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Class Note Summer 2025

Daniel J. Bergeson was named one of the leading commercial litigators of 2025 by The Daily Journal. The list recognizes the top litigators nationwide who handle bet-the-company cases. Bergeson founded Bergeson LLP, a California-based law firm with offices in San Francisco, San Jose, and Los Angeles, in 1990 after helping establish the litigation practice at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. He also has co-founded two venture capital firms, Ascolta Ventures LLC and Al Shugart International.

Class Note Summer 2025

John M. Barr Sr. retired in January. Most recently, he was the principal of Barr Anhut & Associates PC, where he focused on municipal law, estate planning and probate, real estate, and corporate law. He also served as city attorney for Ypsilanti, Michigan, for 43 years. An avid traveler throughout his career, Barr and his wife, Marlene, have boated on the Great Lakes; biked the US, New Zealand, and Europe; downhill skied in the US and Europe; and visited all seven continents and 51 countries.

Class Note Summer 2025

Stephen Hrones recently published his first novel, Hypnosis on Trial: The Anatomy of a Murder Case (Small Batch Books, 2024). Hrones, who spent his career as a criminal defense attorney, previously published a number of nonfiction books on criminal law. 

Class Note Summer 2025

Jeffrey H. Smith, senior counsel for the national security and government contracts practice at Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP, received the 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award from The National Law Journal. Smith has been influential in the field of national security law for more than 50 years. He served at the Pentagon and the US Department of State; he also was general counsel for the US Senate Committee on Armed Services and for the Central Intelligence Agency.

Class Note Summer 2025

Robert Hirshon was elected president of the board of the Maine Jewish Museum and to the board of directors of Pine Tree Legal Aid. Hirshon, who recently retired as the Frank G. Millard Professor from Practice at Michigan Law, spent 30 years in private practice and served as president of the American Bar Association before joining the Michigan Law faculty in 2009. He is the CEO of the Arthur B. Wein Charitable Foundation and counsel at Verrill Dana LLP.

Class Note Summer 2025

Richard Epling recently published “Where Do We Go After Purdue Pharma?” in the Norton Journal of Bankruptcy Law & Practice. Epling was a partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP for more than two decades before his retirement from the firm in 2016. He continues to practice as a mediator for bankruptcy and complex commercial disputes, with a focus on domestic and cross-border bankruptcies and out-of-court financial restructurings. 

Class Note Summer 2025

Julian Izbiky retired from the active practice of law on August 1, 2024. After spending eight years in downtown Denver law firms doing commercial litigation, he started a law firm in Denver to focus on representing small businesses. That firm eventually grew to four attorneys and two paralegals. He spent the last three years of his career as a partner at Fortis Law Partners. For the last thirty years of his career, his practice was focused on the purchase and sale of small and medium-sized businesses.

Class Note Summer 2025

John I. Tsiros retired in December 2024 after practicing plaintiff’s personal injury law for more than 40 years at Hurlburt, Tsiros & Allweil PC in Saginaw, Michigan. Over the course of his career, Tsiros secured tens of millions of dollars in jury verdicts in personal injury cases, settlements in personal injury and workers’  compensation cases, and awards in social security cases.

Class Note Summer 2025

Eric Gressman joined Fowler White Burnett PA as a shareholder. His litigation practice focuses on medical malpractice, property and casualty insurance defense, wrongful death, products liability, and civil rights. Before joining Fowler White, Gressman held leadership positions at several law firms; he also dedicated more than 35 years to the Miami-Dade County Attorney’s Office, where he served as chief of the Torts Section. Gressman has been an adjunct law professor at the University of Miami for more than a decade, teaching courses in legal writing, appellate practice, pretrial civil litigation, and oral advocacy. 

Class Note Summer 2025

Howard Kramer published his first novel, Hitching to Bowie: A ’70s Road Trip Tale of Music, Miles, and Discovery (Mascot Books, 2025). Kramer is a retired financial regulatory attorney who worked in government and private practice. He has published extensively on the topics of financial market regulation and securities law. Kramer currently serves as the senior adviser to the board of SEDA Experts LLC, a consulting firm specializing in financial services.