ON THE COVER Criminal Justice Reform & the Legacy of Professor Roger Goldman
DEAN
TWINETTE JOHNSON (JULY 1, 2024)
WILLIAM P. JOHNSON
SENIOR DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AND STRATEGY
JESSICA CICCONE
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
BRITTNEY ROSEBURROW
PHOTOGRAPHY
SARAH CONROY
AARON BANKS (14)
BRITTNEY ROSEBURROW
SPECIAL THANKS
ERIC BUTTERMAN
ANDREW CLARK
ADJOA AIYETORO (78)
THOMAS HARVEY (09)
WILLIAM JOHNSON
KEARNEY LIUZZA
STEPHEN PURO
HON. MICHAEL WOLFF
What an amazing time to be a law dean! I am thrilled, honored, but mostly humbled to serve as the next dean of Saint Louis University School of Law. I am not new to SLU or SLU Law. I came to St. Louis and SLU thirty-two years ago as a college freshman and in so many wonderful ways, I have never left. I am a two-time alumna of the University and began my legal academic career here more than twenty years ago. I am excited to return, as dean, to an institution that is strong, rooted in mission, and excellent at providing transformational legal education.
When I began my tenure as dean of SLU LAW, I immediately wanted to hone in on and amplify our law school’s points of pride. And let me tell you, there is so very much to be proud of at SLU LAW. We continue to attract the most talented students. This year, our law school increased its admission yield! In an increasingly competitive law admissions field, this is proof positive that students continue to find value in the SLU LAW experience and degree.
We also continue to attract faculty who embody the cura personalis mission in their teaching and who conduct impactful research. This year, we welcomed two new professors to our Center for Health Law Studies and will welcome a third faculty member later this school year who will lead our new medical legal partnership – a cutting-edge health care collaborative that embeds health care policy advocacy into patients’ treatment paths.
This is due to the work and commitment of the faculty, staff, students, alumni, and of course, my predecessor, Dean William Johnson. His leadership of this institution and unwavering devotion to justice guided SLU LAW through difficult times and has been the catalyst for many exciting changes. SLU LAW is stronger and more prepared to take on the challenges of the future. Within this issue, we have shared a recent Missouri Lawyers Weekly column written by Dean William P. Johnson. Please join me in thanking Dean Johnson for his leadership and wishing him well as he continues his journey with the University as the Vice President and Rector of SLU-Madrid.
Continuing with the theme of points of pride, this issue is dedicated to our beloved colleague, Professor Roger Goldman and his work in criminal justice reform. In addition to highlighting Professor Goldman’s legacy, we highlight two alumni who have made a lasting impact, Adjoa A. Aiyetoro and Thomas Harvey. I know their work, highlighted on these pages, will inspire you as much as it inspires me.
VOLUME 24 ISSUE 1
COPYRIGHT ©2024
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This year, we proudly celebrate 50 years of clinical legal education at SLU LAW. That is 50 years of serving the St. Louis community with direct legal services, 50 years of curricular innovation that brings the practice into the classroom, and 50 years of tradition where faculty connect their expertise with needs of the St. Louis community to effect meaningful change. SLU LAW will also celebrate its 100th year of American Bar Association accreditation. For this and many other reasons, SLU LAW is poised to grow forward, sustain its successes, and continue excelling into the future.
Lastly, thank you for the very warm welcome you all have given me. One of the things I learned quickly about SLU LAW is that its alumni are interested, invested, and integral to its success. As a law dean, that adds great excitement to this work – knowing that I have partners in this endeavor and true witnesses and testifiers to the value of the SLU LAW degree. I hope you will join me and the rest of the SLU LAW community in continuing the work of our great law school and ensuring that we are equipped to educate future generations of SLU LAW graduates into justice-minded lawyers who impact their communities in St. Louis, nationally, and around the world!
Sincerely,
Twinette Johnson Dean and Professor of Law
“When I worked for the National Labor Relations Board, which I did for a decade, we used to call those folks lovingly ‘heroes.’ They stood up knowing that a likely course of events was going to be that they would be harassed, coerced, intimidated and, perhaps, discharged at the end of the day.”
Michael Duff, professor, William C. Wefel Center for Employment Law, quoted in the Wall Street Journal article “The UAW Beat Detroit. Tesla Will Be a Different Beast”
The ban on SNAP benefits for people with drug convictions can be considered a “double punishment” for these individuals who not only serve time for their crimes, but also face persisting barriers after they are released from prison.
Helen Webster, 4th year dual degree law student, in a piece entitled “Repealing Missouri ban on food stamps for people with drug felonies would improve public safety” for the Missouri Independent.
Courts allow a party to proceed under a pseudonym or as an anonymous person in some instances, “but that’s somewhat constrained. The Supreme Court hasn’t fully fleshed out how lower courts should assess the issue. There’s a presumption that all of the information about a case ought to be public.”
Marcia McCormick, professor and director of the William C. Wefel Center for Employment Law in a Bloomberg Law article entitled, “Pfizer Ruling Threatens Legal Tactic Behind Diversity Challenges”
One thing that people don’t really realize is that we don’t just have one election day, we have 50 election days, 51 including D.C. that all happen at the same time with all different rules. And that is a feature of the U.S. Constitution which does delegate authority to the state to run elections. But also when you have some states that make it much harder for people to participate that is a function of the U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to robustly protect voting rights under the U.S. Constitution.
Josh Douglas, professor, visiting professor and faculty member of the Rosenburg College of Law at the University of Kentucky speaking as a guest on the SLU LAW Summations podcast episode “The Future of US Elections in Unprecedented Times”
“I have laid out the scriptural basis for worker justice, theological statements from various Christian faiths including the Roman Catholic Church, so you will understand more fully why I find the hypocrisy of supposedly religious institutions, and specifically Christian institutions, treating their workers badly and punishing their organizing, to be absolutely reprehensible.”
Rev. Dr. Theresa Danieley, St. Louis and Kansas City Champions Organizer with Missouri Jobs with Justice and keynote speaker for the “Revisiting Religion in the Struggle for Workplace Justice” symposium sponsored by the William C. Wefel Center for Employment Law and the Saint Louis University Law Journal.
Twinette Johnson named the next permanent dean of SLU LAW
In April, Saint Louis University Provost Michael Lewis named Twinette Johnson, dean and professor of law at University of District Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law, to succeed Dean William P. Johnson as the next permanent dean of the School of Law. She began her tenure on July 1, 2024. Johnson holds a Ph.D. in public & social policy from Saint Louis University, a J.D. from Tulane University School of Law, and a BA in English literature from Saint Louis University. She began her academic career at the Saint Louis University School of Law over 20 years ago, when she served as the associate professor of legal writing, associate director of bar preparation programs, and also briefly serving as interim director of student activities and leadership. After SLU LAW, she moved on to Southern Illinois University at Carbondale where she served as an associate professor of law and director of academic success. The next issue of the Brief will profile Dean Johnson.
Matthew Braun joins the faculty as the director of the law library
Matthew E. Braun joined the School of Law in August 2023 as Director of the Vincent C. Immel Law Library and Assistant Library Professor of Law. He most recently served as Senior Associate Director for Administration and Teaching Professor, Law Library, at the University
of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He has also served in the law libraries at the University of Iowa, the Library of Congress, and The George Washington University, and as adjunct faculty at The Catholic University of America. His teaching focuses on legal research, administrative law, and intellectual property law. He has served as President of the Mid-America Association of Law Libraries and as a continuing legal education instructor at numerous American Bar Association annual, midyear, and section meetings. He holds a J.D. from The Ohio State University, a M.S.L.S. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and is a member of the Ohio Bar.
Professor Jamille Fields Allsbrook named a Senior Fellow for the National Partnership for Women & Families
Professor Jamille Fields Allsbrook was named a senior fellow for health justice at the National Partnership for Women & Families (NPWF). In her role, Fields Allsbrook will collaborate with NPWF on research and making policy recommendations to the federal government, Congress, and private industry. The National Partnership for Women & Families is a national nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to make life better for women and families. Their vision is a just and equitable society in which all women and families can live with dignity, respect and security; every person has the opportunity to achieve their potential; and no person is held back.
Dean Belinda Dantley honored for her diversity, inclusion,
Belinda Dantley (’13), the assistant dean of diversity, equity and inclusion at Saint Louis University School of Law joined the faculty in 2019. This year, in recognition of her passion and dedication for her role, Dean Dantley was honored with a Missouri Lawyers Weekly Diversity and Inclusion Award. Award recipients are honored for their dedication to increasing diversity and inclusion in the legal profession. Dean Dantley was recognized for her work to assist others in their own growth process by expanding their horizons, creating and fostering spaces for inclusive learning and diverse viewpoints while training students, faculty, alumni and outside organizations and firms on a variety of topics including implicit bias, cultural competency, making spaces of equity and having difficult conversations around race, oppression and marginalization.
Lily Iler and Sydney Rempe represent SLU LAW in Geneva
On October 16, 2023, Saint Louis University law students Lily Iler (3L) and Sydney Rempe (3L), traveled to Geneva, Switzerland,
alongside Professor Lauren Bartlett to represent the Human Rights at Home Litigation Clinic at SLU LAW. They traveled to the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC), a treaty body of independent human rights experts from various countries around the world. The UNHRC reviewed the United States’ compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The Human Rights at Home Litigation Clinic advocates for the most vulnerable populations in the community. Students of the Human Rights at Home Litigation Clinic, alongside the Roderick & Solange MacArthur Justice Center, prepared a shadow report submitted to the UNHRC titled “Racism, Torture, & Deaths at the St. Louis City Jail”. Both Iler and Rempe had a once-in-a-lifetime experience in Geneva to answer the UNHRC questions about the shadow report submitted. They also attended Civil Society events to network with other human rights advocates.
Saint Louis University School of Law was featured on TaxProf Blog as being ranked 7th in the nation in a recent study identifying which law schools add the most value to ultimate bar passage rates for their students. The three-year study looked at the ultimate bar passage rate performance of 186 ABA-approved law schools for the period of 2017-2019. SLU LAW’s ranking reflects its overperforming predicted expectations for ultimate bar passage based on the undergraduate GPA and LSAT scores of incoming students. SLU LAW also recently posted its highest first-time Missouri bar passage rate in over a decade, with 94.6% of its first-time takers passing the July 2023 Missouri bar exam.
The SLU LAW Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Team competed this year in New Orleans. This year’s team brought back three plaques to St. Louis. Oralist Jacob Wells, Shane Haley, David Miller, and Gracie Ricci, all 3Ls, along with team researcher 2L Emily Seidl made it to the octofinals and received the 3rd best memorial out of 45 teams. Jacob Wells ranked top 17th oralist out of over 180 students. For the first time, this year’s competition was structured into only two national regionals, making the competition greater than ever. This year’s team was coached by Professor Paige Canfield and Professor Ira Trako (’11).
The 36th Annual Health Law Symposium was held on February 23, 2024 in Scott Hall. The symposium, title Race, Gender and Disability: Reimagining Controlled Substance Regulation in Health Care to Reduce Intersectional Harms, examined the ways in which
controlled substance laws and policies induce harm to individuals in need of appropriate health care. Speakers included Alice Abrokwa of the Harvard Law School Project on Disability, Valerie Blake of West Virginia University College of Law, Danielle Pelfrey Duryea of Boston University School of Law, Jennifer Oliva of Indiana University Maurer School of Law, and others. Center Professors Jamille Fields Allsbrook and Michael Sinha were also among the speakers who addressed specific areas of inequity and discrimination and offer approaches to reduce existing harm from current law and policy and its implementation. More information on the symposium can be found at slu.edu/law/health.
This year’s William C. Wefel Center for Employment Law and Saint Louis University Law Journal symposium was titled Revisiting Religion in the Struggle for Workplace Justice. The symposium held on March 1, 2024, featured Rev. Dr. Teresa Danieley as the keynote speaker. Other speakers included James Giordano Drake of Indiana University, Dallan Flake of Gonzaga University School of Law, Chaumtoli Huq of The City University of New York School of Law, César Rosado Marzán of the University of Iowa College of Law, Stefan McDaniel of the University of Norte Dame Law School. The symposium focused on stories at the intersection of religion and Worklaw where conservative Christian claims of exemption from a variety of laws designed, mostly, to provide minimum standards to protect vulnerable workers.
This year’s Millstone Memorial Lecture featured Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and book author Tony Messenger. Messenger is the metro columnist for the St. Louis Post Dispatch. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for his series of columns on debtor’s prisons in Missouri. In the lecture, he discussed his book, “Profit and Punishment: How America Criminalizes the Poor in the Name of Justice.” The Millstone Memorial Lecture is named in honor of legendary St. Louis Post Dispatch reporter and editor James C. Millstone. Millstone covered the U.S. Supreme Court and the civil rights movement in the 1960s before serving as assistant managing editor for news at the Post Dispatch until his death in 1992.
slulaw Congratulations to our very own Mariajose Ortiz! Having missed the Missouri Bar swearing in ceremony, she was personally sworn in by SLU LAW dean emeritus, the Hon. Michael Wolff. MJ recently joined the law school as the assistant director for international students. We are very proud!
394
slulaw We are so proud of our community for coming out in support public interest at SLU LAW. The annual PILG auction supports our students who work each summer in public interest internships. A special thanks to PILG president Clara Wilson, Assistant Dean of Students Christine Self (first pic), the PILG e-board, and all those who put in so much time and effort to make last night a success.
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slulaw Human Rights at Home Litigation Clinic students Lily Iler and Sydney Rempe on a once in a lifetime experience with Professor Lauren Bartlett. The pair joined a consortium of human rights organizations to give comments on the conditions in the St. Louis City Justice Center before the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva, Switzerland. You can support their experience through the link in the bio and follow along on their journey in the stories. We are so proud of their work!
slulaw Rising 2L Kendra Herring (second from right) is taking over the SLU LAW Instagram today. Kendra is part of the group of students participating in the Summer Law Program in Madrid. You can follow along as Kendra takes us from class to culture and all the exciting things in between, including the law alumni events taking place on SLU’s Madrid Campus. Kendra and her classmates are pictured here during a visit to the Spanish Constitutional Court.
slulaw Podcast: Did you miss our local legal tv news contributor discussing presidential immunity? Never fear we caught up with Prof Walker on a recent SLU LAW Summations episode. For the special SCOTUS series we also catch up with Professor Fields Allsbrook on the reproductive health care cases and Professor Liebesman on the trademark case. Link in bio or you can find all of the episodes on Apple podcasts.
@RobGatter · Feb 23, 2024
Dr. Fred Rottnek (@rottnekf ) says physicians need support to manage patients on chronic opioid therapy. Another great presentation @SLU_HealthLaw 36th Annual Health Law Symposium.
@SLULAW · Mar 1, 2024
We’re currently hearing from our Keynote Speaker Rev. Dr. Teresa Danieley. “I have seen the power of organized people and organized money make a change with real impact in people’s lives.”
@SLU_HealthLaw · Mar 26, 2024
Oral arguments at the Supreme Court this morning on the mifepristone ban and @SLULAW profs Michael Sinha ( @DrSinhaEsq) and Jamille Fields Allsbrook are on @kmoxnews discussing the facts.
@DrSinhaEsq · Mar 26, 2024
Thrilled to share that my @Health_Affairs Forefront piece (with 2023 @SLULAW graduate Grace M. Peterson) has been awarded the @SLUResearch @SLU_Official 2024 Junior Faculty Public Works Award!
@AfonsoSeixas · Apr 4, 2024
What a privilege to be invited to speak at ASIL with such distinguished speakers. Thank you @asilorg . Thank you @SLULAW and @SLU_LAW_CICL to make this adventure possible and for the investment on IHL.
@SLU_HealthLaw · Apr 9, 2024
Two @SLULAW students have recently published opinion pieces in local media. First up, Helen Webster argues in the @ MO_Independent that repealing Missouri ban on food stamps for people with drug felonies would improve public safety.
@LarsEtzkornLaw · Apr 10, 2024
Welcome @JohnsonTwinette to @SLULaw as our next Dean. When back in #DC, you are welcome always at #LarsEtzkornLaw in #AdamsMorgan. #Congrats @slualumni @SLUPresident
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If one thing is for certain, it is that Roger Goldman left an indelible mark on anyone who crossed his path. Whether you were one of his students, or his research partner, or a faculty colleague, a community member, or a staff member such as this author, who worked with Professor Goldman on countless media interviews, you will think back on your time with him and smile. If you had a chance to be the recipient of his brainstorming phone calls with his signature greeting “It’s Roger here”, then you can count yourself among the lucky.
If you are any one of those people, you will agree that we lost a great one last year when the Callis Family Professor Emeritus Roger Goldman passed away at the age of 82.
A beloved colleague and professor who served twice as interim dean, Goldman was known for his wit, advocacy, and ability to make people smile even discussing the most difficult of topics. Ever the cheerleader for those who knew him well, Goldman created longstanding connections across the University, the state, and the nation.
“Roger was a tall order,” said Stephen Puro, a political science professor at Saint Louis University and a longtime collaborator of Goldman’s. “He tried to encourage students to think carefully about social justice problems and how the law affects those social justice problems. And if the law does not affect those social justice problems, fairly, in what manner can the law or legal arguments be used. So that the law and the nation as a whole is a fairer place to a greater number of people.”
Goldman, the Callis Family Professor of Law Emeritus, was named faculty member of the year three times, served twice as associate dean and once as interim dean. He taught constitutional law, civil rights, and civil procedure.
“Because he saw the outrageous outlandish effects of police being able to exercise their authority outside of the Constitutional boundaries,” said Puro. “And he was first and foremost a constitutional scholar and he also was very alert to the people’s rights being endangered.”
Best known professionally for his scholarship and advocacy work regarding police decertification, Goldman worked for decades researching the issue of problem police officers who moved from city to city. Though a committed policing scholar, Goldman did not produce his scholarship for scholarship’s sake. Instead he sought opportunities to leverage his – and other’s – expertise to create a better, fairer, and more accountable future. He can be credited for legislation in 10 states that created registries and police decertification processes and dozens
more that strengthened existing laws since he began his work nearly 40 years ago.
“Roger Goldman’s scholarly work on police accountability had widespread impact because his analyses were well-reasoned and his solutions were practical,” said Goldman’s longtime colleague Dean Emeritus Michael Wolff. “Roger didn’t just publish and sit back and wait for admiring reviews. He persisted, making his scholarship into a movement that changed the laws as to police licensing and decertification in many states.”
Goldman was integral in such legislation in Missouri, which since its passing, has seen more than 1,000 problem police officers off the force. Following the deaths of Michael Brown and George Floyd and the nationwide attention on police procedure, Goldman actively worked with policy makers in Massachusetts and Hawaii to create centralized bodies tasked with decertifying law enforcement officers. As of his passing, all but two states have such regulations. Additionally, his work was referenced in President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing.
Of his lifelong dedication to this pursuit, Goldman once said to a group of students “What counts as public interest work needn’t be limited to litigating on behalf of individual clients. I view my role as working on behalf of the unknown client, who will hopefully never become a victim of a ‘repeat offender’ officer. The thought of the unknown client is what motivates me to keep going, pursuing decertification law state by state. And I’m in it until all the states have done it.”
Following Roger’s death, a group of colleagues, friends, and family began exploring ways to advance his careerlong work on police accountability and criminal justice reform. The law school has established The Goldman Fund. Donations to the Goldman Fund will be used solely for this purpose. Donation may be made by mentioning the Robert Goldman, J.D. Memorial Fund.
While these efforts are in the development stage, we expect to have the first conference at SLU LAW in the 2025-26 academic year. “We want to see Roger’s work through to the end,” said Wolff. “It is something that our community, and the entire country, needs towards real progress.”
To learn more about Saint Louis University School of Law’s plans to help further it’s mission, please visit law. slu.edu/alumni.
The Goldman Memorial Fund is a Non-endowed fund to accept gifts in memory of Roger Goldman and his legacy at SLU Law. Funds may be used for, but are not limited to, a lectureship or symposium and student awards in the areas of social justice, police licensure and reform, and constitutional law.
For more information on how to support the Roger Goldman, J.D. Memorial Fund, please contact Kearney Liuzza (Kearney. liuzza@slu.edu) or mention the Roger Goldman, J.D. Memorial Fund at the time of your donation.”
“Why are so many people sitting in prison? They shouldn’t be.”
Start with her premise and you get a sense of the career and concerns of Adjoa Aiyetoro.
The St. Louis native, who received her Juris Doctor from Saint Louis University in 1978 after receiving a Masters in Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis in 1969, has always combined the legal and the social in her goal to improve the lives of those many have forgotten.
“I was working as a social worker in the mental health program at Malcolm Bliss,” she recalls. “Our community had so many poor people and there were so many mental health issues and issues around housing and having insufficient money to take care of families. When I was a social worker, I worked in a system that allowed me to help people but I saw I could only do so much. I saw that becoming a lawyer would add a much needed tool to do more.”
When Aiyetoro graduated from law school, she very quickly was thrown into action as an attorney at the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. She joined to have a chance to work on mental health in part but she found prison issues were much more the focus of the job, eventually becoming a hallmark of her legacy.
Her first case was Ruiz v. Estelle, which, among its allegations, were prison overcrowding, and it ultimately led to changes in the Texas prison system. “Many corporate attorneys just out of law school then were doing more brief writing and drafting and didn’t get in court,” she says. “I was in court and I was also interviewing prisoners. I think it was so important that
I didn’t know what they did when I did the interviews. That’s in hindsight. If I knew what they did, I might have prejudged them. Remember, this case was about how they were treated, not proving their guilt or innocence. But the conditions she saw in many states throughout the country at times were difficult to deal with, Aiyetoro says. “I was an attorney on an Arizona case where mental health treatment was almost non-existent,” she says. “I have seen prisons with rats. Other issues with sanitation. You see prisoners not getting treatment for the silent killers, such as high blood pressure and diabetes. But one of the worst is solitary confinement for 24 hours a day. And, until someone successfully sued, not one hour outside. You can’t just put someone in that situation for a year or more and release them from prison. I saw that happen, too.”
“I know I have represented my share of people who did awful things, sometimes just terrible things,” she says. “But they still had rights as prisoners. They were losing time from their life, they were not able to make choices that all of us in society can make, whether to take a walk or go to a corner store. Just because they committed a crime or crimes, doesn’t mean that they are to be treated in an inhumane way. They broke laws but there are laws on how prisoners are supposed to be treated. People should remember that. Those laws need to be followed as well.”
Going on to the National Prison Project of the American Civil Liberties Union in 1982, she would expand on her prisoner rights work and continue with the organization until 1993. “Al Bronstein who headed up the National Prison Project expressed it very well about being in prison,” she says. “He said people go to prison as punishment, not for punishment.”
In 1993, she joined as the executive director of the National Conference of Black Lawyers. A major case she participated in was representing a member of the Black Panther party at a parole hearing, Geronimo jijaga, Aiyetoro says. He was convicted of homicide. “I was not able to get him out, though he was innocent,” she says. “I have great respect for the fact he could have admitted guilt, shown remorse and have gotten out sooner but chose not to. He stood his ground, no matter the personal cost, and won his freedom with the help of Johnnie Cochran. How can you show remorse for something you didn’t do?”
She also in 1993, and until her retirement in 2016, focused on teaching and working on reparations, the latter she still focuses on today in a volunteer capacity.
Aiyetoro would hold professorships at Washington College of Law, University of California, Berkeley, West Virginia University College of Law and her last stop at the William H. Bowen School of Law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock from 2004 to 2016, except for a year spent at the university as Director of the Institute on Race and Ethnicity. “My philosophy was always for students to see both sides of the issue,” says Aiyetoro, who now makes her home in Fairfax, Virginia. “It’s not about just knowing your case but you need to know your opponent’s case as well. If you just think about your side of the case, that will be a disaster.”
As Director of the Institute on Race and Ethnicity, she would lead a study that would be concluded after she returned to being a professor at the law school. “The study showed that race was the significant factor in the disparities found in the punishment for homicides,” she says. “It took it out of the anecdotal and I’ll admit I was shocked that the results of the study were worse than I thought. As a result a jury instruction was added concerning racial bias for civil and criminal cases.. It took a lot of hard work to do that study and I’m proud of what it has led to.”
Aiyetoro also served as the chief legal consultant from 1997 to 2002 for the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America and was a co-founding member of the organization. “I have been writing about and supporting reparations for a long time and and it’s good to see people are so much more engaged in it today,” she says. “People have different ideas when it comes to reparations but dialogue brings us closer. “My work on reparations goes to my core value, working to obtain justice for a major injustice.”
Just as she relished being a law professor, she values her own law school days as inspiring and critical to her success. “I had an opportunity to learn from so many
quality people,” she says. “They taught you how to think like a lawyer and there are people who graduate from law school who don’t. There is so much more to this than passing the bar.”
She remembered professors encouraging her and acknowledging her hard work and preparation, even one time in a way you wouldn’t think. “I remember being called on and it was really the first time I wasn’t prepared,” she says. “It was the last year where sometimes you don’t have the same energy. The professor said, ‘I can’t believe it. But you’re always prepared!’ It made me feel bad but also good because it was a compliment in there.”
She takes a moment then chuckles. “I still wish I would have been prepared.”
The late Roger Goldman, who was a Callis Family of Law Emeritus and a well-known police reform advocate, also was a support over the years.
“When I think about Roger, I think about his commitment and his consistency…” she says. “He was always supportive whenever I came to St. Louis and he embraced me as a former student of the school and I think he appreciated that we had similar commitments. He is one of those people who pushed the needle and his legacy will be one of a significant person who had a deep passion for fairness and decency in the criminal justice system.”
When she looks back on her career, Aiyetoro remembers injustice, she remembers suffering but she also sees hope. “The hardest part in my career was witnessing how cruel human beings can be to other human beings,” she says. “There are strides that have been made but there is so much more that needs to be done. We have to rethink the U.S. reliance upon incarceration as a punishment.” Some might be surprised how many prison wardens said to me how too many people are incarcerated. We need to give people a path to have a chance to live their best lives…Treat people like human beings and remember what that means.”
Thomas Harvey (‘09) is the co-founder of Arch City Defenders, a holistic legal advocacy organization that combats the criminalization of poverty and state violence especially in communities of color. He currently serves a dual role as the executive director of the California office of the Children’s Defense Fund and their National Litigation Strategist. We spoke with Harvey this summer about his passion for criminal justice reform and his experience at SLU LAW.
SLU Law Brief: What inspired you on your journey from law school to the founding of Arch City Defenders?
Thomas Harvey:
Like for most people, when you see injustice that’s really obvious and egregious you want to find something to do about it. And even before I had come to law school, I had been in a Ph. D program where we were reading about this and talking about these issues. And I’ve been exposed to some approaches to systemic analysis. When I came to SLU and worked in the law school clinics with Sue McGraugh as my professor in the criminal defense clinic, where you are going into the city courts and seeing almost all black men chained together. These men are without lawyers, being treated like they were not human beings, ignored by the judge, ignored by the prosecutor, derided by the bailiff.
And then my role as a third year law student in the public defenders office I got an exposure to the kind of situations most people found themselves in, like a real clear picture of the legal challenges they faced, obviously, but equally obvious was the non-legal challenges they were dealing with. Sort of getting my first understanding of the ridiculousness of the American bail system, and then also not lost on me that the public defender system was in crisis also given that they were assigning this responsibility to a third year law student to do these hearings, and then, seeing cops lie repeatedly in preliminary hearings. And just even when we were able to expose their lies and make it obvious to the judge, and then our client remained in jail, pretrial and the case continued so it was like kind of all at once, seeing and coming face to face with things I read about and studied. But then seeing sort of micro and macro versions of it in St. Louis City. And just beginning a whole conversation about what to do about those things, how to do it, how to be effective, whether being most effective means something on the local level, something on the national level. That’s really been, you know, the calibrations that I’ve gone through at Arch City and after Arch City Defenders.
SLU Law Brief: What is the biggest issue facing criminal justice reform today?
Thomas Harvey:
I don’t think we’re done with the fundamental core issues of reducing our society’s blindness or willingness to ignore the violence of the criminal legal system, and its depravations mostly to people of color, but to everyone. Certainly concentrated in St. Louis. But if you go into rural communities where it’s more white population, you’ll see the same thing. And what we inevitably see no matter where I’ve gone, is a focus on punishment, a focus on shame, a focus on imprisonment. And very little efforts made to invest robustly, in the kinds of things that we need to avoid contact with the legal system overall. That can be housing, treatment, jobs. Not just jobs but jobs that pay decent wages and provide health care. We’re not done with any of that.
SLU Law Brief: How did your experience at SLU LAW impact your career?
Thomas Harvey:
I had a great experience at SLU, especially in the clinics. And that was central to our formation and I am just happy that even though we have all moved on to other roles. Arch city is thriving and continuing to make an impact and we’re all just very proud and grateful for you know, the new leadership there, under Blake Stroud, and all the work that they keep doing. So. It’s such a great addition to the ecosystem of places that SLU law grads can intern at can work out whether they want to stay in St. Louis or go somewhere else.
Professor Goldman’s work was really important. I think more broadly, but also to us as new people coming into something and seeing it for the first time, you get this kind of inspiration driven by
After 12 years with the Saint Louis University School of Law — the final seven of them as dean — William Johnson will step down in the summer of 2024.
A Midwesterner with an international outlook, Johnson has spent much of his career teaching at home and abroad, first as an assistant professor of law at the University of North Dakota and, since around the time he joined SLU in 2012, also as a visiting professor at law schools in France, Germany and Lithuania. His courses are typically on international business and commercial law.
Johnson was a commercial transactions attorney before going down the academic path, and his research has been focused on addressing the challenging question arising when different bodies of law are relevant for the same international commercial transaction; in particular, he has become an expert in the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, CISG, which established the framework for much of the world’s bordercrossing commerce.
It appears Johnson, who has not announced what’s next for him, will
end his time as dean on a high note. First-time bar exam takers from SLU Law posted the school’s best results in more than a decade this year, with a passage rate of 94.6 percent for the July exam.
As a kid who grew up on a modest sheep and cattle farm in northern Minnesota, I had never met a lawyer or a judge until I started law school. Most of the kids in my rural community never considered college, much less professional or graduate school. And law school was not part of my imagination as a young person. But several classmates and university professors planted seeds over time that eventually germinated. For example, during an Italian class in which the students were required to debate an identified topic, I carefully built an argument the professor apparently found persuasive. She stopped the class, turned to me, switched to English and said, “Have you ever considered going to law school?” I was flattered and laughed but didn’t believe at the time that law school was in my future. Eventually, after working in higher education for a few years and starting my family, that changed. I took the LSAT, and I rather unexpectedly ended up in law school. It turns out that law has been quite a good fit for my skills
and interests, and I remain grateful to that professor and others who saw something in me I had not yet seen in myself.
Before becoming an academic, I practiced for six years with a large business law firm in Milwaukee. I focused my practice on commercial and corporate law and, in particular, on international business transactions. Now I teach courses in international business law and focus my research on distinctive challenges that arise when different bodies of domestic, foreign, and international law are potentially applicable to the same cross-border transaction. This international focus reflects a lifelong love. As a child, I was deeply interested in language and culture. I began studying languages other than English as soon as I was able to do so in my small-town high school, studying both German and Spanish in high school and German, Russian, and Italian in college. I learned everything I could about transnational law while a law student and studied abroad for one semester in law school. I then threw myself into international transactional work immediately upon joining the business law firm where I practiced, and I loved it. I was happiest when negotiating a transaction that involved multiple non-U.S. jurisdictions, with lawyers and clients across the table who spoke a language other than English as their first language. I continue to delight in that sort of international engagement today.
I frequently urge students to think back on the day they learned that they had been admitted to law school, when they suddenly knew that they would be given the extraordinary opportunity to begin a journey with the law. I ask them to remember how hopeful they were at that moment and to think about what it was that motivated them and that excited them about becoming a lawyer. I advise my students to cling to that excitement and motivation. I encourage them never to let go of those things about which the student is most passionate. The practice of law, while exhilarating and often highly satisfying, can be utterly exhausting and at times, even discouraging. But when we are focused on things that we love, things that we are passionate about, and things that motivate us, it can make all the difference. It has certainly made all the difference for me in my career.
is your biggest accomplishment this year? And what are your future plans after stepping down as dean?
Serving as dean for SLU LAW for the past seven years has been a dream. Until it unexpectedly happened, I never could have imagined that my career would bring me to this point or that I would have the opportunity to serve as dean for this amazing law school. The wonder I felt when first appointed has never disappeared, and my experience has filled me with gratitude for my entire tenure as dean — gratitude for the opportunity to serve, for my colleagues and our students, for the support of the bench and bar in this region, which has been really extraordinary, and for the calling that I feel to seek justice, especially racial justice. I am proud of the fact that SLU LAW has such a deep and meaningful commitment to justice in St. Louis, and many of us have worked hard to make that so. I am proud of the fact that SLU LAW has strong and deep ties with individuals and organizations in the region seeking justice. That has not happened by accident. There is still a great deal of work to do, but it is time to pass the baton to the next dean of this law school, and I am excited about the possibilities as we take steps to identify that dean.
As for me, my plans are still developing, but I know for sure that it will involve crossing more than one ocean, as I embrace that part of me that has enjoyed language and culture and international engagement since I was a child.
As a practicing attorney, one memory that stands out took place in the lobby of a hotel in a city in Central America at the end of an incredibly difficult week of negotiating that had resulted in almost no progress. Both sides in this hydroelectric power project, tired and frustrated, ended up together in the hotel lobby, enjoying cocktails and food and the hypnotizing sounds of live music, as two guitarists played Latin music softly in the background. The members of the group let down their guard temporarily. We got to know one another on a personal level. We shared photos. We told stories. We laughed. And a wall began to crumble. The very next day, the negotiations turned a major corner. There was still a great deal of negotiating to do, but that evening was the beginning of the progress that eventually led to closing that deal, and it was magical.
Due to space constraints, The Brief can no longer publish St. Louis Magazine’s Best Lawyers listings.
Gerald Ortbals received the 2023 Richard S. Arnold Award for Distinguished Service at the Eighth Circuit Judicial Conference in Minneapolis, MN. The award is based on professional excellence in his or her field; leadership in the legal community; significant contributions toward delivery of volunteer legal services to underserved members of the community; and recognition by peers. Ortbals retired from Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP in 20022 after a 50-year career as a litigator. He has been a leader in the community and very involved with organizations like St. Patrick’s Center, Loyola Academy, St. Vincent DePaul Society, Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, and served on the board for Mid America Transplant for 25 years.
Hon. Michael Shay published his 8th book, “The Whites of Their Eyes: The Life of Revolutionary War Hero Israel Putnam from Rogers’ Rangers to Bunker Hill”.
John Kilo was inducted into the 2024 Saint Louis University School of Law Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame. Kilo is a highly respected and skilled trial attorney with a reputation for fierce advocacy and unquestioned integrity. A collegiate athlete, he is an active philanthropist and supporter of his alma maters, CBC High School and Saint Louis University.
Bruce Robert was inducted into the 2024 Saint Louis University School of Law Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame. With an accomplished legal and business career, Bruce and his wife Jane have become well known for their philanthropic efforts which include the establishment of a School of Law scholarship and professorship that is currently held by Professor Sidney D. Watson.
Cary Sandman received the Jack Williams Appellate Award from the Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice for unprecedented achievements in capital appeals, successfully overturning several death sentences and securing freedom for Barry Jones and Haim Sharif after they served nearly 30 years on death row.
Fred Knapp was recognized for Lifetime Achievement by The New Jersey Law Journal in its New Jersey Legal Awards 2023. Fred leads the Alternate Dispute Resolution practice for Laddey, Clark & Ryan Attorneys at Law in Sparta, NJ.
Reuben Shelton received the University of Kansas Alumni Association’s Black Alumni Network Mike and Joyce Shinn Leaders and Innovators Award. The award is given to alumni for their contributions to the university, their profession, and their communities.
Erwin Switzer was inducted into the 2024 Saint Louis University School of Law Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame. Switzer is the general counsel for Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, PC. He previously served as chief counsel to the Missouri Attorney General from 19942005.
David Davis has been chosen as the new director of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) St. Louis District. Prior to joining the Commission, Davis served as chief counsel
of the Missouri Department of Social Services’ Administrative Hearings Unit.
Thomas T. Moga recently presented a series of intellectual property lectures at Can Tho University School of Law, Vietnam; and was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Association Internationale pour le Developpement de la Propriete Intellectuelle and was reappointed to the intellectual property group of the Industry Trade Advisory Committee of the Office of the US Trade Representative and the US Department of Commerce.
Countess Price was inducted into the 2024 Saint Louis University School of Law Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame. Price is a senior assistant general counsel in the Crop Science division of Bayer in St. Louis. She primarily manages the company’s products liability litigation but also has responsibility for various commercial and general business matters as well.
Angela Quigless was inducted into the 2024 Saint Louis University School of Law Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame. Judge Quigless has been a dedicated public servant for 38 years and currently serves as an appellant judge for the Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District.
Tim Wynes recently retired as the president of Black Hawk College in Iowa and received the 2023 Leadership and Service Award from Cornell College. The Leadership and Service Award is presented annually by the Alumni Association during the Homecoming Convocation. Recipients have demonstrated outstanding leadership in their careers or professions and their work has contributed to the betterment of their community and its citizens.
Michael Becker has been chosen to receive the 2023 Michael R. Roser Excellence in Bankruptcy Award. The award is given to an attorney who manifests the highest standard of excellence in bankruptcy practice, who contributes distinctively to the development and appreciation of bankruptcy law, and who has made an outstanding contribution to the field of bankruptcy practice or administration.
Peggy Finn named to the 2024 Titan 100 list which recognizes the top 100 CEOs & C-level executives. She is the CEO & Chairman of Stern Brothers & Co. The Titan 100 honorees are noted as the area’s most accomplished business leaders in their industry using criteria that includes demonstrating exceptional leadership, vision, and passion.
Colleen Vetter joined Littler as senior counsel in the St. Louis office. For over 30 years, Vetter has represented plaintiffs and defendants in state, civil, administrative and federal court in matters ranging from commercial contracts, real estate and construction workers’ compensation and class actions.
Eric Holland has been recognized as one of America’s Most Influential Trial Lawyers by both The National Law Journal and Trial Lawyer Magazine. America’s 55 Most Influential Trial Lawyers are the country’s top 55 U.S. civil plaintiff and criminal defense trial lawyers. The elite honorees were
evaluated and selected based on their exceptional professional achievements, demonstrated history of trial results, and ability to positively change the legal community.
Phillip Rothermich was named counsel at BakerHostetler’s Chicago office where he focuses on healthcare transactional work and related healthcare regulatory compliance, including mergers, acquisitions, affiliations, joint ventures and services arrangement.
Stephen Lowney was appointed as judge with the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara.
Thomas Grow joined Littler as a shareholder in the U.S. Labor Management Relations practice group.
Kristen Baracy was elected to partner at Tucker Ellis LLP. She assists clients in complex and routine business law issues. Her experience includes representing both privately held and public companies, where she has worked on public and private offerings of securities, compliance with rules and regulations enforced by the Securities and Exchange Commission, mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate matters.
John Howard joined the St. Louis office of Thompson Coburn as a partner. His health care practice is centered on advising health systems, large physician groups, health plans and health care executives on
a full range of regulatory, transactional and organizational issues.
Angela Quinn was named to the 2024 Titan 100 list which recognizes the top 100 CEOs & C-level executives. She currently serves as the Chief Client Officer for Husch Blackwell LLP. The Titan 100 honorees are noted as the area’s most accomplished business leaders in their industry using criteria that includes demonstrating exceptional leadership, vision, and passion.
Sara Stock was recognized by the St. Louis Business Journal as one of the Most Influential Business Women in 2023.
Kevin Buchek, president of Roanoke Construction, was recognized as a Champion for Diversity & Inclusion by the St. Louis Business Journal for his work redeveloping the Clinton-Peabody Apartments, one of the first public housing communities built in St. Louis.
Kelly Gillespie was named a SLU Research Institute Fellow for 2023-24. Scholars are chosen annually in recognition of scholarly accomplishments at the highest level of their field. Gillespie has also been named the next director of the Center for Health Law Studies.
Rita Kaur Cooper was named co-managing partner of the DC office of Hall Render Killian Heath & Lyman. She is the first woman of color to be an office managing partner of any Hall Render office. She is a member of the firm’s health section and serves as a co-leader of the firm’s compliance service line.
W. Tommy Smith was inducted into the 2024 Saint Louis University School of Law Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame class. In addition to his law degree, Smith
holds a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from St. Louis College of Pharmacy where he currently serves as dean.
Elizabeth Smith has been appointed Associate General Counsel of Mutual of Omaha. In her role, she provides legal guidance and expertise related to general contracting and corporate transactions.
2008
Lindsay Henry was elected a member of Dykema, a leading national law firm. She practices in the firm’s Chicago office and is in corporate finance where she advises financial institutions on the legal, operational, and regulatory challenges they face in a competitive and ever-changing financial services industry.
Peter LeBlanc, Jr. joined Lathrop GPM as counsel. He joins the Trusts, Estates & Legacy Planning Practice Group in St. Louis.
Emily Bardon has been named the head of the newly formed Design & Luxury (DeLux) Practice Group at Lewis & Rice. She counsels fashion, apparel and beauty brands on a variety of legal issues affecting them throughout their life cycles.
Christine Carney was promoted to vice president and general counsel for Copeland. In the role she supports $3.5+ billion in commercial revenue across the Americas region.
Blake Duren was elected Circuit Judge in Sauk County, Wisconsin Branch III on April 2, 2024. Duren has handled over 1,500 cases in Circuit Courts. He has courtroom experience with the types of cases this Judge will hear including homicide, sexual assault, OWI, divorce, child custody, and municipal law.
Christopher Fete was promoted to partner at Pinnacle Healthcare Consulting. He is a partner in the Physician Compensation Valuation service line, where he leverages healthcare, finance and legal expertise to provide strategic support for fair market value reviews of provider compensation arrangements.
Danielle Langeneckert was named to the 40 under 40 list in the St. Louis Business Journal for 2023. She is the vice president of integrated participant solutions for The Resource Group, a subsidiary of Ascension.
Christine Zinter joined Schwabe’s Portland office as part of the Healthcare & Life Sciences industry group. She handles employee benefit issues, including ERISA, the ACA, COBRA, state insurance laws, and IRS and/or DOL audits. She also assists with health insurance company and pharmacy benefit management operations, including Medicare audits, inquires from Boards of Pharmacy and state insurance regulators.
Thomas Chibnall has been promoted to shareholder in the St. Louis office of Ogletree Deakins. He represents management in a variety of labor and employment issues and is an active member of Ogletree’s Workplace Safety and Health Practice Group.
Peter Eggers was elevated to shareholder in Polsinelli’s Boston office. Peter focuses his practice on behavioral health law, health care mergers and acquisitions, and senior housing and long term care.
Jeanne Marie Evans was promoted to member in the Nashville office of Bass, Berry & Sims PLC. She focuses on mergers and acquisitions as well as regulatory, compliance, and operational issues for healthcare companies.
Rachel Schafer joined Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice as an associate. Her practice is focused on defending medical malpractice claims against heathcare providers.
Jaime Curry joined Danna McKitrick, P.C. as an estate planning and business law associate.
Michelle Meloche has joined the St. Louis office of Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice. Her practice is focused on defending medical malpractice claims against healthcare providers.
Alena Johnston joined Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice as an associate. Her practice is focused on premises liability, personal injury and insurance coverage.
Patrick Driscoll joined Romanucci & Blandin, LLC in Chicago. He is a member of the mass torts and civil rights legal teams where he works with those affected by police and prosecutorial misconduct, focusing on wrongful convictions and other serious violations of their rights, as well as wrongful death and a variety of catastrophic personal injuries in mass torts litigation.
Sara Rakowiecki joined Baker Sterchi as an associate attorney where she will focus on the defense of personal injury, premises liability and product liability cases.
THROUGH APRIL 4, 2024
Robert “Bob” Louis Sweney passed away Thursday, October 19, 2023. Robert leaves his beloved wife Maria D’Agrosa-Sweney and 11 children, 23 grandchildren and six great grandchildren. Bob, a native Saint Louisan graduated Saint Louis University A. B. in Economics, 1948 and J. D., 1951, George Washington University LL.M., 1954, Harvard Business School M.B.A., 1955. Bob joined the Bryan Cave Law Firm in 1955, he concentrated in banking law and continued that focus until he resigned as a Partner in December 1991.
Daniel O’Brien, a proud first-generation Irish-American who grew up in University City, passed away on January 24, 2024. He is survived by his children Michael, Terry, Kelly, David, Dan, and Margeret. Dan served as an attorney with the United States Air Force at Lockbourne Air Force Base in Columbus, Ohio. He was Assistant Prosecuting Attorney and Prosecuting Attorney in St. Louis County. He was a criminal defense attorney in private practice for 63 years. He graduated from Saint Louis University School of Law in 1954 and was admitted to the Missouri Bar in the same year.
Robert Thomas Hart, of Webster Groves, Missouri, passed away on August 9, 2023. He was preceded in death, by just two weeks, by his wife of 61 years, Janet. A triple Billiken, Bob attended Saint Louis University High School, Saint Louis University, and Saint Louis University School of Law. Bob practiced law for 60 years and loved being a lawyer and a judge. He was a voracious reader and the #2 patron of the Webster Groves Public Library, second only to his wife. He served on the Webster Library Board of Trustees for 3 years. Bob was proud to have recently received his 65 year pin as a Fourth Degree member of the Knights of Columbus.
Thomas Bennett Burkemper passed away on January 11, 2024 at the age of 83. He grew up on a dairy farm in Old Monroe, Missouri where he worked while pursuing his Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctor from Saint Louis University. He started his own firm, Burkemper Law Firm LLC, where he worked until the time of his death. With a specialty in real estate law combined with his deep comprehension of Lincoln County history, Tom applied his knowledge in both his legal practice as well as through his familyrun business, the Lincoln County Title Company. In addition to his private practice, Tom was civically involved and engaged in public service. In Lincoln County, he served as Lincoln County Prosecutor from 1966-1972, and later as County Counselor for over two decades. His public service extended to the state of Missouri where Tom was appointed and served on the Environmental Improvement and Energy Resources Authority (EIERA) for many years. Tom also served as a permanent Deacon in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, ordained in 1985, and retiring from active service as a Deacon in 2004. He was united in marriage with Ellen Eberhardt on November 20, 1965 and together they had four children.
Richard C. Nemanick, Sr., passed away on December 31, 2023. Beloved husband for twenty-four years of Linda S. Nemanick and father of Richard, Jeffrey and Eric Nemanick. Rich graduated from Normandy High School before attending the University of Missouri, where he graduated with his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in 1964. He received his Juris Doctorate from Saint Louis University in 1967, graduating Cum Laude and being admitted to the Order of the Woolsack and Gamma Pi Epsilon. Finally, he completed his Masters of Legal Letters from Washington University in St. Louis in 1979. He proudly served his country as a member of the United States Army Reserve Corps. Rich started as a Private and was honorably discharged as an E6 Staff Sergeant. In addition, he served his community as an alderman for the
city of Town & Country for eight years and was a commissioner for the police and fire commission. He spent his working years in the family business, first as vice president and later as president of The Lorvic Corporation, a dental products manufacturing company in North St. Louis County. He worked with his parents CJ and Kay, his sisters Sandra and Christine, as well as his brother-in-law Bob Stearns. He led Lorvic through years of incredible growth and his employees were like a second family to him.
Dennis O’Connell passed away on January 12, 2024. He attended Saint Louis University High School, the University of Notre Dame earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science, and a Juris Doctorate from Saint Louis University School of Law. He married Sheryl (Sherry) in 1969 and remained devoted to her until his passing. Denny spent 55 years in the practice of law, first with a commission in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps in the United States Army. After his discharge from active duty, he entered private practice with Evans & Dixon in St. Louis, while remaining in the U. S. Army Reserves until 1983. Denny joined Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner in 1977 where he spent the next 46 years as associate, partner, and senior counsel, and remained active in the firm until this death. He and his wife Sherry raised their family in Kirkwood, Missouri and were fixtures in the parish of Saint Peter’s Catholic Church, with Denny involved in the parish council, the PTA board, and coaching basketball. He will be remembered for his relaxed, friendly demeanor, his humility, and his unflappable manner.
Michael W. Reap passed away on June 23, 2023. Michael was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; then his family moved to Tampa, Florida, and St. Louis where he called his home. He attended St. Louis University High School, college and law school; he loved consistency and his Billikens. Upon graduation, Michael married the love of his life, Marbie (Riley), became a father, and started his legal career, all in one year. “Best year of my life!” he claimed. After a brief stint as a public defender, Michael moved to the other side and became a U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri. He truly loved being a U.S. Attorney, and would often say that when you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life. Michael served as a U.S. Attorney for forty years. On two separate occasions, Michael was the acting U.S. Attorney, and after forty years in the U.S. Attorney’s office, Michael retired as the First Assistant.
Barbeau Roy passed away peacefully on September 26, 2023. Barbeau is survived by his four sons: Beau, Brian, Sean, and Kevin and eight grandchildren and his partner Kathy Anttila, who renewed his capacity to love and find joy over the past 20 years. Barbeau was preceded in death by the first love of his life and wife of 29 years
Mary and three brothers. Barbeau grew up in St. Louis and was a proud graduate of both St. Louis University High School and Saint Louis University School of Law. He was a very spiritual man and often spoke to others about his journey of faith, whether recalling his days teaching Philosophy at SLU as a theologian during his decade of formation in the Jesuits or sharing his insights on mankind’s place in the universe according to The Urantia Book
Jon A. Theobald passed away unexpectedly on February 13, 2024. He grew up in Rochester, Minnesota and graduated from Saint Louis University School of Law in 1970. He then moved to Saint Paul, Minnesota where he began his distinguished 30 year career in the trust business. Jon’s vast experience led him to Mairs and Power in 2002, a Saint Paul company he steered through significant growth before his retirement in 2017. Jon loved his work, his community, and the organizations he championed: Northern Star Scouting, Saint Paul Kiwanis Club, F.R. Bigelow Foundation, and Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services. Jon was a member of the inaugural honoree class of the Saint Louis University School of Law Order of Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame.
Paul A. Kirk, of Springfield, Missouri passed away Thursday, July 20, 2023. He completed college in 1966 from Drury, after spending three years in the Army, based in Seoul South Korea, specializing in dentistry. He was then encouraged to attend law school, graduating from Saint Louis University in 1971, followed by his MBA in 1998, retiring in 2006. While participating in a collegiate volleyball game in 1969, he met his best friend, Dyanne and they married in 1970. To this union, four children were born. As a child, he remembered his interests in being a Cub Scout, so he continued as a volunteer in the scouting program for 33 years, achieving multiple awards with his ongoing dedication to the program. Son, Kevin became Life, Andrew and Erik were Eagle Scouts.
Kenneth David Bulter, of Duluth, Minnesota, passed away on August 8, 2023. He attended the University of Minnesota where he met his wife, Mary Sue Challas Butler, and was drafted to Vietnam and served with the 4/9 (Manchu), 25th Inf. Division as an RTO with Bravo Company. He graduated in 1973 from Saint Louis University School of Law where he was on law journal. He subsequently established a law career in Duluth and started his own solo practice in 2000. Ken was a talented writer who specialized in succinct legal briefs and excelled at attracting and solving absurd legal issues. He was a member of the Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Federal Bar Association. and at one point served as President of the St. Louis County Volunteer Attorneys Association, and Chairman of the Minnesota Client Security Board. He also regularly volunteered with the Minnesota-Assistance Council
for Veterans and the Legal Aid Service of Northeastern Minnesota. He was the 1985 Volunteer Attorney of the Year and a Minnesota Super Lawyer for several years running. Ken is survived by his wife and two children, Joseph and Molly, two grandchildren, siblings, and many nieces and nephews.
Richard Oertli / Class of 1976
Richard “Dick” Oertli passed away on May 27, 2023. Dick graduated from Princeton University in 1969. Afterwards, he joined the Marine Corps and honorably served his country. Later he obtained his J.D. at Saint Louis University School of Law in 1976. Dick practiced law for over 30 years at various law firms including Armstrong Teasdale in St. Louis, Missouri and Holme Roberts and Owen and Polsinelli Shughart PC in Denver, Colorado, before going into private practice in Evergreen, Colorado. Dick’s great love for the mountains and his Colorado lifestyle filled his life with satisfaction and happiness. The brotherhood of the Corp meant everything to him. He is survived by his brother Dr. Robert Oertli and numerous family members in St. Louis, Missouri. He is also survived by his children Hilary Von Rohr, Clayton Joseph Oertli, Danny Walker Oertli and Morgan Marie Oertli, as well as his beloved grandchildren.
Gene Overall / Class of 1980
Gene Overall passed away on August 21, 2023. He was preceded in death by his wife of 22 years, Dana. He is survived by his brother Ted, nephew James, and niece Deborah. Gene was a survivor of childhood polio. He never let his physical condition impact his dreams. Early on he demonstrated a healthy curiosity, a sharp wit and a keen mind. He enjoyed studying people, history and the law. He was an avid reader of the Smithsonian, National Geographic and the daily newspaper. He especially enjoyed comic strips and crossword puzzles. Gene graduated from Kennett High School and earned his B.A. in Sociology at Arkansas State University. After graduation he worked for the Parole Board in St. Louis for eight years. He graduated from Saint Louis University School of Law in 1980. Gene practiced law with St. Louis County and later served as the Sheriff of St. Louis County for ten years. He and Dana gave back to our community by writing wills and trusts for senior adults. He also taught Criminal Justice at Lindenwood University.
Anthony “Tony” Cipriano passed away on October 20, 2023. He was the beloved husband of Dorene and loving father of Dominic Cipriano. He graduated from Saint Louis University School of Law in 1985. He spent most of his career as an attorney with Cipriano and Heckmann PC.
Maureen M. Miller passed way on November 12, 2023. Maureen was an avid student acquiring multiple degrees including graduating; Cum
Laude from St. Louis University School of Law with a Juris Doctorate (JD), Summa cum Laude from Fontbonne University with a B.A. in Business, Spanish, and Accounting. She was a licensed Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and had a specialty in Auditing from the University of Missouri. Maureen practiced law for over thirty years. Her legal career focused primarily on business law, tax, and estate planning. She served as General Counsel at several companies in the St. Louis Regional Area and operated her own law practice for many years. Maureen’s education was not limited to traditional classrooms. As a devout catholic she grew her faith and that of her sons through her time with Ascension Catholic Church among others. Sharing her faith in Christ was one of her lifelong accomplishments and joys. Maureen also found solace and growth through her yoga practices. In 2022 she returned to Costa Rica with friends from her favorite studio, Detox yoga studio, for a rejuvenating weeklong yoga retreat. Maureen is survived by her adoring children, Matthew, Michael, and David Miller.
Eric William Evans passed away on July 7, 2023. He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and came to St. Louis to pursue his undergraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis and his law degree from Saint Louis University School of Law. He was a partner at Evans Blasi LLC in Granite City, Il. He was a member of the Illinois Bar Association, Missouri Bar Association, Missouri Athletic Club, and various other associations.
Andrés J. Gallegos, a 1993 Saint Louis University School of Law Graduate and the 2022 spring commencement speaker, died Friday, Dec. 1, 2023. He was 62. At the time of his death, Gallegos was the chairman of the National Council on Disability (NCD). The NCD is an agency that advises the president, Congress and the government on the variety of issues faced by people with disabilities. He was appointed to the Council on Feb. 7, 2018, by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and took his oath of office on Feb. 22, 2018. Before his law career, Gallegos spent 14 years with the U.S. Air Force. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Southern Mississippi with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. He then went on to earn his Juris Doctor from Saint Louis University School of Law. He returned to his alma mater in 2022 to deliver the spring ceremony’s commencement address. At the ceremony, he shared how he became a disability advocate and shifted his focus to disability law after a life-changing car accident in November 1996. The accident damaged his spine and resulted in quadriplegia.
Elizabeth Jane Hoyt passed away on May 17, 2023. She was born in Quincy, Illinois and graduated from Quincy High School. She went on to Barnes Hospital School of Nursing and worked Blessing Hospital in
Quincy before going back to school at the Nurse Anesthesia Program at Barnes. She spent the majority of her career at Missouri Baptist Hospital before going back to school to receive her Juris Doctorate from Saint Louis University School of Law, where she then entered private practice until her retirement. She was involved with many things among which - assisting St. Louis County residents with tax and legal questions following her retirement. Jane was a participant in the Memory & Aging Project at Washington University in St. Louis. She attended classes at Washington University as part of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. Jane also met weekly with her knitting group making scarves and hats for donation to local organizations.
Donald Lloyd Emerick, of Middleton, Wisconsin, passed away on December 15, 2023. Don graduated from Fairfield Community High School in 1966 as valedictorian and president of his graduating class. His outstanding talents in mathematics paved the way for him to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and he graduated from it in 1970 with a degree in Political Science. He subsequently had a long career in technical capacities for the University of Illinois in Urbana, Control Data Corporation in Minneapolis, and McDonnell Douglas in St. Louis. Fulfilling an ambition that had been put on hold, he attended and graduated from Saint Louis University School of Law in his late forties and became a member of the Missouri Bar Association. In the fall of 1974, on the campus of the University of Illinois, he met Blanche Bante through their mutual interests in the Plato Educational (computer-aided learning) System. They married on August 16, 1975. The early phases of their careers and the workrelated relocations they entailed were an extension of their work on the Plato Educational System. In addition to his love for his immediate and extended family, he loved the Plato System as if it also was his child. A voracious reader, he could talk politics and the law for hours and hours.
Rhonnie Hemphill passed away on June 28, 2023. He graduated from McKinley High School and earned his Bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Missouri. He worked for several years for the American Cross, the United Methodist Church, National Council of the Churches of Christ and the Church World Services before returning to school to earn his Juris Doctorate with a certificate in International Law from Saint Louis University School of Law in 1998. He later started his solo practice, The Hemphill Law Office, specializing in criminal defense and personal injury. Rhonnie was a proud member of the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity. Rhonnie was a faithful member of the Washington Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church under the leadership of Bishop Staccato Powell for many years. In 2015, Rhonnie became a member of Power of Change Christian Church Family with Bishop Henry and Pastor Patricia Phillips. Brother Hemphill grew tremendously in his faith and became a pillar of strength and a voice of reason at Power of Change.
Dr. Robert Young died suddenly on July 29, 2023. He is survived by his wife Katherine Kreusser and his children, Carol and Adam and four grandchildren. He was born in Ohio and graduated from George School in Pennsylvania, the University of Michigan with a Bachelor’s of Science, the Ohio State University with a Masters in Science and a Medical Doctorate, and Saint Louis University School of Law with a Juris Doctorate, which he earned while working full time with two children. He completed his General Surgery and Plastic Surgery residencies at Jewish and Barnes Hospitals and spent most of his career as a Plastic Surgeon at St. Luke’s Hospital, where he also served on the Ethics Board. He retired in 2020 to spend time with family. He was a devoted father and grandfather, mentor, teacher, and calm voice to help with any issue.
Barbara Christine (Diamond) Bentrup passed away on June 7, 2023 at the age of 62. She is survived by her husband David W. Bentrup and son Michael G. (Jamie) Diamond, her father and other cherished family members. A driven professional, Barbara spent her career as an attorney in finance and firm work. She most recently served as the Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Counsel of Delta Dental of Missouri. Barbara loved the theater and traveling with her husband and friends. She was an avid reader and enjoyed shopping with her granddaughters. She had both an MBA and J.D. from Saint Louis University.s survived by her adoring children, Matthew, Michael, and David Miller.
James Kenyon Heitman passed away suddenly on May 3rd, 2023. After earning his Juris Doctorate from Saint Louis University School of Law, James started his professional career as a child support prosecutor in Marion County. He then became an Assistant Circuit Attorney in the city of St. Louis in the general felonies unit. He dedicated his life to the pursuit of justice. He leaves behind his loving wife Emily, his twin brother Alex, sister Katie, mother and father, John and Michael and many more friends and family. He was known to be dependable to a fault and just simply a good man.
SLU LAW BRIEF: YOU HAVE BEEN AN ACTIVE PART OF MAINTAINING THE LEGACY OF PROFESSOR ROGER GOLDMAN. WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
Roger’s work was a remarkable blending of academic principles and practical solutions, an edifying life of public service. His career is a model for how reform work gets from the pages of law journals to the streets. Obviously his work on police accountability and criminal justice reform was not finished when he died. The efforts to which he dedicated his career are multi-generational, and deserve to be continued, both for the betterment of society and for the education of SLU students, academics, and community leaders. Those of us who knew Roger are interested his seeing his legacy continued to future generations of students and leaders.
SLU LAW BRIEF: WHAT ARE THE PLANS HERE AT SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW TO HONOR PROFESSOR GOLDMAN AND HIS LEGACY?
The first aspect is local -- we expect to encourage the work of those who are in the field, and to integrate students into these efforts, culminating in a program or conference biennially to bring together local people and invite nationally known experts, many of whom were friends and admirers of Roger Goldman, to share experiences and research that seek workable solutions to the problems in the system. The second aspect is an effort with a national focus, tentatively named The Goldman Collaborative for Professional Policing, which will partner with a national organization to continue Roger’s work across the country. The efforts to continue Roger’s work and legacy are in development stages.
SLU LAW BRIEF: HOW CAN SOMEONE SUPPORT THIS EFFORT OR HONOR THE LEGACY OF PROFESSOR GOLDMAN?
The success of these efforts, and their extent, is dependent on funding support. To that end SLU LAW has established The Goldman Fund, all of which will be devoted to these efforts. You can donate to the fund by contacting Kearney Liuzza at Kearney.liuzza@slu.edu or by mentioning the Goldman Fund at the time of your donation.
To learn more about how you can continue the legacy and support the School of Law, please contact:
KEARNEY LIUZZA Director of Development
(314) 977-23978 | kearney.liuzza@slu.edu
