high-tech, and music industries. He has co-authored a leading intellectual property and antitrust treatise and authored more than 120 articles and book chapters.
Daniel Dain published his first book in September. A History of Boston (Peter E. Randall, 2023) examines Boston’s past for clues as to what makes cities successful, concluding that cities succeed when they embrace density, diversity, and good urban design. He is president and founder of the Boston law firm Dain, Torpy, Le Ray, Wiest & Garner, PC.
1996
Todd Schoenhaus has been elevated to shareholder at the Philadelphia law firm of Eisenberg, Rothweiler, Winkler, Eisenberg & Jeck PC. He concentrates his practice on product liability, premises liability, construction accidents, and industrial machinery defects.
Danielle Walker has joined True North Advisors as director of investor relations. She most recently served as vice president of investor relations at Rex Tech Ventures, and before that, she worked in investor relations for Kairos Ventures, an early-stage venture capital fund.
1997
Brian Bernhardt, attorney at Fox Rothschild LLP, was elevated to partner in the firm’s Charlotte, North Carolina, office.
Dara Pincas has been appointed global head of legal for Switzerland-based Roche Pharmaceuticals. Before this, she served as the vice president, head of health care law at Genentech in San Francisco.
Alex Romain has joined Jenner and Block’s Los Angeles office as a partner. His practice focuses on complex commercial litigation, white collar defense, and internal investigations. He spent most of his legal career at Williams & Connolly's Washington, DC, office. Since relocating to California in 2016, he has worked for Hueston Hennigan, Irell & Manella, and, most recently, Milbank.
1998
Biswajit Chatterjee has been appointed as managing partner of Hogan Lovells’s Singapore office. Having joined the firm in 2021, he previously served as the corporate partner and co-head of the India practice. He is a qualified lawyer in the US and India with a focus on capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, and private equity transactions. His experience includes advising clients on cross-border transactions across technology, fintech, life sciences, real estate, and energy and infrastructure industries.
Laura Ricketts has been appointed by President Biden to serve on the 27-member President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition, a federal advisory committee that promotes physical activity and healthy, accessible eating for all Americans, regardless of ability or background. As a co-owner of the Chicago Cubs, she is the first openly LGBTQ+ owner of a Major League Baseball franchise. She also is the co-founder and director of Beyond Barriers, a career fitness platform designed to guide women to become leaders and to help companies improve performance.
1999
Matthew Carlin is now deputy general counsel to the Office of the New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
Eric Feiler, who nationally represents individuals and corporations in matters of private litigation and government enforcement, has joined Whiteford Taylor as a partner. He is based in Richmond, Virginia.
Elliot Regenstein, a Chicago-based partner at Foresight Law+Policy, is one of six winners of the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s nationwide Future of Data in K-12 Education Design Challenge. Each winner presented a unique idea to improve education assessments and accountability in the K-12 system. Regenstein’s experience encompasses state-level policy and advocacy, and his work focuses on decision-making in state education.
Damali Sahu, a member of Bodman PLC’s banking practice group, has been appointed chair of the board of directors of Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan for a three-year term. Headquartered in Detroit, Gleaners serves five Southeast Michigan counties and provides food to more than 400 partner agencies, including schools, soup kitchens, food pantries, and shelters, and offers direct-service, drive-up grocery distributions.
Graduated in 1980s
1980
Ron Heller recently earned a master of fine arts in theater with a concentration in directing from the University of Hawaii. In recent years, he received Po’okela Awards as director of a play from the Hawaii State Theatre Council for two separate productions. Memorial Day, the latest production Heller directed, centers on the early years of the AIDS crisis. He still actively works as an attorney in Honolulu, concentrating on tax and business law.
1981
Mark Lezotte, attorney and shareholder at Butzel Long PC, is now chair of SourceAmerica’s board of directors, on which he has served since 2013. SourceAmerica is a nonprofit that focuses on creating employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Lezotte is based in Butzel Long's Detroit office, where he is co-chair of the firm's health care industry team.
1982
Clarence D. Armbrister has retired after serving as the 14th president of Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina. Before assuming that role, his higher education leadership experience included serving as senior vice president at Temple University, chief of staff and senior vice president at Johns Hopkins University, and president and CEO of Girard College. Read more on page xx.
Fall 2023 Class Note
Clarence Armbrister, ’82: Transforming an HBCU
The early tenure of Clarence Armbrister as president at Johnson C. Smith University was not for the faint of heart. Two weeks before his term started on January 1, 2018, he learned that the school’s accrediting agency had placed it on probation for financial reasons. Then came hurricanes and the coronavirus pandemic.
Anita Porte Robb, attorney and founding partner of Robb & Robb LLC, has been named one of Forbes’ Best Personal Injury Lawyers in Kansas City, Missouri, for 2023. Since becoming co-founder with her husband and business partner, Gary C. Robb, their firm has handled cases in the fields of aviation law, hazardous product liability, personal injury, medical malpractice, and more. The National Law Journal recognized her as one of the top 10 women trial lawyers in the country.
1983
Patricia “Trish” Lee Refo, partner at Snell & Wilmer, received the 2023 Walter E. Craig Award from the Arizona Bar Foundation. She concentrates her practice in complex commercial litigation and internal investigations, and she chairs Snell & Wilmer’s professional liability litigation group. She is a past president of the American Bar Association (ABA) and has served as chair of the ABA House of Delegates and the ABA Section of Litigation. She also served on the Arizona Supreme Court’s Advisory Committee on the Rules of Evidence and is a former member of the Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Evidence of the US Judicial Conference.
Jayne Rizzo Reardon is the 2023 recipient of the Michael Franck Professional Responsibility Award, a top ethics honor within the American Bar Association (ABA). She has served as a leader in a number of roles within the ABA, during which she has become nationally recognized for her work on ethics and professionalism in the legal system. She retired in 2021 from her role as executive director of the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism. Read more on page xx.
Fall 2023 Class Note
Jayne Rizzo Reardon, ’83: Alumna Honored with ABA Ethics Award
Resolving legal conflicts by way of shouting is not how Jayne Rizzo Reardon, ’83, handles things. But that wasn't always the case, and it took a particularly fraught negotiation early in her career to set her on a search for a better way to practice law.
John Vryhof, partner at Snell & Wilmer, was among the top 50 pro bono attorney awardees at the Arizona Bar Foundation 2023 Awards Luncheon. In his practice, he oversees estate planning, trust and estate litigation, charitable planning, foundation and nonprofit organizations, business succession planning, and international estate planning. He previously worked at Streich Lang (now Quarles & Brady) in Phoenix and Sidley & Austin in Chicago.
1985
Stanley P. Jaskiewicz has published four articles in the American Bar Association's Voice of Experience newsletter in 2023. The titles include “Thanks For Noticing - Finding Joy Amid the Shadows of Life,” “Simple Twists of Fate,” “Ancient Wisdom for the Human Condition in 2023: Living with Death,” and “Doctor! Doctor! Can’t You See I’m Burning, Burning?” He is a member of the Philadelphia-based law firm Spector Gadon Rosen Vinci PC.
1987
Julie Arvo MacKenzie has rejoined Squire Patton Boggs as of counsel in the public and infrastructure finance practice, particularly for the benefit of nonprofit charter schools and health care facilities. Previously, she was a shareholder at Engelman Berger PC, where she co-founded the firm’s public finance group.
Warren von Schleicher joined the Chicago office of Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP as a partner. He represents insurers and employers in matters related to life, health, pension, disability claims, and bad-faith litigation. Before joining Hinshaw, he was the managing partner of Smith|von Schleicher+Associates.
1988
Sondra Soderborg has published her debut novel, Sky Ropes (Chronicle Books, 2023), a middle-grade fiction story in which the protagonist tries to hide her fear of the high-ropes course at a team-building camp. She has worked as an attorney and as a teacher at a high school and prison. Reflecting on her career, she says, “All of it has been useful. None of it compares to the sheer joy and wonder of writing for kids.”
1989
Brian Gearinger maintains a solo law practice in Santa Rosa, California, specializing in representing victims of civil rights violations. He was part of a three-attorney team who obtained an $8.25 million jury verdict in federal court for an unlawful detention of three African American women.
Samuel Silver joined Philadelphia boutique firm Welsh & Recker in June after having spent the entirety of his legal career at Schnader Harrison. He specializes in representing global manufacturers of products in litigation and product safety matters. Other litigation includes intellectual property disputes, restrictive covenants, and defending members of the equestrian sport against charges brought by the sport’s governing bodies.
Kiren Dosanjh Zucker, a professor of accounting, communications, and ethics at California State University Northridge, is the winner of the 2023 ABA Journal/Ross Writing Contest for Legal Short Fiction, recognizing original stories illuminating the role of the law or lawyers in modern society. In her story, “Memory of a Braid,” the protagonist is told her hair violates workplace appearance policy.
Graduated in 1970s
1971
Joseph Kimble is the 2023 recipient of the State Bar of Michigan’s Roberts P. Hudson Award, recognizing his dedication to the legal profession and outstanding service to and on behalf of the State Bar of Michigan. He has been the editor of the “Plain Language” column in the Michigan Bar Journal for 36 years. He served as the drafting consultant for the redrafting of the Michigan Rules of Evidence to conform to the restyled Federal Rules of Evidence; he also led the redrafting work on those federal evidence rules as well as for the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. He is a distinguished professor emeritus at the Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School and the senior director of the school's Kimble Center for Legal Drafting.
1972
John B. Pinney was honored by Pro Seniors, an anti-ageism nonprofit organization, as one of three 2024 Seniors Who Rock for his work as a mentor, litigator, and adviser in the Cincinnati area. He serves on the board of the Ohio Access to Justice Foundation and is the secretary and treasurer of Ohio Legal Help, both of which are legal aid organizations. He was recently appointed vice chair for training for the North American Branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and teaches international commercial arbitration at the University of Cincinnati College of Law.
1974
Clark A. Andrews was recently selected by his peers as one of Michigan’s Go To Lawyers in Real Estate Law, published in Michigan Lawyers Weekly. He has been an attorney for O’Reilly Rancilio PC and its predecessor firm for nearly 50 years and works in its business and real estate practice group. He also is a member of the firm’s governmental law and estate planning and probate law practice groups. He has worked as an assistant city attorney for the cities of Sterling Heights, Fraser, and Utica and as an assistant township attorney for the townships of Shelby and Macomb.
1977
Jim Spaanstra recently joined the environmental practice of Holland & Hart LLP’s Denver office. Previously, he was with Faegre Drinker Biddle and Reath LLP. His expertise includes counseling clients on permitting, compliance, and environmental enforcement matters in the energy and natural resource industries. He also assists traditional energy companies with clean energy opportunities and compliance with environmental, social, and corporate governance requirements.
1978
William “Bill” R. Bay, a partner with the St. Louis office of national law firm Thompson Coburn LLP, was recently appointed president-elect of the American Bar Association (ABA). He is a longtime leader in the ABA, where he has been a member of the House of Delegates and has chaired or co-chaired several boards and initiatives. He has represented major corporations, including financial institutions and manufacturers, in high-stakes litigation for more than 30 years.
Elizabeth Campbell has become Beebee Healthcare’s first director of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. Previously, she was a specialist manager for Deloitte Consulting in Philadelphia, where she oversaw diversity, equity, and inclusion projects. Before that, she served as the director of inclusion and diversity for the Campbell Soup Company.
1979
The Hon. Hildy Bowbeer, who served as a magistrate judge with the US District Court for the District of Minnesota for eight years, recently retired. She continues to be active with the Sedona Conference, the Hon. Jimmie V. Reyna Intellectual Property Inn of Court, the Minnesota Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, the Infinity Project, and the District of Minnesota’s Federal Practice Committee. She also serves on the board of Ten Thousand Things Theater Company. She and her husband, Bill Klein, ’79, live in Minneapolis, where he is a partner with Lathrop GPM.
Charles Lowery Jr. joined the National Housing Conference as the new senior policy director. He most recently served as director of legislative policy and external affairs for New American Funding. Lowery also was sworn in as the president of the DC Bar at the 2023 Celebration of Leadership: DC Bar Annual Meeting and Awards Dinner in June.
Graduated in 1960s
1963
Herb Kohn, a longtime partner in the Kansas City, Missouri, office of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP, recently retired from the firm and launched Herb Kohn Mediation LLC. The new enterprise specializes in mediating business and commercial disputes.
1966
John R. Nolon, distinguished professor of law emeritus at Pace University, received the Anita P. Miller Advocacy Award from the American Bar Association Section of State and Local Government Law. The award recognizes outstanding legal advocacy within the area of state and local government law. Nolon founded Pace University’s Land Use Law Center in 1993 and continues to serve as co-counsel. He is the co-author of Land Use and Sustainable Development Law: Cases and Materials (West Academic Publishing, 2017), which is in its ninth edition.
1968
Linda Silberman, the Clarence D. Ashley Professor of Law Emerita at New York University School of Law, recently celebrated 51 years of teaching and scholarship at NYU. The school’s Center on Transnational Litigation, Arbitration, and Commercial Law, of which she is the co-director, convened friends, colleagues, and legal luminaries for a two-day conference discussing her scholarship in transnational civil litigation, comparative law, choice of law, and recognition and enforcement of judgment, in addition to jurisdiction.
Graduated in 1950s
1953
Richard “Dick” Pogue received the Ramey Award for Distinguished Community Service from the Ohio State Bar Foundation in October. The award recognized him for a “career [that] has been exemplified by dedication of the goals and values sought to be furthered by the foundation and a lifetime of service to the public and the community, all while working with integrity, honor, courtesy and professionalism.” Jones Day also recently celebrated his decades of service to the firm at an event hosted at Playhouse Square in Cleveland. Pogue joined Jones Day in 1957 and in 1984 became its fifth managing partner. Today, he is a senior adviser in the firm’s North Point Cleveland office.
1957
Thomas J. Hughes joined Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff LLP in August as a corporate partner in its Chicago office. He represents public and private companies, private equity firms, portfolio companies, and family offices on a variety of US and cross-border transactions. Before joining Benesch, he was a partner in the Chicago office of Baker McKenzie.
1958
Wilbert Ziegler, president at Ziegler & Schneider PSC and president and CEO of the RC Durr Foundation, recently received honors from two community organizations, Life Learning Center and Horizon Community Funds, for his service and philanthropy. Life Learning Center supports at-risk citizens with employment services and continuing education programs. Horizon Community Funds supports education, anti-poverty programs, and other nonprofit services in Northern Kentucky. He is a member of Ziegler & Schneider’s business and corporate law group in its Covington, Kentucky, office.
1959
The Hon. Paul D. Borman of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan has assumed senior status after nearly three decades of service in the district’s Detroit division. Before his appointment in 1994, he served as chief federal defender in the Eastern District of Michigan and as an assistant US attorney.