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Alumni Class Notes
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Class Notes Compiled between July, 2014 and November, 2014
Meredith Renegar joined Willcox and Savage, PC as an associate. She is in the commercial real estate section of the firm.
Ice Miller LLP is pleased to announce the arrival of T.J. Johnson to the Indianapolis location. Johnson is an associate in the Firm's Litigation and Intellectual Property Group. Johnson obtained his juris doctorate, magna cum laude, from American University, Washington College of Law in Washington, D.C.
Ashley Thomas is a new Associate at Lloyd Gosselink Rochelle & Townsend, P.C. in Austin, Texas
Juliette Song joined Cozen O'Connor's Subrogation and Recovery practice group in New York.
In December 2013, Rorey Smith was appointed as General Counsel at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
Vanessa Burrows has joined the law firm of Roetzel & Andress in Chicago as an associate. She focuses her practice on health care law, with an emphasis on medical device, drug and pharmacy law.
Hanson Bridgett LLP announces that it has elevated five attorneys to partner and eight attorneys to senior counsel effective January 1, 2014. This is one of the largest classes of promotions for the firm in the last ten years. These promotions highlight the firm's continued success as well as its commitment to diversity. The firm promoted Gilbert Tsai to Senior Counsel.
Michael A. Ceccorulli has joined Pullman & Comley, LLC as an associate in the Real Estate Department. He will be based in the Hartford and Bridgeport offices.
On January 2, 2013 Colin Bell was sworn-in to a 3-year term as a member of the Atlantic County Board of Chosen Freeholders after defeating a 2-term incumbent at the November 6, 2012 general election. The Board of Freeholders is the governing body of Atlantic County, which includes Atlantic City and 22 surrounding cites and towns. He continues to practice at Hankin Sandman & Palladino in Atlantic City.
Miles & Stockbridge P.C. is pleased to announce that Otilia Gabor has been elected a principal of the law firm. Otilia focuses her practice primarily on patent prosecution and counseling involving electrical/electronics, semi-conductors, electro-mechanical, mechanical, optical and fiber optics, medical devices, computers and software systems.
Lisa Nadal joined Tax Credits International in November. With her diverse tax and incentive background, she is managing Act 20 and Puerto Rico film tax business development.
Haley R. Maple, an attorney with the Tampa office of Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, was appointed co-chair of the Social Media Committee in the American Bar Association (ABA) Section of Litigation.
Cynthia Garrote is part of the Insurance Litigation Department at Colodny, Fass, Talenfeld, Karlinsky, Abate & Webb – which was recently honored by the Daily Business Review as the 2014 Insurance Litigation Department of the Year for South Florida. Cynthia is an associate with the firm.
Alicia Vasquez was promoted to Senior Counsel with the United States Federal Bureau of Prisons. She has worked in the area of prison litigation for 14 years. Alicia is currently working at the Bureau of Prisons' Designation and Sentence Computation Center, where her practice focuses on inmate classification, designation decisions, and sentence computation issues.
Sandra Tvarian Stevens was named a "Rising Star" for Insurance by Super Lawyers magazine in 2013. A partner with Wiley Rein LLP in DC, she represents clients in litigation and arbitration. She chairs DRI's ADR Committee and is past chair of the ABA's Tort Trial Insurance Section's ADR Committee. She is an arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association and the London Court of International Arbitration.
Joseph Contrera was just elected to the editorial board of the American Intellectual Property Law Assn Quarterly Law Journal, at the AIPLA National Meeting in October 2014. I, along with the other Board members, will serve a three-year term selecting articles for publication in the journal.
TJ Conte was recently recognized as a Massachusetts Super Lawyer. A Partner at Mirick O'Connell, Conte specializes in business and general litigation as well as environmental and land use litigation.
Kelly Downes was recently appointed Chief of the Enforcement Division of the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission, the agency responsible for enforcing the state's conflict of interest laws.
Steven McCool has been inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. Founded in 1950, the College is composed of the best of the trial bar from the United States and Canada. Fellowship in the College is extended by invitation only, following a careful investigation. Membership in the College cannot exceed one percent of the total lawyer population of any state or province.
Kathleen A. Scott has joined the New York Office of Norton Rose Fulbright as senior counsel. She previously had been a counsel at Arnold & Porter's New York office.
Stephanie Farrior, JD '82, a Professor of Law and director of the Center for Applied Human Rights at Vermont Law School, has been elected a Visiting Fellow of the University of Oxford, Kellogg College. Ashgate has just published a five-volume series she edited, LIBRARY OF ESSAYS IN INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW, and her own essay, "Equality and Non-discrimination under International Law."
Charles Blau was elected by 13 Sponsors of the Appraisal Foundation to the Board of Regents of The Alliance for Valuation Education in Washington, D.C., a new non-profit organization dedicated to providing quality valuation education. David Bunton, President of the Appraisal Foundation said, "I've been at the Foundation for 23 years, and it's not often that you get this kind of collaboration."
Tim Knutson won a 2013 Global Counsel Award, sponsored by the International Law Office in London and the US-based Association of Corporate Counsel. He won the Individual of the Year for their Regulatory (Non-Financial Services) Category. Tim is a Senior Counsel for Chevron and practices Health, Safety, and Environmental Law.
After 23 years as a deputy public defender in a small gold rush era community in the foothills of California, Daniel Geffner retired, and started doing post conviction matters including appeals, writ and special proceedings.
Class Notes Compiled between July, 2011 and December, 2012
John Kenneth Zwerling was recognized as Best Lawyers' 2011 Washington, D.C. Criminal Defense: Non-White-Collar Lawyer of the Year.
William L. Schmidt, a private practitioner in Centreville, Virginia, received the Tradition of Excellence Award of the General Practice Section of the Virginia State Bar. Schmidt has been in private practice for thirty-nine years and has been active in the Fairfax Bar Association, the Fairfax Law Foundation, and the Virginia State Bar. He is a Fellow of the Virginia Law Foundation. In addition, he devotes countless hours to civic organizations including the Fairfax District of the Salvation Army, Western Fairfax Christian Ministries, and the City of Fairfax Band. For the past nineteen years, he has served as a bell ringer for the Salvation Army at the same location in Fairfax, Virginia and was featured on the front page of USA Today on December 24, 2009.
James T. Brett was appointed by President Barack Obama as chair of the President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities (PCPID). As PCPID chair, Brett leads a group of disabilities advocates from across the nation as they work to provide guidance and advice to the President on issues affecting people with intellectual disabilities. Brett is president and chief executive officer of The New England Council, the nation's oldest regional business organization.
Wayne R. Mielke is a private practitioner in Wellsburg, West Virginia and is mental hygiene commissioner for the Circuit Courts of Brooke and Hancock counties. He has practice in many areas of law, including criminal, juvenile, child abuse and neglect, and all types of civil cases.
Angela Desmond, senior director of External Relations with the Center for Audit Quality, was named to Stanford Who's Who. The Center for Audit Quality, founded in 2007, is a membership-based policy organization that serves investors and the capital markets by advancing audit quality across the public accounting profession. As senior director, Desmond is responsible for identifying and executing strategic and policy initiatives as well as strengthening outreach to a wide range of domestic and international stakeholders within the profession, regulatory authorities, business community, institutional, and individual investors.
Joseph J. Giunta is senior counsel at Proskauer in the firm's Los Angeles office. He concentrates his practice on mergers and acquisitions, proxy contests, tender offers, restructurings, recapitalization, and leveraged buyouts. Prior to joining Proskauer, Giunta was with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Florm, LLP, for 25 years, where he was managing director and general counsel of prominent crises communications firm, Sitrick And Company. He was one of the founding partners of Skadden's West Coast M&A practice.
James Kilbreth, counsel at Verrill Dana, was named a Local Litigation Star in Benchmark Litigation's 2011 edition. This is the second consecutive year Kilbreth has achieved this recognition. Kilbreth was recognized for his practice in environmental, energy litigation, which focuses on complex commercial and regulatory litigation, including antitrust, securities, environmental and energy matters.
Vernease Herron Miller is chair of Pfeiffer University's Department of Health Administration and director of Healthcare Programs. In addition, Miller is a full professor of health law and administration. A member of Pfeiffer's faculty since 1999, Miller was chosen in 2005 as the first professor in Pfeiffer's 125-year history to be granted a sabbatical leave. During her sabbatical, she served as faculty fellow with the Institute of Emerging Issues at North Carolina State University. Miller is board chair and managing director for the Carolinas Association for Community Health Equity, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the elimination of disparities throughout North and South Carolina.
Maria Henderson is president of The Florida Bar Foundation, a fellow of the Foundation, and a member of its Legacy for Justice. The Florida Bar Foundation is a statewide charitable organization that works on behalf of Florida's legal profession to expand access to justice. Henderson is an insurance consultant at Akerman Senterfitt, in the firm's Tallahassee, Florida office.
Jay Lenrow is of counsel at Adelberg, Rudow, Dorf & Hendler, LLC, where he focuses his practice on real estate law, corporate law, construction law and real estate finance. Previously, he served as a principal in Lenrow, Kohn & Oliver, PC, the firm he co-founded. Lenrow also has served as assistant attorney general for the state of Maryland and vice chairman of the Maryland Commission on Landlord-Tenant Law Reform. He was associate general counsel for McCormick Properties, Incorporated and vice president /general counsel of Combined Properties, Incorporated.
Dov Apfel received the 2011 Dan Cullan Memorial Award, a national lifetime achievement award conferred by the Executive Board of the Birth Trauma Litigation Group of the American Association for Justice. Apfel was honored for is commitment to excellence in advocacy, his devotion and service to the children and families he represents, and for his service to the organization. An author and lecturer for more than twenty years, Apfel has helped educate lawyers throughout the United States about how to prove when negligent care caused brain damage in a newborn, as well as advised medical professionals about how to improve and comply with standards of obstetric care. A partner in Janet, Jenner & Suggs, LLC, based in Baltimore, Apfel has written two seminal law review articles discussing litigation criteria adopted by physician groups in an attempt to limit their liability for brain injuries resulting from negligent care during labor. He is a founding board member and former chairperson of the Medical Negligence Section of the Maryland Trials Lawyers Association and a former co-chair of the AAJ's Birth Trauma Litigation Group.
David R. LaVance Jr. is on the Board of Directors of Integrated Environmental Technologies, Limited. LaVance is chairman of the Board and chief executive officer of Scivanta Medical Corporation, a medical device company that is focused on the development of a highly specialized cardiac monitoring system. LaVance specializes in developing life sciences and other emerging technology companies, as well as in advising companies about mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and strategic alliances.
Elitza Meyer, assistant general counsel and assistant secretary at Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, was appointed to the Board of Trustees of Volunteer Lawyers for Justice (VLJ), a nonprofit organization that provides pro bono legal services to economically disadvantaged individuals in New Jersey. An active VLJ volunteer, Meyer received the 2010 Bernard Kutner Award from the Essex County Bar Association and VLJ's 2009 Volunteer of the Year Award. She has held several board positions, including membership on the Board of the New Jersey Corporate Counsel Association.
Nina Shea is a senior scholar at the Hudson Institute, where she directs the Center for Religious Freedom. For ten years prior to joining Hudson, Shea worked at Freedom House, where she directed the Center for Religious Freedom, an office that she had helped found in 1986 as the Puebla Institute. She has served as a commissioner on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom since its founding in 1999. She was first appointed to the Commission in 1999 by then-Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL) and was reappointed in 2007 and 2010 by Rep. John Boehner (R-OH). For more than a decade, Shea has worked for the advancement of religious freedom and other human rights in U.S. foreign policy as it confronts Islamist extremism as well as authoritarian regimes. For seven years, until 2005, she helped organize and lead a coalition of churches and religious groups that worked to end a religious war against Christians, traditional African believers, and dissident Muslims in South Sudan. In 2004 and 2005, she contributed to the drafting of the Iraqi constitution's religious freedom provision. She has authored and/or edited three widely acclaimed reports, Saudi Arabia's Curriculum of Intolerance (2006) and Update (2008) and Saudi Publications on hate Ideology Invade American Mosques (2005), each of which translated and analyzed Saudi governmental publications that teach hatred and violence against the religious "other." She regularly presents testimony before Congress, delivers public lectures, organizes briefings and conferences, and writes frequently on religious freedom issues in the Wall Street Journal, National Review Online, Huffington Post, and other publications. Her 1997 book on anti-Christian persecution, In the Lion's Den, remains a standard in the field.
Howard L. Sollins, a principal in OberKaler's Health Law Group, was named to the Maryland Super Lawyers 2011 issue. He was recognized in the Health Law category. He also was recognized as one of the best in the healthcare field in the 2011 edition of Chambers USA. Sollins has more than three decades of experience in the world of healthcare law and is recognized as one of the top lawyers in the field according to such services as Best Lawyers in America, Chambers and Super Lawyers. His practice includes matters involving federal and state regulations; Medicare, Medicaid and other reimbursement; structuring business transactions and contracts; licensing, survey and certification; certificate of need; fraud and abuse; corporate compliance; and e-health and technology. Prior to joining OberKaler, he was an assistant attorney general for the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. He is a past chair of the Maryland State Bar Association's Health Law Section.
Jonathan Blatt, a fixed-income security professional, oversees high-yield bond sales and trading operations at Global Hunter Securities, a New York City investment bank focusing on the energy, China, healthcare, metals and mining sectors. Previously, Blatt was with Stone Tower Capital, where he was responsible for trading all bond positions as well as half of the bank loan positions in their multibillion dollar hedge fund. He has been trading fixed-income securities since 1984 when he joined Bear Stearns. He was a founding member of Chase Bank's high-yield desk; opened the New York office of BB&T Capital; and founded Fieldstone's sales, trading, and research business. Before moving to the financial services industry, Blatt was an attorney with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
John Kudel, a solo practitioner in Rockville, Maryland and of counsel to Karp, Frosh, Wigodsky & Norwind, PA, is president of the Maryland State Bar Association (MSBA). MSBA is a voluntary association of 24,000 Maryland lawyers. During his one-year tenure, Kudel will focus on member service, professionalism, and civility. Prior to attending college, Kudel was a police officer with the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, D.C., where he worked in the Narcotics and Internal Affairs divisions. After graduating from the University of Maryland, he worked as a white-collar crimes investigator in the Office of the State's Attorney for Montgomery County, Maryland. Kudel is a past president of the Bar Association of Montgomery County and is a member of the American Bar Association, the Maryland Criminal Defense Attorneys Association, and the Maryland Trial Lawyers Association. He represented Montgomery County in the American Bar Association House of Delegates in 2002. From 1986 to 2000, he was an associate professor at the University of Maryland, University College teaching in the Paralegal Studies Program.
William Stang is a managing partner in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania office of Fox Rothschild, LLP. Stang oversees day-to-day office operations and serves on the firm's Executive Committee, which sets overall firm policy. He has more than 20 years of experience in resolving business disputes. He handles general and complex commercial matters for a variety of clients, including middle-market businesses, small- to medium-size manufacturers, and healthcare practice groups. He has substantial trial and appellate experience in federal and state courts as well as in AAA arbitrations. He is a past chairperson and current member of the Allegheny County Bar Association's Appellate Practice Committee, 2008 Class of Fellows and Attorneys Against Hunger Committee.
Virginia Arthur is provost and vice president of Academic Affairs at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, Minnesota. Previously, Arthur was associate provost for Faculty Affairs at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI), where she led strategic planning efforts, launched a diversity initiative, faculty development, revision of the liberal arts core, and the collective bargaining agreement with the faculty. Before joining UNI, she had been a faculty member in the Department of Management at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University. In addition to her juris doctor, she has completed graduate coursework in human resource management, personnel selection and organizational behavior from St. Cloud State University and in education psychology, finance and accounting from the University of Minnesota. In addition, she is a certified public accountant.
Charles Blau, a partner at Blau & Blau in Springfield, New Jersey, is president of the National Association of Independent Free Appraisers (NAIFA). NAIFA, which was established in 1961, is an association of professional real estate appraisers with headquarters in Chicago. Blau concentrates his practice on real estate tax appeals.
Kevin Fay was named one of the Northern Virginians of the Year by Northern Virginia Magazine. He is president of Alcalde & Fay, a government and public affairs firm. He has been a volunteer for the The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's National Capital Area Chapter for almost two decades and has served as chairman of Washington, D.C.'s Annual Leukemia Ball, which has raised more than $3.5 million. He is the founder of the Congressional Honors Program, which educates members of Congress about blood cancer issues, success rates, challenges and research advancements to emphasize the need for research funding. Fay also has served as a member of the Fairfax County Park Authority and as a liaison to the Fairfax County Public Schools.
Mark I. Gruhin, co-managing partner of the Washington, D.C. office of Saul Ewing and co-chair of its Venture Capital/Private Equity Practice, has been named to the 2012 International Who's Who of Life Sciences Lawyers and the 2012 International Who's Who of Business Lawyers. Gruhin has thirty years of experience as a corporate lawyer. He focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions, private equity and venture capital, securities regulation, and government contracts. He serves numerous industries with a particular emphasis on the life sciences and technology sectors. In addition to his legal practice, Gruhin has been involved in several start-up businesses, including Careerbuilder.com.
Carol A. Melton was named to the St. Augustine-Ketterlinus High School Alumni Association Hall of Fame. Melton is in senior management at Time Warner overseeing the company's public policy offices in Washington, D.C., London, Brussels, and Hong Kong. In 2006 and 2009, she was named one of Washingtonian magazine's "100 Most Powerful Women in Washington." She is a trustee of the Committee for Economic Development and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Federal City Council. She received the NCTA Vanguard Award for Government Relations and also was honored by WCL's Business Law Society in the spring.
Kevin Blauch is a partner in the New York office of Sidley Austin, LLP. Blauch works in the Structured Finance and Securitization Practice. He has extensive experience handling commercial mortgage-backed securities transactions.
Rick Lazio is a partner at Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrere & Denegre, LLP. Lazio's practice focuses on affordable housing and related housing finance and he heads the firm's Housing and Housing Finance Industry Team and serves clients in the real estate, banking and financial services, and government relations practices. He heads the firm's New York office. Previously, he was president and chief executive officer of the Financial Services Forum and was a member of the Executive Committee of JPMorgan Chase. He also served as managing director with the Real Assets Group of JPMorgan Asset Management. Prior to his career in financial services, Lazio served four terms in the United States House of Representatives, where he chaired the House Banking Subcommittee, was Deputy Majority Whip, and Assistant Majority Leader.
David C. Van Gilder's law firm, Van Gilder & Trzynka, PC, was named the Pro Bono Public Law Firm of the Year by the Indiana Bar Foundation. The award recognizes "extraordinary contributions that are made toward ensuring that legal services are available to persons who otherwise could not afford them." The lawyers at Van Gilder & Trzynka have volunteered many hours toward delivery of legal services in Fort Wayne and its members have been leaders in developing and strengthening local legal service organizations.
Thomas S. "Monty" Fusco is of counsel in the Litigation Group at Fish & Richardson, focusing his practice on Section 337 International Trade Commission (ITC) investigations. Previously a supervisory attorney for the ITC, Fusco has more than twenty-three years of experience with the commission. Fusco oversaw approximately one-third of all the Section 337 investigations in the Office of Unfair Import Investigations. Prior to his position as a supervisory attorney, Fusco was a senior litigation attorney in the division. He started his career at the ITC as an attorney and advisor for an administrative law judge.
Christine C. Ferguson was appointed by Rhode Island Governor Lincoln D. Chafee as the Rhode Island Health Benefits Exchange Director. The Benefits Exchange, which will be operational in 2014, is an online marketplace through which uninsured people, individuals and small businesses can shop for health insurance. Ferguson was deputy chief of staff for the late U.S. Senator John H. Chafee (R-RI) in the 1990s and later was Massachusetts public health commissioner under then-Governor Mitt Romney. Ferguson will retain her academic appointment at the George Washington University, where she is a professor in the Department of Health Policy. In addition, she directs George Washington University's School of Public Health and Health Services' Stop (Strategies to Overcome and Prevent) Obesity Alliance, a collaboration of consumer, provider, government, labor, business, health insurers and quality-of-care organizations that seeks strategies to combat obesity.
Stephen Rabinowitz is a member of the executive team of Zavee, LLC, a South Florida company that offers local merchants highly customizable marketing tools and provides cash back rewards to shoppers and diners, while encouraging them to write reviews and share their experiences. Rabinowitz is a shareholder and practice team leader at Greenberg Traurig, LLP, where he represents developers, lenders, and investors in complex real estate transactions. A resident of Larchmont, New York, Rabinowitz also is a working musician and guitar collector.
Karen L. Sears is managing attorney in the New London office of Connecticut Legal Services Incorporated. Sears joined Legal Services in 1987 as a staff attorney. Most recently, she was part of its Consumer Law Project for Elders, working to help elderly clients solve consumer law problems that threaten their ability to continue to live independently. Sears has been involved with training and working with attorneys employed by Pfizer Incorporated who are providing pro bono advice to elderly individuals who are facing consumer law problems.
Louis Dubin is executive vice president of St. Joe Company, one of Florida's premier real estate development companies. Previously, Dubin was president and chief executive officer of LMD Worldwide, LLC.
Tobias Moyer is a solutions engineer at Advanced Discovery, a leading provider of e-Discovery services to clients worldwide in both the legal and corporate communities. In this position, Moyer is responsible for client consulting for best uses of technology workflow for e-Discovery matters. Previously, Moyer practiced in the Antitrust and Litigation departments at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom's Washington, D.C. office, where he managed large, complex, multifaceted e-Discovery matters. He is the founder and served as the chief executive officer of DroidLaw, LLC, which specializes in legal reference mobile applications.
Mary E. McClymont (LLM) is president of the Public Welfare Foundation, based in Washington, D.C. Previously, McClymont was executive director of Global Rights, president and chief executive officer of InterAction, and held a number of executive positions at the Ford Foundation. Her interest in global and domestic social justice issues has been manifested through her work as the national director for legalization of the Migration and Refugee Services division of the United States Catholic Conference, as senior staff counsel for the National Prison Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, as a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and as assistant director for Corrections at Georgetown University Law Center's National Street Law Institute.
Jane Sanchez is director of Library Services and Content Management at the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO). In this position, Sanchez provides management support for implementation of strategic programs and operations in the Federal Depository Library Program, in partnership with depository libraries and in collaboration with other GPO business units. Sanchez has thirty-five years of library and information management experience with the federal government and the private sector. Previously, she managed nine operational divisions at the Department of Justice (DOJ), providing research to support the DOJ's litigation and senior management offices for the attorney general and solicitor general. She has seventeen years of experience in the private sector, where she worked for BNA Corporate Headquarters, where she developed and implemented several digital information initiatives.
Jeffrey Schimelfenig is president of the National Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) Bar Association. The LGBT Bar is an association of lawyers, judges, law students, and other legal professionals and is an affiliate of the American Bar Association.
Richard A. DeTar, who chairs the Real Estate Litigation Group, co-chairs the Real Estate Industry Team and is the managing principal in the Easton and Cambridge, Maryland offices of Miles & Stockbridge, PC, was elected to serve on the firm's Board of Directors. DeTar represents clients in matters involving land use, real estate disputes, and corporate/business litigation. His land use practice involves zoning, annexation, special exceptions, variances, and critical areas issues before administrative agencies and courts. His real estate practice involves representing purchasers, sellers, real estate agents, builders, and developers in connection with contract disputes. His corporate/business practice focuses on corporate and partnership breakups, shareholder derivative actions, and a wide variety of breach of contract and business tort disputes. In 2011, DeTar was included on the Maryland Super Lawyers list in the area of Real Estate Litigation.
Barbara Fuller, a private practitioner, was honored with a leadership award for her dedication to the legal needs of the Murfreesboro, Tennessee community. Before starting her private practice, Fuller was a staff and managing attorney for the Murfreesboro office of the Legal Aid Society, where she represented low-income, elderly and disabled clients on various legal matters including housing, consumer, health, social security, and divorces involving spousal abuse. She began her legal career as a Nashville assistant public defender and also has worked as the house director for Nashville Dismas and as the executive director for Dismas Incorporated.
Christopher Grigorian is a partner at Foley & Lardner, LLP, in the firm's Public Policy Practice and on the Automotive Industry Team. Based in the firm's Washington, D.C. office, he focuses his practice on federal motor vehicle safety law, representing motor vehicle manufacturers and tier one parts suppliers on issues including product recalls, compliance with federal motor vehicle safety standards, defect investigations, and other compliance issues under the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act and TREAD Act. He also maintains an active antitrust and trade regulation practice, counseling corporate and trade associations across numerous industries including healthcare; consumer goods and automotive; on issues related to distribution and pricing; relationships with customers, suppliers, and competitors; and related DOJ/FTC investigations. Previously, he was a partner with Arent Fox, LLP, and a trial attorney and senior trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice, Tax Division, where he received the Tax Division's Outstanding Attorney Award.
Cynthia Jones, professor at the Washington College of Law, received the 2011 University Faculty Award for Outstanding Teaching in a Full-Time Appointment.
Peter Quinter, a shareholder in the Fort Lauderdale and Miami offices of GrayRobinson, was recognized by Chambers USA for his work in International Trade: Customs.
Scott C. Frost, of the Business Litigation Group in Howard & Howard's Chicago office, was named to the 2011 list of Illinois Super Lawyers by a survey of Law & Politics Media, Incorporated. Only five percent of the attorneys in Illinois were named to the Super Lawyers list.
Daniel J. Horwitz was appointed by New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to the Joint Commission on Public Ethics. Horwitz is a partner at Lankler Carragher & Horwitz, LLP. He previously served as a New York County district attorney in the Frauds Bureau. Prior to his legal career, Horwitz was a legislative director to U.S. Representative Thomas J. Downey (D-NY).
Michael McAdams is head of the Board of Advisors at NDB Energy, Incorporated, an emerging independent oil and gas company. McAdams leads the Advanced Biofuels Association, which represents many of the top companies from around the world, as it engages the federal government at all levels to secure a level playing field for its member companies. He spent fifteen years in a variety of roles with British Petroleum, PLC, including serving as the associate group policy advisor to then-chairman of the Board, Lord John Browne. In addition to his work at BP, McAdams has been an active independent wildcatter and worked in the private sector for a number of advocacy organizations. Earlier in his career, McAdams served as legislative director to Representative Ralph Hall (R-TX), where he was responsible for Energy and Commerce Committee issues. He was a field coordinator for President Jimmy Carter's presidential campaign and served on the staff of Representative Ray Roberts (D-TX).
Anne Ciesla Bancroft, general counsel at Exelon Business Services Company, was nominated by her employer to participate in the 2011 inaugural class of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD). The LCLD mission is to promote diversity in the legal profession. The LCLD Fellows Program is a yearlong professional development program targeted at high-potential attorneys that focuses on relationship building and leadership skills. One of the key initiatives of the program is mentoring of the Fellows by LCLD members and, in turn, mentoring law students by LCLD Fellows.
Anthony B. Covington is the state's attorney for Charles County (Maryland). He is the first African-American to assume the post, garnering almost 65 percent of the votes in the 2010 Democratic primary. He began his legal career in the Prince George's County State's Attorney's Office in 1991 and after eighteen months moved to work at the Charles County prosecutor's office until 1997 when he moved to private practice. He rejoined the Charles County State's Attorney's Office in 2003.
Caroline Tso Chen is the director and supervising attorney of the Santa Clara University School of Law Low Income Tax Payer Clinic. Previously, Chen was a senior attorney with the Office of Chief Counsel of the Internal Revenue Service in San Jose, primarily practicing international corporate tax. She also worked at Ernst & Young, practiced as a litigation associate and an assistant district attorney in New York, and clerked for the Honorable Deborah Robinson, of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
John Izzo has founded a grant writing and fundraising consulting firm, Community Grants Associates in Boston. The firm works with municipalities, school districts, institutions of higher education, and nonprofits throughout the United State to attract additional funding for projects and operations from federal, state, foundation, or corporate resources.
Matthew Nicely, a partner at Thompson Hine, LLP, was named among the top international trade lawyers for the Asia-Pacific region in both the Global and Asia-Pacific editions of Chambers and Partners' guides to leading business lawyers. Nicely, of the firm's Washington, D.C. office, leads the International Trade & Customs practice group. He focuses on trade remedy and customs laws, and represents clients in dispute settlement before international tribunals such as the World Trade Organization. He also counsels clients on export controls and antibribery laws.
Catherine Ellingsen is senior vice president, human resources at Republic Services, Incorporated. Ellingsen began her career with the company, (Allied Waste) in 2001 as corporate counsel, labor and management. During subsequent years, she was promoted to managing corporate counsel, associate general counsel, and director of legal. In 2007, Ellingsen was promoted to vice president and deputy general counsel and held these same positions at Republic after the merger with Allied Waste. She holds the Senior Professional Human Resources (SPHR) Certification and has been a member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) since 1993. She served as a board member and the general counsel of the Arizona state chapter of SHRM from 2000 to 2003.
Jill Poznick Epstein is executive director of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. Most recently, Epstein was the chief operating officer of the California Massage Therapy Council and, prior to that, served as chief executive officer of the Chartered Financial Analysts Society of Chicago. She also held positions with the American Medical Association and the American Association of Retired Persons.
Terence Healy is a partner at Reed Smith, LLP, in the firm's Global Regulatory Enforcement Group in the Washington, D.C. office. Formerly the senior assistant chief litigation counsel at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Healy was one of the top litigators in the SEC's Division of Enforcement, focusing on accounting fraud, revenue recognition, options backdating, insider trading, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and structured products. Prior to joining the SEC, Healy worked as a trial attorney in the Civil Division of the Department of Justice. During his nine years with the department, Healy argued and won a certified appeal to the state Supreme Court on choice of law, which lead to the dismissal of a $500 million claim against the government. The claim was made after a private aircraft crashed in Indiana and it was unclear how to reconcile the differences between two—Washington, D.C. and Indiana—accountable legal jurisdictions.
Jeannie J. Hong is an associate judge with the District Court of Maryland, District of Baltimore City. She is a member of the Court Commission on Professionalism and the Family Law Committee, Maryland Judicial Conference. In addition, she is a member of the Governor's Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs. Prior to being named to the bench, Hong was a staff attorney at the Child Care Administration, Department of Human Resources and an assistant state's attorney for Baltimore City, where she was a prosecutor in the Juvenile Division (1994-1996), prosecutor in the Misdemeanor Unit (1996-1997), a prosecutor in the General Felony Unit (1997-2000) and senior prosecutor in the Vehicle Analysis United (2000-2002). She is a member of the American and Baltimore City bar associations, the Maryland State Bar Association, the Women's Bar Association of Maryland, the Saint Thomas More Society, and Community Affairs Committee at the National Aquarium in Baltimore. She served on the Board of the Coalition for Korean-American Organizations, and was an at-large delegate for the 2000 Democratic Party National Convention. She received the 1999 Award of Excellence, Women in Government Service and the 2005 Trailblazer Award from the National Asian-Pacific American Bar Association.
Gal Kaufman is a principal in the Estates & Trusts Practice Group at Offit Kurman. Kaufman has nearly twenty years of experience in estate tax planning and estate and trust administration. His expertise includes the full range of traditional trusts and estate matters to sophisticated tax analysis and planning, structured management arrangements for families, family businesses and family offices, and fiduciary and tax controversies. He works in the firm's Bethesda, Maryland office.
Teresa McGhie is mission director for Angola in the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). She oversees programs supporting democracy and governance, local elections, economic growth, and the President's Malaria Initiative. McGhie joined USAID in 2000 as a legal officer and most recently served as a regional legal advisor in Sudan, where she provided legal advice for USAID's largest humanitarian program at the time and for USAID/Sudan's complex development programs. She also served in the Regional Development Mission for Asia in Bangkok and the East Africa Regional Mission in Nairobi. Prior to her foreign-service career, she was an associate attorney with Sidley and Austin in Washington, D.C., and with Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe in New York City. She also served as the assistant director of the International Legal Studies Program and director of the Summer Law Program in Chile at WCL.
Thomas A. Sporkin is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of BuckleySandler, LLP, a financial services and criminal and civil defense law firm. Sporkin was previously chief of the Office of Market Intelligence (OMI) at the Securities and Exchange Commission, which he established and led in the aftermath of the Madoff fraud. The 50-person unit was charged with detecting ongoing unlawful conduct spanning across all SEC program areas. Under his leadership, OMI attorneys, accountants, and market surveillance specialists performed analysis and conducted investigations on intelligence collected from a variety of internal and external sources, including the SEC's Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Office. By January 2012, OMI's partnership with the Enforcement Division's specialized units, regional offices, and home office associate director groups was responsible for the origination of more than half of all SEC investigations. Prior to serving as chief of OMI, Sporkin spent ten years co-managing Enforcement attorneys who conducted investigations into all SEC program areas, including improper FCPA payments, financial fraud, market manipulations, and insider trading.
Marc Bardack is of counsel in the Business Liability and Insurance Law Practice Group at Freeman Mathis & Gary, LLP. Bardack's experience includes work in the areas of personal injury and insurance law, and business and employment law. He represents insureds and self-insureds in motor vehicle accident, premises liability, construction defect, pharmaceutical malpractice, and food poisoning cases. He has handled cases involving trade secrets, restrictive covenants, and discrimination. A certified mediator and AV rated by Martindale Hubbell, Bardack is a member of the State Bar of Georgia, U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Middle Districts of Georgia, Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court. He also is a member of the Atlanta Claims Association. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of Temple Sinai, an alumni admissions representative for Lafayette College, and is involved in the Jewish Foundation of Greater Atlanta, and the Epstein School.
John T. Bergin is vice president and senior counsel at Shapiro, Lifschitz & Schram, PC, in Washington, D.C. Bergin focuses his practice in government contracts and complex commercial litigation and also represents clients on private and public construction projects. Construction projects include Major League Baseball and National Football League stadiums, power plants, schools, hospitals, and other types of projects both in the United States and abroad. Previously, Bergin was a partner in the Commercial Litigation and Construction practice groups in the Washington, D.C. office of Seyfarth Shaw LLP.
Susan Kayser is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Jones Day. Kayser has more than fifteen years of experience in intellectual property litigation and counseling, focusing on trademark, copyright, and false advertising. She is nationally recognized in her field, having been named in the Legal 500 U.S. survey as a leading trademark litigator in both 2009 and 2010 and also recognized in 2007 for trademark and enforcement portfolio work. She is a former law professor at The Catholic University of America, where she taught Trademarks and Unfair Competition.
John McMickle is founder and president of JDM Public Strategies, LLC, a boutique public policy and communications firm. Prior to establishing the company, McMickle was counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee and was a partner in the Government Affairs Department of a major international law firm.
Lisa Tittemore is treasurer of the Massachusetts Chapter of the Federal Bar Association. Tittemore is a partner and chair of the Trademark and Copyright practice groups at Sunstein Kann Murphy & Timbers, LLP, an intellectual property law firm based in Boston. Tittemore manages the litigation of complex intellectual property matters and advises clients on maximizing the value of their IP assets. She is frequently a presenter at continuing education programs concerning intellectual property issues and is the co-author of a text on copyright law. In addition to her work with the Federal Bar Association, she is co-chair of the Boston Bar Association's Litigation Section and a member and volunteer in the International Trademark Association, the Pharmaceutical Trademarks Group, the Women's Bar Association, and the Boston Patent Law Association.
Margaret M. Witherup is a member at Gordon Feinblatt, LLC, in the firm's Environmental & Energy and Litigation practice groups. She concentrates her practice in all aspects of environmental law and business litigation. She has counseled landowners, prospective purchasers and potentially responsible parties regarding environmental site assessments, voluntary and government-ordered site remediation, Brownfields redevelopment, water allocation and appropriation issues, and Superfund sites. Previously, Witherup was an assistant attorney general for the Maryland Port Administration.
Oliver Yandle is executive director of the Association of Legal Administrators, an international association based in Lincolnshire, Illinois. Previously, Yandle served as executive vice president of the Commercial Law League of America and executive director of the International Association of Defense Counsel. He has held senior director positions at SmithBucklin in Chicago, the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association and the Intelligent Transportation Society of America, both in Washington, D.C. He is active in the Society of Association Executives, where he holds the Certified Association Executive designation and the Association Forum of Chicagoland, where he serves as chair of the Board of Directors. He served as an adjunct instructor of legal analysis and writing at WCL.
N. William Delker is an associate justice on the New Hampshire Superior Court, which is the trial court of general jurisdiction in the state. He was nominated by Governor John Lynch. Prior to his appointment, Delker served as a senior assistant attorney general in the Criminal Justice Bureau of the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office for thirteen years. He held various positions in the Attorney General's Office, including chief of the Criminal Bureau, homicide prosecutor, and most recently, head of the newly formed Cold Case United. In addition, he prosecuted the capital murder case involving the murder of Manchester police officer Michael Briggs, which resulted in the first death sentence in New Hampshire in fifty years.
Tom Goldstein, partner at Goldstein, Howell & Russell, PC, was named one of America's top fifty advocates in Point Made: How to Write Like the Nation's Top Advocates, published by Oxford University Press (2011). The book, which features hundreds of examples from famous cases handled by Goldstein and others, turns great written advocacy into 50 concrete techniques.
Miami resident Thomas J. Rebull was appointed by Florida Governor Rick Scott to the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court. Rebull, a partner with Broad and Cassel, is chair of the City of Miami Civilian Investigation Panel. The panel was created and empowered by voters to conduct independent and impartial oversight of the Miami Police Department. Previously, Rebull practiced with Hector and Harke, LLP, was general counsel for Total Quality Management Group Incorporated, and practiced with Muller Mintz.
Deborah Ben-Canaan is a partner and member of the In-House Practice Group at Major, Lindsey & Africa, LLC, in San Diego, California. She has ten years of in-house search placement experience at all levels from corporate counsel to general counsel.
Kimberly Reindl is senior counsel in the Communications and Information Technology Practice at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, LLP. As senior counsel, Reindl advises clients on the FCC's transaction approval process, foreign investment rules, acution and anticollusion rules, attribution rules, and ownership and control policies. She also counsels clients on complex technical matters involving radio frequency use and interference between services and in assessing regulatory issues regarding the development and licensing of new services. Previously, she practiced in the Washington, D.C. office of another large international law firm, where she represented wireless, cable, and telecommunications clients before the FCC and in transactional matters. Reindl is a former member of the FCC's Transaction Team, which was established in 2000 by the Office of the General Counsel to facilitate the review of major transactions before the agency.
Walter M. Shaub Jr. was nominated by President Barack Obama as director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE). He is deputy general counsel of OGE, a position he has held since 2008 and was as a supervisory attorney from 2006 to 2008. Previously, he was an attorney with Shaw, Bransford, Veilleux and Roth, PC, where he focused on federal employment law. Shaub has served as a staff attorney at several federal agencies, including OGE from 2001 to 2004, the Central Office of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs from 2000 to 2001, the Office of General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 1998 to 2000 and the VA's Baltimore-Washington Regional Counsel's Office from 1997-1998.
Cari N. Stinebower is counsel in the International Trade Practice Group in Crowell & Moring's Washington, D.C. office. She counsels clients on compliance with U.S economic sanctions, FinCEN's Bank Secrecy Act Regulations, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and export controls. She works with financial institutions to develop compliance programs, conduct anti-money laundering (AML) and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) risk assessments, conduct internal investigations, and respond to governmental investigations. Previously, Stinebower served as counsel for the U.S. Department of the Treasury's OFAC and as a program officer for OFAC, where she advised on sanctions and antiterrorism legislation, drafted United National Security Council Resolutions, and related executive orders. As a result of her work, Stinebower received the Secretary of the Treasury's Certificate for her role in providing guidance in the war against terrorism, establishing a program targeting the Taliban, working with the interagency group to unwind the first sanctions targeting the government of Libya, and drafting the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act.
Vanessa Allen Sutherland, senior counsel at Altria Group, Incorporated, was nominated by her employer to participate in the 2011 inaugural class of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD). The LCLD mission is to promote diversity in the legal profession. The LCLD Fellows Program is a yearlong professional development program targeted at high-potential attorneys that focuses on relationship building and leadership skills. One of the key initiatives of the program is LCLD members mentoring the Fellows and, the Fellows, in turn, mentoring law students.
Linda Woolley is acting president chief executive officer of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA). Previously, Woolley was DMA's executive vice president of Washington operations, overseeing the association's advocacy and lobbying efforts. Before joining DMA in 2008, Woolley worked in the environment section of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; headed up Washington operations for ITT Corporation, which at the time owned Sheraton Hotels, Hartford Insurance and large telecommunications operations; and founded LegisLaw Consulting, a public affairs consulting and publishing company.
Alexander Zapesochny is president and chief operating officer at iCardiac Technologies, Incorporated, a biotechnology company headquartered in Rochester, New York. He also is co-founder of Marrow Drive Rochester and serves on the Board of Directors at Qmetrics Clinical Services.
Jeffery Zinn is general counsel of Barcoding Incorporated, where he was hired to create the corporation's legal department. He began his legal career with Fila USA and then went on to work in the Baltimore office of Venable. He relocated to Boston for a positon with Lucash Gesmer & Updegrove, a firm the focused on representing start-up companies. He returned to Baltimore to create the legal department at ViPS, a healthcare analytics and information technology company, and after ViPS was acquired by WebMD, he took a position at Saul Ewing.
Gabriel Berg announces the formation of Kennedy Berg, LLP, a boutique law firm of highly experienced commercial trial lawyers based in New York City. The firm was founded after Berg and James Kennedy tried a case against a Berkshire Hathaway company in front of an Omaha, Nebraska jury and won a direct verdict worth more than $100 million. The trial formed a working relationship that led to the formation of the firm. Berg, a successful trial lawyer, has prosecuted and defended claims for fraud, patent infringement, breach of contract, misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of fiduciary duty, defamation, and others. He has represented institutional clients, small businesses, and individuals in a variety of complex commercial matters.
Eric Buikema's law firm, Cardelli, Lanfear and Buikema celebrated its twentieth anniversary last year. Based in Royal Oak, Michigan, the firm represents well-known corporations such as Otis Elevator, Westfield Insurance Company, Allianz Insurance Company, Liberty Mutual/Indiana Insurance Company, Barton Mallow, Harley Davidson Motor Company, Carrier Corporation, Pratt & Whitney Company, and Dana Corporation.
Jeffrey Michael Geller, a Towson, Maryland-based business and family law attorney, was appointed to Baltimore's Circuit Court by Governor Martin O'Malley. Most recently, Geller worked at Miles and Stockbridge and prior to that spent four years with the Maryland Office of the Public Defender.
Chris Julius is director/assistant general counsel with US Airways. Previously, he was with the National Transportation Safety Board for 15 years.
Neil M. McCarthy is senior counsel in the Washington, D.C. office of Crowell & Moring, in the IP Litigation Practice. McCarthy, who joined Crowell & Moring from Kilpatrick, Townsend & Stockton, has more than 25years of patent law experience, including providing patent infringement and validity opinions focusing primarily on pharmaceuticals; conducting due diligence and patent landscape analyses; counseling in pharmaceutical litigation arising under the Hatch-Waxman Act; preparing and prosecuting patent applications in the chemical, medical device, and pharmaceutical areas; and participating in inter partes interferences. He began his patent career as an examiner at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, where he served as a primary examiner in the plastics molding and water purification technologies.
Jennifer D. Westerlund is a shareholder in the Fort Lauderdale, Florida office of Greenberg Traurig, PA. Her practice focuses on corporate advisory and transactional work for middle-market established companies nationally and internationally. Her clients also include foreign companies establishing a presence in the United States, entrepreneurs, and starts-ups. She acts as outside general counsel and advises on strategic transactions to clients in a variety of industries and sectors including healthcare, energy, technology, insurance, and logistics services. Previously, she practiced in the Legal and Compliance Department of Paine Webber in New York and London and at Sidley Austin, LLP in London.
Eric Alterman is president, chief executive officer, and director of Flow Search Corporation. He has founded numerous companies including JED Broadcasting, New Brand Entertainment Corporation, MILCOM Technologies, Incorporated, and KickApps Corporation.
Janene D. Jackson is director of the Office of Policy and Legislative Affairs in the Executive Office of Mayor Vincent C. Gray, of Washington, D.C.
Diane Welsh is a shareholder and chair of the newly formed Government Relations and Regulatory Law Section at von Briesen & Roper, sc. In addition, Welsh is a member of the Health Care Practice Group and the Litigation Practice Group, where she focuses on government law (both legislative and administrative); HIPAA and HITECH; regulatory compliance, reimbursement and program integrity; public health law; ethics laws; appellate; constitutional law; and emergency preparedness. She also is part of von Briesen's Strategic Risk and Crisis Management Team. Welsh was previously chief legal counsel of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services and assistant attorney general for the State of Wisconsin. She serves on the Board of Directors for Domestic Abuse Intervention Services and is a member of the Legal Association of Women.
Alec C. Zacaroli is counsel on Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton's Environmental Team. He works in the firm's Washington, D.C. office. Zacaroli's practice involves environmental litigation and regulatory counseling, focusing on federal and state air pollution control law. He has experience in Clean Air Act law and litigating and counseling clients with respect to Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the Clean Water Act, and other federal and state pollution-control laws. Prior to becoming an attorney, Zacaroli was an environmental journalist, working for daily newspapers and with the Bureau of National Affairs. He is the co-founder of 25:40, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping children impacted by AIDS in Southern Africa.
Margaret Pryor Chase, vice president and deputy general counsel at Fannie Mae, was nominated by her employer to participate in the 2011 inaugural class of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD). The LCLD mission is to promote diversity in the legal profession. The LCLD Fellows Program is a yearlong professional development program targeted at high-potential attorneys that focuses on relationship building and leadership skills. One of the key initiatives of the program is LCLD members mentoring the Fellows and, the Fellows, in turn, mentoring law students.
Ann Daley is on the Board of Directors of The New England Council, a nonpartisan alliance of business, academic and health institutions, and public and private organizations. Daley is vice president of Governmental and Regulatory Affairs for Pitney Bowes, in Stamford, Connecticut, where she advocates before government bodies on postal, financial services, healthcare, privacy, and other issues which support the company's growth.
Derek Anthony Dyson, a shareholder at Duncan, Weinberg, Genzer & Pembroke, PC, is president of the Energy Bar Association.
Jessica Rae, of the Community Law Program in St. Petersburg, Florida, is The Florida Bar Trial Lawyers Children's Legal Services Fellow. Rae serves children through the Transitioning Dependent Youth Project, which represents about thirty to forty needy children per year.
Katherine Helbig is an associate at Calabro & Associates in New York City. Helbig concentrates her practice on landlord and tenant litigation, real estate transactions, general real estate litigation, commercial litigation, and judgment enforcement actions.
Grace M. Mora, an associate in the Miami office of Hunton & Williams, LLP, was named a 2012 Florida Rising Star in the June edition of Florida Super Lawyers magazine. She was recognized in the area of Employment Litigation: Defense.
Christopher Ornelas is chief operating officer for the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), an advocacy association that advances radio and television interest in legislative, regulatory, and public affairs. Before joining NAB, Ornelas was chief counsel on communications and technology policy in Senator Gordon H. Smith's (R-OR) office, overseeing all matters relating to communications, media, entertainment, and technology before the Senate Commerce Committee.
Rachel Wallace is director of the Global Intellectual Property Academy (GIPA) of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. GIPA educates the international intellectual property community on the United States' methods for protecting and enforcing intellectual property rights and complying with pertinent international treaties. GIPA also encourages global dialogue on emerging intellectual property issues and helps to control growing problems such as intellectual property theft. In 2011, GIPA provided training to more than 5,300 participants from the United States and 138 countries.
Peter J. Corcoran III is an associate in the Intellectual Property Practice Group at Thompson & Knight, LLP. He works in the firm's Dallas office. Corcoran, a former law clerk to the current chief judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, is experienced with patent law, practice, local patent rules, and procedures in the federal district and appellate courts. His trial and appellate experience includes pre-trial expert and non-expert discovery, motion practice, jury selection, and patent-infringement trials and appeals in the district and appeals in the district courts, U.S. International Trade Commission, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Corcoran was formerly an associate at Kirkland & Ellis, LLP, in Los Angeles and was a patent examiner at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He is commander in the Engineering Duty Officer Corps of the U.S. Navy Reserves.
Stephanie Birbrower Greer is a partner in the Bankruptcy Practice in Dickstein Shapiro, LLP's New York office. Greer has experience in complex restructuring matters and has represented both debtors and creditors in Chapter 11 cases. Her practice focuses on representing clients in litigation involving bankruptcy-related issues. She is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute. Prior to joining Dickstein Shapiro, she practiced at Bingham McCutcheon, LLP.
Zachary A. Kitts authored a paper, "Public Trust and the Role of Qui Tam Relators in the Regulatory Framework" published in the Journal of Law, Economics and Policy, 7 J.L. ECON & POL'Y (2011). Kitts is a partner at the Northern Virginia law firm Cook Kitts & Francuzenko, PLLC, where he focuses his practice on qui tam litigation under the federal False Claims Act and the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act, and other commercial litigation matters.
Danielle M. Machata, an attorney shareholder at Godfrey & Kahn, SC, was named a 40 UNDER 40 award winner in the Central Region by The M&A Advisor. The 2012 40 UNDER 40 award recognizes emerging leaders of the mergers and acquisitions, financing and turnaround industries as selected by an independent judging panel. Machata practices in the firm's Milwaukee office and is a member of the Corporate Practice Group and is co-chairperson of its Recruiting Committee. She focuses her practice on mergers and acquisitions, private equity transactions, joint ventures, and sophisticated commercial transactions. She is active in a number of community organizations, including the Board of Directors of the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra and the YWCA of Greater Milwaukee.
Charles Mahtesian, national politics editor for POLITICO and a blogger on the POLITICO Web site, received the Armenian Mirror-Spectator Award of Excellence. He has worked at the Congressional Quarterly, contributed to the books Politics in America and Congressional Districts in the 1990s, worked at Governing magazine, and edited three volumes of the National Journal's biennial the Almanac of American Politics. He is an expert on American politics, frequently providing commentary on major radio and television and radio shows such as National Public Radio, MSNBC, Fox News, C-Span, CNN and the BBC.
Jamie Abrams is a professor at the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law, where she teaches torts, family law, and legislation. Abrams was one of the inaugural winners of the WCL Teaching Award for Pedagogical Innovation.
Alison A. Hillman de Velasquez, program officer for the Open Society Foundation's Disability Rights Initiative, was appointed by President Barack Obama to the President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities. As program officer with the Open Society Foundation, Hillman manages a grant-making program aimed at implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Previously, she directed the Americas Programs at Disability Rights International, where she advocated for the rights of persons with mental disabilities. Hillman sits on the Board of Directors of the American Association of People with Disabilities. In 2003, she received the Paul G. Hearne/AAPD Leadership Award as an emerging leader in the disability field.
Alex Kaplan is a partner in the New York office of Sidley Austin, LLP. He represents corporations, individuals, and professional services firms in a variety of complex commercial litigation matters, as well as in regulatory and internal investigations. Kaplan has handled cases in federal and state courts, and in sponsored and private arbitration throughout the United States.
Tracy Marshall is a partner at Keller and Heckman, LLP, where she assists clients with a wide range of business and regulatory matters. Her practice areas include advertising and promotion; business counseling and transactional; intellectual property; privacy, data security and digital media; telecommunications; and trade and professional associations. She is a Certified Information Privacy Professional through the International Association of Privacy Professionals. She also is a member of the Federal Communications Bar Association and the Women's Bar Association of the District of Columbia. She is a contributing author of Beyond Telecom Law Blog.
Beau Pichon, who is an attorney with Savitz, Parker, Hollman, Simon, Hahn & DeLisi, LLC, was named the Frederick County Association of Realtors' Affiliate of the Year. Affiliates members include lawyers, mortgage professionals, home inspectors, and professionals in other fields who work with real estate brokers. Pichon was honored not only for his outstanding service to the legal field but also for donating his time and talents to the association and the community. In addition to conducting real estate settlements, he drafts and reviews contracts and other real estate-related documents and assists clients with complex real estate matters such as tax-deferred exchanges and mortgage debt forgiveness. Pichon has worked for the association's Membership Committee, American Home Month, and has been involved with fixing up houses for disabled or needy families, instructing classes for association members, and writing articles about real estate legal matters for the association's newsletter. He is active with Habitat for Humanity and conducts free settlements for Habitat homebuyers.
Katherine Piper is senior counsel at Calpine Corporation, a major U.S. power company. She is a former law clerk for the Honorable Paul Mannes, of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maryland.
Puja Satiani is counsel at Crowell & Moring, LLP, in the Washington, D.C. office.
Melinda L. VanLowe has founded The Law Office of Melinda L. VanLowe, PC. Her practice focuses on adults and juvenile clients who are subject to investigation or charged with criminal offenses and serious traffic matters; litigating uncontested divorce, custody, visitation, and child support matters; defending against or petitioning for protective orders; appealing administrative findings by the Department of Child Protective Services and other administrative agencies; and litigating other civil matters. Her practice is located in Merrifield, Virginia. VanLowe is a member of the Virginia Mandatory Continuing Legal Education Board, the Northern Virginia Women Attorneys' Association Board, the Northern Virginia Black Attorney's Association, and the American Constitutional Society.
Theresa E. Weir is counsel at King & Spalding's Washington, D.C. office. She represents clients on a wide array of matters, including healthcare regulatory counseling on Medicare reimbursement and compliance, administrative hearings before the Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals (OMHA) and the Provider Reimbursement Review Board, and competition issues facing healthcare clients. She also counsels clients on data privacy and security matters that arise from federal and state laws, including HIPAA, HITECH, and state data breach laws and has substantial experience with HIPAA/HITECH compliance. She has been recognized as an outstanding healthcare antitrust lawyer by Nightingale's Healthcare News. Prior to joining King & Spalding, Weir was counsel at Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz.
Barbara I. Berschler (LLM), an attorney with Press, Potter & Dozier, LLC, was appointed to the Governor's Commission on Small Business by Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley.
Holly Bunting is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of K&L Gates. Previously, Bunting was an associate with the firm. She is a member of the firm's Mortgage-Banking and Consumer Finance Group with an emphasis of federal and state regulatory enforcement issues.
Brian M. Crepeau, a partner at the law firm of Resenberg Martin Greenberg, LLP, was named a FIVE STAR Wealth Manager for 2011 by Baltimore magazine. Crepeau was recognized for his skill in representing businesses and individuals in tax planning, business structuring, estate planning, and tax controversy matters before the IRS and state taxing authorities. He is a certified public accountant.
Melissa A. Pena, an associate in the New York City office of Norris McLaughlin & Marcus, PA, was selected to participate in the Meritas Young Lawyer Liaison Program (YLLP). Meritas is a global alliance of more than 170 independent, full-service law firms in more than 60 countries. Meritas' YLLP offers young lawyers peer-level contact at each member firm who can act as an entry point to the firm and the firm's market. As a Young Lawyer Liaison, Pena complements the role of the Meritas member contacts and supports non-referral-related peer-to-peer interactions for purposes of networking, sharing best practices, and answering simple questions. Pena concentrates her practice in the areas of bankruptcy, commercial litigation, and mortgage foreclosures.
Courtney G. Tito is an associate in the West Palm Beach office of McDonald Hopkins, LLC, a business advisory and advocacy law firm. Tito is an experienced litigator who focuses her practice on commercial litigation, mortgage foreclosures, receiverships, and other creditor's rights litigation. Prior to joining McDonald Hopkins, she was a commercial litigator in a Miami law firm, and from 2006 to 2007, was a staff attorney for the Public International Law and Policy Group in Baghdad, Iraq. While in Iraq, Tito worked with legislators and the Federal Supreme Court in Iraq advising senior ranking officials on amending current legislation, drafting proposed legislation, and amending Iraq's constitution.
Jennifer Luong Clarke is an associate in Morgan Lewis' FDA and Healthcare Practice in the Washington, D.C. office. Clarke focuses her practice on matters relating to healthcare regulation, compliance, and enforcement issues. She has experience in government investigations and inquiries, particularly those undertaken by the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office of the Inspector General and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and by the U.S. Congress. Prior to joining Morgan Lewis, Clarke was a counselor on oversight for the HHS, where she was responsible for matters relating to congressional investigations and inquiries, including audits performed by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. In this role, she developed strategies on the department's response to Congress and prepared HHS witnesses testifying before Congressional proceedings.
Anthony Abbenante is vice president of corporate development at Vanoil Energy Limited and a vice president at Global Mining Management Corporation (GMM), a private Vancouver, British Columbia-based company that provides management services. Vanoil and GMM recently formed a strategic partnership to strengthen Vanoil's ability to raise funds and provide the company with an experienced oil and gas team. In his current positions, Abbenante focuses on international legal and business affairs and corporate development activities.
Leila R. Abdi is a co-founder of and partner at Stratus IP Law Group, where she helps clients understand, manage, and leverage their intellectual property. She is experienced in developing strategic patent portfolios and prosecuting both U.S. and international patent applications. She has written and prosecuted many patent applications including those related to computer software, Internet applications, mobile applications and devices, E-commerce, database architecture and systems, computer networking and cloud computing, and telecommunication systems.
She has represented both patent owners and third party requesters in ex parte and inter partes reexamination proceedings at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences
Cameron W. Arnold is instructor of Legal Writing at Brooklyn Law School in Brooklyn, New York. Prior to joining the legal writing faculty, he was an associate at Arnold & Porter, LLP, where he worked in the litigation department focusing on complex civil litigation, criminal and civil appeals, products liability, consumer fraud, environmental law, and commercial and white-collar litigation. Before joining Arnold & Porter, he clerked for the senior judges of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.
Andrea Desoretz is an associate attorney in the Margate/Fort Lauderdale office of Katzman Garfinkel & Berger. She works in the firm's community association Collections and Foreclosure Department. Previously, she represented community associations in all aspects of foreclosure and collections litigation with Kaye & Bender. Prior to her career in the private sector, Desoretz was a trial attorney for the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit's Office of the Public Defender, where she represented indigent clients on misdemeanor, juvenile, and felony matters.
Mary Katherine Hayburn is an associate at Offit Kurman in its Family Law Practice Group. Hayburn's practice focuses on complex family law cases, dedicating her time to assisting clients in matters involving divorce, child custody, visitation, spousal and child support, property division, division of retirement benefits, tax consequences of divorce, mediation, prenuptial and postnuptial agreements, negotiating and drafting of separation agreements, divorce litigation, and post-judgment proceedings. She is based in the firms's Bethesda, Maryland office.
Jolsna John is president of the North American South Asian Bar Association (NASABA), a national minority bar association representing the interests of 6,000 lawyers and law students. Previously, John was president of NASABA's charitable arm, NASABA Foundation.
Olivia T. Luk received the 2011 American Inns of Court Sandra Day O' Connor Award for Professional Service. The award was presented at the annual American Inns of Court Celebration of Excellence hosted by Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Sonia Sotomayor, at the Supreme Court in November. Luk is an associate in the Litigation Department at Jenner & Block, where she concentrates her practice on complex civil litigation focusing on intellectual property/technology. She is co-coordinator for the firm's Lateral Orientation Program, a member of the Women's Forum Steering Committee, Associate's Committee, and Associate Board of Diversity & Inclusion Committee.
Debra Spinelli is an associate with Las Vegas-based Pisanelli Bice. In less than two years of existence, Pisanelli Bice has been named one of the "Best Law Firms" in America by U.S. News & World Report and The Best Lawyers in America.
Nikolas E. Tysiak is an associate with Babst Calland, in the Energy and Natural Resources and Business Services groups. He practices in the areas of energy and real estate law, with a primary focus on transactions and ownership involving oil and gas, where he has extensive experience identifying and curing real estate titles issues in West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Tysiak also maintains a general real estate practice. Prior to joining Babst Calland, he was with Jackson Kelly, PLLC, in Wheeling, West Virginia.
Joshua Apfelroth, a corporate associate with Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft in Manhattan, married Stephanie Benedetto in August 2011. She is a corporate associate with Baker Botts also in Manhattan, where they reside.
Christopher P. Murphy, a tax controversy associate for Bingham McCutchen, LLP, in Washington, D.C., co-authored Obtaining Information from the Government in Discovery and Disclosure-Related Damages Actions Against the Government, Portfolio 626, printed by Bloomberg BNA Tax & Accounting.
Douglas Panzer is corporate counsel for The Neat Company. Previously, he was an associate with Caesar, Rivise, Bernstein, Cohen & Pokotilow, Limited.
Jessica Sprovtsoff is an associate in the Antitrust and Trade Regulation Group in the newly established Ann Arbor, Michigan office of Schiff Hardin, LLP. Previously, she was an associate at Miller Canfield. Sprovtsoff's practice covers all areas of business and commercial litigation with a focus on complex commercial cases and class action litigation, primarily antitrust. Before entering private practice, she served as a law clerk in the Eastern District of Michigan and for the Michigan Court of Appeals.
Michael Bassik is managing director and digital practice chair for the United States at Burson-Marsteller, a leading global public relations and communications firm. Bassik, an accomplished digital strategist with more than a decade of experience, has built several successful online public affairs practices and has been honored for his industry-leading work by Yahoo!, the American Assocation of Political Consultants, and POLITICO. He has worked with a number of high-profile clients, including IBM, Google, the Democratic National Committee, John Kerry for President, Hillary Clinton for President, and Obama for America. Most recently, Bassik was senior vice president at Global Strategy Group and, prior to that, was chief digital officer for the radio network Air America Media. Earlier in his career he established America Online's political advertising division, serving as its director. He has appeared on Bloomberg Radio and NPR's Morning and Weekend Editions. He also was featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, the International Herald Tribune, BusinessWeek and Advertising Age.
Karin Seubert practices with Jones, Brower & Callery, in Lewiston, Idaho, where she focuses on family law, real estate, probate, and general litigation. She is a member of the Idaho State Bar, the Second District Bar, and the tribal courts for the Nez Perce and Coeur d'Alene tribes.
Fabiola Carrion is director of Government Relations at Planned Parenthood of New York City.
Parag Khandhar is a clinical fellow in the Community Development Clinic at the University of Baltimore School of Law. Previously, Khandhar was a staff attorney with the Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center in Washington, D.C. He is a member of the Board of the Asian American Literary Review.
Tim McEvoy, an attorney for Southeast Louisiana Legal Services, authored a column for Jurist, an online legal news and real-time legal research service supported by the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. McEvoy's column, "With Shortcomings, BP Settlement Agreement is a Step in the Right Direction," was posted on May 25, 2012.
Chip Rosenberg is a clerk for the Honorable Charles Brower in The Hague, where he assists the judge with thirty or so private cases in which he is supported as an arbitrator. As international arbitration clerk, Rosenberg prepares bench memoranda, researches legal issues, and assists in drafting position papers for deliberations. In the position, he also serves as administrative secretary of the Tribunal for the cases on which Judge Brower serves as the chairman of the arbitrational tribunal.
Welles Campbell is an associate in the Estate and Wealth Planning/Estate Administration Practice Group at Moore & Van Allen in Charlotte, North Carolina. Campbell focuses her practice on assisting South Carolina clients in the areas of trusts and estates. She has extensive experience advising closely held business owners and works with high net-worth individuals on matters relating to estate planning, estate administration, and tax planning.
Michael Causey is an associate with Shaw, Bransford & Roth, a labor and employment firm in Washington, D.C.
Jared Josephsen returned to law practice in the New York City office of Ropes & Gray, LLP, after a period of military leave to complete an overseas deployment to Egypt with his Army National Guard Unit. This was his second active-duty deployment. He served a combat tour to Iraq in 2003. His service in Egypt was part of a multinational peacekeeping mission during which he was a company executive officer, second-in-command of an 88-man infantry unit tasked to patrol the Sinai region and monitor the security situation. During the deployment, he was promoted to battalion assistant operations officer, where he acted directly on behalf of the U.S. commander for all aspects of planning and executing air, ground, and seaborne operations.
Alexandra P. Moylan is an associate at Pessin Katz Law, PA, where she focuses her practice in the areas of medical malpractice defense, insurance coverage, and general insurance defense litigation. After graduating from WCL, Moylan clerked in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City.
Rabihah Scott is head of the Social Security Disability Practice Group at Price Benowitz, LLP, in Baltimore, Maryland.
Jessica D. Burt is an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Stradley Ronon, an investment management/mutual funds practice group. Burt assists investment companies, investment advisers, and broker-dealers on regulatory and compliance issues. She also provides advice for investment management clients in all aspects of legal representation.
Julia Colarusso is an associate in the Franchise & Distribution Practice Group at Gray Plant Mooty in Washington, D.C. Her practice covers a wide variety of subject matters, including employment law, contract disputes, and other types of civil litigation. Previously, she was a research assistant to former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt, for whom she researched and drafted reports on economic policy, healthcare reform, and energy initiatives. Colarusso also completed a one-year teaching fellowship in WCL's Legal Rhetoric Program.
Josiah Young, Jesse Sommer '11, Randy Seriguchi '11, who comprise The People of Channel 38, a multimedia entertainment business, produced a parody music video during which they offer advice on how to pass the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam.
Melissa Brickell handles science and technology issues for the Senate Commerce Committee.
Jesse Sommer, Randy Seriguchi and Josiah Young '10, who comprise The People of Channel 38, a multimedia entertainment business, produced a parody music video during which they offer advice on how to pass the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam.
Kevin Barnett is an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of McKenna Long & Aldridge, LLP. He works in the Government Contracts Practice.
Daniel Honeycutt was a summer associate in the Birmingham, Alabama office of Burr & Forman, LLP.
Class Notes compiled between February, 2010 and June, 2011.
Claude B. Kahn, who has practiced law in Chicago for almost 50 years, spends six months each year as a professional ski instructor at Keystone in Colorado. For the remainder of the year, he returns to Chicago, where he practices law in a firm managed by his son.
Manny Pokotilow, managing partner of Caesar, Rivise, Bernstein, Cohen & Pokotilow, spoke at a Webinar hosted by the Association of Patent Law Firms (APLF). His presentation--"Bilski v. Kappos: Did the Supreme Court Get it Right? Landmark or Question Mark?"--drew more than 60 patent and intellectual property counsel lawyers from some of the country's leading corporations. Pokotilow's practice focuses on litigation involving the enforcement of patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. He is one of the founders of the Alternate Dispute Resolution Committee of the United District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
A.J.D. Schmidt was named to Stanford Who's Who for his work in the legal services industry. He is an attorney and director of Schmidt, Roth, Brennan & Carroccio, a general law practice that represents clients in civil, corporate, and criminal law as well as medical malpractice.
Charles Shumate is county attorney for the County of Stafford, Virginia. Previously in private practice in northern Virginia, he has extensive experience in land use and real estate development law, commericial/business transactions, local government law, and the trial of complex real estate, commercial, and construction-related matters. Through Shumate, Kraftson & Sparrow, PC, Shumate served as special counsel and deputy city attorney for the City of Fairfax, handling all types of governmental litigation and other facets of municipal representation. Shumate served as a captain in the U.S. Army in the Office of the Staff Judge Advocate, Headquarters, 1st Logistical Command. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for his service in Vietnam.
Stephen B. Kaufman was named 2010 Businessman of the Year by the Throggs Neck Merchants Association. Kaufman has devoted his life to community service both as a citizen and as an elected public official. He is a New York state assemblyman and a member of the New York City Council.
Terence E. Smolev, of Forchelli, Curto, Deegan, Schwartz, Mineo, Cohn & Terrana, LLP, was chosen by his peers to appear in New York Super Lawyers. Smolev leads the firm's Tax, Trusts and Estates Department. He was an adjunct professor of tax, estate planning, and business law at Hofstra University, where he served on the Board of Trustees. The author and editor of a number of tax-related texts, he wrote a chapter in Inside the Minds: Estate Planning Client Strategies.
Ben Laves serves on Somerset, New Jersey's Alternate Dispute Resolution Committee and its Rules and Regulations Committee. Laves was a staff attorney for Essex County Legal Services and then worked for the Essex-Newark Joint Law Reform Project, where he advocated for the delivery of proper medical and mental health services and the cessation of experimentation on involuntarily incarcerated psychiatric patients. He was the supervising attorney for three clinical law programs at Rutgers University School of Law and Seton Hall University Law School and was an adjunct professor at Seton Hall. Laves also assisted with the creation and formation of the nation's first cabinet-level Office of the Public Advocate and subsequently served as one of its first deputy public advocates, managing northern New Jersey's Essex County regional office.
Gary Lieber is a partner at Ford & Harrison, a nationwide labor and employment law firm located in Washington, D.C. He concentrates his practice on labor-management relations and defense of employment discrimination cases on behalf of management.
Jeffrey N. Greenblatt has established his own family law practice in Bethesda, Maryland. His firm's Web site is www.jnglaw.net.
Scott D. Keller is serving a third 10-year term as judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Berks County (Pennsylvania).
Marcia C. Fidis co-authored Premarital and Domestic Partnership Agreements, published by MICPEL. The book is a guide to premarital and domestic partnership agreements in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Virginia. Fidis is the co-founder of Pasternak & Fidis, PC, located in Bethesda, Maryland.
James M. Cameron Jr., office managing member for Dykema's Ann Arbor, Michigan office, was ranked as a leader in his field in the 2011 The Best Lawyers in America. Cameron's practice focuses on commercial litigation and he has handled patent infringement suits for Wayne State University and a variety of corporate entities. He also is experienced in construction contract litigation, having served as counsel for the city of Ann Arbor in disputes arising from the city's construction of its wastewater treatment plant. Cameron also has an interest in alternative dispute resolution and has significant experience as a facilitator, mediator, and arbitrator. He has served as chairman of the Michigan Teacher Tenure Commission, a trustee on the Ann Arbor Public Schools Board of Education, and as a trustee for Scio Township. He was recently appointed by the Michigan Supreme Court to serve as a member of the State of Michigan Attorney Discipline Board.
David S. Cayer is U.S. magistrate judge for the Western District of North Carolina. Previously, he spent 16 years on the North Carolina trial bench.
Robert L. Duty, a member in Dykema's Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, office was ranked as a leader in the field of Labor and Employment Law in the 2011 The Best Lawyers in America. Duty's practice focuses on employment litigation, negotiation of executive contracts, employment consulting on mergers and acquisitions, non-compete/trade secret litigation, contract negotiations with labor unions, employment practices liability insurance, and general labor and employment advice and services. He is a resident expert in the state of Michigan on Equal Employment Law for The Experts Forum, a comprehensive Web-based risk management platform available to thousands of employers and several major insurance carriers nationwide. In addition, he serves as vice president of the Methodist Children's Home.
Rhonda Hill Wilson, a nursing home negligence attorney in private practice in Philadelphia, is treasurer of the American Association for Justice (AAJ). She serves on AAJ's Executive Committee and is a former member of its National College of Advocacy Board of Trustees.
Kathy Bailey, founder and principal of Bailey Law Group, was named to the Board of Directors of the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. Bailey is a longtime donor and volunteer of the theatre. She is a fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, a trial lawyer honorary society composed of less than one-half of one percent of American lawyers and she was recognized as a "go-to advisor" on civil litigation, corporate law, and business transactions by Washington SmartCEO magazine.
Pamela Deese, a partner in the Intellectual Property Group at Arent Fox, was recognized by Intellectual Asset Management magazine as one of the "IAM 250: The World's Leading Patent & Technology Licensing Lawyers." Deese is well known for her work in developing and managing trademark licensing programs and her extensive experience in licensing programs for patent pools. She is serving her third term on the Board of Trustees of American University and is chair of the Dean's Advisory Council of the School of Public Affairs.
Kim Guadagno is lieutenant governor of New Jersey, the first female to hold the position. Previously, she was the Monmouth County sheriff.
Norman Kinel is a partner in the Bankruptcy, Financial Reorganization & Creditor's Rights Group of Lowenstein Sandler in the firm's New York office. During the course of his 27-year career as a bankruptcy lawyers, Kinel has been involved in some of the largest and most complex bankruptcy cases in the country, including representing the Official Committee of Equity Security Holders in the Adelphia Communications case and the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the 360networks (USA) Incorporated case. Most recently, he represented the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the high-profile Tavern on the Green case as well as creditors in the Lehman Brothers and Chrysler Corporation cases. Kinel, a noted and frequent author and commentator on bankruptcy law issues, was formerly a partner at Duval & Stachenfeld, LLP.
Thomas D. Martin Jr. was named a member of the Board of San Leon Energy, PLC. A London-based commercial lawyer, in 2006 he co-founded Green Corporate Finance (GCF), which specializes in IPOs, introductions, and mergers/acquisitions on the AIM Market, mainly focusing on renewable energy and oil and gas exploration. At GCF, he directs strategy, corporate development, and legal affairs. He has served as political advisor to two British members of Parliament and two U.S. senators, including Al Gore.
Robert Novick has been named co-managing partner at WilmerHale. His term will begin on January 1, 2012. Novick, who is based in the firm's Washington, D.C. office, is chair of the Regulatory and Government Affairs Department. He joined the firm in 2001 as a partner after four years in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
Craig Brown is a principal at Balint Brown & Basri, a national legal staffing company providing high-level contract attorneys, document review teams, onshoring services, and consulting services. Brown is a pioneer in the contract attorney industry, having founded and served as president of Elaine P. Dine Temporary Attorneys, Paralegals & Compliance and as co-president of Strategic Legal Solutions.
Jeffrey S. Fried is a member of the Board of Trustees of the City University of New York, Brooklyn College (his alma mater). Fried is a sports and entertainment attorney based in Washington, D.C. and represents athletes and entertainers, media interests, and the promotion of worldwide sports and entertainment events.
Scott B. Allinson, a member of Tallman Hudders & Sorrentino, the Pennsylvania office of Norris McLaughlin & Marcus, PA, is solicitor for the Lehigh Valley Regional Loan Pool, professionally administered by the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation. In this role, Allinson provides legal services and guidance to new financing programs designed to provide start-up low interest expansion money to small- and medium-sized businesses. In return, participating institutions in the loan pool are able to share the risk, achieve economic development goals, and receive certain tax credits. In addition, Allinson served as vice-chairman for the 2010 Lehigh Valley Leadership Dinner, Celebrating 100 Years of Scouting. The dinner's proceeds of $315,000 will support local Scouting programs.
Elayne G. Gold is an equity partner at Roemer Wallens Gold & Mineaux, LLP, an Albany, New York-based firm that she helped to establish in 1995. The firm's practice focuses on New York public sector labor relations and real estate and bond financing in various states. Gold represents public sector employers, engaging in negotiations, grievance and discipline resolution, day-to-day contract administration, and all labor relations matters. She is a member of the board of the New York State Public Employer Labor Relations Association (NYSPELRA) and served as its president in 2003. In 2007, she received NYSPELRA's William Holcomb Award for outstanding contributions to the field of labor relations. In addition, Gold was one of the contributing authors to Collective Bargaining and Labor Agreements: "Challenges to Citizen Oversight," (ABA 2006).
Judith A. Harris, a member of the Pennsylvania office of Norris McLaughlin & Marcus, PA, was a speaker at the Allentown Symphony Association's planned giving seminar titled "Orchestrating Your Estate Plan in Uncertain Tax Times." In addition, she was a guest on WDIY Radio's weekly program Your Financial Choices, during which she discussed the Pennsylvania Tax Amnesty Program. Harris is chair of the Estate, Trust and Tax Practice Group at Tallman.
Mary McClymont (LLM) is president of the Public Welfare Foundation, an organization that supports efforts to ensure fundamental rights and opportunities for people in need. Previously, McClymont was executive director of Global Rights, an international human rights organization, and was president and chief executive officer of InterAction, the largest alliance of U.S.-based international development and humanitarian nongovernmental organizations.
Gary Pudles, president and chief executive officer of AnswerNet, received the American Teleservices Association's (ATA) Spirit of Philanthropy Award. The ATA, a nonprofit trade association that represents 1.8 million professionals worldwide, presents the award annually to the member who best exemplifies the spirit of philanthropy. AnswerNet is the world's largest telemessaging firm and a full service provider of inbound, outbound and e-bound contact center services. One of his many charitable efforts, Pudles established AnswerNet Cares to encourage AnswerNet employees to participate in communities where they live and work.
Juan Osuna is acting director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review. He was appointed to the position by Attorney General Eric Holder in December. As director, Osuna supervises the chairman of the Board of Immigration Appeals, the chief immigration judge, the chief administrative hearing officer, and all agency personnel. Previously, he worked as an associate deputy attorney general, focusing on immigration policy, Indian country matters, pardons and commutations, and other issues. Osuna teaches immigration policy at George Mason University School of Law.
Paula Dubberly is deputy director for Policy and Capital Markets in the Division of Corporation Finance at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Dubberly oversees two new offices in the division, one focusing exclusively on asset-backed securities and other structured finance products, the other reviews new securities products and capital market trends and develops recommendations for changes to enhance investor protection in securities offerings. She also continues to lead the division's rulemaking efforts through her oversight of the division's rulemaking office. Dubberly joined the Division of Corporation Finance as an attorney in 1992 and has served many roles in the division, including assistant director for disclosure operations, chief counsel, and associate director (legal), overseeing the division's rulemaking efforts and its Office of Enforcement Liaison. She received the SEC's Distinguished Service Award in 2009.
Gary S. Forshner, a shareholder in Stark & Stark's Real Estate, Zoning & Land Use Group, was named a 2010 Best Lawyer in America for Real Estate Law. Forshner is chairman of the New Jersey Builders Association's (NJBA) Master Sponsor Committee; a trustee of the NJBA and Shore Builders Association of Center New Jersey's Political Action Committee; and a member of NJBA's Environmental Committee & Land Use and Planning Committee and of NJBA's Affordable Housing Task Force. He also is director of the New Jersey State Bar Association's Land Use Section.
Jeff Klang, regional counsel for the Great Lakes Region of the Federal Aviation Administration, was named the Federal Bar Association's 2009 Transportation Lawyer of the Year.
Michael Newman, a partner in Dinsmore & Shohl's Cincinnati office, was appointed by the national president of the Federal Bar Association (FBA) to the FBA's national Task Force on Diversity. Newman is one of only two attorneys in private practice in the United States and the only attorney from the Sixth Circuit appointed to the seven-member Task Force. The group, chaired by the Honorable Donovan Frank, a U.S. District Judge from the District of Minnesota, examines ways in which diversity can continue to be fostered in the FBA. Newman is chair of Dinsmore & Shohl's Labor & Employment Practice Group and serves on the firm's Diversity Committee. In addition, Newman received the FBA's 2010 Elaine R. "Boots" Fisher Public Service Award, presented annually to one individual for his or her "exemplary community public and charitable service." Newman was selected for his efforts undertaken on behalf of minority law students, his Board of Trustees service for numerous organizations and his longstanding community volunteer work for the Red Cross, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, and the Fine Arts Fund. Newman supervises Dinsmore &Shohl's Pro Bono Appellate Program, which he created.
James A. Plemmons, an attorney in Dickinson Wright's Detroit office and the practice department manager for the firm's Automotive, Product Liability Litigation, Trouble Suppliers, Telecommunications and Family Law practice areas, was named one of the state's Leaders in Law by Michigan Lawyers Weekly.
Andrea Ball is director of the California Academic Partnership Program (CAPP), where she works with the higher education community, businesses, schools, and districts to help implement practices that effectively prepare students for success in college and careers. She also works to increase awareness about these effective strategies by sharing information directly with policy makers. CAPP is based in the California State University Chancellor's Office in Long Beach. Previously, she was deputy superintendent of the California Department of Education's Government Affairs and Charter Development Branch.
Barry Featherman, a director in the Washington, D.C. office of Duane Morris Government Affairs, LLC, received the 2010 GRAVITAS Award presented by Gravitas Capital Advisors to "recognize individuals of outstanding achievement whose work and activities have impacted and improved the lives of people around the world." The award was presented to Featherman for his work to improve the relationships between the United States and Latin American nations and to bolster Latin American's political, economic, and social stability. Featherman was appointed by former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo to serve as the executive director of the Global Center for Development and Democracy, based in the Washington, D.C. office of Duane Morris. He also served as the director of the transition team for the assistant secretary general of the Organization of American States. He is active in numerous civic, political, and charitable organizations and frequently speaks on and teaches U.S., Latin American and Caribbean relations.
Paul Hagen, who leads the International Environmental Practice at Beveridge & Diamond, was elected to the Board of Directors of the Friends of the John Smith Chesapeake Trail. A regional environmental organization, the Friends of the John Smith Chesapeake Trail is dedicated to conserving treasured landscapes, creating public access, and promoting education and stewardship of the Chesapeake Bay.
Marci Alboher is a senior fellow at Civic Ventures, a San Francisco-based think tank on boomers, work, and social purpose. She is the author of One Person/Multiple Careers: A New Model for Work/Life Success, is a regular contributor to The Takeaway on public radio, and writes the blog "Working the New Economy" for Yahoo! Previously, she was a blogger and columnist for The New York Times.
Mark D. Collins, a director of Richards, Layton & Finger in Wilmington, Delaware, was recognized for excellence in Bankruptcy and Creditor-Debtor Rights Law in the 2011 edition of The Best Lawyers in America. Collins, chair of the firm's Bankruptcy & Corporate Restructuring Department, focuses his practice on bankruptcy, insolvency, and creditors' rights, with particular experience representing debtors, institutional lenders, creditors' committees, and acquirers in national Chapter 11 cases.
Brian Taylor Goldstein is a principal at FTM Arts Law, a division of Fettmann, Tolchin & Majors, PC. FTM Arts Law received the 2010 Sidney R. Yates Advocacy Award, presented by the Association of Performing Arts Presenters. The Yates Award honors New York Congressman Sidney R. Yates who died in October 2000 at the age of 91 and whose commitment to the arts was legendary. FTM Arts Law was chosen for the award in recognition of its successful advocacy efforts to improve the process by which foreign artists and performers obtain visas and work authorization to enter the United States; its workshops and seminars providing basic legal knowledge and business skills to artists and arts professionals; and the impact of its work on the arts industry. FTM Arts Law is dedicated to strengthening artistic relationships, creative problem solving and prevention, and empowering the arts and the arts community.
Michael S. Miller, managing principal of New York City-based Weiss & Hiller, PC, was appointed and sworn in as an arbitrator for the New York Civil Court in February. In May, he was certified as a life member of the Million Dollar and Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum.
Drew Wrigley is lieutenant governor of North Dakota. He took over the position in December from Jack Dalrymple, who became governor when former Governor John Hoeven resigned to become North Dakota's newest U.S. senator. Previously, Wrigley was vice president at Noridian Administrative Services, LLC, which administers Medicare claims in a number of states. Wrigley also was a U.S. attorney for eight years, Hoeven's deputy chief of staff, a prosecutor in the Philadelphia district attorney's office, and general counsel for a North Dakota workers' compensation agency.
Gustavo Koch (LLM) is executive vice president of Continental Gold Limited, an advanced-stage exploration company with eight gold projects covering 200,000 hectares in Colombia. In the newly created position, Koch oversees general administration of the Medellin office, manages operational activities in Colombia, and continues to act as liaison between the Colombian and Canadian offices. Previously, Koch was general counsel of the company since 2007.
Thomas J. Ramsdell is an attorney at Howard & Howard, PLLC's Chicago office. Ramsdell concentrates his practice in litigation involving land use, intellectual property, and a wide array of business disputes and torts. He has represented clients in federal and state trial and appellate courts in matters involving theft of trade secrets, patents, copyrights, breach of contract, fraud, deceptive trade practice, downzoning, spot zoning, vested rights, mandamus, landmarking, unlawful withholding of permits, TIFs, and the privatization of public land.
Howard A. Scheck is chief accountant in the Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Enforcement. As chief accountant, Scheck leads the division's accountants as they provide technical accounting expertise during financial fraud investigations. He rejoins the SEC staff from Deloitte Financial Advisory Services, LLP, where he was a partner in the Forensic & Dispute Consulting practice. As such, he led teams of forensic accountants in conducting accounting and FCPA investigations arising from whistleblower complaints and SEC inquiries. He also worked with public companies to enhance their antifraud and FCPA compliance programs. Prior to that, he worked at SEC for 10 years, including as a branch chief in the Division of Enforcement.
Thomas A. Sporkin is head of the new Office of Market Intelligence at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The office is responsible for the collection, analysis, and monitoring of the hundreds of thousands of tips, complaints, and referrals that the SEC receives each year. The tips are analyzed according to internally developed risk criteria as well as SEC priorities, utilizing the expertise of the SEC's other divisions and of the specialized units to help analyze the tips and identify wrongdoing. Previously, Sporkin served as deputy chief in the Office of Internet Enforcement since 2001 and prior to that was senior counsel and staff attorney in the SEC's Division of Enforcement.
Adam G. Silverstein is managing partner in the Bucks County (Pennsylvania) office of Fox Rothschild, LLP. Silverstein oversees and manages day-to-day office operations in addition to serving his clients. He serves on the firm's Executive Committee that sets firm policy for 475 lawyers in 15 offices nationwide. He also serves as co-chair of the firm's Probate Litigation Group.
Kira Sinkler is deputy commissioner of External and Intergovernmental Affairs in the Bureau of Reclamation. She was appointed to the position by President Obama. She is responsible for the bureau's national relationships with federal, state, and local governments, as well as citizen and other nongovernmental groups. Previously, she was counsel to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources in the United States Senate.
Eric Galler is a partner at Wilson International Law, in the Corporate and Securities Practice Group. Galler represents private and public companies in matters dealing with private equity transactions, mergers, acquisitions and disposals, company reorganization, and commercial transactions. Previously, he was general counsel of Global Secure Corporation, a homeland-security focused software developer. He also is founder of General Counsel Solutions, LLC, a provider of fixed-fee outsourced general counsel services. He clerked for the Honorable Irma S. Raker, of the Court of Appeals of Maryland.
Gabriel Eckstein (LLM '97) is professor of law at Texas Wesleyan University School of Law in Fort Worth. In addition, he is director of the International Water Law Project, senior fellow at Texas Tech Center for Water Law & Policy, and treasurer of the International Water Resources Association.
In fall 2009, Karen Barker Marcou was honored as a "Star of the Bar" by the DC Women's Bar Association for her outstanding commitment to community service. In January 2008, Marcou and two other women founded the DC Volunteer Lawyers Project (DCVLP), a charitable organization that provides pro bono legal services to low-income women, children, and families in the District of Columbia in domestic violence, custody, foster care, adoption, and other family law cases. DCVLP provides its volunteer lawyers with training, mentoring, office space, and malpractice insurance so they can use their skills to help some of the District's poorest residents. DCVLP has 75 active volunteers and a total of 175 members on its listserv. The volunteers contributed more than 3,000 hours of pro bono legal services in 2009. For more information, visit www.dcvlp.org.
Lisa Morgan is senior vice president of Middle Market Commercial Insurance for The Hartford Financial Services Group, Incorporated. Morgan leads The Hartford's $2 billion Middle Market Commercial Insurance unit, which serves the property and casualty protection needs of mid-size businesses and other entities such as educational institutions and industry associations. Morgan has held a variety of positions since she joined The Hartford in 2001, most recently as vice president of Middle Market operations.
Scott Stewart is a partner at Patton Boggs, where he focuses his practice on environmental litigation and regulation in the firm's environmental, health, and safety practice. Previously, Stewart was a trial attorney in the Department of Justice's Environment and Natural Resources Division, where he led the litigation team in a Clean Water Act enforcement in U.S. v. Chevron Pipe Line Company.
Michael Verga is a partner at Kilpatrick Stockton, in the Washington, D.C. office. Verga leads the Intellectual Asset Acquisition & Transactions Team in the Intellectual Property Department. He represents clients in the strategic development and enforcement of intellectual property portfolios including patent drafting and prosecution reexamination counseling, due diligence, and licensing in the electrical, software, computer, and medical device fields.
Michael Bruckheim opened a practice, the Law Office of Michael Bruckheim, LLC, focusing on DUI/DWI defense, general crime defense, civil litigation, domestic violence, and mediation, in the District of Columbia and Maryland. The office is located in The Casey Building in Gaithersburg. Bruckheim spent more than 11 years litigating in the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, prosecuting and later supervising prosecutions in the Criminal Section. A trained mediator, he also is certified to administer field sobriety tests. His firm's Web site is www.brucklaw.com.
Richard P. Ferrin is counsel in the Washington, D.C. office of Drinker Biddle & Reath, LLP. Ferrin's practice focuses on antidumping and countervailing duty investigations and administrative review proceedings in the firm's Customs & International Trade Practice.
Mark D. Pihlstrom is a partner at Faegre & Benson, LLP, in Minneapolis. He focuses his practice on mergers, leveraged buyouts, and other corporate transactions.
Vanessa L. Allen Sutherland and her husband Immanuel are the parents of daughter Sydney, born in August 2009. Vanessa is senior counsel at Altria Client Services, an affiliate of Phillip Morris USA.
Sarah C. Lindsey is a partner at Warner Norcross & Judd, LLP, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She concentrates her practice on complex commercial and environmental litigation and appeals. She is a member of the American Bar Association and the State Bar of Michigan.
Texas Tech University School of Law Professor Vickie Sutton's research was cited in a July 2010 Presidential Executive Order that will help the United States achieve a balance between increasing the nation's defense against the threat of biological weapons and reducing the obstacles that scientists faces as they conduct research on potentially dangerous microbes. Sutton's survey polled 198 scientists, asking how stressed they were about the possibility they might inadvertently violate one of the many regulations or rules relating to their work, which could harm their careers or trigger negative consequences in the field. They also were asked how stressed they were about the possibility of injury or death from their work with some of the world's most deadly pathogens. Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed said they were moderately or high stressed about the possibility they might unwittingly break a rule while only 16 percent of those surveyed reported being moderately or highly stressed about the possibility of injury or death. Sutton is the Paul Whitfield Horn Professor, the Robert H. Bean Professor of Law, director of the Center for Biodefense Law and Public Policy and director of the Law and Science Certificate Program and The JD/MS Program in Life Sciences, Texas Institute of Environmental and Human Health. Sutton was on leave from Texas Tech from 2005 to 2007 while serving as a political appointee for President George W. Bush, as the chief counsel for the Research and Innovative Technology Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation in Washington, D.C. Before joining the Texas Tech faculty, Sutton served in President George H.W. Bush's administration as assistant director in the White House Science Office and in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In the White House, she was responsible for coordinating science and technology research programs at the cabinet level. After her White House service, Sutton was executive director of the Ronald Reagan Institute for Emergency Medicine, where she led the development of the institute's research initiatives.
Patrick J. Wells, an attorney in the Great Lakes Region of the Federal Aviation Administration, received the Lawrence R. Schneider Award. The award honors the memory of Lawrence R. Schneider, chief counsel of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration from 1971 to 1974. Wells received the award for "outstanding dedication and exemplary service to improve aviation and efficiency including exceptional performance on the O'Hare Modernization Program."
Christine Levonian Greshem and Heather Mays-France '01 formed Rudolph, France & Gresham, PC, with another partner from their previous commercial real estate practice. The firm, located in Montgomery County, Maryland, provides commercial leasing representation to national and local developers and regional and local tenants. Their Web site is www.rfglegal.com.
Michael Rae is assistant general counsel in the Corporate Law Department at AEGON Corporation.
Robert J. Wagman is a member of Dickinson Wright, PLLC, in the firm's Washington, D.C. office. He specializes in government contracts litigation and counseling. Previously, he was a special counsel at Baker Botts, LLP.
Dan Binstock is a partner at Garrison & Sisson, Incorporated, a leading Washington, D.C. attorney search firm. Binstock co-chairs the firm's Partner and Practice Group Division. Previously, he was head of the Washington, D.C. office of a national attorney search firm. A frequent lecturer at National Association for Law Placement conferences and U.S. law schools, he is one of the nation's leading authorities on the Washington, D.C. legal market. He was recently selected by Harvard Law School to counsel its rising second-year students on the D.C. market. Prior to becoming a legal recruiter in 2004, Binstock practiced intellectual property law with Finnegan Henderson.
Rose Cuison Villazor, a faculty member at Hofstra University School of Law, made a presentation on U.S. immigration law before the United Workers Movement-NMI. Villazor also served as an instructor for the CNMI Summer Pre-Law Program. Prior to joining Hofstra, Villazor taught property, immigration law, and advanced citizenship at Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law. She was a human rights fellow at Columbia Law School where she focused on the domestic application of international human rights and was a clerk for the Honorable Stephen H. Glickman, of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.
Todd P. Taylor is counsel at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP. A patent litigator, Taylor has experience in various phases of litigation pertaining to patent infringement and trade secret misappropriation. He has represented complainants and respondents in Section 337 patent infringement matters before the International Trade Commission, as well as representing clients in appellate matters before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Kenneth A. Gary is associate publisher for The National Law Journal and Legal Times. In addition to managing the Washington, D.C. office, he is responsible for building the brand name through partnerships, sales, advertising, marketing, and events.
Danielle M. Machata is a shareholder at Godfrey & Kahn, where she is a member of the Corporate Practice Group in the Milwaukee office. She focuses her practice on buy- and sell-side mergers and acquisitions, private equity transactions, venture capital equity and debt financing, and general corporate matters.
Heather Mays-France and Christine Levonian Gresham '99 formed Rudolph, France & Gresham, PC, with another partner from their previous commercial real estate practice. The firm, located in Montgomery County, Maryland, provides commercial leasing representation to national and local developers and regional and local tenants. Their Web site is www.rfglegal.com.
Cynthia Bryant (LLM) is senior legal advisor in the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Office of Native Affairs and Policy, which deals with Native American tribes and communities. Previously, Bryant was a senior attorney in FCC's Enforcement Bureau, where she directed actions against carriers that didn't publicize services aimed at residents on tribal lands.
Anthony J. DelGiorno is a shareholder in the law firm of Rammelkamp Bradney, where he concentrates his practice in elder law, estate planning, business organizations, and general litigation. He serves on the Illinois State Bar Association's Elder Law Council and has served as the council's newsletter editor for three years. He lectures regularly on Medicaid and estate planning, and elder abuse prevention and is a featured columnist in the Senior News and Times of Central Illinois. Since 2006, he has taught business law at Illinois College in Jacksonville.
Jaime Elizondo is offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Elizondo began his coaching career at The Catholic University of America in 2001 and then moved on to coach at William and Mary, Hofstra, and Syracuse. While at Hofstra, Elizondo mentored Charles Sullivan, Marques Colston, Devale Ellis, Shaine Smith, Kyle Arrington, and Khareem Huggins, all who went on to play in the NFL. At Syracuse, he coached Mike Williams, a Fred Blientikoff finalist for best receiver in college. In 2007, he joined the New Orleans Saints as special teams/wide receivers assistant coach in the NFL Minority Internship Program. He moved to the CFL in 2008 as the wide receivers/assistant special teams coach for the Montreal Alouettes.
Rebecca Grady Jennings is a director at Middleton Reutlinger, where she focuses on insurance defense, professional errors and omissions, and commercial litigation. Prior to joining the firm, Jennings clerked for the Honorable William J. Haynes Jr., United States District Judge in the Middle District of Tennessee.
Regen O'Malley was elected to a three-year term on the Board of Directors of the YWCA of New Britain, Connecticut. An attorney at Halloran & Sage, LLP, O'Malley focuses her practice in the areas of insurance and appellate law.
Steven Ragland is a partner at Keker & Van Nest, LLP, in San Francisco. His practice areas include contract and commercial, copyright and trademark, intellectual property, professional liability, trade secret, and white collar criminal.
Shannon Hampton Sutherland is a partner in the Philadelphia office of Duane Morris, LLP. Sutherland prosecutes and defends a wide range of commercial and public-sector disputes in state and federal courts and in arbitration across the United States, including in contract, covenant not to compete/restrictive covenant, trade secret, breach of fiduciary duty, software upgrade and implementation, zoning, infrastructure, and construction payment, delay, and defect matters.
Andrew Winternitz was awarded a Mike Mansfield Fellowship, presented by the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation. The fellowship program is a two-year, government-to-government exchange established by Congress in 1994 to build a corps of U.S. government officials with substantial Japan expertise. Mansfield Fellows are able to develop an in-depth understanding of Japan through a year of Japanese language and area studies and a year of practical work in the Japanese government. Winternitz is deputy director for Japan policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, U.S. Department of Defense. During his year in Japan, Winternitz plans to examine aspects of Japan's international relations and defense programs that are important to the U.S.-Japan alliance relationship.
Amy Long operates the Law Office of Amy Long, PLLC, in Alexandria, Virginia. The practice is limited to immigration and nationality law.
Haley Dempsey Maple is an equity partner at Forizs & Dogali, PA, in Tampa, Florida. She concentrates her practice on commercial litigation, construction litigation, insurance coverage, professional malpractice, and class actions. She was elected to serve a three-year term on the Board of Directors of the Alpha House of Tampa Bay and to the Board of Directors of Tampa's Network of Executive Women. In addition, she holds a leadership position within the ABA Section of Litigation on the Membership & Marketing Committee and serves as the editor-in-chief of the Woman Advocate Committee of the Section of Litigation. She has a five-year-old son Logan.
Kirill Reznik was re-elected to a four-year term as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates in November. He has represented District 39 since 2007.
Duane Blackman works in the Tort Division of the New York City Law Department. He received a Tort Division Chief Award for exceptional performance.
Tabitha Renee Brown was sworn in as a member of the Bar of the United States Supreme Court in October. Her admission to the bar was granted by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. The admission ceremony was held in open court by all nine of the justices and was followed by a private reception at which Clerk of the Court General William K. Suter was in attendance. Brown is a solo practitioner and also serves as a director of the American Psychological Association. She is the founder of HOPEJUSTICE (hopejustice.com), an online community of resources for women and young people and is a volunteer attorney with the Maryland Foreclosure Prevention Project. She lives in Upper Marlboro, Maryland with her husband and their four children.
Jennifer Luong Clarke and her husband, Gregory, announce the September 2009 birth of son Alexander. Clarke is counselor on Oversight and Investigations in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Legislation at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Scott Lyons is anticorruption advisor at USAID as part of the Civilian Response Corps.
Shirley C. Rivadeneira is a member (title?) of the White House's Office of Presidential Personnel, which oversees the selection process for Presidential appointments. The office's staff members recruit qualified candidates to serve the president in departments and agencies across the government. Previously, Rivadeneira was special assistant to the assistant secretary in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management at the U.S. Department of Labor.
Amy Magdanz Rose is senior staff attorney at BuckleySandler, LLP. Her practice focuses on the representation of clients in the areas of banking, regulation, and consumer financial services.
Jessica Strasnick, an assistant district attorney in the Essex (Massachusetts) District Attorney's Office, was promoted to the Superior Court Trial Team.
Catherine Chang is senior contracts administrator at SGIS, a national government contracting firm. Chang manages SGIS contacts and reviews, negotiates and authors contracts and contract policies and procedures. She also advises SGIS employees on any contract issues, requirements, risk reviews and assessments, and serves as the point of contact for several SGIS contracts. She is based in the Washington, D.C. metro area office. Previously, Chang was a contract and proposal manager for a national provider of mass notification solutions.
Meredyth Cooper is an associate at Lydecker Diaz, where she focuses her practice on complex commercial litigation, construction litigation, insurance insolvency, creditor's rights, professional liability, and business torts. Previously, she represented architects and engineers in professional negligence matters and served as a judicial intern with the Superior Court for the District of Columbia, handling family law matters.
Arthur Elkins Jr. (LLM) is inspector general of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). He was nominated by President Obama in November 2009 and was confirmed in summer 2010. An independent office within EPA, the inspector general's office helps the agency protect the environment in a more efficient and cost-effective manner. The office performs audits, evaluations, and investigations of EPA and its contractors, to promote economy and efficiency, and to prevent and detect fraud, waste, and abuse. Prior to his nomination to inspector general, Elkins was associate general counsel within the EPA's Office of General Counsel.
John K. Kim, an associate at Livingston Barger, is vice-chair of the Standing Committee on Judicial Evaluations Outside of Cook County for the Illinois State Bar Association. The committee investigates and evaluates the qualifications of Illinois candidates for nomination to the U.S. District Court and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, as well as candidates for nomination, election, retention and appointment to the Illinois Supreme Court in all judicial districts, and to the Illinois Appellate Court in the districts outside Cook County. He also represents the Tenth Circuit as a delegate to the General Assembly of the state bar association. At Livingston Barger, Kim defends health care professionals, health care institutions, and long-term care facilities in litigated matters.
Olivia T. Luk, an associate at Jenner Block, LLP, in Chicago, was named a 2010 Illinois Super Lawyer Rising Star. She was recognized in the area of patent litigation. She is a founding member and president-elect of The Richard Linn American Inn of Court, an Inn specializing in intellectual property law. She also is founder of the Linn Inn Alliance of IP Inns, along with the Honorable Richard Linn and Hal Wegner; chair of the Federal Circuit Bar Association Membership Committee; member of the Saul Lefkowitz Moot Competition Midwest Region Organizing Committee; member of the Intellectual Patent Law Association of Chicago Judicial Appointments Committee; and investigator for the Chicago Bar Association Judicial Evaluation Committee.
John Passante is an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Criminal Justice & Homeland Security at Bergen Community College in northern New Jersey. He teaches a variety of courses related to criminal law, criminal procedure, and the criminal justice system. Previously, Passante was a legal/educational consultant for CourtTV, performed grant-related work, and clerked for the Passaic County assignment judge of the New Jersey Superior Court.
Erin Shute is an assistant district attorney in the office of Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown. She is assigned to the Criminal Court/Intake Bureau.
Margaret Comer Sylvester and Geoffrey Worthing Foster were married in 2010. She is (insert new title and position here). He is an assistant news editor for the sports section of The Wall Street Journal.
Jennifer Cleary is director of Regulatory Affairs for the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers. Previously, Cleary served as the organization's legal counsel, when she was an associate practicing in the Antitrust and Federal Regulation Section of Mintz Levin. She also was a clerk for the Department of Justice, Office of Information and Privacy.
Adam J. Cohen is an attorney in the FBI's Office of General Counsel, in the Privacy and Civil Liberties Unit. Previously, he was doing contract work with the Department of Defense, leading the department's efforts to establish its first civil liberties office.
Mark Hayes is a shareholder in the Washington, D.C. office of Greenberg Traurig, LLP, in the Health & FDA Business Practice. Previously, Hayes was health policy director and chief health counsel for the Senate Finance Committee for Ranking Member Charles Grassley (R-IA). He served as principal negotiator for the "Group of Six" health care reform negotiations that led to the key coverage, delivery system, and financing provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which was signed into law in March 2010. In addition, he served as principal negotiator for the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 and the Medicare Improvements of the Patients and Providers Act of 2008.
Sara Ibrahim joined the American Immigration Lawyers Association in October 2009 as the Information and Communications associate.
Dave Jacquette and Amy Colleen Jacquette were married in August 2009. Attending the wedding in St. Michaels, Maryland were groomsman David Latimer, Phil Hinkle, Matt Williams, Corielle Wright, Tonya Kesseyeun, Catherine Landers, Jimmy Howell, Kevin Wllen '01, and Christian Levesque '01. Dave and Amy met while interning at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, D.C., where she is an assistant U.S. attorney. He practices trademark litigation at Howrey, LLP, in Washington, D.C.
Griesing Law, LLC, co-founded by Kathryn Goldstein Legge, was certified as a women's business enterprise by the Women's Business Enterprise National Council in August 2010. To earn certification from the council, a company must prove that its ownership is controlled at least 51 percent by women. Griesing Law was co-founded in January 2010 by Legge and Francine Friedman Griesing. The Philadelphia firm represents public Fortune 1000 corporations and closely held companies in complex business transactions and high-stakes litigation as well as advises its clients on how to reduce risk and contain litigation costs.
Ethan Austin co-founded GiveForward, an online Web site dedicated to making fund raising simple and easy. The privately held social venture, which is based in Chicago, provides users with an effective online tool to contribute to a variety of causes. Although GiveFoward focuses its marketing efforts on medical-related fund-raising needs, the site can be used for any fundraising purpose. For more information, visit www.giveforward.com.
Deborah E. Band was named to Stanford Who's Who for her work in the human resources field. Band is a human resources specialist for the Department of Homeland Security. She is president of the School of Kinesiology. (where?)
Nicholas Basco is division chief of the Juvenile Unit for the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office. He is responsible for the prosecution of juvenile sexual battery cases and administration of the Juvenile Drug Court program. In addition, he supervises and trains young attorneys in the state attorney's office.
Christian M. Devos is a doctoral candidate at Leiden University in Leiden, the Netherlands. His thesis is titled "Post-Conflict Justice and Local Ownership."
Anjanette Hamilton earned the highest score on the February 2010 Texas bar exam. The Texas Supreme Court invites the person with the high score on the exam to speak at the swearing-in ceremony. Hamilton's speech was so memorable that it was published in the July 2010 edition of the Texas Bar Journal. Hamilton is an attorney in the El Paso office of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, the third-largest legal services provider in the nation with more than 140 attorneys in Texas.
Alyssa Sandrowitz is an associate in the Intellectual Property and Technology practice at McKenna Long & Aldridge, LLP, in the Washington, D.C. office. She focuses on patent prosecution. Previously, she was an associate at Sterne Kessler Goldstein & Fox.
Arianna Chernove is an associate with the administrative law team at Hunton & Williams, LLP.
Jeffrey Dinwoodie published an article in the University of Miami Business Law Review titled "Ignorance is Not Bliss: Financial Illiteracy, the Mortgage Market Collapse, and the Global Economic Crisis," 18 U. Miami Bus. L. Rev. 181 (2010). In addition, he published an article in the Dayton Law Review titled "'Unpatriotic' Profits: The Risks Companies Face From International Business Activities and the Need for a Heightened Duty of Oversight for Corporate Directors," 34 U. Dayton L. Rev. 377 (2009).
Martha Plante is a regulatory analyst in the Office of Policy Development and Research at the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration.
Daniel Raposa is an associate attorney at Tully Rinckey, PLLC. He focuses his practice on federal sector labor and employment law.
Emily Strunk is an associate at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, LLP. Previously, she was an associate at Bryan Cave.
Jillianne Monique Arguello married Dr. Alexander Hussein Tejani in June 2010. She is an associate at Tressler, LLP, and he is an orthopedic surgery resident at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn.
Mariano Corcilli is an associate at Lydecker Diaz, where he focuses his practice on constitutional law, administrative law, governmental liability litigation, and complex business litigation. Previously, he was a criminal prosecutor for the Palm Beach County Office of the State Attorney. He also is an active duty sergeant in the United States Marine Corps.
Naseem S. Ramin is an associate in the Detroit office of Dykema. Her practice focuses on general litigation with an emphasis on business and commercial litigation.
Alan Joseph Rukin married Dr. Heather Janel Hoffman in August 2009 in Norfolk, Virginia. Rukin is pursuing an LLM at Georgetown University and Hoffman is a professor at The George Washington University. They reside in Washington, D.C.
Erik Swanson, an associate at Bullivant Houser Bailey, PC, is the founder of Roots and Wings International (RWI), a nonprofit organization that promotes elementary through university education in rural Guatemala. The organization provides full-tuition university scholarships to indigenous youth from families that earn less than $2 per day, an after-school elementary tutoring program, a computer lab program, and a community development program. RWI is currently raising funds to construct a university preparatory school in the rural highlands of Nahualá, Sololá. The tutoring and computer lab programs are housed in the Roots and Wings International Learning Center in Pasac, Sololá, made possible by TECO Guatemala's Corporate Social Responsibility Program. Bullivant Houser Bailey also has partnered with RWI, donating to provide a network and Internet connectivity for the computer lab. For more information about Roots and Wings International, visit www.rootsandwingsintl.org. At Bullivant Houser Bailey, Swanson is in the Corporate, Finance, Securities and International Transactions Practice Group, where he focuses his practice on preformation planning and entity formation as well as intellectual property matters including trademark and copyright.
Class Notes (to appear in the Summer 2010 issue of the Advocate Magazine) compiled between August 1, 2009 and February 15, 2010.
Everard A. Marseglia Jr., an attorney specializing in natural resources law, was selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2010. Marseglia practices with the Houston, Texas firm Liskow & Lewis, which recently was ranked first in the United States by The Best Lawyers in America for its oil and gas practice.
Kenneth Lore was a runner-up in the Real Estate Lawyer category for Washington Business Journal's Top Lawyers for 2009. Lore, a partner at Bingham McCutchen, LL P, is co-chair of the firm's Real Estate Practice Group. His practice focuses on complex equity and debt real estate transactions. He has been recognized by inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America, the Best Lawyers List, Super Lawyers and by Washington Post Magazine, the Washington Business Journal and Washingtonian magazine. He is the author of Mortgage-Backed Securities: Developments and Trends in the Secondary Market, the leading text on the subject, published by West Publications since 1985. He is chair of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies National Advisory Board and WCL's Dean's Advisory Council, president of the Foundation for the National Archives and a member of the Boards of Directors for the National Housing Conference and the Center for Housing Policy.
Reggie Walton, U.S. district judge for the District of Columbia, was inducted into the Mid Mon Valley Sports Hall of Fame. As a student at Donora High School in Donora, Pennsylvania, Walton was a standout football player and sprinter on the track team. After graduating, Walton attended West Virginia State University on a football scholarship, where he lettered three years—as a freshman, sophomore and junior— before an injury sidelined him during his senior year. Walton was appointed to the Superior Court bench in 1981 and 20 years later was nominated to his present position by President George W. Bush. In 2007, Chief Justice John Roberts appointed him to serve a sevenyear term as judge of the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and in 2004, President Bush appointed him to serve as chairperson of the National Prison Rape Reduction Commission. He is an instructor in the Harvard University Law School's Advocacy Workshop and a faculty member of the National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada.
Richard Neumann Jr., a professor of law at Hofstra, is a National Burton Award Winner for Outstanding Contributions to Legal Writing Education. He is the author of the textbook Legal Reasoning and Legal Writing and is the co-author of Essential Lawyering Skills and Legal Writing. He also is a co-author of the first edition of the ABA Sourcebook on Legal Writing Programs. He is an editorial advisor to Aspen Publishers, one of the largest publishers of law school textbooks in the United States and has served on several committees of the American Bar Association' Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. He has served as chair of American Law Schools' Section on Legal Writing, Reasoning and Research; a member of the Board of Directors of the Legal Writing Institute and a member of the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of the Association of Legal Writing Directors. The Burton Awards, established by the Burton Foundation, are dedicated to rewarding effective legal writing. The program honors partners in law firms and law school students who use plain, clear and concise language and avoid archaic, stilted legalese. The foundation was established by William C. Burton, a partner in the international law firm of D'Amato & Lynch. A former New York state assistant attorney general, Burton is the author of the authoritative reference Burton's Legal Thesaurus, published by McGraw-Hill. Gilbert S. Rothenberg co-wrote a chapter titled "Protecting the Fisc," which was published in the ABA Tax Section's Careers in Tax Law. Since graduating from WCL, Rothenberg has worked for the Tax Division of the Department of Justice, currently serves as chief of the Tax Division's Appellate Section and acting deputy assistant attorney general for Review and Appellate. Rothenberg also is an adjunct professor at WCL, where he has taught a variety of tax classes for more than two decades.
Jonathan Kreisberg is regional director of the National Labor Relations Board's office in Hartford, Connecticut. In this position, Kreisberg supervises the processing of unfair labor practices and representation cases filed under the National Labor Relations Act in the state of Connecticut. A career NLRB employee, Kreisberg began his work there in 1976 as a law
student intern in the Division of Judges. He served as staff counsel to a board member, a field attorney, a supervisory attorney and lastly, the Hartford office's first regional attorney.
James M. Cameron Jr., office managing member for Dykema's Ann Arbor, Michigan office, is listed in the recently published Best Lawyers in America Guide. He is recognized in the fields of bet-thecompany litigation, commercial litigation, intellectual property law and product liability litigation. His practice focuses on commercial litigation and he has handled patent infringement suits for Wayne State University and various corporate entities. He also has experience in construction contract litigation, having served as counsel for the city of Ann Arbor in disputes arising from the city's construction of its water treatment facility. He was appointed by the Michigan Supreme Court to serve as a member of the state's Attorney Discipline Board.
David Landau is a partner in the Philadelphia office of Duane Morris, LL P. Previously, Landau chaired the Intellectual Property and Trade Secret Litigation Group at WolfBlock, LLP. Landau represents technology companies, energy companies, manufacturers, and other enterprises primarily in trademark, copyright, patent, software licensing, and franchise issues. He regularly handles trade secret, confidentiality and non-competition litigation and his experience includes securing a landmark decision that, under Pennsylvania law, a doctor's patient list is a trade secret. Landau served as solicitor for the borough of Yeadon and special counsel for Nether Providence Township, both in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Early in his career, he was national staff counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Washington, D.C. and handled major civil liberties and civil rights litigation, representing the ACLU before Congress on legislative issues.
Karen Lockwood recently retired as a partner from Howrey, LLP, to start The Lockwood Group. In this new endeavor, she consults for law firms on minority hiring, retention, and advancement.
Rhonda Hill Wilson, a Philadelphia personal injury attorney, received the American Association for Justice's (AAJ) Distinguished Service Award for the second consecutive year at its annual convention. Wilson was presented with the award for her exemplary service to the organization. Also during the convention, Wilson received the AAJ Women's Caucus' Marie Lambert Award, which recognizes and honors women members of AAJ who demonstrate exemplary leadership to the profession, the community, AAJ, and the Women Trial Lawyers Caucus. The award was established by the Women Trial Lawyers Caucus in 1997. Recently, Wilson was elected to serve as AAJ's parliamentarian and was appointed to chair its Diversity Taskforce. She also is a member of AAJ's Executive and Membership Oversight committees, as well as the National Finance, Justice List, Law School and Organization Review committees.
Scott M. Gerard is a partner in the Stamford, Connecticut office of Murtha Cullina, LL P. A transactional lawyer, he is a member of the firm's Business Finance Department, where he handles matters for banks and privately held companies. He has more than 28 years of experience dealing with business asset and stock acquisition and/or sale, as well as acting as in-house counsel to many companies.
Maria Giannuzzi is the author of a photographic history of the Windsor Locks Canal. She develops and leads workshops to encourage and help others to create a career at any age. She recently launched a literary blog, My Brilliant Career at www.onewomanband.wordpress.com.
Mark I. Gruh in is co-managing partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Saul Ewing. Gruhin is a partner in the firm's Business Department and is co-chair of its Venture Capital/TECC Practice Group. He has more than 28 years of experience as a business lawyer with an extensive amount of general corporate experience in the areas of high technology, biotechnology, securities regulation, financial transactions and investments in real estate and closely held corporations.
Jeff Feinstein has been teaching history and government at West Potomac High School in Alexandria, Virginia for 10 years. In fall 2008, the National Honor Society presented him with a Faculty Spotlight Award and at graduation in the spring he received the Outstanding Faculty Award. His sons, Zachary and Noah, attend West Potomac as well.
Dorothy Fleming Green, a partner at Latham, Shuker, Eden & Beaudine, LL P, was recognized by Cambridge Who's Who for her dedication, leadership, and excellence in labor and employment law. Listed in Best Lawyers in America, Green is a member of the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce, the Orlando Chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management, the Central Florida Association for Women Lawyers, the Virginia Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association and the Florida Bar Association, where she is a member of the board.
Norman Kinel is a partner in the New York office of Duval & Stachenfeld, LL P, where he practices in the Bankruptcy, Insolvency, and Business Reorganization Practice Group. Kinel has been involved in some of the largest and most complex bankruptcy cases, including representing the Official Committee of Equity Security Holders in Adelphia Communications, one of the largest Chapter 11 cases ever filed. He continues to represent debtors, committees, bond holders, equity holders, trustees, and other major parties in Chapter 11 cases nationwide and in complex bankruptcy-related litigation appeals. Previously, he was the founder and cochair of the 15-attorney Bankruptcy and Corporate Reorganization Department at Dreier, LLP, and as a bankruptcy partner at Sidley Austin, LLP.
Arthur Affleck is vice chancellor for development and university relations at Fayetteville State University (FSU). Affleck is responsible for the leadership of all development, alumni relations and marketing and public relations programs. His duties include building private support for the institution through the management of an integrated, comprehensive program of external relations, including annual giving, major and planning giving, corporate and foundation giving, alumni relations, prospect research, donor relations and stewardship. He also oversees marketing and public relations, crisis communications, university publications and special events. With more than 25 years in higher education, Affleck has served in admissions, student affairs and university development. Prior to joining FSU, he was senior vice president of B&C Association, a firm that provides strategic planning, campaign counsel, public relations and marketing services for corporations and higher education institutions. From 2005 to 2007, Affleck was vice president for institutional advancement at Bennett College in Greensboro, where he was in charge of the college's $50 million Revitalizing Bennett Campaign. As such, he coordinated major fundraising events with President Bill Clinton, Senator Robert Dole and Oprah Winfrey.
William C. Thum is a partner at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, LL P. A member of the Corporate Department in the firm's New York office, Thum focuses his practice on matters involving derivatives and has extensive experience in tailoring derivatives documentation across fixed income and equity derivatives products including prime brokerage. He assists clients, including investment funds, in developing and updating derivatives documentation policies and trading agreement templates, analyzing risk in legacy agreements, assisting in derivatives litigation and drafting transaction agreements for complex equity and credit derivatives trading.
Christine Ferguson was elected to the Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island Board of Directors. She is a research professor at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. Previously, Ferguson was counsel and deputy chief of staff to the late John H. Chafee (R-RI), where she spearheaded efforts to reform national health and social policy with a particular focus on health services to medically underserved populations. She then served as director of the Rhode Island Department of Human Services, where her work in Medicaid reform, early childhood education, child care and child welfare reform was nationally recognized. Ferguson also served as commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and founded First Focus, a bipartisan children's advocacy organization.
Judith A. Harris, a partner with Tallman, Hudders & Sorrentino in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, is president of the Estate Planning Council of the Lehigh Valley. The council works to increase public awareness of the importance of estate planning and promote effective and efficient estate planning through its membership of qualified professionals. At Tallman, Hudders & Sorrentino, Harris is a member of the Management Committee and is chair of the Estate, Trust and Taxation Practice Group. Her practice focuses on taxation, wills and trusts, and estate administration. Harris is a member of the board of the Fund to Benefit Children & Youth, Incorporated, having served as president from 2006 to 2009. She also is a member of the board of the Allentown Symphony, a member of the Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church, a member of the board of the Lehigh County Agricultural Society and recently completed 10 years as a member of the Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority Board of Governors, where she chaired the Personnel and Law committees and was vice-chair of the Finance Committee.
Andrew J. Sherman is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Jones Day. He practices in the firm's Global M&A and Corporate Transactional Group.
David W. Whitmore is chief operating officer and general counsel at Levick Strategic Communications. Previously, he was executive vice president of Racepoint Group in Washington, D.C., where he was responsible for the firm's public affairs, government relations, crisis management and issues management practice groups. Prior to joining Racepoint, Whitmore provided communications and management counsel to various clients in Washington, D.C., Dubai, and Abu Dhabi.
Michael J. Newman was appointed chair of the Federal Courts and Practice Committee of the Ohio State Bar Association. He also is a member of the Cincinnati Bar Association Board of Trustees and was elected to serve as Sixth Circuit vice president for the Federal Bar Association. He is chair of the Labor and Employment Appellate Practice Group of Dinsmore & Shohl, LL P, in Cincinnati. His practice focuses on labor and employment, commercial and business litigation, and mediation/arbitration. Newman also serves on the editorial board of The Federal Lawyer Magazine and is a master of the Potter Stewart Inns of Court.
Jeff Chin co-authored an article in the spring 2009 edition of the California Western Law Review. The article, "'I Was Put Out the Door With Nothing'— Addressing the Needs of the Exonerated Under a Refugee Model" examines the situation of the wrongfully convicted upon release through interviews with exonerees and makes recommendations for providing social services to them. Chin is associate director of the California and Hawai'i Innocence Projects.
Michael G. Hoffman is chief legal officer at CAS Partners, a property and asset management services company. Hoffman, who has practiced law for more than 19 years, brings more than 14 years of in-house counsel and executive management experience to the company. In the newly created position of chief legal officer, he is responsible for all aspects of CAS' legal affairs, including corporate and transactional work, dispute resolution and legal compliance coordination.
Steve Hamrick established The Hamrick Group, LLC, in July.
David Jaffe, WCL associate dean for Student Affairs, was appointed to chair the D.C. Bar Lawyer Assistance Committee, effective November 1, 2009. The Committee supports the D.C. Bar Lawyer Assistance Program (LAP), a free and confidential program assisting lawyers, judges, and law students who experience problems that interfere with their personal lives or their abilities to serve as counsel or officers of the court. Jaffe has been a member of the Committee since 2007.
Lisa Harris Jones, founder and member of Harris Jones & Malone, LLC, was named one of Maryland's Top 100 Women by the Maryland Daily Record for the second time. She also was selected for the list in 2005. Jones concentrates her practice in lobbying and government relations, corporate and real estate law. She was named one of 40 Under 40 by the Baltimore Business Journal in 2001, the Top 25 Young Leaders to Watch by the Baltimore Times in 2002, and honored as a 21st Century Woman by the Maryland Coalition for Responsive Government in 2000.
A case for which Jonathan C. Dailey, an associate at Surovell Markle Isaacs & Levy, PLC , is serving as lead counsel was profiled on the front page of the March 5, 2009 City Paper. The case involves the destruction of the laboratory of Dr. Jafar Vossoughi, a University of the District of Columbia (UDC) researcher and professor. The contents of the lab, essentially Vossoughi's lifework, was destroyed by university officials who were involved in an acrimonious tenure dispute with him. Six years after the suit was filed, the jury has spoken and the appeals are over—Vossoughi will collect nearly $2 million for the destruction of his laboratory. The District of Columbia has agreed to pay the judgment, including interest.
Melissa Met Field s and her husband, Tillar Scott Fields, announce the birth of a daughter, Grace Tillar Fields, in November 2008. Grace joins half-siblings Nicholas, age 10, and Emma, age 9. Fields works in the Contracts and Legal Group of CACI International, Incorporated, where she specializes in defense intelligence work.
Joseph T. Kelliher is executive vice president of Federal Regulatory Affairs at FPL Group, Incorporated, a newly created position in which he oversees all aspects of FPL's federal energy regulatory policy. FPL is a leading clean energy company with 2008 revenues of more than $16 billion, approximately 39,000 megawatts of generating capacity and more than 15,000 employees in 27 states and Canada. Prior to joining FPL, Kelliher was chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), a senior policy advisor for electricity and other domestic issues at the U.S. Department of Energy, was majority counsel on lectricity, nuclear waste, hydropower, energy conservation and DOE management for the U.S. House Committee on Commerce and legislative programs director for the American Nuclear Energy Council.
Sam Yee was chosen as one of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association's 2008 Best Under 40. As such, he was profiled in the January/ February 2009 issue of Diversity & the Bar, a publication of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association. Yee, special assistant attorney general, works in the Office of the Attorney General of the state of New York, where he prosecutes Medicaid fraud cases. As Baltimore City assistant state's attorney, he tried more than 30 homicide cases from 2002 to 2007. He is involved with the Chief Judge Thomas Tang Moot Court Competition.
Deborah Ben-Canaan is a managing director and office head of Major, Lindsey & Africa's San Diego office. She has been with the office since its inception in June 2001. Major, Lindsey & Africa is the world's largest and most-experienced legal search firm, with offices throughout the United States, London, Hong Kong and Tokyo. Her corporate clients include Quizno's, Cardinal Health, Nestle, Hitachi Home Electronics, Public Storage, ITT Industries, Northrop Grumman, James Hardie Industries, and Advanced Bionics, among others. She also has expertise in public entity and national law firm searches. Previously, she practiced general civil litigation in the San Diego office of Gordon & Rees, and business litigation with Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch, also in San Diego.
Bruce D. Armon is managing partner of Saul Ewing's Philadelphia office. As managing partner, Armon oversees more than 100 attorneys and serves as the firm's hiring partner. Armon concentrates his practice in healthcare law, assisting physicians, physician groups, hospitals, ancillary providers, pharmaceutical and nutritionalcompanies and insurers. He serves on the boards of the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf and Adath Jeshuran Synagogue.
David A. Berman and his wife, Evelina, welcomed a son, Marc Nathaniel, in November 2008. Marc joins big brother, Sean, age 5. Berman is a media and information technology counsel for New York City, where he represents the city's radio and television stations.
Karhlton Moore is director of the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services (OC JS). He is responsible for the administration and evaluation of state and federal grants for law enforcement, victim assistance, juvenile justice, crime prevention and courts and corrections programs. Previously, he served as chief legal counsel and legislative liaison for OCJS, assistant deputy legal counsel in the Governor's Office, assistant attorney general in the Ohio Attorney General's office in the Court of Claims Defense and Capital Crimes sections. Moore serves on the National Criminal Justice Association advisory council and board of directors, the
Commission on African American Males, and the Governor's Advisory Council on Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services.
Jennifer Reid Cervenka (LLM) is a partner at the Providence, Rhode Island firm of Partridge Snow & Hahn. She concentrates her practice on environmental and insurance law, including compliance, permitting, site remediation and redevelopment. In 2007, Cervenka was named one of Providence Business News' 40 Under Forty winners.
Arthur Sidney (LLM) is chief of staff in the office of Congressman Hank Johnson (D-GA). Previously, he served as a legislative director for Representative Shelia Jackson Lee (D-TX), to whom he provided legal counsel on crime, international trade, antitrust, intellectual property, courts, administrative law, the Internet and immigration issues while staffing Jackson on all Judiciary Committee hearings. Prior to that, he was a private practitioner, and an international attorney for the Commerce Department, where he specialized in international trade litigation before the federal courts of specialized jurisdiction, NAFTA, and the WTO.
Steven and Erika Rivera Ragland live in San Francisco with their two children, Logan and Riley. The Raglands have formed a nonprofit charity to raise awareness of and research money for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a degenerative neuromuscular disease that affects their son Logan. The charity, which recently received IRS nonprofit status, also focuses on initiatives like making city playgrounds accessible to all children. Ragland is an associate at Keker & Van Nest, where he focuses his practice on criminal and civil litigation, particularly criminal defense, securities litigation, shareholder derivative lawsuits, and complex business and partnership disputes.
Jill Borak and her husband, David, welcomed Elijah Alexander in July. He joins brother Sam, 7 years old, and sister Addie, almost 3 years old. She works part-time as an attorney at her own practice.
Shirley C. Rivadeneira is an at-large member of the Montgomery County (MD) Democratic Central Committee. She is an attorney with the U.S. Labor Department and was active in the Obama-Biden campaign.
Sejal Shah, an associate with Duane Morris, LL P, was accredited by the U.S. Green Building Council as a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional (LEED AP). Shah, a member of the firm's Energy, Environment and Resources Practice Group, focuses on electricity, natural gas, and pipeline matters. She has extensive experience in Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) litigation and regulatory compliance for both RTOs/ISOs as well as investor-owned utilities.
Patrick Togni is president of the Board of Directors of BounceBack Kids, a nonprofit organization that enriches the lives of children with serious medical conditions and their families through free year-round athletic and social activities. BounceBack Kids was featured in People magazine and in an Emmy-nominated story that aired during the 2005 men's NCAA Final Four on CBS. Togni practices international trade law with King & Spalding, LL P.
Benjamin J. Weir and Rebecca D. Romo '07 were married in August. He is an attorney with the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., and she is an associate at Becker, Kellogg & Berry in Springfield, Virginia.
Wendy L. Brasunas married Hans Nicholas Appleyard Heilbut in September. Previously, Brasunas was an associate in the New York office of Jones Day, where she specialized in trademark and intellectual property law.
Synta Keeling is a field attorney in the Baltimore Region 5 Field Office of the National Labor Relations Board. She focuses on unfair labor practices, litigating cases for Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. Previously, she was an associate in The Law Office of Nancy M. Lawrence.
Olivia T. Luk, of Jenner & Block, LL P, in Chicago, was named one of the 2009 Illinois Rising Stars in the February 2009 issue of Illinois Super Lawyers and Chicago magazines. Luk focuses her practice on intellectual property litigation.
Ethan G. Ostroff is an associate at Troutman Sanders, LL P, in the Complex Litigation Practice Group in Virginia Beach, VA. His practice focuses on general and commercial litigation with an emphasis on consumer finance litigation, representing various entities in construction, maritime, commercial lease, and business torts litigation. Previously, he was an associate at Vandeventer Black, LLP, a law clerk to the Honorable H. Thomas Padrick Jr., the Honorable A. Bonwill Shockley and the Honorable Frederick B. Lowe, of the Virginia Beach Circuit Court, Second Judicial Circuit. He also served as a legal intern to the Honorable Richard W. Roberts, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He is a member of the American, Federal, Virginia, Virginia Beach, and Norfolk Portsmouth bar associations and a member of the Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys.
Robin Murphy is an assistant state's attorney in Cook County, Illinois. The Cook County State's Attorney's Office is the second-largest prosecutor's office in the nation, employing nearly 900 assistant state's attorneys.
Rebecca D. Romo and Benjamin J. Weir '04 were married in August. She is an associate at Becker, Kellogg & Berry in Springfield, Virginia and he is an attorney with the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.
Nathan Herschler, a legal fellow with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), was selected as one of 21 up-and-coming wildlife conservationists in the country to participate in a two-year intensive training course titled Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leaders. During the two-year course, Herschler will be trained in wildlife campaigning and leadership skills at White Oak Conservation Center in Florida. Participants plan, implement and evaluate a conservation campaign benefiting an endangered species. Previous projects have helped Southeast Asian bears, okapi from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, declining amphibian populations, jaguars of northwest Mexico and pangolins captured in the illegal wildlife trade. Through his work, Herschler assisted with precedent-setting litigation, including two cases that reached the Supreme Court.
James Mitchell is the policy and legislative coordinator for the fish campaign at Food & Water Watch. His work includes open ocean aquaculture, seafood safety, and catch share management programs.
Lisa M. Pietrzak was admitted to the Delaware bar in March. An associate in the Corporate Department of Richards, Layton & Finger in Wilmington, she focuses on corporate governance and corporate litigation control before the Delaware Court of Chancery and the Delaware Supreme Court.
Daniele M. Schiff man married Tobias W. Heffernan on Valentine's Day. They were married by WCL Civil and Criminal Trial Advocacy professor, the Honorable Michael D. Mason, of the Montgomery County Circuit Court. Former classmates Amanda Dupree '09, Dan Kecman '09 and Wendi Moy '08 attended the ceremony. Schiffman is an associate in the Litigation Department of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LL P.
Abby Tibbs is the chief of staff in the office of state Senate Majority Leader Richard Devlin, of the Oregon State Legislature. Tibbs, who previously was a policy advisor in the office, began her career as an intern in the White House, spent five years working for public policy organizations in Washington, D.C., then served as a legislative aide in the Maryland General Assembly.
David A. Curtiss married Erin Jane Gustafson in September. He is an associate in the New York law firm Shearman & Sterling. She is an associate at Skadden, Arps, Meagher & Flom, LLP, also in New York.
Class Notes (to appear in the Summer issue of the Advocate Magazine) compiled between August 1, 2008 and February 15, 2009. Additional class notes will appear in the fall.
Blair D. Howard was named a 2008 Virginia Super Lawyer. Recognized in the areas of Criminal Defense, Personal Injury Plaintiff: General, and Personal Injury Plaintiff, Medical Malpractice, he is a founding member and senior partner at Howard, Morrison, Ross & Whelan in Warrenton. He is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and a member of the Fauquier County, Virginia State and American bar associations, the Association for the Administration of Justice and the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association.
William E. Artz was named a 2008 Virginia Super Lawyer in the area of Personal Injury Plaintiff: Medical Malpractice. Artz operates William E. Artz, PC, a medical malpractice firm in Arlington. A trial lawyer for more than 36 years, he is certified in civil trial advocacy by the National Board of Trial Advocacy.Artz is a mediator in the D.C. and Virginia court systems, a fellow in the American College of Trial Attorneys and a member of the Inner Circle of Advocates. He served as president of the Trial Lawyers of Metropolitan D.C., president of the Arlington County Bar Association and director of the Arlington County Bar Foundation.In 2002, he received the Trial Lawyer of the Year Award from the Trial Lawyers Association of Washington, D.C
Charles N. Blitzer is a member of the Board of Directors of Znomics, Incorporated, a pioneer in the development of zebrafish as a vertebrate genetic platform to accelerate drug discovery. Blitzer has more than 30 years of experience in executive leadership positions in the pharmaceutical industry, having led many public and private companies from start-up to profitability, including Barbeau Pharma, Fulcrum Pharma, and MGI Pharma. Blitzer was also with Marion Merrill Dow, last serving as vice president, Corporate Development, where he was responsible for worldwide licensing and business development activities. Znomics is focused on identifying and developing new pharmaceutical products for treatment of human disorders and diseases. The company's drug discovery platform is based on its cataloged library of mutations in the zebrafish, called the Zenemark Library. The library, the first in a vertebrate, currently contains more than 11,000 strains of fish representing mutations in approximately half of the known genome. Zebrafish share 80 to 90 percent of the same genes as humans.
David Gespass is president-elect of the National Lawyers Guild. He will begin his term as president at the Guild convention in Seattle in October. Founded in 1937, the National Lawyers Guild is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States.
Marvin D. Miller was named a 2008 Virginia Super Lawyer in the areas of Criminal Defense and Personal Injury Plaintiff: General. He operates the Law Offices of Marvin D. Miller in Alexandria.
John K. Zwerling was named a 2008 Virginia Super Lawyer. He was recognized in the Criminal Defense, Criminal Defense: White Collar, Civil Rights/First Amendment practice areas. He is a partner in the firm Zwerling, Leibig & Moseley, PC, of Alexandria. Zwerling is a member of the Board of Directors for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. He was the founding president of the Virginia College of Criminal Defense Attorneys and is a founding member of the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and serves on the Legal Committee of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Law. In addition, has served as an instructor in Forensic Expert Training at the FBI Academy, as well as a member of the faculty for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy, Georgetown University.
David E. Sher was named a 2008 Virginia Super Lawyer. He was recognized in the areas of Criminal Defense: White Collar, Personal Injury Plaintiff: General, and Professional Liability: Defense. He is a named partner at Sher, Cummings and Ellis in Arlington.
John Toole was named a 2008 Virginia Super Lawyer in the area of Real Estate. He is a partner in the Real Estate Practice Group and a member of the Business Department at Cooley, Godward, Kronish, LLP, in the Reston office. Toole represents institutional owners, developers, investors and users of various types of commercial real estate, nationally and internationally. As part of his real estate practice, Toole has developed a specialty advising developers and users of state-of-the-art data center facilities. He recently completed terms as a member of the National Board of Directors of the National Association of Office and Industrial Properties and as a Board member and general counsel of its Virginia Chapter.
Thomas J. Colucci was named a 2008 Virginia Super Lawyer in the area of Real Estate. One of the founding principals of Walsh, Colucci, Lubeley, Emrich & Walsh, PC, in Arlington he is a specialist in real estate law, focusing on the development, transactional and business aspects of real estate. Colucci serves on and with various management and professional committees, such as the Board of Directors of AHV Group, Incorporated (Arlington Health Venture), and Arlington Eldercare Corporation, subsidiaries of the Arlington Hospital Foundation; the Regional Advisory Board of Chicago Title Insurance Company; and the Real Estate sections of the Virginia State Bar and the American Bar Association.
Kathleen Johnson (LLM '93) is employed by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to initiate a project in Tajikistan to combat human trafficking. Previously, she worked in Tajikistan with the ABA Rule of Law Project and for the OSCE in Bosnia and Croatia.
Lydia B. Parnes joined Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in the firm's Washington, D.C. office. Previously, she was director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection for 27 years. During her tenure, Parnes helped lead many of the Bureau's signature efforts, including the National Do Not Call Registry, the Telemarketing Sales Rule, an award-winning data security and privacy program, innovative consumer and business education, and the Consumer Sentinel, a database of consumer complaints available to more than 1,700 law enforcement organizations in the United States, Canada and Australia.
Gerald A. Schwartz was named a 2008 Virginia Super Lawyer in the area of Personal Injury Plaintiff: General. Specializing in personal injury and death cases, he operates the Law Offices of Gerald A. Schwartz in Alexandria.
Jonathan Shapiro was named a 2008 Virginia Super Lawyer. Recognized in the Criminal Defense area, Shapiro is a partner at Greenspun, Shapiro, Davis & Leary, PC, in Fairfax. For three years, he served as a clinical instructor at WCL's Criminal Justice Clinic and as director of the now-defunct (?) Institutionalized Persons Clinic.In 2001, WCL honored him with the Peter Cicchino Alumni Award for "Outstanding Advocacy in the Public Interest Within the United States."
J.T. Westermeier was named a 2008 Virginia Super Lawyer in the areas of Intellectual Property and Information Technology/Outsourcing. Westermeier is of counsel in the Reston office of Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP, where he focuses his practice on intellectual property suppliers and users and related intellectual property issues. He is the founder and served as co-chair of Georgetown University Law Center's Advanced Computer and Internet Law Institute and is co-founder and currently co-chair of the Virginia Continuing Legal Education's annual "Virginia Information Technology Legal Institute."
Gregg Peters Monsees announces the November birth of his first grandchild, Lila Joyce Casto.
Susan M. Pesner was named a 2008 Virginia Super Lawyer in the areas of Real Estate, and Estate Planning and Probate. She is an attorney at Pesner, Kawamoto, Conway in McLean. She was a member of the Council of the Virginia State Bar, a member of the Executive Committee of the Council of the Virginia State Bar, chair of the Board of Governors of the Virginia State Bar, and a member of the Council of the Real Estate Section of the Virginia Bar Association. She is currently chair of the Real Property Section and Ethics Subcommittee.
James M. Cameron, managing director of Dykema's Ann Arbor office and a member of the firm's Litigation Group, was appointed by the Michigan Supreme Court to the Attorney Discipline Board (ADB). The ADB appoints hearing panels to conduct the trial-level proceedings in which the Attorney Grievance Commission has filed a formal complaint alleging that a member of the State Bar of Michigan has committed misconduct. Cameron, who has an interest in alternative dispute resolution and experience as a facilitator, mediator and arbitrator, has served as chairperson of the Michigan Teacher Tenure Commission, a trustee of the Ann Arbor Public Schools Board of Education and a trustee of Scio Township.
Nils Victor Montan is senior consultant at the law management consulting practice of Robin Rolfe Resources. Montan has 30 years of experience in IP management and leadership, including tenure as vice president and senior IP counsel for Warner Brothers and as a law firm partner. He has been active in IP community organizations as past president of the International Trademark Association and as elected chairman of the International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition for which he later served as its full-time chief executive officer. Currently, Montan chairs the Board of Advisors of the Authentics Foundation, an international organization dedicated to raising public awareness of counterfeits. Montan has testified before the U.S. Congress in support of IP legislation, given presentations at industry, bar and government conferences around the world and taught as an adjunct law professor at Loyola University School of Law, UCLA and USC.
Stuart J. Kaswell is executive vice president and general counsel at the Managed Fund Association (MFA), the leading trade association of the hedge fund industry. In this role, he represents the hedge fund industry on domestic and international legislative and regulatory policy issues. Previously, he was partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Bryan Cave, LLP, where he practiced in their White Collar Defense & Investigations, Securities Litigations & Enforcement practice groups. Prior to that he was a partner in the financial services group at Dechert, LLP; senior vice president and general counsel at the Securities Industry Association; Republican (minority) counsel for the Committee on Energy and Commerce in the U.S. House of Representatives and in several positions at the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Bruce McDonald, a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis, LLP, received the Outstanding Volunteer Award for 2007-2008 from the American Bar Association's Section of International Law. He was recognized for the representation he provided and the work he did in an intellectual property dispute over the Section's logo. McDonald advises clients and serves as trial and appellate litigation counsel in federal court and regulatory actions primarily involving claims of trademark and copyright infringement, unfair competition and interpretation of international intellectual rights.
James C. "Jim" Simpson Jr. was named by Governor Haley Barbour to the Gulfport State Port Authority, which manages or operates port facilities in Gulfport, Mississippi. Simpson is a former lawmaker who served in the Mississippi State House of Representatives from 1994 to 2007. Currently, he is an attorney with Montgomery Barnett, where he has worked for more than 20 years. While a member of the House, Simpson was selected as the 2004 National Legislator of the Year by the American Legislative Exchange Council.
Heidi Pasichow is an associate judge on the Superior Court for the District of Columbia. Previously, she was with the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Peter W. Buchbauer was named a 2008 Virginia Super Lawyer in the area of Family Law. He is an attorney at Buchbauer & McGuire, PC, in Winchester.
Marcia M. Maddox was named a 2008 Virginia Super Lawyer. Recognized in the area of Family Law, Maddox is a founding partner in the firm Maddox, Cole & Miller, PC, in Vienna. A trial attorney for more than 25 years, prior to law school, she served in the White House as assistant press secretary to Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson. Maddox is president of the USA Chapter of the International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (IAML) as well as a member of itsExecutive Committee and the Board of Governors. She is a certified fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is a member of approximately eight different law and family law organizations and is active in the Fairfax Bar Association. She has been appointed as a neutral case evaluator for the Fairfax County Circuit Court, where she evaluates divorce and property matters; she has also functioned as a court-appointed Guardian ad Litem.
Donald F. King was named a 2008 Virginia Super Lawyer in the areas of Criminal Defense, Criminal Defense: White Collar, and Civil Rights/First Amendment. King is a principal with the firm Odin, Feldman & Pittleman, PC, in Fairfax, where he heads the Bankruptcy and Creditors' Rights Practice Group. He founded, directed and served as president of the Northern Virginia Bankruptcy Bar Association and chaired the Board of Governors of the Bankruptcy Section of the Virginia State Bar. In addition, he is an NCAA football referee, officiating games in the Division 1AA, Patriot League and Atlantic 10 Conference.
Sturgis Sobin is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Covington & Burling, LLP. He has represented clients in more than 40 intellectual property cases before the U.S. International Trade Commission under Section 337, as well as in related U.S. district court litigation.Sobin has served as lead trial counsel in multiple large and complex trials covering a range of technologies and commercially valuable IP rights. In addition to extensive practice of international trade and IP litigation, Sobin has represented clients involved in large-scale, high technology antitrust and unfair competition cases and complex economic damages.
Bruce W. Henry was named a 2008 Virginia Super Lawyer recognized in the areas of Bankruptcy & Creditor/Debtor Rights, Banking, and Real Estate. Henry is an attorney at Henry, O'Donnell, Dahnke & Walther, PC, in Fairfax. He represents banks, businesses and creditor committees in complex bankruptcy Chapter 11 business reorganizations and has substantial expertise in lender representation in litigation matters and in condemnation cases.Listed in Best Lawyers in America for bankruptcy in Virginia, Henry has applied his broad understanding of business, accounting and real estate on behalf of clients in most of the substantial bankruptcy reorganization cases filed in the Eastern District of Virginia.
Leigh-Alexandra Basha was named a 2008 Virginia Super Lawyer in the areas of Estate Planning & probate, Tax, and International. She is a partner in the northern Virginia office of Holland & Knight, LLP, where she heads the firm's International Estate Planning Practice. Basha focuses her practice in the areas of domestic and international taxation, estate planning and administration, business law, and pre-marital agreements.
Brian M. Hirsch was named a 2008 Virginia Super Lawyer. Recognized in the area of Family Law, he is an attorney at Hirsch & Ehlenberger, PC, in Reston.
Scott Kadish was chosen as a 2009 Ohio Super Lawyer. Kadish is the partner-in-charge of Ulmer & Berne, LLP's Cincinnati office and also is a member of the firm's Management Committee. He chairs the firm's Shopping Center Group as the result of his nationwide representation of landlords and tenants in the development and lease up of shopping centers. In addition, he counsels clients on other real estate and business transactions and general business law. Kadish is a past recipient of the Greater Cincinnati Outstanding 40 Under 40 Award; an adjunct professor of real estate law at the University of Cincinnati and is a charter member of the national Business Institute Ohio Advisory Council.
John Wagner, partner in the Environmental Group at Certilman Balin, presented "Finding the Solution to Unresolved Boundaries" and "Handling Right-of-Way Problems" at the National Business Institutes Seminar "Boundary Disputes: Resolving Client Conflicts," in September 2008. Wagner represents private clients, from individual landowners to multi-state development companies as well as municipalities, in real property, zoning, land use, title, landlord/tenant, and environmental law matters, and, in particular, matters involving environmental review of zoning and land use actions pursuant to the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act. Wagner's practice also encompasses subdivisions, variance, special permit, water supply and sewerage, highway work permit, wetlands, and zoning change applications.
Diane Horvath is director of goods and services procurement for the Ontario Provincial Government. As director, she manages a staff of 60 and a $3 billion portfolio. She recently completed a three-year term on the volunteer Board of Directors of Pride Toronto, one of the largest queer culture festivals in the world. Horvath and her partner, Khlaire, are active in environmental organizations in Toronto, where they reside.
In February, Andrew Sherman joined the Washington, D.C. office of Jones Day, where he is a member of the Mergers & Acquisitions and Corporate Transactional Practice Group. Jones Day employs more than 2,400 lawyers in 31 cities worldwide. Established in 1893, the firm serves as counsel to nearly 300 for the Fortune 500's multinational companies and has been the worldwide leader in mergers and acquisitions for 33 consecutive quarters.
Jeri Kaylene Somers is vice chair of the United States Civilian Board of Contract Appeals. The Board was established by Section 847 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006 to hear and decide contract disputes between government contractors and executive agencies under the provisions of the Contract Disputes Act of 1978. Previously, she was a board judge with the United States Department of Transportation Board of Contract Appeals, an assistant U.S. attorney at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Alexandria, Va., and recently retired as a judge advocate with the U.S. Air Force with the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Bruce Kapsack's book Innovative DUI Trial Tools recently was released by James Publishing. He is currently working on California DUI Law, Science and Procedure for Tompson-West Publishing. Kapsack is the first attorney in California to take and pass the American Bar Association's DUI Board Certification Exam. In addition to his own books, Kapsack has written annual supplements for California Drunk Driving Defense by Lawrence Taylor and California Drunk Driving Law by Ed Kuwatch. In addition, he has written for a number of periodicals including The Champion and The Advocate.
Johnny Chiu (LLM) is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Covington & Burling, LLP. He focuses his practice on litigation matters before the U.S. International Trade Commission, U.S. district courts as well as state courts involving patent, trade secrets and other intellectual property matters.He also advises clients on compliance and negotiations strategies in the course of creation and operation of U.S. subsidiaries or affiliates of foreign investors.
Charlie C.H. Lee was named a 2008 Virginia Super Lawyer in the areas of Construction Litigation and Construction/Surety. Lee is a founding partner of Moore & Lee, LLP, in McLean, specializing in all areas of construction, government contracts and suretyship law concerning heavy industrial and commercial projects. His experience includes all phases of construction contracting, from contract formation and review to litigating and arbitrating disputes on behalf of contractors, subcontractors, sureties and owners. In addition, Lee serves as an arbitrator on the Construction Panel for the American Arbitration Association.
Edna Ruth Vincent was named a 2008 Virginia Super Lawyer. Recognized in the area of Family Law, Vincent is principal attorney at Colten Cummins Watson & Vincent, PC, in Fairfax. Vincent is active in several bar associations. She has served as the chair and subcommittee vice-chair of the Virginia State Bar Fifth District Disciplinary Committee. She was a board member of the Old Dominion Bar Association, was a member of the Virginia State Bar Professionalism Course Faculty and was president of both the Virginia Commission on Women and Minorities in the Legal System and the Northern Virginia Black Attorneys Association. A member of the Fairfax Bar Association, she has served on its Judicial Screening, Circuit Court, and Membership committees. Vincent currently serves as a Commissioner in Chancery to the Fairfax County Circuit Court. At the invitation of the chief justice of the Virginia Supreme Court, Vincent served on the Commission on Virginia Courts in the 21 Century: To Benefit All, To Exclude None, which studied the future of Virginia's judicial system. She also is the recipient of WCL's 2006 Women and the Law Leadership Award and was keynote speaker at the Women and the Law Leadership Luncheon. In 2008, Vincent was appointed by the chief justice of Virginia Supreme Court to serve a three-year term as a member at-large of the Virginia State Bar Council, the governing body of the mandatory state bar.
Jeffrey Brenner was recognized as a leader in the field of "Litigation: General Commercial" in the 2008 edition of Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business. Brenner practices at Nixon Peabody, LLP, one of the largest law firms in the United States, with 700 attorneys in 18 office locations. The firm was recognized by FORTUNE magazine as one if its "100 Best Companies to Work For" in 2008, the third consecutive year it was named to the list.
Scott C. Frost was named an Illinois Super Lawyer by Chicago Magazine and Law & Politics. He also was elected a fellow in the Litigation Counsel of American (LCA), a trial lawyer honorary society for his effectiveness and accomplishment in litigation and superior ethical reputation. Frost is managing partner at Statman Harris & Eyrich, LLC, specializing in complex commercial litigation.
Leslie Silverman practices in Proskauer Rose's Labor and Employment Department. Previously vice chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), she led EEOC's Systemic Task Force, which examined the Commission's effort to combat systemic discrimination and resulted in the launch of a comprehensive nationwide program to address pattern or practice, policy or class cases in which alleged discrimination has had a broad impact on industry, profession, company or geographic location. Prior to joining EEOC, Silverman served as labor counsel to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
David Brill is a director at BlackRock Solutions. Previously, he was vice president and principal legal counsel at Thomson Reuters. He recently spoke at The Argyle Executive Forum in Chicago on risk management. He and his wife Hayama and their daughter Sienna Rose live in New York City.
Mark D. Collins, a director of Richards, Layton & Finger in Wilmington, Delaware, was listed in the 2008 edition of Delaware Super Lawyers. As chair of the firm's Restructuring and Bankruptcy Group, Collins concentrates his practice in the areas of bankruptcy, insolvency and creditors' rights, representing debtors, lenders, creditors and acquirers of national Chapter 11 cases.
Linda M. Correia was lead counsel for two female Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) coaches who registered complaints of sex discrimination in the university's sports programs. They had brought suit against FGCU for violations of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, a federal law that prohibits discrimination and retaliation in educational institutions receiving federal funds. The university paid $3.4 million to settle claims of retaliation against the coaches.
Brian Goldstein married Monica Felkel in November. Goldstein is a partner in the Entertainment Division of Fettmann, Tolchin & Majors in Fairfax, Virginia. He also is the general and artistic director of Lord Foppington & Company, a touring theater company that produces period comedies. He is president of the North Virginia Board of Governors and a director on the statewide Board of the Virginia Opera.
In 2008, Linda Howell was appointed as a federal administrative judge (Veterans Law Judge) by then President George W. Bush. On March 24, 2008, she was sworn in by the Honorable James B. Peake, secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs. She is married to Brian Siebel '90, a senior attorney with the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. They have two children, Elizabeth and Ethan, and live in the Washington, D.C. area.
Christopher R. Ryan was named Outstanding In-House Counsel for 2008 by the Washington Area Corporate Counsel Association (WMACCA), the largest regional bar association for in-house counsel. Ryan, deputy general counsel of K12, Incorporated, was recognized for his lead role in the company's initial public offering and the transition to public-company processes, as well as his work in support of two major acquisitions completed by K12.
Richard Nagle was named a 2008 Virginia Super Lawyer in the Personal Injury Defense: Medical Malpractice and Health Care areas. A director at the firm Hancock, Daniel, Johnson & Nagle, PC, in Fairfax, he focuses his practice on representing health care providers in the defense of professional liability litigation.
Jordan B. Yeager joined Curtin & Heefner, LLP, in its Employment and Public Sector Section. Formerly in private practice as the named partner in a public interest law firm, Yeager served successfully as counsel in several groundbreaking cases, including in matters involving constitutional rights issues; claims of reasonable accommodation against a municipal defendant; and the right to a jury trial in a whistleblower retaliation case. Currently, Yeager serves as solicitor of the Bucks County Democratic Committee, as a referral panel member for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and Gay and Lesbian Lawyers of Philadelphia. In addition, he is an active member of the National Employment Lawyers Association and the National Police Accountability Project.
Cherae L. Bishop is senior director of Congressional Affairs for the American Red Cross. As such, she acts as a liaison on Capitol Hill for members of Congress and the Red Cross. Previously, Bishop provided legislative and strategic expertise to Volunteers of America, Incorporated, as vice president of Legislative Affairs and Public Policy. She also served as manager of Constituency Relations for Altria Corporate Services Incorporated, where she obtained the support of key constituency organizations to pass tobacco buyout legislation. She also has worked for Weyerhaeuser Company, where she secured federal funding for the Washington State Forest and Fish Plan, the American Forest and Paper Association and the National Association of Manufacturers.
Kara Chayrigues Bennett was married in June 2008. Her name is now Kara C. Martinez.
Ann Southard Murphy announces the June 30th birth of Samuel Southard Hernly.
Richard R. Verma, a partner at Steptoe & Johnson, LLP, was appointed to the Congressional Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism. Verma's appointment was announced in May 2008 by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Republican Leader John Boehner and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell. A partner in Steptoe's Government Affairs and Public Policy and International practices, Verma rejoined the firm at the end of 2007 after holding a number of high-level public service positions, including as senior national security advisor to Senator Reid.
Ilsa Flanagan is director of sustainability at the University of Chicago. In this newly created position, Flanagan will help the university community reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, improve energy efficiency and conserve natural resources, renovate and construct green buildings, improve transportation options and recycling, among other initiatives. Previously, she was senior vice president and director of Sustainable Development at LaSalle Bank/ABN AMRO.
In January, Joseph T. Kelliher resigned his position as chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). During his three-and-a-half-year tenure, Congress increased FERC's authority over enforcement, reliability and infrastructure development under the 2005 Energy Policy Act. The FERC chairman manages an agency staff of about 1,300 and a budget of about $260 million. As chairman, Kelliher had been a champion of competitive power markets, expanding natural gas infrastructure and providing incentives for more investment in the electric grid.
Joseph G. Contrera is counsel in the Washington, D.C. office of Leydig, Voit & Mayer, Limited, an intellectual property law firm based in Chicago. He concentrates his practice in patent prosecution, litigation, U.S. Food & Drug Administration administrative and regulatory matters, as well as technology transfer and licensing.
Gabriel Eckstein (LLM '97), the creator and director of the International Water Law Project (IWLP), was selected as a "neutral" in the Track II water rights negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. The IWLP "serves as the premier resource on the Internet for international water law and policy issues. Its purpose is to educate and provide relevant resources to the public and to facilitate cooperation over the world's fresh water resources." Ecksteins is the George W. McCleskey Professor of Water Law and director of the Center for Water Law and Policy at Texas Tech University. An expert in U.S. and international water law and policy, he has served as an expert advisor or consultant on U.S. and international water and environmental issues to various organizations, including the World Commission on Dams, Organization of American States (OAS), U.S. Agency for International Development, and local water districts in Texas.Currently, Eckstein is an advisor to the U.N. Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization's International Hydrological Programme(UNESCO-IHP) and Ambassador Chusei Yamada of the U.N. International Law Commission in the development of an international agreement on transboundary ground water resources. He also participates in meetings of ISARM (International Shared Aquifer Resources Management) Americas Programme, a joint effort of the International Association of Hydrogeologists, UNESCO-IHP, and OAS, and advises on issues related to international water law and transboundary ground water resources.
Fedora J. Nick, director of the Executive Bar Review and managing partner of the National Bar Review, LLC, welcomed her third son, Kai Nick Taxon in September 2007. He joins older brothers Samson and Asher.
Michael Weinstein is chair of the White Collar Practice Group at Cole, Schotz, Meisel, Forman & Leonard, PA. Previously, he was a trial attorney and federal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice.
Matthew M. Greenberg is partner in the Wilmington, Delaware office of Pepper Hamilton, LLP. He focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and securities, and Delaware corporate and alternative entity law. Greenberg is a member of the Delaware State Bar Association (DSBA) for which he serves as vice president at-large. He also is co-chair of DSBA's Community Service Committee and chair of the association's Governance and Bylaws Committee as well as a member of the Alternative Entity Subcommittee of the DSBA's Corporation Law Council, which is responsible for drafting amendments to the Delaware statutes governing limited liability companies, limited partnerships and partnerships. He also serves on the board of the Delaware Lawyers Assistance Program and provides services to the American Inns of Court Foundation.
David A. Kessler was a finalist in the Washington Area Corporate Counsel Association (WMACCA) Corporate Counsel Awards Program. WMACCA is the largest regional bar association for in-house counsel. He is senior corporate counsel at Symantec Corporation.
Linda Woolley joined the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) as executive vice president, Government Affairs in August 2008. Based in DMA's Washington, D.C. office, Woolley is responsible for strategically managing the advocacy, legislative and political efforts of the association, supporting DMA's overall business and marketing objectives and building upon DMA's position in the direct marketing community and business world at large. Previously, Woolley was principal of LegisLaw, a full-service public affairs and government relations consulting firm that she founded in 1999. She has been director of public affairs for ITT Industries and director of public affairs for ITT Corporation. In addition, she has held senior positions with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Health and the Environment.
Sean Hunt is senior vice president and general counsel of Cryptek, Incorporated, a leading innovator of secure information-sharing and information-assurance products and solutions. Hunt has global responsibility for all legal matters of the firm and its subsidiaries, including corporate, transactional, intellectual property and litigation matters. Prior to joining Cryptek, Hunt was senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of TVI Corporation, a publicly traded manufacturer of shelters and personal protection equipment for military and first responders. Previously, he was vice president, general counsel and assistant secretary for Visual Networks and in private practice with K&L Gates, LLP. Prior to entering the legal profession, Hunt held managerial, financial and engineering positions with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Cigna Securities and Booz, Allen Hamilton.
John P. Casey, a land use attorney at Robinson & Cole, LLP, was elected to the Board of Directors of Connecticut Legal Services, Incorporated (CLS). CLS is a private, nonprofit, civil law firm dedicated to providing access to justice as a means of improving the lives of low-income people. Casey's practice focuses on land use and environmental matters, particularly zoning, wetlands and coastal permitting, as well as litigation related to land use permitting and real property disputes. He is a volunteer with Lawyers for Children America, which provides representation to child victims in abuse and neglect proceedings, and is a member of the town of Groton (Connecticut) Democratic Town Committee. Casey is president of the Board of Directors of the Connecticut Cruise Ship Task Force, a nonprofit entity that promotes and coordinates cruise ship visits to ports in Connecticut, and treasurer of the New London Education Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides grants for educational programs in New London, Connecticut.
Heather Kofron was named a 2008 Virginia Rising Star in the areas of Employment & Labor, Civil Litigation Defense, and Health Care. The Rising Star designation recognizes top up-and-coming attorneys in the state. A partner at Vandeventer Black, LLP, in Richmond, Kofron concentrates her practice in civil litigation, with a focus on insurance defense, products liability, employment litigation, personal injury and wrongful death defense, medical malpractice defense, warranty/lemon law, and business and commercial disputes. Kofron is an experienced trial attorney through all phases of litigation in state and federal courts throughout Virginia. Her recent notable cases include defending a national security company against a sexual assault claim that arose on a prominent university; defending national long-term care providers against survival, personal injury and wrongful deaths claims; and prosecuting and defending claims for civil conspiracy, tortious interference, violations of trade secrets and other business related torts.
Kevin Levey is a partner with Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, LLP, in the Washington, D.C. office. An energy lawyer, Levey's practice includes international business transactions such as infrastructure projects development, project finance, mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures and privatizations. He has expertise in the development of nuclear, solar, biomass and other renewable energy-based and clean coal-fired power projects. He has represented large multinational companies in the design, financing, construction, operation and acquisition of major power generation, LNG terminal and pipeline projects in Brazil, Guatemala and Mexico. In addition, he has advised the governments of Nigeria, Panama and Serbia on a variety of public infrastructure privatization and commercialization projects.
Julie Cillo was named a 2008 Virginia Rising Star in the area of Family Law. The Rising Star designation recognizes top up-and-coming attorneys in the state. A partner at Hall & Hall, PLC, in Midlothian, Cillo is secretary to the Metropolitan Richmond Family Law Bar Association and holds leadership roles in a number of other civic and professional organizations working for the citizens of Virginia.
Michelle B. Ferguson was named shareholder/director at Ireland Stapleton Pryor & Pascoe, PC, where she will continue to focus her practice on employment law, including drafting all types of employment documents and personnel policies, conducting employee trainings and independent investigations of discrimination, harassment and retaliation claims and representing clients in all types of employment law matters. Ferguson was selected in 2006 as the Denver Bar Association's Young Lawyer of the Year.
Jonathan M. Gelchinsky is a partner at Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP, in the Cambridge, Massachusetts office. Gelchinsky handles trademark litigation, domestic and international trademark prosecution and disputes, trademark clearance and proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
From her home in Israel, Jasmin Keshet (LLM) announces the birth of twin girls, born on May 23, 2007.
Asad Ba-Yunus serves on the Florida Bar's Voluntary Bar Liaison Committee. Ba-Yunus is the outgoing and first president of the Florida Muslim Bar Association and was elected to the Board of Directors of the Islamic Society of North America. He is a precinct committeeman for the Democratic Party in Broward County and serves on the Board of the Center for Voter Advocacy, a Florida-based voter education, outreach and empowerment organization. Previously an assistant state's attorney in Miami-Dade County, he is in private practice as a senior associate at a small civil practice firm in Fort Lauderdale, specializing in medical malpractice defense.
Carlos A. Calderin was appointed by the Dalton (Georgia) City Council to the Dalton Public Safety Commission. Calderin maintains a practice, Calderin & Oliva, PA, in both Dalton and Miami.
Meetesh V. Patel is president of Kinetic Power Corporation and a member of the Board of Directors of Octillion Corporation. Octillion is a next-generation alternative and renewable energy technology incubator and Kinetic Power is a wholly owned subsidiary specifically focusing on generating electricity from moving vehicles. Previously, Patel founded and managed MVP Law Group, PA, representing corporate clients, entrepreneurs, scientific and research organizations, hospitals, teaching institutions and others with matters ranging from planning, structuring and early contract negotiations to the buying and selling of successful business ventures.
Jim Ferg-Cadima was selected by Harvard Law School as a 2008-2009 Wasserstein Fellow. According to Harvard, "The Wasserstein Public Interest Fellows Program brings outstanding public interest attorneys from across the country to the Harvard Law School campus for one or two days during the year to advise law students about public service careers. Wasserstein Fellows are selected based on the depth and diversity of their public interest experiences, the areas of expertise which interest students, and the personal qualities that will make them excellent advisers." In addition, Ferg-Cadima is a member of the Dean's Diversity Council.
Maggie Kaminer is in private practice in New York City, where she focuses on matrimonial and family law. She can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Hyla Kaplan married David Rosenberg in June 2008. Kaplan is employed by Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy in Philadelphia, where they reside.
Jeremy T. Elman and Jill Firestone Elman are the parents of twin boys, Tyler David and Oliver Blake. Jill is on hiatus from practicing insurance coverage law. Jeremy is partner in the Intellectual Property, Media & Technology Practice Group in McDermott Will & Emery's Miami, Florida office. He focuses on intellectual property disputes and complex commercial litigation, representing clients in major patent, trade secret, trademark and copyright disputes. He has substantial litigation experience in computer software and consumer electronics technology.
Danielle K. Schonback is partner in the Energy & Derivatives Markets Practice Group in McDermott Will & Emery's New York office. Schonback represents investment banks, hedge funds and energy and commodity companies in a variety of transactional, regulatory and risk management matters.
Anita P. Sharma, of the Political Asylum/Immigration Representation (PAIR) Project, was named one of 15 members of the Boston Bar Association's Public Interest Leadership Program. Now in its sixth year, the leadership training program is for lawyers who have practiced law for less than 10 years and fosters the professional relationships that are essential to success.
Cecelia Duran married Ben Closs in December in San Diego, California.
Melanie Orhant is director of Pro Bono Services at the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty (NLCHP). Orhant works to expand pro bono projects available to law firms affiliated with NLCHP, especially those members of the Lawyers' Executive Advisory Partners (LEAP). NLCHP initiated its LEAP program in 2004 to formalize and expand its pro bono network. Prior to joining NLCHP, Orhant served as managing attorney of Break the Chain Campaign, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the promotion of human rights for migrant workers. Orhant also was an Equal Justice Works Fellow from 2003-2005 and a Frederick B. Abramson Fellow from 2003-2004.
Douglas T. Radigan is an associate in the Business and Finance Practice Area at Bowditch & Dewey, LLP, where he concentrates his practice in all aspects of civil litigation. Previously, Radigan was a trial attorney who defended and counseled individuals, corporations and insurance companies.
Jonathan G. Selib is chief of staff for Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.). Previously, he was Baucus' legislative director and served as tax counsel for the Senate Finance Committee. He began working with Baucus in 2001 when he served as a law clerk for the Senate Finance Committee.
Peter H. Matson lives in Malta and teaches immigration litigation at the University of Malta maintains a private practice in immigration, employment and labor law. In December, he retired from the U.S. Navy after 28 years of service. His wife is the United States Defense and Naval Attache.
Rodney Peele is assistant director of Regulatory Policy and Outreach at the American Optometric Association. Previously, Peele was in the Health Policy and Practice Department of the American Podiatric Medicine Association.
David Carlos Baluarte married Beth Hannah Luft in New York City in August.
Colin Bell practices at the Atlantic City, New Jersey firm of Hankin Sandman & Palladino, where he practices in all areas of civil litigation with an emphasis on construction litigation and criminal law. Previously an assistant Atlantic County prosecutor, Bell clerked during the 2005-2006 term for the Honorable Michael A. Donio in the New Jersey Superior Court, Law Division, Criminal Part.
Christopher Loutit married Lauren Suzanne Balbach in July 2008. Loutit is an associate at the Wilmington, North Carolina law firm Johnson, Lambeth & Brown.
Araj F. Ahmed is an associate in the Labor & Employment Practice at Hunton & Williams, LLP. Previously, he was with Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, LLP.
Michael Bassik is chief digital officer of Air America Media, the nation's largest progressive radio network.
Theresa Harris is executive director of the World Organization for Human Rights USA, a nonprofit human rights litigation group based in Washington, D.C. Previously, she was the organization's deputy director and directed the International Justice and Accountability Project. She was a key member of the Human Rights USA's litigation team in the case Xiaoning v. Yahoo!, the lawsuit the organization brought on behalf of Chinese writers imprisoned for exercising their right to free expression after Yahoo! turned over their e-mails to Chinese authorities.
Joseph Scura married Janine Pantaleo in December. He is a law clerk for the Honorable Ernest M. Caposela, of the New Jersey Superior Court.
Class Notes (to appear in the Fall issue of the Advocate Magazine) compiled between January 5, 2008 and June 20, 2008. Additional class notes will appear in the spring.
Dorothy Toth Beasley graduated from Emory Law School's LLM Program in International Law in May.
Russell O. Vail, a former FBI Agent, was presented with the Official Medal for Excellence and Service to Our Nation Award in May 1 by The Honorable Ronald J. James '66, assistant secretary of the Army, Manpower and Reserve Affairs at the American Federal Contract Investigators Association (AFCIA) National Conference. Russell holds two national offices with AFCIA, including Central Region director and member of the Board of Directors. Vail resides in White Lake, Michigan.
Jack C. Berenzweig was named an "Illinois Super Lawyer" for 2008 in a survey conducted by Law & Politics magazine. Berenzweig practices in the Intellectual Property Area at Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione, one of the largest intellectual property law firms in the country.
Ralph Ruebner, a professor of law at the John Marshall Law School, was recently promoted to associate dean of Academic Affairs.
Terence E. Smolev, a partner in the law firm of Forchelli, Curto, Schwartz, Mineo, Carlino & Cohn, LLP (FCSMC&C), has been elected to the Board of Trustees of Dowling College, located in Oakdale, New York. Smolev began his career at a New York City accounting firm before establishing a private legal practice on Long Island and eventually merging his firm with FCSMC&C in 2000. As partner-in-charge of the Tax, Trusts and Estates Department, Smolev concentrates his practice in all aspects of tax, corporate, estates, trusts and elder law. He has served as an adjunct professor at Hofstra University Schools of Business and Law, teaching accounting, business law, tax law and estate planning.
Thomas W. Tolpin is proud to announce the formation of a new intellectual property law firm specializing in patents, trademarks and related matters with his partner Brett M. Tolpin. The office, Tolpin & Partners, PC, is located in Chicago.
Lennard Loewentritt was appointed deputy general counsel of the U.S. General Services Administration in March. Loewentritt also will continue as acting general counsel. Loewentritt has served in various capacities in the Office of General Counsel for more than 35 years. As acting general counsel, he has been responsible for providing all legal services to components of the agency including the Federal Acquisition Service, Public Buildings Service and the Office of Governmentwide Policy.
Steven I. Platt retired from the Circuit Court for Prince George's County, Maryland (7th Circuit) to engage in the private practice of alternative dispute resolution (settlement conferencing/mediation, arbitration, neutral case evaluation and public policy facilitation) as well as consulting on business litigation prevention with The Platt Group, Inc. He also writes a regular bi-weekly op-ed column, "The Pursuit of Justice," which appears in The Daily Record, a business and legal newspaper based in Baltimore.
T. Timothy Ryan Jr. is chief executive officer of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. Previously, Ryan was vice chairman of investment banking for financial institutions and governments at JPMorgan. Prior to joining JPMorgan, Ryan was director of the Treasury Department's Office of Thrift Supervision and a director at both the Resolution Trust Corporation and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. From 1983 to 1990, he was a partner in the Washington office of the law firm Reed, Smith, Shaw & McClay, LLP where he headed its Pension Investment Group. From 1981 to 1983 he was solicitor of labor at the Department of Labor.
In 2007, Arthur N. Chagaris was selected for the second consecutive year as one of New Jersey's top attorneys by New Jersey Super Lawyers Magazine. Chagaris heads the Litigation Department at Beattie Padovano, LLC in Montvale.
Gary L. Lieber, a partner in Saul Ewing's Labor, Employment and Employee Benefits Practice Group, was recognized as "Washington, D.C. Super Lawyer" by Law & Politics magazine. The Super Lawyers list honors the top 5 percent of the lawyers in Washington, D.C. based on surveys with lawyers throughout the D.C. area and independent research by Law & Politics. Lieber has more than 30 years of experience as a labor and employment attorney. He concentrates his practice in labor-management relations and defense of employment discrimination cases on behalf of management. He serves as National Labor Counsel to the National Electrical Contractors Association and is co-counsel to the Council on Industrial Relations for the Electrical Contracting Industry.
Charles A. Poekel Jr. is director of legal services and chief counsel to Local 74 USWU Legal Fund in Long Island City, New York. In addition, he published a second book, Babe & the Kid: The Legendary Story of Babe Ruth and Johnny Sylvester published by the History Press of Charleston, South Carolina.
R. Terrance Rader, of Rader, Fishman & Grauer, PLLC, was named a "Michigan Super Lawyer" by Law & Politics, a national journal of legal and political issues. The names were released recently in a special supplement to the New York Times. Michigan Super Lawyers represent the top 5 percent of practicing attorneys in the state. They are identified in a thorough nine-month search involving peer nominations, queries of law firm managing partners and a review of the past year's major verdicts. Rader, a founding member of the law firm, is considered one of the top intellectual property litigators in America. He has more than three decades of experience in patent, trademark and trade secret litigation appearing before U.S. District Courts across the United States and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Rader is a former primary examiner for the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office and is listed in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in American Law and Best Lawyers in America.
Reggie Walton is a judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Sue Auerbach retired from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in March.
Michele Goldfarb is associate ombudsman at the University of Pennsylvania. In addition, she serves as director of the Penn Women's Center, a role she assumed in 2007. From 2006-2007, she taught in the Penn Law School, primarily in the Civil Practice Clinic, and assisted in the Mediation Clinic, where she has been teaching as an adjunct professor since. Goldfarb was the director of Penn's Office of Student Conduct (OSC), a position she held for 11 years.
Aubrey Sarvis is the executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN). Founded in 1993, SLDN is a national, nonprofit policy advocacy, legal services and watchdog organization dedicated to ending discrimination against and harassment of military personnel affected by "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy and related forms of intolerance.
David Landau, a partner in WolfBlock's Litigation and Intellectual Property/Information Technology practice groups spearheaded a significant victory for its client ConsulNet Computing Inc. in a theft of intellectual property case that alleged a local defendant stole ConsulNet's Web site designs and content as well as other intellectual property. ConsulNet, a Toronto-based company, offers business-generating Web services, including Web site design, to real estate agents across North America. M. David Moore of Chalfont, Pennsylvania, participated in a 60-day free trial of ConsulNet and then pirated materials and lead-generation techniques copyrighted by ConsulNet and Craig Proctor, a nationally renowned expert in marketing techniques and tools for real estate agents. Moore then created his own Web site business--WebAgent Solutions, copied ConsulNet's product and began selling to ConsulNet's customers at half the price. After a three-week trial before Judge Louis H. Pollak in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the jury found liability against Moore and his company on all counts, including breach of contract, U.S. and Canadian copyright infringement and interference with contractual relations. The jury also weighed in the tort claim and found that Moore's interference with ConsulNet's customers was willful and "outrageous," thereby making punitive damages available.
Mary Gray, a professor in American University's Math and Statistics Department, was recently named a fellow of the American Statistical Association.
Melissa Langa was elected vice president of the Executive Council of the Boston Estate Planning Council (BEPC). Langa is a partner in the Boston law firm of Bove & Langa, where she guides individuals, families, businesses and charitable organizations in designing and implementing customized tax-efficient structures to meet their particular estate planning, business and charitable needs. Langa also serves as co-chair of the Generation Skipping Transfer Committee of the American Bar Association and a lecturer in law at Boston University School of Law in the Graduate Tax Program. BEPC was established in 1930 to form an inter-professional communication forum and is affiliated with the National Association of Estate Planning Councils.
Rhonda Hill Wilson recently served as a faculty member and speaker for the American Association for Justice's (AAJ) Trial Advocacy College educational program "Litigation Nursing Home Cases." The program was held at the St. Regis Resort in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in June. Wilson is an active member of the AAJ; she is a member of the Executive and Membership Oversight committees and the National Finance, Public Affairs, and Organization Review committees. Wilson has been practicing law for nearly three decades in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, concentrating on nursing home negligence, while also handling medical malpractice, catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, motor vehicle accident and premises liability matters. Wilson serves on The Salvation Army of Greater Philadelphia's Advisory.
Ellen Kahn is managing partner at Sideman & Bancroft, LLP, the first female to hold the position. Practicing in the Tax and Estate Planning Group, Kahn has been with the firm for 25 of its 30 years in business. She will serve a three-year term. In her legal practice, Kahn focuses on all aspects of estate planning and the estate and trust administration process. She represents key executives and founders of public and privately held companies; spouses and domestic partners; multiple generations of families; and trustees and beneficiaries of trusts. Kahn advises in creating wills, trusts and charitable entities to achieve clients' goals concerning their children, grandchildren and philanthropy. She also represents trustees and executors in their roles as administrators of complex trusts with multiple beneficiaries and multiple assets, including operating businesses. Kahn is a member of the Estate Planning, Probate and Trust section of the San Francisco Bar Association and of the San Francisco Estate Planning Council. She serves on the board of directors of the Breast Cancer Fund and Mount Zion Health Fund.
Carol Melton received the 2008 Vanguard Award for Government and Community Relations from The National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA). The award recognizes those who have had a significant impact on promoting a positive public image and advocating public policy positions for the cable industry. Melton, Time Warner's executive vice president for global public policy, is its top lobbyist--domestically and internationally--and oversees offices in Washington, D.C., London, Brussels and Hong Kong. Melton began her law career at Hogan & Hartson in 1981. In 1983, she joined the NCTA as an assistant general counsel and spent three years there after which she joined the staff of the Federal Communications Commission's then-Commissioner Mark Fowler as a legal advisor and handled cable, broadcast and mass media issues. A year later, she left for Warner Communications where she helped shepherd the mega merger of Warner and Time Incorporated. Melton moved to Viacom in 1997 and provided counsel in another major merger when it purchased CBS in 1999 for $36 billion. After the deal was approved, her policy responsibilities included CBS, Paramount, MTV Networks, Showtime and Simon & Shuster. Melton rejoined Time Warner in June 2005 to run its lobbying operations. On a daily basis, Melton oversees the policy concerns of Time Warner Cable, its distribution operations, Warner Brothers Studio, America Online and Time Inc.
Mark Long, managing partner of Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt, received the 2008 Hubbard One Excellence in Legal Marketing Award: Marketing Partner of the Year. The award was formally announced and awarded at the 15th Annual Marketing Partner Forum in Palm Beach, Florida in January. As a shareholder in the firm, Long focuses his practice on merger, acquisition, divestiture and other significant business transactions, corporate finance and corporate counseling. He is a part of the firm's Mergers & Acquisitions Practice Group, which has represented clients in hundreds of significant transactions in the past five years, many for which Long served as the lead transaction counsel.
Corrine Parver, retired partner of Dickstein Shapiro, LLP, current WCL practitioner-in-residence and executive director of the WCL Health Law Project, is pleased to announce the birth of her two granddaughters: Lia Rose Oremland, born to Deborah Parver Oremland '00 and Ryan Banks Oremland; and Noa Ruby Parver, born to Maya Godofsky Parver and Dr. David Parver.
Bruce Plaxen, founder of Plaxen & Adler, PA, received the 2007 President's Award from the Maryland Trial Lawyers Association. Plaxen was honored for "exemplary leadership, vision and unwavering commitment as chair of MTLA's political action committee, which strengthened our ability to protect our clients, address civil justice and consumer issues in the legislature and prevent the erosion of injured people's rights." Plaxen & Adler is a personal injury law firm in Columbia, Maryland.
Franz R. Rassman joined Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, LLP, as a partner in the Real Estate Department. Rassman represents private and public commercial real estate investors and developers, investment funds, pension funds, banks and other financial institutions. He focuses his practice on the acquisition and dispositions of office buildings, shopping centers and hotels; office and retail leasing; joint ventures; real estate lending; workouts; and creditors' rights. Rassman has been recognized by various real estate industry organizations for his role as owner's or developer's counsel in several complex transactions, including his representation of Tishman Speyer Properties in connection with the relocation of Volkswagen of America's headquarter from Michigan to Herndon, Virginia, a transaction that won the 2007 NAIOP award for Best Lease Transaction in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.
Kathy Bailey, principal of the Bailey Law Group, PC, was recently recognized as one of Washington, D.C.'s top lawyers in the area of civil litigation by Washington DC Super Lawyers. Honorees were chosen using a multi-step evaluation process that incorporated peer recognition and professional achievement. Only 5 percent of the total lawyers in the Washington, D.C. metro area are listed in Super Lawyers. Bailey represents both individuals and businesses in state and federal court proceedings. She has special expertise in environmental, employment and business litigation. Bailey Law Group was chosen by Washingtonian magazine as one of the "Best Places to Work" in 2007.
Kim Guadagno is the first female sheriff of Monmouth County, New Jersey. The sheriff serves as the chief executive and administrative officer of Monmouth County's largest law enforcement agency with 735 employees who serve in the Law Enforcement Division, the 1,328-bed maximum security correctional institution, the Youth Detention Center, the Civil Division and the Public Safety and 911 Emergency Dispatch Center. The Monmouth County Sheriff's Office is the first law enforcement agency in the United States to be simultaneously accredited nationally by the National Sheriffs' Association in five areas: law enforcement, correctional facility, correctional health care, 911 emergency dispatch and youth detention center. Guadagno continues to teach first-year law students in legal research and writing at Rutgers School of Law, Newark.
Sandra E. Langs is human resources and professional development director at Phillips Lytle, a Buffalo, New York law firm.
Clyde E. "Sonny" Ellis Jr. was named general counsel, senior vice president and secretary of Parsons Corporation in July. Previously, Ellis was vice president and associate general counsel. Ellis joined Parsons in 2005, providing legal services to the corporation's transportation group. He came to Parsons from General Electric Company (GE), where he was counsel to GE's Transportation Division with legal responsibility for all of the division's international activities. Prior to his tenure with GE, Ellis was an associate and then partner with the international law firm of Brian Cave LLP, where he specialized in corporate and international business transactions, technology transfers, and regulatory trade matters. During part of that time, he was the managing attorney of the firm's office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Parsons provides technical and management solutions to private industrial customers worldwide, as well as federal, regional, and local government agencies.
Laurie Martinelli is the executive director of The National Alliance on Mental Illness of Massachusetts (NAMI-MA). Previously, Martinelli was executive director of Health Law Advocates (HLA), Health Care For All's public interest law firm, which provides legal advocacy to consumers denied access to health care. She was involved in the establishment of HLA's Children's Mental Health Project and oversaw advocacy publications and educational programs. NAMI-MA is a nonprofit, grassroots education and advocacy group dedicated to improving the quality of life for people affected by mental illness.
Paul W. Jones, of Okemos, Michigan, was appointed as a federal administrative law judge with the Social Security Administration in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Gary J. Stein is director and managing principal of the new Washington, D.C. office of CresaPartners, a corporate real estate firm that exclusively represents tenants. Stein, formerly of Studley, Incorporated, will continue his 22-year career representing tenants which has resulted in the completion of more than 200 transactions totaling more than 2,500,000 square feet. At Studley, he specialized in the representation of law firms, trade associations, nonprofit organizations and corporations in the D.C. metropolitan area since 1992. Prior to his tenure at Studley, Stein practiced real estate law for seven years at Shulman, Rogers, Gandal, Pordy & Ecker, PA, in Rockville, Maryland.
Brian Weinberger joined Buchalter Nemer as a shareholder in the Litigation Practice Group. Weinberger is a commercial litigator who represents businesses ranging from automotive and real estate to manufacturing in a wide range of commercial disputes.
Judith Harris, a partner at Tallman, Hudders & Sorrentino, joined the Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church. The Board of Pensions is the organization responsible for investment and administration of the benefits plan and assistance programs of the denomination, managing nearly $8 billion and serving more than 57,000 plan members throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. Harris serves on the board's Legal and Assistance committees. In addition, Harris was recently elected board secretary of the Estate Planning Council of the Lehigh Valley. She is currently president of the Fund to Benefit Children & Youth, Incorporated; board operations committee chair of the Allentown Symphony; and a board member of the Lehigh County Agricultural Society. Harris' practice focuses on taxation, wills and trusts, and estate administration. She is a member of the management committee of Tallman, Hudders & Sorrentino.
Jesse M. Caplan was named chief legal counsel of Fallon Community Health Plan. A lawyer with Epstein Becker & Green, PC, Caplan is a member of the firm's national Health Care and Life Sciences practice. He served as chief of the Consumer Protection and Antitrust Division for the Massachusetts attorney general's office. He also served as a trial lawyer in the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division, as a special assistant U.S. attorney in New Mexico, and taught at Suffolk University School of Law.
Reginald Simmons was honored by the Aiken Branch of the NAACP at their Freedom Fund Banquet in April. The event highlighted the contributions of African-American legal professionals in Aiken County, South Carolina. Simmons was the first African-American magistrate in the county. Currently, he is president of The Simmons Law Firm with offices in Augusta and Atlanta and a member of Grant, Edmond & Simmons, a regional medical malpractice and catastrophic injury law firm.
Martin P. Dunn is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of O'Melveny & Myers, LLP. Previously, Dunn was deputy director and former acting director of the Division of Corporation Finance at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. O'Melveny & Myers employs more than 1,000 lawyers in 13 offices worldwide.
Justin Brooks was named one of "California's Top 100 Attorneys" by the Los Angeles Daily Journal. A professor at California Western School of Law, he also is executive director of the Institute for Criminal Defense Advocacy; director of the LLM in Trial Advocacy Program; and project director of Innocence Projects. He was only one of four law professors to be named to the list.
Donald R. Rawlins is counsel in the Corporate Transactions and Securities Group at Alston & Bird, LLP. Previously, Rawlins provided consulting services for companies and small law firms regarding securities compliance, mergers and acquisitions, and commercial transactions. Among other work, he assisted a Fortune 500 client with commercial contracts related to opening manufacturing facilities in China and India. Rawlins also was assistant general counsel and chief compliance officer for Thomas & Betts Corporation, a leading designer and global manufacturer of electrical connectors and components used in industrial, commercial communications and utility markets. Prior to Thomas & Betts, he was vice president and assistant general counsel for AutoZone, Inc., the nation's leading retailer of automotive parts and accessories for 14 years.
Marci Alboher left the practice of law several years ago to pursue a career as a freelance journalist. She currently writes the "Shifting Careers" column and blog for The New York Times. Last year, her book, One Person/Multiple Careers was published by Warner Books. The book popularized the term, "slash," to refer to people who pursue multiple vocations concurrently. Marci lives in New York City with her beau Jay and their French bulldog, Sinatra.
Lawrence Dunmore III married Karen E. Dates in October 2007. Dunmore practices law in the District of Columbia.
Matthew Nicely joined the Washington office of Thompson Hine, LLP as a partner in the International Trade & Customs practice group. He focuses his practice on trade remedy and customs laws, WTO dispute settlement and other trade policy disputes. Previously, he worked with the trade group at Vinson & Elkins, where he represented respondents in antidumping, countervailing duty and Section 201 safeguard litigation before U.S. agencies and U.S. courts, including investigations/reviews before the U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Commission and U.S. Trade Representative. He is chair of the International Trade Committee Section on International Law for the American Bar Association and an adjunct professor at WCL, where he teaches a class titled The United States Trade Regime.
Scott Chaplin is general counsel at Stanley Incorporated.
Julie C. Ferguson is a sole practitioner in Miami, Florida who devotes her practice to immigration and nationality law. She has written a book titled AILA's Focus on Waivers Under the Immigration and Nationality Act. The book was published by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) this year.
Catharine Ellingsen was named vice president, deputy general counsel by Allied Waste Industries, Inc. She joined Allied in 2001 as managing corporate counsel, Labor and Employment, where she developed the company's employment and labor law and labor relations functions, including handling litigation and providing counsel and advice to management. In 2004, she was appointed associate general counsel, director of legal; as such she furthered the company's labor and employment practices and continued to provide counsel to senior management on a wide variety of corporate matters and directed related training for the company. Allied Waste is American's second-largest, non-hazardous solid waste services company.
Jordan Berson Yeager joined Curtin & Heefner, LLP, in its Employment & Municipal Law Section. Formerly in private practice as the named partner in a public interest law firm, Yeager served successfully as counsel in several recent groundbreaking cases, including in matters involving constitutional rights issues; claims of reasonable accommodation against a municipal defendant; and the right to a jury trial in a whistleblower retaliation case. Named by American Lawyer Media as a "Lawyer on the Fast Track" in 2006, Yeager received the Hobson, King, Parks, Douglass, Heutte Award for service to the New Free D.C. Movement in 1993. Yeager has served as solicitor to Nockamixon Township and as labor counsel to Falls Township and is the current solicitor of the Bucks County Democratic Committee. He served on the Advisory Board of the National Voting Rights Institute, as a cooperating attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, and is a former member of the National Executive Committee of the National Lawyers Guild. He is an active member of the National Employment Lawyers Association and the National Police Accountability Project. In addition, Yeager currently serves as a referral panel member for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and Gay and Lesbian Lawyers of Philadelphia.
Pamela O'Berry Evans, commissioner of the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, assumed the position of board chair in April. She served as a commonwealth's attorney for Richmond for more than seven years, and earned the rank of deputy commonwealth's attorney. Most recently, she served as general counsel for the Richmond Police Department. Evans has been an at-large board member for the Legal Officer's Section of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
Russell W. Gray has been named by the law firm of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC, as its Chattanooga Pro Bono Attorney of the Year. He was honored for his long-time, continuing service to the Council for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services Inc., a nonprofit organization that offers treatment, counseling and prevention programs to combat substance abuse in the community. Gray is a shareholder in the firm's Chattanooga office and concentrates his practice in litigation and labor and employment issues.
Richard R. Verma rejoined Steptoe & Johnson, LLP, after serving for five years as a key policy advisor to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Verma is a partner in the firm's Government Affairs and Public Policy Group and International Regulation and Compliance Group. Verma initially joined Steptoe in 1998 as a member of the firm's International and Technology Practices. Before coming to the firm, he served as a U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate for four years, as well as staff assistant to Congressman Jack Murtha, longtime chairman of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. With more than 400 attorneys, Steptoe & Johnson provides counsel and representation in a wide range of legal fields. In more than 60 years of practice, the firm has gained a national and international reputation for vigorous representation of clients before governmental agencies, successful advocacy in litigation and arbitration, and creative and practical advice in guiding business transactions.
James R. Miner is counsel at Hunton & Williams, LLP. Miner practices in the firm's Litigation and Intellectual Property groups. He joined Hunton & Williams in 2000 and is resident in the McLean office. His practice focuses on intellectual property, including preparation and prosecution of patent applications, patentability and right-to-use opinions, and related counseling. His core focus area is working with financial services-related technologies. Hunton & Williams is a U.S. law firm with a global reach, with more than 1,000 lawyers in 18 offices.
Margaret Witherup Tindall, of Gordon, Feinblatt, Rothman, Hoffberger & Hollander, LLC, was selected by The Daily Record as one of Maryland's Top 100 Women for 2008. One hundred women from throughout the state of Maryland with a wide variety of occupations and accomplishments have been named to the list. The Maryland's Top 100 Women program recognizes outstanding achievement by female professionals who give back to their professions and their communities by mentoring others and by personal community leadership. Tindall is a member of the firm's Environmental & Energy and Litigation practice groups. She concentrates her practice in all aspects of environmental law and general business litigation. In addition to being involved in the American, Maryland and Baltimore City bar associations, she is a member of the National Brownfields Association, the Urban Land Institute and is a member of the Board of Directors of Chesapeake Habitat for Humanity.
Jonathan E. Goldberg is a partner in the New York City office of Seyfarth Shaw, LLP. Previously, Goldberg was of counsel at Greenberg Traurig. Goldberg's practice focuses primarily on employment litigation, complex commercial litigation, and ERISA litigation, and he has successfully litigated in federal and state courts throughout the country. In addition, Goldberg is a member of the Board of Directors of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. Seyfarth Shaw has more than 750 attorneys located in nine offices throughout the United States and Brussels, Belgium. The firm provides a broad range of legal services in the areas of labor and employment, employee benefits, litigation and business services.
Bradley T. Lennie is a partner at Hunton & Williams, LLP, in the firm's intellectual property practice. Based in Washington, he concentrates on IP protection and enforcement, with an emphasis on patent infringement litigation, and has represented patent holders and accused infringers in patent infringement lawsuits in various U.S. District Courts throughout the country and in subsequent appeals before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He has received the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs for successful representation of a pro bono client in an Americans with Disabilities Act trial before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Hunton & Williams is a U.S. law firm with a global reach, with more than 1,000 lawyers in 18 offices.
C. Vincent Leon-Guerrero was elected partner at Blank Rome, LLP. He is a member of the Real Estate Group, representing institutional investors, REITS, local and national developers, and corporations in connection with real estate financing, development, acquisition and disposition and leasing transactions. With more than 500 attorneys serving clients across the globe, Blank Rome is an international law firm representing businesses and organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies to start-up entities.
Stephen P. Hanson joined the Corporate and Securities Practice Group at DLA Piper as a partner in its New York office. Prior to joining DLA Piper, Hanson was co-chair of Dorsey & Whitney's private equity practice group. Hanson focuses his practice on representing private equity and venture capital funds as well as their portfolio companies in a wide variety of transactions, both domestic and cross-border, including leveraged buyouts, follow-on acquisitions, sales and divestitures, secondaries, recapitalizations, leveraged dividends, acquisition debt financings, early and later-stage venture capital financings, initial public offerings and majority shareholder representations.
Vanessa Allen Sutherland is senior counsel at Altria Client Services, an affiliate of Philip Morris USA, in Richmond, Virginia. She continues to practice in the areas of technology licensing, outsourcing, privacy, and contracts. Sutherland also accepted two board positions for the Peter Paul Development Center, which provides spiritual, educational and social programs for senior citizens and at-risk youth in Richmond's East End; and the Washington Metropolitan Association of Corporate Counsel, where she co-created the Corporate Scholars Summer Program for law students to clerk in corporate law departments.
Jeffrey Zinn, an associate at Saul Ewing, LLP, was named to the board of directors of Advocates for Children and Youth. At Saul Ewing, Zinn provides a wide range of companies with day-to-day legal counseling. He represents clients in negotiated corporate and commercial transactions, such as mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, software and other licensing arrangements and other core commercial agreements. He also regularly assists clients in protecting and commercializing intellectual property and counsels start-up companies with respect to incorporation and organization matters, as well as buy/sell agreements, and other financing transactions and general corporate matters. In addition, he is a member of the Board of Directors of Moveable Feast.
James E. Armstrong IV recently joined Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge, LLP, as partner in its new Washington, DC office. Armstrong focuses his practice on patent preparation/prosecution, expert legal opinions, trademarks and litigation in the technical areas of chemical engineering, primarily polymers, biotechnology materials, process machinery and semiconductors, as well as mechanical engineering. Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge has one of the leading patent and trademark practices in the United States with extensive experience in establishing, managing, asserting and defending intellectual property rights for U.S. and foreign clients.
Jimmy A. Bell is the founding attorney of the Law Office of Jimmy A. Bell, PC, located in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, where he engages in a national civil rights and entertainment law practice. He has received awards from the U.S. House of Representatives, Maryland State Senate, governor of California, District of Columbia City Council and City Council of Baltimore for his legal work. He recently directed his first film, "Don't Hate: Strippers Fight the Government," a documentary about a federal lawsuit against Prince George's County on behalf of a local nightclub, which he represented.
Neil R. Lapinski is of counsel to the Wilmington, Delaware office of Elliott Greenleaf. He focuses his practice on the areas of tax, business, commercial, and contract litigation. He recently authored "Delaware and Foreign Banks Can Capitalize on Quasi-Thin Capitalization," 41 State Tax Notes 293 (July 31, 2006); 43 Tax Notes Int'l 9 (August 28, 2006), examining the recent trend in U.S. tax treaties allowing multinational banks operating branches in the United States to use the risk-weighted assets approach to allocate capital. He is a member of the Delaware Bar Association Section of Taxation and the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Additionally, Lapinski provides pro bono services for the Immigrant Counsel of Delaware.
Neil McCarthy is a partner in the new Washington, DC office of Townsend and Townsend and Crew, LLP. An intellectual property law firm of more than 200 attorneys and patent professionals, the Washington, DC office is the firm's first office on the East Coast. The office focuses on patents-advising clients on a wide range of patent procurement; patent validity and infringement opinions; patent portfolio counseling; and patent litigation in federal courts and before the ITC. McCarthy, who joined as a member of the Biotechnology & Chemistry Practice Group, brings a particular focus on opinion work and related patent counseling for generic pharmaceutical companies.
Dara Panahy is partner in the Global Project Finance Department at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, LLP. Formerly a senior associate, Panahy represents clients in the aerospace, communications and banking industries involved in space and communications ventures. He also counsels clients on domestic and international regulatory matters, including licensing of satellite, wireless and wireline communications systems, compliance with economic sanctions, national security and export control laws and regulations, risk management and legislative and policy monitoring. Panahy is a member of the Society for International Affairs and the Society of Satellite Professional International.
Magda Theodate was profiled on the International Committee Web page of the National Black Law Students Association. The article focused on her experience in international law.
Michael A. Troy joined Davis, Malm & D'Agostine, PC, as an associate in the Business Law Practice Group. Troy advises businesses in corporate and securities matters, including mergers and acquisitions, public and private financings, corporate governance, and regulatory matters. Troy was formerly an associate with Patton Boggs, LLP.
Marion Ely announces the birth of a son, Andrew, in March.
Sanya Sukduang was elected partner at Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP.
James Wilson was elected partner at Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP.
Alice Haase joined the northern Virginia office of Holland & Knight, LLP as an associate in the firm's Land Use Practice Group. She focuses her practice on land use and zoning, eminent domain, tax appeals, real estate transactions and affordable housing. Previously affiliated with Sack Harris & Martin, PC and Walsh, Colucci, Lubeley, Emrich and Walsh, she also has worked as a broker and a commercial appraiser.
Rachel Howell is assistant general counsel at the World Wildlife Fund in Washington, D.C.
Deborah Parver Oremland and her husband Ryan Banks Oremland announce the birth of Lia Rose Oremland.
Todd P. Taylor is an associate in the Intellectual Property Group at Connolly Bove Lodge & Hutz, LLP. He represents clients in a variety of areas, including patent litigation, patent prosecution, licensing and transactions and due diligence in the electrical and mechanical fields. Prior to joining the firm, Taylor worked as an international product manager at America Online and as an aerospace engineer at Teledyne Brown Engineering, Inc.
Shelia Bedi was featured in the January 2008 ABA Journal.
Antonia Fasanelli is executive director of the Homeless Persons Representation Project in Baltimore.
Jim Ferg-Cadima was selected as a Wasserstein Fellow for 2008-2009 by Harvard Law School. According to Harvard, "[t]he Wasserstein Public Interest Fellows program brings outstanding public interest attorneys from across the country to the Harvard Law School campus for one or two days during the year to advise law students about public service careers. Wasserstein Fellows are selected based on the depth and diversity of their public interest experiences, the areas of expertise which interest students, and the personal qualities that will make them excellent advisers."
Cynthia B. Lovinger joined Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, LLP, as an associate in the Land Use Department, where she practices litigation and eminent domain.
Karyn Dobroskey Rienzi is an associate in the Appellate Department at Post & Schell, PC.
Mitch Tuchman, of Womble Carlyle, was appointed chair of the Intellectual Property Law Section of the North Carolina Bar Association, which has more than 600 members who practice principally in the areas of patent, trademark and copyright law. Tuchman is an intellectual property lawyer resident in the firm's Research Triangle Park office. He has assisted clients with matters concerning the registration, licensing and enforcement of copyrights in subject matters as diverse as architecture, audio rerecording devices, books, computer software, distance learning courses, fabric and furniture designs, Internet screen displays, maps, motion pictures, murals, music composition, recording and performance, photography and picture postcards.
N. Nathan Dimock is a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Fraud Section. Prior to joining Department of Justice, Nathan was an associate at Skadden Arps in the Washington, DC litigation group.
Ana Maria Kleymeyer, head of the international section under Romina Picolotti (LLM) '99, Argentina's minister of environment, received a 2008 Climate Protection and Ozone Layer Protection Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The award program was established in 1998 to recognize exceptional leadership, outstanding innovation, personal dedication, and technical achievements in protecting the climate. The awards were presented at a special ceremony at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
Courtney Manzel and her husband Kevin, announce the birth of their second child, a daughter.
Beau Pichon is engaged to be married to Kristin T. Sicole Foley. He is a real estate attorney in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
Gilles A. E. Stucker Jr. is housing provider ombudsman with the Department of Housing and Community Development in Washington, D.C.
John S. Hilten is a partner at McGuireWoods, LLP. Hilten is head of McGuireWoods' patent prosecution group. He is a registered patent attorney who focuses on patent prosecution and related counseling. He has extensive experience with counseling and analysis in every facet of utility and design patent prosecution including initial invention disclosure, patent application drafting, responses, filing reissues and reexaminations, patent appeals and foreign filing. McGuireWoods, LLP is a full-service law firm with approximately 750 lawyers in 15 offices in the United States, Europe and Central Asia.
Cecelia Chen is a transactional associate at Solomon Ward Seidenwurm & Smith, LLP, where she practices business and real estate law, focusing on commercial real estate, including financing, leasing and purchases and sales. Previously, she was with the northern Virginia firm of Vanderpool, Frostick & Nishanian, PC.
Elizabeth Roma and Payam Siadatpour were married in December 2007. She is an attorney with the law firm of Guerrieri, Edmond, Clayman and Bartos, PC. He is an attorney with the law firm of Sutherland, Asbil and Brennan, LLP. They reside in Bethesda, Maryland.
Alain Bonavida married Michelle Drucker, a special education teacher, in November 2007. They live in Los Angeles, where he started a practice handling civil matters with an emphasis on business law/litigation.
Eric Huang is an assistant attorney general in the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia.
John K. Kim joined Howard & Howard Attorneys, PC, in the firm's Peoria, Illinois office. Kim represents employers in all facets of labor and employment counseling and litigation, litigating business interests in commercial claims and enforcing creditors' rights. His prior experience includes counseling employers on employee discipline and discrimination claims, unfair labor practices and civil rights claims. He has successfully litigated breach of contract claims for businesses and individuals. Most recently, Kim assisted in resolving multi-venue litigation on behalf of a group of minority shareholders against an agricultural cooperative. The action involved allegations of breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duties and issues of first impression under the Illinois Agricultural Cooperative Act.
Debra Sudo married Joseph Marra and has changed her name to Debra S. Sudo-Marra.
Sarah E. Suszczyk is assistant regional counsel at the National Association of Government Employee's Washington, D.C. metro office.
Laura Zeilinger is the deputy director for Program Operations of the Department of Human Services (DHS). Zeilinger, an attorney with a longstanding commitment to underserved populations, will act as an advisor to the agency director on all aspects of program operations and be responsible for directing the department's Income Maintenance Administration and the Family Services Administration. Zeilinger joined DHS after working as a part of the Health and Human Services cluster in the Office of the City Administrator where she served as liaison between the mayor and city administrator and the Department of Human Services and Office of Disability Rights. In that capacity, she was a key facilitator of the District's policies and achievements in the delivery of homeless services. She developed a strategy for the implementation of the District's Homeless No More Plan by identifying 2,500 units of permanent supportive housing and coordinating and directing the activities of the Interagency Council on Homelessness. Prior to that, Zeilinger spent much of her early career working on international economic development, managing a technical assistance project to reform the pension system in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Adam J. Cohen joined Stein, Sperling, Bennett, De Jong, Driscoll & Greenfeig, PC, as an associate. He provides both legal and legislative counsel to local governments and associations as part of the firm's Municipal Law Section and practices in the firm's Business Law Section. Prior to joining Stein Sperling, Cohen served as a law clerk with the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee and the Federal Trade Commission. He also worked as an assistant finance director for the City of Philadelphia.
Katherine Downs and Peter Oppenheim were married in September 2007. She is a legislative aide to Senator Mike Crapo. He is an associate specializing in international business at the Carmen Group, a lobbying firm in Washington, D.C. He is a member of the board of the Mayflower Foundation, which he founded with fellow undergraduates from Colby College. The Boston-based foundation raises money for disadvantaged children.
Aaron L. Enatsky is an associate in the Patent Group at Bell, Boyd & Lloyd, LLP.
Alyan Z. Hyder joined Dykema as an associate in the firm's Chicago office. Her practice focuses on general corporate matters. While in law school, she was a law clerk at the Office of General Counsel for the Department of Veterans Affairs. She also interned as a law clerk at the Department of Justice-Office of General Counsel and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
Jeannette Mendy is executive assistant to the director of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Service in Washington, D.C. She also is enrolled in an Elder Law LLM program at the Stetson University College of Law, in Gulfport, Florida.
Joshua Puvak was admitted to the Virginia bar and is an associate at Connolly, Bove, Lodge & Hutz, LLP. As a member of the firm's Intellectual Property Group, he represents clients in a variety of areas including patent prosecution, patent litigation, counseling and trademarks in the mechanical, electrical and medical device fields. Puvak has experience in procuring both domestic and foreign patents in the fields of image processing, computer graphics, electro-optics, integrated circuits, signal processing, computer hardware and software, bio-medical devices, networking and communication systems. Prior to entering the practice of law, Puvak was a planning engineer at Allegheny Power.
Raquel E. Ronisky joined Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox, PLLC, in its mechanical practice group. Prior to joining Sterne Kessler, Ronisky was a trademark legal clerk for Lutzker & Lutzker, LLP. Founded in 1978 and based in Washington, D.C., Sterne Kessler employs more than 100 patent attorneys, agents and technical specialists representing a broad range of clients, including emerging and established companies, venture capital firms, universities and select individuals.
Alyssa Sandrowitz joined Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox, PLLC in its mechanical practice group. Previously, Sandrowitz was a legal clerk for the Environmental Integrity Project. Founded in 1978 and based in Washington, D.C., Sterne Kessler employs more than 100 patent attorneys, agents and technical specialists representing a broad range of clients, including emerging and established companies, venture capital firms, universities and select individuals.
ILSP LLM Class Notes
LLM Class Notes
In January, Alejandro Ramos Gil (LLM) became the president of the Association of Professional Customs Agents of the Americas, which consists of more than 25,000 professional customs agents from 19 countries.
Alberto Tujman (LLM) became the proud father of Sofia in March 2008.
In December 2007, the Royal Bank of Scotland appointed Kengo Okamoto (LLM) as legal head of its Tokyo branch and its RBS Securities Japan office. Okamoto joins Royal Bank from JPMorgan Securities Japan where he was executive director and assistant general counsel.
Dr. Israel Doron (LLM) recently edited a book with Professor Kate Mewhinney titled The Rights of Older Persons. He was recently promoted to senior lecturer with tenure at the University of Haifa.
Ludmila Petrova (LLM) was nominated by the U.S. Embassy in Russia and the U.S. Department of State for participation in the World Forum on the Future of Democracy, which was held in Williamsburg and Jamestown, Virginia. She was among 10 delegates from the Russian Federation. She also won a Russian-American Forum of Experts contest and is coming to Washington D.C. to work at the Hudson Institute for two months this March. (Is this March 2008 or March 2009? Do we know?)
Chen-Huan Wu (LLM) is the vice minister of the Ministry of Justice in Taiwan.
Military judge Colonel Muhannad Hijazi (LLM) was promoted to brigadier general in the Jordanian Armed Forces. He is now the deputy to the military attorney general in Jordan. He is also a member of the national committee for implementing IHL on a national level in Jordan and a member of the ad hoc committee on the drafting of the criminal code according to the ICC statute.
In January, Karla Acedo (LLM) married Eric Jaramillo Sanabria. Alumni attending the event included classmates Sonia Verdu (LLM), Carlos Prosperi (LLM) and Maria Gabriela Ucar (LLM). They live in Panama, where they operate their law firm, A & J Abogados.
Axel Bree (LLM), whose term with the German Embassy in Washington, D.C. expired in November 2007, returned to Berlin to work for the Ministry of Economics. He recently became a father to Emil.
Carlos Molina (LLM) and his wife Ceci announce the birth of Ana Sofia in November 2007.
Romina Picolotti (LLM), Argentina's minister of environment, received a 2008 Climate Protection and Ozone Layer Protection Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The award program was established in 1998 to recognize exceptional leadership, outstanding innovation, personal dedication, and technical achievements in protecting the climate. Also honored were Ana Maria Kleymeyer '02, who heads the international section under Picolotti, and Durwood Zaelke, found of WCL's program on International and Comparative Environmental Law. The awards were presented at a special ceremony at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
Jude Jose Luis Cardero (LLM) was granted a scholarship by Partners of America to pursue an internship with the district attorney of the city of Boston. Cardero will work on issues of cybercrime, public corruption, investigation of complex economic crimes, identity theft and misuse of credit cards for three months. He also will share his views on how to manage cases in Argentina and the distinctions between the two systems.
Manuel Nabais da Furriela (LLM) participated in a debate with the mayor of Sao Paolo and the secretary of International Affairs for Sao Paolo. The presentation and debate included a discussion on the international aspects of the city of Sao Paulo for foreigners from the United States, Ecuador, Poland and Lithuania.
Mario E. Pujols Ortiz (LLM) and his wife announce the birth of their first child, Diego Arturo. Mario was appointed as a judicial interpreter, sworn in as an arbiter in the Santo Domingo Chamber of Commerce and also appointed by Decree of the President as a member of the Unfair Trade Practices Commission, which oversees the application of antidumping duties, countervailing duties and safeguard measures in the Dominican Republic.
Tayra Ivonne Barsallo (LLM) is deputy director of immigration for the Republic of Panama. She was appointed to the position by the president of Panama.
Aléjandra Goyenechea (LLM) is international counsel at Defenders of Wildlife in Washington, D.C.
Marisa Ferreira (LLM) is a partner at DTB Associates, LLP, in Washington, D.C.
After her two-year assignment in Bolivia leading the legal security component of a judicial reform project funded by USAID, Nora Claudia Luzi (LLM) returned to Argentina in April 2007. She is a governance analyst at the UNDP's office in Buenos Aires.
Emilie Chapuis (LLM) works for the Project Procurement Office of the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, D.C.
Julio J. Rojas-Báez (LLM) works as a specialized attorney for Pellerano & Herrera, one of the top law firms in the Dominican Republic along with other ILSP alumni--Marielle Garrigo '01, partner; Urania Paulino '01, senior associate and Ariadna Abreu '02, associate. Rojas-Báez's article earned second place in the 2007 Human Rights Award sponsored by the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. The article is published in the current issue of the International Law Review, 23 Am. U. Int'l L. Rev. 91.
Christian Turégano Roldan (LLM) has finished his travels and is now back in Mexico City working for a corporate law firm called Kuri Breña, Sánchez Ugarte, Corcuera y Aznar, SC, in the financial and international arbitration areas.
Aizhan Albanova (LLM) returned to Kyrgyzstan in fall 2007, where she is a lawyer at Kumtor Operating Company in Bishkek, a Kyrgyz-Canadian project and one of the biggest projects in the field of gold mining. Her job is connected with national and international issues.
Vincent Chandran (LLM) is currently doing a fellowship with the Center for International Environmental Law and recently took the bar exam.
Clémentine de Brosses (LLM) is currently studying in Bruges, Belgium at the College of Europe. She plans to take the bar exam in February 2009.
Samar Mazloum (LLM) returned to Damascus in December 2007 where he works with UNHCR.
Agasha Mugasha (LLM) recently had his book, The Law of Multi-Bank Financing: Syndicated Loans and the Secondary Loan Market, published by Oxford University Press.
In December 2007, Ababu Namwamba (LLM) realized his long-term ambition of being elected as a member of Kenya's National Assembly. He is now the Honorable Member of Parliament (MP) for Budalang'i Constituency.
José Reyes (LLM) recently had his paper, "The Missing Point in CAFTA," published by the Inter-American Development Bank. He will be spending the next six months completing an internship in the Netherlands before returning to Costa Rica.
Ana Paula Ribero (LLM) works for the Development Economics Research Group of the World Bank as a consultant.
In December 2007, Martha Ruiz (LLM) was admitted to the New York Bar. She is currently pursuing employment as a corporate attorney in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
Addy Paola Velazquez (LLM) was recently a speaker at the Second Annual Investment Treaty Arbitration: A Debate and Discussion at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC.
Alex Weil (LLM) recently passed the New York Bar examination and will soon be a New York attorney.
Yusmadi Yusoff (LLM) won a Parliamentary seat in Pulau Pinang (Balik Pulau) in the Malaysian General Election in March 2008 as a member of the People's Justice Party (Parti Keadilan Rakyat in Malay). Keadilan generally promotes an agenda with a strong social justice and anti-corruption emphasis. Recently the party adopted a platform that seeks to abolish the New Economic Policy and replace it with a policy that emphasizes a non-ethnic approach in poverty eradication and correcting economic imbalances