Brian T. Fitzpatrick, Milton R. Underwood Chair in Free Enterprise

Brian T. Fitzpatrick: Milton R. Underwood Professor of Free Enterprise

By Grace Renshaw

An expert in federal courts and complex litigation, Fitzpatrick examines judicial power and how to structure the judiciary to improve decision-making.

Brian T. Fitzpatrick has been fascinated by the judiciary since he began his legal career as a clerk, first for Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and then for Justice Antonin Scalia on the U.S. Supreme Court. He later worked in the U.S. Senate and in private practice at Sidley Austin in Washington, D.C.

Fitzpatrick, who was appointed to the Milton R. Underwood Chair in Free Enterprise last summer, now teaches Complex Litigation and Federal Courts. His current research focuses on how best to allocate the power wielded by federal judges; his interest in that topic also provided the impetus for a seminar, Decentralized Versus Centralized Lawmaking, which he has taught for two years. “I like to use seminars to study topics I want to learn about, and I’m learning along with the students,” he said. “This seminar asks how to design the federal judiciary to allow judges to make the best decisions. Do we want power concentrated in the hands of a few judges, or do we want power decentralized in the hands of lots of different judges?”

Among other topics, Fitzpatrick and his students are exploring universal injunctions, which Fitzpatrick finds troubling because they allow a single federal judge to preclude future litigation in any court. “When a president wants to do something, his opponents find one federal district judge willing to enter an injunction that stops the administration from proceeding—and not only in that case, but anywhere. When one judge has the power to shut down all cases, it causes problems. Those problems are compounded when litigants can forum shop to find a judge they believe will decide the case in their favor.”

Another challenging topic Fitzpatrick’s students tackle is multidistrict litigation, in which cases such as those arising out of the Volkswagen diesel emissions testing scandal are consolidated within a single district under a single judge. While this approach has the practical advantage of requiring only one judge to understand the facts and legal issues underlying the lawsuits, Fitzpatrick believes that limiting the number of judges has a significant downside: It also limits the varying perspectives a larger number of judges would bring to decisions. “About half of all federal civil cases are wrapped up in multidistrict litigation,” he said. “When one judge does all of the pretrial proceedings for his or her cases, that judge can end up deciding what happens in thousands of cases.”

Fitzpatrick joined the law faculty in 2007, and he has studied complex litigation for most of his academic career, publishing papers examining the virtues of private enforcement of the law, including class arbitration, classaction settlements and fee awards, and thirdparty litigation financing. His 2019 book, The Conservative Case of Class Actions, argued that class-action lawsuits play an important role in policing corporate behavior, especially when they are the only form of private enforcement possible. “Conservatives should prefer private enforcement of the law through class-action lawsuits for the same reason we favor other private-sector solutions,” he said.

Brian Fitzpatrick is the third VLS professor to hold the Milton R. Underwood Chair in Free Enterprise, which was endowed by the Fondren Foundation to honor Milton Underwood, Class of 1928.

Dear alumni and friends:

BY SCOTTY MANN

By the time you receive this edition of Vanderbilt Law, we will have celebrated the commencement of two Vanderbilt Law classes in a single month. This is a fitting conclusion to the most unusual year in the Law School’s history since it was forced to close its doors temporarily in 1944 during World War II. While this has been a challenging year, our Law School offered both in-person and online instruction. We were able to welcome a terrific new class last fall and provide them with the first-year classroom experience that makes law school a singular and lifechanging educational experience. While the pandemic upended many routines, our students were able to continue their studies, and our faculty continued to lead within the legal academy and profession.

As Dean Guthrie has emphasized, we couldn’t have done it without you, our alumni and friends. You continued to support the Law School with your gifts and service, by mentoring, teaching and hiring our students for summer and permanent employment, and in many other ways. I was particularly proud on Giving Day, when more than 400 donors made it a point to give back to the Law School. Despite the fact that we are relatively small compared with other campus units, we finished in second place in overall giving with a total of more than $555,000, ranking only behind the Colleges of Arts and Science. Dean Chris Guthrie and Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs Tracey George set the tone for the day with a leadership “challenge” gift of $25,000. This gift came in addition to gifts Chris and Tracey, who holds the Charles B. Cox and Lucy D. Cox Family Chair in Law and Liberty, have made this year to endow a need-based scholarship in honor of Melvin Porter and Fred Work, both Class of 1959, and Janie Greenwood Harris, Class of 1964, our first Black law graduates. They also provided funding for programs and public interest work in support of our equity, diversity and community efforts.

I also want to express my gratitude that we had two significant endowment gifts this year: the anonymous gift that will endow the Diversity, Equity and Community directorship in honor of the late Professor Robert Belton, included in this magazine on page 20, and a gift from Jim Cuminale ’78 endowing the directorship of our Public Interest Office in honor of Judge Martha Craig Daughtrey ’68 (BA’64), which will be profiled in the next edition. Both of these programs contribute enormously to the life of the Law School, and the endowments of permanent directors will enable Dean Guthrie and the current program directors—Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Yesha Yadav and Assistant Dean for Public Interest Spring Miller—to develop long-range goals for these programs in terms of curriculum, student involvement, mentoring and faculty recruitment.

One priority Dean Guthrie identified when he stepped into leadership at the Law School in 2009 were faculty chairs. In the 12 years since, nine new chairs have been endowed or pledged and seven have been awarded to deserving faculty members. Chairs recognize faculty for their career accomplishments as scholars and teachers and support their ongoing work, and I appreciate the generous donors—who include Charlie ’75 (BA ’72) and Lucy (BA ’75) Cox, Hal ’90 and Jodi Hess, Ted ’70 and Gloria (BA’67) LaRoche and family, Bob ’78 and Terri Reder, Florence Ridley (MA’51), the Glenn Weaver Foundation and the estate of Dick Lansden ’34 (BA ’33)—whose gifts have made a meaningful difference in the Law School’s ability to attract and retain top faculty.

Our Board of Advisors met April 30 via Zoom, presided over by Jim Cuminale. I appreciate our Board’s leadership as volunteers, donors, mentors and employers in this trying year and for the unflagging support they have provided for Dean Guthrie, our staff and our faculty despite the personal and professional challenges they, too, have faced during the past year. While I appreciate the ability to connect via Zoom—which enabled us to engage broad audiences through a series of national events and more intimate gatherings of classmates, Patrick Wilson Scholars, Cheatham Scholars and other interest groups—I look forward to the time when we can meet in person again. I am hopeful that we will soon be able to celebrate an on-campus Reunion for the classes ending in 0, 1, 5 and 6 in the fall.

Sincerely yours,

Scotty Mann Associate Dean, Development and Alumni Relations

Students enjoyed socializing in the Blackacre courtyard during this unusual academic year while observing Vanderbilt’s rigorous safety protocols.

Smooth Sailing for Lisa McLaughlin ’81

Alumni Spotlight by Kent Halkett ’81

Lisa Edelmann McLaughlin ’81

still remembers a difficult but fascinating assignment she received from Professor James W. Ely Jr., to research the testamentary documents of Tennessee's earliest residents at the state archives. Reading original source documents, she learned about the very real perils of life in Tennessee before it achieved statehood in 1776. One man’s handwritten will began: "I, having been scalped five days ago, hereby leave...”

Lisa had earned her undergraduate degree in history and business at Duke University and relished the opportunity to do historical research during law school. Since earning her law degree, Lisa has forged her own impressive history as a successful lawyer, including work with Big Law, in a corporate legal department and founding her own firm.

Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, Lisa arrived at VLS with her Duke friend and sorority sister, Margaret (Meg) Adams Hunter '81, who was her law school roommate. Lisa gained practical courtroom experience working at the legal clinic launched in 1980 by Sue Kay ’79, joined the staff of the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law and received the Stanley D. Rose Memorial Book Award.

After graduation, Lisa returned home to St. Louis and joined the tax department of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner. Her focus soon shifted to nonprofits and estate planning; she became a fellow of the American College of Trusts and Estates Counsel in 1996.

After 17 years at Bryan Cave, Lisa joined the in-house legal staff of Bank of America in St. Louis. But much to her pleasant surprise, her clients continued to seek her out, and she returned to private practice two years later. In 2015 she opened a St. Louis-based boutique estate and wealth planning firm, MGD Law, with two colleagues. She is a managing member, and seven of the firm's nine attorneys are women.

Lisa and her husband, Bob, met as undergraduates at Duke. Bob is retired from a career with IBM; their two children, Laura and Scott (VU’13) are both attorneys. The McLaughlins are avid sailors, a hobby they enjoy on family vacations that often include stops at local archives where Lisa pursues a lifelong interest in genealogy that started at her grandfather's knee. She is chair of the Missouri Historical Society.

VLS has always been close to Lisa's heart. She interviews prospective students through the alumni interview program, gives student talks about her legal practice and volunteers as the Class Agent for the Class of 1981. She recalls working "incredibly hard" in law school and has maintained lifelong friendships with Meg and other classmates. She finds it gratifying that so many of her peers went on “to make meaningful differences in their communities.” Her classmates say the same about her!

1968

Hal Hardin received a 2020 Best of the Bar Lifetime Achievement award from the Nashville Business Journal.

1972

Bob Kabel published his memoir, Inside and Out: The Odyssey of a Gay Conservative, in September 2020. Bob was first national board chair of the Log Cabin Republicans and worked on the staffs of two senators, including Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, and President Ronald Reagan.

1973

Jan Baran is a partner at Holtzman Vogel Josefiak Torchinsky in Haymarket, Virginia. Jan is the author of The Election Law Primer for Corporations, published by the American Bar Association.

Bill Yost was honored for his long service as the delinquent tax attorney for Williamson County, Tennessee, in November. After more than 40 years of service, Bill stepped down from his work for the county, which he did while maintaining a private practice at Yost Robertson Novak.

1974

Richard Bodorff has been appointed by Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan to serve on the Maryland Commission on Public Broadcasting. Dick is a senor counsel, specializing in media law, at Wiley Rein in Washington, D.C.

Randy Lanier has joined Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis in Nashville as a partner.

Henry Martin (BA’71) was honored with the Tennessee Bar Association’s first Claudia Jack Award, which recognizes an outstanding public defender. Henry has served as a federal public defender for the Middle District of Tennessee since 1985.

Russ Overby retired from the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands, where he had focused on poverty law for much of his career. Russ worked at the Tennessee Justice Center from 1997 to 2006. At LAS, he served as lead counsel in federal and state cases involving public benefits and the rights of children in state institutions.

1975

Phil Cherner, who serves as board chair of Coloradans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, received the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Champion of State Criminal Justice Reform Award for 2020.

1976

Mary Jo Middlebrooks received the 2021 Women in American History Award from the Jackson-Madison Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. Mary Jo was recognized for her activism and trailblazing; she became the first woman trial attorney in Jackson, Tennessee, when she began her practice in 1978.

Judge Aleta A. Trauger (MA’72) received the 2020 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the 6th Circuit. Aleta was appointed to her seat on the Middle District of Tennessee in 1998.

1977

Julian L. Bibb III has been appointed chairman of the Franklin Transit Authority.

Ralph Levy, a senior partner with Dickinson Wright in Nashville, was named to the Nashville Medical News InCharge Healthcare List, which recognizes professionals whose ideas and influence make Nashville a health care capital.

W. Patrick Mulloy II (BA’74) has been appointed to the boards of University of Louisville Health, which operates five hospitals, and of Sharps Compliance, a medical waste management company based in Houston.

William R. O’Bryan was appointed to a three-year term on the board of the Turnaround Management Association’s Tennessee Chapter, starting in January 2021.

David Simmons was featured in Florida Politics following his 18 years of service in the Florida State Legislature, which included eight years in the state house and 10 in the state Senate. David is a founding partner of de Beaubien Simmons Knight Mantzaris & Neal in Orlando.

1978

Judge John Curry was sworn in for his second term as a circuit judge in Chicago in December 2020 after winning his retention election in November. John presides in the Tax and Miscellaneous Remedies Section of the Law Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois.

1979

Bill Purcell has joined Frost Brown Todd in Nashville, where he focuses on administrative and policy concerns. A former mayor of Nashville, Bill teaches public policy as an adjunct professor at Vanderbilt University.

1980

Mike Coury, a member of Glankler Brown, has been appointed by the Department of Justice to the independent panel of Chapter 11 Subchapter V bankruptcy trustees.

Michael J. Davis has joined the Lyda Law Firm as of counsel.

1982

Ed Armstrong, a partner with Hill Ward Henderson in Dunedin, Florida, has been appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to a four-year term on the Southern Florida Water Management District Governing Board.

William F. Carpenter III (BA’76) has been elected to the board of FB Financial.

Craig S. O’Dear was profiled in the America Daily Post in July 2020. Craig is a partner at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, based in the Kansas City, Missouri, office he launched for the firm in 1988.

SUBMITTED

1983

Jo Ann Biggs is chair of the Hendrix College Board of Trustees. Jo Ann is a partner at Vinson & Elkins in Dallas. She has served on the Hendrix board since 1998.

Robert Hays was unanimously reelected to a sixth term as chairman of King & Spalding. Robert, who is based in Atlanta, took up the role of chairman in 2006.

Sarah R. Labensky is a professor of culinary arts at Woosong University in Daejeon, Korea. Sarah became the founding director of the Culinary Arts Institute at the Mississippi University for Women in Columbus, Mississippi, in 1997, where she taught until 2005. In 2006 she purchased The Front Door and Back Door restaurants in Columbus and founded other restaurants before moving to Korea. She is the author of several cooking textbooks and cookbooks, a past president of the 4,000-member International Association of Culinary Professionals and a founding member of the Southern Foodways Alliance.

Platte Moring III is deputy general counsel at the U.S. Department of Defense, where he supervises all litigation involving the department and oversees the military commissions involved in the adjudication of the 9/11 detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

Steven M. Zager (BA’79) has joined King & Spalding’s trial and global disputes practice in Austin, Texas, as a partner. Steven previously was with Akin Gump in New York.

Leonard A. Silverstein (BA’80) has joined Dentons in Atlanta as senior counsel.

1984

Bill Hagerty (BA’84) is Tennessee’s junior senator. Bill won the seat in the U.S. Senate vacated by the retirement of Sen. Lamar Alexander (BA’62). He previously had served as the U.S. ambassador to Japan from 2017 to 2019 before stepping down to focus on his senatorial campaign.

1986

Jeffrey Scott Bivins, who is chief justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court, received the 2020 Justice Frank F. Drowota III Award from the Tennessee Bar Association. Jeff was recognized for his decades of service to the legal profession in Tennessee, which includes his support of Access to Justice and indigent representation reform.

1984

Melissa W. Friedman has been elected to a six-year term on the juvenile and domestic relations court in Richmond, Virginia, by the state General Assembly. Melissa was appointed to the bench on an interim basis in November 2020.

Chris Giancarlo testified before the House Financial Services Committee in June 2020 on inclusive banking. Chris is former chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Michael A. Sullivan is general counsel to the Volkswagen AG Monitorship, where he works with counsel across the globe to advise on legal requirements of other nations.

1985

George P. McGinn (BA’77) has been elected to the board of RFPi Inc., which produces noninvasive surgical imaging devices.

Greg Smith is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. Greg is a partner at Stites & Harbison in Nashville.

1986

Kitty Delany and her husband, Jim Delany, recently retired Big Ten Conference commissioner, have returned to Nashville after 30 years in Chicago.

Henry P. Dove, who previously served as chief trial counsel for the Talbot County State’s Attorney’s Office, has joined Kopen & Collison in Easton, Pennsylvania. Karen A. Reardon, an associate professor at LaSalle University, and colleagues have edited and published In Living Color: An Anthology of Contemporary Student Writings on Race (2020).

1987

David Melloh has joined Taft in Minneapolis as partner focusing on health care business law.

1988

Darlene Marsh was appointed to the board of the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

Ivan Reich (BA’85) has joined Nason Yeager Gerson Harris & Fumero in South Florida as a partner and lead of the firm’s new bankruptcy group.

1990

Jody Hanks stepped down from his position as general counsel of packaging businesses owned by the Rank Group and moved to Hendersonville, Tennessee, where he has joined Mainsail Lawyers and serves as an external general counsel for several manufacturing businesses. Jody writes, “The sabbatical between corporate life and starting my practice was simply fantastic.”

Randall W. May earned an M.Div. in 2014 and an M.A. in practical theology in June 2015 from Methodist Theological School in Ohio. He now serves as senior pastor of Geneva United Methodist Church in Geneva, Ohio. John Soyars was appointed to the Kentucky Prosecutors Advisory Council by Gov. Andy Beshear. John serves as county attorney and has a private practice in Hopkinsville.

1991

Adolpho Birch III has joined the Tennessee Titans in Nashville as chief legal officer. Adolpho previously was on the legal staff of the National Football League based in New York. See his profile on p. 27.

Paul D. Gilbert is general counsel and secretary at RiteAid in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. Paul joined RiteAid on an interim basis in May 2020 and was appointed to the permanent position in August.

Warren Lightfoot Jr. has been elected as a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers.

Mark Schein has joined Värde Partners in New York as global chief compliance officer. He was previously general counsel with York Capital Management. Mark teaches short courses as a member of Vanderbilt’s adjunct law faculty.

Greg Wesner has founded a life sciences company, Receptor Life Sciences.

McKinley Wooten is director of the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts, where he manages the administrative services provided to the Judicial Branch’s more than 6,400 employees and 213 judicial facilities in every county of the state. He is the first African American to serve as director of the NCAOC.

1992

Mark Baugh has been elected to the board of directors at Baker Donelson. Mark is chair of the firm’s Diversity Committee and a shareholder based in Nashville.

Dave Macaione (MBA’92) is chief legal officer with Cloudburst Entertainment, producers and distributors of film and television, headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona.

1993

Kristin Daniels Dukes has been named general counsel at the University of South Alabama.

Joel M. McCray has been elected chair of The Virginia Home Board of Trustees.

James H. Tucker Jr. (MDiv’93) became the first African American managing partner in Manier & Herod’s 106-year history in June 2020.

David L. Warren has been named managing shareholder of Ogletree Deakins’ Birmingham, Alabama, office. David was a founding member of the office in 1997.

1994

Judge Rupert Byrdsong was elected vice president of the California Judges Association. He also was appointed to co-chair a new CJA Task Force on the Elimination of Bias and Inequality in Our Justice System. Rupert received the Western Region of the National Black Law Students Association Judge of the Year Award in January 2020.

1991

Steve Herz’s book, Don’t Take Yes for an Answer: Using Authority, Warmth and Energy to Get Exceptional Results, was released in June 2020 by Harper Collins. Steve is president of The Montag Group, a sports and entertainment talent and marketing consulting firm based in New York. He also serves as a career adviser to CEOs, lawyers, entrepreneurs and young professionals. Find his blog on Twitter: @ifmanagement.

Judge Sheila Calloway (BA’91), juvenile court judge in Nashville, was profiled in Attorney at Law Magazine about her career and her outlook on the legal industry on March 30, 2020. Sheila teaches Trial Advocacy at VLS.

Tom Lee has been elected vice chairman of the Tennessee Sports Wagering Advisory Council, responsible for advising on best regulatory practices in Tennessee’s new sports gaming industry. He is the member-in-charge of Frost Brown Todd’s Nashville office.

Tacita A. Mikel Scott was elected to the management committee of Wong Fleming in Atlanta.

1995

Kenneth R. Cunningham (BA’91) is managing principal at Grant Thornton in Chicago.

Trey Harwell ’95 (BA’92) has been appointed chairman of the Metro Nashville Airport Authority Board of Commissioners. Harwell has served on the MNAA board since 2016 and was named chair in May. He is a member of Neal & Harwell in Nashville.

April Abele Isaacson has joined DLA Piper in San Francisco of counsel. April represents pharmaceutical companies in biologic and drug patent litigation.

Anne Cox-Johnson has joined McDermott Will & Emery in Atlanta as a partner.

Scott C. Mitzner has been elected chair of the Bernards Township Republican Municipal Committee. Scott has lived in Bernards Township, New Jersey, since law school, where he practices law and serves as the public defender for 16 municipalities in three counties.

Reggie O’Shields has been promoted to executive vice president and director of enterprise solutions at Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta.

Eric Schroeder is managing partner of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner’s Atlanta office, where he specializes in unfair competition, intellectual property, licensing, First Amendment and content issues.

1997

James Crumlin (BA’94) has been elected vice chair of the board of trustees for American Baptist College in Nashville.

Timothy W. Hoover was 2020 president of the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Amy E. McDougal was named as a 2020 Cannabis Law Trailblazer by the National Law Journal. She is serving her second term as a director of the International Cannabis Bar Association and also chairs its Ethics Committee.

Joel Tragresser has been named managing partner of Quarles & Brady’s Indianapolis office, where he is a founding partner focusing on trademark and intellectual property law.

1998

Cat Moon (BA’92) was named to the leadership team of the Medical Innovators Development Program of the Vanderbilt School of Medicine. Cat directs the Law School's Program on Law and Innovation Institute, which offers postgraduate immersive educational experiences for lawyers and other professionals.

1999

Trent H. Cotney (BS’96) has been appointed as general counsel for the National Roofing Contractors Association.

Morgan B. Gire is the Placer County District Attorney. He previously was a prosecutor in Sacramento, California.

Alexander Okuliar has joined Morrison & Foerster in Washington, D.C., where he will serve as the firm’s global antitrust co-chair.

2000

Jeffrey R. Baker is a clinical professor of law at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law. Jeff also serves as assistant dean of clinical education and global programs and directs the Community Justice Clinic. He and his family have lived in Malibu, California, since 2013. Amy L. Brown was named deputy general counsel for housing programs at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. She had previously served as HUD’s associate general counsel for insured housing.

Judge Maria Lopez Evangelista was elected to a seat on the San Francisco Superior Court in April 2020.

Robert Louis Strayer II has joined the Information Technology Council in Washington, D.C., as executive vice president of policy. Rob most recently served as deputy assistant secretary for cyber and international communications and information policy in the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs.

Masami Izumida Tyson is global director of foreign direct investment and trade for the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, based in Nashville. Masami grew up in Yokohama, Japan, and came to the U.S. as a college student. She lives in Nashville with her husband and their children.

2001

Matthew Bathon is a partner at Steptoe & Johnson in Washington, D.C.

Tanya Triche Dawood has been nominated to the Workers’ Compensation Medical Fee Advisory Board in Illinois. She is vice president and general counsel for the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, based in Chicago, where she has served as a staff attorney to the city council.

E.M. Lysonge is general counsel at NerdWallet in Louisville, Kentucky.

Joycelyn Stevenson was appointed to Metro Nashville Airport Authority Board of Commissioners. Joycelyn is executive director of the Tennessee Bar Association. She joined the MNAA Board of Commissioners as its neighborhood representative.

2002

Deborah Farringer is associate dean for academic affairs at Belmont University College of Law in Nashville.

Courtney Hunter Gilmer has joined Emerge Law in Nashville as a partner. She previously was a shareholder at Baker Donelson. Joshua E. Perry (MTS’02) is the co-author of two textbooks exploring issues at the intersection of law and ethics and author or co-author of more than 30 published articles, essays and book chapters that have appeared in a variety of leading law reviews and peer-reviewed journals across the fields of business, medicine, law and ethics.

2003

Matt Gabriel, chief executive officer of XRI Fountain Quail in Midland, Texas, was named a finalist for the 2020 Entrepreneur of the Year Award by EY Americas. The program recognizes leaders of high-growth companies.

2004

Erika Barnes has been elected to the six-member Management Committee for Stites & Harbison. She will serve a two-year term.

Heather M. Ducat is partner at Troutman Sanders in Atlanta.

Peter N. Hall has joined Holland & Knight’s newly formed nationwide ERISA litigation team, based in Atlanta.

Jennifer Halvas is a partner at Citiview, a Los Angeles-based investment management and development firm.

Amy Todd Holmes has been named vice president and general counsel for Express Energy Services, a Houstonbased oilfield services company and premier provider of products and services including well construction and well testing services.

Junaid Odubeko, a partner in the Nashville office of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, has been elected to the Nashville Bar Association’s board for a four-year term.

Jarrod Reich is a professor of legal writing and lecturer in law at University of Miami School of Law.

2005

Aaron S. Kamlay has joined Butzel Long law firm as shareholder. He recently was featured on two webinars focusing on the use of technology in intellectual property practice.

2008

SUBMITTED

Gabe Fleet was named chief music licensing counsel at iHeartMedia in New York in December. In his new role, he leads iHeartMedia’s business affairs team and spearheads the company’s music licensing strategy. Gabe previously practiced intellectual property law as a partner at Greenberg Traurig.

Catherine Sloan is deputy general counsel at Compassus in Brentwood, Tennessee. She previously was assistant general counsel with Ardent Healthcare Services in Nashville.

2006

Sayler A. Fleming was appointed U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri in December. Sayler previously served as an assistant U.S. attorney.

Sarah Zagata Vasani has joined CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang in London. She previously headed investor state dispute resolution at Addleshaw Goddard.

2007

La Keisha Wright Butler joined Maynard Cooper in Milwaukee of counsel. La Keisha is the former executive director of the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission.

Jasmin Nicole French has been named to the board of the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art in Indianapolis. Jasmin is ethics and compliance senior manager at Cummins Inc. in Columbus, Indiana. Michael P. Hodes is a partner at Boyd Collar Nolen Tuggle & Roddenbery in Atlanta.

Michelle Brooks Martinez has joined DigiCert Inc. in Lehi, Utah, as corporate legal counsel. She previously practiced patent law at Maschoff Brennan in Salt Lake City.

Laura Hardesty Richardson is an assistant general counsel with Vireo Health Inc. in Cincinnati. She previously was assistant general counsel at Phillips Edison & Co.

2008

Alex Shang Cao (PhD’05) is principal legal counsel at I-Mab Biopharma in Hong Kong.

Ashlee McFarlane gained national visibility for her representation of Maurice Hall, a passenger in the car when George Floyd was stopped by police in Minneapolis. Hall was himself arrested in Houston days after Floyd’s death. Ashlee is a partner at Gerger Khalil Hennessy & McFarlane in Houston, a firm she joined after serving as a trial attorney for the Department of Justice.

Sarah Luppen Fowler is deputy general counsel of SAG-AFTRA. She and her husband, John Fowler (BA’05), welcomed their second son, William Luppen Fowler, on Jan. 7, 2020.

Joe Goldman is senior vice president and trust adviser at City National Bank in Los Angeles.

Timothy W. Hanson is a partner at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner in Denver.

Kimyatta Holder is head of compliance at Modern Health in Atlanta.

Sarah K. Laird is a partner at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings in Nashville.

Buddy Meyer is associate general counsel at Pansophic Learning in McLean, Virginia. Buddy previously served as counsel in the corporate securities and tax department at Miles and Stockbridge.

Betsy Philpott is vice president and general counsel of the Washington Nationals professional baseball team.

Luciano Racco has joined Foley Hoag in Washington, D.C., as counsel and co-chair of the firm’s trade sections and export control practice. Gabe Roberts has joined Sellers Dorsey in Philadelphia as a senior strategic adviser. Gabe previously was director and CEO of TennCare, Tennessee’s state Medicaid program.

Abbey Mansfield Ruby has joined Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis in Nashville.

Anna Jinhua Wang (LLM) has been promoted to counsel at Robinson & Cole in New York.

2009

Jake Barney is senior counsel for benefits law at Tyson Foods in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Matthew Blumenstein is director, head of underwriting and deputy general counsel at Statera Capital in Chicago.

Lauren Gaffney (BS’03) has been elected member at Bass, Berry & Sims in Nashville, where she focuses on health care enforcement and compliance.

Scott Gardner is senior corporate counsel at United Surgical Partners International Inc. in Franklin, Tennessee.

Marchello D. Gray is a partner at Hollingsworth in Washington, D.C., where he focuses on product liability and toxic tort litigation.

Chris Jaeger (PhD’20) is an acting assistant professor of lawyering at New York University School of Law. Chris recently co-authored a study with Owen Jones, who holds the Glenn M. Weaver, M.D., and Mary Ellen Weaver Chair in Law, Brain and Behavior at Vanderbilt.

Michael Mills (BE’99), who has practiced at Klein Solomon in Nashville as a partner since 2016, was added as a named partner; the firm is now Klein Solomon Mills. Kevin Tran is practicing of counsel at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough in Nashville. He previously practiced as counsel with Waller.

2010

Joshua L. Burgener (BA’05) has been named a Fellow of the Nashville Bar Foundation. Josh practices at Dickenson Wright.

Stuart A. Burkhalter was awarded the Justice Joseph W. Henry Award for Outstanding Legal Writing by the Tennessee Bar Association for his article "Who Pays?: ‘Dedmon’ Clarifies Use of Medical Bills in Hospital Lien Law, Upholds Collateral Source Rule." In February 2020, Stuart self-published a children’s book, Do Little Babies Dream of Mu? Stuart owns Burkhalter Law, a family law firm.

Andrew Gould has joined Arnold & Itkin in Houston as leader of the firm’s appellate section. Andrew previously was an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas.

Dan Kuninsky (BA’01) is senior technology counsel at HCA Healthcare in Nashville.

Lauren Mastio (BS’06) has been elected to the board of directors of Jones Walker in New Orleans.

Abbey Morrow received the 2020 Award of Achievement for Service to the Young Lawyers Division from the State Bar of Georgia YLD. Abbey is a compliance attorney at Aldridge Pite in Atlanta.

Ben Seeger was promoted to senior manager of real estate transactions at Amazon in Seattle. Ben joined Amazon in 2018.

Brian L. Sims is a member at Bass, Berry & Sims in Nashville.

2013

FEDERAL REGULATORY COMMISSION James Danly was elevated to chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in November. James had served as a FERC commissioner since March 2020 and as general counsel for FERC since 2017.

Taylor Owings was named acting chief of staff and senior counsel of the antitrust department in the Department of Justice under Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim. The staff of the Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law worked with Taylor to host a Department of Justice webinar, “‘And the Beat Goes On’: The Future of the ASCAP/BMI Consent Decrees,” on Jan. 15, 2021.

Jamie Lynn Thalgott, a shareholder with Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck in Las Vegas, was named to the board of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Jamie is a Las Vegas native who moved back after law school and clerked for Judge James Mahan ’70 of the District of Nevada before entering private practice.

Maia T. Woodhouse (BA’07) is a partner at Adams and Reese in Nashville.

2011

R. Mark Donnell Jr. (BS’05) is an attorney at Sims Funk in Nashville, where he practices business litigation.

John Cheek Eason Jr. is a member at Bass, Berry & Sims in Nashville.

Meredith Eason has been promoted to senior associate at Wyatt Tarrant & Combs in Nashville.

Jeremy Francis has joined Ganfer Shore Leeds & Zauderer in Port Washington, New York, as a commercial litigator.

Christopher Gilmore is vice chair of the City of Atlanta’s governing board of the Office of the Inspector General. Chris has been a member of the governing board since 2019.

Talmadge Infinger has joined UPS in Atlanta as an M&A counsel.

Lauren Kilgore was named by Billboard as one of the Top Music Lawyers of 2020. She practices at Shackelford Bowen McKinley & Norton in Nashville.

Sirui (Ray) Liu (LLM) was named to China Business Law Journal’s 2019 A-List of elite China lawyers. Ray is global partner and head of Dorsey’s Beijing office.

Jake Neu is a partner at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings in Nashville.

Sean Perryman has announced his candidacy for lieutenant governor of Virginia. Keith Randall is a partner at Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis in Nashville, where he focuses on real estate law.

Brian Reichenbach is chief operating officer and co-founder at Chronicle Partners in Nashville.

Stephanie Roth has been appointed interim associate vice chancellor for Title IX and equal employment opportunity at Vanderbilt University.

Winston Skinner is counsel at Vinson & Elkins in Dallas, where he focuses on energy regulation and litigation.

Carter Coker Simpson is a partner at Hunton Andrews Kurth in Washington, D.C.

Emily Larish Startsman is a member at Stites & Harbison in Lexington, Kentucky, where she focuses on torts and insurance litigation.

Zachary D. Trotter is a partner at Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis in Birmingham, Alabama, where he focuses on health care law.

2012

Claire Brown (MBA’12) is a partner at Tonkon Torp in Portland, Oregon.

Nathaniel J. Greeson has joined Bradley Arant Boult Cummings in their Washington, D.C., office, where he focuses on government contracts.

Andrea Verney Kerstein is a partner at Locke Lord in Chicago.

Megan LaDriere is the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program’s Volunteer of the Month for December 2019. She is a senior associate at Baker Botts.

Peter L. Munk is a partner at Nelson Mullin in Atlanta, where he focuses on commercial litigation.

Jacob Weinstein is a partner at Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis in Nashville.

2013

Amy M. Bowers has joined Carlton Fields in Miami as an associate.

Beau Creson has been elected to the executive board of the Nashville Bar Association Young Lawyers Division. Beau is an associate at Butler Snow.

Chris Crowley (MBA’13) has joined Amazon Web Services as a senior partner/development manager for startups.

Scott Farmer has been promoted to executive director and senior counsel at Amherst Holdings in Austin, Texas.

Jasmin Felton has been named assistant dean for academic life at Vanderbilt Law School.

Colin Ferguson is a member at Dickinson Wright in Nashville.

Tim Van Hal is an associate at Polsinelli in Nashville. He previously practiced at Bass, Berry & Sims.

Michael Hutson is a partner with K&L Gates in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Lindsay Elizabeth Irving is a partner at Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis in Nashville. Lindsay is married to Brian Irving ’14.

Wes Jackson is a partner at Freeman Mathis & Gray in Atlanta.

Sarah L. Locker is a member at Gullett Sanford Robinson & Martin in Nashville.

Zach Roth is co-managing partner at Ansbacher Law in Jacksonville, Florida.

Nathan Sanders (BA’10) is a partner at Neal & Harwell in Nashville. Elizabeth Sherwood is an associate at Hunton Andrews Kurth in Boston.

Max Sills is an intellectual property counsel at Square in San Francisco, where he is general manager of the Crypto Open Patent Alliance.

Amit Tantri has been promoted to senior manager at Wayfair in Boston, where he works as legal counsel.

Vincent “Trey” Tumminello III is a partner at Taylor Porter in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he focuses on commercial transactions and sports law.

Jeffrey Zager is a partner at Neal & Harwell in Nashville.

2014

Waylon Bryson has joined Kilpatrick Townsend in Raleigh, North Carolina, as an associate.

Jeremy Cain was one of three Weil Gotshal attorneys to receive the 2020 Law360 Distinguished Legal Writing Award for their article, “Music Licensing Overhaul Signed into Law.” Jeremy focuses on intellectual property law.

Dan Kay has joined the adjunct law faculty of Columbia Law School in New York as an externship adviser and lecturer in law. Dan is an attorney at the Bronx Defenders.

Mary Fletcher Sherrill King and Seth Benjamin Mullikin were married in Savannah, Georgia, on June 6, 2020. Mary and Seth live in Charlotte, North Carolina, where Mary is an employment attorney at Johnston Allison & Hord and Seth works for ROL Advisor.

2014

Cameron Norris (BA’11) argued a case, CIC Services v. IRS, before the U.S. Supreme Court in December. Cameron works remotely from his hometown, Knoxville, Tennessee, as an associate with the D.C. law firm Consovoy McCarthy. CIC Services is based in Knoxville. Cameron joined Consovoy McCarthy after clerking for Judge William H. Pryor Jr. of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and took a leave of absence to clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas on the U.S. Supreme Court in 2017–18.

Samiyyah R. Ali has been appointed as a deputy associate counsel in the Office of White House Counsel. Samiyyah was a law clerk for Justice Sonia Sotomayor of the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018–19 and then joined Wilkinson Stekloff in Washington, D.C., before her appointment to the White House legal staff.

SUBMITTED

Terrence McKelvey has joined K&L Gates in Nashville as an associate. He previously practiced at Butler Snow.

Nicoletta Milanesio (LLM) has been promoted to general counsel and corporate secretary for North America at MAHLE based in Bloomington Hills, Michigan.

Katlyn Miller has joined the legal department at Capital One, based in Richmond, Virginia.

Amanda Nguyen is vice president of government affairs and legal at Fragrance Creators in Washington, D.C.

Kyle Robisch has joined Bradley Arant Boult Cummings in Tampa, Florida.

Eric Schoppe is senior counsel for corporate and finance in the legal department at CenterPoint Energy in Houston.

Danning Shao (LLM) is a partner at Jingtian & Gongcheng in Shanghai.

Vigdis Sigurdardottir (LLM) is working on the legal staff at the Icelandic Data Protection Authority, the supervisory authority tasked with the enforcement of the Icelandic Data Protection Act and the General Data Protection Regulation. Sigrid started work at the IDPA at the beginning of 2019. “I find data protection a very interesting and dynamic field (and much less of a niche than I thought before starting at the DPA), not to mention the new challenges brought on by the pandemic (tracing apps, etc.),” she writes.

Mikhal Wright is an associate at Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin in Winter Park, Florida.

Rony Yaacoub (LLM) is a principal counsel at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development based in London.

Maximilian Zahn (LLM) has joined Boehringer Ingelheim as legal counsel.

2015

Andrea Bilbija has joined Facebook as lead counsel for privacy, based in Atlanta. She previously practiced in the legal department at Athenahealth.

Alandis Brassel is an assistant professor in the music and business program at the University of Memphis.

Kyle A. Ewing (MSF’15) has joined Greenberg Traurig in Las Vegas as an associate.

Tanner C. Gibson has joined Morgan & Morgan law firm in Nashville.

Monique Hannam is a partner at Ellis Cupps & Hannam in Cassville, Missouri.

Daniel Hay is teaching on the adjunct law faculty at Georgetown Law Center. Daniel is an associate with Sidley in Washington, D.C.

Orlando Hodges Jr. is an associate with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Los Angeles.

Ariel M. Kelly (BA’12) has joined Fisher Phillips in Nashville.

Kendra Key was featured in Barron’s in August 2020 in an article about coronavirus relief. Kendra is senior vice president of community and economic development for Hope, a community development financial institution in Birmingham, Alabama.

Edward Perkins has joined the Law Office of Steven Alizio in New York as an associate.

David A. Smith and Caitlin Heaton Smith are both practicing law in Nashville, David as a plaintiff’s attorney with his father and brothers at David Randolph Smith & Associates in Nashville, and Caitlin as an associate at Adams and Reese.

Class of 2020 Order of the Coif

New members, who represent the top 10 percent of their graduating class, include:

Martha Banner Banks of Macon, Georgia - Clerk, Judge Priscilla R. Owen, 5th Circuit Court of Appeals

Szymon S. Barnas of Norridge, Illinois – Clerk, Judge James C. Mahan ’73, District of Nevada

Micah N. Bradley of Brentwood, Tennessee - Clerk, Judge Eli J. Richardson ’92, Middle District of Tennessee

Thomas K. Conerty of Ada, Michigan – Clerk, Judge John B. Nalbandian, 6th Circuit Court of Appeals

Peter G. Cornick of Atlanta, Georgia – Clerk, Judge Thomas W. Thrash Jr., Northern District of Georgia

Robert William Dillard of Houston – Clerk, Vice Chancellor Joseph R. Slights III, Delaware Court of Chancery

Elizabeth Ann Dunn of Birmingham, Alabama – Associate, Alston & Bird, Atlanta

Charlotte Gill Elam of Fairhope, Alabama – Clerk, Judge John K. Bush, 6th Circuit Court of Appeals

Alice E. Haston of Johnson City, Tennessee – Associate, Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison, Nashville

Natalie A. Komrovsky of Cleveland, Ohio – Clerk, Judge Joan L. Larsen, 6th Circuit Court of Appeals

Ryli Wallace Leader of Fulton, Missouri – Associate, Burr & Forman, Birmingham, Alabama

Cara Colleen Mannion of Stuart, Florida – Clerk, Judge William F. Jung, Middle District of Florida

Hannah M. Miller of Annandale, Virginia – U.A. Army JAG Corps

Joshua William Ohaus of Charlotte, North Carolina – Associate, Moore & Van Allen, Charlotte

Rebecca Lund Rhodes of Martin, Tennessee – Associate, Whitledge & Biehslich, Martin

Christopher Scott Sundby (PhD) of Miami, Florida – Clerk, Judge Adalberto J. Jordan, 11th Circuit Court of Appeals

Jeffrey A. Turner of Clarkston, Michigan – Clerk, Judge Joseph McKinley Jr., Western District of Kentucky

Jill Rossing Warnock of Annapolis, Maryland – Associate, Covington & Burling, Washington, D.C.

Hayley N. Stephens, an associate at Conner & Winters in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was accepted into the Inclusion Leadership Institute of the Oklahoma Center for Community and Justice.

Dolapo Olushuola-Uwaifo is director of legal process engineering at Baker Donelson in Nashville.

2016

Kevin Cavino has joined Koley Jessen in Omaha, Nebraska, as an associate.

Larry Crane-Moscowitz has joined Vaco in Nashville as corporate legal counsel.

Cassidi Hammock is a career law clerk with the U.S. District Court of Arizona in Tucson.

Fob James IV has launched Fob James Law Firm in Birmingham, Alabama.

Shee Shee Jin is a senior counsel for data and services at Mastercard in New York.

Laura Komarek is a senior associate at Alston & Bird in Atlanta.

Timothy Parilla has joined Palmersheim & Mathew, a Chicago boutique law firm, as an associate.

Cortney Leigh Patterson married Christopher Downey Barton on March 1, 2020, in Kansas City, Missouri.

Alex Smith has been promoted to senior director for regulatory operations and product counsel at FanDuel in New York.

Jennifer Stanley (BA’13) has joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia in Augusta, where she serves in the criminal division. Barrett Tenbarge is a senior health counsel with the FDA Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

Julie Westbrook is associate general counsel with The Beneficient Company Group in Dallas. She previously practiced with Sidley Austin.

2017

Bianca DiBella is an associate at Troutman Pepper in Atlanta.

C.J. Donald has joined Keenon Ogden as an associate based in the firm’s Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky, offices.

Erica Hendricks is legal counsel at InStride-Strategic Enterprise Education in Los Angeles. She previously was an associate at Seyfarth Shaw in L.A.

Thomas Hydrick is an associate at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough in Columbia, South Carolina.

Rebecka Manis is an associate at Sidley Austin in Chicago. She previously practiced with Schiff Hardin.

Curt Masker has founded The Masker Firm, a plaintiff-side employment firm in Nashville. Curt and his partner, Caraline Richard ’15, live in Nashville, where Caraline is an associate at Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis.

Elise K. Reecer has joined Davis Graham & Stubbs in Denver as an associate.

Ramsey Zeitouneh is an immigration attorney with Raju Mahajan & Associates in New York, where he also is a writer and actor. Brent Kapper is legal counsel with State Farm in Bloomington, Illinois. He previously practiced with Sirote & Permutt in Birmingham, Alabama.

Shivam Kumar has joined Swift Currie McGhee & Hiers in Atlanta.

Geoffrey Morris (BA’15), who focuses on real estate development and finance at Butler Snow, was named to the Memphis Flyer’s 20<30 List, which recognizes young leaders in the Memphis, Tennessee, business community.

Keyne Jean Leopold Villert is an associate with Phillips Lytle in New York.

2019

Dalya Farah is practicing personal injury law at a firm founded by her father, Farah & Farah, in Jacksonville, Florida. Her law partners also include her brother and her uncle.

Madison Crooks Haynes joined Bradley Arant Boult Cummings in Nashville, where she focuses on economic development.

Ian R. Joyce has joined Snell & Wilmer in Phoenix, where he focuses on government relations and health care compliance.

Jackson Knouse has joined Maynard Cooper & Gale in Birmingham, Alabama.

Emily Lamm’s article, “Flexibly Fluid & Immutably Innate: Perception, Identity and the Role of Choice in Race,” was published in the William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender and Social Justice in summer 2020. Daniel L. Lawrence is a litigation associate at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings in Nashville as a litigation associate.

Clayton Masterman (PhD’19) received the 2020 Dissertation Award from the Society of Benefit Cost Analysis for his dissertation, “An Empirical Analysis of Policy Responses to the Opioid Epidemic.”

Will Pugh is transactional practice associate with Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison in Nashville.

Sarah Staples (BA’14) has joined Bradley Arant Boult Cummings in Nashville, where she focuses on health care.

Thomas Tysowsky is a litigation associate with Baker McKenzie in Los Angeles.

James Walker has joined Dodson Parker Behm & Capparella in Nashville, where he focuses on nonprofit law and appellate litigation.

2020

Taylor Caleb has joined Adams and Reese in Nashville.

Alice Haston is a business litigation associate at Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison in Nashville.

Rachel Johnson and Andrew Marino have joined Gibbons in Newark, New Jersey, as associates.

Destiney Randolph has joined Miller & Martin in Atlanta as an associate.

Ryli Wallace Leader is an associate with Burr & Forman in Birmingham, Alabama.

Thirty-nine members of the Class of 2020 secured 41 clerkships they are serving this year or in future terms, including 35 clerkships in federal appellate, district and bankruptcy courts, and six in state courts, including the Delaware Court of Chancery. Unless otherwise indicated, clerkships were served during the 2020-21 term.

Federal Appellate Courts

Martha B. Banks Judge Priscilla R. Owen, 5th Circuit

Thomas K. Conerty Judge John B. Nalbandian, 6th Circuit

Charlotte Gill Elam Judge John K. Bush, 6th Circuit

Joshua T. Hoyt Judge Andrew S. Oldham, 5th Circuit

Natalie A. Komrovsky Judge Joan L. Larsen, 6th Circuit

Hannah M. Miller Judge Amul R. Thapar, 6th Circuit (2023-24)

Braden T. Morell Judge Andrew L. Brasher, 11th Circuit (2021-22)

Emily G. Sasso Judge Joseph A. Greenaway Jr., 3rd Circuit (2021-22)

Christopher S. Sundby Judge Adalberto J. Jordan, 11th Circuit

Kathryn Paige Tenkhoff Judge Duane Benton, 8th Circuit

Federal District Courts

Szymon S. Barnas Judge James C. Mahan’73, District of Nevada

Micah N. Bradley Judge Eli J. Richardson ’92, Middle District of Tennessee

Cole W. Browndorf Judge S. Maurice Hicks Jr., Western District of Louisiana

Mary K. Clemmons Judge David A. Ezra, District of Hawaii (sitting in the Western District of Texas) Peter G. Cornick Judge Thomas W. Thrash Jr., Northern District of Georgia (2020-22)

Joline R. Desruisseaux Judge William H. Alsup, Northern District of California (2022-23)

Wesley A. Gonzales Judge John A. Houston, Southern District of California

Randall P. Hiroshige Judge Jerome T. Kearney ’81, Eastern District of Arkansas

Elizabeth A. Holden Judge Emily Coody Marks, Middle District of Alabama

Caroline P. Hyde Judge Paul G. Bryon, Middle District of Florida (2020-22)

Ralph W. Kettell Judge Brian S. Miller ’95, Eastern District of Arkansas

Natalie A. Komrovsky Judge Richard J. Leon, District of Columbia (2023-24)

Cara C. Mannion Judge William F. Jung, Middle District of Florida (2020-22)

Joshua D. Minchin Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove, Eastern District of Kentucky

Braden T. Morell Judge Danny C. Reeves, Eastern District of Kentucky

Timothy F. Nevins Judge Paul D. Borman, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan

Grant A. Newton Judge David L. Russell, Western District of Oklahoma

Nathaniel A. Plemons Judge Mark T. Pittman, Northern District of Texas Alexander W. Preve Judge Edward M. Chen, Northern District of California

Emily J. Sachs Judge Eduardo C. Robreno, Eastern District of Pennsylvania

Jackson C. Smith Judge Jane J. Boyle, Northern District of Texas

Rachel M. Stuckey Judge Eldon E. Fallon, Eastern District of Louisiana

Jeffrey A. Turner Judge Joseph H. McKinley Jr., Western District of Kentucky

Kristina H. Wenner Judge Gabriel W. Gorenstein, Southern District of New York

Federal Bankruptcy Courts

Nathan C. Elner Judge Stacey G. C. Jernigan, Northern District of Texas (2020-22)

State Courts

Robert W. Dillard Vice Chancellor Joseph R. Slights III, Delaware Court of Chancery

Joshua A. Manning Vice Chancellor Morgan T. Zurn, Delaware Court of Chancery

Molly J. Reed Master in Chancery Patricia W. Griffin, Delaware Court of Chancery

Leena A. Shetty Judges John R. Grise and Steve A. Wilson, Warren County Circuit Court, Kentucky

Alexandra A. Eason Judge J. Steven Stafford, Tennessee Court of Appeals

Matthew A. (JP) Horton Judge Thomas W. Brothers ’77, Tennessee Circuit Court, 20th District (2020-22) “I would like to celebrate members of the Class of 2020 for their extraordinary success in securing clerkships. More than 21 percent of the class have secured clerkships, and 16 percent served in federal clerkships as their first jobs after graduation.”

- Michael Bressman,

Professor of the Practice of Law and Director,

Clerkship Program

11 members of the classes of 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 secured federal clerkships for 2020-21 or other terms:

Macy Cullison Climo ’16—Judge Patricia E. Campbell-Smith, Federal Claims Kenneth M. Cochran ’16—Judge Mark C. Scarsi, Central District of California (2020-21) and Judge Virginia A. Phillips, Central District of California (2019-20) Griffin R. Farha ’19—Judge Kent A. Jordan, 3rd Circuit (2021-22) and Judge Richard J. Leon, District of Columbia (2022-23) Margaret D. Fowler ’18 (JD/MSF)—Judge Janis G. Jack, Southern District of Texas

Christine J. Gibbons ’19—John L. Sinatra Jr., Western District of New York (2019-21) Clayton J. Masterman ’19 (J.D./Ph.D.) —Judge David B. Sentelle, D.C. Circuit

Breanna C. Philips ’19 —Judge Michael H. Park, 2nd Circuit

Tyler D. Ricker ’17 —Judge James E. Graves, 5th Circuit

R. William Stout ’19 —Judge Corey L. Maze, Northern District of Alabama

Nathan Townsend ’19 —Judge David Porter, 3rd Circuit

Kasey A. Youngentob ’17—Judge Eugene E. Siler Jr., 6th Circuit

1948

Bobby Lee Cook, celebrated trial attorney, dead at 94

Bobby Lee Cook of Cloudland, Georgia, died Feb. 19, 2021. He was 94. Bobby became one of the nation’s most celebrated trial lawyers and practiced for more than 70 years.

Bobby lied about his age to enlist in the U.S. Navy during World War II at 17. After his service, he studied at Vanderbilt and then moved home to Summerville, Georgia, where he opened a law practice in 1949.

Bobby served in the Georgia Legislature and once ran for Congress, but his true calling was the courtroom. He represented such high-profile clients as the Rockefeller and Carnegie families, Robert Vesco, C.H. Butcher Jr., Mike Thevis and Daniel Paradies. For decades, he was hired for or consulted on nearly every high-profile case in Georgia. Among the more than 150 acquittals he achieved in murder cases during his career, he won murder trials in Germany and Vietnam. One of his more colorful cases, in Savannah, Georgia, is chronicled in John Berendt’s book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

Bobby practiced law until shortly before his death. He was recognized with lifetime achievement awards by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. In an interview for his induction into the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame, Bobby explained why he became a lawyer: “I was convinced that it would give me the opportunity to do something good for people,” he said, “and to be in an area where rights had been deprived for many people over such a period of time.”

1947

James Richard Tuck (BA’40) of Nashville died Aug. 20, 2020. He was 102. James graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Vanderbilt before serving in the U.S. Army Air Force as a pilot, flying troops and supplies into China from bases in India. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross and continued to serve in the Tennessee Air National Guard until 1977. He was the Founder’s Medalist for his class and spent his legal career at National Life and Accident Co. as general counsel of the WSM radio and television stations and Opryland USA. In retirement he was the city attorney for Belle Meade from 1993 to 1999. A charter member of the Metro Nashville Council, James represented the 34th district for 12 years, chairing the Budget and Finance Committee.

1949

James L. Bass Jr. of Carthage, Tennessee, died May 21, 2020. He was 98. James had recently celebrated 70 years at his law firm, Bass & Bass, and still worked five days a week until shortly before his death. He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps as a radio operator during World War II, transmitting Morse code on B-17s in the European theater. For his service liberating Paris and prisoners of war in Austria, he was awarded the French Foreign Legion medal of honor.

Charles Horace Warfield Sr. (BA’47) of Nashville died Feb. 19, 2020. He was 95. In World War II, Charlie served in the Pacific theater on the USS Yokes, where he fought in the Okinawa campaign. After the war, he finished his undergraduate studies at Vanderbilt. During law school, Charlie and several classmates founded the Vanderbilt Law Review. In 1972 he became a founding partner in the Nashville firm that became Farris Warfield & Kanaday, serving as managing partner. The firm merged with Stites & Harbison in 2001. Charlie was president of the Nashville Junior Chamber of Commerce and the Nashville Chamber of Commerce, an executive committee member of the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands, and president of the Nashville Better Business Bureau and the Nashville Bar Association.

1951

Robert Ernest Allen Jr. (BA’48) of Charlotte, North Carolina, died Jan. 12, 2020. Roy was an infantry officer in the U.S. Army, serving in Germany in World War II. After law school, he entered private practice and in 1952 joined the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Co., becoming a life member of the Million Dollar Round Table. He was North Carolina chairman of the Vanderbilt University Endowment Drive for many years. He had a lifetime interest in antique cars and was founding president of the Charlotte Auto Fair in 1967. His 1940 Lincoln Continental V-12 convertible appeared in the 1978 movie The Betsy.

1952

Charles Terrill Cady of Greenville, South Carolina, died April 16, 2020. He was 94. A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Charlie served in the U.S. Army Air Force in World War II and then earned his undergraduate degree at Memphis State University and his law degree at Vanderbilt. He worked as a corporate lawyer for Provident Life and Accident Insurance Co. in Chattanooga for 36 years, ultimately serving as general counsel and secretary.

Livingfield More (BA’47) of Franklin, Tennessee, died Jan. 19, 2021. He was 94. Livy served in the U.S. Army during World War II after starting college at Vanderbilt at age 16. A dedicated horseman, he devoted his life to River Grange Farm.

1953

Joe E. Johnson of Nashville died Dec. 22, 2020. He was 93. A native of Cookeville, Tennessee, Joe made his mark as a record label executive who produced, published and promoted more than 150 hits. As a music executive, he touched the lives of Willie Nelson, Lorrie Morgan, Jan and Dean, Marty Robbins, Gene Autry, Ricky Nelson, Chubby Checker and Glen Campbell, among other artists. Joe went to work for Columbia Records in the early 1950s. He became a co-founder of the Academy of Country Music in 1964 and helped produce the pilot of its annual awards show. An avid golfer, Joe launched a Nashville pro-celebrity golf tournament and continued to play until he was 85.

1951

Taya Seligman (BA’50) of Keene, New Hampshire, died Feb. 13, 2021. She was 92. Taya was one of three women in her law class. She worked as a juvenile probation officer, was a counselor with the Stamford, Connecticut, Commission on Aging, running a clinic at Nashville General Hospital, and worked with various state mental health agencies. Over the course of her career, she lived in East Tennessee, Florida, Connecticut and Kentucky before retiring in Keene to be near her daughters.

Robert Gene Striplin (BS’60, MA’61) of Sacramento, California, died Dec. 17, 2020. He was 92. Bob joined the U.S. Army after World War II, stationed in Germany and Korea. He practiced law for seven years in Columbia, Tennessee, and then returned to Vanderbilt, earned a master’s in history, and began a teaching career in Sacramento public schools in 1961. He later joined the political science faculty at American River College, where he taught until 1990.

1954

Alex Whitefield Darnell (BA’51) of Clarksville, Tennessee, died Nov. 24, 2020. He was 91. After earning his law degree, Alex served in the U.S. Army, stationed in Germany. He returned to Clarksville and practiced law until he was appointed clerk and master of Montgomery County Chancery Court. During more than 20 years on the bench, Alex was president of the Tennessee County Officials Association, where he helped modernize the county officials retirement system. In 1975 he was appointed chancellor of the 6th Chancery District. He retired to a farm in Port Royal in 1981.

Stephen Deaderick Potts (BA’52) of Bethesda, Maryland, died Dec. 12, 2019. He was 89. Steve graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Vanderbilt. After earning his law degree, he joined the defense appellate division of the Judge Advocate General Corps. In 1961 he joined the Washington, D.C., law firm of Shaw Pittman Potts & Trowbridge, where he focused on maritime, environmental and aviation law for 30 years. In 1990, Steve was appointed by President George H.W. Bush to a five-year term as head of the Office of Government Ethics; he served a second term under President Bill Clinton. Under Steve’s leadership, the OGE expanded its focus to include a greater emphasis on international corruption and participated in the drafting of the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption, which was adopted by the Organization of American States in 1996. Steve was recognized for the assistance he provided the government of Argentina in establishing its ethics office with the nation’s highest honor, the Order of May. After retiring from OGE in 2000, he continued his advocacy of ethics in government and business as interim president of the Ethics Research Center from 2001 to 2002 and then chairman of the ERC board until 2007. Steve received the ERC’s Pace Award in 2008 in recognition of his unwavering integrity and moral vision. He left the ERC to join the White House Counsel’s Office under President George W. Bush, serving until 2009. An avid tennis player, he served on the boards of the U.S. Tennis Association and the U.S. Olympic Committee. He is survived by his wife, Irene P. "Kip" Potts (BA’52).

George Harrison Cate Jr. '49 dies at 92

George Harrison Cate Jr. (BA’49) of Nashville, who helped form Metropolitan Nashville’s combined city/ county government and was elected Metro’s first vice mayor, died Dec. 18, 2020. He was 92.

George entered legal practice in Nashville with his father in 1951 after earning his law degree. A community leader throughout his 63-year legal career, he helped spearhead the effort to combine Nashville’s city government with Davidson County government to create Metropolitan Nashville in the early 1960s and was elected Metro Nashville’s first vice mayor in 1962, serving from 1963 to 1966. His achievements were recognized in 1984 with the Nashville Bar Association’s John C. Tune Public Service Award.

At Vanderbilt, George was president of the Student Union and the Honor Council as an undergraduate, received the Founder’s Medal for his law class, and was editor-in-chief of the Vanderbilt Law Review.

After earning his J.D., George served for two years as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army JAG Corps based in Washington, D.C. He later served in the Army Reserve until 1984, commanding a military police brigade with units in five states. He was promoted to Brigadier General and received the Legion of Merit.

George was instrumental in creating the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County. In 1958 the Metro Charter had been defeated in a referendum. As chair of Citizens for Better Government, he led the campaign for the adoption of the Metro Charter, speaking on the merits of the proposed consolidation of the city and county governments. When the Metro Charter passed in 1962, Nashville became the first city in the nation with this form of government.

SUBMITTED

1955

Beresford L. Church (BA’51) of Little Rock, Arkansas, died Jan. 6, 2020. He was 89. In addition to his two Vanderbilt degrees, Bere earned an MBA at Columbia University. He began his legal career in 1955 at Spitzberg Bonner Mitchell & Hayes in Little Rock. In 1979 he became a solo practitioner specializing in real estate law until his retirement in 1999. Bere was a founding member of and served as the attorney for Modern Music of Little Rock, which brought great jazz performers to Arkansas in the early 1960s and helped bring about the desegregation of Little Rock’s Robinson Auditorium.

Donald D. Hildebrand of Nashville died April 14, 2020. He was 91. Don earned his B.A. at Illinois Welseyan University and served in the U.S. Army during the Korean conflict before earning his law degree. He became a founding partner in the law firm of Lester Hildebrand Nolan Porter and Mondelli in 1964. Don was a state commander of the Tennessee American Legion and hosted Conservative Viewpoint, one of the first talk shows on Nashville radio station

1952

Judge Thomas A. Wiseman Jr. ’54 (BA’52) dies at 89

Judge Thomas A. Wiseman Jr. ’54 (BA’52) of Nashville died March 18. He was 89. A native of Tullahoma, Tennessee, Tom was nominated to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee in 1978 by President Jimmy Carter on the recommendation of Sen. James Sasser ’61 (BA’58).

During his distinguished judicial career, Tom served on the Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules of the Judicial Conference from 1984 to 1989, as chief judge of the Middle District of Tennessee from 1984 to 1991, and as a member of the 6th Circuit pattern jury instructions committee from 1987 to 2012. While serving on the bench, he earned an LL.M. from the University of Virginia School of Law.

After assuming senior status in 1995, Tom continued to serve until his official retirement in 2013. He was elected to represent the 6th Circuit Court in the Judicial Conference of the United States from 1997 to 2002. In 2002 he was consultant to the judiciary of Brcko, Bosnia, under the aegis of the Central and Eastern Europe Legal Initiative and the U.S. State Department.

Among other notable cases, Tom presided over the desegregation of schools in Nashville from 1978 until settlement and unitary status declaration in 2004, and over the Geier Consent Decree, which desegregated Tennessee’s colleges and universities. He served on the founding board of directors and as vice president of the Federal Judges Association.

Tom taught Trial Advocacy at Vanderbilt and also taught national, regional and advanced courses in the National Institute of Trial Advocacy. He received the law school’s Distinguished Service Award in recognition of his long career of public service and his work as a member of Vanderbilt’s law faculty.

Tom served for two years in the U.S. Army after law school and then practiced law in Tullahoma until 1971, representing his district in the state House of Representatives from 1965 to 1969. He moved to Nashville when he was elected state treasurer in 1971. He founded the Nashville firm of Chambers and Wiseman after a failed election bid for governor in 1974. Tom is survived by his wife, Emily Matlack Wiseman; his son, Thomas A. Wiseman III ’82, and a large extended family.

WLAC. He was the Republican candidate for the Tennessee Supreme Court in 1973. For 10 years, Don was a colonel in the Tennessee State Guard, serving as judge advocate, adjutant general and inspector general. He hosted and produced a legal talk show, Law: Cases and Comment, for more than 20 years.

Raymond Skinner Jr. (BA'54) of Memphis, Tennessee, died Feb. 3, 2021. He was 90. Ray was a sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Korean conflict. After graduating from Vanderbilt, Ray returned home to Memphis to work with his father at Forest Hill Dairy. After leaving the dairy, he spent many years at Union Planters Bank before becoming budget director for Shelby United Neighbors, now United Way. Sidney White Spragins Sr. (BA’54) of Jackson, Tennessee, died Feb. 19, 2021. He was 88. Sid joined his father’s law firm in 1956 and practiced law for 45 years.

1957

William A. Edwards (BA’54) of Cleveland, Ohio, died Feb. 6. He was 87. As an undergraduate, Bill had a brief but colorful stint on the Vanderbilt football team while his father was the head coach. He became the student radio voice of the Commodores and worked at the Grand Ole Opry, where he took Vanderbilt football recruits on tours. After law school, he served in the U.S. Army and then returned to Cleveland, where he worked as a loan officer for Commerce Union Bank before joining Ulmer Berne Laronge Glickman & Curtis in 1963. He practiced in the firm’s tax and estate planning departments for 34 years, retiring in 1998.

James S. Gilliland (BA’55) of Memphis, Tennessee, died Feb. 24, 2020. He was 86. Jim influenced political and social change for decades in Memphis and nationally. He started his legal career as a prosecutor in the U.S. Navy, then as chief defense counsel for the NavyMarine general court martial system for the Far East. He joined Glankler Brown in Memphis after his service. His legal career was marked by awards from nonprofits and professional organizations recognizing his work to push Memphis and Shelby County to become more progressive and inclusive. Jim moved to Washington, D.C., in 1993 to serve as general counsel to the Department of Agriculture under President Bill Clinton, returning to Memphis after his government service. His impact in Memphis included chairing the boards of the Liberty Bowl, the Memphis Cotton Carnival and LeMoyne-Owen College. He received the Memphis Bar Association’s Sam A. Myar Jr. Memorial Award for most outstanding young lawyer in 1971, and in 1995 he was presented with the United Negro College Fund’s Beacon of Hope Award by baseball legend Hank Aaron. Jim is survived by his wife of 55 years, Lucia Flowers Gilliland (BA’59).

1961

Professor of Law, Emeritus, Robert Covington

Professor of Law, Emeritus, Robert Covington died at his home in Nashville on Nov. 29, 2020. He was 84.

Born in Evansville, Indiana, but raised largely in Paris, Tennessee, Bob earned his undergraduate degree at Yale University before earning his law degree at Vanderbilt Law School in 1961.

He joined the law faculty immediately after earning his law degree. In addition to his recognized expertise in labor law, Bob also published books and articles on evidence, insurance, legal method and legal education over the course of his distinguished academic career.

He continued to publish after assuming emeritus status, authoring the third edition of Employment Law in a Nutshell (Thomson West, 2009) and co-authoring the fourth edition of Legal Protection for the Individual Employee (Thomson West, 2010).

Faculty colleagues recall Bob’s deep commitment to the law school and university and his dedication to teaching. He received Vanderbilt’s Thomas Jefferson Award in 1992, and when the law school was expanded and renovated in the early 2000s, the Covington Room was named in his honor.

In his early years at Vanderbilt, Bob organized and led a faculty-student Dixieland band that entertained at law school functions and produced a vinyl record. Bob is survived by his wife, Paula Anne Covington (MLS’71, MA’94).

1958

Charles L. Herring (BA’53) of Denver died April 10, 2020. He was 88. “Bucky” practiced law in Vero Beach, Florida, for many years and later worked in the oil and gas industry traveling and settling in Denver.

Richard M. Mowry Jr. of Boca Raton, Florida, died May 16, 2020. He earned his undergraduate degree at St. Vincent College. Richard served in the Army and then worked for the FBI, learning Chinese at the Army Language School in California. He then opened a private law practice in Deerfield. During his 52-year career, he served Deerfield Beach as mayor and a city commissioner.

Wendell Harmon Rorie of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, died Dec. 25, 2020. He was 98. Wendell served in the U.S. Army before law school. He practiced law in Hopkinsville for 57 years and was city attorney 16 years. He was president of the Kentucky Municipal Attorneys Association in the 1970s and of the Christian County Bar Association in 1970. He was also active in the Kentucky and American bar associations. As president of the Kentucky Lawyer Referral Service in the 1970s, Wendell implemented the policy of handling pro bono cases for those who could not afford a lawyer. In 2000 he was recognized for his dedicated efforts to provide all Kentuckians with access to legal services.

1959

Richard Denmar Bird (BA’54) of Nashville died June 30, 2020. He was 86. Richard practiced at Gracey Madden Cowan & Bird until 1987, when he joined Baker Donelson. He served two terms as president of the Nashville Bar Association and was a fellow in the Tennessee Bar Foundation. He practiced law for almost 60 years, retiring in 2016.

William Joseph Faimon of Nashville died Jan. 23, 2021. He was 88. Bill served in the U.S. Air Force from 1952 to 1954. After law school, he worked for the CIA for 12 years and then practiced law in Nashville. Bill was elected a general sessions judge in 1982 and served until his retirement in 2006. Gerald Hart Johnson of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, died Jan. 21, 2020. He was 85. Gerald earned his undergraduate degree at Southern Illinois University. After law school, he practiced law in Cape Girardeau for 47 years. Gerald was hospitalized for eight months after a near-fatal auto accident in 1955. With the help of his parents and future wife, he realized his physical impairment need not be an obstacle to success. His zest and passion for life remained evident in his final days.

Jack Donald McNeil of Memphis, Tennessee, died Aug. 27, 2020. He was 87. Jack earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Memphis. He served in the U.S. Army, based in Honolulu, before earning his law degree at Vanderbilt, where he served on the Vanderbilt Law Review. Jack loved being a trial lawyer and presented oral arguments in court until two years before his death. Jack served in the Tennessee legislature as a state representative and later was a city councilman in Memphis, where he was instrumental in saving Beale Street from demolition. Jack was a published poet, wrote historical plays and could play a competitive tennis match until near the end of his life.

1961

Robert E. Banker of Tampa, Florida, died April 27, 2020. He was 85. A Memphis native, Bob earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He then served as a pilot in the U.S. Air Force, which he enjoyed immensely, saying he would “rather fly than march.” Stationed in Turkey, Bob flew troops into Beirut. He graduated from law school Order of the Coif and served on the Vanderbilt Law Review. During law school, he flew for the Tennessee Air National Guard and worked for the Vanderbilt Development Foundation. In 1961, Bob moved to Tampa and joined Fowler White, where he specialized in medical, aviation and products defense. In 2008 he formed Banker Lopez & Gassler with 75 trial attorneys, mentoring innumerable young trial lawyers. Bob’s notable successes include representing New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner in his battles with Major League Baseball and defending Learjet in a multimillion-dollar wrongful death suit after a crash that killed pro golfer Payne Stewart.

Walton Thomas Conn (BA’56) of Nashville died Nov. 10, 2020. He was 90. Walton served in the U.S. Navy, stationed in San Diego. He worked as a corporate attorney for the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. An avid Vanderbilt basketball fan, he had been a season ticketholder since 1988.

Nathan James Harsh of Gallatin, Tennessee, died April 10, 2020. He was 82 and had practiced law in Gallatin since 1961. A civil liberties champion, Nathan specialized in land condemnation, personal injury, workers’ compensation, wills, estates, real estate and domestic family matters. He earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and served in the Tennessee Air National Guard. During the 1970s, Nathan served on a commission appointed by Judge Frank Gray that heard more than 80 cases to determine just compensation for the landowners after the Cordell Hull Dam was constructed and land was taken by the government by eminent domain to impound the Cordell Hull Lake. Nathan maintained a lifetime interest in African American and Hispanic history and culture, assisting the Tennessee African American and Hispanic communities as an attorney and friend. He is survived by his wife, Jean Harsh (BS’59).

Lewis B. Hollabaugh (BA’56) of Franklin, Tennessee, died Aug. 13, 2020. He was 85. Lewis served in the U.S. Army, stationed in Germany, and then joined Manier Crouch White & Herod in Nashville, ultimately becoming a named partner. He was a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, a member of the International Association of Defense Counsel and a member of the Nashville Bar Association board.

Howard Henry Rice of Birmingham, Alabama, died Aug. 20, 2020. He was 84. “Hook” earned his undergraduate degree at the College of William & Mary and then served in the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Division, stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He worked for the FBI based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Newark, New Jersey, before moving to Montgomery, Alabama, to take a job as head of investigations with South Central Bell. After retiring he worked with the state attorney general’s office.

1962

Robert Laws (BA’58) of Nashville died Aug. 20, 2020. He was 85. Bob was captain of the Vanderbilt football team in 1959 and was an assistant football coach during law school. He also joined the U.S. Army ROTC program in 1958 and served in the Army Reserve after law school. Bob was appointed attorney of the Tennessee Department of Agriculture in 1965, serving there until 1974 when he was appointed a federal magistrate judge for the Middle District of Tennessee. He served on the bench for 25 years.

1963

Mark B. Anderson of Crespo, Iowa, died July 7, 2020. He was 72. Mark entered law practice in Crespo in 1973 and served as Howard County attorney for two terms over the course of his career. He retired in 2018.

Robert G. Johnston of Cleveland, Mississippi, died Nov. 24, 2020. He was 81. Robert attended Mississippi State College before earning his J.D. at Vanderbilt. After law school, Robert enlisted in the U.S. Navy Reserve, remaining active until 1993. He joined Alexander Feduccia & Alexander in Cleveland, Mississippi, in 1965. In 1972, Robert was a founding partner in the firm that became Alexander Johnston & Alexander, where he practiced for 55 years.

Ira Stephen North Sr. of Nashville died Dec. 28, 2020. He was 79. Steve practiced law for more than 50 years, including a term as a circuit court judge. He earned his undergraduate degree from David Lipscomb College.

1964

Gorman Waddell of Kingsport, Tennessee, died Feb. 13, 2021. He was 81. He established Moore Stout Waddell in Kingsport in 1966. The firm later merged with another firm, which became Wilson Worley Moore Gamble and Stout. Gorman practiced law in Kingsport for 56 years..

1965

C. Thomas Cates of Memphis, Tennessee, died Dec. 23, 2020. He was 79. Tom graduated from Memphis State University before earning his Vanderbilt law degree Order of the Coif and serving on the Vanderbilt Law Review. He practiced with Burch Porter & Johnson in Memphis for more than 40 years. From the early 1990s until he retired in 2013, he was the city attorney for Germantown and Collierville, Tennessee, providing steady leadership through a period of tremendous growth for both communities. Tom was instrumental in assisting Germantown in establishing a library; its primary collection is named in his honor. Tom is survived by his wife, Elaine (BA’66), and four children, including Taylor Alexander Cates ’99 and Cynthia Cates Moore (BS’91).

Riley C. Darnell of Clarksville, Tennessee, died Oct. 2, 2020. He was 80. Riley served 22 years in the Tennessee General Assembly and 16 years as secretary of state. Riley earned his undergraduate degree from Austin Peay State University. He served in the U.S. Air Force as a captain and judge advocate general until 1969 and then returned to Clarksville to practice law. In 1970 he was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives from the 67th District. He served five two-year terms. In 1980 he was elected to the state Senate, ultimately serving as majority leader for 12 years before losing his seat in 1992. In 1993 Riley was appointed Tennessee’s secretary of state and served until 2009.

John H. Frye III of Irvington, Virginia, died Oct. 9, 2020. He was 84. John earned his undergraduate degree at Davidson College and served in the U.S. Army in Baltimore. After law school, he joined the legal staff of the Federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission in Washington, D.C., ultimately serving as an administrative law judge for the commission. In 1992 he was appointed administrative law judge for the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, where he served until his retirement in 1998. John was active in the Federal Bar Association, serving as chair of the sections on Administrative Law and International Law and of the Committee on the Administration of Justice. He also was the author of three historical novels.

Robert Lee Jackson (BA’65) of Franklin, Tennessee, died Feb. 15, 2021. Bobby was 79. Bobby practiced with his father at Jackson Tanner and Reynolds and later with his son at Jackson and Associates. A skilled mediator, Bobby handled more than 2000 family law matters in Nashville courts.

Professor Allaire Urban Karzon

Professor Allaire Urban Karzon of Nashville died Jan. 24, 2021. She was 95. Professor Karzon was a distinguished attorney with a trail-blazing legal career in government, private practice, as corporate counsel and as a law professor. After graduating from Wellesley College and Yale Law School, she was an attorney with the Office of Alien Property at the Department of Justice and the legal department of RCA Corp. She became the first woman partner SUBMITTED at Hodgson Russ Andrews Woods & Goodyear in Buffalo, New York. After moving to Nashville in 1968, she served as counsel to Performance Systems Inc. and Aladdin Industries, and as a partner in Neal Karzon and Harwell. She taught tax law at VLS for 18 years, becoming the law school’s first tenured woman professor.

David King of Winter Park, Florida, died Dec. 15, 2020. He was 79. David spent 50 years fighting for justice in Florida, most notably as the lead attorney for Fair Districts, a successful legal challenge to partisan gerrymandering. David also supported his son Chris King’s 2018 Florida gubernatorial campaign. David was a partner in the Orlando firm of King Blackwell Zehnder & Wermuth, focusing on complex commercial litigation and legal malpractice defense. He was inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and was president of the Orange County Bar Association. David also worked with the League of Women Voters of Florida and others to pass the Fair Districts Amendments, which changed how Florida draws up legislative and congressional districts, and spent years defending the amendments in court.

Walter Steele Patton III of Fairhope, Alabama, died Aug. 24, 2020, of COVID-19. He was 81. Walter lived for many years in Mobile, where he worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He earned his undergraduate degree at Centre College and a master’s in history at the University of Alabama.

William Landis Turner of Hohenwald, Tennessee, died March 17, 2020. He was 79. Landis practiced law in Hohenwald from 1967 until 2007 and served for 40 years as its city attorney and as county attorney for Lewis County and as the attorney for the Lewis County School System. He also was city attorney for Lobelville in Perry County for 20 years. Active in the Tennessee Bar Association, he served terms as president and as speaker of the house of delegates. Under his leadership, the TBA instigated creating a statewide office of public defenders and a client security fund. Landis also served on the boards of the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association and the Tennessee Justice Center. He helped create the first railroad authority by which cities and counties were able to save railroad branches abandoned by large railroads. He was an attorney for South Central Tennessee Railroad Authority for 30 years and chaired his local railroad authority and the Tennessee Short Line Railroad Alliance, which represents 18 railroads. Active in politics, Landis managed more than 20 campaigns in Lewis County and was elected a member of the Lewis County Commission. He was president and served on the board of the Tennessee County Commissioners Association for many years. Landis is survived by his wife of 54 years, Janet Cameron Turner (BA’63).

1966

Allen Taylor Malone (BA'63) of Memphis, Tennessee, died Feb. 9, 2021. Allen was a special agent with the FBI for three years before entering law practice at Apperson Crump in Memphis. He joined Burch Porter & Johnson as a member in 2000 and focused on environmental litigation there until his retirement in 2018. He is survived by his wife, Mary Martin Malone (BA’64).

Thurman T. McLean of Nashville died June 15, 2020. He was 81. Thurman practiced law in Nashville and was a staunch supporter of Vanderbilt and Montgomery Bell Academy.

David Young Parker of Nashville died Jan. 23, 2021. He was 79. David practiced law for 53 years in downtown Nashville and as counsel for Provident Life and Accident Insurance Co., the state of Tennessee and Genesco. He taught business law as an adjunct professor at David Lipscomb College, where he earned his undergraduate degree, and served on the board of the Tennessee Supreme Court Historical Society and on the Historical Committee of the Nashville Bar Association.

1967

William Lee Lackey (BA’64) of Savannah, Tennessee, died Oct. 11, 2020. He was 78. Lee was a fourth-generation Commodore and third-generation attorney. He joined the U.S. Army after law school, graduating from Officer Command School in 1968. He joined his father’s law practice after his service and was a prominent member of the West Tennessee bar for more than 40 years, serving as a member of the Tennessee Bar Association House of Delegates. He was Hardin County attorney from 1990 until 2002. He spent much of his career in court and was a mentor and teacher to several generations of Hardin County attorneys. He was president of the Hardin County Chamber of Commerce and a member of the board of Central Bank, serving as its secretary, vice chairman and chairman.

Judge John R. MacLean of Cleburne, Texas, died Nov. 8, 2020. He was 82. John earned his undergraduate degree at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and then served in the U.S. Army, stationed in Germany. During law school, John was president of the Vanderbilt Bar Association. He moved to Cleburne to practice with his fatherin-law and served as county attorney for Johnson County from 1969 to 1976 and district attorney from 1977 to 1984, when he was appointed by Gov. Mark White to serve as judge of the 249th District Court. After 24 years of public service, John returned to private practice until 2016.

William A. Pyle of Jackson, Mississippi, died Dec. 18, 2019. He was 77. Bill earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Mississippi and returned to Jackson to join his father’s law practice after law school. He became a trial attorney representing clients in federal and state courts in Mississippi. After the unrest in 1970 at Jackson State University, Bill was appointed to Mayor Russell Davis’ committee to investigate the violent response of the Jackson Police Department and the Mississippi Highway Patrol. Bill managed statewide political campaigns and was chairman of the legislative committee of the Mississippi Bar Association. Bill’s wife, Dee Loyocono, had multiple sclerosis, and he chaired the Mississippi chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and assisted Dee in founding Mississippi Blood Services, now the primary blood supplier in the state.

1968

Walter Winn Davis (BA’65) of Glasgow, Kentucky, died Oct. 8, 2020. He was 76. Walter practiced commercial and real estate law in Glasgow for 46 years until his retirement in 2014. He was active in the Barron County Bar Association, serving as its president in 1977–78, and in the Kentucky Bar Association. Walter was a director of Citizens Bank and Trust Company for 22 years and served on the advisory board of Trans Financial Bank and U.S. Bank for the Glasgow region for 17 years. He served on the board of T.J. Samson Community Hospital in Glasgow for 37 years.

1971

Judge Robert E. Brizendine of Atlanta died Nov. 18, 2020. He was 74. Bob attended Georgia Tech on a basketball scholarship and helped pay his law school expenses by teaching calculus in the Vanderbilt School of Engineering. Bob joined Hicks Eubanks and Scroggins in Atlanta, where he specialized in bankruptcy law. After 21 years as a practicing attorney, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals appointed Bob to serve as a bankruptcy judge in the Northern District of Georgia. He served for 21 years.

Thomas H. Graham of Sedona, Arizona, died March 19, 2021. He was 75. Tom earned his undergraduate degree from Oberlin College. He practiced law in New York City and Minneapolis before moving to Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, with his wife, Jennifer, where Tom practiced law and the couple owned The Fireside restaurant. In 2004, Tom and Jennifer moved to Sedona, where Tom was the founding partner of a boutique hotel, Las Posadas of Sedona, and practiced law.

John Richardson White of Lynchburg, Tennessee, died Nov. 24, 2020. He was 75. A native of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, John earned his undergraduate degree at Sewanee before graduating Order of the Coif from Vanderbilt Law School. John served in the U.S. Army before practicing for 30 years as a partner in Bobo Hunt and White.

Peter Garland (MLS’66), a long-serving librarian at Vanderbilt Law School, died May 26, 2020, in Sewanee, Tennessee. He was 86. A graduate of Sewanee and the Emory University School of Law, Peter was a favorite of many students because of his patience and his ability to explain how to make use of a large variety of print and electronic services.

Florence Howse Ridley (MA’51) of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, died Jan. 16, 2021. She was 99. After earning her Ph.D. in medieval English literature at Harvard University, Florence became a world-renowned expert on Chaucer. She taught at the University of California, Los Angeles, for 34 years, becoming the first woman chair of the academic senate and graduate counsel and the first woman appointed as associate dean of graduate studies. In 2018, Florence endowed the Elisabeth H. and Granville S. Ridley Jr. Chair in Law, held by Christopher Serkin, in honor of her parents. Her father, Granville Ridley Jr., earned his undergraduate and law degrees at Vanderbilt in 1914 and 1916, respectively, and had a long, successful legal career in Nashville. Her survivors include Elizabeth Stewart DeLargy ’77 (BA’72), John M. Green ’87, Cameron R. Stewart (BA’68), George H. Stewart (BE’72) and Mildred Stewart Wells (BS’75).

1973

John Wilfred Bonds Jr. of Atlanta died Nov. 22, 2020. He was 77. A native of Dyer, Tennessee, John attended the Air Force Academy and was a pilot in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War. After earning his law degree at Vanderbilt, John joined Sutherland Asbill and Brennan in Atlanta, where he practiced for 37 years.

Richard A. Buerger of Brentwood, Tennessee, died March 28, 2021. He was 73. Rick earned his undergraduate degree at Miami University. He was a founding partner of Buerger Moseley and Carson from 1973 until retiring to senior partner status in 2002. He was Williamson County attorney from 1978 to 2002. Rick taught at Belmont University as an adjunct professor of health care management. He was president of the Tennessee County Attorneys Association from 1990 to 1992 and of the Williamson County Bar Association in 1983-84. He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Mary (MS’77).

1974

Craig E. Lindeke of St. Paul, Minnesota, died Aug. 5, 2020. He was 74. Craig earned his undergraduate degree at Williams College. He worked in the Minnesota Revisor’s Office drafting legislation for more than 30 years.

William E. Speakman Jr. of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, died March 16, 2021. He was 72. Bill earned his undergraduate degree at Washington & Jefferson College. He served in the Army Reserve for four years after law school. He began his law career with PeacockKeller in Washington, Pennsylvania, and started his own law practice in 1979. Bill was the longtime editor of the Washington Country Bar Association legal journal and was a child custody and conference officer for Washington County.

1975

Robert William Bradford Jr. of Montgomery, Alabama, died March 19, 2021. Bob earned his undergraduate degree at David Lipscomb College before serving in the U.S. Navy for four years. After law school, he practiced at Bradley Arant Rose & White in Birmingham. In 1980 he joined Hill Carter Franco Cole & Black in Montgomery as a partner and practiced with the firm for 40 years.

1978

Charles Stanley Dunn of South Charleston, West Virginia, and Largo, Florida, died June 29, 2020. He was 66. Charley earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan and returned to his home state, West Virginia, to practice law with his brother after law school. A gifted mediator, he served for 30 years in the state attorney general’s office representing many West Virginia state agencies, including the Division of Highways, the Insurance Commission and the Department of Human Resources, and serving as general counsel for the Division of Motor Vehicles. Charley toured the world on his bicycle in his free time.

1979

Theresa Ann Swafford (MS’72, BA’70) of Chattanooga, Tennessee, died Nov. 11, 2020. She was 72.

1982

Donovan S. Robertson of Bettendorf, Iowa, died March 23, 2020. He was 63. Donovan earned his undergraduate degree at Augustana College. He spent his legal career in the Quad Cities as a partner at Stengel Bailey and Robertson in Rock Island, Illinois. Donovan was a member of the Illinois, Iowa and Missouri bar associations and served on the Criminal Justice Act Panel program.

1983

Robert C. Goodrich Jr. of Nashville died March 7, 2020. Bob earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Virginia and taught school before attending Vanderbilt Law School as an Elliott Cheatham Scholar. He practiced law for 33 years at Farris Warfield & Kanaday, where he focused on commercial litigation and insolvency. In 2016, Bob was inducted at the Smithsonian Institution into the American College of Bankruptcy Lawyers. A dedicated volunteer, Bob helped establish Parmer Park in Nashville and was chairman of Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

1985

Lucille Elizabeth Reymann of Charlotte, North Carolina, died May 5, 2020. She was 60. Lucie earned her undergraduate degree summa cum laude from the University of Alabama. She began her career in 1985 in Dallas with Johnson & Gibbs and then joined Shearman & Sterling in 1988, working in Los Angeles and New York. She moved to Charlotte in 1994 to join the legal department of Bank of America.

Bradley Evan Wahl of Atlanta died after a six-year battle with cancer July 21, 2020. He was 60. Brad spent most of his legal career as a partner at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, where he practiced commercial finance law. Brad is survived by his brother, Lee Wahl ’86, and a large extended family.

1988

Elizabeth Bingham Marney of Nashville died May 26, 2020. She earned a B.A. and M.A. in English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Phi Beta Kappa, and taught at Southern Methodist University in 1963 before earning a Ph.D. in English at the University of Texas at Austin. Betty taught at Harpeth Hall for 10 years before entering law school in 1985. She earned her law degree at age 48 and practiced at King and Ballow before becoming in-house counsel at the Nashville Banner newspaper, where she wrote a brief for a case argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. She worked in the Criminal Appellate Division of the Tennessee Attorney General’s office before her retirement in 2008. She is survived by her son, Samuel R. Marney (BA’90), and daughter, Annis Morrison Marney (MD’03, MSCI’09).

2003

Sheandra Rashida Clark of Atlanta died July 26, 2020. She earned her undergraduate degree at George Washington University before law school. At the time of her death, she had worked as an assistant general counsel for Delta Air Lines for 11 years. Sheandra sat on the board of the Georgia Justice Project, which advocates for individuals in the criminal justice system.

2014

Andrew Stephen Bauer of Marietta, Georgia, died Jan. 4, 2021. He was 35. Andrew was a corporate counsel with Birla Carbon.

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In compliance with federal law, including the provisions of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendment of 1972, Sections 503 and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, the ADA Amendments Act of 2008, Executive Order 11246, the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 as amended by the Jobs for Veterans Act, and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, as amended, and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008, Vanderbilt University does not discriminate against individuals on the basis of their race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, color, national or ethnic origin, age, disability, military service, covered veterans status, or genetic information in its administration of educational policies, programs, or activities; admissions policies; scholarship and loan programs; athletic or other university-administered programs; or employment. In addition, the university does not discriminate against individuals on the basis of their gender expression consistent with the university’s nondiscrimination policy. Inquiries or complaints should be directed to Anita J. Jenious, J.D., Director; Equal Employment Opportunity Office; Baker Building; PMB 401809, 2301 Vanderbilt Place; Nashville, TN 37240-1809. Telephone (615) 343-9336; FAX (615) 343-4969.

SAVE THE DATE!

VANDERBILT LAW SCHOOL REUNION IS OCT. 22–23, 2021

This year’s celebration is sure to be one for the history books as Reunion 2020 and Reunion 2021 classes reunite! We will announce the format (in-person vs. virtual) for Reunion once more clarity emerges regarding the progress of the pandemic.

In the meantime, learn more about how you can connect with classmates at law.vanderbilt.edu/reunion.

Questions? Contact the Law School alumni office at reunion@law.vanderbilt.edu or 615-322-2606.