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Class Note Winter 2024-2025

John J. McCullough III won reelection as mayor of Montpelier, Vermont, for a two-year term. He became mayor following a special election in 2023 and has served on the City Council since 2018. McCullough began his career at Legal Aid of Western Michigan in Grand Rapids, before joining the Montpelier office of Vermont Legal Aid. He also is the longtime project director of Vermont Legal Aid’s Mental Health Law Project, directing and representing clients in hospitals and outpatient settings in voluntary mental health proceedings throughout the state.

Class Note Winter 2024-2025

Margaret A. Walker joined the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion board of trustees. She is the executive vice president of legal affairs and corporate communications at HMTX Industries, a global flooring company headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut. Before joining HMTX, Walker spent more than two decades at the Xerox Corporation. She has served on the boards of New Beginnings Family Academy Inc. and LifeBridge Community Services. Walker also is a founding member of the Black Bar Association of Rochester, New York.

Class Note Winter 2024-2025

The Hon. J. Chris Larson was appointed to the 20th Judicial District Court by Colorado Gov. Jared Polis. He was an assistant US attorney in the Civil Division of the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado. He also has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado Law School. He sits on the board of directors for IN! Pathways to Inclusive Higher Education, a nonprofit designed to create inclusive college opportunities in Colorado for students with intellectual disabilities. 

Class Note Winter 2024-2025

Larry D. Thompson has published Quiet Counsel: Looking Back on a Life of Service to the Law (Disruption Books, 2024), a memoir that chronicles his career in public service, corporate law, and academia. Among other significant roles in the public and private sectors, Thompson served as a deputy US attorney general from 2001 to 2003, led worldwide legal and government affairs functions for PepsiCo, and specialized in political corruption and drug trafficking prosecutions as a US attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.

Class Note Winter 2024-2025

Walter Mugdan retired in 2023 after nearly five decades with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where he most recently served as the deputy regional administrator for EPA Region 2. He is the president of the Udalls Cove Preservation Committee on Long Island, New York, and the Westmoreland Association. He also is a member of the board of directors for the EPA Alumni Association, Alley Pond Environmental Center, and Douglas Manor Environmental Association. Additionally, he works with the Environmental Protection Network to provide pro bono technical assistance to persons and groups with environmental questions.

Class Note Winter 2024-2025

Richard D. McLellan has endowed the Richard D. McLellan Prizes for Advancing Free Speech and Expression at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal, an educational nonprofit based in Mecosta, Michigan. The prize will award a total of $75,000 annually to support writing, creative work, and other actions that advance the First Amendment principle of free expression. 

Class Note Winter 2024-2025

Jim Olson, LLM, has published a new book, People of the Dune (Mission Point Press, 2024). The novel covers a legal battle over the mining of a coastal dune on a freshwater inland sea. As a lawyer, Olson has represented citizens and communities in courts for five decades and authored articles, papers, and blogs on law and the environment, water, and natural resources. In 2010, he founded For Love of Water, a nonprofit law and policy center, to protect the public commons in water, lands, and communities.

Class Note Winter 2024-2025

Robert M. Meisner is a member of Michigan Lawyers Weekly’s Class of 2024 Hall of Fame for his contributions to the field of community association law, including his role in drafting the 1978 Michigan Condominium Act and amendments to the law in 2001. Meisner is the principal founding member of The Meisner Law Group PC in Bingham Farms, Michigan.

Class Note Winter 2024-2025

Ralph Wellington received the 2024 Award for Exceptional Service from Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts for his commitment to supporting low-income artists and small arts organizations through volunteer legal services. Wellington is of counsel at Dilworth Paxson in Philadelphia, where he is a partner in the litigation department and focuses on class actions, aviation and railroad law, business and corporate disputes, art law, and trusts and estates.

Class Note Winter 2024-2025

R. Joseph Kimble has published the second edition of his book Writing for Dollars, Writing to Please: The Case for Plain Language in Business, Government, and Law (Carolina Academic Press, 2023). Also, he recently won the Golden Pen Award from the Legal Writing Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to improving legal communications, for his contributions to the field. Kimble has been editor of the “Plain Language” column in the Michigan Bar Journal for 36 years.