The
Public Service Issue
ALUMNI FEATURE Andrés J. Gallegos (’93)
FACULTY VIEW Joel K. Goldstein
FOCUS ON GIVING BACK Grant Boyd (’14)
ON THE COVER The Public Service Issue featuring alumni at all levels in government public service
Photo by Colin Dewar via Shutterstock
DEAN
WILLIAM P. JOHNSON
DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS JESSICA CICCONE
EDITOR
MARIA TSIKAL AS
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
ADAM WESTRICH
PHOTOGRAPHY
HARRY BOSTON ADAM WESTRICH
SPECIAL THANKS
RAUMESH AKBARI (’09) GRANT BOYD (’14) FRANCISCO “QUICO” R. CANSECO (’75) MIRIAM CHERRY L AUREN CHOATE JACK COATAR (’12) ANDRÉS J. GALLEGOS (’93) JOEL K. GOLDSTEIN FALETHIA HAWTHORNE RACHEL JAG (’17) SANDRA JOHNSON MICHAEL KOLNIK (’94) GRANT MABIE (’08) SUSAN W. MCGRAUGH MARY PAT MCINNIS (’87) MICHAEL RUIZ ANY SANDERS (’03) JENNY SCHMIDT (’09)
VOLUME 21 ISSUE 2 COPYRIGHT ©2021 SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSIT Y SCHOOL OF L AW. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS SCOTT HALL SUITE 872 100 N. TUCKER BLVD. ST. LOUIS, MO 63101-1930
EMAIL: BRIEF@L AW.SLU.EDU The paper used in this magazine was produced from timber sourced from responsibly managed forests.
Message from the Dean
A
s SLU LAW alumni know, a hallmark of a Jesuit education is a call to service. Each of us is called to be a person of service for and with others, and as members of the legal profession, to do so in pursuit of justice. There are countless ways to answer that call, in private practice, in the nonprofit sector, in the judiciary, and even outside the practice of law altogether. Some answer that call by becoming leaders in government. As we look back on the first year of a pandemic that has changed the world as we know it, and on an election year that tested our democratic institutions and the rule of law, this issue of The Brief shines a spotlight on some of these distinguished public servants and the differences they have made. The journey to government public service takes many forms. Some grow up knowing it’s what they want to do, while others almost stumble into it, finding themselves frustrated with watching from the sidelines. In the case of one alumnus, it was experiencing a life-altering car accident that inspired him to pursue his life of public service.
in addition to their “day jobs” as practicing lawyers, balancing clients, constituents, and family life, all at the same time. And all of them carry their SLU LAW education with them. They share how this service-oriented training has helped them in their day-to-day roles to consider all perspectives, stand up for the vulnerable and the marginalized, and consider voices missing from the conversation. As one alumnus noted, “The Jesuit ideal sort of goes into your bloodstream and becomes part of you and how you think and how you carry out your duties to your family and to your community.” This certainly is the type of public servant we need now more than ever. Whether they’re Democrats, Republicans, or independents, I am utterly confident that the more Jesuit-educated lawyers in government, the better. I am pleased to be able to showcase some of the ways, big and small, that these alumni are serving their communities and their country every day.
From a councilwoman of Maplewood, Missouri, to a former member of U.S. Congress representing a quarter of the state of Texas, SLU LAW alumni in public office – Republicans and Democrats alike – are driven by a deep desire to make their communities a little better than they were when they found them.
As always, thank you for your steadfast commitment to and support for SLU LAW. Please enjoy this issue.
Almost all of them heed the call to public service and assume civic responsibilities
William P. Johnson Dean and Professor
Sincerely,
16 FEATURES Alumni Feature
12
Putting Purpose into Practice Andrés J. Gallegos (’93) saw his career take an unexpected turn a few years after law school. Today he is the chairman of the National Council on Disability.
16
Cover Story
22
Faculty View
26 29
SLU LAW Attorneys in Government Alumni serving in all levels of government discuss their paths to public service and insights about the experience.
Joel K. Goldstein: The No. 1 Expert on the Second-in-Command Widely regarded as the nation’s foremost expert on the vice presidency, the Vincent C. Immel Professor of Law Emeritus reflects on a career in which the media come calling every four years.
Faculty Scholarship
Donor Honor Roll
12 DEPARTMENTS
2 4 31 35 37
For The Record
In Brief
Class Notes
In Memoriam
Focus on Giving Back
FOR THE RECORD “Health law is a place where the law, politics and culture meet a fundamental human need. The law is changing, policy is changing. It is moving in the direction of recognizing that individual providers owe something back to populations.” PROF. ROB GATTER
on the future of health law, speaking in a video for the American Health Law Association campaign, Health Law Disruption: 2030 and Beyond
“What’s often missing from discussions about privacy is that privacy has never been distributed equally. Black and brown people are always more likely to be watched, stopped and frisked. So one reason why I’m excited thinking about future technology where people of color have more input and more say and are calling the shots is I’m really imagining technologies that make privacy more equal.” BENNETT CAPERS
Professor of law and director of the Center on Race, Law & Justice at Fordham University School of Law, speaking as a panelist during the Childress Lecture, “Tradeoffs: Technology, Privacy, and the Law” on Oct. 2, 2020
‘FOR THE
RECORD’
“We educate ourselves, we get educated so we can help those in the community. It has been amazing to me to watch the clinical programs grow. If you had told us in ’78 that we were going to have an entrepreneurial clinic, first of all we would have said, ‘What does entrepreneurial mean?’ But what a great way to serve the community.” KEVIN CURRAN (’78)
Assistant Federal Public Defender for the Eastern District of Missouri, speaking as moderator in the webinar “Law in the Time of Pandemic: Social Justice Issues” on Sept. 15, 2020 2
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“In the 230-year history of our Constitution, America has failed only once to peacefully transfer presidential power. Irrespective of the outcome and the disappointment that millions may inevitably have, all Americans must make certain, absolutely certain that the peaceful transfers of this election, whether in city hall or the White House, are carried out smoothly and as a shining beacon for all to admire.” PROF. GREGORY WILLARD
speaking in the SLU LAW Summations “Election Special” podcast episode, which was published on October 27, 2020
“During the pandemic, voting by mail should be widely available to ensure access and to ensure safety. For many voters with disabilities, voting by mail has always been the safest and most accessible way to cast a ballot.” PROF. ELIZABETH PENDO
the Joseph J. Simeone Professor of Law, speaking in the SLU LAW Summations “Election Special” podcast episode, which was published on October 27, 2020
“A unified country only benefits us
in foreign policy. So anything that the new administration can do to get us to pull together will only help us in foreign policy, and we need it because we are facing two monumental challenges.”
PROF. MONICA EPPINGER
speaking in the SLU LAW Summations “Election Special” podcast episode, which was published on October 27, 2020
“Many people don't realize that the U.S. has by some measures the weakest union movement of any of the 32 OEDC countries. As a result of the weakness of unions and of worker voice in general in the U.S., I wrote in my book that the U.S. suffers from a phenomenon I call ‘America’s anti-worker exceptionalism.’ The U.S. is the only industrial nation that doesn’t guarantee all workers paid parental leave. We’re one of just three countries in the world that don’t guarantee paid maternity leave.” STEVEN GREENHOUSE
American labor and workplace journalist and writer, in his keynote address for the Wefel Center for Employment Law and Law Journal Symposium on Sept. 18, 2020
“If you read some of her
opinions, you don’t have to be a legal scholar to find that her opinions are relatable and feel like she really understood the impact for real people.” JAMILLE FIELDS ALLSBROOK (’13)
Director of women's health and rights at the Center for American Progress, speaking as a panelist about Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the webinar “The Legacy of RBG” on Sept. 25, 2020
“The pre-pandemic playbooks we have in our hospitals could not have anticipated the economic or public health challenges that this virus has created … COVID-19 has strained an already weakened health care system, and gaps are expanding in the frayed public health safety net. Increased unemployment has increased the number of uninsured patients, and many hospitals with already thin margins are operating at significant losses. State and local officials are fighting an invisible enemy with their limited arsenal of policing powers to protect the health, safety and welfare its citizenry.” BRENT IBATA (’07)
System Director for Accreditation and Quality Assurance at Lee Health, speaking as moderator in the webinar “Law in the Time of Pandemic: Health Law and Policy” on Sept. 8, 2020
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IN BRIEF NEWS & NOTES Updates to Message from Dean Johnson on Racial Injustice
In June of 2020, following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Dean William Johnson addressed a letter to the SLU LAW community: students, alumni, faculty and staff. In it, he pledged concrete actions to create a more inclusive and diverse community. While the list of actions is not yet complete, steps have been taken to further the goals. First, in February of 2021, the faculty and Dean Johnson approved a five-point faculty diversity hiring plan (view at slu.edu/law/news).
Consortium, offers policy recommendations on 35 topics, from pandemic preparedness and health care to conducting sound elections and adapting immigration policy. The report presents a timely examination of policy challenges and opportunities in light of the pandemic.
Additionally, the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, together with the Office of Admissions, has worked to enhance the diversity pipeline program. This summer they are hosting the Accessing the Legal Profession Mini Camp. The camp had nearly 200 registrants. And finally, with assistance from the Office of Development and support from generous alumni, the law school has created three scholarships that support diversity and equity in the student body. Find the full list of items in action in Dean Johnson’s letter: slu.edu/law/about/dean-johnson-message-june-2020.php.
Kathryn Banks joins SLU LAW having previously served as the director of the Children’s Rights Clinic at Washington University School of Law. Learn more about her on page 9. Afonso Seixas Nunes, S.J., Ph.D., last served as a visiting fellow of the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict (ELAC). He specializes in the use of force in international law and the challenges of new technologies of warfare. Michael Duff is a visiting professor from University of Wyoming College of Law and is widely considered a national expert on workers’ compensation law and on the National Labor Relations Act.
Ruqaiijah Yearby Leads New University Institute for Healing Justice and Equity
SLU’s Institute for Healing Justice and Equity officially launched this past fall, co-founded by Professor Ruqaiijah Yearby together with Amber Johnson, Ph.D., associate professor of communication; Kira Banks, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology; and Keon Gilbert, DrPH, associate professor of behavioral science and health education. The Institute aims to help eliminate disparities caused by systemic oppression and to promote healing. Yearby serves as its executive director. The Institute begins its groundbreaking work in St. Louis with a founding investment by SLU of more than $1.7 million. Ana Santos Rutschman Appointed to Biden Advisory Committee
During the 2020 presidential campaign, Professor Ana Santos Rutschman was named to then Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s COVID-19 Innovation Committee. An expert in vaccine law and policy, Rutschman was assigned to the COVID-19 Response Subcommittee. Three Professors Contribute to Pandemic Policymaking Report
Professors Elizabeth Pendo, Sidney D. Watson and Ruqaiijah Yearby were among the 50 national experts convened to assess the U.S. policy response to the crisis to date in a new report designed to advise leaders at the federal, state and local levels. This report, produced by Public Health Law Watch, an initiative of the George 4
SLU LAW BRIEF
SLU LAW Adds Three Professors to Faculty for Fall 2021
Law Library Sponsors RIGHTS! portal with LLMC
LLMC, a nonprofit consortium of law libraries, developed the RIGHTS! web portal to address threats to civil rights and rule of law. The goal of the open-access service is to provide a centralized hub where someone can start their research in order to protect their rights or the rights of others. With the support of Dean William P. Johnson, the Vincent C. Immel Law Library committed financial assistance to sponsor the portal and its continued development. American Health Law Association Spotlights Center for Health Law Studies
Center faculty joined the AHLA campaign on Health Law Disruption: 2030 and Beyond, showcasing their approach to a collaborative health law education. In a new promotional video, they discuss how SLU’s mission and advocacy-centered framework for learning prepares health lawyers for a more collaborative future. View the video at slu.edu/law/news/2020/ahla-campaign.php. New Professor of Practice Appointments
Three accomplished attorneys joined SLU LAW as professors of practice in fall 2020, appointed by Dean William P. Johnson. Melvin D. Kennedy (’93) spent 14 years at the EOCC as a senior
IN BRIEF trial attorney and since has litigated in state and federal courts on behalf of employees who were discriminated against by employers or prospective employers. He is also an experienced mediator. The Hon. Donald G. Wilkerson (’93) is the former U.S. magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, serving from 2005 until his retirement from the bench in 2019. Abigail B. Willie who serves as a Lecturer in Commercial Law, has been the career law clerk to the Hon. Charles E. Rendlen, III, at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri since 2006 and began teaching commercial law classes for SLU LAW in 2019. Also new is Legal Clinic instructor Matt Vigil (’11), formerly an attorney with the Missouri State Public Defender’s Office, who serves as a satellite office for the Civil Advocacy Clinic at Mission: St. Louis.
EVENTS ‘Law in the Time of Pandemic’ Webinar Series Sees 600 People Tune In
Led by Professor Miriam Cherry, associate dean for research and engagement, the School of Law produced three timely webinars on different legal areas of concern during the pandemic — labor and employment, health law and policy, and social justice issues. The webinars were offered as CLE opportunities to local attorneys and together had approximately 600 people tune in. SLU LAW Professor, Alumnae Discuss Life and Legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg
The School of Law and the Wefel Center for Employment Law presented a scholarly reflection and personal insight into the life and legacy of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Sept. 25. This webinar featured Professor Marcia McCormick; the Hon. Lisa Van Amburg (‘75), former appellate judge for the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Eastern District; and Jamille Fields Allsbrook (‘13), director of women’s health and rights at the Center for American Progress. Professor Chad Flanders served as a moderator. Also included was a video reflection by Margo Schlanger of the University of Michigan Law School, who served as Justice Ginsburg’s law clerk during the 1993-95 Supreme Court terms. Joel K. Goldstein, Nation’s Foremost VP Expert, Provides Analysis Following Debate
On Oct. 8, SLU LAW hosted a Q&A event with Joel K. Goldstein, the Vincent C. Immel Professor of Law Emeritus and the nation’s foremost expert on the role of the vice presidency. Moderated by 3L Chioma Chukwu-Smith, editor-in-chief of the Saint Louis University Law Journal, the session discussed the VP candidates’ debate performances and explored their strengths and weaknesses. Wefel Center Hosts Successful Virtual Symposium on Worker Empowerment
Rescheduled from spring 2020, the William C. Wefel Center for Employment Law virtually hosted its biennial symposium,
“New Waves of Worker Empowerment: Labor and Technology in the 21st Century,” on Sept. 18, with the Law Journal. The event featured 13 panelists from around the country and keynote speaker Steven Greenhouse, author and former New York Times labor and employment reporter. CICL Explores Misinformation, Disinformation in Two Events
The Center for International and Comparative Law brought together experts from across the world to discuss problems posed by misinformation and disinformation in regards to the 2020 election on Sept. 11, and in regards to the law generally at its symposium on Feb. 12. The symposium, co-hosted with the Law Journal, featured 10 panelists and keynote speaker Meredith Berger, senior manager at Microsoft’s Defending Democracy Program. Childress Lecture Discusses Technology and Privacy Dilemmas
On Oct. 2, the Law Journal’s annual Richard J. Childress Memorial Lecture explored “Tradeoffs: Technology, Privacy and the Law.” The virtual event featured 10 panelist experts and keynote speaker Orin Kerr, professor of law at UC Berkeley School of Law who specializes in criminal procedure and computer crime law.
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT Student Organizations Host Talk on Qualified Immunity
SBA hosted “Community Conversations: Qualified Immunity,” co-sponsored by PILG and the Criminal Law Society, on Instagram Live, on June 10, 2020. The talk saw more than 100 attendees and featured Professor Chad Flanders, who discussed the history of qualified immunity for police officers and what the future holds for this policy. ACS, BLSA Host Speaker Series on Racial Injustice
This past fall, SLU LAW’s American Constitution Society (ACS) and Black Law Students Association (BLSA) hosted a five-week speaker series titled “Strengthen Your Understanding: Honest Perspectives,” covering topics related to racial injustice in St. Louis. The series featured prominent guests including human rights lawyer Derecka Purnell, Rev. Starsky Wilson, author Jamala Rogers, and other scholars and practitioners. The ACS group was recognized for its work on the series by the national ACS organization in October. National Moot Court Team Advances
Third-year law students Hannah Meehan and Kristen Spina advanced out of the New York Bar's National Moot Court Region 9 Competition in November 2020 and competed at the National Moot Court Competition in February 2021. They won their second round with perfect scores from each judge. In a separate event, 3Ls Whitney Barr and Courtney Federico won Best VOLUME 21 ISSUE 2
5
IN BRIEF Brief at the Charleston School of Law National Moot Court Competition in March 2021. Both teams were coached by Prof. Paige Canfield. Students Win National Health Law Writing Competitions
Third-year law student Megan Hart was named the first-place winner of the 2020 Epstein Becker Green Health Law Writing Competition. A $4,000 prize accompanies the honor. Hart’s paper, “Expanding Access to Breast Cancer Genetic Testing Through Incentive Regimes,” will be published in the Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law and Policy in the spring. And Nathan Gardner, who graduated in December 2020 with a dual degree in law and health administration, was named the winner of the 2020 American Bar Association (ABA) Health Law Student Writing Competition. The award includes a $500 prize and attendance at the ABA’s Emerging Issues in Healthcare conference, this year held virtually. Gardner’s paper, “Medicare’s Expanded Telemedicine Horizon,” will be considered for publication in The Health Lawyer,
the journal of the ABA Health Law section. Learn more about each of these students’ papers at slu.edu/law/news. Third-Year Law Student Named ‘Law Student of the Year’ Semifinalist
Third-year student Reid Simpson was named a semifinalist for the Law Student of the Year award by National Jurist magazine. The publication received nominations from law schools across the country and named one student of the year and six semifinalists. The students were featured in the magazine’s Spring 2021 issue. Simpson was recognized for his role, as highlighted in the last issue of The Brief magazine, in initiating a project with the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis (BAMSL) at the beginning of the pandemic to assist local frontline health care workers in creating estate plans as they worried for their safety and that of their families. What began as a Zoom informational meeting for about 20 local medical residents led to more than 75 probate attorneys volunteering pro bono services for dozens of health care workers, helping to give them and their families peace of mind. SLB
Thank You, Professor Weinberger After 34 years as a member of the SLU LAW faculty, Professor Alan M. Weinberger is retiring. Most known for teaching Real Estate Transactions, Weinberger also taught Property and ran a corporate externship clinic for several years. He’s been voted Faculty Member of the Year four times by the graduating class. He has been a visiting professor at Washington University School of Law, University of Iowa College of Law, Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the University of Osnabrück, Germany, and Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany. In addition to teaching, Weinberger served the law school and University in many volunteer capacities, most notably as a “permanent fixture” on the School of Law Admissions Committee, serving as chair or member during most of his years as a professor. “That’s a major service commitment,” said Dean of Admissions Mike Kolnik (’94). “He took that role seriously and took pride in his part in forming the next year’s class. He also taught the Summer Institute program for a number of years, which shows that access to legal education for all is very important for Alan.” Weinberger’s contributions didn’t stop once students were in the classroom, however; he also worked to create new practical opportunities for students. 6
SLU LAW BRIEF
“From an institutional perspective, that was an important thing that he did: long before it became expected, long before the ABA was even talking about it, Alan was doing it,” said Professor Emerita Sandra Johnson. “He did it because he loved the practice of law himself, and he communicates that to his students.” Weinberger also contributed to the institution by serving as associate dean for academic affairs and associate dean for faculty, in addition to being a chair or member of more than a dozen other committees over the years. He published articles frequently in the areas of partnership law and fiduciary duty and co-authored a casebook now in its third edition, Property Law, Cases, Materials and Problems, with fellow professors Johnson and Peter Salsich. “In all the projects we did together, his word was really his bond,” Johnson noted. “If he said he was going to do it, he did it, he did it on time, and he did it well. “He is an extraordinarily decent human being with a great sense of humor and a laugh that makes you want to join in with him,” she continued. “I really appreciated how hard he worked to give students opportunities in practice; he was committed and creative for his students, and he was joyful in the classroom, an excellent teacher.”
MIDYEAR COMMENCEMENT
Midyear
COMMENCEMENT DECEMBER 16, 2020
“I would like to thank my mom and dad for always being there, for always supporting me. All my wonderful friends and family that have been with me for the past three and a half years. The friends I made at law school and of course my dual-degree family. I couldn’t have done it without you.” MASHAL ALI
“I would like to thank my parents for providing not only financial but emotional support, my siblings, my extended family and friends who have joined — I have people from Texas, Kansas City, Ghana and West Africa and Qatar, who are on [Zoom], … But especially I would like to thank the Black law students that I rose up the ranks with. We really became a family.” AMA MENDS
“I'd like to thank my family — my actual family, my dual-degree family, and all my classmates — for making me feel at home in St. Louis, coming from middle-of-nowhere Louisiana.” NATHAN GARDNER
Congratulations The School of Law recognized 20 J.D. graduates and one LL.M. graduate during a virtual Zoom celebration on December 16, 2020. Eight were dual-degree students who also earned a graduate degree in a health discipline. Prof. Ann Scarlett, associate dean for academic affairs, gave congratulatory remarks, and each of the graduating students gave brief speeches thanking those who had supported them throughout law school. Dean of Students Jon Baris and Assistant Dean Shannon Morse then led all the attendees in a toast to the graduates.
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SOCIAL SCENE: INSTAGRAM & TWITTER slulaw “Because we are participants in a flawed system, every member of the legal profession now has a choice to make: to be an intentional architect of a more just society, or to allow, through our inaction, racial injustice to endure. In my view, as members of a Jesuit law school community, it’s not just a choice; it’s a calling.” 230 likes
slulaw LRW looks a bit different this year, but we do love our Professor Rollins! Thank you, SLU LAW faculty, for making these adjustments, and students for being so flexible during this time.
252 likes
slulaw Some much needed sunshine on this rainy morning. Shoutout to the greatest crew around! Rita, Arnetta, Sha and James are missing seeing many of you in person (Orilla is on a well deserved break), and they send their love.
270 likes
slulaw The SLU LAW community came together Nov. 19-20 to give holiday meals to students in lieu of the annual Friendsgiving event. Thank you to all who participated, to our friends Chris’ @ the Docket for preparing the meals, and to the entire student body for your strength and resiliency during this difficult year! likeslikes 80 202 SLU LAW
slulaw Health law student and nurse Charles Roy was one of the first in the nation to receive a COVID-19 vaccine yesterday. Learn more about Charles’ experience caring for COVID-19 patients while simultaneously juggling law school — link in bio, or visit slu.edu/law/news.
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@Dean_WPJohnson · Jul 8, 2020 Another very thoughtful analysis by @SLULAW student (and Marine Corps vet) @PeterLucier. Gosh, I’m proud of our students. Peter Lucier: McCloskeys’ lack of weapons discipline underscores a gun-rights problem, via @stltoday @MissionStLouis · Jul 23, 2020 Mission: St. Louis is excited to announce a new partnership with @SLULAW Legal Clinics to provide legal services to our clients. @SLU_Official · Aug 7, 2020 Saint Louis University has been ranked No. 7 in the nation for colleges excelling in community outreach. Read more: http://ow.ly/XzPr50ATWa4 @Mastermind_STL · Aug 11, 2020 Proud to be a @SLULAW alumna! Thank you @Dean_WPJohnson for lending your voice and showing that you “get it.” @SLU_HealthLaw · Aug 26, 2020 Favorite quote from Prof @a_rutschman re distribution of #covid19 vaccine: “The chessboard is the entire world and policy can’t really be as skewed as nationalism would have it.” @firstdraftnews @PennLRev · Aug 31, 2020 Alert! New Online article! Check out “Terroristic Threats and COVID-19” by @cwflander (@SLULAW), Courtney Federico, Eric Harmon, and Lucas Klein. Read it here: http://bit.ly/3hLP5qf @cspanwj · Oct 6, 2020 @SLULAW’s Joel K. Goldstein on why tomorrow’s debate between Kamala Harris & Mike Pence matters: “This will be the 11th Vice Presidential Debate. But the first time the two vice presidential candidates have debated in the shadow of a serious presidential illness.” @Greensfelder · Nov 10, 2020 Greensfelder is honored to support @SLULAW’s Black Law Students Association and to have the opportunity to share in a virtual panel discussion today among students and Greensfelder attorneys.
SLULAW
@SLULAW
SPOTLIGHT ON THE LEGAL CLINICS Legal Clinics Collaborate with Nonprofit, Form Specialized Docket with City Municipal Court for Clients
In summer 2020, the Legal Clinics formed a new relationship with Mission: St. Louis, a nonprofit focused on providing men, women and children social and economic stability by removing barriers to employment. Part of this collaboration established a new, full-time supervising attorney position, filled by alumnus Matt Vigil (’11), who works with students and serves as a satellite office of the Civil Advocacy Clinic on-site to help clients resolve legal issues that serve as barriers to employment.
Vigil and his students hit the ground running this past fall. After brainstorming with Prof. Brendan Roediger, they decided to approach the St. Louis City Municipal Court administration with the idea of forming a specialized docket for their Mission: St. Louis clients. Most of these clients were struggling with similar legal transportation challenges, such as the accumulation of fines and warrants related to driving with a suspended license or without insurance. A specialized docket would allow the court to expedite their cases and help them achieve their goal of long-term employment sooner. Third-year student Katie Eime led the effort with assistance from fellow 3L Alyssa Ransom. They argued that their clients could be considered a niche population for this type of docket through their involvement with Mission: St. Louis programming, which meant they were already actively taking steps to improve themselves and stay in compliance with the law. The Municipal Court agreed to their proposal, and the docket held its first hearing on Oct. 28. Learn more at slu.edu/law/news/2020/clinic-students-specialized-docket.php. Criminal Defense Clinic to Launch Groundbreaking New Course
SLU LAW’s Criminal Defense Clinic, directed by Prof. Sue McGraugh, is one of the only legal clinics in the country that employs a full-time forensic social worker, Lauren Choate. Choate’s expertise assists law students in understanding the mental health challenges that many of their clients face and how that background affects their interactions with the justice system. In recent years, their work has begun to encompass sentencing mitigation, through which they help clinic students advocate for reduced sentencing. Sentencing mitigation seeks to consider the holistic experiences of the client, such as childhood trauma,
educational attainment, intellectual disabilities that weren’t spotted and treated when they were younger, and mental health issues. Through this process, the clinic also seeks out community resources to ameliorate some of their clients’ mental health problems, such as setting them up with an agency that provides addiction treatment, so that they can put their best foot forward at sentencing. In the fall, McGraugh and Choate will take this legal/social work collaboration even further by launching an interdisciplinary Sentencing Mitigation course with SLU’s College for Public Health and Social Justice. The course will be co-taught with Lee Lawless, head federal public defender for the Eastern District of Missouri, and will comprise both law and social work students who will work with clients in teams. This is one of the first courses of its kind in legal education across the country, and they hope it can become a model for the emerging field of sentencing mitigation education. Prof. Bartlett Named Co-President of National Association
Prof. Lauren E. Bartlett, director of SLU LAW’s Human Rights at Home Litigation Clinic, was elected co-president of the Clinical Legal Education Association (CLEA) for 2021. CLEA is the largest association of law professors in the nation and advocates for clinical legal education as fundamental to the education of lawyers. In her role, Bartlett provides mentorship and guidance to clinical educators across the country. New Clinic Professor Joins Faculty, Will Launch Clinic Focused on Children’s Rights
Prof. Kathryn Banks will join SLU LAW on July 1, having previously served as director of the Children’s Rights Clinic at Washington University School of Law. Her extensive work with children and youth advocacy includes time as the legal services director of Voices for Children and as an attorney in the Youth Advocacy Unit of the Missouri State Public Defender’s Office. She is an appointed member of the Missouri Supreme Court’s Committee on Practice & Procedures in Municipal Division Cases, and she has also been a member of its Municipal Courts Working Group. Banks will begin directing a new clinic focusing on children’s rights in the SLU LAW Legal Clinics in fall 2021. “I am excited to begin my work at Saint Louis University School of Law in a community of students, faculty and staff that I consider to be some of our greatest hometown heroes,” Banks said. “SLU LAW and the Jesuit commitment to service present new opportunities to expand my work on behalf of our area’s most vulnerable citizens, our children.” SLB VOLUME 21 ISSUE 2
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Hello
FALL 2020 1L CLASS
196 STUDENTS ENROLLED
42.9%
MALE
181
93
FULLTIME
57.1% FEMALE
15
PARTTIME
UNDERGRADUATE INSTITUTIONS REPRESENTED
24.5%
> 92% OF STUDENTS RECEIVED
10
A MERIT-BASED SCHOLARSHIP
FULL-TUITION SCHOL ARSHIPS AWARDED
155 3.45 10
SLU LAW BRIEF
(75TH TO 25TH PERCENTILE: 158-151) (75TH TO 25TH PERCENTILE: 3.69-3.16)
COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN BIRTH COUNTRIES OF 2020 1L STUDENTS
BULGARIA
IRAQ
INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
CHINA
KOREA, REPUBLIC OF (SOUTH)
CANADA
COSTA RICA
MEXICO
CHINA
EGYPT
NIGERIA
GEORGIA
PUERTO RICO
GERMANY
ROMANIA
INDIA
UNITED STATES
27
STATES REPRESENTED AL, AR, CA, CT, FL, GA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MD, MI, MO, MN, NE, NV, NY, OK, PA, SC, SD, TX, UT, VA, WI, WV
Fare
THEE CLASS OF 2020 WELL G R A D UATE S
89.1% 91.7% SLU LAW Bar Passage Rate for first-time Missouri takers (summer 2020) (compared to average MO firsttime rate of 88.9%)
SLU LAW Bar Passage Rate for first-time Missouri takers who also took the Summer Workshop Series led by Professors Antonia Miceli and Petina Benigno
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Putting PURPOSE INTO
Andrés J. Gallegos (’93): The Unexpected Advocate On Jan. 20, 2021, as one of his first acts in office, President Joe Biden appointed U.S. Air Force veteran and disability rights attorney Andrés J. Gallegos chairman of the National Council on Disability.
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hen Andrés Gallegos graduated from Saint Louis University School of Law in 1993, he had big plans. “I thought I was this young, hot shot international trade attorney,” he said. “NAFTA had just passed, and Chicago was a hot market for businesses eager to do work in Mexico and South America, so that was my primary focus at that point in corporate law.” Three years later, Gallegos was in a horrific car accident that would alter the course of his life. He sustained a spinal cord injury that resulted in quadriplegia. “It doesn’t define who I am; it just defines how I get around in terms of this wheelchair.” Because of that wheelchair, he began experiencing discrimination in health care systems. “I was new to that,” he said. “I was never transferred onto 12
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an examination table [at my doctor’s office]. When I was denied an eye examination at one of the national optometry chains because I could not independently transfer out of my wheelchair, I was told ‘If you go to our other stores in Chicago you’ll have the same problem.’ The beautiful thing about Chicago is you have competitors on every block, so I went across the street and was told the same thing, and then went to another company and was told the same thing. That annoyed me to no end. I started reaching out. It wasn’t isolated to Chicago; it certainly wasn’t
isolated to me. That’s when I decided something needed to be done about it.” Gallegos filed a class action lawsuit against seven of the largest eye care providers in the U.S. to make services accessible and prevailed. Today, he says, in any of these chains, the examination chair will roll out of the way so a wheelchair can be positioned in its place, and the exam equipment can be maneuvered accordingly. “After sustaining a lifealtering injury, you try to find a purpose for that happening,” Gallegos said. “I thought with
“After sustaining a lifealtering injury, you try to find a purpose for that happening.”
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ALUMNI FEATURE my legal background, this was something I needed to address.” He founded a national disability rights practice in Chicago at Robbins, Salomon & Patt, Ltd., and has continued in that role as shareholder, focusing on both disability rights and health care law. A notable aspect of his practice is that it goes beyond litigation and employs a threepronged approach to “attain accessible healthcare services for persons with disabilities and effectuate systemic change” — education, advocacy and litigation when necessary. "We problem-solve,” he said. “Part of that is educating the disability community on what their legal rights are. We also educate health care providers. We conduct workshops at medical schools, we speak to residents of specific hospitals, and we’re starting to work with interested parties across the country in developing curriculum on disability cultural competency and what their legal obligations are, so it’s all part of the process. “And then when we do find a health care system that is discriminating against people with disabilities, our first approach is to try to collaborate with them using a process called Structured Negotiation,” he continued. “If that fails, we’re not beyond filing a lawsuit if warranted.” As Gallegos learned more about disability rights work, 14
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“The more I advocated for myself, the more I knew I needed to advocate for others.” he got more involved in the community. “The more I advocated for myself, the more I knew I needed to advocate for others,” he said. As a 14-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force, public service was a natural fit. He was appointed in 2010 by then-Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn to be a member of the Governor’s Task Force on Employment and Economic Opportunities for People with Disabilities. He was the co-chairman of Illinois in Motion, a coalition that worked on spinal cord injury cure research funding.
And it was as the chairman of the board of directors for Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago, one of the preeminent centers for independent living in the country, that Gallegos' work caught the attention of Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.). In 2018, when thenSenate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) sought to fill a vacancy on the National Council on Disability — a nonpartisan federal agency that advises the U.S. president, Congress and other federal agencies on disability policy — he
turned to Duckworth for recommendation. She recommended Gallegos, whom Schumer then appointed to the Council in February of that year. Three years later, on Day One of his administration, President Joe Biden appointed Gallegos as chairman of the Council. In this role, Gallegos will work closely with the White House’s Domestic Policy Council led by Susan Rice. “If you’d asked me 24 years ago [after the accident] did I envision this — being
designated as a presidential adviser on all matters of disability — absolutely not!” Gallegos said. “It was an incredibly humbling experience.” Gallegos serves on the Council from Chicago, frequently employing remote technologies to communicate with council staff and federal partners. Once the pandemic subsides he plans to travel to Washington, D.C., a couple of times a month. Gallegos said his tenure as chairman will have a “laser focus” on addressing COVID-19 issues for persons with disabilities, whom he notes have been disproportionately affected by the virus, not because of
their disability, per say, but because of underlying health conditions that put them at greater risk of adverse outcomes.
on Feb. 16, noting that COVID-19 is:
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health; addressing social determinants of health that contribute to disparities “A pandemic that has in outcomes; addressing unmasked the most extreme bias in healthcare settings; and deadly form of stateadvocating for dedicated "I firmly believe that our sanctioned ableism manifested funding for home and ability to learn, our ability to in discriminatory crisis standards community-based services; earn, and our ability to live of care and rationing policies strengthening federal is predicated on maintaining that in many instances nondiscrimination rights; good health,” he said. “There categorically defined persons advocating for the protection is a significant history of with disabilities as persons of direct service providers and devaluing the lives of people whose lives are not worth family caregivers; addressing with disabilities throughout treating, and whose lives are not communications needs of the country, particularly as worth vaccinating or vaccinating persons who have visual, aural it relates to public health with any urgency. A pandemic or cognitive impairments; and programs and interventions, so that has given license to many many more health- and nonwe’re seeing the repercussions healthcare professionals to health-related issues. of that continue to take publicly express their explicit bias place in truly life and death against persons with disabilities.” No small feat, in other words. circumstances.” But then again, Gallegos never In addition to COVID-19 had small plans to begin with. SLB Gallegos officially outlined his issues, he plans to tackle vision in a searing statement accessibility to health care, released by the Council dental care and behavioral
Disability Education in Law School
Elizabeth Pendo Joseph J. Simeone Professor of Law
Andrés Gallegos had high praise for SLU LAW’s Elizabeth Pendo, the Joseph J. Simeone Professor of Law, who is a nationally recognized expert in disability law and health care law. “I am a huge admirer and fan of Elizabeth Pendo and her work,” he said. “There are maybe a handful of law schools focusing on accessible health care
issues and perhaps none in the manner that she’s doing. It shines a bright light on the law school. She’s a pioneer in this area and is incredibly well respected in all circles.” Since the pandemic began, Prof. Pendo has authored and co-authored an enormous volume of scholarship about disability rights in the context of COVID-19, including “The
Americans with Disabilities Act in the COVID-19 Workplace,” “Blocked from the Ballot Box: People with Disabilities,” and “Resolving Tensions Between Disability Rights Law and COVID-19 Mask Policies,” to name a few. Pendo teaches Bioethics, Civil Procedure I & II, Disability Law, Health Care Ethics, and Health Care Law. VOLUME 21 ISSUE 2
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SLU LAW ATTORNEYS IN GOVERNMENT: Paths to Public Service Five graduates of Saint Louis University School of Law share their insights into elected public service work across all levels of government. They discuss their memories of law school, how their education helped prepare them for this work, and why it’s worth pursuing.
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COVER STORY
JACK COATAR (’12) Alderman of the 7th Ward, City of St. Louis Of Counsel, Spencer Fane LLP
What was your path to public service? I was a PreLaw Scholar at SLU in my undergrad. I took a year off and worked for Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign and then worked on Mayor Francis Slay’s 2009 reelection campaign. I started at SLU LAW in fall of 2009. I wasn’t a full-time day student; I went to night school and eventually did a hybrid. I was able to keep working full time in Democratic politics; I was the executive director of the St. Louis Democratic Party and was able to assist and work on campaigns. I didn’t necessarily know I was going to go in the direction of elected office; most of my experience had been working for candidates. But after graduating I did go into a public service role in the Prosecutor’s Office as assistant circuit attorney for Jennifer Joyce. I left in December of 2014 to run for alderman. I had an opportunity to run and couldn’t pass it up. So I’ve been in some form of public service since 2012, but I’ve been an alderman since April of 2015 — right across the street from SLU LAW. Favorite law school memory? I really enjoyed Joel Goldstein’s seminar classes and hearing from such interesting people in government — federal judges and U.S. senators would guest speak. And I absolutely loved Mike Wolff’s State Con Law class; that was just a blast. My favorite memory would be law school softball. Since I went to night school,
that was a way to connect with my peers. Some are still my dear friends today. I also want to say I wouldn’t have gotten out of there without help of Jon Baris, Shannon Morse, Mike Wolff and Joel Goldstein. They’re the reason I graduated. How has your SLU LAW degree helped you in your role? The Jesuit mission and SLU’s mission of being men and women for others — that certainly helped shape me as a lawyer and as a public servant. I spend my whole day fixing people’s problems. Most of my day is spent fielding calls, and as a lawyer in private practice I’m doing the same thing, helping individuals navigate the judicial system and solve problems. I like helping people, and I’ve found a good way to do that in two ways, as a lawyer and as an alderman. Why is it important to have lawyers in elected service roles? Lawyers are uniquely positioned to serve, whether it’s a city council or state legislature or Congress or even just volunteering on a local board. Our ability to analyze, to help draft laws, to interpret laws and interpret their consequences is a great skill, and it’s a skill that a lot of people frankly don’t have. It’s somewhat disappointing to see there are so few lawyers in legislature on county councils, I think mainly because of the time restraints it’s difficult to have a practice and serve in these roles. If you’re looking to get involved, the first thing to do is reach out to your local alderman or mayor’s office. There are so many needs in local commissions. If you’ve got some spare time and could lend your expertise, there’s a board for you to serve your community.
JENNY SCHMIDT (’09) Deputy Mayor and Councilwoman of Ward 3, Maplewood, MO
What was your path to public service? I’ve always been interested in working with government somehow. Growing up, community service was part of my education, and after college I served as an AmeriCorps Vista volunteer and stayed in Colorado for two more years in the area of social work. I moved back and ended up going to law school. At the end of 2016 I was overwhelmed and down with where things were in our country. Regardless of political affiliation, politicians weren’t really working for us. I remember reading something by Bernice King who said the most effective change you can make in your community is locally. Shortly thereafter a Maplewood mom sent a private message to several women stating, ‘There’s an opening on city council and a woman really needs to run for it.’ It was the first time in about 10 years there was a vacancy; in the past no one wanted to run against a neighbor, and at the time only one woman was on the council. It was something I’d always been interested in, so I just did it! I began serving in August 2017, finishing out the previous holder’s term, and then ran again in April 2019.
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COVER STORY How has your SLU LAW degree helped you in your role? In law school you really do learn how to listen to all sides of an argument in order to truly understand it. My background in law helps me to point things out that other council members might not be aware of. It has also taught me to see what information is missing. Probably to the annoyance of some of my fellow councilpersons, I typically ask a lot of questions when presented with an issue. My background working with tax credit projects has helped as well. We had a tax abatement renegotiation come before us, and the main source of information was a set of financial projections, which I review often for work. I was able to ask a lot of questions that were important to our decision that I don’t believe they were able to ask in the past. I feel like I got an excellent education there; SLU LAW does a great job getting teachers who are experts in what they do. What accomplishments in public service are you most proud of? One of the accomplishments I am most proud of is working with my colleagues on council to improve transparency and accessibility. We had our first town hall in a long time in February 2020. Three of us went and watched a town hall in a neighboring community and brought the idea back to the council. Our first town hall was very successful with over 50 people attending. We made it more accessible by offering dinner and creating a space for kids to hang out in. I brought my kids to help monitor the kids’ room so parents could participate freely. We also began recording our meetings in the fall of 2019 and posting the videos the next day. In addition, we expanded the use of our Community Development Block Grant funds to include using a portion of the funds for utility assistance. Previously a large portion of the funds were set aside for programs beneficial to homeowners, and with over 50% of Maplewood housing consisting of rental property, it was important to me to utilize the funds for 18
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programs renters could access as well. I am especially proud of the work we have done since the pandemic began. In the last year, we have passed an ordinance allowing mini food pantries on cityowned property, passed an ordinance decriminalizing marijuana, made our Board and Commission application and nomination process more transparent and accessible to all members of the community, and are now in the beginning stages of a complete overhaul of our ordinances for which we will utilize several forms of community engagement to create a set of community values that will guide the changes we make to our ordinances. Favorite law school memory? A specific memory [and one] that I often think about, especially as a city councilperson: My last semester I took Disability Discrimination with Prof. Pendo and she assigned us the task of going to a public place and determining whether it was accessible. My classmate and friend Jayme Major and I along with my then 6-month-old daughter, Lucy, went to the Brentwood Target (before it was updated to its current layout). We had gotten through measuring most of the store and were in the bathroom when an employee came in and asked what we were doing. We explained, she left, and then a few minutes later a supervisor came in and kicked us out! I learned a lot that day. At that time the Brentwood Target wasn't very accessible (for example, the tables in the cafe were bolted to the floor and were too close together for any wheelchair to be able to pass through), and I had never noticed that because it had never been an issue for me personally. Through that exercise, I realized that in analyzing certain issues I was failing to take into account the perspective of an entire group of individuals living in my community. I was grateful for that lesson and continue to apply it when confronted with an issue or making a decision as a councilperson by always trying to identify who is missing from the conversation and making sure we incorporate their voices and needs when coming to a solution.
Francisco “Quico”
R. Canseco (’75)
Former U.S. Representative for Texas’ 23rd Congressional District Director, Election Protection Project, Texas Public Policy Foundation
What was your path to public service? In my years of law practice, I dedicated a lot of time to helping people who can’t afford certain things, whether it’s an eviction or someone swiped their paycheck. I’ve practiced law mainly in the financial sector. When you represent institutions and you’ve got people who didn’t pay their bills because something happened in life, you have to inject into the deal a lot of sympathy. In 2003 I got tired of listening to the news and thinking I could do things better, and I tried to get into politics. I got my name out there through south Texas and managed to get into a runoff in the Republican primary. I lost, but I stayed very active politically. I did a program for the State of Texas called ‘Adopt a Judge,’ which encouraged people to invite judicial candidates into their social groups, into their rotaries and Kiwanis, so they can know who judicial candidates are. I was encouraged to run in 2007 for an open seat in U.S. Congress [Texas’ 23rd congressional district] that went from San Antonio all the way to El Paso — it covers a fourth of whole state. I got beat [in the primary], and the next go-round [in 2010] I won. Winning is one thing — now what’re you going to do? It was an eye-opening
COVER STORY thing because you have a huge amount — 800 miles, ranches, military bases, small businesses, big businesses, oil and gas issues, water issues, issues of urbanization, and a lot of San Antonio is very different from rural areas, very different from El Paso. What you do on floor of the House is very different than what you’re doing as a representative of your constituents and making sure that their government is working for them on the ground. As a servant of the people, you get a lot of audiences with your constituents who have all sorts of needs — Social Security, benefits, education. You try to move mountains for them. Because you’re a member of Congress, you can call the head of the department and pull some strings, of course judiciously. And if it’s a donor, you pass that up. I’ll never forget having a telecom company ask me for some legitimate help for their rural communications and the next day I get this huge donation and I had to send it back. You’ve got to be able to keep things straight. Since I’ve left office [2013] I’ve been practicing law again. In 2019 I was approached by a conservative think tank called the Texas Public Policy Foundation to join their ranks. I said yes, although I lament not continuing the practice of law. I’m the director of a project on voting. How has your SLU LAW degree helped you in your role? A lot of the Jesuit ideal sort of goes into your bloodstream and becomes part of you and how you think and how you carry out your duties to your family and to your community. It’s hard to put a finger on it, but when you compare yourself to someone who was educated in a different system, it’s obvious that the imprimatur is Jesuit, and I’ve always been proud of that. There seems to be a certain brotherhood that surpasses politics in that you know who you are in the actions that you take and how you take them. Even though I disagree on a secular level with some of the positions the Jesuits take,
I give them their due and respect them for why they’re doing it. I’m conservative philosophically, constitutionally, I’m a Republican through and through, and it’s all based on the values I got from the Jesuits. Favorite law school memory? I’m going to use Prof. Vince Immel’s words — that guy was just terrific; I think of him all the time and I wish he were still around. We were quizzing him and one guy said, ‘What can we do with this? We’re graduating tomorrow.’ He says, ‘What you don’t realize is that in your hands you have the power to do brain surgery,’ — meaning that you have tools that can allow you to do many things, call it law or whatever. It is a system of thought, a system of logic that you use. It is a problem-solving tool that I thank SLU for giving me the privilege of being exposed to because it has been useful to me all my life. And I will tell you, I was on the board of a hospital for a while and was elected chairman. On the board you have credentials. … I told them the story of Prof. Immel and I said, ‘As a lawyer I can perform brain surgery if I wanted to. Don’t worry, Doctor, I won’t ask to be credentialed to perform!’ I think a lot about SLU, about both my undergrad and law experience there, and I carry it with me everywhere I go.
RAUMESH AKBARI (’09) Member of the Tennessee State Senate from the 29th District Director of Legal Affairs and Human Resources, Akbari Corp.
What was your path to public service? I always knew I wanted to do it. When I was in third grade I saw Bill Clinton’s inauguration, and I remember telling my mom, ‘I want to go to that.’ I watched the world news with my dad every day. I graduated from law school, and I wanted to be more involved. I started being mentored by one of our [family business] clients who was a state representative. We went to Nashville to get approved for our cosmetology school, and went by her office in the Capitol and she said, ‘Next session you can shadow me.’ That was June 2013. In July, my predecessor passed away of pancreatic cancer. It ended up being seven of us running in a special election from August to October. My family just jumped in, my mom was my campaign manager — I called her my momager — and my mentor connected us with some folks who helped with mailers and canvassing, so we were knocking on doors. One of the people we ran against was the daughter of one of the Fords, and the papers said it was the Ford lady’s race to lose. I threw them all for the loop. The Democratic establishment was like ‘Who is this girl?’ and the press couldn’t believe it. I’d spent a lot of my summers and childhood there and I think that resonated with folks, as well.
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COVER STORY We stayed positive, we worked as hard as we could, and I won. Because it was a special election, 1,800 people voted and of that I got 500, and I ended up beating my nearest opponent by 100 votes. Every vote counts! I remember talking to someone who said she wasn’t voting because it was a waste of time. I said, ‘You’re in school, so you’re getting some kind of [financial] aid; politicians in Nashville and D.C. control all of that!’ She ended up registering to vote and working on my campaign. How has your SLU LAW degree helped you in your role? Being able to help other people when they don’t have anywhere else to go to me is invaluable. There’s a lady in west Tennessee who is legally blind, and her Section 8 housing was not renewed. I called the state office — to be able to stop that type of situation, that makes me feel good. It’s truly the pursuit of helping others; sometimes it’s frustrating, and it’s frustrating as hell being in the minority party, but surprisingly about 90 percent of things we agree on.
I’m working on a piece of legislation we’ve been in the struggle for for four years now to reduce sentences of juveniles convicted of first-degree murder. [Tennessee] had a person who was incarcerated, Cyntoia Brown [who received a life sentence as a teenager despite the tragic circumstances], she kind of went viral. I went to the governor’s office and he really listened, and of course everyone was reaching out to him. I was able to be at the press conference when it was announced [that Gov. Haslam granted her full clemency]; it was really special. And she’s a part of this legislation now, so she testified in committee. It’s bipartisan, and we have a bunch of people signed on. That is probably my most exciting project. I would encourage lawyers to get involved if they can. We’re missing y’all in the public service sector.
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How do you use your SLU LAW degree in your role? I feel like it’d be challenging to do my job not being a lawyer. Every aspect of local government, it seems there is some tie to legal issues, certainly the powers of cities are derived from the Constitution and statutes. What we’re able to do and not do is governed by the charter and ordinances. We touch on constitutional law issues, employment law issues, criminal law issues, real estate, contract law, zoning issues. It enables me to talk intelligently with the city attorney on everything we’ve got going on. I’m also an attorney at Hein Schneider and Bond P.C. That’s my day job, with most of my focus being in real estate litigation. The major’s job is a part-time position; there are only a couple of cities in the region where it is a full-time job.
You just have to take those disappointing days and reset and remember why you’re there. I’m going to keep doing it. My district is in Memphis but the Capitol is in Nashville, so I travel 210 miles each way every week away from my family. If I’m not being effective, I don’t need to be there. What accomplishments in public service are you most proud of? I’m big on criminal justice reform, economic development, and strengthening public schools. We had the third highest expunction fee in the country, $450. I worked and worked; we had to get in the governor’s budget since he has to agree it’s good policy, too. We reduced it to $280. Our new governor came in and proposed eliminating the fee altogether. I and the majority leader of the House at the time — we don’t agree on most things, but we agree on this — we eliminated the fee completely except for the clerk’s fee. When you don’t have any money, it could feel like a million dollars. So now you have people who can get back to work and get their lives back.
when the previous mayor resigned for health reasons. I filed for reelection and no one filed to run against me. I do expect to serve a full term, which in Crestwood is three years.
GRANT MABIE (’08)
Mayor, City of Crestwood, MO Attorney, Hein Schneider and Bond P.C.
What was your path to public service? I’ve always been fascinated with it. In high school, in addition to roller hockey I did speech and debate, with an emphasis on public policy, debating the pros and cons of politics. I’ve always followed political issues and tried to be an informed citizen. Certainly going to law school prepares you for that. Before I was elected mayor, I was elected two terms to Crestwood’s Board of Aldermen. I was elected mayor in 2018
The mission of SLU and the Jesuit mission, I always thought there was an emphasis on helping the little guy so to speak, certainly in the clinics. Especially in local government, it’s always helpful to keep in mind that you represent everyone in the city and consider all views and make sure you’re not hurting the little guy, respecting everyone’s rights. What has surprised you or what have you learned in your role? I try to make a habit of not being too surprised. If I ever get completely flatfooted by something, that means I wasn’t prepared. But I would say the breadth of things you’re expected to deal with as mayor. You’re certainly expected to deal with the major crisis of the day. Obviously COVID-19 is an emergency that no one’s dealt with in 100 years. We had a flooding issue that flooded our city hall. People contact the mayor with everything from the very small to the very major — someone’s speeding on their street, their sidewalk needs to be fixed, their neighbor’s
COVER STORY dog is barking. Obviously a significant portion of that is proper delegation, and we have an extremely qualified city staff. But I think especially in a smaller city, people like to talk to their elected officials. Even if they could call City Hall, they like to call the mayor’s office, and that’s fine, that’s the beauty of it. What accomplishments in public service are you most proud of? We worked hard to approve the redevelopment project for the former Crestwood Mall site [now under contract with grocery store chain Dierbergs Markets and residential homebuilder McBride Homes]. That mall’s been closed for years, and it’s been a desire of city to get it reopened. Some of the difficulties in dealing with that site were some of the reasons I first got involved. Getting that project on the cusp of happening has been fulfilling, and I am hoping to land the plane and help bring that project to fruition. For the first time in over 13 years, we were able to fund a sidewalk repair program. We try to be a pedestrian-friendly city, so we made that a priority. It’s been a lot of little things. We built a new public works building, we brought back the city newsletter, we created a comprehensive plan to guide development and land use in the City of Crestwood. We’ve done a ton of code updates. It was a frustrating thing to me as a lawyer to look at our code and see a lot of outdated codes. From a local government perspective, I’ve appreciated that you can see the outcomes of your decisions, things move quicker, you’re closer to the people in government. The nonpartisan nature of local government for the most part in the cities where people are running on their platforms — you don’t get bogged down in different camps. People are just looking for solutions.
ONE TO WATCH
RACHEL JAG (’17)
Legislative Correspondent for Rep. Jake LaTurner (R-Kan.)
As a law student, Rachel Jag got involved in public service by serving as a PILG Auction chair and then as an intern with the Republican National Committee. After graduating, she knew wanted to continue down that path but didn’t have an immediate way forward. She worked at a law firm briefly before joining the office of Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt (’00). There she was involved in litigation, and though she enjoyed the experience, litigation “just wasn’t my jam; I wanted to use my writing and all the other stuff I learned in law school: reading the law, having policy debates, going that route,” she said. One day she was contacted by a fellow SLU LAW alumna who worked for the National Republican Senatorial Committee and was looking for Election Day legal volunteers for a campaign in Topeka. “It was because I met somebody that day and reconnected with them a few weeks later that I ended up getting hired by Rep. LaTurner’s office,” she said. Once in D.C. she had a bumpy start: Her second day of work, Jan. 6, was the day of the Capitol riot, during which she and her fellow Hill staffers had to barricade inside the office for several hours, and then that night they found out their congressman had tested
positive for COVID-19. But besides the initial chaos, Jag’s found the silver lining of moving to the capital during the pandemic. “I’ve been Missouri born and raised, but I knew I loved D.C. and have always had the draw,” she said. “It’s a blessing that I’m getting adjusted to living halfway across the country and to a whole new type of job while things are shut down because it gives me time to get on my feet.” In her role, Jag uses her legal skills by researching bills and drafting letters, and she sees a parallel with her time in law school. “SLU is a community where everyone is supportive. The value of community really helps in my world. Working with a team here and trying to represent another community on the Hill, you try to think — how can you serve the team? How can you serve the congressman? And how can you help him serve his people? It’s a cooperative mentality, and I gained a lot of those qualities from being a SLU LAW student. “I’m happy to go down a nontraditional path with my law degree,” she continued. “I love the movement here and I love Capitol Hill. I think the sky’s the limit. As long as they’ll have me, I’ll be here.” SLB
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Joel K. Goldstein: The No. 1 Expert on the Second-in-Command A handful of legal scholars will, over the course of their careers, make a substantial contribution to their field. Still fewer will help open the doors to that field, educating not just students and fellow scholars, but the public at large, through media op-eds and interviews. And then there’s Joel Goldstein, the Vincent C. Immel Professor of Law Emeritus, who has helped shape the very institution that is the subject of his work. An esteemed professor for more than 25 years, Goldstein has taught hundreds of students constitutional law and has also taught courses on admiralty law, contracts, the presidency and the constitution, judges and judging, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
“The big change that took place was when Jimmy Carter was elected president and Walter Mondale vice president. They changed the office in an enduring way.”
But what Goldstein is most known for is his scholarship on the office of the vice presidency. Today he is recognized nationally and internationally as the No. 1 expert on the second-in-command. He has authored two books and dozens of articles and book chapters on the subject, and he is highly sought after for media analysis — typically in spurts every four years during the presidential races, but much more frequently during the Trump and Biden administrations. Goldstein retired from full-time teaching in summer 2019 and now can be found in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, enjoying more time with his family, as well as writing, lecturing and perhaps teaching occasionally. And of course, during the run-up to the 2020 presidential election, his name could be found in a news article or radio interview almost daily. In virtual press briefings held by the State Department about American
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democracy, he gave two presentations to dozens of foreign journalists, fielding questions from reporters across the globe. He also authored papers on presidential continuity and the office of the vice presidency that were published by the White House Transition Project, a nonprofit organization that provides information for incoming White House staff to help streamline the transition process from one administration to the next, and those papers were distributed to both presidential campaigns. In the following pages, Goldstein discusses some of his career highlights and reflects on how the office of the vice presidency has evolved. Becoming ‘Media Famous’ “Well, I’m hardly famous, but I started getting media calls over time,” Goldstein said. “In the early years after my [first] book came out [1982], I would occasionally write an op-ed. In 1988, I wrote a couple of memos to Gov. Dukakis about VP selection. I started getting media calls a little bit in the early 1990s. My first semester of teaching at SLU [1994] I was invited to be on NPR’s ‘Talk of the Nation’ program, and they had me on with Arthur Schlesinger, who was this Pulitzer Prizewinning historian, and I actually got to miss a faculty meeting; I think the faculty might’ve listened to part of the interview. I was right at the beginning of my career and I think the faculty was kind of proud of the exposure, and it also got me out of the meeting, which was icing on the cake.” Goldstein said it was around Clinton’s second inauguration (January 1997) when
FACULTY VIEW
“After 58 elections in which 116 times men were elected president and vice president ... VP Harris is the first woman to be chosen for one of our two national offices.”
the Washington Post published a big piece about Gore and the vice presidency that he started getting more phone calls, and then it took off in the 2000/2004 period. “There was a guy at a Dallas morning paper who used to call me and it almost became a joke — ‘an every-four-year phone call,’” he said. “I started getting a lot of calls about Cheney.” Goldstein said that in December 2006 he developed excruciating back pain that prevented him from even walking, so much so that his doctor told him to
go to the emergency room immediately. While waiting for an ambulance to arrive, Goldstein’s assistant called saying the New York Times was trying to reach him for an article on Cheney. “I thought, ‘How often do you get an interview by the New York Times? So I did the interview, the ambulance showed up, they took me to the emergency room. … And the next day I was in the New York Times. It probably did more than the Vicodin to ease the pain.”
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FACULTY VIEW him, so I did. I saw him once in spring 2017 after he’d left office and spent an hour and a half or so talking to him. As a former vice president, he had an office in a government building. There was a reception area, and his scheduler took me back to meet with him. Conversations with Vice President Joe Biden “The first time I met Biden was in 2009,” Goldstein said. “Right after he became VP I got a call from his office that they were trying to set up a meeting of some vicepresidential scholars to meet with Biden and just talk about the vice presidency. They asked me if I would come and who I would recommend be invited. There were maybe half a dozen people, and we met at the Naval Observatory (the vice president’s official residence) and had dinner and talked. It was Biden and a few of his staff. “Later in his first term there was a second meeting,” Goldstein continued, “and at the beginning of his second term, there was another meeting, but they just invited me to talk about how vice presidents handle their second term. “And then I was on ‘Morning Joe’ with him during the 2016 Democratic convention. Before I go on I’m sitting next to Biden, and Morning Joe [Scarborough] says to Biden something like ‘How did you learn about being VP?’ off the air. Biden says, ‘I talked to Mondale and my chief of staff who worked for Gore, and we had these meetings with VP experts’ — he turns to me and says, ‘Joel, how many of those did we have?’ And there were a couple times he said things like, ‘You know more about the vice presidency than anybody,’ and I started laughing, because I think that somebody who’d been vice president obviously knows more than I do. I said that, and he said, ‘Well, you know more than anybody who hasn’t been VP.’ And he actually called me afterwards and said if I was ever in D.C. to get in touch with 24
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“One thing that was striking and taught me a lesson was that, as the scheduler was walking me through this long area, he was standing outside the door to his office waiting for me. And I thought about all the times when somebody — like a student — would come to meet with me, I’d be on the phone or finishing up an email or something, and here Biden was making a point of — he was treating me as if I was special, whereas by all rights he should’ve been seated at his desk doing his work, because he’s a hell of a lot more important than I was. By doing that, he was really sending a message. It taught me a lesson about how to deal with people and how to send a message to somebody — that they really are important and getting your attention. That’s who Biden is.” Documenting the Evolution of the Vice Presidency “The big change that took place was when Jimmy Carter was elected president and Walter Mondale vice president,” Goldstein said. “They changed the office in an enduring way; they brought the VP into the White House and made him a central part of the president’s inner circle. Carter was dedicated to it, and Mondale was very thoughtful in the way they went about doing it. Mondale wanted to be more of a general adviser and troubleshooter, but to do that he needed certain resources — access to the president, he needed his people to be involved in the meetings, so they created a set of resources that would enable the vision. “The surprise has been that this innovation of Carter and Mondale’s was successfully transmitted to other presidents and vice presidents, and it has continued. The presidents and vice presidents we’ve had
since then have been very different in a lot of ways, about half Democrats and half Republicans, but they’ve all followed that basic approach. That was the topic of my second book, how this change became institutionalized so that it wasn’t something unique to Carter and Mondale, who after all, had only one term and lost in a landslide. An enduring and important constitutional change happened through the repetition of practice.” “I think most of my students over the years would’ve assumed that the vice presidency has always been how it is now,” Goldstein continued. “They wouldn’t realize how much of a laughingstock the office was for most of its history. When I started doing work on the subject it was pretty much a disparaged office. People would make jokes about it. Daniel Webster turned down the chance to be on the ticket saying ‘I don’t propose to be buried until I’m dead.’ Johnny Carson once said, ‘Anyone can grow up to be president, and anyone who doesn’t grow up can become vice president.’” In one 2012 news story Goldstein was quoted in, he was referred to as “a vice presidential expert.” A national correspondent for the New York Times Magazine, Mark Leibovich, read it and “thought that was the funniest thing he’d ever heard, that someone could be an expert on the vice presidency.” Leibovich contacted Goldstein wanting to write a profile on him, and while on the phone launched zinger after zinger his way. “Did I consider myself a heartbeat away from presidential scholarship? Did presidential scholars send me to funerals of foreign presidential scholars? And so on.” “He said he wrote for the Sunday Magazine and for the Styles section, and I said something like ‘I’d be happy to be in the Sunday Magazine,’ and he said, ‘A presidential expert would have to die first and then you’d be elevated.’” The profile ran in the Sunday Styles section. The next year Leibovich authored a bestselling book, and Goldstein helped bring him to SLU LAW as keynote speaker for the 2013 Millstone Lecture.
FACULTY VIEW
“You know more [about the vice presidency]
than anybody who hasn’t been VP.”
- (Then) Vice President Joe Biden Over the years, besides Biden, Goldstein has met vice presidents Gerald Ford, Walter Mondale (who quoted him in his memoir), and Dan Quayle. Biden, for those curious, is the 15th former VP to become president. “Nine VPs became president when their predecessor died (eight instances) or in one case (Richard M. Nixon) resigned,” Goldstein noted. “Four sitting vice presidents (John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Martin van Buren and George H.W. Bush) were elected president, and two former VPs (Nixon and Biden) were elected president.” Goldstein says Dick Cheney and Mike Pence’s offices never contacted him — perhaps unsurprisingly, given that Goldstein is credited with coining the nickname “sycophant-in-chief” to refer to Pence’s staunch loyalty to Trump amidst the high turnover rate of most of the rest of Trump’s administration, a nickname subsequently picked up by media outlets including The New Yorker and NBC News. Goldstein also has not yet met Kamala Harris. As would be expected, though, he has weighed in on the historic nature of Harris occupying the vice presidency. “After 58 elections in which 116 times men were elected president and vice president, and twice when men became VP through the nomination and confirmation procedure of the 25th Amendment, VP Harris is the
first woman to be chosen for one of our two national offices. That makes her election a historic moment. As a woman, a person of color, and a first-generation American, her achievement reflects the high American ideal that ours is an inclusive society that values, and is more successful when it draws on, the talents of the entire population, not simply those who have been privileged.” Goldstein says that in its early months, the Harris vice presidency seems likely to continue and build upon the pattern of consequential vice presidencies. “President Biden has said she would be the last person in the room, the phrase that represented his arrangement with President Obama, and she has spent a lot of most days with President Biden. The time together is important not only to give her an opportunity to weigh in on issues but also so she can hear the briefings he hears, so they can develop a relationship, and to send the message that she has access, a message that is crucial to any vice president in enabling her or him to take on important assignments for the president.” But he also notes that given the 50-50 Senate split, Harris may be called to vote as tie-breaker so often it could impact her other vice presidential duties. “You can't be in the room at the White House if you have to be down at Capitol Hill to break a tie vote. You can't be traveling around the world to meet with leaders on the international stage, or you can't be traveling domestically,” he said in a February CNN article. Time will tell how the vice presidency will continue to evolve and how Harris will leave her unique mark. One thing’s for certain — Joel Goldstein will be watching and writing along every step of the way. SLB
“Most of my students over the years would’ve assumed that the vice presidency has always been how it is now. They wouldn’t realize how much of a laughingstock the office was for most of its history.”
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 2020. LAUREN BARTLETT
CHAD W. FLANDERS
Assistant Professor
Professor
Human Rights Guidance for Environmental Justice Attorneys, 98 U. Det. Mercy. L. Rev. 373 (2020).
Criminal Justice and the Liberal Good of Order, 70:1 U. Toronto L. Rev. 102 (2020). Collins and the Invention of “Curtilage,” 22 U. Pa. J. Const. L. 755 (2020).
Callis Family Professor of Law
MATTHEW T. BODIE
The Fourth Amendment of “Things”: Comment on Tokson, 59 Washburn L. Rev. 87 (2020) (with Ashlyn Dowd).
The Corporation Reborn: From Shareholder Primacy to Shared Governance, 61 B.C. L. Rev. 2419 (2020) (with Grant M. Hayden).
Whose Conscience? Which Complicity? Reconciling Burdens and Interests in the Law of Religious Liberty in L aw and Religion in the Liberal State (Md Jahid Hossain Bhuiyan & Darryn Jensen, eds., 2020).
Taking Employment Contracts Seriously, 50 Seton Hall L. Rev. 1261 (2020) (symposium in honor of Charles A. Sullivan). Editors’ Page, 34 ABA J. L ab. & Emp. L. (2020) (with Miriam A. Cherry & Marcia McCormick). Worker Participation, Sustainability, and the Puzzle of the Volkswagen Emissions Scandal, in Cambridge Handbook of Corporate L aw, Corporate Governance and Sustainability (Beate Sjåfjell & Christopher M. Bruner eds., Cambridge Univ. Press, 2020).
MIRIAM A. CHERRY
Professor
A Global System of Work, A Global System of Regulation?: Crowdwork and Conflicts of Law, 94 Tul. L. Rev. 183 (2020). Editors’ Page, 34 ABA J. L ab. & Emp. L. (2020) (with Matthew Bodie & Marcia McCormick). Back to the Future: A Continuity of Dialogue on Work and Technology at the International Labor Organization, 1 Int. L abour Rev. 1 (2020) (translated into French and Spanish).
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SLU LAW BRIEF
“Terroristic Threats” and COVID-19: A Guide for the Perplexed, 169 Penn. L.J. Online 63 (2020) (with Courtney Federico, Eric Harmon, and Lucas Klein). Progressive Prosecution in a Pandemic, 110 J. Criminal L. & Criminology 685 (2020) (with Stephen Galoob). Review of Benjamin Yost, Against Capital Punishment, 29 Criminal Justice Ethics 202 (2020).
ROBERT GATTER Professor
Resolving Tensions Between Disability Rights Law and COVID-19 Mask Policies, 80 Md. L. Rev. Online 1 (2020) (with Elizabeth Pendo & Seema Mohapatra). COVID-19 and the Conundrum of Mask Requirements, 77 Wash. & Lee. L. Rev. Online 17 (2020) (with Seema Mohapatra).
MICHAEL KORYBUT
Professor
At Whose Expense Should Article 9 Foreclosure Sales Extinguish 9-404 Claims and Defenses?, 89 Umkc L. Rev. 1 (2020).
YVETTE JOY LIEBESMAN
Capital, an Elusive Tax Object and Impediment to Sustainable Taxation, 23 Fl. Tax Rev. 625 (2020).
The AI Author in Litigation, 69 K an. L. Rev. 103 (2020) (With Julie Cromer Young).
Immigration, Emigration, Fungible Labour and the Retreat from Progressive Taxation in Tax Justice And Tax L aw: Understanding Unfairness in Tax Systems (Oxford, Hart Publishing 2020) (Dominic De Cogan and Peter Harris, eds.).
Professor
MARCIA L. MCCORMICK
Professor
Sex at the Supreme Court: Testing the Textualists’ Commitments In R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. EEOC, 32 J. Am. Acad. Matrim. L aw. 343 (2020). “The World Turned Upside Down”: Employment Discrimination, Race, and Authenticity in Hamilton, in Hamilton and the L aw: Reading Today’s Most Contentious Legal Issues Through the Hit Musical (Lisa Tucker, Ed. 2020). Editors’ Page, 34 ABA J. L ab. & Emp. L. (2020) (with Matthew Bodie & Miriam A. Cherry). “Sex” and Religion after Bostock, ACS Supreme Court Review 2019-20 Term (with Sachin S. Pandya) (2020). United Auto Workers v. Johnson Controls, in Feminist Judgments: Employment Discrimination Opinions Rewritten (Ann McGinley & Nicole Porter eds., 2020). Conditions of Employment and Discharge, in Employment L aw (Mark A. Rothstein at al. eds., 2020) (treatise chapters—annual supp.).
HENRY M. ORDOWER
Professor
The Undeserving Rich: Can They Be Redeemed? Policy Options for Curbing Illegal Wealth, 27:4 J. Financial Crime 1075 (2020) (with James Fisher, James Gilsinan, Muhammad Islam, and Wassim Shahin). Avoiding Federal and State Constitutional Limitations in Taxation, 168 TAX NOTES FEDERAL 1447, August 24, 2020, also published in 97 Tax Notes State 803, August 24, 2020.
Exploring the Impact of Taxation on Immigration, 100 Tax Notes Int’l 809, November 9, 2020.
ELIZABETH PENDO
Joseph J. Simeone Professor of Law
Blocked from the Ballot Box: People with Disabilities, 45 Hum. Rts. 21 (2020). Sex-Based Discrimination in Healthcare Under Section 1557: The New Final Rule and Supreme Court Developments, 33 No. 1 Health L aw 5 (2020) (with Brietta R. Clark & Gabriella Garbero). The Americans with Disabilities Act and Healthcare Employer-Mandated Vaccinations, 38(16) Vaccine 3179 (Apr. 3, 2020) (with Y. Tony Yang & Dorit Rubinstein Reiss). Protecting the Rights of People with Disabilities, in Assessing Legal Responses to COVID-19 (Scott Burris, et. al, eds. 2020). Resolving Tensions Between Disability Rights Law and COVID-19 Mask Policies, 80 MD. L. Rev. Online 1 (2020) (with Robert Gatter & Seema Mohapatra). The Americans with Disabilities Act in the COVID-19 Workplace, in Work L aw Under COVID-19 (Jeffrey M. Hirsch & Sachin S. Pandya, eds. 2020). Ethical Challenges in Discharge Planning: Stories from Patients, 10(3) Narrat Inq Bioeth (Winter 2020) (Elizabeth Pendo, ed.). Ensuring the Reproductive Rights of Women with Intellectual Disability, J. Intellect Dev Disabil (2020) (with Nicole Agaronnik, Tara Lagu, Christene DeJong, Aixa Perez-Caraballo & Lisa I. Iezzoni).
The Village of Billionaires: Fair Taxation and Redistribution Amid Relative and Absolute Poverty, 99 Tax Notes Int’l 97, July 6, 2020 (with Alexis Brassey). VOLUME 21 ISSUE 2
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KAREN PETROSKI
CONSTANCE Z. WAGNER
Professor
Professor
Hypothetically Speaking: How to Argue About Meaning, in New Rhetorics for Contemporary Legal Discourse (Angela Condello ed., Edinburgh University Press, 2020).
In Search of Best Practices on Gender Equity for University Faculty: An Update, 65 Vill. L. Rev. 1187 (2020) (Norman J. Shachoy Symposium issue on Gender Equity in Law Schools).
Cognitive Fictionalizing and Legal Legitimacy, in Fictional Discourse and the L aw (Hans Lind ed., Routledge, 2020).
ANA SANTOS RUTSCHMAN
Assistant Professor
Regulatory Malfunctions in the Drug Patent Ecosystem, in 70 Emory L.J. 347 (2020). The Problem with Relying on Profit-Driven Models to Produce Pandemic Drugs, 7 J. L. & Biosciences (2020) (with Yaniv Heled and Liza Vertinsky). The COVID-19 Vaccine Race: Intellectual Property, Collaboration(s), Nationalism and Misinformation, 64 Wash. U. J.L. & Pol'y (2020). Property and Intellectual Property in Vaccine Markets, Tex. A&M J. Prop. L. (2020). The Intellectual Property of Vaccines: Takeaways from Recent Infectious Disease Outbreaks, 118 Mich. L. Rev. Online 170 (2020). Vaccine Hesitancy: Experimentalism as Regulatory Opportunity, 4 Bus. Entrepreneurship & Tax L. Rev. 227 (2020) (with Timothy Wiemken). Portugal’s Response to COVID-19, The Regulatory Review (2020).
ANN SCARLETT
Professor
Jury Trial Disparities between Class Actions and Shareholder Derivative Actions in State Courts, 72 Okla. L. Rev. 283 (2020).
ANDERS WALKER
Lillie Myers Professor of Law
[Dis]integration: Second-Order Diversity and Schools, 109 Geo. L.j. Online 21 (2020).
International Human Rights, 54 Year In Rev. (ABA) 393 (2020) (co-author and editor).
SIDNEY D. WATSON
Jane and Bruce Robert Professor of Law
Medicaid’s Vital Role in Addressing Health and Economic Emergencies, COVID-19 R apid Legal Assessment, Network For Public Health (2020) (with Nicole Huberfeld). Struggle for the Soul of Medicaid, 48:3 J.L. Med. & Ethics 429 (2020) (with Nicole Huberfeld & Alison Barkoff).
ALAN WEINBERGER Professor
Up From Javins: A 50-Year Retrospective on the Implied Warranty of Habitability, 64 St. Louis U. L. J. 443 (2020).
RUQAIIJAH YEARBY
Professor
Health Justice Strategies to Combat the Pandemic: Eliminating Discrimination, Poverty, and Health Inequities During and After COVID-19, 19 Yale J. Health Policy, L aw, and Ethics 125-171 (2020) (with Emily Benfer, Seema Mohapatra, and Lindsay Wiley). Structural Racism and Health Disparities: Reconfiguring the Social Determinants of Health Framework to Include the Root Cause, 48 J. L. Med. & Ethics 518 (2020). Protecting Workers that Provide Essential Services, in COVID-19 Legal Assessment Project (SCOTT BURRIS, ET. AL, EDS. 2020). Law, Structural Racism, and the COVID-19 Pandemic, 7 Oxford J. of L. & the Biosciences 1-20 (May 30, 2020) (with Seema Mohapatra).
MOLLY J. WALKER WILSON
Race Based Medicine, Color Blind Disease: How Racism in Medicine is Harming Us All, AM. J. OF BIOETHICS (Dec. 5, 2020).
Retribution as Ancient Artifact and Modern Malady, 24 Lewis & Clark L. Rev. 1339 (2020).
Protecting the Health and Safety of Meat and Poultry Processing Workers, in Work L aw Under COVID-19 (2020) (Sachin S. Pandya - and Jeffrey M. Hirsch, eds.).
Professor
Racism is a Public Health Crisis. Here’s How to Respond (2020) (co-authored with Crystal Lewis, Keon Gilbert, and Kira Banks).
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SLU LAW BRIEF
HONOR ROLL THE IMMEL SOCIETY
HONOR ROLL
The Vincent C. Immel Society honors donors who support SLU LAW through annual leadership giving of $1,000 or more to any law school fund. Contributions made by our Immel Society donors provide support to meet the most immediate challenges facing SLU LAW. Through their generosity, this select group of leaders sets the pace for graduating practice-ready attorneys and advancing SLU LAW’s mission to pursue excellence in teaching, research and service to the community.
On the following pages, we acknowledge with sincerest gratitude our annual leadership donors who have generously supported SLU LAW during the past fiscal year. These reflect gifts received from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020.
If you would like to learn more about how you can support our efforts in educating the next generation of SLU LAW attorneys, please contact Michael Ruiz, director of development, at michael.ruiz@slu.edu or 314-977-2818.
> Steven (Law ’74) & Barbara Davis
$50,000-$99,999
$5,000-$9,999
> Arthur (A&S ’69, Law ’72) & Maria de Graffenried
> C hristelle Adelman-Adler (A&S ’69, Law ’72)
> Brian (Law ’12) & Alaina Saligman
> Daniel Adelman
> Patricia (A&S ’80, Law ’87) & James Duft
> The Linda and Harvey Saligman Charitable Foundation
> Ameren Corporation
> Jane Greenfield*
> The Hon. Kathianne (Law ’71) & David (Law ’78) Crane
> Raymond (Law ’59) & Joanne (A&S ’59) Hirsch
> Dennis Donnelly (A&S ’63, Law ’66) & Rebecca McDermott
> Richard Hughes (Law ’60)
> William Wefel (A&S ’66, Law ’68) & Carolyn Sherman (Valentine SON ’84) Wefel > John* (Med ’51) & Mary Wolford (Doisy ’50)
> Anita (Law ’78) & Stephen Esslinger
> Edward Dowd (Law ’09) > Dowd Bennett LLP
> Samuel Jordan (Faculty)
> Thomas (Law ’79) & Barbara (A&S ’71) Feiner
> Erika (A&S ’97, Law ’00) & Kristofer (Grad Chaifetz ’04) Knapstein
$25,000-$49,999
> Joseph (Chaifetz ’61, Law ’64) & Nancy Giljum
> Jeffrey (Faculty) & Leslie Lewis
> AccessLex Institute
> Eric (Law ’91) & Amy Holland
> Lewis Rice LLC
> Joseph (Chaifetz ’80, Law ’84, Grad Bus ’85) & Claudia Bartholomew
> Holland Law Firm LLC
> The Hon. Mary Ann Medler (Law ’83) & William Corrington
> Gary Esayian (Grad Chaifetz ’87) > Genevieve Esayian
> John (A&S ’67, Law ’71) & Susan Kilo > The Hon. Michael (Law ’75) & Brenda McCuskey
> Schwab Charitable Fund
$10,000-$24,999 > Bellarmine House > John (A&S ’60, Law ’62) & Joan Bray > C onstance M. Cooper Charitable Foundation > Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund > David (A&S ’65, Law ’67) & Margaret Hensler > Terry (Law ’80) & Sally Schnuck > M ark Schulte (A&S ’75, Law ’78) & Mary Holcomb > Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program
> Mark (Law ’87) & Mildred McLaughlin > Barbara & John O’Brien > John (Faculty Emeritus) & Barbara O’Brien
> Michael O’Keefe (A&S ’59, Law ’61)
> Joseph (Law ’79) & Florine Porter
> Mary Beth Ortbals (A&S ’64, Law ’68)
> Christopher Schmidt (Law ’02) & Silvia Ledesma-Ortiz (Grad A&S ’14)
> Rose Perotti (Law ’57)
> Anonymous
> Wenhui (Law ’99) & Yafei Zeng
> Mark Keaney (A&S ’69, Law ’72)
> Bruce (A&S ’70, Law ’73) & Jane Robert
> Winthrop Reed (Law ’94) & Heidi St. Peter (Med ’99)
> Albert (A&S ’61, Law ’64) & Susan Schlueter
> Schuchat Cook & Werner
> Vernon (A&S ’82, Law ’85) & Sue Singer
> Thompson Coburn LLP
> Jon (Law ’70) & Lea Theobald
> Eric (Law ’87) & Therese (Law ’87) Trelz
> The Jane M. and Bruce P. Robert Charitable Foundation
> Darlene Warnick (Law ’97)
> Timothy & Kiley Yeaglin
$1,000-$2,499 $2,500-$4,999 > Howard (Law ’77) & Patricia (Law ’78) Adelman
> Armstrong Teasdale LLP > AT&T Corp > A. J. Bitker Charitable Foundation
> Anonymous
> Jon (Faculty) & Melissa Baris
> Thomas (Law ’74) & Joan Carpenter
> T. (A&S ’70, Law ’73) & Cynthia Barnes
> Carpenter Family Childrens Foundation Inc.
> Julie (Grad Ed, ’86) & Kevin Beattie
> Thomas (Law ’73) & Nancy Connelly
> Alice Benga & Michael Diehl
Great care was taken to ensure the accuracy of this listing. Should there be any discrepancies, please contact Michael Ruiz at michael.ruiz@slu.edu. VOLUME 21 ISSUE 2
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HONOR ROLL > John (Law ’70) & Suzanne (A&S ’68) Bernardi > William (Grad Chaifetz ’91) & Kimberly Blase > The Hon. Susan Block (Law ’75) > Mark (Law ’84) & Paula Bobak > Suzanne (Law ’73) & Michael (Grad A&S ’75) Bocchini > John* (Law ’72) & Darlene Boese > Grant Boyd (A&S ’11, Law ’14) > Richard (Law ’72) & Kathryn (A&S ’68) Brandt > Frederic Bruno (Law ’80) & Mari Skalickey > Bruno Law PLLC > Ann Buckley (A&S ’75, Law ’78) > Katherine (Law ’87) & David Butler > Gerard (Law ’75) & Suzanne Carmody > John Carver (Law ’75)
> Husch Blackwell LLP
> Valerie Rutterer (A&S ’72)
> The Hon. Mary Kathryn Hoff (Law ’78) & Peter Stragand
> Cary (Law ’76) & Christina Sandman
> Jay (Law ’86) & Laurie Hoffman > > >
Hoffman Law Firm P.C. Peter Jarosewycz (Law ’76) Sandra (A&S ’73, Faculty Emerita) & Robert (A&S ’73) Johnson
> Michelle (Law ’96) & Ronald Sherod
> Kathleen Knepper (Law ’95)
> Alan Siegel (Law ’75) & Karen Satterlee
> Lashly and Baer PC
> Miriam (Law ’80) & Stephen Singer
> Mimi (Law ’79) & Kevin (Grad PH ’78) Leahy
> Jonathan (Law ’09) & Allison Slabaugh
> Joseph (Law ’52) & Francine Leritz > Thomas (Law ’87) & Ann Lewis > Yvette Liebesman (Faculty)
> James (Law ’73) & Kathleen Quinn Malone
> Dean (Law ’86) & Margaret Cobble
> Douglass (Grad PH ’80, Law ’82) & Carol Marshall
> The Hon. Margaret Donnelly (SW ’75, Grad SW ’77, Law ’88) & David Riedel
> Joseph (Law ’82) & Patricia Martineau > Marcia McCormick (Faculty) > Marian (Valentine SON ’74, Law ’82) & Terrence (A&S ’74) Mehan
> Frank (Law ’73) & Nancy Dunne
> Amb. James (Law ’65) & Conception (A&S ’61) Michel
> Frederick (Law ’75) & Mary (Valentine SON ’75) Drakesmith
> Mary (Law ’84) & James Moog
> Matthew (Law ’06) & Alix Eggerding > Lars Etzkorn (Law ’90) & Gregory Hoss > Adam (A&S ’64, Law ’66) & Joyce Fischer > Richard (A&S ’53, Law ’55) & Virginia (A&S ’54) Fister > Fischer Bauer Knirps Foundation > Susan FitzGibbon (Law ’84, Faculty Emerita)
> Jean (Law ’80) & Stephen Moore > Joseph (Law ’59) & Nancy Mueller > Margaret Murphy (A&S ’69, Grad Ed ’70)
> The Hon. Clifford Proud* (A&S ’67, Law ’72) & Miriam Proud
> The Hon. Terry (Law ’81) & Mary Ellen Gould
> Bernard Purcell (Chaifetz ’61, Grad Ed ’69)
> USDC Eastern District of Missouri > The Hon. Lisa Van Amburg (Law ’75) & Ted Zlotopolski > Sidney D. Watson (Faculty) > The Hon. Robert (A&S ’70, Law ’73) & Maxine Weis > Robert (Law ’55) & Rosalee Welling > Harry (Law ’74) & Ann Wilson > Lisa Wood (A&S ’84, Law ’89) & James Williams > Colleen (Law ’13) & Capron Zern
> Michael (Chaifetz ’67, Law ’70) & Mary Reap > Kathryn Redmond (A&S ’09, Law ’19) > John (Law ’70) & Regina Reiley
> The Hon. Teresa (Law ’82) & Philip Hess
> John (Chaifetz ’78, Law ’82) & Maureen (Med ’82) Riffle
> John (A&S ’72, Law ’75) & Jean Hilton
> Christine (Law ’96) & Chad Rollins
SLU LAW BRIEF
> The Michael Calvin Memorial Golf Tournament Foundation
> Emil (Chaifetz ’48, Law ’52) & Neola Poertner
> Amanda Goldsmith (Grad A&S ’07, Law ’07)
30
> Caitlin Trevillyan (Chaifetz ’11, Law ’14)
> Dennis (Law ’69) & Sheryl O’Connell
> Pecha Family Foundation
> Mark (Law ’76) & Janet Hassakis
> Joseph (Law ’77) & Cynthia (Grad SW ’76) Thornton
> Timothy (Law ’78) & Deirdre (A&S ’80) Noelker
> Janice (Grad PH ’79, Law ’79) & William Forsyth
> James (Law ’72) & Dudley Grove
> Kenneth Teasdale
> Russell (Law ’76) & Darla Nekorchuk
> Roger (Chaifetz ’89, Grad Chaifetz ’93, Law ’93) & Dianne Pecha
> Greensfelder Hemker & Gale PC
> Mary Stohr
> Sean Murphy (Law ’08)
> Patrick (Chaifetz ’66, Law ’69) & Thiem Flynn
> Jesse Goldner (Faculty Emeritus) & Judy Cromwell (Law ’74)
> The Hon. Karen Schreier (A&S ’78, Law ’81) & Timothy Dougherty
> Lori (Law ’83) & David Jones
> Miriam Cherry (Faculty)
> Dennis (Law ’85) & Maritza Dolan
> Suzanne Schmitz (Law ’81)
> Paul (Law ’79) & Elizabeth (Law ’81) Shay
> Theodore (Law ’77) & Joyce (Law ’77) MacDonald
> Doreen Dodson (Law ’74) & Dana Spitzer
> Thomas (Law ’75) & Jane Schmidt
> William (Faculty) & Kathleen Johnson
> Thomas (Law ’72) & Victoria Challis
> Lanny (Law ’90) & Gigi Darr
> Stanley Schechter (Law ’61) & Elizabeth Van Uum
*Indicates deceased
CLASS NOTES THROUGH MARCH 31, 2021
Due to space constraints, The Brief can no longer publish St. Louis Magazine’s Best Lawyers listings.
1973 Kevin F. O’Malley, former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland, joined the Mediator and Senior Arbitrator Panels of United States Arbitration & Mediation (USA&M), the leading provider of mediation and arbitration services.
1974 Tracy G. Mehan was appointed to the board of directors of the River Network, a national environmental organization. Mehan is executive director of government affairs for the American Water Works Association. Robert Spohrer was named the Jacksonville Lawyer of the Year - Insurance Law in the 2021 edition of Best Lawyers in America.
1975 Hon. Lisa Van Amburg, former judge for the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Eastern District, received the 2020 Missouri Bar President’s Award for her service to the bar during the COVID-19 pandemic.
1977 Amy S. Rubin, a partner at Fox Rothschild LLP in West Palm Beach, Florida, was named a Distinguished Leader by the Daily Business Review. The publication’s list highlights Florida attorneys who “achieved impressive results and demonstrated valuable leadership skills.” Rubin oversees the nationwide litigation efforts for Wells Fargo, taking the lead in complex trials in Florida and supervising litigation handled by her colleagues in 26 other Fox offices.
1978 Timothy F. Noelker was appointed general counsel of the Peace Corps by the White House. His tenure began March 30, 2020. Noelker was previously
general counsel and White House Liaison at the Corporation for National and Community Service. Thomas Weaver, partner at Armstrong Teasdale LLP, was named an honoree to the 2021 POWER List of Appellate Attorneys by Missouri Lawyers Media.
1979 Gregory R. Smith, partner at Husch Blackwell LLP, was named a 2021 “Law Firm Leader” by Missouri Lawyers Media.
1980 Theresamarie Mantese and Gerard V. Mantese (’82) were part of a team representing a putative class of 80,000 children and teens on Medicaid assistance in a class action alleging systemic deficiencies in the provision of mental health care. Their firm, Mantese Honigman, P.C., helped achieve a historic settlement with the State of Michigan, which has signed an interim agreement, obligating the state to make significant, systemic improvements to the delivery of mental health care to thousands of children receiving Medicaid assistance.
1981 Margo Green was selected as an arbitrator for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) in 2019. Green retired from Green Cordonnier & House in 2014. Sarah Shelledy Pleban, sole practitioner in the area of family law, received the 2021 Dudley C. Dunlop Distinguished Service Award from the St. Louis County Bar Association. Erich Vieth was named an honoree to the 2021 POWER List of Appellate Attorneys by Missouri Lawyers Media.
80,000 children and teens on Medicaid assistance in a class action alleging systemic deficiencies in the provision of mental health care. Their firm, Mantese Honigman, P.C., helped achieve a historic settlement with the State of Michigan, which has signed an interim agreement, obligating the state to make significant, systemic improvements to the delivery of mental health care to thousands of children receiving Medicaid assistance.
1983 Jane E. Hosmanek Kaiser, writing as Seelie Kay, recently published her sixteenth novel, Martimus. Lori Jones of Thompson Coburn LLP was named the 2021 St. Louis Lawyer of the Year — Employee Benefits by Best Lawyers in America. Hon. Ronald Motil was appointed associate judge of the Third Judicial Circuit, Madison and Bond Counties, Illinois.
1984 Elizabeth Connelly, executive vice president and wealth advisor of Krilogy, was named to the 2020 List of the Top 100 St. Louisans You Should Know by St. Louis Small Business Monthly.
1985 Thomas J. Magee, partner at HeplerBroom LLC, was named St. Louis Lawyer of the Year - Professional Malpractice Law in the 2021 edition of Best Lawyers in America. T. Michael Ward, managing principal at Brown & James, P.C., and chair of its appellate practice group, was named an honoree to the 2021 POWER List of Appellate Attorneys by Missouri Lawyers Media.
1982 Gerard V. Mantese and Theresamarie Mantese (’80) were part of a team representing a putative class of VOLUME 21 ISSUE 2
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CLASS NOTES 1986 Stephen R. Woodley of Gray, Ritter & Graham, P.C. was named the 2021 St. Louis Lawyer of the Year— Personal Injury Litigation-Plaintiffs by Best Lawyers in America.
1987 John Godar, associate general counsel of AnheuserBusch, received a 2020 In-House Counsel Award Public Company from Missouri Lawyers Media.
1988 JoAnn T. Sandifer was named an honoree to the 2021 POWER List of Appellate Attorneys by Missouri Lawyers Media.
1990 Stephen Daiker joined Harrison & Held, LLP as partner. He focuses his practice on estate, gift and income tax planning for high net-worth individuals, charitable planned giving, and succession planning for owners of privately-held businesses. James G. Milles, professor at University at Buffalo School of Law, was appointed vice dean for undergraduate studies, responsible for directing the law school's undergraduate B.A. and minor in law.
1991 Mary Frontczak, chief legal and administrative officer and corporate secretary at Compass Minerals, received a 2020 In-House Counsel Award - Public Company from Missouri Lawyers Media. Ned Randle recently had two novels published: Down Cemetery Road, released in February 2020 by Cervena Barva Press, and St. Michael Poker & Drinking Club, released in March 2020 by Regal House Publishing. Dale A. Righter, an Illinois State Senator for 23 years representing the 55th District, stepped down from that position in January and became sole owner and operator of the Law Offices of Dale A. Righter, LLC. E.W. (Gentry) Sayad returned to the U.S. after living in China for more than 15 years and has opened a new law practice out of St. Louis, Sayad & Associates, LLC, specializing in international law and business consulting. Sayad's experience in U.S. commercial law and litigation, including handling international transactions, global market-entry and market strategies, FCPA and compliance issues, 32
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intellectual property, dispute resolution and Asia in-bound and out-bound investment, will be a large focus of the new practice.
1996 Andrew B. Shanfeld joined Capes, Sokol, Goodman & Sarachan, P.C. as counsel in the Business and Real Estate practice groups.
1992 Grant Chapman was appointed the associate provost for international programs at Kansas State University, where he is responsible for leading comprehensive internationalization efforts. He lives in Manhattan, Kansas, with his wife Kara (SLU grad alumna) and daughter. Tyrus R. Ulmer, chief counsel of The Boeing Company, received a 2020 In-House Counsel Award - Public Company from Missouri Lawyers Media.
1993 Andrés J. Gallegos was appointed chairman of the National Council on Disability by President Joe Biden as one of his first acts in office on Jan. 20, 2021. Joan M. Lockwood of Gray, Ritter & Graham, P.C. was named the 2021 St. Louis Lawyer of the Year–Product Liability LitigationPlaintiffs by Best Lawyers in America. She also joined the International Academy of Trial Lawyers as a fellow. Fellowship in the IATL is by invitation only after a rigorous vetting process that includes both peer and judicial review.
1994 Jeffery T. McPherson was named an honoree to the 2021 POWER List of Appellate Attorneys by Missouri Lawyers Media. Michael Vitale joined English Lucas Priest & Owsley LLP in Bowling Green, Kentucky, as an attorney and partner.
1995 Hon. Julia Pusateri Lasater was appointed by Gov. Mike Parson as associate circuit judge for the 21st Judicial Circuit. Tom Polcyn of Thompson Coburn LLP was named the 2021 St. Louis Lawyer of the Year–Copyright Law by Best Lawyers in America.
Peter Wimmer, executive vice president and general counsel of First Bank, received a 2020 In-House Counsel Award—Private Company with More Than $500 Million in Annual Revenue from Missouri Lawyers Media.
1997 Steven Dawson joined Harrison & Held, LLP as partner. His practice involves sophisticated trust and estate planning for closely held business owners, business executives, and other high net worth individuals and families. Thomas S. Grow joined Littler Mendelson P.C. as special counsel in its Memphis office. Grow joins from FedEx Express Corporation, where he served as a managing director of labor and employment law. He has extensive experience with contract negotiations, arbitrations and labor disruption advice.
1998 Hon. Thomas Clark was appointed to the Missouri Court of Appeals in St. Louis by Gov. Mike Parson. Timothy Sansone was named an honoree to the 2021 POWER List of Appellate Attorneys by Missouri Lawyers Media.
1999 Michael Hussey was named interim dean of Widener University Commonwealth Law School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Previously the associate dean for academic affairs, Hussey is also an associate professor of law and co-director of the school’s Business Advising Program. Bernabe A. Icaza joined the Tampa office of Carlton Fields, P.A. as senior counsel. He has more than a decade of in-house experience at large health care organizations, most recently serving as deputy general counsel at University of Florida Health Shands. He represents health care providers, including hospitals and physician group practices, in a variety of transactional matters. Icaza is a past chair of the Florida Bar Health Law Section and a past chair of the Florida Bar Health Law Certification Committee.
Bradley Stein was promoted to president of Intracorp Texas, operating out of Austin, where he oversees the real estate development firm's growth in the state and leads a multi-functional local team to develop properties.
2001 Nathanael Berneking, director of financial and administrative ministries, Missouri Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, received a 2020 In-House Counsel Award Nonprofit or Government Organization by Missouri Lawyers Media. Bradley Hansmann, principal at Brown & James, P.C., was named to the 2021 Benchmark Litigation “Local Litigation Star” list of top trial attorneys. Christopher A. Pickett, officer and chief diversity officer at Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C., received the 2021 Law Firm Leader award from Missouri Lawyers Media, for his effort to diversify the workplace. In February 2021, he was selected by the global network Meritas as one of six attorneys from across the U.S. to lead a new initiative — the Meritas Black Lawyers Forum — which will facilitate connections and mentorship and provide a discussion platform for Black lawyers to share their experiences.
2004 Sven Fickeler, senior corporate counsel at Bunzl Distribution USA, received a 2020 In-House Counsel Award — Private Company with More Than $500 Million in Annual Revenue from Missouri Lawyers Media.
2005 Clayton E. Gillette of The Accurso Law Firm was named an honoree to the 2021 POWER List of Appellate Attorneys by Missouri Lawyers Media.
2006 Halle L. Dimar, principal at Brown & James, P.C., was named to the 2020 Benchmark Litigation "40 & Under Hot List" of top trial attorneys. Donald McBride, officer at Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C., was named to the 2020 Benchmark Litigation "40 & Under Hot List" of top trial attorneys. Anne Lindner Saghir was named of counsel at Dysart Taylor Cotter McMonigle & Brumitt, P.C. She focuses on personal injury litigation and insurance matters, guiding businesses through all aspects of litigation and dispute resolution.
2002 Corey L. Kraushaar, principal at Brown & James, P.C., was named to the 2021 Benchmark Litigation “Local Litigation Star” list of top trial attorneys. Aaron L. Pawlitz, partner at Spencer Fane LLP, was recognized in the 2021 Best Lawyers in America list for corporate law. Alan Singer joined Harrison & Held, LLP as partner and CPA. He concentrates his practice in all areas of trust and estate planning and wealth preservation.
2003 Nalini Mahadevan, principal at MLO Law, LLC, was named to the 2020 Most Influential Business Women list by St. Louis Business Journal. Adam Randle, shareholder in Polsinelli’s St. Louis office, was named the 2021 St. Louis Lawyer of the Year—Trusts and Estates by Best Lawyers in America.
2007 Hon. Julia Koester was appointed associate circuit judge for the 32nd Judicial Circuit by Gov. Mike Parson. Kilby Cantwell Macfadden, assistant chief of the U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, was named a member of the 2020 “40 Under 40” class by the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin. Mariel Taylor became a named partner at Kamykowski, Gavin & Taylor, P.C., where she focuses her practice on the representation of health care providers in both litigation and non-litigation matters.
2008 Julie T. Bittner was promoted to equity partner of MWH Law Group LLP. Bittner works from the West Des Moines, Iowa office specializing in employment litigation and general civil litigation.
Candace Randle joined Perrigo Company plc as legal counsel, U.S. labor and employment. Paul Woody was selected as a party leader elected official (PLEO) delegate to the 2020 Democratic National Convention by the members of the Missouri Democrat State Committee and participated virtually. Woody is a member of the State Committee and of the St. Charles County Democratic Central Committee. Beyond his involvement with the party, Woody's public service also includes his work as one of five commissioners on the St. Charles County Convention and Sports Facilities Authority.
2009 Jessica Bell was promoted to partner at Heyl, Royster, Voelker & Allen, P.C., where she focuses her practice on the defense of insurance clients and employers in workers' compensation matters. Brian Connolly joined Hawkins Parnell & Young, LLP. He focuses his practice on defending businesses and property owners in litigation stemming from product liability, personal injuries, and occupational exposures to toxic substances such as asbestos, silica, diacetyl and other chemicals. Casey Wong of Sandberg Phoenix & von Gontard was named a 2021 honoree of the Diversity and Inclusion Awards by Missouri Lawyers Media.
2010 Stephen Angelette was elected to shareholder at Polsinelli and is part of its Health Care Alignment and Organizations Practice Group. He also was inducted into the Dallas Regional Chamber’s 46th class of Leadership Dallas, a program that serves as an opportunity for aspiring leaders to continue their professional development and cultivate a commitment to serving the community. Mark Falkowski was named general counsel at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri.
2011 Lindsay Leible Combs was promoted to partner at Carmody MacDonald P.C. Combs concentrates her practice in general civil litigation.
Daniel R. Garner, officer at Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C., was named to the 2020 Benchmark Litigation "40 & Under Hot List" of top trial attorneys. VOLUME 21 ISSUE 2
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CLASS NOTES Justin U. Ijei of Rasmussen Dickey Moore, LLC, was named a 2021 honoree of the Diversity and Inclusion Awards by Missouri Lawyers Media. Lindsey (Rendlen) Latzke joined US Foods, Inc. as senior counsel, field operations. She previously practiced for several years with the firm Littler Mendelson, P.C. handling class and collective actions, mass arbitration and single-plaintiff matters. Brooke Smith was appointed assistant city manager of University City, Missouri. She will assist the city manager on a range of housing, infrastructure and development projects.
2012 Julie Hellmich was elected to partner at Thompson Coburn LLP in the St. Louis office. She represents clients in mergers and acquisitions and sophisticated securities offerings and offers advice on a wide range of corporate matters. Brendan A. Smith was promoted to shareholder at Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC, in the Alton, Illinois, office. Smith focuses his practice on pharmaceutical, medical device and sexual abuse litigation.
2013 Ashley N. Harrison was elected partner at Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P., in its Kansas City office. She focuses her practice on business litigation for the food, beverage and agribusiness industry, among others.
2014 Julie LaVille Hamlet was elected shareholder of Foster Swift Collins & Smith, P.C., practicing from the Grand Rapids, Michigan, office as a member of the health care and employee benefits practice groups. Hamlet advises health care providers on a wide range of regulatory issues and assists businesses with the design and implementation of qualified retirement and welfare benefit plans to ensure compliance with ERISA and relevant IRS requirements. John G. Willard was promoted to partner at Armstrong Teasdale LLP. Willard is a banking and restructuring attorney in the firm’s Financial and
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Real Estate Services practice group and focuses his practice on representing domestic and international financial institutions, as well as corporate borrowers, in financings across a variety of industries.
2016 Tyler Winn, associate general counsel at AnheuserBusch, received a 2020 In-House Counsel Award — Rising Star from Missouri Lawyers Media.
2017 Peter P. Fiore joined Summers Compton Wells LLC as an associate in the litigation department. Fiore’s background is in the fields of toxic tort, product liability, cannabis law, premises and retail liability, business litigation and professional malpractice.
2018 Luke D. Jackson joined Lewis Rice LLC as an associate. In his practice, he represents clients in a range of legal fields, including securities and financial services, complex commercial litigation, class action and labor and employment matters. Kannon Moore, alongside his fellow co-founder of the nonprofit Texas Poverty Law Projecttwas the defense attorney in the country's first virtual criminal jury trial that took place in Austin, Texas, which was viewed by more than 10,000 people. There were two questions put to the jury: (1) was the client speeding and (2) was she speeding in a construction zone. The verdict was guilty and not guilty, respectively. Sabrina Marcos Smith joined Lippes Mathias Wexler Friedman LLP in Jacksonville, Florida, as an associate with its litigation team. She represents individuals and businesses in various business and commercial litigation matters including breach of contracts, corporate disputes and fraud disputes. Alexus Williams of Lewis, Brisbois, Bisgaard & Smith, LLP was named a 2021 honoree of the Diversity and Inclusion Awards by Missouri Lawyers Media.
2020 Michael Crawford joined Lewis Rice LLC as an associate. He practices in the firm’s Corporate Department helping clients navigate mergers and acquisitions, corporate formation and restructuring, regulatory compliance, commercial real estate transactions, and corporate and commercial contract issues Jessica A. Gottsacker joined Danna McKitrick, P.C. as an associate. She represents business owners and individuals in matters relating to business transactions and in civil litigation, business litigation and fiduciary litigation. Alex Parker joined Carmody MacDonald P.C. and its litigation team with a focus in the firm’s homeowner and condominium associations practice.
Kayla I. Solomon joined Capes, Sokol, Goodman & Sarachan, P.C. as an associate in the Litigation practice group.
IN MEMORIAM
IN MEMORIAM Mr. James Cullen 1948
Mr. John M. Moellenberg 1963
Mr. Joseph Webb 1974
Mr. John W. Waller Jr. 1948
Mr. William “Jerry” Garvey 1963
Ms. Jeanette Ganousis 1975
Mr. George R. Wilhoit Jr. 1948
Mr. Thomas P. Meade 1964
Mr. Mark F. Haywood 1975
Mr. Robert Hoehle 1950
Hon. Jack Buechner 1965
Mr. Archie Lawrence 1975
Mr. Maurice “Maury” Bone 1951
Mr. Christopher Kearns Reid 1965
Hon. John Russell Essner 1976
Mr. Eugene K. Buckley 1952
Mr. Gregory B. Vatterott 1966
Mr. Edward John Cadieux 1978
William L. “Bill” Pannell 1952
Mr. Joe Krebs 1967
Mr. William “Bill” F. Brighoff, Jr. 1979
Mr. James “Jim” P. Mannion Jr. 1955
Mr. Ronald “Ron” O. Heier 1968
Ms. Susan Therese Ryan-Haupt 1979
Mr. Rudolph Stippec 1955
Mr. J. Daniel “Dan” Reiley 1970
Mr. Charles “Ed” Brown IV 1987
Mr. Earl Vuagniaux 1956
Mr. Edwin John Apenbrink 1971
Mr. James F. McCartney 1988
Mr. George A. Hrdlicka 1957
Mr. Douglas A. Jones 1971
Mr. Kimble Hale Scott 1988
Mr. Robert A. Smith 1957
Mr. John “Jack” T. Boese 1972
Mr. Patrick Francis Andre 1989
Mr. Robert M. Evans 1958
Mr. Vincent J. Mottoi 1972
Ms. Barbara S. Barrett 1990
Mr. Charles E. Hamilton 1960
Hon. Clifford John Proud 1972
Ms. Cathy Schainblatt 1996
Hon. Lawrence Cullen 1963
Mr. Julian “Jack” C. Carey 1974
Mr. Adam Matthew Eades 2013
STAY IN TOUCH!
To update your contact information, visit slu.edu/alumni. To submit a class note, email brief@law.slu.edu. VOLUME 21 ISSUE 2
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John “Jack” T. Boese 1947-2020 John “Jack” T. Boese, age 73, of Reston, Virginia, died Nov. 26, 2020. Boese, a nationally recognized expert on the False Claims Act, was of counsel to the Washington, D.C., office of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP. He joined the firm after five years in the U.S. Department of Justice, and he remained there in a variety of roles for 42 years. 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, and testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on proposed amendments to the FCA. He lectured frequently to private and public groups on civil and criminal fraud issues and taught classes at several law schools.
Though he graduated from SLU LAW in 1972 and moved to the D.C. area shortly thereafter, Boese remained a close and generous friend to the school and to the Center for Health Law Studies. He mentored SLU LAW students, made D.C. connections for the health law program, and came back to his hometown of St. Louis often to visit family and give talks; he was the last person to hold a class in Scott Hall before the COVID-19 pandemic. Boese has been described as “a virtual contagion of joy” whose “energy knew no bounds” — a devoted father and husband, dedicated sports fan and golfer, and great legal mind who never failed to show respect for opposing counsel. He was inducted into the SLU LAW Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame in 2019. A scholarship has been established by his family in his name.
Eugene Kenyon Buckley 1928-2020 Eugene “Gene” K. Buckley, age 91, died Oct. 19, 2020. Buckley, a double Billiken, graduated from Saint Louis University School of Law in 1952 and was a lawyer for 68 years. He was of counsel at Buckley & Buckley, LLC and specialized in the areas of civil litigation, insurance coverage and insurance defense. He served as a mediator in civil cases in state and federal courts; lectured extensively on trial practice, appellate practice and civil procedure; and co-authored the book Missouri Evidentiary Foundations. Buckley was a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers and the recipient of numerous awards, including the St. Louis Lawyers Association Award of Merit, the St. Louis
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County Bar Association Distinguished Service Award, and the Missouri Bar Foundation Purcell Professionalism Award. Known as “the lawyer’s lawyer” and described by a friend as “like Halley’s Comet — a once-ina-lifetime kind of guy,” Buckley was considered an icon in the St. Louis legal community who loved the University and the law school. He was unanimously selected to be in the inaugural class of SLU LAW’s Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame but politely declined, maintaining that being a lawyer was an honor in and of itself. All five of his children followed in his footsteps in attending SLU, and four also graduated from SLU LAW.
K C A B G N I V I G F O C US O N 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 donor who has been a loyal supporter of the Margaret W. Dagen Public Interest Fund.
GRANT BOYD (A&S ’10, LAW ’14) ATTORNEY, O’BRIEN LAW FIRM, P.C., ST. LOUIS WHY DO YOU GIVE TO SLU LAW? I give to SLU LAW because of the opportunities that it provided for me. I want to make sure that other students have access to the same opportunities that led me to where I am in my career. WHY DO YOU SUPPORT THE IRVIN AND MARGARET W. DAGEN PUBLIC INTEREST FUND? The Irvin & Margaret W. Dagen Public Interest Fund is important to me because of how it supports usually unpaid internships. The rewards and benefit of doing public interest work was so significant to where I am in my career that I want to do what I can to make sure students do not have to choose between following a passion and getting a paying job. The public interest work I was involved in during law school really shaped my career and was extremely rewarding. A lot of the time, those groups are helping people who have not felt heard or have needed help for a long time. I remember the gratitude from the people I was able to help and how having someone finally in their corner helped change their circumstances. WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE MEMORIES OF YOUR TIME IN LAW SCHOOL? Apart from the social events, my favorite memories are mostly based in the trial team. Being part of a competitive team was something I missed after my hockey career ended. The trial advocacy team fit squarely with what I was missing: competition combined with skills and a performance element. Going to competitions and hanging out with the other team members are both things that I will never forget. It was truly some of the best times. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE CLASS, OR WHO WAS YOUR FAVORITE PROFESSOR? I do not think I would hear the end of it if I did not give Professor Tom Stewart the credit he deserves. Professor Stewart truly cares about his students, their goals and their skills. He wants to help create lawyers who excel at the practice of law. He also had an instrumental role in shaping who I am as an attorney, advocate and person. I’m now lucky enough to work alongside him at The O’Brien Law Firm, where I not only get to continue to learn from him, but also try cases with him.
WHAT ARE YOUR HOPES FOR TODAY'S LAW STUDENTS? My hopes for law students is that they pursue a career in law because they are genuinely passionate about it and they then follow that passion. A career in law can be incredibly fulfilling when you are using your skills toward something you are passionate about in life. Helping sexual abuse victims and victims of violent crime is something that is work for me but never feels like work. I want today’s law students to feel the same way about their future careers. WHY WOULD YOU ENCOURAGE OTHER ALUMNI TO SUPPORT SLU LAW OR GIVE BACK IN THEIR OWN WAYS? I would encourage other alumni to give back in their own ways. It does not always have to be money. Sometimes just taking time to mentor a student, take someone under your wing, or just be there for questions is something that is incredibly overlooked by the legal industry, but so valued and meaningful to the students. I would encourage alumni to invest in our current students, which will in turn pay dividends for the future landscape of the legal world. SLB
To learn more about how you can continue the legacy and support the School of Law, please contact: MICHAEL RUIZ Director of Development (314) 977-2818 michael.ruiz@slu.edu
Photo by Harry Boston
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SUPPORT THE LOYAL TO LAW ANNUAL FUND The Loyal to Law Annual Fund allows SLU LAW to address the greatest needs in Scott Hall, whether it’s faculty scholarship support or emergency student aid. Your investment will directly impact today’s most promising law students. Please consider joining us in advancing the mission of SLU LAW with a gift in any amount. Visit giving.slu.edu to learn more.
Find more information on this publication at: slu.edu/law/alumni/magazine
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