lawyer 
summer 2008
Best Supporting Lawyer A look behind the scenes of entertainment law
Associate Dean of Development and Alumni Relations Susan Fitzgerald Carter
more than a classroom
Editor Timothy L. Hussey, APR Director of Marketing and Communications Contributors Liz Chilla, Public Relations Coordinator Holly Cline Wendy Cromwell Martha Albertson Fineman, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law Alma Freeman Mary Loftus Eric Rangus Matt Tamul Art Direction/Design Winnie Hulme Photographers Tony Benner Liz Chilla Beth Damon Corky Gallo Wilford Harewood Tim Hussey Caroline Joe Bernard Kuhajda Gary Meek Jon Rou Scott Wile Wheat Wurtzburger About the cover The cover illustration was created by Brian Stauffer.
With support from alumni like you, Emory Law can continue to equip future lawyers with a practical and theoretical understanding of the law. We offer realworld experiences that give our students a glimpse of what life as a lawyer will be like. And we expose them to diverse opportunities to help them determine where their passions lie — whether it’s fighting to protect a patent or a human life.
Emory Lawyer is published biannually by Emory University School of Law and is distributed free to alumni and friends. Produced by the Office of Marketing and Communications, Emory Law.
At Emory Law, we prepare our students for more than practice; We prepare them to challenge and change the world.
Send letters to the editor and other correspondence to Timothy L. Hussey, Emory University School of Law, 1301 Clifton Road, Atlanta, Georgia 30322; tim.hussey@emory.edu; or 404.712.8404.
“During my second summer, I worked in Shanghai at Jun He Law Offices, where I focused mainly on joint venture and securities work and was able to practice Mandarin. Getting first-hand experience of the Chinese legal and business culture was a real once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” — Thomas Foley 08L
more than practice
To make a tax-deductible gift online, visit www.law.emory.edu/give
© 2008 Emory University School of Law. All rights reserved. Articles may be reprinted in full or in part if source is acknowledged. Change of address: Send address changes by mail to Office of Development and Alumni Records, Emory University, 1762 Clifton Road, Plaza 1000, Atlanta, Georgia 30322. Email: Communications@law.emory.edu Website: www.law.emory.edu
summer 2008 features
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Best Supporting Lawyer By Holly Cline
Four alumni explain the legal side of the entertainment industry
Rebuilding the Big Easy By Liz Chilla
Students spend spring break helping with Hurricane Katrina relief
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Commencement 2008
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Deal or No Deal? By Timothy L. Hussey
Students get a first-hand look at Georgia Supreme Court oral arguments
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A Pioneering Spirit By Wendy Cromwell
Patricia Collins Butler is accustomed to being a pioneer — whether blazing a trail as a female attorney or being a 100-year-old firebrand
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Rethinking Year One By Wendy Cromwell
Ford & Harrison eliminates billable hours for first-year associates
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A Framing Generation By Mary Loftus
New book unveils classical teachings in U.S. Constitution
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Mr. Van Goes to Washington? By Timothy L. Hussey
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While his classmates study for the bar exam, one 2008 Emory Law graduate will spend his summer running for Congress
Perspective
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Persons Scores Supreme Court Win By Wendy Cromwell
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Turman Recipient is Hallmark of Service By Eric Rangus
An important business case also is a personal milestone
Reese honored for forty years of volunteer service to his alma mater
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epic Honors Inspiration Award Winners By Liz Chilla
Local attorneys are honored for a commitment to public service
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Baker Urges Students to Make a Difference
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Dean’s View
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In Brief
Georgia’s attorney general shares the secrets of his success
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Class Notes
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In Memoriam
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Faculty Voices
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Giving Back
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Closing
By Timothy L. Hussey
Tkeshelashvili Honored with Sheth Award By Alma Freeman
Emory honors law graduate for accomplishments in building international partnerships
Dean’s View
A Time to Reflect
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ummer is a time for preparation and renewal. Our students have just celebrated their graduation and are studying for their bar exams or off to their summer associate positions, gaining practical, real-world experience in the law. For professors, it is a time to engage in scholarship deferred by the demands of the year; they will complete that law review article or book.
It is a time to freshen the spirit: It is a time to reflect on the past year and all that has been accomplished. And yes, it is also a time to pause and plan for the year ahead. As I think back on this last year at Emory, I remember the friends we have lost — great professors, teachers, and scholars like Woodruff Professor Harold Berman and Professor Melvin Gutterman. Also I think of our colleague Harriet King who is leaving us to enjoy a much-deserved retirement. We wish her the best. We look forward to welcoming new colleagues. Over the next two years, we will be joined by four new faculty members: Dorothy A. Brown, Jonathan R. Nash, Alexander “Sasha” Volokh, and Barbara Bennett Woodhouse. Look for more about these new colleagues in our Winter/Spring issue of Emory Lawyer. During my third year at Emory, we will continue to maintain our focus on three key priorities: attracting and retaining the very best students; celebrating faculty accomplishments while adding ten new faculty during my first five years; and ensuring we have adequate facilities to meet the changing needs of Emory Law now and for the future. I am happy to report that in March, the American Bar Association performed its seven-year assessment of Emory Law. While the final report is not yet published, the inspection team had very favorable comments for our curriculum, infrastructure, and institutional health.
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For the second year in a row, Emory Law held firm to its position as one of the top law schools in the country, again placing twenty-second in the U.S. News & World Report rankings of “America’s Best Graduate Schools.” Our admission application numbers continue to grow; our class entering this fall will be better than ever in both qualitative terms and diversity. With a renewed emphasis on enhancing the operations of our Office of Career Services, our employment rate at graduation increased to 95.9 percent from 88.4 percent. This substantial improvement is a testament to the dedicated staff in this crucial area. We continue significant progress toward making an Emory legal education more affordable. With support from Emory and from you, our overall discount rate has improved to 28 percent across all classes. This reduces the debt burden our graduates face and positions Emory Law as even more competitive among our peer and aspirant institutions. Please continue your financial support of Emory Law. Your gifts are critical in opening a new world of career opportunities for our students. In closing, I would like to express my gratitude to all of the alumni who have taken time to meet with me or to share their comments and suggestions via phone or e-mail. I and my entire team are working diligently to ensure that your law school remains stronger than ever. It is a summer that builds for yet another great year.
David F. Partlett Dean and Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law
In Brief
Emory Law Launches Inaugural Summer Abroad Program
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mory Law offered students a first this summer — the opportunity to participate in its first study abroad program in Budapest. The program began in May with courses being taught at Central European University (ceu) in Budapest, an international post-graduate institution specializing in the field of humanities and social sciences. “The Summer Program in Budapest offers law students a unique opportunity,” said Emory Law Dean David Partlett. “Students will have the benefit of attending classes with students from Central European University and will make new connections with their counterparts from across central and Eastern Europe. “In today’s global marketplace, this level of exposure to studying international law will help prepare students for more than practice. It will give them a solid foundation for dealing with international business and human rights issues impacting the European Union.” Emory Law Professors Peter Hay, Johan Van der Vyver, and Tibor Varady will serve as instructors, along with law professors from Florida State University and ceu. Law students participating in the program will join students enrolled at ceu, though courses will be taught in English. Students have the option of completing four or six hours of coursework in a variety of international law courses, including “The Environment of International Business Transactions” and “International Human Rights.” Learn more at www.law.emory.edu/budapest.
Freer Receives University Scholar/ Teacher Award Richard D. Freer, Robert Howell Hall Professor Law, received the University Scholar/Teacher Award at the Emory University Commencement ceremony on May 12. The Scholar/Teacher Award, given on behalf of the United Methodist Church Board of Higher Education and Ministry, is presented to one Emory University professor each year who has excelled as a classroom teacher, shown unusual concern for students, and made significant contributions to the scholarly life of the university. Only one other law professor has received this award — the late Harold J. Berman in 1992. In addition to the Scholar/Teacher Award, Professor Freer was honored by the Class of 2008 as this year’s Most Outstanding Professor, an award he has received seven times in his 25-year teaching career at Emory. He also was named Professor of the Year by the Black Law Students Association for 2007– 08.
ADR Society Hosts Local Elementary School
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he Alternative Dispute Resolution (adr) Society hosted a group of twenty-seven fourth- and fifth-graders in March to discuss peer mediation and the importance of conflict resolution. Ola Elementary School in McDonough recently introduced its own peer mediation program, and school counselor Tracey Glenn decided students could learn more about the mediation process from Emory Law’s adr Society. Emory Law students William D’Elia 08l, Brooke Emery 08l,
Meg Leary 10l, Chris Meek 08l, and Samantha Stilp 10l conducted a mock mediation to show the elementary school students how lawyers and other professionals engage in alternative dispute resolution. Elementary school students had the opportunity to take the skills they observed and practice in small groups with the help of adr Society members. The program ended with a tour of Emory Law. “We received great feedback from the elementary school students and the school counselors,” said Brooke
Emery 08l, director of the adr Society. “The counselors expressed interest in making this an annual event with their students.”
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In Brief
Turner Clinic Protects Habitat of Endangered Fish
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hrough their work with the Turner Environmental Law Clinic, Emory Law students Matt Barrett 08l and Alice Green 08l and staff attorney Larry Sanders helped safeguard the habitat of the Vermilion Darter, an endangered fish from Alabama. In April 2008, the Turner Clinic reached a settlement agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (fws) that would designate “critical habitat” for the fish. The process began in 2001, when the Vermilion Darter — found only in Turkey Creek, a small tributary of the Black Warrior River in Jefferson County, Ala. — was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (esa). The esa requires the fws to designate “critical habitat” for species at the time of listing, but according to Sanders, “this rarely occurs in practice.” With this designation, federal agencies are prohibited from authorizing or carrying out any actions that would destroy or adversely modify the habitat, such as building a dam. “When the fws calls a species endangered, but fails to designate critical habitat, the species remains at risk,” said Barrett. With the six-year Alice Green 08L and Matt Barrett 08L statute of limitations approaching in late 2007, the Turner Clinic decided to sue the fws, seeking a court order requiring it to comply with its statutory duty. The lawsuit was filed by the Turner Clinic on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity. Having drafted hypothetical complaints in his environmental advocacy class, Barrett was called upon to draft the complaint for the Vermilion Darter case, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia
on November 19, 2007 — two days before the end of the limitations period. In January 2008, the fws approached the Turner Clinic with an offer to settle the case, proposing a date for making the habitat designation. Green drafted the response from the Turner Clinic, making a counter-offer seeking an earlier date for the designation. After some additional correspondence, Green obtained an acceptable compromise offer, and under the proposed settlement, the fws will issue a final “critical habitat” designation by November 2010. The agreement also requires the fws to pay litigation costs and attorneys fees for the case. Through their experience, Barrett and Green developed a greater appreciation for the work of environmental advocacy organizations and their role in monitoring governmental agencies. “I learned it is better to work with the government rather than against it,” Green explained. “My involvement with the Turner Clinic has given me a real-world view of the daily applications and importance of broad federal laws.” “The Turner Clinic has been great preparation,” said Barrett. “I have learned about the substance of environmental law and the process of environmental litigation. I also had the chance to interact with people who are extremely passionate about environmental law and who have convinced me that advocating for the environment is one of the most responsible and effective ways to put a law degree to use.”
Melody Moezzi 06L Publishes First Book Emory Law alumna Melody Moezzi 06L 06PH published a book on the experiences of Muslims living in America post 9/11. War on Error: Real Stories of American Muslims brings together the stories of twelve American Muslims, each unique in their lifestyle and approach to religion. The book includes a foreword by Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im, Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law at Emory.
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The first book for Moezzi, War on Error recently won her a “Georgia Author of the Year Award” in the Creative Nonfiction Essay category. Moezzi has a regular column in Muslim Girl magazine and has written essays and articles for several other publications, including Student Lawyer magazine, Parabola, Dissident Voice, American Chronicle, Urban Mozaik, and the Yale Journal for Humanities in Medicine. She also has been a commentator on NPR’s All Things Considered.
In Brief
ti:ger Teams Win Big in Recent Competitions
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mory Law students participating in the ti:ger program brought home several impressive awards in business plan competitions this spring. ti:ger — Technological Innovation: Generating Economic Results — is a collaboration between Emory Law and the Georgia Institute of Technology that brings together law and graduate students to consider the multidisciplinary process of taking inventions from the lab to the marketplace. In February, ti:ger team AccelerEyes won first place in the Georgia Bowl Business Plan Competition for their creation of a low-cost, high-speed software. AccelerEyes’ software enables the use of a graphics processing unit (gpu) in Matlab — software used by a large number of engineers and scientists — which allows for greater speed and better visualizations at a lower cost. The team includes Emory law students Matt Nesbitt 08l, Chris Meeks 08l, and Sandy Kim 09l. Later that month, ti:ger teams won first-, second-, and third-place honors in the Georgia Tech Business Competition. The three ti:ger teams — AccelerEyes, Syzygy, and DiagNano — competed against nineteen other teams to qualify for the finals and ultimately took home all of the awards. The $10,000 first prize in the Georgia Tech competition went to Huffman, Gaddis, and Galvez from Team DiagNano. AccelerEyes. The team also received the Most Fundable Award, given to the team deemed most ready to enter the marketplace, and the $500 Showstopper Award for their presentation during the trade show. Syzygy, which includes law students Justin Helsby 08l and Rob MacKenna 09l, took second place in the Georgia Tech competition for its plan to market a material that uses shape memory as a way to fit products — such as earphones, wireless Bluetooth devices, and hearing aids — perfectly into a customer’s ear. DiagNano, a technology company focused on in vitro cancer diagnostics, won third place. DiagNano includes law students Laura Huffman 08l, Rich Gaddis 08l, and Eric Galvez 08l, and graduate Jarrett Silver 07l. Most recently, DiagNano competed against more than 230 teams in the Rice University Global Business Plan Competition, qualifying as one of thirty-six semifinalists and winning first place in their challenge-round competition. As a semifinalist, DiagNano was featured in an article in Fortune Small Business and CNNMoney.com.
Emory Law Begins Exchange with Seoul National University Emory Law has signed an agreement with Seoul National University (SNU) College of Law to establish a studentexchange program. The program is scheduled to begin in August 2008. The agreement allows each institution to nominate up to two law students to be enrolled at the other institution. Emory Law students will visit SNU during the fall term, and SNU students will visit Emory during the spring. Students must have completed at least one year of law studies prior to participation in the exchange and must be in good academic standing at the home institution. Dean Moon-Hyuck Ho of SNU College of Law visited Emory Law during the spring semester to sign the agreement, and in May, Emory Law Dean David Partlett traveled to South Korea to visit SNU.
Dean Partlett and Dean MoonHyuck Ho of SNU sign the student exchange agreement.
Correction In the Winter 2008 edition of Emory Lawyer, we inadvertently misspelled the name of Carolyn Wright 92L when including her among the list of photographers for the issue. The editors apologize for any confusion this might have caused and thank Ms. Wright for her understanding.
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In Brief
Emory Law Celebrates Its First SJD Graduate
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n Monday, May 12, Emory University School of Law graduated its first student — Harriet Musoke— in the Doctor of Juridical Science (sjd) program. Musoke, who is originally from Uganda, has concentrated her scholarship in the areas of women’s and children’s rights, particularly the reproductive and sexual rights of women in Africa, under the direction
of Martha A. Fineman, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law and founder and director of Emory’s Feminism and Legal Theory (flt) Project. “We’ve done a comparison of the different cultures, African culture and American culture, and how we can have both cultures co-exist to help women advance their ranks,” said Musoke. Musoke’s interest in women’s rights began as a child in Africa. As one of eight children, Musoke experienced oppression at an early age, having to “take care of everything,” she said, because she was the eldest girl. Musoke saw a need to elevate the status of women in her country, particularly those who may not have the opportunity to pursue a formal education. “I’ve been to school, and if I feel I’m being oppressed, then what about
those who have not been to school at all and cannot take care of themselves financially,” Musoke said. Before studying at Emory Law, Musoke practiced as an attorney in Uganda, representing women who couldn’t afford legal counsel. She also serves as a lecturer teaching “domestic relations,” or what we refer to as family law, at a local university. Following graduation, Musoke plans to return to Uganda to continue teaching and practicing law. “I hope I’ll have a chance to come back to the U.S.,” said Musoke. “I’d really love to see how we can look at the American system and the Ugandan system and have them both coexist and work together. I think America can learn from what is going on in Uganda, and Uganda can learn from what is going on in the U.S.”
Annual Symposium Explores Science and the Law
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he 2008 Randolph W. Thrower Symposium examined the integral role that science plays in the lawmaking process. This year’s symposium — “Legal Science: An Interdisciplinary Examination of the Use and Misuse of Science in the Law” — brought together a distinguished p anel of experts to discuss how scientific theories, studies, and evidence influence legal proceedings. Panelists for the symposium included Emory Law Associate Professor Julie Seaman and alumna Chilton Davis Varner 76l, a partner at King & Spalding in Atlanta. The symposium examined the use and misuse of scientific theories, studies, and evidence in legislative proceedings, administrative regulations, and adjudication. These issues were addressed from an interdisciplinary perspective as panelists analyzed the importance of sound scientific underpinnings in legal decision-making, the intersection of evidence and science, and the application of these principles to the timely and controversial topic of climate change regulation. The Symposium featured remarks and panel discussions on topics such as “Why Darwin Matters,” “Integrity of Legal Science, Legal and Scientific Approaches to Climate Change Policy,” and “Science in the Courtroom.” Lisa Heinserling, Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center, delivered the keynote address. The Randolph W. Thrower Symposium is part of an 6
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endowed lecture series sponsored by the family of Mr. Thrower and hosted by the Emory Law Journal and Emory University School of Law. To learn more visit www.emorylawjournal.org.
In Brief
Teaching Drafting and Transactional Skills: The Basics and Beyond
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he Emory Law Center for Transactional Law and Practice hosted its inaugural conference, Teaching Drafting and Transactional Skills: The Basics and Beyond, May 30 – 31. Organized by the Center’s executive director, Tina Stark, the conference brought together transactional law professors and professionals from ninetytwo law schools and several law firms, which Stark noted was “a testament to the importance that law schools are now giving transactional pedagogy.” “Our conference is a watershed in the evolution of transactional education,” Stark said. “It is the first conference that addresses the teaching of both drafting and transactional skills. To be the host of such a conference is clear evidence of Emory’s leadership role in the advance of this new pedagogy.” The two-day conference served as a “train the trainers” program for those involved in teaching transactional law and contract drafting. Phillip Knott, professor of professional legal education at Nottingham Trent University Law School delivered the conference’s keynote address, and more than sixty presenters led education sessions on topics such as “Teaching Transactional Skills in First-Year Writing Courses” and “Using Technology to Teach Contract Drafting.”
Established in 2007, the Center for Transactional Law and Practice is one major component of Emory Law’s strategic plan. Under Stark’s leadership, the Center positions Emory Law at the forefront of legal education by integrating professional and transactional skills with traditional legal training. For more information about the Center’s inaugural conference, visit www.law.emory.edu/contractdrafting.
Class of 2008 Raises Money for Future of Emory Law
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ach year, the graduating class raises money for Emory Law as a way to give back to the school that has provided them with a first-rate education and helped shaped their future legal careers. This year, the 3L class decided to do something unprecedented: they set a fundraising goal of $100,000, the largest in Emory Law’s history. More importantly, the class of 2008’s generous donation established an endowment fund to help future 3L classes in their fundraising efforts. There is no budget to cover the costs of the 3L
Class Gift Campaign — that money comes directly out of the student activities budget. Creating an endowment fund will allow future 3L classes a budget for marketing, mailings, and community-building events like the annual 3L Spaghetti Dinner, that will help the class raise money. “We have had a great three years at Emory Law and feel strongly that future 3L classes will share our sentiment,” said Class Gift Co-Chair Larry Reicher 08L. “Our permanent endowment will allow these future classes to establish their own legacies and bring their classes together.”
Larry Reicher 08L and Liz Francis 08L present a check to Dean Partlett.
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Four alumni explain the legal side of the entertainment industry by Holly Cline
Best Supporting
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hile they’ve never taken the stage to accept a Grammy, Emmy, or Oscar, four prominent Emory Law alumni are behind the scenes brokering deals for the artists, actors, production studios, and television programs receiving the awards. Negotiating film acquisitions, talent contracts, and managing licensing agreements is considered just another day of business for entertainment lawyers.
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Now, she oversees the Sales Administrative and Legal Services department for the company’s syndicated television division. Her team interacts with every other department in the company managing licensing agreements, enforcing contracts, and developing payment plans with licensees, among other responsibilities. “My job is very much about providing back office support, which is important to the operation of the division. If my department is not operating properly, the division won’t succeed,” she said. Fitzgerald didn’t have a grand plan to get into entertainment law. When she started at Emory Law, she thought she would go into public service. “I interned at the DeKalb County District Attorney’s office and have the utmost respect for das, police officers, and investigators, but I was more jazzed about my corporate law classes. I felt like a traitor going into corporate law, but that’s where my passion was.” Her career in entertainment law began when she served as associate general counsel for the cable network Black Entertainment Television (bet). She worked primarily as a production clearance lawyer, handling contracts for special programming. Later, she moved on to work for Viacom as senior attorney for legal affairs at Paramount Pictures. “A law school professor once told me, if opportunity knocks at your door and you can learn something new from it, you should probably answer. I did that with bet and Paramount, and here I am today. It’s not something I set out to do, but it’s something that I really enjoy.” Fitzgerald likes cooking and hosting BBQs for her friends at her home. Contrary to popular belief, Fitzgerald’s status as an entertainment lawyer does not mean she is surrounded by celebrities. “I love my job An entertaining option and feel blessed to work with the people I do in this indusith entertainment law you don’t know from one minute to the next what’s going to require your immediate try, but I am not driving around Hollywood in a convertible with actors or walking the red carpet.” attention,” said Kim Fitzgerald 88L, senior vice president, business affairs and legal, cbs Television Distribution. Working the red carpet “New things are always coming up or changing last minute, Fellow alumnus, Laine Kline 90L, has walked down the but that’s what makes this type of law so exciting.” famous red carpet at movie premieres, and last year he Fitzgerald has been with cbs collectively for thirteen attended the Cannes Film Festival. He wasn’t there for the years. Before Viacom and cbs Corp. became separate comcelebrity scene; he was there to work. panies, she held the role of vice president, business affairs Kline serves as senior vice president of business and legal and legal at Paramount Pictures/cbs Paramount Television. affairs for The Weinstein Co. (twc), a multi-media company created by Bob and Harvey Weinstein, the brothers “A law school professor once told who founded Miramax Films Corp. Kline negotiates all of the business and legal aspects of developing, producing, me, if opportunity knocks at your acquiring, and distributing movies for twc. door and you can learn something “I negotiate deals with actors and directors and supernew from it, you should probably vise nearly every aspect involved with making our movies, from independent financing to labor issues with teamsters,” answer.” — Kim Fitzgerald 88L
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I or my company has been a part of, like Crash or Sicko, I remember why I’m in this business.” The real deal Kline said he enjoys the intellectual challenge of making deals with the various parties involved in the movies. Former classmate, Linda Giunta Michaelson 90L, agrees, although the majority of deals she makes are for institutional clients in the entertainment industry. Michaelson is a partner in the Entertainment and Media and the Corporate Practice Groups at Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton llp. She represents major motion picture studios, including Sony Pictures and mgm, television networks, and other domestic and international Kline also worked with the Anschutz Film Group, that produced Ray and The entertainment and communications Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He met his wife companies. while working on Ray. “One might expect that every corporate transaction has the same issues, Kline said. “I also advise executives on a range of issues but that is not true,” Michaelson said. “Every client and that may arise during the film making process.” every target company is unique with its own set of issues Kline asserts that though the clientele he works with that provides an interesting overlay on the typical transacmay be higher profile than with other areas of law, he tion. There is an element of collaboration that I don’t think considers entertainment law a business like any other. “The exists in litigation. Many corporate deals are like puzzles. legal practice of entertainment law is no different than the It’s all about finding the creative solution that fits the contract laws you would apply to other industries,” he circumstance.” said. “In fact, my contract law course with [Emory Law Michaelson knew from the beginning that she wasn’t cut out to be a litigator. At the end of her second year at Emory “Anyone in this business has to be a Law, she knew she would be happier as a transactional fan of the industry because it’s not lawyer. “I enjoyed business and negotiating and thought corporate law was a great fit,” she said. filled with glamour, and it’s one of
the most difficult businesses in the world.”— Laine Kline 90L Professor] Frank Alexander really taught me the fundamentals that I apply to every transaction that I do.” Unlike Fitzgerald, Kline knew he wanted to practice entertainment law because of his love for film and his passion for the business. Before joining twc, Kline worked for The Yari Film Group, an independent film company which produced the 2005 Academy Award-winning motion picture Crash. Since joining twc, the company has produced and directed such critically acclaimed movies as Michael Moore’s documentary Sicko and The Great Debaters with Denzel Washington. “Anyone in this business has to be a fan of the industry because it’s not filled with glamour, and it’s one of the most difficult businesses in the world,” he said. “But it is exciting and rewarding to be a part of a fantastic movie when it all comes together. When I see a powerful movie that either
When she’s not working, Michealson enjoys spending time with her two children, ages 2 and 6.
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“Many corporate deals are like puzzles. It’s all about finding the creative solution that fits the circumstance.” — Linda Giunta Michaelson 90L Her career began in the Los Angeles office of Dewey Ballantine llp. After nearly six years, she joined Hill Wynne Troop & Meisinger, a mid-size firm with a strong presence in the entertainment industry. “At Dewey Ballantine I was really motivated by large complex transactions. When I moved to Hill Wynne, most of their larger deals were in the entertainment industry, so I spent the majority of my time working with our entertainment clients and developed a base of knowledge of the industry.” Hill Wynne merged with Akin Gump in 2001, and in 2003 Michaelson left the firm with a few of her colleagues to start the entertainment practice at Sheppard Mullin.
recruitment by multi-Grammy Award winning producers Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds and Antonio “LA” Reid to serve as senior vice president business and legal affairs for LaFace Records, a small joint-venture record label. For nearly six years, Lovette negotiated all major label agreements for the company. Lovette started his practice again in 1999 and enjoys his work as much today as he did when he began his career nearly twenty-five years ago. “I got into entertainment law because I had a creative impulse and enjoyed being around creative people. Most of my clients aren’t overly businesssavvy and rely heavily on my expertise and my intention of protecting them. I get great satisfaction from working with those who are grateful.”
“Entertainment lawyers are matchmakers, deal-makers, counselors, and strategists. We bring the parties together, make a deal, and advise our clients every step of the way to protect their interests.”
Let the rhythm move you A typical day for Michaelson is spent with clients and opposing counsel negotiating agreements to buy or sell — Cliff Lovette 82L companies. A typical day for Cliff Lovette 82L is spent making deals between recording artists and record No, Fitzgerald, Kline, Michaelson and Lovette have companies. not received the most prestigious awards in the entertainLovette heads The Lovette Entertainment Law Group ment industry; but if you listen closely to those giving the Ltd, a private boutique entertainment law firm in Atlanta. acceptance speeches, you may just hear someone say how The firm represents more than forty clients in music, film, grateful they are to have them working on their behalf. television, radio, game-development, literary, digital media, and related sectors. Lovette’s various clients include Usher, Holly Cline is a freelance writer in Atlanta. Photography by Organized Noize Productions, the estate of Lisa Lopes, Jon Rou and Scott Wile, Emory Photography. Sean P, Fathom Studios, and other independent film and digital media producers. “Entertainment lawyers are matchmakers, deal-makers, counselors, and strategists,” Lovette said. “Sometimes our task is to introduce clients and talent to distributors, production labels, or investors. We bring the parties together, make a deal, and advise our clients every step of the way to protect their interests. We also may help a client grow their career by developing a strategy to build upon their personality and status.” Lovette jumped right into entertainment law after graduating from Emory Law. He started his own practice and managed local talent in Atlanta, until he was offered a senior associate position with Katz, Smith & Cohen. While there, Lovette handled legal work for Jimmy Buffet, B.B. King, and Willie Nelson. Lovette is also writing a screenplay based on the story of a Soviet-era circus that was His work with Joel Katz led to his abandoned in the United States after the USSR collapsed. 12
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Perspective
Persons Scores Supreme Court Win by Wendy Cromwell
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t has been called one of the most important business cases in years. For Oscar Persons 67l, Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC v. Scientific Atlanta Inc. doubled as a personal milestone. In January, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5 – 3 that investors could not recover losses from those who played a secondary role in schemes to defraud stockholders. The case pitted Stoneridge investors against Scientific Atlanta and Motorola in an effort to hold the two vendors responsible for the securities fraud committed by Charter Communications Inc., a cable company. The stakes were high for business interests. If the Court ruled in favor of Stoneridge, vendors and suppliers could be held responsible when another company goes bankrupt, as in the Enron situation or the subprime mortgage crisis. About thirty friends of the court briefs were filed — fifteen on each side. “Eighth Circuit ruled in our favor, but the Ninth Circuit went the other way with ‘scheme liability’ in another case,” said Persons, lead attorney for Scientific Atlanta.
“We went through innumerable drafts with everyone chipping in and making suggestions. It was as near to perfect as humans can do.” — oscar persons 67l “Then the Fifth Circuit ruled our way in an Enron case and cited our case,” said Persons, a partner at Alston & Bird. “Now, there were two Xes and one Y, which increased the chances of the Supreme Court granting Stoneridge’s writ of certiorari. “The next Monday morning the call came,” Persons said. “The clerk of the U.S. Supreme Court said docket No. 06-43 had been granted a hearing. My first thought was yippee! Then my blood ran a little cold.”
Persons, his team, and the Motorola team retained outside counsel to help with oral arguments and then began preparing its brief in response to the plaintiffs. “As defendants, we only had one brief,” said Persons, a member of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts (Kennedy Center). “We went through innumerable drafts with everyone chipping in and making suggestions. It was as near to perfect as humans can do. It was a perfect piece of work.” While Persons did not make the oral arguments before the Court, he did help with the preparations. “Nothing was asked that hadn’t been thought about by us. “You have to be able to articulate your answer before they ask another question,” Persons said. “Their questions were almost a way of arguing their positions in front of the other justices. “It was almost a debate among the justices,” Persons said. “I think the oral arguments made them feel more comfortable with their positions.” The ramifications of the case were almost immediate. The Ninth Circuit case was remanded with the lower court directed to follow the legal precedent that had been established. Wendy Cromwell is a freelance writer in Atlanta.
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Perspective
Turman Recipient is Hallmark of Service by Eric Rangus
“Phil is a role model of what it means to be an engaged alumnus, and it is our privilege to honor him.” — allison dykes
helped start, JP Morgan-Chase, and SunTrust Bank. He served six years in the U.S. Army, Reese receives congratulations from Tull Charitable Foundation Trustee Jack Guynn and Emory part of the time in Southeast President Jim Wagner. Asia and part as an aide to the commander-in-chief of the U.S. usiness executive and Emory University alumnus Phil forces in the Pacific. Currently he is working on a master’s Reese 66c 76mba 76l was honored for his forty years degree in liberal studies at the University of Delaware. In of volunteer service to his alma mater as the recipient 2003, Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner appointed him as of the 2008 J. Pollard Turman Alumni Service Award. He chairman of the board of the Delaware Public Employees was presented with the award March 7 at the Miller-Ward Retirement System. Alumni House. Board of Trustees member and Emory “I would like to thank the Emory Alumni Board for this alumna Laura Jones Hardman 67c delivered the keynote honor,” Reese said. “It will be a ‘first’ among the many address, and President Jim Wagner presented the Turman fond memories I have of Emory. With this award, my relaAward to Reese. tionship with Emory really has come full circle. Emory gave Reese earned his bachelor’s degree from Emory in 1966. to me so that I could develop the capacity to give back to In his alumni years, he has devoted his time and energy to Emory, so that once again Emory could give to me. It is all serving his alma mater. He was president of the Atlanta very unbelievable, and from the bottom of my heart I thank Chapter of Emory Alumni in the 1980s. More recently, he each and every person involved with this award.” has supported Emory Law and Goizueta Business School. A The J. Pollard Turman Alumni Service Award recogvalued adviser to the deans of the business and law schools, nizes distinguished alumni of Emory University who have Reese chairs the Emory Law Advisory Board and Emory demonstrated exceptional volunteer leadership in alumniLaw’s campaign cabinet; also he is a member of Goziueta’s related activities. The Tull Charitable Foundation has genadvisory board and campaign cabinet. erously pledged to make an annual $25,000 gift to Emory “The Emory Alumni Association is pleased to present in honor of the Turman Alumni Service Award recipient. the 2008 Turman award to Phil Reese,” said Allison Dykes, Reese is a resident of Wilmington, Del. He and his wife, vice president for alumni relations. “He has been an alumni Daphne, have two children, a son, Lee, and a daughter, leader for decades. Phil is a role model of what it means to Natalie, who is on staff at Goizueta Business School. be an engaged alumnus, and it is our privilege to honor him.” Reese has served in senior management roles for three Eric Rangus is director of communications for the Emory Fortune 500 companies, including Connectiv, which he Alumni Association.
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Perspective
EPIC Honors Inspiration Award Winners by Liz Chilla
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he Emory Public Interest Committee (epic) honored three Atlanta attorneys — Hulett “Bucky” Askew 67l, John Chandler, and Aimee Maxwell — for their commitment to public service at the 12th annual epic Inspiration Awards Ceremony and Reception, February 12 at Emory Law. Askew received this year’s Lifetime Commitment to Public Service Award. The longtime director of the Office of Bar Admissions for the Supreme Court of Georgia, Askew joked with the students during his acceptance speech, saying, “timing is everything. If these students had given me this award two years ago, I probably would have given them all a free pass on the bar exam.” Askew serves as the consultant on legal education to the American Bar Association. His award was presented by Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears 80l. Chandler, a partner at Sutherland Asbill & Brennan in Atlanta, received the Outstanding Leadership in the Public Interest Award for his work with detainees at Guantanamo Bay. “I’ve been practicing law for thirty-six years, and this is the most interesting and stimulating thing I’ve been involved in,” Chandler told the audience. “Students, I urge you to look for those issues that you’re passionate about.” Chandler’s award was presented by former Navy lawyer Charles Swift, who also has been active in his legal support of Guantanamo detainees and serves as acting director of Emory Law’s International Humanitarian Law Clinic. Maxwell received the Unsung Devotion to Those Most in Need Award for her work as executive director of the Georgia Innocence Project, an organization dedicated to helping individuals who have been convicted of crimes they did not commit. Her award was presented by Calvin Johnson Jr., the president of
the Georgia Innocence Project board of directors and an exoneree who was released after sixteen years in prison. Maxwell told the audience that one thing she loved about her “perfect job” was building personal relationships with her clients. “They are my friends. They are my family. They are my heroes,” Maxwell said. “They have spent a huge chunk of their lives trapped in prison, screaming at the top of their lungs that they were innocent, knowing that no one was listening. Because of public interest, I get to be the one who listens.” During the ceremony, epic also honored Emory Law student Laura Settlemyer 08l for her work assist-
“I’ve been practicing law for thirty-six years, and this is the most stimulating thing I’ve been involved in. Students, I urge you to look for those issues you’re passionate about.” — John Chandler
Inspiration Award recipients John Chandler, Aimee Maxwell, and Hulett “Bucky” Askew 67L.
ing with relief efforts in New Orleans following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and for her service to Emory Law as president of epic. epic is a student-run organization that promotes public interest law at Emory. The Inspiration Awards are epic’s primary annual fundraiser, with
all of the money raised supporting Emory Law students working in unpaid public interest internships. Through this year’s Inspiration Awards, epic raised more than $130,000, providing twenty-six summer grants for rising second- and third-year students.
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Perspective
Baker Urges Students to Make a Difference by Timothy L. Hussey
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e, as attorneys, have a responsibility to give back to the communities in which we live,” Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker 79l told the Gambrell Hall audience. “I am thankful to not only have the opportunity to practice law, but to be a public servant.” Baker delivered his remarks during the spring Emory Black Law Students Association/Smith Gambrell and Russell Lecture Series held at Emory Law. Baker, who attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before coming to Emory Law, shared that all of his political activity and success was built on his time as a student. He also credited his success to being a champion fencer. “That protective padding, fleetness of foot, and thrust and parry technique have served me well,” he said, “especially in politics.” A self-described ‘champion of open government,’ Baker served five terms in the Georgia House of Representatives where he helped draft legislation that led to the creation of Georgia’s hope scholarship program. He expressed pride in the scholarship program, saying it had made a real difference in the lives of Georgia’s students. “It has become the most far reaching scholarship program in this state, and I believe in this country,” Baker said. He became Georgia’s first African American attorney general in 1997, where his focus has shifted to fighting
“When people tell me I can’t do something, it really empowers me to go out and do it.” — thurbert baker 79L
crime, corruption, and consumer fraud. After Mike Bowers stepped down from the post, the governor asked Baker in 1996 to consider completing Bowers’ term. Baker served out the remaining year of the term and then decided to run for the statewide post in 1998. “Running for an office statewide is a different animal than running for a house seat in DeKalb County,” he said. 16
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Baker added that many people said he would have no chance of winning the election in 1998. “When people tell me I can’t do something, it really empowers me to go out and do it.” Although winning in 1998 by a large margin, many people viewed his win as a fluke. Baker went on to carry the election in 2002; in his third win in 2006, he carried 127 of Georgia’s 139 counties. “We took the law department in directions it had not gone before,” Baker said. During his time as attorney general, the office has tackled a number of important issues such as domestic violence, real estate fraud, and identity theft. “We were able to convince the legislature to give us a new statute to outlaw identity theft. Georgia was only the third state in the country to do this. It’s making a real difference,” Baker said. “Using the power of the law to intersect policy and make a difference is what it’s all about. “I believe we’re making a difference,” he said. Growing up in North Carolina, Baker said he always knew what he wanted to do as an adult. “I had no idea that I’d become attorney general,” Baker said, “but I did know that I wanted to be a lawyer. I didn’t set out to be a pioneer. When I was six, I ran around the house telling everyone I wanted to be a lawyer.” Baker credited tv’s Perry Mason for his inspiration. He told the crowd that he would watch the fictional attorney cross-examining witnesses who broke down on the stand to confess their crimes. “I’ve practiced law for a lot of years and have had a lot of people on the witness stand,” Baker laughed with his audience, “At no time has anyone broken down and confessed to anything.” Baker credited the leaders of the United States as yet another inspiration to him. “Many of the founding fathers were lawyers or were trained in the law,” he said. “They left a very important legacy in the Constitution . . . they were able to give us the rule of law. “They afforded us an opportunity to become a society of laws and not a lawless society. They provided the ideas and beliefs that defined us as a nation.”
Perspective
Tkeshelashvili Honored with Sheth Award by Alma Freeman
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mory University honored David Tkeshelashvili 06l, a native of the republic of Georgia, as this year’s recipient of the Sheth Distinguished International Alumni Award. Tkeshelashvili, the State Minister for Regional Issues for the Republic of Georgia, was presented with the award at a March 31 ceremony on campus. The annual Sheth Award, established by Mahdu and Jagdish Sheth, Charles H. Kellstadt Professor of Marketing, recognizes Emory’s international alumni who have gone on to achieve prominence in their careers around the world. “David is an outstanding example of what international students bring to our community — a desire to learn about our nation’s law and institutions and a capacity to impart a comparative perspective to our classes and students,” said David F. Partlett, Emory Law Dean and Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law. “That accurate, comparative, and deep knowledge strengthens respect for the rule of law and allows constructive conversations between nations. We’re so proud to count David among our graduates.” Tkeshelashvili was recognized for his work in international law and his service to his country through his dedication to improving human rights law standards and practices. A
participant in the Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program during his time at Emory from 2005 – 06, Tkeshelashvili previously served as the Republic of Georgia’s Minister of Health, Labor, and Social Welfare and from 2006 – 07, as the Minister of the Environmental Protection and Natural Resources. Elected to Parliament in 1995 at the age of twenty-five, from 1998 – 2002, Tkeshelashvili served as the chair of the youth arm of the Citizen Union, followed by his post as chair of the sub-committee for Relations with Media and Nongovernmental Organizations of the Human Rights Committee. In 2004, he was re-elected to Parliament on the party list of Georgia’s current President Mikheil Saakashvili’s National Movement. As a Muskie Fellow, Tkeshelashvili concentrated on the subject of international law, taking courses in international human rights law, law of international institutions, and law of democracy. Active in both his home and host communities, Tkeshelashvili was engaged in projects to create partnerships between Georgians and Americans, including work with the Atlanta-Tbilisi Sister City Partnership to organize a visit of the Tbilisi City council to Atlanta and collaboration with Emory faculty on joint projects with the Ministries of Education, Agriculture, and Health of Georgia. While in Atlanta, Tkeshelashvili received training at The Carter Center Human Rights Program and teamed with Emory Law on issues related to judicial reform. “This award highlights David’s contribution as a young leader in his country, Georgia, which has a history of religious pluralism since ancient times and which is today a strategically important and vital nexus between Europe and Asia,” said Vice Provost for International Affairs and
Chair of the Sheth Award Selection Committee Holli Semetko. “David’s involvement in both the Emory and Atlanta communities while he was here as a student was extraordinary,” said Partlett. “He helped build bridges between Emory and his home country of Georgia. His work opened the way for collaborative research projects as well as student and faculty exchanges.” Established in 1992, the AtlantaTbilisi Healthcare Partnership contributes expertise, personnel, medical literature, and supplies to the nation of Georgia, whose healthcare and medical education systems have been devastated by civil war and economic crises since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The partnership is a collaborative effort between institutions in Georgia and their Atlanta counterparts, including the Emory School of Medicine, Rollins School of Public Health, and Nell Hodgson
“David is an outstanding example of what international students bring to our community.” — david f. partlett
Woodruff School of Nursing, Georgia State University, Morehouse School of Medicine, Grady Memorial Hospital, and the Georgia Institute of Technology. For more information on the Sheth Award, visit www.international.emory. edu/sub-awards.htm#sheth. Alma Freeman is communications specialist for the Office of International Affairs.
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Rebuilding
the Big Easy
Students spend spring break helping with Hurricane Katrina relief by Liz Chilla
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aura Settlemyer 08l had barely started her first year of law school when Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in August 2005. In the wake of the tragedy, Emory Law opened its doors to law students from Tulane and Loyola universities, and Settlemyer thought about what she personally could do to help. Later that fall, she received an email from a group of law students who were forming the Student Hurricane Network, an organization that brings law students from across the nation to the Gulf Coast region to assist in legal efforts as the area rebuilds. The shn needed volunteers to travel to New Orleans during the upcoming winter break. Settlemyer signed up, and in January 2006, she traveled to the Crescent City to work for the Rebuilding Louisiana Coalition.
“When I returned for my second semester of law school, I was even more perplexed about the situation in New Orleans,” Settlemyer said. “The hurricanes were disaster on top of disaster. Instead of feeling satisfied that I had done my part, I became more fascinated with the issues plaguing the city.” This was the first of many trips to the Gulf
Coast region for Settlemyer. This year, she joined thirtyfive Emory Law students in a spring break trip to New Orleans — not to enjoy the city’s nightlife, but to volunteer their legal services to those affected by the hurricane. The trip was organized by members of the Emory Public Interest Committee (epic), and participating students had the opportunity to earn pro bono hours for their service. Leading this year’s volunteer efforts were co-organizers Alyssa Parsons 10l and Danielle Friedman 10l. The Emory Student Bar Association also assisted by donating money for van rentals and gas to transport the students. “We were amazed by the overwhelming response from Emory Law students eager to spend their spring vacations volunteering in New Orleans,” said Parsons. “We hope this enthusiasm for Emory’s ‘alternative spring break’ continues.” Most student volunteers put in full nine-to-five workdays — visiting fema trailers, assisting in class action lawsuits, and speaking with those affected by the hurricane. The students were divided into five groups, each handling a different legal issue that arose in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. “I spent most of my week in jail interviewing men and women who had been arrested, but have not yet been charged,” said Pam Rosen 10l, who volunteered with the Orleans Public Defenders office. “The physical state of the Orleans Parish House of Detention is a testament to the staggering obstacles New Orleans faces, but the work being done by lawyers there is a testament to the dedication of those who are committed to rebuilding the city.” The students’ work was not glamorous, explained
Steve Weyer 10l, who has volunteered in New Orleans twice since starting at Emory Law. “Basically, we drove around all day and for a few hundred miles looking for [fema] trailers,” said Weyer. He was part of a group assigned to search out the remaining trailer parks in
Louisiana and conduct preliminary research in preparation for a group that would be visiting the residents in the coming weeks. According to Weyer, there is still plenty to be done to help the families of New Orleans rebuild their lives. During the trip, he caught up with a family he had first visited in 2007. “The family was glad to see me, though they expressed some unhappiness with the promises of help extended but never fulfilled,” Weyer said. “They told us that the local school still wasn’t operating and that they were having problems getting the rebuilding money they had been promised.” Despite the hardships still facing the region, the efforts
of the student volunteers have not gone unnoticed. “I believe that the most vital and helpful result of our efforts is that the New Orleans community is not being forgotten,” Settlemyer said. Settlemyer, who graduated in May, plans to return to New Orleans to continue the work she began as a student.
“For law students, the city’s struggles with equality and justice remind us why we originally chose to go to law school. We hope for New Orleans’ sake that we are not needed next year, but if we are, we’re always happy to return.” To learn more about the Student Hurricane Network, visit www.studenthurricanenetwork.org. To learn more about the Emory Public Interest Committee, visit www.law.emory.edu/epic.
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Commencement 2008
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mory University celebrated the 163rd Commencement Monday, May 12, 2008. Two hundred-sixty graduates were honored during the Emory Law Hooding and Diploma Ceremony. Dean David F. Partlett and the Honorable T. Jackson Bedford Jr. 73l, President of the Emory Law Alumni Association, made the opening remarks. During the ceremony, the 3l Class Gift Committee presented a check for $61,500 to Emory Law. The class gift will be used to endow a fund to assist future classes with their fundraising efforts. Professor of Law William W. Buzbee was awarded the Emory Williams Teaching Award. Emory Law’s Most Outstanding Professor Award was presented to Richard D. Freer, Robert Howell Hall Professor of Law and a seven-time recipient of this honor. Freer also received Emory University’s Scholar/Teacher Award; he was the second law professor ever to receive the prestigious award. James Gibson was chosen as this year’s Most Outstanding Third-Year Student. Christie Bearden was the recipient of the Gloria Jean Fowler Angel Award, which recognizes a student who embodies the kindness and grace of former Emory Law employee Gloria Jean Fowler. Other notable law graduates included Judge Dorothy Toth Beasley, Emory University’s oldest graduate this year, and Harriett Musoke, Emory Law’s first Doctor of Juridical Science (sjd) graduate.
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Save the date! Alumni Reunion Weekend September 26 – 28, 2008 All alumni are invited to join us as we celebrate the classes of 2003, 1998, 1993, 1988, 1983, 1978, 1968, and 1958. Friday, September 26 Classes of 2003 & 1998 7:30 p.m., home of Professor Rich and Louise Freer, 1816 Breckenridge Drive N.E., Atlanta, Georgia 30345 Class of 1988 7:30 p.m., home of Randy and Val Kessler 1123 Houston Mill Road N.E., Atlanta, Georgia 30329 Class of 1983 7:30 p.m., home of Pam Tremayne 4750 Harris Trail, Atlanta, Georgia 30327 Class of 1978 7:30 p.m., home of Larry and Katharine Nodine 610 E. Ponce De Leon Avenue, Decatur, Georgia 30030 Class of 1958 7:00 p.m., Cherokee Town Club 155 W. Paces Ferry Road N.W., Atlanta, Georgia 30305 Saturday, September 27 Cookout for all alumni and their families on “The Beach” of Gambrell Hall, noon
For questions or to volunteer to help with your class party, contact Ethan Rosenzweig, director of alumni relations at 404.727.6857 or erosenz@emory.edu.
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Deal or No Deal?
Students get a first-hand look at Georgia Supreme Court oral arguments by Timothy L. Hussey
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he Supreme Court of Georgia heard oral arguments in Emory Law’s Tull Auditorium Tuesday, February 26. Attorneys presented arguments in Reaves v. The State and Hardin et al. v. NBC Universal, Inc., et al. Reaves v. The State is an interim death penalty appeal. Georgia seeks the death penalty in the case from Henry County against Charlott Lynett Reaves and her husband, Rodney Michael Reaves, for the alleged child abuse and murder of his 11-year-old daughter, Joella. Charlott Reaves is the child’s stepmother. The couple was being tried separately. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in her husband’s pre-trial appeal Feb. 11. Three school employees also have been charged in this case with failing to report signs of child abuse. At the time this article was written, the court had not yet ruled in the case. 24
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In Hardin et al. v. NBC Universal, Inc., et al., the plaintiffs were Georgia residents who participated in nbc’s Deal or No Deal Lucky Case Game at home by text messaging their entry for a $.99 charge. The plaintiffs filed suit against nbc and other defendants arguing that Georgia law permits them to recoup their text messaging fees because the athome game was an illegal lottery. In a unanimous opinion written by Justice Hugh P. Thompson, the state high court rejected the plaintiffs’ reading of the gambling recovery statute. “[W]e hold that o.c.g.a § 13-8-3 (b) does not authorize plaintiffs to recover from defendants the text message charges they paid to participate in the lucky case game,” wrote Thompson. In the Lucky Case Game viewers registered their selections of suitcases through either a text message or for free over the Internet. With prizes of $10,000 and greater,
The Laws of Life
“Listening to the attorneys’ oral arguments was very interesting. It’s a great way to see in person what we’re learning in our first year of law school.”
While swearing in Emory Law alumni to the bar of the Georgia Supreme Court, Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears 80L offered attorneys a few life lessons.
inners were chosen via random drawing from among w those participants who picked the right suitcase. To state a claim under the Georgia gambling civil recovery statute, wrote Thompson, the plaintiffs needed to allege there was a “gambling contract” supported by “gambling consideration.” There was no gambling consideration here, he wrote. All 1l students were invited to attend the session for a taste of what oral arguments before the court are like. “Listening to the attorneys’ oral arguments was very interesting,” said Samantha Stilp 10l. “It’s a great way to see in person what we’re learning in our first year of law school.” This event was sponsored by the Emory Advocacy Society, a student organization at Emory Law that hosts luncheons and other events featuring trial litigators and judges from the Atlanta area. Society members are invited to attend and learn about litigation through these interactions.
There are the various laws of man and then there are the laws of life. In just a few minutes you will hear trained and skilled lawyers argue about the various laws of mankind. Before we do so, let’s take a few minutes to reflect on the laws of life, because in some form or fashion these laws will guide you as you pursue your legal career. 1. L aw of return: That means that whatever you give forth will come back to you. The good and the bad. 2. T he law of humanity: You must care as much about the needs of the man or woman sitting across from you in the courtroom or at the negotiating table as you care about the people who live across town or in another nation. 3. Law of ‘no free lunches’: No one is entitled to anything that they haven’t sweated and struggled for. 4. Never work just for the money or for the power. Money and power are great but they can’t save your soul; they can’t build a decent family, and they can’t help you sleep at night. 5. N ever be afraid of taking risks, and don’t be afraid of being criticized. If you do, you will never say anything, you will never do anything, and you will never be anybody. 6. R emember, and help others to remember, that the fellowship of human beings is more important than the bonds you might feel by belonging to a particular race, a particular class, or a particular gender. You should always be decent and fair to other people and insist that others do as well. 7. B e confident that you can make a difference, even if it is a d ifference in a small way.
In addition to hearing the two cases, the Court held a swearing in ceremony for Emory Law alumni just before arguments in the case. The following alumni were sworn in as members of the bar of the Georgia Supreme Court: Michael Abramson 99c 04l, Melissa M. Banker 00l, Jason Michel Beach 03l, Jeffrey D. Cooper 07l, Shari Jill Corin 07l, Jennifer Joy Dickinson 01l, Anne Wrege Ferebee 07l, Melissa N. Hawkins 03l, Dana Troy Hustins 07l, Sharon P. Horne 07l, Sarah Howard Lamar 91l, Montoya McGee 07l, Robert S. Meyring 03l, Cecilia Oh 02l, Payal Patel 02c 07l, Heidi H. Raschke 01l, Nestor Jesus Rivera 00l, Matthew R. Rosenkoff 05l, Ethan Rosenzweig 02l, Bradley Campbell Skidmore 84c 90l, Kent Ian Brian Walker 07l, and Robert A. Zayac Jr. 04l.
8. D on’t ever stop learning and improving your mind. If you don’t, then you will be left behind. Things change very fast everywhere, but they change even faster in the law, and it’s critical that lawyers heed this advice. 9. Y ou are in charge of your own attitude. Whatever others may do to you or whatever the circumstances may be in your life, you must remember that only you are in control of you. 10. B e reliable, be faithful, and always finish what you start. I believe if you live by these rules, then nothing will harm you for very long, whether in this world or the next.
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A Pioneering
Spirit Patricia Collins Butler is accustomed to being a pioneer — whether blazing a trail as a female attorney in the 1930s or being a 100-year-old firebrand. by Wendy Cromwell
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hen I graduated it was, ‘Oh, you’re a lawyer. Ever go to court? Ever put anyone in jail? This lady’s a lawyer!” said Butler, 33l. “Now, it’s ‘Patricia Butler is 100 years old!’” Butler held court with a group of second- and third-year students while visiting Emory Law on April 21. The third woman to attend Emory Law, Butler finished second in her class in 1931. For the next three years, she worked in the Emory Law library while looking for an opportunity to practice. “When I started, women weren’t supposed to be lawyers,” she said. “My poor mother was kind of apologetic. My father pushed me into it. He would say “Paddy? She’s a lawyer, you know? “I spoke with a lot of law firms who said we would like to have you, but our clients wouldn’t stand for it,” Butler said. “At [golfing great] Bobby Jones’ firm, they told me ‘that’s nice that you went to school with Bobby, but we can’t handle you.’ ” The only woman in a class of thirty, Butler found law school awkward in the beginning. “Discussions were foreign to me. Then it just happened,” Butler said. “I made friends, and it got better. My dad let me have a car, and I started giving the guys rides into Atlanta — then I started studying with them.” While she searched for a position, Butler worked in the law library in the mornings and the American Law Institute in the afternoons doing research. 26
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Championing Butler’s cause “I had a champion — Mr. Smythe Gambrell was determined to help me find a job,” Butler said. “He had a lot of contacts and was well connected in Washington.” Her law library and research experience reaped benefits. One Christmas while in Canada, Butler received a message to stop in Washington on her way home for a job interview with the Department of Justice. “Gambrell had arranged for me to meet with [Harold M.] Stephens at the Department of Justice in the antitrust division,” Butler said. “When I arrived, he was arguing a case before the Supreme Court. “On the second day, he was still too busy,” Butler said. “On the third day, he met with me. I learned a great deal waiting for that interview. I found out I had the job through a telegraph wanting me back in Washington in a week.” Butler was hired to put the antitrust library together in the Justice Department’s new building. “The library was all on the floor. I put it into shape,” Butler said. “I walked into a room this size [the Faculty Library in Gambrell Hall] with books on the floor. Nobody ever knew where the books were. “I stayed in the library for a while and worked on some big research on Indian law,” she said. “Newspapers were our main source. We would get those long wooden dowels from the Library of Congress. We would go through them day by day.” During her time in the antitrust library, Butler assisted
Carl Swisher for two years to help finish his history on the Department of Justice, Federal Justice. Janet Reno, the only female U.S. attorney general, has called Butler a “pioneer among women at the Department of Justice.” For years, Butler had few women colleagues. Her time in the Justice Department included working in the war division, researching World War I records on enemy aliens. The call for war “During the New Deal, we did a lot of research related to the first World War so I was picked to help do the research leading up to World War II,” Butler said. “Looking back, during that time we couldn’t tell anybody. I did go home for a visit and told my mother war is coming.” At the time, Butler was working on three war proclamations. After Pearl Harbor, she got the call that she was needed at the White House. “The drafts were practically in shape,” Butler said. “The first was for the internment of the Germans and Japanese. It was signed and issued.” Butler also worked on Roosevelt’s court-packing plan. “I had to write many letters favoring his plan,” she said. “It was very hard to do. It was a poor idea.” While she disagreed with the court-packing plan, Butler enjoyed working with the Roosevelts. “When Mrs. [Eleanor] Roosevelt talked to you, you felt
like you were the only person there,” Butler said. “She was a very sweet person. She would listen to your story and then help or say I’ll see what we can do about that.” Justice Robert H. Jackson recruited her to work in the attorney general’s office where she remained and worked for every attorney general from Roosevelt to Nixon, including Bobby Kennedy. Her first husband and assistant attorney general, Salvador Andretta, encouraged Butler to argue an immigration case, Johnson v. Shaughnessy, in 1949 before the U.S. Supreme Court. Despite being incredibly nervous and taking over in an emergency, Butler won her case. During her time in the attorney general’s office, she became friends with Chief Justice Warren Burger, then an assistant attorney general. “I remember being at lunch with Elvera Burger when her husband had been trying to get a hold of her,” Butler said. “He was trying to tell her he was about to be appointed to the Supreme Court.” That friendship bore fruit when Burger invited her to join him for tea one day to discuss an idea. “He put his chair back on two legs and leaned back and said ‘practically every court has a historical society,” Butler said about forming the Supreme Court Historical Society in 1974. Burger told her to “put together some bylaws.” “You’d laugh at what we put together,” Butler said. Today the society has a beautiful building, a budget, and full-time staff. “It’s an extremely important society,” she said. “It researches all the judicial branches.” Butler was also the founding secretary of the American Bar Association’s section on administrative law and founding editor of what is now the Federal Register.
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Rethinking Year One Ford & Harrison eliminates billable hours for first-year associates by Wendy Cromwell
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hanges in the law profession made one Atlantabased firm reconsider how it trains first-year lawyers. In August 2007, Ford & Harrison, an employment law firm, announced it was eliminating its billablehours requirement for first-year attorneys in favor of clinical hours. “Because of the Internet, the information immediately available to our clients is staggering,” said C. Lash Harrison 62b 65l, managing partner at Ford & Harrison. “You can find more information quickly, but how do you use that information? We have to train our lawyers to use knowledge and apply it successfully for our clients.” Modeled on the traditional medical residency, Ford & Harrison’s Year-One Associate Program requires 1,800 clinical hours of hands-on training with an additional 100 28
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hours of classroom instruction and an approved independent self-study. “The self-study should produce a work product of use to the firm or worthy of publication in a journal or magazine,” said Margaret F. Holman, attorney and director of professional development at Ford & Harrison. “We want them to develop a focused area of expertise within our practice or in an industry relevant to our clients.” The 15-month program assigns first-year associates to a resource partner who serves as a mentor. First-years complete traditional assignments, such as research and writing memos or preparing summary judgments while engaging with clients and helping prepare cases, depositions, and hearings. “My resource partner, Jeff Mokotoff, is always asking
me if there is something I would like to be exposed to,” said Valeria Cometto, a first-year associate. “He’s always asking me to tag along and watch. Recently, I worked on a summary judgment with him.” Earlier this year, Cometto was able to attend a complete trial in a case on which she had been working. “In the past, [first-year associates] might do the research, but not understand how it fits into the bigger picture of the case strategy,” said Holman.
Investing in the future Typically, first-year associates generate 1,500 billable hours, Harrison said, while recording 1,900 – 2,000 hours of work. Given the firm’s current rates, the lost revenue per associate in the new program, therefore, could be as much as $300,000. “That’s about $1.8 million for all six first-year associates,” Harrison said. “It’s quite an investment and does not include the significant investment in infrastructure necessary to run a program like this one.” “Our hope is that we will begin to see an increase in the productive work that these associates are capable of before the end of the year,” Holman said. The firm is removing any results- and success-based pres-
We’re hoping that as second-years our associates will be capable of handling more responsibility for more sophisticated work than junior associates have been in the past.” Clients helped force the issue by refusing to pay for yearone or year-two associates to work on their cases. “Clients were not subtle — they were explicit,” Holman said. “Our very large clients told us, ‘Do not use first- and second-year lawyers. We’re not going to pay for you to train,’” Harrison said. “The market is different because more and more companies are relying on in-house lawyers,” Harrison said. “They no longer accept that a lawyer is a lawyer. When I started, people accepted you simply because you had the degree. Few knew or cared about your experience. “Everyone was talking about the problem,” Harrison said. “I was frustrated by everyone complaining and nobody doing anything about it. I decided to start doing something, even if we had to risk not getting it right the first time.”
Embracing clinical hours
While most firms have not made any adjustments to their first-year associate programs, some have reduced their billable hours. Harrison foresees the industry adopting similar programs in the future in spite of mixed reactions to the program. One blogger reported the firm would be out of business within a year, Harrison said. “We’re not.” Instead, the firm embraced the concept. In addition to first-years, all associates may apply for clinical hours. The clinical hours are applied to their productivity requirements. “When we rolled this out to the partnership, we emphasized the benefits — the ability to fully utilize junior lawyers and give them greater responsibility sooner and the fact that this program will set us apart with regard to recruiting and, hopefully, retention,” Holman said. Client reaction has been overwhelmingly positive because the firm is responding directly to an ongoing problem, Holman said. sure any new lawyer feels when he or she enters a competiAs for retention, when young attorneys are engaged and tive environment, Harrison said. doing meaningful work, they are happier, Harrison said, “We’re giving them the opportunity to progress faster, adding the firm will survey the first years to better gauge learn more, and expand their knowledge,” Harrison said. the program. “It is no fun to be stuck in an office while others are “Junior lawyers used to come to work scared to death. practicing law,” Harrison said. “This way they get a better We’re getting rid of that angst.” sense of how the pieces fit together. Feedback is something “We’re taking all that energy and channeling it into folks don’t get early on. something positive,” Holman said. “We decided to turn the “How do you motivate smart young people who are easproblem inside out and address the write-offs.” ily bored?” Harrison said. “They don’t want to sit in their Cometto said her former classmates are jealous. “They offices and grind out research memoranda. You have to say it’s a good idea and that their firms might do that in a challenge and motivate them. couple of years. They wish they could take advantage of it. “The program is creating lots of buzz,” Harrison said of “I don’t have the built-in pressure of generating 1,900 recruiting. “It will take some time to cycle through. We are billable hours my first year out of law school,” said Cometto. “My partners understand I have a learning curve.” hoping to see results next fall. We’ll have concrete examples by then.” “We’re giving them confidence,” Harrison said. “The consequence is they’re happy about what they’re doing.
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A Framing Generation New book unveils classical teachings in U.S. Constitution by Mary Loftus
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mory Law Professor David J. Bederman’s new book, The Classical Foundations of the American Constitution (Cambridge University Press), may help the nation’s top courts more accurately interpret gun control and other contentious Constitutional law cases before them today. “The intent of the framers weighs heavily on current interpretations of Constitutional law and modern cases being heard,” said Bederman. For example, in March the U.S. Supreme Court heard a case that hinges on the meaning of the Second Amendment right to “keep and bear arms.” Does it guarantee an individual right to have a gun for private use, or does it only guarantee a collective right to have guns in state-regulated militia? Five justices ruled the amendment does give individuals a right to have a gun for self-defense. Bederman’s book shows that when interpreting the Second Amendment, it is helpful to know that Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, George Washington, and other framers of the U.S. Constitution were products of a classical education, with an emphasis on Greek and Latin languages and literature. “In this case, the justices received a lot of briefing about what the amendment would have meant to the framers,” 30
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he says. “With its unique grammar, the first two clauses almost seem to be a preamble, a throat clearing. But one of the most interesting briefs, filed by a group of linguists and historians, argues that the framers often wrote in Latinate form, heavily influenced by their childhood education. This would make the preamble as important as the clauses that came after.” This meticulously researched book, third in a trilogy that Bederman has written on law and antiquity, reveals that many of the essential aspects of the Constitution — including separation of powers among the branches of federal government, the two chambers of Congress, independent courts, and federalism — were informed by ancient political models. “I am suggesting a simple, but subversive, idea: that the members of the framing generation were as much influenced by the ... experiences of classical antiquity as they were by Enlightenment liberal philosophy and by the
exigencies of the struggle against Great Britain,” he says. The book explores the classical predilections of the framing generation, the framer’s original intent in drafting various provisions of the Constitution, and a view of our country’s supreme document of law as a “classical Constitution.” While hardly great scholars by today’s standards, the leaders of the framing generation were, to a large degree, college-educated. Bederman notes: Of the fifty-six members of the Continental Congress that deliberated the
have made after four or five weeks close attendance ... is methinks a melancholy proof of the imperfection of Human Understanding. We indeed seem to feel our own want of political wisdom, since we have been running in search of it. We have gone back to ancient history for models of Government, and examined the different forms of those Republics which have been formed with the seeds of their own dissolution that now no longer exist.” The framers had an onerous and momentous charge. “How do you create a new political order, a new form of government? And how do you make it last? That’s what the framers had to do,” Bederman notes. And, he adds, they succeeded. No modern country has lived under the same Constitution as long as Americans. “The genius of the framing generation in creating such a robust form of government — one that has survived sectional rivalry and civil war, vast territorial expansion and emergence into Great Power status ... would have been appreciated by their classical forebears.” The founders themselves were acutely aware of the importance of their task, but also of the honor and privilege it entailed. John Adams wrote that it was a “time when the greatest lawgivers of antiquity would have wished to live. How few of the human race have ever enjoyed an opportunity of making election of government ... for themselves or their children.”
In making his case, Bederman has gone to original letters, speeches, books, pamphlets, and records, allowing the framers and others of their era to speak for themselves. Declaration of Independence, twenty-seven had college backgrounds and others had achieved this level of education through self-study. On the whole, they prized the works of such Greek and Roman writers and philosophers as Plato, Aristotle, Polybius, Cicero, Livy, and Tacitus. (“Thomas Jefferson was such a book junkie that he almost went bankrupt. His collection became the basis for the Library of Congress,” Bederman says.) In making his case, Bederman has gone to original letters, speeches, books, pamphlets, and records, allowing the framers and others of their era to speak for themselves. “Our tendency is to edit their words, which imposes our own order and judgment on them,” he says. “But in order to get a flavor of the way these people thought and acted, you have to understand how they read and how they wrote.” For instance, in 1808, Jefferson wrote to his granddaughter, Anne Bankhead, “I very much like your choice of books for your winter’s reading ... Tacitus I consider the first writer in the world without a single exception. His book is a compound of history and morality of which we have no other example.” By no means were all the framers classicists, however. A strong anticlassical opposition ran through the generation, and was embodied in its elder statesman, Franklin, who “at a crucial moment at Philadelphia in 1787 ... decided to make a stand against the use of classical references,” recounts Bederman. After a lengthy lecture by James Madison on ancient confederations and leagues, Franklin, whose proposal for a strong, centralized government was being eroded, rose and said, “The small progress we
Mary Loftus is associate editor of Emory Magazine.
The book explores the classical predilections of the framing generation, the framer’s original intent in drafting various provisions of the Constitution, and a view of our country’s supreme document of law as a “classical Constitution.”
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Mr. Van Goes to Washington? While his classmates study for the bar exam, one 2008 Emory Law graduate will spend his summer running for Congress. by Timothy L. Hussey
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uoc Van 08l can clean and jerk-lift 300 pounds. lowers crime and gives people a personal stake in their He’s also running for Congress in Florida’s 8th communities.” Congressional District. Orlando, part of the 8th Congressional District, is For Van, the son of Vietnamese immigrants and a twoamong the top ten cities for criminal activity. “People walktime champion weight lifter, politics has been a driving ing down the street are afraid,” he said. His ideas on repairforce in his life for several years. ing the education system are one way to reduce crime. “I want to work on policies that benefit people at the “We need a system that provides the best education to macro level,” he said. “If you want to make systematic students that is possible,” Van said. He calls for “quasichanges to help people, you have to work in the political vouchers” to allow students the choice of attending a differarena.” ent public school if their school is not performing up to par. Van credits his parents and high school weight-lifting If there is no other acceptable public school, the student coach with inspiring him to run. His coach would talk could then exercise the choice of attending private school or about kids in Van’s high school who left school to work to use the money for home school. Van said his plan doesn’t help support their families. take money away from public schools. “Sometimes at Emory we don’t realize that the educaWhen asked about criticisms that his plan would remove tion we’re getting is a luxury,” Van said. “We’re focused higher performing students to the detriment of the entire so much on extra rights, on civil rights... For some people, school, Van asked why one student should bear the responfree speech is not as important as being able to feed yoursibility of ensuring an entire school’s success. self. Education is what allows us to become more human. Van, who attended Seminole County High School and “It teaches us how we should view each other and interGeorgetown University, saw many Georgetown students act with each other,” Van said. “It is the ultimate tool to from elite, private high schools who were in the bottom of alleviate criminal activity and to help develop the economy.” their class. He said students who were in the top of their To qualify for the ballot, class at lesser known or Van had to collect more than poorer performing schools 4,300 signatures or pay a fee couldn’t get in to Ivy League equal to seven percent of the institutions. salary for the position he “If going to a better high sought (nearly $10,000). He school enhances the educacollected signatures. tion of one student,” Van Nearly 110 days at nine said, “then it’s necessary.” hours each day, Van collected signatures in the central He chose Georgetown because of Washington, D.C. “I Florida heat last summer. He spent his Thanksgiving and was able to learn from people who were actually engaged in Christmas breaks bringing his signatures to more than politics,” he said. 5,800. Collecting the 20 percent extra signatures was critiAfter Georgetown, Van debated attending graduate cal, Van said. school or law school. “A law degree can expand your “It’s amazing the number of people who think they are opportunities,” he said. “It’s an important degree in underregistered to vote, but apparently aren’t,” he said. “I made standing law and how to implement policies.” the decision to run, and I was determined to get on the Emory offered him the opportunity to study law and ballot.” work as a strength and conditioning coach. As a two-time His platform has three main issues: crime, educachampion weight lifter, he wanted to work with others tion, and the economy. While his running mates for the interested in the sport. His strong sense of discipline and Democratic nomination are older and more seasoned, Van his work ethic developed from his training as a weight lifter. said he has one thing they don’t. “In weight lifting, you have to keep your eye on the prize. “I will bring innovative, new thinking to solve old You do everything in small increments. You learn to push problems. What this country is founded on is the American yourself to keep going,” Van said. “In politics, it’s the same Dream — a certain type of story. Every single person is the thing. You can never look at the big number; you have to main character of this story. A lot of opportunities in this take things slowly.” country have disappeared, and we’ve lost the united sense “My chances of winning are really good because I am that connected us all and made us want to make this couna hard worker,” he said. “I’m going to outwork my oppotry better.” nents. Our campaign is so disciplined. We’re going to keep Encouraging people to take responsibility for what hapchipping away.” pens in their communities, Van promotes more property Despite strong opposition for the Democratic nominaownership. He wants to give people a sense of dignity by tion and a strong Republican incumbent, Van plans to earn encouraging people in lower income housing to become his party’s nomination on August 26, when Floridians vote. owners. When asked his plans if he doesn’t win, Van’s answer offers “There is a sense of dignity in having something you a glimpse of his future as a politician. can point to and say ‘I have this for myself,’” he said. “It “I only planned on winning,” he said.
“If you want to make systematic changes to help people, you have to work in the political arena.”
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Class Notes A Letter from the Director of Alumni Relations Dear Fellow Alumni: On May 12, we ended our 2007 – 2008 academic year with 260 graduates joining our 9,500-plus alumni throughout the United States and abroad. The class of 2008 became part of an alumni base of Emory lawyers who practice in all aspects of law, business, education, and government. More importantly, our newest graduates join a community that is built on more than practice; one that is built on friendship, on civic commitment, and on advancing justice and the common good. With summer, the halls of Gambrell are a little quieter than normal (Bar Review, of course, is in full swing!), but it is still a busy time at Emory Law as we plan Family and Friends Day, Reunions, and the Distinguished Alumni Awards. The end of the year also is an appropriate time to reflect on our
successes. With your help and support, Emory Law has moved boldly forward in implementing the Dean’s key initiatives of additional scholarships, increased faculty hiring, and enhanced student services. We have seen the launch of a new Center for Transactional Law and Practice, as well as the hiring of several new professors. In the Alumni Office, we are excited about the recent reconstitution of our alumni leadership groups: the Emory Law Advisory Board (formerly the Law School Council) and the Emory Law Alumni Board. These organizations are your voice in the operation and programming of Emory Law, and their continued growth is a cornerstone of our future successes. In addition, as our programming and travel schedules have increased, we are fortunate to have Cassandra Blackburn joining us as assistant director of Alumni Relations to further spread the message of the Emory Law experience to our community. These accomplishments would not be possible without the generous support and loyalty of our alumni.
50s 60s Walter M. Cheatham 56L received the Georgia Author of the Year Award in 2003 for his biography of Thomas G. Pownall, No Man Walks Alone, and in 1999 for Your Friendly Neighbor, a book about Georgia’s Coca-Cola bottling families. Theodore V. Morrison Jr. 57C 59L retired from the State Corporation Commission in January 2008, after nearly twenty years in office.
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W. Fred Orr II 63C 65L was elected the fifty-second president of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association. Orr, a plaintiff trial lawyer with Orr and Edwards of Decatur, specializes in complex civil litigation and jury trials, focusing primarily on medical malpractice cases.
J. Lewis Sapp 63C 66L was named a “Super Lawyer” for 2008 by Georgia Super Lawyers magazine. Frank B. Strickland 66L was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award for Community Service by the State Bar of Georgia and the Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism. Strickland, a partner with Strickland Brockington Lewis LLP in Atlanta, was nominated by Kenneth L. Shigley 77L, of Shigley Law Firm LLC in Atlanta.
Our successes are directly correlated to the gifts of time, volunteerism, and financial support you bestow upon us. Our alumni network is strong due to your commitment to sharing your experiences with the community, and in turn, you enhance the reputation of our alma mater. Still, we know that there is always room for improvement, and I look forward to hearing from you with suggestions, feedback, and questions about the services we provide. Please call or write anytime at the numbers and addresses below. As always, I am honored to serve you in this position and am proud to be a fellow alum. Sincerely yours,
Ethan Rosenzweig 02l Director of Alumni Relations erosenz@emory.edu 404.727.6857
70s
Gene B. McClure 70L was honored by the United States Golf Association for his longtime volunteer service to the game. McClure is a founder and partner of Atlanta-based law firm McClure and McMorries PC.
W. Terence Walsh 70L received the lifetime achievement award at the first Daily Report Pro Bono Awards ceremony. Walsh, a partner at Alston and Bird LLP in Atlanta, was recognized for his service as co-founder and chair of the Truancy Intervention Project and his support for the Georgia Asylum and Immigration Network.
Warren W. Wills 70L led a seminar on the essentials of promissory estoppel at a continuing education conference on contract litigation, hosted by the Institute on Continuing Legal Education in Georgia. Wills is a senior partner at Morris, Manning & Martin in Atlanta in the firm’s litigation group. Herbert E. Gerson 70C 73L was named to the 2008 edition of The Best Lawyers in America in the labor and employment law category. Gerson is a partner in the Memphis, Tenn., office of Ford and Harrison LLP.
Class Notes
John I. Mauldin 73L of Greenville, S.C., was sworn in as the circuit public defender for the thirteenth Judicial Circuit on March 31, 2008. Mauldin has served as an assistant public defender and the chief public defender for Greenville County for more than 18 years. Charles T. Tuggle Jr. 73L was named executive vice president and general counsel of First Horizon National Corp. Michael M. Sheffield 74L has announced he will run for the Georgia Court of Appeals in 2008. Sheffield has his own practice in Lawrenceville, specializing in criminal defense law. Karen Holley Horrell 76L was named vice president at American Financial Group in Cincinnati, Ohio. James B. Perry 77L spoke at the 2007 Southeast Employment Law Symposium in Atlanta on the topic of legislations regulations and case law that can impact organizations and their human resource processes. Perry also serves as an adjunct professor at Wayne State University, teaching a negotiations class to third-year law and LL.M. students. Perry is a member of the Detroit, Mich., office of Dickinson Wright PLLC, focusing his practice on the areas of labor and employment law, labor contract negotiation, and employment litigation defense.
Thomas R. McNeill 77L was selected as one of BTI Consulting Group’s “2008 Client Service AllStars,” an exclusive group of 148 attorneys from 113 law firms. McNeill is chair of Powell Goldstein’s business and finance practice group, specializing in corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and international business law. Wayne R. Benjamin 78L was promoted to vice president of Oracle Retail with responsibility for managing the customer management office for North and South America. John E. Parkerson Jr. 74BA 75MA 78L was named honorary consul for the Republic of Hungary, serving Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Parkerson is a general attorney for Delta Air Lines Inc. Beverly Gail Reese 78L was named a “Super Lawyer” for 2007 by Tennessee Super Lawyers magazine. Reese is partner at Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs LLP, specializing in bankruptcy and commercial litigation. Brian N. Smiley 75C 78L was elected as vice president/president elect of the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association. Smiley is a partner in the Atlanta law firm of Smiley Bishop & Porter LLP. Frank Lawrence Street 78L joined the board of the Southeastern Software Association. Street, a partner at Morris, Manning & Martin LLP in Atlanta, leads the firm’s technology/ intellectual property group. Michael J. Glazer 79L has become board certified by the Florida Bar in state and federal government and administrative practice. This is a new area of board certification in Florida and only fifty-six Florida attorneys have achieved this designation.
Marc A. Pearl 79L has been named president and chief executive officer of the Homeland Security and Defense Business Council.
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Lorraine Hess Spencer 80L was named partner at Smith Moore LLP in Atlanta. Spencer focuses her practice on corporate and regulatory health care law.
Debra Schwartz 82L was inducted into the American Bar Association’s College of Labor and Employment Law. Schwartz also was named one of the “Top Fifty Female Lawyers” in Georgia for the fifth time. Keith B. Darrell 83B 83L published the third edition of his book, Issues in Internet Law: Society, Technology, and the Law.
Stanford G. Wilson 80L was named a “Super Lawyer” for 2008 by Georgia Super Lawyers magazine.
Bruce H. Zamost 84L obtained a $2.55 million jury verdict award, believed to be the largest of its kind nationwide, in a medical malpractice trial in September 2007. Zamost is a shareholder of Stark & Stark in Marlton, N.J.
Bruce S. Sostek 81L was included in the 2008 Chambers USA “Leaders in their Field” legal directory for intellectual property. Sostek also was recognized as a “Go-To Lawyer” in intellectual property in the 2007 Go-To Guide published by Texas Lawyer magazine.
Julie I. Fershtman 83C 86L was named one of Metro Detroit’s Most Influential Women by Crain’s Detroit Business. An attorney with Zausmer, Kaufman, August, Caldwell & Taylor PC, Fershtman focuses her practice on insurance law, commercial litigation, and equine law.
Joel S. Arogeti 82L has been re-elected to a threeyear term on the board of Private Bancshares, the parent company of Private Bank of Buckhead. Arogeti is managing partner of the Atlanta-based law firm Kitchens Kelley Gaynes PC. Linda T. Muir 82L was presented with the Justice Robert Benham Award for Community Service by the State Bar of Georgia and the Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism. Muir, who practices with the Saylor Law Firm LLP in Atlanta, was nominated by Attorney General Thurbert E. Baker 79L.
Candace L. Fowler 83C 86L was elected vice chair of the Planned Parenthood of Georgia Board of Directors. Fowler is a partner in the Atlanta office of Kilpatrick Stockton LLP. She leads the firm’s real estate investment and development team and serves as a member of its executive committee. John K. Halvey 86B 86L was named general counsel and group executive vice president of NYSE Euronet. James Alan Scharf 86L, an assistant U.S. attorney, teaches remedies at Lincoln Law School of San Jose. Scharf also is the immediate past vice president of the State Bar of California.
Jeffrey O. Greenfield 87L has joined Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP as a partner in the firm’s business services department.
Neil G. Becker 88L has joined the law firm of Pepe & Hazard LLP as counsel in the firm’s real estate and business departments. David J. Merbaum 88L founded David J. Merbaum PC in 1996, which became Merbaum Law Group PC in 2006. The firm consists of four attorneys whose practice include construction litigation, commercial collection, lien and bond law, and landlord-tenant disputes. James W. Young 89L will argue his first case before the U.S. Supreme Court, Locke v. Karass, this fall with a decision to be issued in late June 2009.
90s Wayne N. Bradley 90L has been appointed as co-chair of the corporate practice group of McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP in Atlanta.
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Class Notes Laura M. D’Orsi 90L has returned to the practice of matrimonial law after a sixyear sabbatical. She practices on a part-time basis in Red Bank, N.J. Greg Slamowitz 90L was elected president of the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations (NAPEO) in 2008. Slamowitz is co-founder and co-chief executive officer of Ambrose Employer Group LLC, which provides employee benefits and human resources services to small- and mid-sized companies. Russell T. Libby 91L was appointed assistant vice president, mergers and acquisitions and real estate, for SYSCO Corp. John J. Jacko III 92L has joined Fellheimer and Eichen LLP in Philadelphia, Pa. Jacko also published “Third Circuit Decides that Waiver of a Contractual Right to Arbitrate Based on Litigation Conduct is Presumptively an Issue for the Court,” in the American Bar Association Forum on Franchising’s The Franchise Lawyer and “The Arbitration Fairness Act of 1007: Are the Days of Mandatory Arbitration Provisions Numbered?” in Law Journal Newsletter’s Franchising Business and Law Alert.
Russell Rogers 92L has joined the Atlanta office of Thompson Hine LLP as a partner in the firm’s business litigation practice group. Rogers will focus his practice on product liability defense, commercial litigation, and environmental law. Carolyn Jean Kalos 93L and Brian I. Byrd were married Jan. 5, 2008, in New York. Kalos is a lawyer in the juvenile rights division of the Legal Aid Society.
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Daniel G. Krasnegor 93L joined the veterans benefits practice group at Goodman Allen & Filetti PLLC in Richmond, Va.
Theresa DellaIacono Dunn 98L and Jeffrey Dunn celebrated the birth of a daughter, Elena Christine, on Sept. 27, 2007.
Clarence B. Brown 94L and Shonn Brown celebrated the birth of a daughter, Lily Elizabeth, on Dec. 4, 2007.
Jordan B. Forman 98L was promoted to partner at the Sandy Springs law firm of Kaufman, Miller & Sivertsen PC. Jordan focuses his practice on creditor/debtor matters, collections, creditor bankruptcy, real estate, construction/lien law, dispossessory law, franchise law, transactions, corporate law, and civil litigation.
Pilar Gigante 95L joined the Atlanta law firm of Hudnall, Cohn, Fyvolent and Shaver PC as an associate. Gigante focuses his practice on residential real estate. John Maggio 96L was named partner at Condon & Forsyth LLP. Maggio focuses his practice on aviation, produce liability, and commercial litigation. Beatriz E. Justin 97L and Joseph R. Justin celebrated the birth of a daughter, Isabella Nicole, on Jan. 5, 2007. Richard S. Loudermilk 97L was elected shareholder of the law firm of Abel Band in Sarasota, Fla. Loudermilk is a member of the firm’s litigation and dispute resolution practice group and focuses his practice on creditors’ rights and commercial debt collection. Christian F. Torgrimson 97L was named partner in the law firm of Pursley Lowery Meeks LLP in Atlanta. Torgrimson focuses her practice on real estate-related litigation, specializing in eminent domain proceedings and private property disputes. William Matthew Winter 97L served as moderator of a panel at the Technology Executives Roundtable event in Atlanta on the topic of “Georgia’s New Technology: Video Games and Digital Entertainment.” Winter is a member of Morris, Manning & Martin LLP’s newly formed video game and digital entertainment group. Thomas M. Donegan 98L was named vice president and chief acquisitions counsel for Brown & Brown Inc. Donegan will head the company’s newly formed mergers and acquisitions department in Tampa, Fla.
David Geiger 98L was elected partner at McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP in Atlanta. Geiger is a member of the firm’s litigation practice group, focusing on bankruptcy and commercial litigation. Mark J. Politan 98L was named member of Cole, Schotz, Meisel, Forman & Leonard PA in Hackensack, N.J. Politan concentrates his practice on insolvency, business reorganization, creditors’ rights, and bankruptcy litigation. Lori Beth Wittlin 98L was elected to partner of Winston & Strawn LLP. Wittlin specializes in tax law. William Patrick Clifford 99L is a first-year medical student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
00s
Stephen Derek Bauer 00L was named partner at McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP in Atlanta. Bauer concentrates his practice on health care, media, First Amendment, and civil rights litigation. Michael D. Cross 00L was named partner at Briskin, Cross and Sanford LLC in Alpharetta. Leslie Shames Diaz 00L and Eduardo Diaz welcomed the birth of a daughter, Sofia Elena, on Dec. 8, 2007.
Adam Paul Handfinger 00B 00L was promoted to partner at Peckar & Abramson PC in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Handfinger focuses his practice on commercial litigation matters. Jacqueline M. McCarthy 00L is the director of government affairs at the Personal Communications Industry Association, an Alexandria, Va.-based trade group focusing on wireless telecommunications. Aaron E. Pohlmann 00L was named partner at Smith Moore LLP in Atlanta in the firm’s litigation practice group. Pohlmann focuses his practice on life, health, and disability insurance law, in addition to matters related to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). Nestor J. Rivera 00L was appointed to two positions within the health law litigation committee of the American Bar Association Litigation Section: website editor and co-chairperson of the Licensing and Peer Review Subcommittee. An attorney with Carlton Fields in Atlanta, Rivera’s practice includes representation of health care providers in operations/regulatory and litigation matters. Scott T. Buser 01L and Tasha Buser celebrated the birth of their second daughter, Delancy Mildred, on Dec. 27, 2007.
Stephen Frank Fusco 98C 01L was elected partner at Balch and Bingham LLP in the firm’s Atlanta office. Fusco practices in the area of real estate law with a specialty in zoning and land use. Youshea Anika Berry 02L and Steve Rollins celebrated the birth of a daughter, Coreah Lyn, on Sept. 10, 2007.
Tiffani P. Hiudt 02L has joined Fisher and Phillips LLP as an associate in the firm’s Atlanta office.
David B. Rosemberg 02L has joined the Miami, Fla., office of Broad and Cassel as an associate in the firm’s commercial litigation practice group. Jeremy R. Jessen 03L joined Parker Poe as an associate in firm’s Columbia, S.C., office. Jessen practices in the areas of health care and administrative law. Sarah C. Cipperly 04L and Daniel L. Cipperly 96OX 98B celebrated the birth of a daughter, Claire Elizabeth, on March 12, 2008. Jason Daniel Medinger 04L joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Baltimore, Md., as an assistant U.S. attorney in the civil division. Thomas C. Cambier 05L received the 2007 Pro Bono Counsel Award from the U.S. District Court and the Federal Court Bar Association for the Northern District of New York for his representation of plaintiffs in civil rights actions. Cambier, an associate with Hancock & Estabrook LLP in Syracuse, N.Y., concentrates his practice on litigation, construction, and intellectual property. Betty Li 05L recently joined the New York office of Hodgson Russ LLP as part of the firm’s corporate and securities practice Group. Li’s legal experience includes handling securities, corporate finance, domestic and international mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and general corporate matters.
Class Notes
L. Katherine Good 06L has been admitted to the Delaware Bar. She is an associate at Richards, Layton & Finger in Delaware, Md., and a member of the firm’s restructuring and bankruptcy group.
Gary D. Feldon 07L won the Deak Award for his comment, “The Antitrust Model of Extraterritorial Trademark Jurisdiction: Analysis and Predictions After F Hoffmann-La Roche.” The Deak Award is a prize provided by Oceana Publications for the best international law student article in a student-edited law journal. He was recognized at the 2008 annual meeting of the American Society of International Law in Washington, D.C.
Nathaniel A. Barnes Jr. 07L joined Morris Manning and Martin LLP as an associate in the firm’s Atlanta office.
Kathryn Quarles 07L joined the San Diego, Calif., law firm of Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek as an associate. Quarles focuses her practice on general civil litigation. Tyler D. Henkel 07L joined Cozen O’Connor as an entry level associate in the firm’s Houston office. Henkel practices with the firm’s insurance coverage claims/litigation group.
Kiran Raj 07L joined Fish and Richardson PC as an associate in the firm’s Atlanta office. Raj will practice in the firm’s litigation group.
Dana Troy Hustins 07L and Karen Li welcomed the birth of a daughter, Olivia Marie, on Nov. 1, 2007.
In Memoriam Emory Law mourns the passing of the following alumni, whose deaths were reported to the school since the date of our last alumni publication.
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George M. Lawson 31L of Atlanta on March 7, 2007.
Francis G. Jones 39B 41L of Atlanta on Oct. 22, 2007.
George W. Hibbert 48L of Atlanta on Jan. 2, 2008. Emory survivors: David Hibbert 75L and Jonathan Hibbert 73OX
60s
Karl P. Fredericks 61L of Marietta on March 7, 2007. Homer A. Houchins 54C 61L of Cumming on March 25, 2008. Emory survivor: son Randolph Houchins 82C. James E. Baker 58OX 60C 63L of St. Simons Island on March 17, 2008. Glenville Haldi 58C 61B 63L of Atlanta on May 11, 2007. Emory survivors: older brother John Edward Haldi 52C, twin brother Robert W. Haldi 58C, and son Sam Fain Haldi 81OX 83C. Merle A. Ramos 66L of Tucker on Nov. 20, 2007.
Woodrow Wilson Bledsoe 49L of Stone Mountain on May 14, 2008.
50s Robert W. Scherer 50L of Atlanta on Jan. 26, 2008.
DeDeyn graduated in the top of his class at Emory Law and served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Public Law, now known as the Emory Law Journal. Following graduation, DeDeyn joined Sutherland as its first litigation associate. He remained with Sutherland for his entire legal career, later becoming the firm’s first general counsel. A native of Florida, DeDeyn was known for his natural abilities as a problem-solver and mediator. He also has been described by colleagues and friends as an avid sports fan, a music lover, and a great dancer. Peter G. Williams 69L of Columbus on Dec. 18, 2007.
70s
William E. Ragland 74L of Dallas, Texas, on Sept. 19, 2006.
Carey P. DeDeyn 69L of Atlanta, a partner at Sutherland Asbill and Brennan, died April 27, 2008, at the age of sixty-six.
Irwin K. Liu 79L of New York, N.Y., on April 1, 2008. Ann H. Schnur 79L of Atlanta on Nov. 3, 2007.
80s
Leonard T. Lincoln 82L of Orlando, Fla., on June 15, 2007.
Born in Chicago and raised in Chattanooga, Tenn., Klein attended the University of Tennessee and was a huge Tennessee Volunteers football fan. He will be remembered as a brilliant attorney, a community leader, and a devoted husband and father. Charles L. Dunn 85L of Madison, Miss., on Feb. 8, 2008.
Robert N. “Bobby” Klein 84B 84L of Port Saint Lucie, Fla., a prominent real estate attorney, died May 26, 2008, while helping his sons escape from a rip current at Bob Graham Beach. He was forty-nine years old. Klein, a partner at the Fort Pierce law firm of Klein and Dobbins, was known as one of the top land-use attorneys in the area, representing local landowners and developers. He had served as chairman of St. Lucie County’s planning and zoning commission and of the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council. Klein also was a founding member of Temple Beit HaYam and was on its board of directors for nearly eight years.
Lynn Ellen Mathewson 85L of Cumming on Oct. 2, 2007.
90s Paul Peter Zilka 91L of Lawrenceville on Jan.1, 2007.
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Faculty Voices
The FLT Project at Twenty-Five by Martha Albertson Fineman, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law
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The very foundations of legal thought have been revised over the past several decades in light of feminist insights and arguments.
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he Feminism and Legal Theory Project (flt Project) began in 1984 at the University of Wisconsin. It has traveled with me to Columbia and Cornell universities and now is poised to enter its twenty-fifth year at Emory University School of Law. Since moving to Emory, I have been asked on numerous occasions to explain what feminist legal theory is all about. Partly, this is a question about feminism, but also it is an inquiry about the relationship between feminism and law. Feminism is concerned with gender equality and justice. As noted historian Linda Gordon stated, feminism is “an analysis of women’s subordination for the purpose of figuring out how to change it.” Not surprisingly, the desire for change in a world that discriminated on the basis of gender eventually led many women to look to law and law reform. When large numbers of women entered law school in the 1970s, however, they found the traditional legal tools inadequate to forge the essential changes needed to achieve gender equality. Legal theories and practice incorporated the same biases and assumptions about gender that were found in the larger society. Feminist legal theory provided the language and concepts with which to challenge and revise existing, discriminatory doctrine and practice. Today it is widely recognized within the academy that feminist thought represents a distinct and important theoretical approach to law. Feminist legal theory is taught in separate courses or seminars, and it informs the instruction of more traditional doctrinal areas, such as torts and criminal law. The success of feminist legal theory in the academy is but one indication of its power to transform the way in which law is understood in relation to the larger society. The impact of feminist theory also is evident in the analyses and doctrine employed by courts and the policy developed by legislative bodies. Feminist legal scholars are cited in judicial opinions, and their work is used in continuing education sessions. Feminist theorists’ concepts and ideas are referenced in international governmental reports and United Nations commissions. Just last summer, the flt Project partnered with the Dutch Military
Academy to present an international workshop in Amsterdam at the dma headquarters that addressed violence against women and the role of peacekeepers in times of conflict. Presenters included members of the military, politicians, United Nations personnel, and feminist scholars. Looking at the evolution of law in a variety of areas, it seems evident that the very foundations of legal thought have been revised over the past several decades in light of feminist insights and arguments. Family law in particular is an area where feminist insights have effected significant change. For example, property division rules at divorce were altered in response to the argument that women as homemakers and mothers made valuable, even if nonmonetary (or different), contributions to the family. In addition, an understanding of the way gender differences are constructed within societal institutions, such as the family and workplace, have ushered in “new” legal concepts and doctrines. In defining sexual harassment, legislatures and courts recognized that a “typical” woman’s reactions to an experience of “flirtation” in the workplace might not be the same as a man’s. The reasonable man in tort law has morphed into the reasonable person. The realization that sometimes women and children were abused in the home led scholars and activists to articulate powerful arguments against an overarching application of privacy that shielded such abuses within the family. Today, all elite law schools have specific programs on gender and feminist theory. For example, Columbia University offers an ongoing faculty/student seminar on feminist theory and also is home to the Gender and Sexuality Program. Emory Law can be proud of its position as an international leader in this important area. The flt Project hosts four or five workshops each year and brings to Emory visiting scholars from around the world all while supporting faculty and student feminist scholarship. This fall, Emory Law will celebrate twenty-five years of the flt Project’s many accomplishments, including its role in ensuring the ongoing development of feminist legal thought for the next generation.
Giving Back
“I saw a real benefit to holding both an MBA and a law degree, and I wanted to do something to allow somebody else to have the same opportunity.” — Alan Rothfeder 60B 63L 64B
Gratitude Inspires Rothfeder’s Gift by Liz Chilla
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or Alan Rothfeder 60B 63L 64B and his wife Myrna Sheftal Rothfeder, the motivation to give back to Emory Law was simple — gratitude. “I learned more here and was given more opportunities here than any place I’ve ever been in my life,” Rothfeder said. Several years ago, the Rothfeders endowed a scholarship fund for jd/mba students attending Emory University and more recently, they provided for an addition to the endowed scholarship through the creation of a charitable remainder unitrust (crut). “I saw a real benefit to holding both an mba and a law degree, and I wanted to do something to allow somebody else to have the same opportunity,” Rothfeder said. During a conference at Emory several years ago, Alan recalls a chance meeting with one of his scholarship recipients — a moment he says he’s “never forgotten.” “We went around the room introducing ourselves, and I introduced myself as Alan Rothfeder from Montgomery, Ala. Then I heard somebody introduce himself and say, ‘I just want you to know that it’s an honor to be
in the same room as my benefactor.’ Now if you don’t think that has an impact on a man… to have the opportunity once in your life of having heard that and seen it. It was such an honor to me,” Rothfeder said. In addition to giving back, the Rothfeders understand the importance of paying it forward. When asked if they’d like for their grandchildren to attend Emory, Rothfeder responded, “With great pride. We’ve offered it to each of them, actually.” The Rothfeders have many fond memories of Emory University. Myrna remembers driving into Atlanta on the weekends to visit Alan while he was working and going to school. The couple even used their wedding gifts to pay for Rothfeder’s tuition, so he could graduate “without a dime of debt.” And when it came to choosing a middle name for their son Andrew, the couple decided to go with none other than “Emory.” “Emory [University] did more for me than anyone else,” Rothfeder said.
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Closing
Friends Remember Law Professor’s Life by Matt Tamul
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“Mel was my coach, my cheerleader, my sports agent. He reveled in the success of his friends and family. Mel really understood how to be happy.” — Bruce Maloy, Adjunct Professor of Law
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ven decades after the late Professor of Gutterman’s wife, Judy, expressed her Law Melvin Gutterman began teaching appreciation for the immense support the at Emory, he would call fellow Professor Emory community has shown her family durMorgan Cloud into his office when assigning a ing this difficult time in her life. student a low grade to get a second opinion. “We were truly blessed by the Emory comSharing recollections of Gutterman at munity,” Judy Gutterman said. Her family a memorial service this spring, Cloud said received more than 250 letters of support durGutterman’s doubt that it was the student ing Gutterman’s illness. His friends’ thoughts — and not the professor — who had erred and words of encouragement made his days in revealed his “immense love” for his students. the hospital a little more bearable, she said. “He was still afraid he would not do his Gutterman received his law degree from students justice,” Cloud said. “It hurt him, the Northwestern University in 1967 and taught thought that people were treated unjustly. I briefly at Michigan State University and just don’t have the words to describe his heart, Pennsylvania State University before joinhis courage, his relentless hope.” ing the faculty at Emory in 1969. He was a Friends, family, and former colleagues gathtwo-time recipient of the law school’s Most ered to remember Gutterman, who died of can- Outstanding Professor Award, chosen by the cer on Jan. 28 at seventy. His legal scholarship graduating class each year. spanned nearly four decades at Emory, and he He also received the Ben F. Johnson was one of the law school’s most popular and Excellence in Teaching Award recognizing his beloved professors. contribution to teaching and service to the School of Law Dean David F. Partlett spoke Emory Law community. of the indelible stamp Gutterman imprinted Gutterman’s sabbatical to France in 1985 upon Emory Law alumni. and his trip to Germany in 2001 to study their “As I travel around the country visiting with prison systems while lecturing on a comour alumni and friends, rarely do I go anyparative understanding of the criminal justice where without Professor Gutterman’s name system were among the highlights of his distinbeing mentioned in the most affectionate way,” guished career. Partlett said. “He will always be remembered His scholarly inquiry focused on criminal as one of the greatest teachers at Emory Law.” law procedure and prisoner rights, but in the Partlett estimated that while Gutterman late 1990s, Gutterman expanded his horitaught at Emory, he had had the opportunity zons and ventured into the realm of film. He to instruct nearly 4,000 students — more than proposed a new interdisciplinary course called half of the school’s living alumni — in criminal “Criminal Justice and Film” which quickly law and prisoner rights. grew to become one the most popular course Adjunct Professor of Law Bruce Maloy offerings at Emory Law. 78l, a former student of Gutterman’s, remiNicolette Waldon 78l said Gutterman pronisced on the days he spent under Gutterman’s foundly affected her career path as well as the tutelage. paths of his other students. “The enthusiasm in his class was palpable,” “His enthusiasm planted seeds that encourMaloy said. “You just wanted to rush to his aged us to pursue criminal law as a career,” class every morning as soon as you woke up.” Waldon said. Gutterman was intimately involved with his students’ well-being and future, Maloy said. Matthew Tamul 11c, an English major and “He was my coach, my cheerleader, my first-year student at Emory College, is from sports agent. He reveled in the success of his Guyton, Georgia. This story first ran March friends and family. His pride was in others’ 3, 2008, in the Emory University student accomplishments,” Maloy said. “Mel really newspaper, Emory Wheel, and is reprinted understood how to be happy.” here with permission from the editors. Partlett said of Gutterman, “Jaded was not part of his lexicon.”
Have a plan.
SUSAN HOY didn’t expect to become an attorney. She even tried real estate first. But she grew up in a family of lawyers—who challenged her to support opinions with facts and logic—and she learned to think like one. A legal career was inevitable.
With a circle of supportive friends and a scholarship from an anonymous donor, she thrived at Emory School of Law. Now an attorney with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, she’s doing what she loves most, and she’s determined to help others excel in law school. By making Emory School of Law a beneficiary of her 401k, she’s creating a
scholarship fund for students who enter law as a second career. A logical choice, Hoy’s bequest is a tax-wise strategy to benefit loved ones, support deserving students, and strengthen the school she loves. Learn more about including Emory in your estate plans. Call 404.727.8875 or visit www.emory.edu/giftplanning.
Plan to share your success.
Office of Development and Alumni Relations 1301 Clifton Road Atlanta, Georgia 30322-2770
nonprofit organization u.s. postage paid atlanta, Ga permit no. 3604
Point Nine with Emory Law in Atlanta Please save the date for these upcoming speakers. All Point Nine lectures are held at noon on the second Wednesday of the month. If you have questions, or if you would like additional information, contact Ethan Rosenzweig via email at erosenz@emory.edu. October 8, 2008 • Alston & Bird Richard D. Freer, Robert Howell Hall Professor of Law November 12, 2008 • Sutherland Dorothy Brown, Professor of Law January 14, 2009 • McKenna Long & Aldridge John Witte Jr., Jonas Robitscher Professor of Law February 11, 2009 • Smith Gambrell & Russell Timothy Terrell, Professor of Law March 11, 2009 • Troutman Sanders Victoria Nourse, L.Q.C. Lamar Professor of Law May 14, 2009 • King & Spalding Robert Schapiro, Professor of Law Frank Alexander leads the January 2008 Point Nine lunch and learn at Holland & Knight.