Volume 20 Issue 1 & 2
Life Lessons Learned in the Civil Litigation Clinic
ALUMNI FEATURE Jay Krupin (’78)
FACULTY VIEW Brendan Roediger
REFLECTING WITH The Hon. Nicole Colbert-Botchway (’96)
ON THE COVER LIFE LESSONS LEARNED IN THE CIVIL LITIGATION CLINIC DEAN WILLIAM P. JOHNSON DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS JESSICA CICCONE EDITOR MARIA TSIKAL AS GRAPHIC DESIGNER ADAM WESTRICH PHOTOGRAPHY ABBY GREENAWALT STEVE DOL AN ADAM WESTRICH ILLUSTRATION MICHELLE KUMATA SPECIAL THANKS MONIQUE ABBY (’03) JOHN J. AMMANN (’84) MATT BODIE MIRIAM CHERRY HON. NICOLE COLBERT-BOTCHWAY (’96) NKECHI EKWUNIFE (’13) AMANDA GOLDSMITH (’07) JENNIFER GRAVES-BORCHERDING (’02) ERIKA KNAPSTEIN (’00) JAY KRUPIN (’78) MALLORY GREEN LEWIS MARCIA MCCORMICK MARY PAT MCINNIS (’87) J. THOMAS MIHALCZO, III (’17) SHANNON NORMAN (’12) MICHAEL OLDWEILER (’16) BRENDAN ROEDIGER JENIFER SNOW (’14) ANDERS WALKER DOROTHY WHITE-COLEMAN (’82) VOLUME 20 ISSUE 1 COPYRIGHT ©2019 SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
SLU L AW BRIEF IS PUBLISHED TWICE ANNUALLY BY SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSIT Y SCHOOL OF L AW. OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS SCOTT HALL SUITE 872 100 N. TUCKER BLVD. ST. LOUIS, MO 63101-1930 EMAIL: BRIEF@LAW.SLU.EDU The paper used in this magazine was produced from timber sourced from responsibly managed forests.
Dean William P. Johnson speaks on a panel at the 2019 ABA Section of International Law Annual Conference, held in April in Washington, D.C. Photo courtesy of the ABA Section of International Law
Message from the Dean
O
ne of the things I learned early in law practice is the importance of networking and making connections. And while it might not always be apparent, this begins during law school. Students make meaningful connections with fellow classmates, professors, staff members, professionals in the field, and mentors. Students also often connect with their very first clients through summer internships, field placements and, in some instances, the SLU LAW Legal Clinics. Those connections with clients can be particularly powerful.
35 years. You will see a story about the many connections and relationships that formed in part because of John and the work of his students in the Legal Clinics, including the client’s connections with the former governor who commuted her sentence, his staff members, her attorneys and others. Those are the kinds of connections that only someone with a true gift at cultivating community can make, and we are grateful that John has shared this gift with so many students, professors, staff members, alumni and fellow St. Louisans over the last 2.5 decades.
For SLU LAW students who participate in the Legal Clinics, the biggest takeaway we hear again and again is the unparalleled value in applying the knowledge and skills they are gaining through law school to represent “real” people who otherwise would not receive legal representation, meaningfully connecting with their clients in the process. Students see firsthand that taking on a case to meet a need that otherwise would have gone unmet can make a tangible difference in the life of a person who might truly need it.
You’ll also see in this issue some exciting new developments in and accomplishments of the SLU LAW Wefel Center for Employment Law. Most notably, as you may have heard, the Wefel Center was named the new editorial home for the ABA Journal of Labor and Employment Law following a competitive process last year, and the center was ranked by PreLaw Magazine as one of the top three employment law programs in the country. We are thrilled the Wefel Center is getting the recognition it deserves, especially as new technologies continue to evolve faster than existing labor and employment laws can keep pace.
There is perhaps no one in the SLU LAW community who has done more to inspire students to represent those who need but otherwise would not receive legal representation – often the most vulnerable among us – than SLU LAW alumnus and professor John J. Ammann (’84). After 25 years as a member of the faculty and many years as director of the Legal Clinics, John is stepping down to enjoy a well-earned retirement. In this issue, you will hear from alumni who were mentored by John while working on behalf of the poor, the marginalized and other vulnerable clients through the Legal Clinics, as well as how these experiences and the connections they made have helped shape their values and their personal and professional lives. Among the compelling stories you will see in this issue is the story of a woman who was granted clemency after being incarcerated for more than
As always, this issue also features some of the notable accomplishments of our distinguished alumni, including the latest class of the Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame. It is an impressive class. Thank you for reading and, as always, thank you for your generous support of this great institution.
William P. Johnson Dean and Professor of Law
F E ATURES
16
saint louis university school of law alumni magazine
Alumni Feature Jay Krupin (’78)
19 Cover Story Life Lessons Learned in the Civil Litigation Clinic
4 19
24 Faculty View Brendan Roediger
26
32
Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame
30 Faculty Scholarship
24
26
32 A Keeper of the Mission The Hon. Nicole ColbertBotchway (’96)
16 DEPARTME N TS
2 For The Record
35 Class Notes
4 In Brief
41 Focus on Giving Back
FOR THE RECORD “Imagine what you could do for your family with an extra 20 years of life.” DAVID DWIGHT
Senior Strategy and Partnerships Catalyst at Forward Through Ferguson, speaking at the Childress Lecture on Oct. 5, 2018, about the life expectancy differences between the black and white communities in St. Louis
“I as well as my classmates are deeply appreciative for you [faculty] all staying late and helping us who may not otherwise have had the chance to get an education like this.” KAYLA UTT
School of Law midyear graduate, at the recognition ceremony on Dec. 19, 2018
‘FOR THE
RECORD’ “The myth is that somehow our law is separated from other countries’ law. Our cuisine is global, our culture is global, our economies are global, our finances are global, our communications are obviously global, but our law is hermetically sealed.” HON. HAROLD HONGJU KOH
the Sterling Professor of International Law at Yale Law School, speaking on ‘The Trump Administration and International Law,’ on Nov. 9, 2018
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“If something is not done to fix [Supreme Court confirmation hearings], we’re going to see a continued erosion of the confidence of the American people in the Supreme Court. And to be blunt, we as a body politic, we as the American people, cannot let that happen.” PROF. GREG WILLARD
speaking in a SLU LAW Summations podcast episode about lessons learned from the history of Supreme Court nomination process, including the most recent nomination and confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh
“This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and this is the most humbling thing I’ve ever done.” NICHOLAS TINDALL
School of Law midyear graduate, at the recognition ceremony on Dec. 19, 2018
“Dean Wolff, Judge Wolff, Michael Wolff, Professor Wolff — he was my Civil Procedure teacher, and that was what really inspired me to want to get into litigation to be a trial lawyer, which is what I did for 20 years before I was mayor.” HON. FRANCIS G. SLAY
“The biggest disparity that I see is the continuation of racial and gender bias in employment, in hiring and in wages, and that impacts a person’s ability to actually pay for health care and [their] health status.” PROF. RUQAIIJAH YEARBY
speaking in a SLU LAW Summations podcast episode about racial and gender inequity and where she has optimism for the future
Former mayor of the City of St. Louis, speaking on the occasion of his and Dean Emeritus Michael A. Wolff’s 2019 induction into the SLU LAW Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame
“Policing is a project of citizenship because it ought to be conceptualized and carried out as a public good. We need to create the kind of policing that we all can enjoy.” TRACEY MEARES
“Every day I’m impressed by my colleagues and my professors. From a former clerk of a Supreme Court justice to a nationally recognized expert on the vice presidency, SLU LAW definitely has some great professors here.” DEE HARLESTON
Second-year law and health administration dual-degree student; president, Health Law Association, taking over SLU LAW’s Instagram account
the Walter Hale Hamilton Professor of Law at Yale Law School, keynote speaker at the Childress Lecture on Oct. 5, 2018, discussing narratives of policing
“I’m one of those people who think that blockchain is probably going to be much more helpful in areas like health care than cryptocurrencies, which is what it was developed for.” PROF. ANA SANTOS RUTSCHMAN
on health care innovations and bio technology, speaking in a SLU LAW Summations podcast episode
VOLUME 20 ISSUE 1
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IN BRIEF:
FALL 2018
NEWS & NOTES Law School Ramps Up Focus on Wellness, Mental Health
In fall 2018, the law school initiated a new partnership with the Missouri Lawyers’ Assistance Program (MOLAP), a professional, confidential counseling service for members of the Missouri Bar, immediate family members who reside with them and law students. MOLAP director Anne Chambers, LCSW, visited the law school three times over the course of the semester and held office hours to be a resource to the community. The program was successful and will continue into upcoming semesters. Additional efforts included a new mindfulness program for students and another for faculty and staff led by professor of practice David Lander, and the bi-annual Wellness Week near the end of the semester, which included rock climbing, massages, therapy dogs, healthy snacks and other resources for students. SLU Giving Day Has Successful Second Year
For 24 hours on Nov. 16, the SLU community came together to financially support the institution on the second annual “SLU Giving Day.” This past year’s event celebrated the conclusion of SLU’s bicentennial year and raised $177,320 with 694 gifts. Specifically, the School of Law raised $9,735 from 68 gifts. A special thanks to everyone who contributed and to Dennis (“Denny”) C. Donnelly (’66), who donated $5,000 as the “SLU LAW Challenge” gift. New Faces Join SLU LAW Staff
JP Bonnet-Laboy (’18) joined the Office of Admissions as an assistant director and spent the fall semester recruiting new students around the country alongside the other members of Dean Michael Kolnik’s admissions team. Tara Maulood also joined the team as an assistant director for international admissions. Mallory Green Lewis joined the Office of Development and Alumni Relations as a development officer, and Tiffany Luster joined the Legal Clinics as a coordinator.
EVENTS School of Law Hosts Dodransbicentennial Celebrations
In 2018, the law school celebrated its 175th year. To honor the occasion, SLU LAW 4
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hosted a special reception with alumni and friends on Sept. 28, offering the chance to reconnect with professors, peruse archived photos and receive tours of Scott Hall. On Oct. 8, the celebration continued with a Community Day in Forest Park, which included lunch, an afternoon of service cleaning up the park and a happy hour at the Boathouse. St. Louis-Area Residents Become Citizens in Naturalization Ceremony
The School of Law, Legal Clinics and Office of Inclusion and Diversity Education hosted a naturalization ceremony on Oct. 26, welcoming and congratulating local immigrants as they became citizens. The Hon. John Ross presided, and the law school’s choir sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “My Country ’Tis of Thee.” A Conversation on Free Speech with Former ACLU Director
Nadine Strossen, former director of the ACLU, gave a presentation at SLU LAW discussing her book, HATE: Why We Should Resist It with Free Speech, Not Censorship. Missouri State Treasurer Eric Schmitt (’00), now Missouri attorney general, gave commentary. Childress Lecture Explores St. Louis Future
On Oct. 5, the Law Journal hosted its annual Richard J. Childress Memorial Lecture and Symposium, this year titled “Exploring #STL2039: Policies for a Better Future.” The event discussed Forward Through Ferguson’s #STL2039 Action Plan, which imagines a future St. Louis where State Rep. Cora Faith Walker, D-Ferguson (’09) race no longer predicts life outcomes. Tracey L. Meares of Yale Law School gave the keynote address, “Synthesizing Narratives of Policing.” Subsequent panels analyzed criminology and crime control; education reform; and race, health, and social justice. A Discussion on the Trump Administration and International Law
The Hon. Harold Hongju Koh of Yale Law School, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor and former Legal Adviser to the department, gave this talk exploring issues raised in his book of the same title. The event was
IN BRIEF co-sponsored by the Center for International and Comparative Law, the American Constitution Society, the Hispanic and Latinx Law Students Association, the International Law Students Association and SLU’s Phi Beta Kappa Society. Health Law Distinguished Speakers and Scholars
The Center for Health Law Studies hosted its annual Scholars Workshop in which faculty new to health law and bioethics scholarship presented worksin-progress and received advice from experienced scholars. The Center welcomed Barry Joyce (’03), an attorney in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, as a weeklong practitioner-inresidence. Finally, the Center additionally hosted a speaker series featuring experts in the field Kimberly Mutcherson of Rutgers Law School, Barak D. Richman of Duke University School of Law, and Jacob S. Sherkow of the Innovation Center for Law and Technology, New York Law School.
HONORS AND DISTINCTIONS Monica Eppinger, Stephen Thaman Represent the U.S. at International Congress of the International Academy of Comparative Law
Prof. Monica Eppinger, co-director of the Center for International and Comparative Law (CICL), was selected by the American Society of Comparative Law (ASCL) as the 2018 U.S. National Reporter in Property Law, distinguishing her as a leading national authority in property scholarship. For 18 months, Prof. Eppinger wrote the U.S. National Report on Property, which was then incorporated into an international comparative report and presented at the 2018 General Congress of the International Academy of Comparative Law, held in July in Japan. Prof. Eppinger attended the event, which takes place once every four years, representing U.S. property scholarship. Stephen Thaman, professor emeritus and past CICL director, also represented the U.S. at the Congress, serving as the General Rapporteur, or international expert, in criminal law. In this role, he organized the work of national reporters from around the world into a comprehensive report on criminal law. Prof. Thaman, who has long been recognized for his expertise in comparative criminal law, was one of only three General Rapporteurs from the United States.
Carol Needham Testifies Before Judicial Conference’s Committees
Prof. Carol Needham, the Emanuel Myers Professor of Law, testified on Oct. 30, before the Judicial Conference’s Committees on the Code of Conduct and Judicial Conduct & Disability in Washington, D.C., about the topic of sexual assault in the courts. The head of the committee, U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Roberts, called this public hearing in order to hear expert testimony on proposed changes to the Code of Conduct for U.S. Judges and the Rules for Judicial-Conduct and Judicial-Disability Proceedings. Prof. Needham, whose scholarship centers on ethical issues faced by in-house counsel and lawyers in transactional practice, cross-border practice and professional licensing issues, was part of a group of approximately 15 other scholars and practitioners who were selected based on their diverse areas of expertise. She was invited back to testify again in January 2019. Sidney D. Watson Awarded the Dr. Normal A. White Award for Engaged Scholarship and Service
Sidney D. Watson, the Jane and Bruce Robert Professor of Law, was named SLU’s inaugural recipient of the Dr. Norman A. White Award for Engaged Scholarship and Service. The University-wide award was created to honor a faculty member who, in the spirit of Dr. White, engages in promoting healthy families and communities; alleviating poverty, violence, illness and injustice; and advocating for social justice. Prof. Watson was nominated by her student Erin Gleim (’18). SLU LAW’s Phi Alpha Delta Honors Staff Member Joyce Brown
The John L. Sullivan Chapter of Phi Alpha Delta (P.A.D.) recognized Joyce Brown, associate in the Office of Student Services, for her tireless work on behalf of the students. She was honored at P.A.D.’s winter initiation ceremony on Nov. 18. John Ammann Honored for Service to Veterans
John Ammann (’84), the McDonnell Professor of Justice in American Society, was honored with a St. Louis mayoral proclamation and an award from the VA St. Louis Health Care System for his more than 25 years of service to veterans. At the St. Louis Veterans Day celebration, Mayor Lyda Krewson proclaimed Nov. 10, 2018, as “the Hon. John Ammann Day in the City of St. Louis,” and commended him for getting hundreds of students involved in this work, as well. Prof. Ammann also received a proclamation from the state of Illinois, presented to him by his clinic students and sponsored by state senator Bill Haine, recognizing his advocacy and contributions over the years. VOLUME 20 ISSUE 1
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IN BRIEF:
SPRING 2019
NEWS & NOTES
Constitutions and Populism,” and the second titled “The EU: Beginning of the End, or End of the Beginning?” SLU Researchers Receive Grant to Evaluate Effects of Racial Equity Tools on Policy
A group of SLU professors received a prestigious grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Policies for Action program to evaluate the effects of racial equity and social justice initiatives on policy nationwide. While nearly 200 city and county governments have in recent years adopted tools to identify racial and ethnic disparities in their communities, no one has examined whether the adoption of these tools has resulted in actual changes in policies or laws that relate to employment, housing, access to health care and childhood education—key social determinants of health. Spearheaded by principal investigators Ruqaiijah Yearby and Sidney D. Watson, the Jane and Bruce Robert Professor of Law, both of the Center for Health Law Studies, SLU’s research team will work with the developers of these equity tools to identify characteristics of the cities and counties that have adopted the tools and assess their stages of readiness for changes in law and policy. They are joined by fellow SLU professors Keon L. Gilbert, Amber Johnson and Kira H. Banks, along with Stephanie McClure of the University of Alabama. The project manager is Nicole Strombom, a third-year law and master of public health student at SLU. Health Law Ranked No. 1 in the Nation for 2020
The U.S. News and World Report named the Center for Health Law Studies the top in the country for the 15th year in its Best Graduate School rankings. In 2018, two internationally recognized scholars joined the health law faculty, Ruqaiijah Yearby and Ana Santos Rutschman; learn more about their scholarship in their respective podcast interviews at slu.edu/law/podcast. The School of Law’s part-time program was ranked no. 30 in the nation. Faculty Members of the Year
Students in the Class of 2019 selected Anders Walker, the Lillie Myers Professor of Law, as Faculty Member of the Year, his sixth time. The class chose Thomas S. Rea, senior litigation counsel for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri, as Adjunct Faculty Member of the Year, his second consecutive time.
EVENTS IRISH TIES Justice MacMenamin Discusses Populism, the EU
SLU LAW hosted the Hon. Mr. Justice John MacMenamin of the Supreme Court of Ireland for the second time in April. Justice MacMenamin gave two talks during his visit, the first titled “Courts, 6
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Justice MacMenamin first became engaged with the School of Law in 2015 as part of an alumni visit to Dublin that occurred at the invitation of then-U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Kevin F. O’Malley (’73). On a second alumni trip in 2016, MacMenamin hosted tours for the group. He made his first trip to SLU LAW in April 2017. HEALTH LAW SYMPOSIUM The Struggle for the Soul of Medicaid
On April 5, the Center for Health Law Studies and the Journal of Health Law and Policy hosted the 31st annual health law symposium, “The Struggle for the Soul of Medicaid.” Scholars and practitioners from around the country discussed how Medicaid has evolved over the last several decades along with the health care system in general, as well as ways to make the system more effective and sustainable. CICL SYMPOSIUM Symposium on Internationalism and Sovereignty
“The Center for International and Comparative Law and the Saint Louis University Law Journal Symposium on Internationalism and Sovereignty” took place on March 29. The keynote speaker was Prof. Oona Hathaway of Yale Law School. The event focused on state sovereignty and related issues, such as migration, human rights and global health security. PILG Auction
SLU LAW’s Public Interest Law Group (PILG)’s 26th annual auction took place on April 6. This year’s homecoming-themed event raised money for the Irvin and Maggie Dagen Fellowship Fund, which provides stipends for SLU LAW students who work in unpaid public interest internships over the summer. Three awards were given to distinguished attorneys and nonprofit organizations committed to serving the in the public interest. The Excellence in Pro Bono Award went to the YMCA Community Development Branch, the Excellence in Public Service Award went to Project Wake Up, and the Lifetime Award went to Prof. Paige Canfield (’86).
HONORS AND DISTINCTIONS Michael Scher Award
The ABA Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development Law selected John J. Ammann (’84), the McDonnell Professor of Justice in American Society and co-director of the Litigation Clinic, as the 2019 recipient of its prestigious Michael Scher Award. The Forum noted that “John personifies the spirit and commitment that Michael Scher demonstrated in the field of affordable housing and community development law. A recognized leader in the field, John made numerous contributions to the Forum, including serving as the editor of the Forum’s Journal and as a member of the ABA Commission on Homelessness and Poverty.” Prof. Ammann was recognized during the Forum’s 2019 annual conference on May 23, in Washington, D.C.
IN BRIEF John E. Dunsford Award
Prof. Ammann also was recognized by SLU LAW’s William C. Wefel Center for Employment Law with its John E. Dunsford Award on April 22. The award honors his exceptional achievement and service in the field of labor and employment law. The award presentation was followed by a panel discussion of Prof. Ammann’s work helping low-wage workers and unemployment claimants receive a more just share from employers and society. Panelists included Rochelle Balentine (’10) of the National Labor Relations Board; Christopher Grant of Schuchat, Cook & Werner; and Rebecca Phoenix, plaintiff in one of the Clinic’s recent cases, Phoenix v. Summer Institute of Linguistics. Women’s Justice Awards
The 21st annual Women’s Justice Awards, presented by Missouri Lawyers Weekly on April 25, honored 10 women of the SLU LAW community. Omobolanle “Bola” Adeniran, a member of the Class of 2020, was selected for the Leaders of Tomorrow Award, and nine other alumnae also were honored. BLSA Judicial Honorees
The Black Law Students Association (BLSA) held its annual Judicial Reception on April 11. This year the group honored Wesley Bell, prosecuting attorney for St. Louis County, with the Ronda F. Williams Service Award, and the Hon. Robin Ransom of the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, with the Hon. Theodore McMillian Award.
Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition
Students Teresa Flores, River Tene, Mary Hirsch, Michael Scott and Brian Sableman participated in the regional round of the competition in Chicago in February and made it to the quarterfinals. The team was coached by Prof. Paige Canfield (’86) and Prof. Ira H. Trako (’11). The Jessup Competition is the world’s largest moot court competition and simulates a fictional dispute between countries before the International Court of Justice. Saul Lefkowitz Moot Court Competition
Students Laura Marsh, Danielle Carda, Hannah Clark and Alicia Kapolis traveled to Dallas in February to participate in the competition, which introduces law students to important issues arising in U.S. trademark and unfair competition law. They were coached by Prof. Erika Cohn. Judge Robert G. Dowd Sr. Appellate Advocacy Award
Michael Durham and Justin Joseph were the first-place winners of the 2019 SLU LAW Moot Court Competition, and Durham was named best oralist. Maysa Daoud and Ashton Dietrich placed second. Thank you to the judges who donated their time for this event.
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT Client Counseling Team Wins Regional ABA Competition
Two SLU LAW teams competed in the regional 2019 ABA Client Counseling Competition Feb. 15-16, at the University of Denver. Fourth-year student Sean Oliveira and third-year student Josh Watts won the competition and represented SLU LAW at nationals in Waco, Texas. Their victory was especially exciting because they won over the four-time defending champions. Fellow second-year students Erica Herbek and Phil Fonseca also competed. National Excellence in Writing
Third-year student Brandon Hall won the 2019 American College of Employee Benefits Counsel (ACEBC) Sidney M. Perlstadt Memorial Award for his paper “ERISA Preemption of State Automatic Enrollment IRAs: The Case for Maintaining Federal Uniformity.” Hall earned a $1,500 prize presented at the ACEBC annual induction dinner. He graduated with concentrations in both health law and employment law.
Legal Clinics’ David Grant and CLEA Awards
Martin Hutchins was named the 2019 David Grant Award winner and Sonia Kalathiveetil was named the CLEA Award winner for their exceptional work and commitment in the Legal Clinics. At the 30th annual ceremony on May 16, David Grant Award finalists Laura Beckering, Courtney Lindbeck and Joshua Swyers were also honored for their work on behalf of the poor and vulnerable in the St. Louis region. SLB
@SLU L AW
Social Scene: INSTAGRAM & TWITTER SLU LAW
slulaw Walking into that first day of school like
Welcome, 1Ls, and welcome back, 2Ls and 3Ls (and 4Ls!)! Looking forward to a great year.
182 likes
afiets
State of Missouri Supre
me Court
afiets ESQuse me #newmolaw yers
, but I’m an attorney
ons cobicakes Congratulati rable ellenclaire_ You’re ado !! krystibaker Congrats! ! Congrats! jmelynn23 Awesome
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Soldiers Memorial Military Museum
slulaw Students in the Litigation Clinic today took part in the 2018 St. Louis Homeless Veterans Stand Down, where they offered assistance for nearly 50 veterans dealing with a myriad of complex legal issues from housing to tickets. Profs. Ammann and Roediger supervised.
archcitydefenders
amazing client, Keilee archcitydefenders Our of this picture. Fant, stands at the center filed a debtors’ More than three years we against Ferguson prison class action lawsuit r named on behalf of Keilee, 8 othe 00 people in the plaintif fs and roughly 6,0 y to fight for class. We went to court toda . This work suit Keilee and everyone in this is ongoing. 80 likes
slulaw 2L Bola Adeniran in the room where it happens , alongside none other than the 83rd Attorney General of the United States Loretta Lynch and two powerhouse #slulaw alumnae, Hon. Nicole Colbert-Botchway (’96) and Hon. Nannette Baker (’94)
@SClerkinSTL Our inaugural Women Who Lead event at @SLULAW was a success! Thanks everyone for exceeding all expectations. #iltawwl #weareilta #peerpowered @SandraSperino Looking forward to presenting Into the Weeds: Modern Discrimination Law at SLU Law tomorrow @marciamccormick @Dean_WPJohnson What a terrific evening at @SLULAW with Mr. Justice John MacMenamin of the Supreme Court of Ireland. @SLU_LAW_CICL @LawUCC @missynstl Enjoyed being a part of orientation for the new 1Ls this week. Can’t believe I began my journey here two years ago. Good luck next week 1Ls and welcome to the “family” as we all try to find our way to make a difference! @SLULAW @B_m_Hall Fascinating and inspiring to hear the stories of @SLULAW alumni, professors, and fellow students who have effectively utilized experiential learning as a supplement to a traditional legal education and as a tool to effectuate @SLULAW’s social justice mission. @RobGatter Great panel on disability, race & barriers to health & life in community, featuring Elizabeth Pendo, @haroldbraswell & Kimberly Lackey. To treat disabled patients respectfully, health professionals must first treat their disabled colleagues respectfully. @SLU_HealthLaw @SLULAW @a_rutschman #StLouis just ranked no 2 in Forbes list of emerging cities attracting startup companies / VC investment. 1) Yay! Go #StLouis 2) @SLULAW entrepreneurship program is bound to become even more important for students & the city. @sarahejones_ Double holiday! It’s #ElectionDay and the 175th anniversary of the first law school class at @SLULAW.
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@SLULAW
MIDYEAR COMMENCEMENT DECEMBER 19, 2018
CONGRATUL ATIONS Eighteen students received their Juris Doctors during the 2018 midyear commencement. They were honored at a special reception on Dec. 19, attended by their families and friends along with faculty, staff members, fellow students and alumni. Each of the 10 students present gave brief remarks thanking those who supported them throughout the rigors of law school. Dean William P. Johnson and Dean of Students Jon Baris shared their congratulations and parting advice and reminded the newly minted graduates that they will always have a home at SLU LAW. VOLUME 20 ISSUE 1
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HOODING MAY 16, 2019
STEVE DOLAN
FA L L 2019 1L CL A S S
200
90% FULLTIME
10% PARTTIME
106
STUDENTS ENROLLED
54% FEMALE
45.5% MALE
.5% X
UNDERGRADUATE INSTITUTIONS REPRESENTED
21% M I N O R I T Y
92% OF STUDENTS RECEIVED
11
A MERIT-BASED SCHOLARSHIP
FULL-TUITION SCHOL ARSHIPS AWARDED 155 3.45
12
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Institution icon created by iconsmind.com for the Noun Project Test icon created by Charlene Chen for the Noun Project
(75TH TO 25TH PERCENTILE: 158-152) (75TH TO 25TH PERCENTILE: 3.68-3.18) Diploma icon created by Icons8 for the Noun Project Scholarship icon created by Irene Hoffman for the Noun Project
COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN BIRTH COUNTRIES OF 2019 1L STUDENTS
CHINA
NETHERLANDS
INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
GERMANY
PAKISTAN
BANGLADESH
PHILIPPINES
PORTUGAL
TAIWAN
RUSSIA
HAITI INDIA ISRAEL JORDAN
UNITED STATES
FARE THEE WELL
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STATES REPRESENTED +D.C. AR, AZ, CO, CT, FL, GA, HI, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, MA, MD, MI, MO, MS, NE, NY, OH, OK, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, VA, WI
SLU LAW CLASS OF 2019
SLU LAW CLASS OF 2019 (GRADS)
92.9%
SLU LAW Bar Passage Rate for first-time Missouri takers (summer 2019)
91.1%
SLU LAW Bar Passage Rate for first-time Missouri takers who also took the Summer Workshop Series led by Professor Antonia Miceli
(compared to average MO first-time rate of 85.3%)
VOLUME 20 ISSUE 1
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IN BRIEF
Spotlight on the William C. Wefel
CENTER FOR EMPLOYMENT LAW
The William C. Wefel Center for Employment Law has been receiving exciting national recognition this year.
ABA Journal staff, 2018–19
New Home to ABA Journal
After a competitive process among several other law schools in 2018, the Wefel Center was selected as the new editorial home of the ABA Journal of Labor and Employment Law (formerly The Labor Lawyer). The journal’s circulation includes the 20,000 members of the ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law. Published since 1985, the journal provides balanced discussions of current developments in labor and employment law to meet the practical needs of attorneys, judges, administrators and the public. Editorial work on the journal is a faculty-student collaboration, and student editors write a note or comment that may be selected for publication. For the journal’s inaugural year at SLU LAW (2018-19), 24 students served on the staff. Faculty editors are professors Matt Bodie, Miriam Cherry and Marcia McCormick. One of the Top 3 Programs Nationwide
In its winter 2019 issue, PreLaw Magazine ranked the Wefel Center as among the country’s top three programs in labor and employment law. The magazine noted the Center’s comprehensive academic program and breadth of student opportunities, including the Semester in D.C. program and the chance to edit and write for the ABA Journal. 14
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This recognition is especially significant because the labor and employment law specialty is not currently ranked by traditional ranking publications like U.S. News & World Report. With this distinction, SLU LAW impressively holds top marks nationwide in two critical areas of law, including the health law program. As the field of employment and labor law continues to evolve, with the booming global gig economy, the continuing implications of the #MeToo movement, and the shifting role of labor unions in the U.S., SLU LAW’s Wefel Center has positioned itself as not only adaptable to the new landscape but exceedingly relevant in helping the next generation of lawyers prepare themselves for the future. Miriam Cherry at United Nations
Wefel Center co-director Miriam Cherry spent the summer of 2018 at the International Labour Office (ILO), a specialized agency of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, as an invited visiting researcher. She worked on a project covering jurisdiction and crowdwork, studying how the international community might come to some regulatory consensus regarding the status of workers involved in remote employment when often more than one country’s citizens are involved. For example, when a computer program facilitates work done entirely online, such as transcribing recordings or tagging photos, Cherry says a common pattern is the website may be hosted in
IN BRIEF the U.S., but those looking for work to be done may be in Europe, and the people doing the tasks are located all around the world. Different countries regulate this type of work inconsistently. Another issue Cherry raises is that there is no way to verify who’s on the “other end” of the screen doing the work – it could be a prisoner or a child, for instance, and no one would know the difference.
supplements. McCormick’s work continues this legacy at SLU LAW. She will begin by working on the Group’s employment discrimination casebook.
Cherry advocates for global solutions before these issues spiral out of control, which she foresees happening in five to 10 years’ time. Her paper is slated to appear as an ILO working paper and in the Tulane Law Review.
Through their work in SLU LAW’s Civil Advocacy Clinic under Prof. John Ammann, 3L Thomas Herring and 4L Sean Oliveira successfully argued a case before the Missouri Court of Appeals on behalf of a Missouri employee of an out-of-state employer who was denied unemployment compensation upon losing her job through no fault of her own. The issue revolved on whether the number of employees necessary for an employer to be large enough to be covered by Missouri’s statute included all of the employer’s workers or only those in Missouri. Herring and Oliveira argued on the claimant’s behalf that all employees should be counted, and the court ruled in their favor in February 2019.
Focus on Privacy Law
Last year Center co-director Matt Bodie helped make SLU LAW one of only 11 schools in the country – and the only one in the state – to participate Profs. McCormick and Bodie with 3L editor-in-chief Lauren Herbig in Privacy Pathways, a pilot program in conjunction with the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP). The program aims to build on the privacy curricula offered at universities with the goal of helping students gain the skills and networking opportunities needed to jumpstart careers in privacy-related fields. Through the IAPP, students can earn a privacy law specialist certification, recently approved by the ABA. Thus far, six students have obtained or are pursuing an IAPP privacy certification. In December, Bodie’s information-privacy class students staged a “privacy fair,” presenting topics ranging from social media to the privacy of genetic information. And two of the students from the class recently launched the newest SLU LAW student group called eLaw, whose mission is to unite students with interests regarding technology and the law and to establish a community for those who seek to improve and engage in the technology-related aspects of law. Members of eLaw participated in a Global Legal Hackathon hosted at T-REX by the law firm Bryan Cave. Bodie’s interests in privacy law and employment law were merged when he worked on the privacy material that appears in the Restatement of Employment Law, published in 2015 by the American Law Institute. Marcia McCormick Joins Labor Law Group
Associate dean and former Center director Marcia McCormick has been elected to membership in the Labor Law Group. Formed in the 1940s by a prominent set of labor law academics and practitioners, the Labor Law Group’s mission is to provide topnotch course materials for labor and employment law subjects. Jack Dunsford, a beloved SLU LAW professor and co-founder of the Wefel Center, was one of the original members of the Group and worked for years on a variety of casebooks and teaching
Students Set New Precedent in Unemployment Insurance Law
Herring and Oliveira built on the work of former clinic student Marie Gillen (’18), who handled the hearing before the Labor and Industrial Commission last year and laid the evidentiary foundation for the ultimate ruling. In another significant Clinic case, 3L Rose Tanner argued before the Missouri Court of Appeals in December 2018 on behalf of a client appealing to keep the unemployment benefits previously awarded to her. Her client had been substantially demoted in pay, work hours and benefits for reasons unrelated to her job performance, and the client was informed of this demotion via a text message. The employee had immediately tried to address the situation, but no modification was offered, so she felt as though she had no choice but to quit and find alternative employment. In January 2019, the court ruled in the plaintiff’s favor, setting new precedent in Missouri for employees who have good cause to resign from a position.
To learn more about the Wefel Center for Employment Law and the opportunities for SLU LAW students in employment and labor law, visit slu.edu/law/employment. SLB
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ALUMNI FEATURE
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ALUMNI FEATURE
PLAYING BUSINESS CHE S Jay Krupin, partner at BakerHostetler, was recently named a 2019 inductee of the Corporate Employment Lawyers Hall of Fame by Lawdragon. Here, he chats about his 40+ years of practice in labor relations, his SLU LAW experience and his family.
F
or Jay Krupin (’78), the practice of law is all about playing ‘business chess.’ He views collective bargaining as an art form that has gone by the wayside, and one that must be embraced to be a great lawyer.
Krupin, a partner at BakerHostetler in Washington, D.C., serves as the firm’s national co-lead of the Labor Relations practice team and the National Labor and Employment practice team for industry sectors. He’s been in the business for more than 40 years, but, as in a skillful game of chess, his practice continues to adapt. The biggest difference he finds between now and his earlier days in practice is the pace of the work. “I used to get pink papers on my desk that said someone had called me; I get an average of 120 emails a day now,” he said. “You have to be responsive. That’s one of the hallmarks of my practice. I answer every email in the morning before I go to lunch and before I leave at night. That takes a lot of work. I used to put together an hour of
thinking time, and now I just can’t do that — I have to do it on the fly.” Krupin’s practice supports management-side labor relations, which includes collective bargaining negotiations, employer-union relations, contract administration, and defending NLRB organizing campaigns. He also advises on labor relations issues that affect the purchase and sale of businesses, and his clients include many international and domestic enterprises, especially in the hospitality industry, representing hotel entities including owners, developers and asset managers. “Recently there’s been an influx in international companies that have been coming to the U.S. into the field,” he said. “They’re not as well-versed in the nuances of federal labor law, so that’s where we create a niche and value.” He estimates that about one-third of his business is comprised of clients from the U.K., Amsterdam, Hong Kong, and other countries. “It’s very rewarding to help them build their businesses in the U.S. VOLUME 20 ISSUE 1
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“I am always mindful of the reaction to the move, anticipating the response, and the counteraction — and the response to that. Every end is a means to anoth er end. And on, and on.” “I went up to [Professor] John Dunsford and said, ‘Can I take your course?’ and he said, ‘I’d be pleased to have you in my course.’ He was a terrific guy, and he was very influential in my life and in what I do every day now.” Krupin attributes the influence of Dunsford and his other SLU LAW professors as key to his success. “I started law school in 1975 — that was right after The Paper Chase was released, and there was this incredible fear that professors would be dictatorial and that students wouldn’t get along. The thing that stood out to me about [SLU LAW] was how collaborative and how welcoming it was, not only with my class, but with the professors. “I think the fact that John Dunsford was a permanent arbitrator for U.S. Steel, and I had the understanding of contracts from Vince Immel and civil procedure from Mike Wolff — those were like three legs of a stool that put me in the position of being able to be a very effective practicing attorney,” he continued. “They were very open; they had a true open-door policy, a true interest in helping students, and almost a workshop atmosphere rather than a pure academic one, and I found that to be great. Then I just had some incredible classmates that made it a very rewarding experience.” After law school, Krupin earned an LL.M. in labor law at Georgetown University Law Center while working, which he says gave him an additional step up. “It’s more than just the knowledge — I really enjoyed and loved the subject matter,” he said. “You can’t just do this stuff if you don’t love it. That put me on the right path.” He plans to continue along that path for a long, long time. “I still think the U.S. offers opportunities more than any other place in the world,” he continued. “Every hotel company wants to be in New York, L.A., Chicago, Seattle — all those cities have strong union presences, so they need a management-side labor lawyer to help them deal with the issues in those environments.” Krupin is a native New Yorker, a no-nonsense straight-shooter who always knew he wanted to be a lawyer. In high school, his family moved to D.C., and his father, also a lawyer, became the president of the city’s restaurant association, engaging in the negotiation of labor agreements covering 11 unionized restaurants. When Krupin was in law school, his dad was about to institute a lockout, and he realized he didn’t know what a lockout was. About to sign up for the next semester’s classes, he decided he wanted to learn more about the field and saw two relevant courses being offered — Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining. 18
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“My father’s 89 years old and he’d go to work tomorrow if we let him,” Krupin said. “He’s my hero.” That speaks to the other source of joy in Krupin’s life — his family. With two grown children and now two grandchildren who live in the area, he considers them the most important people in his life, and he cherishes family experiences such as boating on the Chesapeake Bay, touring the country’s 30 baseball stadiums with his son, and gathering for regular dinners. “The family has dinner one Friday every month, and when we do that we sit around the table with four generations, so I am extremely blessed.” SLB
Life Lessons Learned
COVER STORY
i n t he Civ i l L it i gat ion Cl i n ic
J
ohn J. Ammann (’84), the McDonnell Professor of Justice in American Society and proud alumnus of Saint Louis University School of Law, is retiring after 25 years as a law professor and 17 years as director of the Legal Clinics. His influence on his students over the years has been profound, and no less so than his impact on some of the region’s most poor and vulnerable citizens.
by Missouri Medicaid, which was virtually the only insurance provider in the state that until November 2017 did not cover it. He has lobbied for paid family leave policies, geriatric parole and voting accessibility for the visually impaired.
To name just a few of his achievements – Prof. Ammann has successfully advocated for clemency for prisoners who were victims of domestic violence and whose sentences were disproportionate to their crimes, most notably Judy Henderson, whose life sentence for a crime she did not commit was commuted in December 2017 after nearly 36 years in prison.
Most recently Ammann successfully worked with national partners to convince the state to implement new procedural safeguards protecting children in foster care, ensuring that they are administered psychotropic medication only when safe and necessary. And he is perhaps best known locally for his pro bono legal services to Missouri veterans, having been recognized during this past St. Louis Regional Veterans Day Observance for his decades of service and for bringing hundreds of students along with him in that endeavor.
He has ensured blind Missouri residents received the full pension amount owed to them by the state when bureaucratic processes got in the way. He worked to ensure that the cure for hepatitis C was covered
This article features some of Ammann’s clinic students over the years, their memories of their time in the clinic under his mentorship, the lessons they learned and where they are now.
MICHAEL OLDWEILER (’16)
“ONCE I HAD PRACTICAL APPLICATION AND HAD REAL CLIENTS AND WORKED WITH JOHN, IT WAS LIKE, ‘OKAY, THIS IS WHY I WENT TO LAW SCHOOL.’ I WOULDN’T BE AN ATTORNEY IF IT WASN’T FOR JOHN AMMANN.”
It was the summer of 2014, and Michael Oldweiler (’16) had reached the end of his rope with law school. Disillusioned with some of his classes, he didn’t think he was going to finish the program. When it was announced that requirements to apply for a spot in the Legal Clinics had changed and that he was now eligible, he figured he’d give it one last chance. “It was one of those make-or-break moments,” he said. “I signed up for the summer course with John [Ammann] called Civil Practice.” That course turned out to be the motivation he needed to stay in law school. “It was practical, real-world, that’s just when it all started coming together. I latched onto it, loved it and just absolutely aced that class,” he said. “Once I had practical application and had real clients and worked with John, it was like, ‘Okay, this is why I went to law school.’ I wouldn’t be an attorney if it wasn’t for John Ammann.” Oldweiler went on to take not just one, but three more semesters with Ammann in the Clinics. “When I started, he said, ‘Who wants this case?’ and I said, ‘I’ll take it.’ I thought I’d gotten the phone number right [that Ammann had read aloud] but was too scared to clarify, so I called every variation of that number,” Oldweiler said. “By the end, we’d have a hearing somewhere and he’d just be like ‘Hey, can you handle this?’ It was really neat to see the growth. I first walked into the clinic not knowing anything, and by the time I walked out I felt like I could deliver good legal representation – that you just have to learn from doing and having a good mentor.” Oldweiler, who grew up on a farm in central Illinois, came to see Ammann as more than a mentor and as a sort of father figure. Not having any family in the legal profession, he looked to Ammann for advice on everything from writing briefs to what to wear to court. “I’m sure John questioned some of my shirt-tie combos,” Oldweiler chuckled. “Just really questionable fashion decisions. He let me be me, but at the same time, when it was time to rein it in, he kept me tethered. I do get fired up and very zealous. In one instance, he told me, ‘You haven’t been an attorney long enough to use the word ‘tomfoolery’ in a brief.” One memorable case Oldweiler worked on involved the conservatorship of a client who lived alone and had had a great relationship with the previous student handling her case, so was naturally suspicious when he took over. 20
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“This lady could be cantankerous; she’s been through some stuff so she’s not going to hold back,” he said. “The first couple phone calls I had with her I thought, ‘Who does she think she is?’ Then you find out she’s just lonely. I’d go visit her every month and sit with her. Eventually we figured out what was going to work for her and she warmed right up. LeAnn Upton [Legal Clinics assistant] and I took her to Byrd and Barrel and just sat with her and talked; that was just so cool right before graduation and felt like a fitting send-off. “I just had tons of adventures with John in the clinic,” he continued. “It was such a mix of positive outcomes for the client with great learning opportunities, and it was just fun; we’d just have a blast.” Now, serving as legal counsel for the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS), Oldweiler uses those same skills in people management. “Dealing with constituents is something I’ve kind of become an expert in,” he said. “There have been a couple situations at work now where they’re like ‘Oh, we’ve got this really angry constituent, can someone talk to them?’ I recently was able to get a plan of attack, get them to calm down. “At DHSS, for every project there is a reason that we are involved in it and it is always something to make things better for somebody,” he continued. “I like being someone who can give hope, comfort, and I definitely picked that up from John. He could take a bad situation and bring out the best in it and get a good outcome. “It’s hard to put into words how much of a positive impact he had on my career, that foundational approach to see people as people. That’s just a powerful way to look at things.”
JENNIFER GRAVES-BORCHERDING (’02)
“I ALWAYS TELL EVERYONE, ‘WORK IN THE CLINIC, IT’S SO MUCH MORE IMPORTANT’ — KNOWING WHERE TO STAND WHEN YOU GET OUT IN COURT, JUST THE PRACTICAL STUFF YOU LEARNED BECAUSE YOU WERE DOING SOMETHING PRACTICAL.”
For Jennifer Graves-Borcherding (’02), an attorney at Kramer, Hand, Buchholz & Partney law firm who spent two semesters in the Legal Clinics, the clinic experience was invaluable. “I always tell everyone, ‘Work in the clinic, it’s so much more important’ — knowing where to stand when you get out in court, just the practical stuff you learned because you were doing something practical.” Graves-Borcherding says that she came out of clinic “one thousand percent” more prepared than her peers who had not had that type of experience. But beyond the practicality of practicing law, the clinic transformed her view of the world around her. “I’ve been in St. Louis my entire life, so that was important to me – learning to be part of the community that I live in,” she said. In
COVER STORY
Ammann’s clinic, she focused especially on family law and on assisting veterans, which she carries into her work today, taking on pro bono cases at nonprofits Eureka-Pacific Elks and Dogs for Our Brave.
Being of service to veterans was a goal she inherited from her father, who she said was not called for the draft during the Vietnam War since he had a child on the way and therefore sought to serve veterans through his heating/cooling business at every opportunity. “My dad always felt he needed to give back to vets because he felt he could’ve been killed over there. John Ammann reminded me so much of my dad, who was very much like ‘if you couldn’t pay, we’d work it out later.’ He’s this person who just had this huge heart and huge soul and wants to help people the right way, and John never wanted any notoriety for it.” “[In the clinic] I realized that our society doesn’t really help veterans when they’ve dedicated their lives to this country.… John would invite students to go take care of city tickets, and sometimes you might be helping them with a ticket in municipal court for speeding or loitering, but they literally just wanted somebody to talk to,” she said. “You used to walk down the street and be afraid of homeless people – it just kind of changed my entire perspective of St. Louis City and realizing now with the organizations I am involved in how many of them were or are veterans.” The biggest takeaway for Jennifer Graves-Borcherding, though— “just kindness.” [John and Marie Kenyon] certainly trained us all that kindness goes a long way,” she said. “Be respectful to the clerk, say hi to the maintenance guy in the courthouse because he’s doing the cleaning – know his name – just that kindness factor. “I have attorneys all the time who are like, ‘You seriously know that guy’s name at the courthouse?’ and I do!” she continued. “In the world of law, not everyone’s kind, but the two of them taught kindness, and kindness to anyone you’re going to come across. And I think that does go a long way.”
JENIFER SNOW (’14)
“THAT’S WHAT LAW IS ALL ABOUT… AT THE END OF THE DAY, IT’S ALL PEOPLE THAT YOU’RE ADVOCATING FOR.”
Another one of Ammann’s students in the clinic, Jenifer Snow (’14), graduated more than a decade later, but the biggest lesson she learned was exactly the same. “Always be nice and be overprepared,” she said, a mantra she has adopted as her own and which she has advised current law students as a member of the SLU LAW Young Alumni Society (YAS) advisory board. In fact, she saw this lesson in action before her time in the clinic even began. Upon applying to work in the clinic, she initially did not get accepted, and she was upset. VOLUME 20 ISSUE 1
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COVER STORY
“I quite literally walked into John’s office and was like, ‘I am interested in doing litigation, I want to be in your clinic, I’ll do it without credits, I just want the experience.’ Basically I begged my way into his clinic!” she said. “Within five minutes of me leaving, he emailed me with a spot. It was awesome and ended up being the best decision. I built a relationship with John, and that’s what leads me to still even work with him today.” As a student, Snow got involved in the clemency case for one of Ammann’s longest and most well-known clients, Judy Henderson, whose life sentence was commuted in December 2017 after nearly 36 years in prison and who received a full pardon in June 2018. “I would write her letters, visit Chillicothe [Correctional Center],” she said. “It was just amazing meeting Judy and hearing her story, hearing how she’d been incarcerated so long and was able to make the best of it.” As part of her advocacy in clemency cases, Snow testified in Jefferson City in support of a bill advancing parole eligibility for elderly prisoners and wrote an op-ed with two fellow students explaining the bill’s reasoning that was published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. She also worked on an HOA case involving a family with a daughter who had a disability and needed special wheelchair accommodations that the HOA was complaining about. “I thought I wanted to litigate and touch people’s lives; John basically showed me firsthand what people in our position can do to help others. The dad of the daughter who was handicapped, he was in the military and he gave me a token that I still have as a thank you – it was something I will never forget.
J. THOMAS MIHALCZO, III (’17)
“JOHN’S ALWAYS BEEN HELPING THOSE PEOPLE WHO AREN’T NECESSARILY AT THE CUSP OF OUR RECOGNITION; WE KNOW THAT THEY’RE THERE BUT WE JUST OFTEN DON’T SEE THEM.”
Learning that lesson was critical for Thomas Mihalczo, who, like Oldweiler, attributes Ammann’s influence to his becoming an attorney. “My experiences in the clinic essentially saved my law school career in the fact that it switched my mind into working for someone else and not for yourself, and that’s what advocacy is all about – without clients we don’t have jobs!” he said. Mihalczo’s biggest project in the clinic was working on a lawsuit against the St. Louis Election Board to make electronic voting machines available to the blind and visually impaired. He participated in a press conference hosted by the Legal Clinics in conjunction with the Missouri Council of the Blind, which encouraged all persons with disabilities to participate in Missouri’s presidential primary election. It also called on the legislature to adopt bills requiring that the audio ballot-enabled machines be available for all polling places for all elections, including municipal elections. “It was surreal to walk your blind client to a podium to help talk about the issues,” he said. “I can’t imagine a more practical, real-world experience.” Prior to the lawsuit, he said, in some counties a blind or visually impaired person would have to go with a relative or close friend to the polls who would have to walk them through the process, which the suit alleged was a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. “Voting is one of the core American values; your right to a secret ballot is fundamental,” Mihalczo said.
Former prisoner Judy Henderson speaks at a panel event titled “The Face of Clemency” at Scott Hall in March 2018, alongside Prof. John Ammann (’84) and her attorneys Shannon Norman (’12) and Bob Ramsey (’79).
“A lot of people think you become a lawyer to make money, to say you’re a lawyer,” she continued. “John doesn’t do it for any of those reasons; he does it to help people.” Today, Snow is an associate attorney at Kamykowski, Gavin & Smith, P.C., where she does medical malpractice defense but still sees parallels with her past work in the clinic on behalf of plaintiffs. “I think just personalizing the law – John makes every case about a specific person, and on the defense side it’s the same thing,” she said. “That’s what law is all about, especially in litigation – it’s getting to know people, getting to know clients, working with your clients, collaborating with people. At the end of the day, it’s all people that you’re advocating for.”
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As part of the community outreach process, Mihalczo and Ammann visited MindsEye Radio, a radio station in Illinois that broadcasts to blind and visually impaired persons, to do an interview about what was going on and how to let them know if they experienced problems with their voter registration. After graduating from law school, Mihalczo was interested in getting involved in community work and successfully applied to join the MindsEye Radio board of directors. “When I submitted my application to get on the board, it was almost meant to be,” he said. “That’s just one example of what John exposed me to. It improved my professional and personal experience: there’s no way I would’ve gotten a board position straight out of school without that. “John’s always been helping those people who aren’t necessarily at the cusp of our recognition; we know that they’re there but we just often don’t see them,” Mihalczo continued. “He turned me on to all of that and that cause, and I’ve been fortunate to be able to continue trying to help out.”
Another example of professional success emerging from his time in the clinic was the experience of having argued in front of the Missouri Court of Appeals; he attributes that to being a big factor in getting hired as a law clerk at Bollwerk & Tatlow, LLC, where he currently works an associate attorney, and as a reason why he subsequently joined the SLU LAW trial team, having realized he could do oral advocacy. “It seems like once you try something and you make it through, you can keep building on it, and that’s really what the clinic was. I remember being super nervous to do intake calls, and obviously now I do that all the time. It was a very real-world thing: ‘Someone’s going to call me with a problem and I better know what to do,’ and that doesn’t happen just reading a torts book.” Even seemingly simple advice from Ammann, such as looking up a person’s recent accomplishments before contacting them in order to be able to say congratulations, has stuck with Mihalczo. “It was just a good professional tip, just really gentleman-like stuff and being a proper professional,” he said. “I still do that, too, it’s crazy – I had forgotten where I learned it.”
SHANNON NORMAN (’12)
“NOTHING, NOTHING, NOTHING HAPPENS EASILY OR QUICKLY. THIS IS A PERSEVERANCE GAME.”
Going to law school in her late 30s with three children at home, Shannon Norman knew that she wanted to get all the practical experience she could to prepare herself for starting her own firm. “Working in the Legal Clinic was obviously the most practical class you could get,” she said. “I don’t know how I ended up in the appellate portion with John Ammann, but I got assigned Judy [Henderson]’s case. As I got to looking at her case and seeing how she and her co-defendant were represented by the same guy and then dug a little deeper – it was just one of those things. I adamantly believed that she did not belong in prison.” Little did she know then that she would end up sticking with Henderson’s case for seven years.
a passionate advocate for all the clemency petitions, including Henderson’s, that had been sitting in a drawer for eight years that no one had bothered to read. Every time Henderson completed a certification in prison, Norman sent it in to add to her file in the governor’s office – so much so that she actually had a box instead of just a folder sitting in the governor’s office. “I have to admit I had my times, and I know Judy did, too, where I thought ‘As badly as I want this, I feel like this is just a waste of time, we’re never going to get there,’” she said. “If I had quit at the fifth year I don’t know what would’ve happened. But all the stars aligned after seven years.” When Governor Jay Nixon left office in 2017 and Governor Eric Greitens was sworn in, Norman said the “noise” she and the Legal Clinics had been making for years finally paid off. By December of that year, Henderson was granted clemency, and in June 2018, Greitens issued her a full pardon as one of his last acts as governor. Henderson maintains contact with him and some of his staff members to this day, and she and Norman are currently working on a book together to tell her story. Norman’s takeaway from the experience – “Nothing, nothing, nothing happens easily or quickly. This is a perseverance game. And that’s kind of the way all your cases are. Anything you’re trying to get done like that, criminal justice reform, clemency pardons, even appeals, it’s persistency.” As a sole practitioner at Shannon Norman Law, LLC, Norman remains active in geriatric parole advocacy and continues to take on two to three pro bono cases every year. In January 2019, she was named a Legal Champion by Missouri Lawyers Weekly. She attributes her passion for these cases to her work in the Legal Clinics under Ammann. “What I learned from John is pretty easy – John literally has spent his life advocating for those who can’t advocate for themselves,” she said. “He’s spent his life in that legal clinic just trying to make sure that people who couldn’t afford and didn’t have representation had a fair shot. Any student who goes through the clinic, there’s no way you can come out and not realize that these things need to be done and there’s just not enough people doing them. So John taught me to donate my time to those who need it.” His influence extended beyond Norman and even made an impact on her entire family. “Judy and I, we’re basically family now. We see each other all the time, travel together,” Norman said. “My kids all know her, and she knows my grandson. They realize [through this experience] that there are some injustices in the world that, if you persevere long enough, you can maybe correct them. … The only other thing I can say is, John certainly has earned his retirement, but I can’t imagine that there will ever be another like him.” SLB
“I became very close to her, and because I graduated at the end of that semester, I talked to John [saying], ‘I don’t want to let go of this case.’” Ammann agreed, and as a newly minted attorney Norman was able to make more progress by establishing some meaningful contacts in the governor’s office and in Jefferson City, where she also got involved with geriatric parole more generally. She became VOLUME 20 ISSUE 1
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FACULTY VIEW
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THE
ULTIMATE EX A MPLE Prof. Brendan Roediger shares a reflection on the occasion of Prof. John Ammann’s retirement. First given as a speech at a celebration honoring John Ammann (’84) and his Clinic students on March 28, 2019.
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elcome everyone. I’m representing the clinical faculty, and I was asked to say a few words about John. And I’m going to start by saying that this is probably the most nervous that I’ve been with the microphone. And this is a sad day for me. John has been a colleague but he’s also been a friend to me and a mentor to me for the past decade. There are a lot of people in this room who know John as a teacher, a lot of folks who know John as a colleague, some folks who know John as opposing counsel, some folks who know John as a family member. I wanted to say a few words about the part of John that has impressed me the most, and it has guided me the most. John’s job in addition to being a teacher is representing powerless people against incredibly powerful forces. And those powerful forces win a lot of the time. And John’s job involves witnessing — and when I say witnessing, I mean not just witnessing, but sitting next to, being with — individuals experiencing massive amounts of pain, and often that pain is unjust. Being exposed to that over an extended period of time erodes faith. That’s what it naturally does. And surviving that is not easy, and for anybody who’s done that sort of work, and there are a lot of you in this room
who do that work, it can change you, it can make you hard, it can make you rough, it can make you mean, it can make you cruel. So what’s been so incredible to me, and what I always think about when I think about John, is your ability to be in those spaces, to see that pain, to fight for people, and to come out the other end and still go to class and make students laugh, and to have the patience to have students come in to your office and talk about the silliest problems in the whole world. You just spent the whole day at a prison talking with somebody who’d faced the most terrible series of events and you now have a student talking about how they had the flu last week and couldn’t get their paper in. And then going home and being a decent, good family man. Those things are not easy to do. And as somebody who thinks a lot about struggle, meaning, battling those forces we need to battle, but still being somebody who lives life and enjoys life, you are the ultimate example of that to me. And so I’m just so grateful, looking at how many people are in this room, I’m so grateful that all of us have gotten to witness that, and that that has rubbed off on so many of us. SLB
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ORDER OF THE FLEUR DE LIS
School of Law Celebrates Order of the Fleur de Lis Inductees
S Learn more about the 2019 class of inductees by watching this year’s Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame video tribute. Visit slu.edu/law/news.
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aint Louis University School of Law celebrated the fourth year of the Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame, its highest honor, with an induction ceremony on Jan. 25, 2019. This year, 10 alumni and professors were recognized for not only excellence in the profession but for their lifelong dedication to service to others in the Jesuit tradition. During the ceremony, Dean William P. Johnson delivered brief remarks, Rev. Christopher Collins, S.J., gave the invocation, and four current students served as the award presenters. “This year’s Order of the Fleur de Lis has the added distinction of taking place during the 175th anniversary of the
founding of the School of Law,” Dean Johnson noted. “Throughout the years, SLU LAW has graduated first-rate attorneys who exemplify the SLU LAW traditions of excellence, pursuit of truth and commitment to social justice. Throughout its history, SLU LAW has also been home to extraordinary professors and civic leaders who have done remarkable things both in the legal community and in the community at large. We believe it to be desirable and appropriate to recognize them and their many accomplishments.” Congratulations to all of the remarkable individuals, who will serve as inspiration for generations of SLU LAW graduates to come.
Biographies Sally E. Barker Class of 1976
Sally E. Barker, a partner at Schuchat, Cook & Werner, focuses her practice on labor law, with an emphasis on public sector, education and employment discrimination issues. She represented the prevailing unions in Independence National Education Association v. Independence School District, in which the Missouri Supreme Court held that public employees have a state constitutional right to engage in collective bargaining. Barker is a member and former board member of the Lawyers Coordinating Committee of the AFL-CIO. She was the recipient of the 2001 Daily Record “Woman Lawyer of the Year” award, an elected member to the ABA’s College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, and in 2015 and 2016 was listed as one of Missouri’s top 50 women lawyers. Barker serves on the board of directors of Mental Health of America of Eastern Missouri, and, to honor the memory of her son, Alex Permutt, she founded Feelingkindablue.org, a website operated by Provident Counseling designed to help people suffering from mental illness combat isolationism and find peer support through experience sharing.
John T. Boese Class of 1972
John “Jack” T. Boese, of counsel to the Washington, D.C., office of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, is a nationally recognized expert on the civil False Claims Act. After five years in the U.S. Department of Justice, he joined the firm, where he has worked for 42 years in a variety of roles, including partner and managing partner of the D.C. office, as well as co-chair of the D.C. litigation department. Boese authored the book Civil False Claims and Qui Tam Actions, currently in its fourth edition, which has been cited by courts at all levels, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Among his numerous professional affiliations, Boese is a member of the American Law Institute and an advisor to its project Principles of Law, Compliance, Enforcement and Risk Management for Corporations, Non-Profits and Other Organizations; a member of the ABA Task Force on New Contractor Business Ethics and Compliance Program Regulations; former chair of the ABA Criminal Justice Section CLE Board; and former vice-chair of the Debarment and Suspension Committee of the Public Contracts Section of the ABA.
Leonard P. Cervantes* Class of 1973
Leonard “Lenny” P. Cervantes was a trial attorney for 45 years and the principal in the St. Louis firm Cervantes and Associates. He represented injured workers, victims and their families in personal injury, products liability, medical malpractice and workers’ compensation matters. He was a dedicated advocate for the underserved and a champion for legal education and * indicates deceased
mentoring. Cervantes regularly took on pro bono cases and encouraged others to do so. Cervantes was a past president of the American Board of Trial Advocates Missouri/Southern Illinois Chapter and served as a national board member. He was also a past president of the Lawyers Association of St. Louis and received its Award of Honor in 2014. Cervantes was the longest-serving member of St. Ambrose University’s board of trustees and received an honorary Doctor of Laws in 2005. At the time of his death in 2018, he was secretary of the board of directors of Legal Services of Eastern Missouri and served on the boards of the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys, the St. Louis Bar Foundation and Jazz St. Louis.
The Hon. AnneMarie Clarke Class of 1973
Judge Anne-Marie Clarke has served as the Family Court Commissioner for the 22nd Judicial Circuit, City of St. Louis, since October 1998. In 2017, Judge Clarke was sworn in as the 47th chair of the Judicial Council Division of the National Bar Association. She served as president of the Mound City Bar Association (1981-83) and was the first African-American to serve on the board of governors of the Missouri Bar (1986-1990, 199195). She also served on the board of directors of The Bar Plan Mutual Insurance Company from its inception in 1986 until October 1998. Judge Clarke was the first African-American woman to serve on the St. Louis City Board of Police Commissioners and was unanimously elected president in April 1994, becoming the first woman to serve as president. She has served on numerous statewide committees and has been recognized for her work and leadership in the community.
The Hon. Edward L. Filippine Class of 1957
Judge Edward L. Filippine is a senior judge for the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri. He entered private practice after graduation with Lyng, MacLeod & Davidson and later joined Thomas, Busse, Weiss, Cullen & Godfrey. While in private practice, Judge Filippine served as special assistant attorney general of Missouri (1963-64). He then served as assistant to U.S. Senator Thomas F. Eagleton from 1969 to 1974 and became director for Sen. Eagleton’s reelection campaign. He returned to private practice with Lashly, Caruthers, Baer & Hamel. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter nominated Judge Filippine for appointment as U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of Missouri, to which he was subsequently confirmed by the U.S. Senate. He served as the chief judge from 1990 to 1995. As chief judge, he organized and chaired the committee that worked alongside the GSA in the planning and construction of the Thomas F. Eagleton U.S. Courthouse. Judge Filippine received the Distinguished Lawyer Award in 1998 from BAMSL and the Lifetime Judicial Achievement Award from the Eastern Missouri/Southern Illinois chapter of The American Board of Trial Advocates in 2005. Prior to attending law school, Judge Filippine served on active duty in the United States Air Force.
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ORDER OF THE FLEUR DE LIS
The Hon. Kevin F. O’Malley Class of 1973
The Hon. Kevin F. O’Malley was nominated by President Barack Obama and served as the 31st U.S. Ambassador to Ireland from 2014 to 2017. During his tenure, Amb. O’Malley developed the Creative Minds Series, a program that invited U.S. artists, writers and innovators to share their experiences with Irish audiences, encouraging more creative economic links between young people in the two countries. In 2017 he returned to his hometown of St. Louis and has continued to work toward deepening these ties. He rejoined the firm Greensfelder, Hemker, and Gale, P.C., where he had previously spent 11 years as litigation partner leading the medical negligence and white collar crime and regulatory compliance areas of practice. He also was appointed non-executive director for the board of Greencore Group, a billion-dollar multinational food company headquartered in Ireland. A former federal prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice, he earned his J.D. in 1973 and also has a degree in philosophy and political science from Saint Louis University.
Kathleen R. Sherby Class of 1976
Kathleen Sherby is a partner in the private client group and a member of the Fiduciary Litigation Committee at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP. Her practice involves representation of individuals in all aspects of wealth transfer planning. A particular focus of her practice is estate planning for retirement benefits. Sherby regularly represents trustees and beneficiaries in court controversies and also has represented the taxpayer in estate and gift tax audits, in U.S. District Court, the U.S. Tax Court and the Missouri Supreme Court. Sherby is a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel; she is past president and a regent emeritus of the College and has served as both chair of the Employee Benefits in Estate Planning Committee and as the Missouri State chair. She also has served as chair of the Probate and Trust Committee of the Missouri Bar, as chair of the Probate Section of BAMSL and as president of the Estate Planning Council of St. Louis.
The Hon. Francis G. Slay Class of 1980
The Hon. Francis G. Slay was the longest-serving mayor in the history of the City of St. Louis, sworn in as the 45th mayor in 2001 and completing his fourth term in 2017. During his tenure, Mayor Slay led a downtown and city neighborhood revival that resulted in billions of dollars of investment in historic renovations to commercial and residential structures; in advancement of cultural institutions; in improvements to streets, bridges and other infrastructure; and in the creation and restoration of parks, trails and recreational facilities. In a precedent-setting partnership with the National Park Service, Mayor 28
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Slay put in motion the City Arch River effort to design and construct $400 million in improvements to the Gateway Arch grounds. Mayor Slay led a campaign to create the Affordable Housing Trust Fund to support quality residential living for low-income St. Louisans, and successfully petitioned the Missouri Department of Education to create a special administrative board to oversee the St. Louis Public School District, which led the effort to achieve full accreditation by the State Board of Education for the first time in 17 years. Prior to his service to the City, Mayor Slay was a private practice attorney for 20 years. He currently practices law as of counsel at Spencer Fane LLP, where he focuses on business transactions, real estate and public policy.
Sr. Laura J. Wolf, OSF Class of 1981
After graduating as valedictorian of her high school class, Sr. Laura J. Wolf, OSF, entered the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity, a Catholic congregation of religious women in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. In 1977, she was asked by her congregation to pursue the joint J.D./M.H.A. degrees at SLU. Upon graduating, Sr. Laura became manager and inhouse counsel of Good Samaritan Medical Center in Zanesville, Ohio. After five years, she was called to Wisconsin to envision and create a structure to govern the health care ministry of her order. Over the next 31 years, as president and CEO of the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity Sponsored Ministries, Inc. (FSCCM), Sr. Laura and her staff worked with the boards of directors in their respective markets to develop effective structures to provide services to their communities. In addition to overseeing hospitals, nursing homes and senior living institutions in Ohio, Nebraska and Wisconsin from the outset, in 2012 the FSCCM also assumed responsibility for Silver Lake College of the Holy Family, in Manitowoc, Wis. In 2016 Sr. Laura retired but continues to serve on local hospital boards and act as senior advisor to the FSCCM president on issues involving sponsorship, governance and strategy.
The Hon. Michael A. Wolff
Dean & Professor Emeritus
Judge Michael A. Wolff joined the SLU LAW faculty in 1975 and served for 23 years before being appointed to the Missouri Supreme Court in 1998. He then served on the bench for 13 years, including two as chief justice (2005–07), where he wrote opinions in cases that established the right of jury trial in employment discrimination cases, disapproved execution of criminals who were juveniles when their offenses were committed, and upheld the right to collective bargaining for public employees. Judge Wolff returned to teaching at SLU LAW in 2011 and became dean in 2013, serving through 2017. During this time, the law school stabilized and increased enrollment, alumni participation and national rankings, and maintained its pre-eminence in health law. He is the recipient of many honors and awards, including most recently Missouri Lawyers Weekly’s inaugural ICON Award in 2018. Judge Wolff is active in the American Law Institute. He serves as a board member of the National Courts and Science Institute (NCSI) and is a member of The Constitution Project. In St. Louis Judge Wolff is on the boards of trustees of the Missouri Historical Society and the St. Louis Public Library Foundation.
Save the Date: February 7, 2020 The next Fleur de Lis induction ceremony will be Friday, February 7, 2020. Stay tuned for details in the coming months. Please visit slu.edu/law/alumni/order-fleur-de-lis.php.
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FACULTY SCHOLARSHIP
SLU LAW faculty continue to produce excellent scholarship, read and recognized at national and international levels. The following is a sampling of our faculty’s scholarship successes in 2018.
MATTHEW T. BODIE
JOEL K. GOLDSTEIN
Callis Family Professor of Law
Vincent C. Immel Professor of Law
Shareholder Voting and the Symbolic Politics of Corporation as Contract (with Grant M. Hayden), 53 Wake Forest L. Rev. 511 (2018).
Talking Trump and the Twenty-Fifth Amendment: Correcting the Record on Section Four, 21 U. Pa . J. Const. L., 73 (2018).
Holacracy and the Law, 42 Del. J. Corp. L. 619 (2018).
The Nature of the Judicial Process: The Enduring Significance of a Legal Classic, 34 Touro L. Rev., 159 (2018). Teaching the Transformative Fourteenth Amendment, 62 St. Louis U. L.J., 581 (2018).
CHAD FLANDERS
THOMAS L. GREANEY
Professor
Chester A. Myers Professor of Law Emeritus
A Half-Hearted Defense of the Categorical Approach, 95 Wash. U. L.R. 1389 (2018).
Health L aw: Cases, Materials and Problems, 8th edition, American Casebook Series, West (2018) and Teacher’s Manual (with Barry R. Furrow, et al.).
Are Universities Schools? The Case for Continuity in School Speech, 93 NYU L. Rev. Online 137 (October 2018). Dangerous Instruments: A Case Study in Overcriminalization (with Desiree Austin-Holliday), 83 Mo. l. Rev. 259 (2018).
Health L aw: Cases, Materials and Problems, abridged version, 8th edition, American Casebook Series, West (2018) (with Barry R. Furrow, et al.).
How Much Certainty Do We Need to Punish? A Reply to Kolber. 2018 U. Ill. L. Online 149. In (Partial) Praise of (Some) Compromise: Comments on Tebbe, 31 J. Civ. R ts. & Econ. Dev. (2018). Keeping the Rule of Law Simple: Comments on Gowder, The Rule of Law in the Real World, 62 St. Louis U. L.J., 313 (2018).
ROBERT GATTER
Professor
Health L aw: Cases, Materials and Problems, 8th edition, American Casebook Series, West (2018) and Teacher’s Manual (with Barry R. Furrow, et al.). Health L aw: Cases, Materials and Problems, abridged version, 8th edition, American Casebook Series, West (2018) (with Barry R. Furrow, et al.).
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SANDRA H. JOHNSON
Professor Emerita
Health L aw: Cases, Materials and Problems, 8th edition, American Casebook Series, West (2018) and Teacher’s Manual (with Barry R. Furrow, et al.). Health L aw: Cases, Materials and Problems, abridged version, 8th edition, American Casebook Series, West (2018) (with Barry R. Furrow, et al.).
WILLIAM P. JOHNSON
KERRY A. RYAN
Professor
Associate Professor
International Contracts, 52 YEAR IN REV. 69 (2018) (William P. Johnson ed.) (with Sabin Volciuc-Ionescu, et al.).
ABA Tax Sec., Comments on the Tax Treatment of Hard Forks, 72 Tax L aw. 27 (2018) (with Omri Marian).
Status of the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, in International Contracts, 52 Year In Rev. 69, 69-71 (2018) (William P. Johnson ed.).
YVETTE JOY LIEBESMAN
ANDERS WALKER
Professor
Lillie Myers Professor of Law
Revisiting Innovative Technologies to Determine Substantial Similarity in Musical Composition Infringement Lawsuits, 59 IDEA: The Journal of the Franklin Pierce Center for Intellectual Property 157 (2018).
The Burning House: Jim Crow A nd The Making Of Modern A merica (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018).
MARCIA L. MCCORMICK
SIDNEY D. WATSON
Professor
Jane and Bruce Robert Professor of Law
Changing What They Cannot Accept: Teachers Unions Fighting Education “Reform” from Chicago to Oklahoma, 22 Emp. R ts. & Emp. Pol’y J. 409 (2018).
Putting the Brakes on Consumer Driven Medicaid: The Failures and Harms of Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP) 2.0, 11 St. Louis U.J. Health L. & Pol’y 275 (2018).
The Growing Gender/Religion Divide, 19 Marquette Ben. & Soc. Welfare L. Rev. 197 (2018).
Rule of Law and Work Requirements in Medicaid: Reigning in Agency Overreaching, 46 J. L. Med. & Ethics 887 (2018).
ELIZABETH PENDO
ALAN WEINBERGER
Joseph J. Simeone Professor of Law
Professor
Accessibility of Medical Equipment – Implications for People with Disability, 378 New Eng. J. Med. 1371 (April 12, 2018) (with Lisa I. Iezzoni).
Henry Ford’s Wingman: A Perspective on the Centennial of Dodge v. Ford, 14 N.Y.U.J.L. & Bus. 1013 (2018).
Health L aw: Cases, Materials and Problems, 8th edition, American Casebook Series, West (2018) and Teacher’s Manual (with Barry R. Furrow, et al.). Health L aw: Cases, Materials and Problems, abridged version, 8th edition, American Casebook Series, West (2018) (with Barry R. Furrow, et al.).
RUQAIIJAH YEARBY
Professor
ANA SANTOS RUTSCHMAN
Assistant Professor
IP Preparedness for Outbreak Diseases, 65 UCLA L. Rev. 1200 (2018). Vaccine Licensure in the Public Interest: Lessons from the Development of the US Army Zika Vaccine, 127 Yale L.J. F. 651 (2018).
The Impact of Structural Racism in Employment and Wages on Minority Women’s Health, 43 ABA Human Rights Journal 21 (2018).
Medicaid Work Requirements: Are They Illegal and Will They Increase Poverty?, JURIST – Academic Commentary (2018). Racial Disparities in Health Status and Access to Health Care: The Continuation of Inequality in the United States Due to Structural Racism, 77 AM. J. Economics and Sociology 1113 (2018).
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IN MY VIEW
A K EEPER OF T HE
MISSION
J u d g e N i c o l e C o l b e r t - B o t c h w a y (’9 6) Judge Nicole Colbert-Botchway’s SLU LAW story has come full circle. As a high school student participating in Saint Louis University’s Upward Bound Program in 1986, she was inspired to pursue a legal career when she heard the program’s guest speaker, an attorney whom she later learned was School of Law alumna Dorothy White-Coleman (’82). “That day I realized I wanted to use my time and talent to serve the community by speaking for those who have no voice and I could best fulfill my purpose by becoming an attorney like the black female attorney who spoke. Armed with a purpose and knowledge to reach my goal, I began my journey with the end in mind. “A couple of years later [as an undergraduate student], I walked back onto SLU’s campus to the admission office and asked for help fulfilling my dream of becoming the attorney [that the institution] had originally inspired me to become,” Colbert-Botchway continued. “The same day I submitted my application, I was accepted and received a scholarship.” As a SLU undergraduate pursuing a degree in political science and African American Studies, Colbert-Botchway obtained a work study position in the Law Library and eagerly awaited the day she could start taking law classes. “I watched and admired the stu-
dents and faculty from a distance and fell in love with everything about the law school before enrolling.” Colbert-Botchway eventually did get accepted to and attend SLU LAW, which she says prepared her to achieve the professional success and personal satisfaction she now enjoys 23 years later, as the associate presiding judge for the 22nd Judicial Circuit. Prior to serving on the bench, she served as assistant circuit attorney and then assistant attorney general for the city and state, respectively. “I can truly say that I owe my success to some of the keepers of SLU’s mission and vision, including professors Mike Wolff, Peter Salsich, Leland Ware, John Ammann and Judge George Draper,” she said. “I had an enjoyable, well-rounded and supportive environment to advance my legal understanding and development. I am so grateful!” Colbert-Botchway took that gratitude to heart and has adopted it as her personal mission to give back as a mentor to the next generation of college and law students and to serve as a leader in her community. She was the first African-American president of the Women Lawyers’ Association of Greater St. Louis and is a past president and lifetime
member of the Mound City Bar Association. She remains an active member of the Missouri Bar and is currently its ABA delegate. Among numerous other volunteer activities, she is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.; the NAACP; St. Alphonsus Liguori “Rock” Catholic Church; and the Knights of Saint Peter Claver — Women’s Auxiliary. Today, it’s the students and alumni who admire her. “For women like me it’s important to see someone you admire doing the things you aspire to do, and it’s so much more important to have that person kind of carry you along and make time for you,” said Nkechi Ekwunife (’13), one of Colbert-Botchway’s mentees as a law student and currently a sole practitioner in Los Angeles. “I definitely would not be where I am today without her support, without her influence, without her mentorship,” Ekwunife continued. “I’m from L.A., so I couldn’t go home for every holiday, but not even just the holidays — sometimes you just need a mom in law school. She would have me over, she would show me around St. Louis, introducing me to members of her family. I had never been to St. Louis before I decided on SLU. (continued)
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IN MY VIEW needed, that the association was participating in community service projects, that they were honoring the past presidents who came before them, that membership grew, and that the association kept the legal community engaged, Abby said. “At every event, she made sure that we were there and we were present and that Mound City Bar was recognized and was a force to be reckoned with. … I just don’t see how she does it all, the work that she does in our community. It gives me the energy and the drive to keep going. I think, ‘If Judge Colbert-Botchway can do it and she’s a judge, I can definitely do it.’ It pushes you to be a better person, to want to do more.” You can just go to school and not know the city and all that it has to offer, but she reintroduced me to the community. Being someone who’s not from St. Louis, she is St. Louis for me. … And not only did she do the normal mentor/menteeship, she really gave me life advice. She’ll pray with you and also pray for you.”
she has so much patience. I go into the courtroom and I can see some people may be struggling. She makes sure they understand what’s going on, not just rushing through — she takes the care to really explain things and remember these are human beings, and these are their lives that we’re dealing with on a daily basis.”
According to her mentees, Colbert-Botchway’s influence as an example is profound.
Today, Dorothy White-Coleman, the attorney whom Colbert-Botchway had aspired to be like in the 1980s and another of her colleagues through the Mound City Bar Association, is the one singing her praises.
“She’s always in the forefront of my mind when I’m thinking of how to be a great mentor, role model, leader; she’s just someone of really high integrity that I look up to.” —Nkechi Ekwunife (’13) “The way that she carries herself in court exemplifies who I would like to be one day,” said Monique Abby (’03), another mentee and immediate past president of the Mound City Bar Association, where she has worked closely alongside Colbert-Botchway for 15 years. “She’s so fair, 34
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“It doesn’t matter where she is, she’s always going to do the best job possible,” said White-Coleman. “Her commitment to the community and to the rules of ethics are above and beyond reproach.” Under Colbert-Botchway’s leadership, in 2013 the Mound City Bar Association began hosting an annual legislative symposium, inviting legislators — particularly African-American legislators — together to talk about common interests, and she remains the chair of this symposium to date. She also hosted a program featuring various people involved in the judgeship selection process to educate younger lawyers about what it takes to become a judge. But beyond her innovations, successful programs and community imprint, her mentees and colleagues agree her defining quality is that she shows up for people. As president of the Mound City Bar Association, Colbert-Botchway was always there to make sure the law students in the organization had the resources they
“The way that she carries herself in court exemplifies who I would like to be one day.” —Monique Abby (’03) “She’s always in the forefront of my mind when I’m thinking of how to be a great mentor, role model, leader — really wife, mother, she’s just someone of really high integrity that I look up to,” Ekwunife echoed. “The way she has mentored me and really been the kind of person she’s been to me has shaped so much of my life when I’m trying to pay it forward. She definitely is my reference point.” Colbert-Botchway sees her role as a mentor as one that simply comes with the territory of having been in the same shoes as a struggling law student. “I’ve passed each test I have faced thus far, thanks to God and the support and kindness I have received from Saint Louis University,” she said. “I will be forever grateful and work to be part of fulfilling SLU LAW’s mission of service to all humanity for years to come.” SLB
CLASS NOTES Through April 12, 2019
1957
1971
1977
Hon. Edward Filippine, senior judge for the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri, was inducted into the SLU LAW Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame.
Jerome Diekemper was recognized in the 2017-18 St. Louis Magazine Best Lawyers list for arbitration and mediation.
Allen Allred was recognized in the 2017-18 St. Louis Magazine Best Lawyers list for health care law.
1959 Joseph Mueller and his wife Nancy received 2018 Citizen Recognition Awards from the Missouri Catholic Conference.
John Boese, of counsel to the Washington, D.C., office of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, was inducted into the SLU LAW Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame.
1961
1973
Michael Daniel O’Keefe was recognized by Continental Who’s Who as a “Pinnacle Top Attorney” in the field of law as a senior counsel at Thompson Coburn LLP, where he focuses on business litigation.
Hon. Anne-Marie Clarke, senior judge for the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri, was inducted into the SLU LAW Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame.
1965
Hon. Kevin F. O’Malley, attorney at Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale P.C. and former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland, was inducted into the SLU LAW Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame.
Hon. James Michel, former U.S. ambassador to Guatemala, authored a report focused on institutional integrity as a tool for combating corruption and improving performance in public organizations, which was published by Tetra Tech in late 2018.
1968 Robert Ritter, chairman at Gray, Ritter & Graham, P.C., was named a recipient of a 2019 Missouri Lawyers Weekly ICON Award. The award recognizes distinguished men and women over 60 for their notable success and strong leadership within and outside the field of law. He was also recognized in the 2017-18 Best Lawyers list by St. Louis Magazine in eight categories and named Lawyer of the Year in Product Liability Litigation - Plaintiffs.
1972
1974 Kenneth Brostron was recognized in the 2017-18 St. Louis Magazine Best Lawyers list for medical malpractice law-defendants and personal injury litigation-defendants. Stephen Ringkamp was recognized in the 2017-18 St. Louis Magazine Best Lawyers list for personal injury litigation-plaintiffs.
1975 J. Justin Meehan was an inaugural recipient of Missouri Lawyers Weekly’s 2018 Diversity and Inclusion Award.
1970
1976
Jacob Reby of Lewis Rice LLC was elected president of the American College of Mortgage Attorneys (ACMA). The ACMA is comprised of fewer than 500 preeminent private practice and in-house commercial real estate finance lawyers in the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Reby was one of only 11 lawyers in Missouri elected as an ACMA Fellow. Locally, he has served as president of the St. Louis Art Fair, Ozark Regional Land Trust, Laumeier Sculpture Park and the Clayton Chamber of Commerce. He is also a Fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers.
Larry Altman wrote an article titled “Summation and Response to the 2018 Review of Educational Services Provided to Nikolas Cruz by Broward County Schools” published in Inquiry & Analysis in January 2019. Sally Barker, partner at Schuchat, Cook & Werner, was inducted into the SLU LAW Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame. Kathleen Sherby, partner at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP, was inducted into the SLU LAW Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame. Richard Watters was recognized in the 2017-18 St. Louis Magazine Best Lawyers list for health care law.
John Hessel, member at Lewis Rice LLC, was named a recipient of the St. Louis Bar Foundation’s 2018 Spirit of Justice Award.
1978 Daniel Finney was recognized in the 2017-18 St. Louis Magazine Best Lawyers list for personal injury litigation-plaintiffs. Jay Krupin, partner at BakerHostetler in Washington, D.C., was named a 2019 inductee of the Corporate Employment Lawyers Hall of Fame by Lawdragon. Honorees are considered “legends … whose contributions to the field as well as their firms are unparalleled.” Thomas Weaver, partner at Armstrong Teasdale LLP, was named a 2018 “St. Louis Character” by St. Louis Business Journal.
1979 Alisse Camazine of Paule, Camazine & Blumenthal, P.C. was named to the Top 10: 2018 Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers list and the Top 50: 2018 Women Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers list. Robert Keefe of Keefe & Griffiths, P.C. was the recipient of the 2018 St. Louis Workers’ Compensation Distinguished Lawyer Award, presented jointly by BAMSL and Kids’ Chance of Missouri. Charles A. (“Clary”) Redd, Redd, partner at Stinson Leonard Street LLP, was inducted into the Estate Planning Hall of Fame by the National Association of Estate Planning Councils (NAEPC). This honor celebrates Redd’s more than 35 years of distinguished service in the world of estate planning, as well as his many contributions to the field.
1980 Anthony Behr was recognized in the 2017-18 St. Louis Magazine Best Lawyers list for commercial litigation, personal injury litigation-defendants, and product liability litigation-defendants. Timothy Casey was named to the 2019 Best Lawyers in America list.
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CLASS NOTES Hon. Francis G. Slay, of counsel at Spencer Fane LLP and former mayor of the City of St. Louis, was inducted into the SLU LAW Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame.
1993
1997
Timothy J. Gearin, partner at Armstrong Teasdale LLP, was recognized with a Missouri Lawyers Weekly 2019 Law Firm Leader Award.
1981
Christine Mundkur was appointed independent director of Lupin Ltd., a global pharmaceutical company.
Hon. Sara Lynn Darrow was named chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois, the first woman named to the position. Darrow had served as a district court judge in the Rock Island Division of the Central District of Illinois since 2011, nominated by President Barack Obama on the recommendation of Sen. Dick Durbin.
Reuben Shelton was an inaugural recipient of Missouri Lawyers Weekly’s 2018 Diversity and Inclusion Award. Sr. Laura J. Wolf, former president and CEO of the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity Sponsored Ministries, Inc., was inducted into the SLU LAW Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame.
1994
1982
1995
Jeffrey Hebrank was recognized in the 2017-18 St. Louis Magazine Best Lawyers list for mass tort litigation/class actions-defendants.
Hon. John Borbonus III was appointed circuit judge for the 21st Judicial District in St. Louis County by Governor Mike Parson.
Michael Angelides was recognized in the 2017-18 St. Louis Magazine Best Lawyers list for personal injury litigation-plaintiffs.
1983 Jane E. Hosmanek Kaiser, writing under the pseudonym Seelie Kay, has published her 13th work of fiction. Cult is book 3 in the Feisty Lawyers Series, stories about lawyers turned covert agents devoted to social justice. In her spare time, Hosmanek Kaiser ghostwrites books, articles and blogs for lawyers and other professionals.
1984 John J. Ammann was named a recipient of the St. Louis Bar Foundation’s 2018 Spirit of Justice Award.
1986 Hon. Gloria Clark Reno was elected to lead the St. Louis County Circuit Court, making her the first African-American presiding judge in the 21st Judicial Circuit’s 203-year history. She has been on the court since 2002 and was elevated to circuit judge in 2009. Tim Wynes was appointed president of Black Hawk College in Illinois. He has been a college president for two decades following a career in litigation and as a faculty member at the University of Missouri School of Law.
1988 James Carmody was recognized in the 2017-18 St. Louis Magazine Best Lawyers list for family law. Hon. Lindsay Hugé was elected circuit court judge of Cook County, Illinois, for the 8th Judicial Subcircuit. Julie (Emmerich) O’Keefe was recognized in the 2017-18 St. Louis Magazine Best Lawyers list for environmental law.
1990 Paul Klug was recognized in the 2017-18 St. Louis Magazine Best Lawyers list for corporate law.
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Hon. Barry Julian, one of the founding partners of Gori Julian and Associates, P.C., was appointed an associate judge of the Third Judicial Court in Madison County, Illinois.
1996 Susan (Oberdick) Myers, general counsel of the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District, received a St. Louis Business Journal 2018 Corporate Counsel Award. Pete Salsich III joined Capes Sokol as of counsel. He is a member of the Intellectual Property Practice Group and chair of the newly formed Entertainment and Media Practice Group. Salsich previously served as general counsel for television and commercial production company Coolfire Studios, LLC. He has represented comic book authors and publishers, tattoo artists, toy companies, musicians and artists in a variety of cases, most notably representing Mike Tyson’s former tattoo artist in a copyright infringement case involving the movie “The Hangover 2.” Ian Stewart, a Los Angelesbased partner at national law firm Wilson Elser, was recognized as one of JD Supra’s top authors with a 2019 Reader’s Choice Award in the Product Liability category. His article “Cannabis Consumer Class Actions are Being Filed” was honored as one of the “Top-Read Articles” under the product liability and class action topics. Stewart is co-chair of the firm’s national Cannabis Law practice.
Mark Stallion, head of the patent and intellectual property practice at Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, established a Greensfelder office at the Cortex Innovation Community in 2018, to promote business collaboration with the growing startup community in St. Louis.
1998 Randy Gori was honored with the Saint Louis University Silver Crown Award in acknowledgement of outstanding generosity by his firm’s founding partners. The firm, Gori Julian & Associates, P.C., was admitted into the DuBourg Society, which recognizes the University’s past and present major contributors, for donations exceeding more than $1 million over the course of many years. Jarrod Henshaw joined Prime Therapeutics as senior vice president, chief supply chain and industry relations officer. In this role, he will set the vision and provide strategic oversight for trade relations with pharmaceutical manufacturers, network management, pharmacy audit, and fraud, waste and abuse. Henshaw previously held leadership positions at Healogics, a provider of health care services and technology solutions to hospitals and post-acute care facilities, and Express Scripts (now Cigna). Adina Johnson of Roberts Perryman, P.C. was recognized with a Missouri Lawyers Weekly 2019 Influential Appellate Advocate Award. Gregory M. Kratofil, Jr., shareholder at Polsinelli, was among five honorees chosen as a recipient of the 2019 Missouri Lawyers Weekly Influential Lawyers Award. He was recognized for his ongoing support of the tech industry and his advocacy efforts resulting in the passage of a new state law boosting education requirements in STEM fields. Kratofil also was named to the Techweek 100 list by Techweek Kansas City, a “who’s who” of leaders advancing technology innovation in the metro area. James Shay, who formerly worked as an attorney for financial firms in legal, compliance and risk management capacities, published his first suspense novel, Outside of Normal, in October 2018.
1999
2004
Jessica Liss was recognized in the 2017-18 St. Louis Magazine Best Lawyers list for employment lawmanagement and litigation-labor and employment.
Nancy M. Hawes, shareholder at Polsinelli, was an inaugural recipient of a 2018 Missouri Lawyers Media Top Legal Innovation Award (Emerging Practice Areas category). She was recognized for her role in helping launch Polsinelli’s newest practice, the Opportunity Zones Practice Group, in response to a new program created by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
Donna J. Ruzicka, shareholder at Polsinelli, was named to BTI Consulting Group’s 2019 Client Service All-Stars list. The honor is evaluated through superior client focus, client experience, legal skills, business understanding and innovative thought-leadership. Ruzicka was recognized for her work as shareholder in the firm’s Health Care Alignment and Organizations Practice in St. Louis.
2000 Kristen A. Baracy joined Tucker Ellis LLP in Los Angeles as of counsel. Her experience includes representing both privately held and public companies where she has worked on public and private offerings of securities, compliance with rules and regulations enforced by the Securities and Exchange Commission, mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate matters. Andrew Douglass joined the Chicago office of law firm Reed Smith as partner with the Global Corporate Group. He focuses his practice on all aspects of benefits and executive compensation issues, assisting public and private companies nationwide and abroad. Eric Schmitt was sworn in as Missouri’s attorney general in January 2019. He previously served two terms in the state Senate and was a partner at Lathrop Gage LLP until becoming state treasurer in 2017.
2001 Amy Blaisdell was recognized in the 2017-18 St. Louis Magazine Best Lawyers list for employment lawmanagement and litigation-labor and employment. Bridget G. Hoy, member of Lewis Rice LLC, was elected to the firm’s Management Committee. Christopher Pickett was an inaugural recipient of Missouri Lawyers Weekly’s 2018 Diversity and Inclusion Award. Jennifer Piper was recognized in the 2017-18 St. Louis Magazine Best Lawyers list for family law.
2003 Jeffrey Bash was recognized in the 2017-18 St. Louis Magazine Best Lawyers list for mass tort litigation/class actions-defendants. Matthew Blevins was named COO of Flowers Hospital in Dothan, Alabama.
John Mahon was recognized in the 2017-18 St. Louis Magazine Best Lawyers list for insurance law, personal injury litigation-defendants, and product liability litigation-defendants. Dorothy “Dottie” (Cooke) Silverman opened Dottie’s Flour Shop in Ladue as co-owner, specializing in pies and more. Dan Wright was sworn in as the new Sangamon County, Illinois, state’s attorney in October 2018. He previously served as first assistant state’s attorney since 2017. Edward W. Zeidler II, principal at Brown & James, was named a 2018 Law Firm Leader by Missouri Lawyers Media as part of its Up & Coming honors.
2005
Daniel Finney III was recognized in the 2017-18 St. Louis Magazine Best Lawyers list for personal injury litigation-plaintiffs.
Amanda Goldsmith was appointed to serve as vice-chair for the Illinois State Bar Association Standing Committee on Legal Education Admission & Competence for 2019-20. Kilby MacFadden was selected to serve on the board of directors for the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois. She also began a new position as assistant chief of the Fraud Section in the Department of Justice. Amy Willoughby Bryant, director of the Office of Conservatorship Management for Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, was selected for the Nashville Business Journal’s “40 Under 40 List” for 2019. Her office helps encourage the responsible and ethical management and treatment of individuals under a guardianship or conservatorship by conducting financial audits and home visits and providing resources. Additionally, she is the immediate past president of the Napier-Looby Bar Association, which is dedicated to the advancement and development of African-American attorneys as well as other attorneys and individuals interested in issues affecting the African-American community.
2008 Cole Combs received a 2018 “For the Common Good” Award from Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, which recognizes the dedication of individuals, organizations and community leaders who partner with Legal Services to benefit the region.
Nicole Furrer authored her first book, A Woman’s Guide to Cannabis: Using Marijuana to Feel Better, Look Better, Sleep Better - and Get High Like a Lady. James Heffner, a principal with Danna McKitrick, P.C., was recognized as a 2019 “Top 100 St. Louisans to Know to Succeed in Business” by the St. Louis Small Business Monthly. Honorees were selected by a group of community leaders based on their contributions to area businesses and the overall business community. In 2018 he was also selected to serve as a member of the Missouri Venture Forum Board of Directors. Heffner concentrates his practice on banking and finance, corporate and real estate law as a member of the firm’s transactional team.
2006 Stephanie Harris, CEO and principal of Arrow Senior Living, based in St. Charles, Mo., was recognized as a Woman of Distinction by McKnight’s Long-Term Care News and McKnight’s Senior Living. Harris was one of only 19 women recognized in the inaugural recognition program and the only recipient from Missouri.
2007 Anne-Marie Brockland, partner at Casey, Devoti & Brockland, joined the adjunct faculty at SLU LAW, where she co-teaches Competition Based Advocacy.
Christopher T. Layloff of Gori Julian & Associates, P.C. was named an Illinois Emerging Lawyer by Law Bulletin Media.
Grant Mabie was elected mayor of Crestwood, Mo., in November 2018. Sara Salger, partner at Gori Julian & Associates, P.C., was named an Illinois Emerging Lawyer by Law Bulletin Media. Jonathan R. Todd was elected partner at Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff, LLP in the Cleveland office, in the Transportation and Logistics Practice Group. Jonathan advises clients on transportation, logistics, warehousing, import compliance, export controls and economic sanctions, and related supply chain management issues.
2009 Andrew T. Bell of Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP was honored with the Jury Verdict Reporter’s 2018 Trial Lawyer Excellence Award. Bell focuses his practice on defending medical litigation claims filed against physicians, mid-levels, nurses, hospitals and other health care groups and institutions. VOLUME 20 ISSUE 1
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CLASS NOTES Amanda Colvin was elected partner at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP. She focuses her practice in the areas of labor and employment law and class action defense and is experienced in all stages of litigation. William Halaz III was promoted to senior lead litigator at Cordell & Cordell, an international domestic litigation firm that focuses on men’s divorce. Matthew E. Orso was elected partner of McGuireWoods LLP, based in the firm’s Charlotte, North Carolina office. He represents corporate and individual clients across industries in internal investigations and enforcement actions brought by the Department of Justice, federal banking regulators and other government agencies. Andrew Pellino joined the Louisville office of DBL Law as partner in the firm’s civil litigation practice group. His practice focuses on the areas of complex litigation, including class actions, mass torts and the defense of a diverse field of professionals in all areas of malpractice, professional negligence and professional misconduct. Brian J. Sabin, Cabes Sokol shareholder, was recognized as a “2019 Top Business Lawyer” by St. Louis Small Business Monthly. This award is given to attorneys who “play an active and necessary role in many facets of their clients’ businesses.” Sabin also was elected to the board of directors of HavenHouse St. Louis, a hospital hospitality house that supports patients and their families traveling more than 25 miles to receive medical care. Sabin counsels individuals, for-profit businesses and nonprofit organizations on all types of legal matters, including real estate and banking/ finance.
real estate matters involving federal, state and local tax credits and incentives. Kathleen Kenney was elected shareholder at Polsinelli. Kenney specializes in data privacy and cybersecurity matters, and she focuses her practice on the health care industry, regularly representing hospitals and health systems, life science companies, medical product manufacturers, pharmacies, startup technology companies and IT vendors, among others. Ashley Rothe was elected partner at Husch Blackwell LLP. She represents clients in complex litigation in state and federal courts and arbitrations across the country and has experience with all stages of commercial and health care litigation. Michael P. Sever was named a partner of the Foran Glennon firm in Chicago. He spends most of his time as national litigation counsel for the world’s largest classic and collector car auction, representing his client in dispute resolution, commercial litigation and trademark matters. Sever also represents architects, design professionals and insurance carriers in the construction arena, defending against professional liability, design negligence and personal injury claims.
2011 Hayley B. Collins of GoransonBain Ausley became board-certified in family law. Collins’ practice encompasses the broad range of family law, including contested custody and complex property cases. Scott R. Hunsaker was promoted to counsel at Tucker Ellis LLP. Hunsaker focuses on complex civil litigation matters, including product liability, premises liability, and toxic and mass tort, as well as corporate motor vehicle accidents.
2010 Emily Cantwell was promoted to partner at Lathrop Gage LLP. Cantwell focuses her practice in the areas of commercial, banking and real estate litigation, loan enforcement, employment, title disputes and mechanic’s liens. Brittany Falkowski was elected partner at Husch Blackwell LLP. She focuses on labor and employment law, splitting her practice between counseling employers and litigating in state and federal courts across the country. William Hoffman was elected shareholder at Polsinelli. He focuses on providing guidance on regulatory issues, such as licensure and accreditation, Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement and compliance with Stark Law and the Anti-Kickback Statute to his clients. Alice Jennett was promoted to partner at Lathrop Gage LLP. Jennett works with equity investors, tax credit allocatees, lenders and developers in a variety of
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Miles Janssen joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia as an Assistant United States Attorney. Mark Pratzel was elected to partnership at Husch Blackwell LLP. He concentrates his practice on toxic tort matters and product failure investigations. He also represents a variety of corporate clients in a broad range of litigation matters involving contracts, regulatory issues and product literature.
2012 Shannon Norman of Shannon Norman Law, LLC was recognized with a Missouri Lawyers Weekly 2019 Legal Champion Award. Hon. Jerel Poor was elected circuit court judge in Missouri’s24th Circuit, which includes St. Francois, Ste. Genevieve, Washington and Madison counties.
John Torbitzky, partner at Behr, McCarter & Potter, P.C., was named a 2018 Up & Coming honoree by Missouri Lawyers Media.
2013 Alex Antal, policy advisor and legal counsel at the Missouri Public Service Commission, was named to Midwest Energy News’ 2018 “40 Under 40” list, which highlights emerging leaders throughout the region and their work in America’s transition to a clean energy economy.
2014 Lee Camp, attorney at ArchCity Defenders, was recognized with a Missouri Lawyers Weekly 2019 Legal Champion Award. Michael Morton joined the Nevada Gaming Control Board as senior research specialist. Jeff Wehmer, associate at Sanberg Phoenix & von Gontard P.C., was named to the St. Louis Business Journal’s 2018 30 Under 30 class. Brandon M. Wise, of counsel at Peiffer Wolf Carr & Kane, was appointed to the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee in the multi-district litigation case In Re: FedLoan Student Loan Servicing Litigation, which alleges mismanagement on the part of one of the country’s largest student loan servicers and is pending in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
2015 Nino Przulj, associate at Thompson Coburn, was named to the St. Louis Business Journal’s 2018 30 Under 30 class.
2016 Shelby Hewerdine, project management office coordinator for Concordance Academy of Leadership, was named to the St. Louis Business Journal’s 2018 30 Under 30 class. Lauren Rodriguez joined Hall, Render, Killian, Heath & Lyman, P.C. in the firm’s Indianapolis office. She focuses her practice on litigation.
2017 Kerstine Kerner joined Lathrop Gage LLP as a wealth strategies associate in the firm’s St. Louis office. Patrick R. McPhail, an attorney at the Simon Law Firm, delivered a jury verdict of $5.1 million for a client as a first-chair attorney for the first time. The case was profiled by Missouri Lawyers Weekly.
Enrique R. Miranda joined the Tampa office of Carlton Fields, P.A. as an associate in the firm’s health care practice. He has experience drafting and negotiating business associate agreements, physician employment agreements and other commercial and corporate documents, as well as in ensuring regulatory compliance with Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, Stark Law, anti-kickback, and HIPAA and HITECH in health care mergers and acquisitions and other matters.
2018 Andrew Bauman won the 35th annual Smith-BabcockWilliams Student Writing Competition, put on by the Planning & Law Division of the American Planning Association. His paper addressed the legal side of formbased zoning codes and will be published in The Urban Lawyer, the law journal of the ABA’s Section of State & Local Government Law.
Stephanie A. Bogue joined Gilmore & Bell, P.C., as an associate attorney in the St. Louis office.
Matthew S. Nelke joined Gori Julian & Associates, P.C. as an attorney in the Edwardsville, Illinois office. He focuses his practice on asbestos litigation.
2018 Tess (Hejna) Cobb (A&S ’15) married Andrew Cobb (PH ’15) in September 2018. The couple met at SLU’s freshman orientation in 2011. They now live in Virginia and work in Washington, D.C. Danielle M. Durban, Capes Sokol associate, was elected to the board of directors of the Fox Performing Arts Charitable Foundation, a nonprofit that supports performing arts programs for the region’s youth. Durban focuses her practice on entity formation and structuring, business disputes, commercial transactions, copyrights and trademarks, and is involved in the start-up and entrepreneur community. Kwamane Liddell, administrative fellow at Dignity Health, was named the recipient of the Health Management and Policy Alumni Award for Mentorship by SLU’s Department of Health Management & Policy.
Melissa G. Powers joined Lewis Rice LLC as an associate in the Corporate Department practicing general business and transactional law. She has experience helping companies mitigate the risk involved with collecting and sharing personal data and advises on compliance and best practices for data management and incident preparedness. Natalie Roberts joined the Transactional Commercial Practice Group as an associate at Goldenberg Heller & Antognoli, P.C. Joshua S. Rose joined the litigation team as an associate at Danna McKitrick, P.C. He focuses his practice on matters relating to business, civil, fiduciary, and commercial litigation.
IN MEMORIAM mr. james amelung
mr. edward alewelt
mr. jon allard, jr.
mr. theodore hoffman
mr. michael w. mulford
mr. thomas mcdonnell
mr. edward cody
mr. james t. barry, jr.
mr. russell “rusty” warren
mr. joseph nitka
mrs. claiborne p. handleman
ms. carla (leeds) fletcher
mr. donald clooney
mr. charles r. douglas
mr. stephen m. henderson
mr. leo macdonald, sr.
mr. john-paul de bernardo
mr. john rabbitt
hon. robert j. curran
mr. robert “lem” lenze
ms. kimberly (mcdermott) wulkopf
mr. glen murphy
mr. stephen bryan clark
mr. francis “frank” spreng
mr. thomas buehler
ms. theresa brennan
ms. elizabeth “liz” dahl macgregor
hon. arthur g. henken
ms. patricia j. kampsen
mr. michael kleinman
mr. john scott beulick
1953 1953
1956 1956 1957
1960 1962 1962 1966 1966 1966
1968 1968 1970 1974
1976
1979 1981
1983 1985
1990 1990 1991
1994 1996
2000 2001
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VOLUME 20 ISSUE 1
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IN MEMORIAM
Eileen Haughey Searls 1925-2019
L
aw professor emerita Eileen Haughey Searls, director of the Omer Poos Law Library for 48 years, died Jan. 6, 2019, at the age of 94.
Prof. Searls is credited as the person who built the law library and paved the way for women in legal education, becoming the first woman promoted to full professor in 1964 and the first to receive tenure at SLU LAW. Born in 1925, Eileen Haughey Searls received her B.A. from the University of Wisconsin in 1948 and her J.D. from the University of Wisconsin College of Law in 1950. She obtained her M.S.L.S. from the University of Wisconsin School of Library and Information Studies in 1951 and joined the Saint Louis University law library faculty in 1952, where she remained until her retirement in 2000, at which time she was named professor emerita. Searls, described as a “globe-trotting, adventurous bibliophile,” joined the law library in 1952 after the school had reopened following World War II. Her contribution to SLU was chronicled in the bicentennial book Always at the Frontier: Saint Louis University 1818-2018. Excerpt: “Searls was a visionary regarding technology, networking, and the usage of space. She advised architects, secured the library status as a federal depository site, and was the sole reason SLU was among the first 10 users of WestLaw and Lexis/ Nexis in the United States. She was especially committed to interlibrary cooperation. Working on a tight budget, Searls built an impressive collection including numerous titles in international law, supporting specialized centers, the Jewish Law Center, the Smurfit Irish Law Center, and the 40
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Polish Law Collection. … She was a ‘trailblazer’ in every sense of the word.”
Prof. Searls also was an active mentor for young women attending law school. In the 1970s when there were still few women attending SLU LAW, Searls was known for hosting an annual dinner at her home for all the women students, as well as for her active role in the Women’s Law Student Association. She also made it a priority to mentor younger faculty members. “Eileen actually gave me tutoring sessions,” said professor emerita Sandra H. Johnson, former interim dean of the School of Law and former SLU provost. “She would come in my office and sit there for an hour and talk about what it meant to be a SLU LAW faculty member, what it meant to be a part of this community. It was like being part of Cardinal Nation talking to Eileen.” Upon Searls’ retirement in 2000, several faculty members and administrators penned tributes to her and her impact in the Saint Louis University Law Journal, volume 44, issue 3. Then-dean and professor of law Jeffrey E. Lewis wrote: “Today, as in 1952, Eileen’s library is more about the people at Saint Louis University School of Law than it is about books and computers. Her former assistants manage their own law libraries throughout the country. Her former student workers include deans, judges, community leaders, and practicing lawyers. The common link is that of Eileen’s guidance and direction, as well as her love of knowledge through books. … The name of ‘Eileen Searls’ is synonymous with ‘Saint Louis University School of Law Library.’ Her span of
forty-eight years of leadership and dedication will remain with us indefinitely.”
Prof. Searls shaped law libraries across the country as a co-founder of the Law Library Microform Consortium and Mid-America Law School Library Consortium. She was also the founding chair of the Council of Law Library Consortium; a chairman of the Conference of Law Libraries of the ASCU; and served as a member of the American Library Association, the American Association of Law Libraries, and the British and Irish Association of Law Librarians. In 1995, Searls established the McDonough/ Immel Law Library Endowment, which provides funds for library staff for courses or educational programs related to information access or other topics to support the educational mission of the law school. As a professor emerita, Searls continued giving back. In 2010, she established the Eileen Searls Book Award to support law school staff members continuing their education by contributing toward their book purchases, and established a separate award for law library student workers the following year. In 1987, the Women’s Commission of Saint Louis University named Searls Woman of the Year. In 1999 she was awarded the prestigious Marian Gould Gallagher Distinguished Service Award from the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) and was inducted into its Hall of Fame in 2010. In 2015, Searls was inducted into the inaugural class of the SLU LAW Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame, the school’s highest honor. SLB
CK A B G N I V I G FOCUS ON The Office of Development and Alumni Relations highlights why alumni give to the School of Law and the different avenues available to support future legal education at Saint Louis University. In this installment, we take a look at a loyal donor who strives to pass on the SLU LAW legacy to the next generation of students.
The John J. Ammann (’84) Scholarship fund is a need-based scholarship that provides scholarship benefits to students enrolled at the School of Law who intend to pursue a career of public interest. To learn more about how you can continue the legacy and support the next generation of SLU LAW attorneys, contact: Michael Ruiz, director of development, 314-977-2818, michael.ruiz@slu.edu, or visit slu.edu/law/alumni/support-slu-law.
ERIKA KNAPSTEIN (’00) CLAIMS COUNSEL, TITLE RESOURCES, DALLAS, TEXAS WHY DO YOU GIVE TO SLU LAW?
My husband Kris and I give to SLU LAW with the hope that those entering the legal profession will continue the Jesuit objective of being men and women for others. I do not think I could have had a better mentor, or have witnessed a better example of that in a person, than Professor John Ammann. It is hard to forget the first time I was scheduled to appear in court for a client of the Legal Clinic. The clinic represented a woman living in a shelter who was trying to get a new job. The hearing was intended to have a warrant recalled, and the judge wasn’t particularly pleasant. Sensing my fear, Prof. Ammann volunteered to speak to the judge when the matter was called – and received a scolding because the woman had failed to appear at several prior hearings. The simple task we were trying to achieve that day was to help someone who wanted to help herself to find a new job. Leaving the courthouse, I shared with Prof. Ammann that if I had been the one to receive the scolding I probably would not have set foot in a courtroom again. Prof. Ammann reminded me of the goal that day and pointed out that the good deed was more important than an ego.
WHY DO YOU SUPPORT THE LEGAL CLINICS / THE JOHN J. AMMANN (’84) SCHOLARSHIP FUND? The St. Louis legal community will forever be impacted by the knowledge, kindness and advocacy of Prof. Ammann. With his retirement, it will need another champion for our veterans, homeless and underprivileged. I know many would agree that no one will ever equal Prof. Ammann, but I’d like to see today's students try. Several years after graduating I had the opportunity to work for the Legal Clinic, with Marie Kenyon and serving as an attorney for Catholic Legal Assistance Ministry (CLAM). I witnessed the impact that the clinic and CLAM had on individuals, families and the community.
WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE MEMORIES OF YOUR TIME IN LAW SCHOOL?
One of my favorite memories from law school is a Saturday in November when I volunteered at the annual Veterans Stand Down. Sitting at the table as a 26-year-old while talking with veterans, I started to recognize the knowledge I gained from law school. Realizing that the person sitting across from you was looking to you for guidance was a humbling experience.
WHAT ARE YOUR HOPES FOR TODAY'S LAW STUDENTS?
Each and every person entering law school is looking to make an impact. It may be to pursue a career in politics, to benefit their family or to be an advocate for their community. I hope that today’s law students focus on their vision, have the support of the law school and find their own mentor.
WHY WOULD YOU ENCOURAGE OTHER ALUMNI TO SUPPORT SLU LAW OR GIVE BACK IN THEIR OWN WAYS?
Everyone pursuing their law degree has benefitted from the generosity and knowledge of our alumni. In the spirit of the Jesuit tradition, and being a man or woman for others, I hope that other alumni will honor Prof. Ammann for his grace, wisdom and inspiration. SLB
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