Discovery
Winter 2015 % Volume 1, No. 1
the newsletter from washington and lee university school of law
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Presides Over W&L Moot Court Finals
Opening arguments before the panel. From l.to r.: Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain, Justice Samuel Alito and Judge Albert Diaz.
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n Oct. 21, Samuel Alito Jr., associate justice of the United States Supreme Court, visited Washington and Lee School of Law to preside over the finals of the 35th Annual John W. Davis Appellate-Advocacy Competition as the chief justice. Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and Judge Albert Diaz, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, joined Alito on the bench. Four finalists, Paul Wiley ’15L (counsel for petitioner), Hernandez Stroud ’15L (counsel for respondent), Loren Peck ’16L (counsel for petitioner) and Aaron Siegrist ’16L (counsel for respondent), constructed detailed arguments based on a given fact pattern and presented them to the court. The finalists tackled the fictional case United States v. Buckmyre. The state of “Commonwealth” had indicted Bryan Buckmyre and his accomplice, Mark Laswel, for the distribution of marijuana. Buckmyre confessed to both federal and state authorities without an attorney present. Laswel confessed to his employer and was killed shortly thereafter. The state court used the confessions to convict Buckmyre. The appellate court overruled the conviction, stating that the confession violated Buckmyre’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel. Rather than retrying it at the state level, the prosecutor pursued the case in federal court. Buckmyre again sought to suppress the confessions, arguing that the right to counsel attaches to a single criminal act, regardless of whether it is charged in separate sovereigns. Buckmyre also moved to suppress Laswel’s confession on the grounds that he did not have an opportunity to cross-examine the witness as required by the Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause. Buckmyre’s motions to suppress were denied, and he was convicted. On appeal, the Thirteenth Circuit reversed. The Supreme Court then granted certiorari. Siegrist’s winning argument proceeded in two parts. First, he argued that the Dual Sovereignty Doctrine did not apply in this case, because the prejudice to the defendant outweighed the interest of the state. Second, he argued to suppress the Laswel confession for its testimonial nature. Although Laswel confessed to his employer and not law enforcement, he objectively believed the police would ultimately use the confession. Siegrist considered the recipient of a confession unimportant, and focused instead on the nature of the confession itself. Further, he argued that prior rulings by the Supreme Court had repudiated the silver platter doctrine and that allowing it would permit the state and
Members of the Moot Court board gather during the Davis Competition.
federal governments to do together what neither could do independently. Alito cracked down on Siegrist, pointing out that the state and federal offenses are different. “But with these different offenses, would the silver platter doctrine still apply?” Alito asked. “No, but these offenses are the same,” Siegrist replied. “But there was no intent,” Alito pushed, suggesting that intent was required for one of the offenses, but not the other. “Doesn’t that make it different?” “No, they are phrased differently, but they are essentially the same offense,” Siegrist answered. Aaron Siegrist’s opponent, Loren Peck, had previously argued that the Sixth Amendment did not require the suppression of the two confessions because the Laswel confession did not fall under the Confrontation Clause. Further, he argued that dual sovereignty should apply in this case because while the federal prosecution could have proceeded on its own, it could only do so with cold evidence. The runner-up, Paul Wiley, argued to reverse the judgment of the Thirteenth Circuit in order to preserve the dual sovereignty of the state and federal courts. Further, he argued that the federal interest in the case related to the amount of marijuana found. At one point, Alito told Wiley that “there is no Sixth Amendment lite.” He asked if they were dealing with the same violation. Wiley explained that the state and federal statutes had different requirements. Wiley’s adversary, Hernandez Stroud, argued that the Supreme Court should uphold the Thirteenth Circuit because, at the state level, the court contravened Buckmyre’s right to counsel, and federal investigators received the evidence obtained in this matter on a silver platter. Further, he argued to suppress Laswel’s statements because they lacked testimonial aspects, and Buckmyre did not have the opportunity to face his accuser. Alito questioned whether this argument attacked dual sovereignty. Stroud argued that it did not, because the court could decide to admit any statement (in any sovereignty) if obtaining it violated the Sixth Amendment. In the brief-writing competition, Anne Wilkes ’15L and Aria Allen ’16L took home the honor for best brief, and Jacob Goldstein ’15L was the runner-up. —By Jeffrey Valentine ’17L (reprinted with permission from The Law News)
Davis finalists pose with the distinguished panel following the competition. From left to right: Paul Wiley ’15L, Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain, Aaron Siegrist ’16L, Loren Peck ’16L, Justice Samuel Alito Jr., Hernandez Stroud ’15L, and Judge Albert Diaz.
Law Council President’s Message I have the honor of serving as president of the Law Alumni Association this year. As many of you are aware, it is a challenging time for law schools nationally. We are not immune to that here at W&L Law. During our September meeting, the Law Council heard the sobering news of the challenges facing the Law School. Subsequent conversations with law alumni on the Law Council and across the country have revealed one common theme: law alumni care deeply about this place. To weather the challenges to legal education, W&L Law needs us, its alumni, to step forward and assist our students. The time has come for all law alumni to show their commitment to W&L Law. You can do this in many ways:
1. Support the Law Annual Fund. 2. Refer a prospective student to the Admissions office. 3. Encourage an admitted applicant to enroll at W&L Law. 4. Host a coffee or lunch or dinner for admitted applicants in your area. 5. Offer career advice to a current student or recent graduate.
6. Hire a law student for a summer internship. 7. Refer job openings to the Career Strategy office. At Washington and Lee Law we have a tradition of alumni helping the current generation. This tradition has been passed down from generation to generation. This sets W&L apart William Toles ’92, ’95L (right) accepts the gavel from immediate past president Eric Anderson ’82L. from others and garners respect and admiration from across the country. With one of the highest will strengthen our school, our degrees, and the next participation rates nationally amongst law schools, generation of W&L lawyers. W&L Law and its alumni are the living embodi Invest in W&L Law. ments of this tradition. With the challenges the Law School is currently William M. Toles ’92, ’95L facing, I ask all alumni to dig deep to continue this Partner at Fee, Smith, Sharp & Vitullo L.L.P. tradition and to support the Law School with one Dallas, Texas or more of the options outlined above. Your efforts
Dramatic Renovations at Sydney Lewis Hall Sydney Lewis Hall, the home of the School of Law since 1976, underwent a dramatic renovation over the summer. The addition of numerous exterior windows allows more natural light into the building, especially on the lower floors. The renovation also included a new and more obvious entry to the building, on the ground floor near the visitor parking spaces. Phase 2 of the renovation will create new homes for several of the School’s legal clinics along with more spaces for group work. This renovation was made possible thanks to the support of numerous alumni and friends during our recent campaign Honor our Past, Build Our Future, which concludes June 30, 2015.
The History Room leads to the Law Library’s new collapsible shelving.
A closer look at the stonework leading to the new entrance. 2
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The new entrance is located by the faculty-staff parking lot.
In Translation: Professor Moliterno on Ethics in the Former Soviet Georgia Washington and Lee Law professor James Moliterno, one of the foremost international experts in legal ethics and professionalism, has published a first-ever book on lawyer ethics in the former Soviet Georgia.
The book is a translation of Moliterno’s book “Global Issues in Legal Ethics,” originally published by Thomson/West in 2007. It is the first book on lawyer ethics published in the Georgian language. The newly translated and published book was dedicated during a ceremony at the Georgian National Library. Moliterno has traveled throughout the world during his career to help countries develop ethics policies and training programs that guide lawyers, judges and law students through the conundrums they face in their professional careers. “At times, I help develop codes for judges and lawyers in countries where none existed previously,” said Moliterno. “But more often, I’m engaged in facilitating the teaching of what their code is, trying to make education about it more effective and sophisticated.” Moliterno has engaged in substantial international legal ethics and legal education reform work in Serbia, Armenia, Georgia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Japan, Indonesia and Thailand. He has trained law professors in China, Thailand, Georgia, Armenia,
Leaders in the Law: The Hon. Robert Payne ’63, ’67L and Dean Nora Demleitner The Hon. Robert E. Payne ’63, ’67L, senior judge from the Eastern District of Virginia, and W&L Law Dean Nora Demleitner were honored as Leaders in the Law by Virginia Lawyers Weekly.
Professor James Moliterno Slovakia and Serbia, judges in Kosovo and Georgia, and both judges and prosecutors in Indonesia. He has worked to revise the lawyer ethics code in Thailand and Georgia and lectured extensively on international lawyer ethics topics in Spain, Czech Republic and Slovakia. A member of the American Law Institute, Moliterno has held committee leadership roles in both AALS and the ABA. He was the 2012 recipient of the Rebuilding Justice Award from the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System in recognition of his career-long legal education reform work.
Student Newspaper Wins Top ABA Award for Second Straight Year
Now in its ninth year, the VLW awards program recognizes lawyers across the commonwealth who are setting the standard for other lawyers in Virginia. Leaders are recognized for changing the law, serving the community, changing practice or improving Virginia’s justice system, among other accomplishments. The honorees were celebrated during a reception at the Science Museum of Virginia, in Richmond. During the ceremony, it was announced that Judge Payne received the special honor of Leader of the Year, which is voted on by the honorees themselves. Payne was a litigator at McGuireWoods for many years before becoming a judge in 1992. He took senior status in 2007 but continues to hear cases in the Eastern District. During his career, Payne has heard many significant cases, and his decisions often set the parameters of criminal litigation in the district. For example, one of his decisions is cited in the discovery order used in every case heard in the Eastern District. Demleitner is a scholar of criminal, comparative and immigration law. She is the editor of the Federal Sentencing Reporter and frequently lectures on sentencing and collateral sentencing.
The Law News, the student newspaper at W&L Law, was honored again this year by the American Bar Association with the Law School Newspaper Award. This is the second year in a row The Law News has won the prize for the finest law school newspaper in the country. exponentially with the use of complex graphic soft W&L Law is one of only four schools whose ware programs, high-quality writing and an aggressive student papers have received back-to-back awards. The process of intense, substantive others are Harvard, Santa Clara editing. and the University of Virginia. “As a board, we are extreme According to Howard Wel“By honoring our newspaper ly proud of these recent achievelons ’14L, who served as editor in for two years in a row, the ments and national recognition,” chief for two years, the editorial ABA has actually honored the said Darmante. “Our goal as a board completely reimagined the staff is to continue the trajectory publication during his tenure, unique and wonderful qualities of success and progress of the with a renewed focus on the stothat set Washington and Lee paper, while also finding innovaries of the Law School. tive ways to meet the wants and “By honoring our newspaper Law apart. The secret to our needs of the W&L legal commufor two years in a row, the ABA success was that we reflected nity both on campus and abroad.” has actually honored the unique One of these innovations is a and wonderful qualities that set the community we served.” revamped website, which will inWashington and Lee Law apart,” —Howard Wellons ’14L clude more of the print version’s said Wellons. “The secret to our content and mechanisms for success was that we reflected the readers to comment and provide community we served.” other kinds of feedback. Current editor in chief Michael Darmante ’16L witnessed the paper’s evolution first hand, starting as a Read The Law News online contributing writer more than two years ago. He notes that the paper has continued to evolve and progress wlulawnews.com
Write Now! By Mail:
Elizabeth Outland Branner Assistant Dean for Law School Advancement Sydney Lewis Hall Washington and Lee University School of Law Lexington, VA 24450-2116
By E-Mail:
brannere@wlu.edu
By Phone:
(540) 458-8191 Winter
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Jimmy Pickle ’12, ’15L and Zach Wilkes ’12, ’15L (at right) escort Justice Samuel Alito (far left) and the other appellate advocacy judges on a campus tour.
Q&A with the Moot Court Board Moot Court Board chair Donavan Eason ’15L and vice-chair Zach Wilkes ’12, ’15L talk about why moot court competitions are a big part of the W&L experience. Learn more about Moot Court at law.wlu.edu/mootcourt. Q: For those who have not competed in any of the Moot Court competitions, can you talk a little bit about how they’re structured? Zach: The Moot Court competitions at W&L provide a myriad of opportunities for student involvement. The five internal competitions—Negotiations, Appellate Advocacy, Mock Trial, Client Counseling and Mediation—vary greatly at face value, but all emphasize the importance of conducting yourself in a professional manner and developing a rapport with your target audience. While each competition is judged slightly differently, the Moot Court Executive Board typically judges the preliminary rounds of each competition, a faculty panel judges the semifinal round, and a group of distinguished judges and/or practitioners presides over the final round. Q: What competitions/events have you recently had,
and what’s coming up? What have some of the highlights of this semester been? Zach: We just had the final round of Mock Trial on Nov. 14, and we have Client Counseling and Mediation coming up. The Client Counseling final round was on Nov. 19, and the Mediation Final Round is on Feb. 11. Those are schoolwide competitions. We are also in the process of selecting and preparing teams to represent the Law School in external competitions. The highlights of the semester to date have been interacting with, and watching students compete in front of, our extraordinary panels of judges. In addition to Justice Alito, who judged the final round of the Appellate Advocacy tournament, the Moot Court Executive Board has hosted judges from the Fourth and Ninth circuits, and practitioners from some of the most prestigious firms in the country. All of the judges took significant time out of their schedules, and offered
Negotiations Competition Crowns Champs The 2014 Robert J. Grey Jr. Negotiations Competition saw numerous teams in several rounds of competition attempt to settle various tort matters, including situations of wrongful death, matters involving sexual misconduct by a prison guard, and the injury of a patient at a mental hospital. The final round involved four teams attempting to reach the best resolution possible for their respective clients in a matter of repeated school bullying Representing a 15-year-old victim who had been physically attacked by fellow classmates were the two-person teams of Will Flory ’16L and Kristin Tisdelle ’16L, and Hector DeJesus ’16L and Catie Donnelly ’16L. Their opposition, representing the school board and its anti-bullying reporting policies, were the teams of Eric Charette ’16L and Aaron Siegrist ’16L, and John Fitzgerald ’16L and Paul Keith ’16L. In each round, the teams received a set of general facts universally available to both sides. In addition, confidential facts were also provided to each team, which were often both to the advantage and detriment of each respective side. Within this 4
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confidential information were financial instructions from the respective clients illustrating the monetary amounts desired by the client before he or she would be willing to consider settlement. The finalists reached what each deemed to be mutually beneficial settlements within the 45-minute time constraints. Following the final round of negotiations, the judges convened and named Kristin Tisdelle and Will Flory the Negotiations Competition champions. Whether or not all of the finalists end up conducting negotiations over the course of their careers, the advocacy, public speaking and active response skills students apply in this competition will carry over to a number of career paths. A special feature of this year’s competition was that Robert J. Grey Jr. ’76 himself served as one of the presiding judges. Grey, a former ABA president, is a partner at Hunton & Williams. In addition to Grey, the distinguished panel of judges included experienced negotiators Alvin Brown (former partner at Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett) and Andrea Wahlquist ’95L (partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz).
invaluable feedback and career advice—as well as high praise for the Washington and Lee community. Q: How has being on Moot Court shaped your law school experience (e.g., did it help with finding a job, organizing time, learning certain skills)? Donovan: In my opinion, there’s no better way to build self-confidence and pure grit than having to stand in front of a judge or jury and argue your case, with adrenaline pumping through you at full tilt. The amount of information you are expected to retain and leverage effectively is staggering. If you aren’t intimidated, you don’t have a pulse. Moot Court taught me that preparation is life’s great equalizer. If you’re willing to put in the time, you’ll be given opportunities to grow and succeed despite the overwhelming expectations placed upon you. And when you do, you will feel fulfilled beyond measure.
Top 10 in StudentRun Publications The Washington and Lee Law Review, a student-run journal publishing the work of top legal scholars and its student editors, has made the top-10 list released by ExpressO, one of the leading systems for journal article submission. The Law Review placed sixth on the list of top 100 most popular law reviews chosen by authors using ExpressO, based on 2013 submission data. The Law Review has capitalized on this ranking with the launch of a new website that greatly expands the journal’s digital offerings, including the second issue of its online companion, the Washington and Lee Law Review Online (lawreview.journals.wlu.io) ExpressO’s Law Review Submissions Guide 2014–15, which features the rankings, emphasizes the online shift in access to legal scholarship. According to the guide: “Increasingly, legal scholarship is being discovered through free online sources like law review websites, bepress or SSRN over web subscription services like Hein, Lexis, and Westlaw.” The guide also notes that authors benefit significantly from this trend because with “greater visibility and discoverability, [an author’s] citation rate grows and downloads actually increase dramatically over time.”
Ways to Give
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An alum who wishes to remain anonymous has donated funds to the W&L School of Law to establish a scholarship named in honor of Darlene Moore.
hen Darlene Moore relinquished her duties as secretary to the Law Council this past year, she winnowed her files of correspondence dating back to the 1980s. In those pages, she can trace many a law alum’s life, from career changes to marriage to kids. “Over the years, I’ve worked closely with a lot of council members and gotten to know many of them really well,” she said. So the news that an anonymous donor had established a scholarship named in her honor took Moore completely by surprise. It’s not the first time Moore has been honored for her work at the Law School. In 2004, she received the first Ruth and John Huss Award for “exemplary and dedicated service by a Law School staff member.” “I had a meeting with Dean Nora Demleitner and Elizabeth Branner and thought it was going to be about my work with the Law Council,” she said. “This completely floored me and took several days to register. I even shed a few tears. Since then, names have been going through my head of people I’ve worked with, wondering who the alum is. It’s humbling to think about. I’ve always just tried to stay behind the scenes and do my job the best I could. I can’t thank them enough.” Moore, who grew up in nearby Covington, Va., took classes at East Carolina University and completed her degree in business administration at Averett University, got married, started a family and worked for an attorney in Greenville, North Carolina. The family moved to Lexington in 1975, and Moore planned on being a stay-athome mom. During a walk on campus with her young daughter, however, she ventured into Tucker Hall and struck up a conversation with Leah Gordon, Dean Roy Steinheimer’s secretary. Later that day, she received a call from the dean himself, asking her to help prepare final exams. After negotiating a higher salary, she said yes to $7,000. “Dean Steinheimer had one of those voices you couldn’t turn down,” Moore explained. She joined the three-person secretarial pool and settled into her office on the first-floor landing in Tucker Annex (now the Reeves Center). Moore enjoyed the
After 39 years at W&L Law, Darlene Moore, director of faculty services and secretary to the Law Council, is retiring. prime location. “I could walk down the Colonnade to the president’s office, the bookstore or the snack bar. Everything was close by. I got to know people in other departments in the College. I loved the intimacy of it.” A few months later, Moore moved with the rest of the staff to the brand-new Sydney Lewis Hall. In 1980 she became director of faculty services and secretary to the Law Council, where she enjoyed “watching members rally support from their classmates for the School.” Moore helped organize some of the School’s most important moments, including the dedication of the new building and the Lewis Powell wing. “It’s been tremendously exciting to see the Law School grow into what it has become today,” Moore said. “Look at the number of clinics available to students and
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at the third-year immersion program—W&L was the first to embrace that concept. We also have so many faculty who are involved in a lot of interdisciplinary programs. It’s mind-boggling.” After 39 years at W&L Law, Moore is more than ready to start the next phase of her life. “I really want to spend more time with my grandchildren,” she noted. “The Law School has been really good to me. I’d really like to stay forever, but I’ve been working since I was 16, and I would like to have fewer responsibilities. Maybe I could become the Law School greeter—the first person visitors see when they come to the building. I’d love that.” If you are interested in contributing to the Darlene Moore Scholarship, contact Elizabeth Branner at brannere@wlu.edu.
Jack Vardaman ’62 Inducted into Order of the Coif Jack Vardaman ’62, an emeritus member of the W&L Board of Trustees, was inducted as an honorary member of the W&L Chapter of Order of the Coif. Vardaman attended law school at Harvard and then clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black. He practiced at Williams & Connolly for over 40 years, with extensive experience in complex civil and criminal litigation. He has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on several occasions and before state and federal courts throughout the U.S. Vardaman has devoted himself to his alma mater, serving on reunion committees, search committees and campaign cabinets. Most recently, he served as the chair of the Law Committee of the W&L Board of Trustees. He lectures on his professional experiences each year at the Law School and serves as a career mentor to students. As a part of his gift in honor of his 50th college reunion, Vardaman endowed a scholarship in the Law School.
By investing in W&L Law, you invest in education, knowledge, tradition, honor, service, innovation, practical experience, life-long friendships and community. Please consider making a gift online www.law.wlu.edu/give
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George Paler (center), the grandfather of Mary Natkin ’85L, clinical professor of law and director of academic success at W&L Law, was a career coal miner who died of silicosis. His widow received black lung benefits.
W&L’s Black Lung Clinic Named One of Nation’s Most Innovative In its 2014 Winter issue, PreLaw Magazine recognized the Law School’s Black Lung Clinic as one of the top15, most innovative law school clinics in the country. The magazine sought nominations from law schools nationwide for clinics that were innovative in subject matter, structure or community served. W&L’s Black Lung Clinic represents coal miners diagnosed with pneumoconiosis, also known as black lung disease, in pursuit of benefits from coal companies that once employed them. In attempting to collect benefits, miners and survivors face formidable teams of lawyers, paralegals and doctors that the coal companies assemble to challenge these claims. The clinic has represented hundreds of disabled coal miners and their surviving spouses since its creation in 1996 and has a success rate of approximately 80 percent. Professor Tim MacDonnell, director of the clinic, explains what makes the Black Lung Clinic stand
out among law schools. “The Black Lung Clinic represents a unique opportunity for our students and our clients. The students experience the challenges and excitement of complex civil litigation. They are called upon to fight and win our clients’ claims, which invariably involve intricate questions of law and medicine. “Under supervision, the students develop evidence, conduct discovery, depose experts, represent our clients at hearings, write appellate briefs and conduct oral argument on appeal, frequently before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. It is an immersive litigation experience.”
He added, “Our clients are disabled coal miners or the surviving spouses of coal miners. The miners we represent have usually worked in our nation’s coal mines for 20 to 40 years. They are totally disabled from a progressive, debilitating and ultimately fatal lung disease. The spouses we represent have usually spent years as the caretaker of their disabled coal miner, having to watch as their spouse ultimately succumbs to black lung. Our clients, who often have difficulty finding an attorney willing to take on a black lung claim, receive zealous representation from student advocates who spend significantly more time perfecting their claim than the average attorney.”
Immigrant Rights Clinic Wins Asylum for Nation’s “Most Famous Stateless Person”
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fter 15 years in legal limbo, Mikhail Sebas tian, sometimes referred to as the “most famous stateless person in the U.S.,” has been granted asylum thanks to the efforts of W&L Law students and the School’s Immigrant Rights Clinic. Sebastian’s saga begins in the Soviet republic of Azerbaijan. An ethnic Armenian, Sebastian was forced to flee when the U.S.S.R began to crumble. Armenia was overwhelmed with refugees and would not take him. He then traveled to Turkmenistan, but Sebastian, who is gay, could not remain there because homosexuality is illegal in that country. Finally, he sought asylum in the U.S. The U.S. rejected his asylum claim and ordered him removed, but because he is stateless—not a national Professor David Baluarte under the laws of any country—none would take him. After he spent months in detention, immigration officials recognized that the breakup of the Soviet Union meant that Sebastian held no citizenship, and released him on “immigration parole.” He worked as a barista and started to build a life here, even while his status remained unresolved. Things took a strange turn in 2011, however, when Sebastian vacationed in American Samoa, a U.S. territory. Unbeknownst to him, he also entered the independent country of Samoa, at which point immigration officials decreed that Sebastian had “self-deported” and permanently barred him from reentering the mainland U.S. Sebastian had been marooned in American Samoa for nearly a year when Professor David Baluarte, director of W&L Law’s Immigrant Rights Clinic, became involved in the case. Baluarte had recently completed a comprehensive report on statelessness in the U.S. for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, a version of which was later published under the title “Citizens of Nowhere,” and was asked by the U.N. to provide pro bono counsel. Baluarte says that stateless individuals, who lack any lawful status, access to rights or protections, are highly vulnerable to discrimination and abuse. But even among the stateless, Sebastian’s case was unusual and unique. “While American Samoa is a U.S. territory, our immigration laws do not extend there,” said Baluarte. “Because Mikhail was believed to have executed his removal order when he traveled to Western Samoa, and he would need to cross the Pacific to return to his home in Los Angeles, immigration officials had the power to keep him cordoned off in that section
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of our national territory.” Baluarte, working with the UNHCR and the Jewish Family Service in California, eventually was able to get Sebastian a humanitarian parole, allowing him to return to the U.S. mainland. An unintended benefit of this situation was that Sebastian’s immigration process started over, giving him another chance to argue his case for asylum. By this time, Baluarte had joined W&L, and he assigned Sebastian’s case to Michael Keller ’14L and Meagan Peterson ’14L. The students conducted extensive research and developed new legal arguments to support the asylum claim, this time focusing on Sebastian’s sexual orientation and the consequences of returning him per immigration policy to his country of last residence, Turkmenistan. “We know enough about Turkmenistan’s view of homosexuality that this would have been in effect a death sentence for Mikhail,” said Baluarte. The students and Baluarte traveled to Los Angeles last spring to represent Sebastian at an interview with an asylum officer. So unusual was the situation that a decision normally taking two weeks dragged on for almost eight months as Sebastian’s case was reviewed by higher and higher levels within the U.S. immigration enforcement offices. Finally, just in time for Thanksgiving, Sebastian learned that he been granted asylum after 15 years of stateless legal limbo, putting him on the path to getting a green card and, eventually, U.S. citizenship. “I called Mikhail as soon as I received the news, and we celebrated together,” said Baluarte. “Mikhail had spent so many years as a stateless person that the idea that his struggle was over and that he could finally call the U.S. his home was overwhelming.” Sebastian’s story remains one of the most notorious and unusual, but Baluarte’s research has shown that he is not alone. There are likely thousands of stateless people in the U.S., living under constant threat of detention and with no real established avenue to legal status. Baluarte, together with other advocates for the rights of stateless persons, worked hard to ensure that Congress would include a legislative solution to statelessness as part of the comprehensive immigration reform initiative in 2013. With the future of immigration reform uncertain, stateless persons who are not so fortunate as Mikhail continue to languish in legal limbo. Baluarte continues to help individual clients, and to research and write about the problem. “The way that we have written our laws to exclude stateless persons is simply inhumane. We have identified a gap in our laws that produces real human suffering and that urgently needs to be addressed,” Baluarte said.
facult y accomp l i s hm e n ts DAVID BALUARTE presented at the Global Forum on Statelessness in the Hague in September. In November, the Immigrant Rights Clinic, which Baluarte directs, celebrated a victory in an asylum case for Mikhail Sebastien, the nation’s “most famous stateless person.” (See p. 6.) JOHANNA BOND presented on women’s rights in Africa at the Universidad de Viña Del Mar in Viña Del Mar, Chile. She also presented at the Michigan State University Law Review’s symposium entitled, “Should the U.S. Become a Party to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women?” In 2015, Bond will begin her Fulbright research and teaching in Tanzania. CHRISTOPHER BRUNER presented his work on the role of small jurisdictions in cross-border corporate and financial services at the Law and Society Association 2014 annual meeting in Minneapolis, as well as the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics 2014 annual meeting in Chicago, where he also spoke on his recent book, “Corporate Governance in the Common-Law World.” He participated in a panel discussion titled “Seeking Business Leaders for the 21st Century” at the Aspen Ideas Festival, an event co-sponsored by the Aspen Institute and The Atlantic. His contribution to a symposium on competing theories of corporate governance, hosted by the Lowell Milken Institute for Business Law and Policy at the UCLA School of Law, was published in UCLA Law Review Discourse. NORA DEMLEITNER published two articles, “Stratification, Expansion, and Retrenchment: International Legal Education in U.S. Law Schools” and “The State, Parents, Schools, ‘Culture Wars’, and Modern Technologies: Challenges under the U.N. Convention on the Rights of a Child.” She gave presentations at the Max-Planck-Institute Conference “Transatlantic Dialogue on Surveillance Methods” and the Comparative Sentencing Conference at the University of Minnesota/ Robina Institute. She was named a 2014 Leader in the Law by Virginia Lawyers Weekly. MARK DRUMBL completed two book chapters on punishment in international criminal law, an introduction to an edited collection on juvenile justice, and a variety of shorter pieces. He co-authored two practitioner’s commentaries on aspects of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. He delivered lectures at Leiden University (The Netherlands), the University of Copenhagen, the Hague Centre for Global Justice, Cardozo Law School, Queen’s University, the University of Georgia, the University of Melbourne and the University of Warwick (UK). MICHELLE DRUMBL published “When Helpers Hurt: Protecting Taxpayers from their Return Preparers” in Tax Notes. She co-authored updates to a chapter on “Practice Before the IRS and Professional Responsibility in Tax Practice” for the 6th edition of the ABA practice manual “Effectively Representing Your Client Before the IRS.” She spoke on a panel titled “Understanding Civil Penalties and Exceptions” at the IRS Annual Low Income Taxpayer Clinic Grantee Conference and presented at the 2014 University of Washington Tax Law Program Symposium. JOSHUA FAIRFIELD authored a commentary in the New York Times addressing the implications of Apple Pay and digital wallet payment systems. He published an article in the Cornell Law Review with W&L Law professor Erik Luna titled “Digital Innocence” that examines how mass surveillance data could exonerate criminal defendants. He gave numerous presentations, including at the Southeastern Association of Law Schools Annual Conference and at the 42nd
Research Conference on Communication, Information and Internet Policy. SUSAN FRANCK published “Foreign Investments and the Market for Law” in the University of Illinois Law Review. She delivered the keynote address at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in October during an event titled “Investor-State Dispute Settlement: Reality Check.” She presented at the American Society of International Law’s Midyear Meeting and Research Forum during a session titled “International Economic Law-Private International Law: Dynamics of Investment Law.” Franck moderated a session and participated on a panel at the American Society of International Law 2014 Biennial Research Conference. BRANT HELLWIG organized a two-day workshop of tax professors from the Mid-Atlantic region at W&L Law School over the summer at which scholarly projects were presented in a roundtable format. He later participated in a similar conference at the University of Virginia School of Law in October. In November, he also presented at a meeting of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel on “Income Tax Issues Arising in the Liquidation of a Family Partnership.” Additionally, Hellwig concluded his work on a manuscript on the United States Tax Court, one that details its historical evolution and the expansion of its jurisdiction in modern times. MARGARET HU participated in a symposium billed as a “transatlantic dialogue on the NSA Affair amongst German and American scholars, former government officials and commentators.” The two-day event was held at the University of Freiburg and co-sponsored by the university’s Centre for Security and Society and the German Law Journal. She led discussion at the Law School’s annual Law and Literature Seminar, which this year focused on George Orwell’s “1984.” LYMAN JOHNSON published “Corporate Law After Hobby Lobby” in The Business Lawyer, “The Still-Dwindled Revlon” in the Washington and Lee Law Review Online and “Law and the History of Corporate Responsibility: Corporate Governance,” in the University of St. Thomas Law Journal. He spoke on Family Business Feuds at the annual meeting of the Virginia State Bar Association and participated in an online symposium on the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision at The Conglomerate Blog. TIMOTHY STOLTZFUS JOST completed 34 years of teaching and retired at the end of the fall semester. The third edition of his co-authored “Health Law” hornbook was published by West this fall. He continues to blog at “Health Affairs.” He published an article on the Affordable Care Act premium tax credit appellate court decisions in the New England Journal of Medicine in June, as well as a history of health insurance in the United States in the Encyclopedia of Health Economics, a chapter on the role of the courts in health policy in a health politics and policy textbook, and a chapter on ongoing Affordable Care Act litigation in a book on the NFIB case. J.D. KING conducted research in Chile this fall as a Fulbright Scholar, studying the Chilean justice system. He gave presentations on “Race and the American Criminal Justice System” at the Universidad Viña del Mar, Chile, and also on the “The Role of the Public Defender in Chile and the Transition from Inquisitorialism to Adversarialism” at the Universidad Diego Portales in Santiago, Chile. RUSSELL MILLER participated in a symposium billed as a “transatlantic dialogue on the NSA Affair amongst German and American scholars,
former government officials and commentators.” The two-day event was held at the University of Freiburg and co-sponsored by the university’s Centre for Security and Society and the German Law Journal. Miller, who helped organize the symposium, has provided commentary on this issue since the NSA scandal broke last year and was the only American to offer testimony to a special committee of the German Parliament investigating the NSA activities. JAMES MOLITERNO serves as the chair of the Virginia State Bar Section on Legal Education. His numerous publications include “The American Legal Profession’s Misguided Fear of MDPs and ABS,” presented as a conference paper for China University of Politics and Law and included in the conference book, “Conference on International Legal Ethics and Conference of Chinese Legal Ethics Professors.” He presented “Integrating Experiential Education throughout the Curriculum” at the Indiana Tech Symposium on The Future of the Legal Profession and Legal Education in November. He gave a number of international lectures on legal ethics, including at the Professional Ethics Conference of Judges, Lawyers and Prosecutors in Tbilisi, Georgia. BRIAN MURCHISON was a lecturer at Washington and Lee’s fall 2014 Law and Literature Seminar on George Orwell’s “1984,” speaking on “Ministries of Truth and the First Amendment.” He was a guest speaker at the Roanoke Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, where he reviewed the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013-14 term. KISH PARELLA’s work in progress, “Transcommercial Institutional Legitimacy,” received the Lewis Prize for Excellence in Legal Scholarship from the Frances Lewis Law Center. Her research examines ways to improve dispute resolution within global supply chains. She presented this work at Northwestern Law School as part of the Annual Research Forum of the American Society of International Law (ASIL) and at the 2014 Biennial Research Conference of ASIL’s International Economic Law Interest Group. She also published “Outsourcing Corporate Accountability” in Washington Law Review. CHRIS SEAMAN gave presentations at the Vanderbilt Intellectual Property Scholars Roundtable, Wake Forest University, and the American Intellectual Property Law Association’s Trade Secret Law Summit at Intel Corp. in Santa Clara, California, where he participated in a panel titled ”Should Trade Secrets Law be Federalized? A Debate on the Need for a Federal Civil Remedy and Its Interplay with the Uniform Trade Secrets Act.” Seaman’s paper, ”The Case Against Federalizing Trade Secrecy,” is forthcoming in the Virignia Law Review. He spoke to members of the Virginia State Bar Association at their 26th Annual Intellectual Property Fall CLE on the Supreme Court’s intellectual property decisions from the previous term. VICTORIA SHANNON presented on third-party litigation funding at the 26th Annual Workshop of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA), the Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS) Annual Meeting, and the Washington office of Freshfields. She will present her forthcoming article, “Revealing Third-Party Litigation Funding,” at the ITA Academic Council Works-in-Progress Workshop, and she will serve as a panelist at the Second Annual ITA-IEL Joint Conference on International Energy Arbitration in Houston. She has accepted an invitation to serve on the Editorial Committee for the 2015 Edition of the “Benchbook on International Law,” published by the American Society of International Law (ASIL), and an invitation to attend the Workshop for Law Professors on the Economics of Litigation and Civil Procedure, sponsored by the Law and Economics Center at George Mason University. Winter
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Career Paths
visit law.wlu.edu/career to learn more about recruiting law students for jobs and internships
Tunde Cadmus ’15L spent the summer working at Pepper Hamilton L.L.P. and will join the firm as an associate following graduation. At W&L, Tunde is editor in chief of the Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice. He is the recipient of the Fishwick Family Scholarship.
Julianne Freeman ’16L spent the summer as a legal intern at Major League Baseball Properties Inc., in New York City. She is a staff writer for the Washington and Lee Law Review and serves as the treasurer for the Latin American Law Students Association.
Jamison Shabanowitz ’15L spent his summer in Washington, D.C., working for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Jamison is the current president of the Public Interest Law Student Association.
As a rising 2L, I knew that I wanted to work at a law firm during my second summer. My Civil Procedure, Torts and Contracts courses drew me toward commercial litigation, and I knew that I would gain the most exposure to that kind of work at a firm. I worked on a wide range of assignments, including identifying and analyzing the legal issues surrounding different types of collaborative sharing companies; researching judicial interpretations of amended portions of the False Claims Act; researching available remedies for breach of a settlement agreement under Pennsylvania law: and summarizing a state’s products liability law in order to value a claim brought against a pharmaceutical company. I was concerned that I would not be prepared for the kind of practical work performed at law firms because I had largely done nothing but read cases and take exams for two years in law school. I quickly learned, however, that the skills I employed the most at Pepper— research and writing—were skills that I had already developed and honed while at W&L.
I worked in the Legal and Business Affairs Department, which handles matters like trademark enforcement and licensing agreements. Some of my projects included drafting cease and desist letters to be sent to parties infringing baseball’s trademarks, drafting license agreements and researching developing copyright issues such as exceptions to rights of publicity. One of the most important new skills I developed was the ability to accurately and efficiently identify a client’s long- and short-term needs. Because so many of my projects required research, I was grateful for the intensive training I received from my Burks Scholars, and I had countless opportunities to further develop my research skills. Additionally, I was able to draw upon my first-year writing courses when drafting documents, understanding the importance of word choice, sentence structure and conciseness.
W&L’s curriculum catalyzed my internship experience at PEER. A first-year small section class on professional responsibility allowed me to feel comfortable communicating with others in a professional, lawyer-like manner. After one semester of strictly learning black-letter law and researching, it is easy to forget that lawyers play vital roles other than just researcher. I also had the fortune to have this course as my small section under Professor Jim Moliterno. I developed my persuasive writing and oral advocacy skills in the same subject under his tutelage. As a legal intern, I researched topics related to the current caseload, drafted complaints, handled FOIAs and performed client intake, as well as served as an investigator. To provide resources for the employees PEER serves, I contacted 11 different offices of inspector general within federal agencies to discover if they had implemented new protocols concerning whistleblowers. Even without the specific academic background, I combined my personal interest in labor and environmental law with the legal training of W&L and had a highly successful internship.
W&L Law’s Digital Repository Tops One Million Downloads
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cholarly Commons, the online institutional repository at Washington and Lee University School of Law, hit one million downloads on Sept. 5. The repository achieved this milestone in less than three years, faster than similar online collections at much larger institutions. W&L’s archive is one of only 14 Digital Commons law repositories to break the million-download threshold. Scholarly Commons (scholarlycommons.law.wlu. edu) preserves and disseminates the intellectual output and history of the Law School. It includes access to the faculty’s scholarship and to the content of the School’s student-run journals. In addition, materials digitized from the Lewis F. Powell Jr. (’29, ’31L) Archives are avail-
able. His Supreme Court case files have been downloaded over 6,000 times. Content from Scholarly Commons has been downloaded by users in North America, South America, Asia, Europe, Australia and Africa, a total of 74 countries. W&L professors Nora Demleitner, Joshua Fairfield, Lyman Johnson, Timothy Jost, David Millon and Doug Rendleman have authored the most downloaded faculty scholarship. Together, these authors account for 14,052 of the total 67,011 downloads in this series. The bulk of the downloads comes from the student journal archives. In all, 924,938 articles have been downloaded from the Washington and Lee Law Review, the Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice,
and the Journal of Energy, Climate and the Environment. The most popular article is “Privacy and Freedom” by Alan F. Westin, published in the Washington and Lee Law Review in 1968. It has been downloaded 7,546 times. “It is exciting to see our faculty’s scholarship and our students’ work consumed on a world-wide basis,” said Caroline Osborne, assistant dean for legal information services. “You can literally see in real time, via the readership map, persons around the world downloading our content.” Other schools in the one-million download club include Duke, Yale, UC Berkeley, Boston College and William and Mary.
You’re Invited
Alumni Weekend 2015 April 17-19
J
oin your classmates for an exciting weekend to see what has changed, learn what the Law School has to offer today, meet some current students and our new faculty, and, most important, catch up with W&L friends and faculty. Activities include discussions with faculty on legal education, an update on the admissions process, conversations with students about their law experiences and a CLE with Professor Jim Moliterno on inadvertent disclosures. There are also receptions with student groups, a golf outing and a fun run. Law Alumni Weekend isn’t just for reunion classes—all 5,000+ members of our alumni community are invited. We hope that you will return, reconnect and reminisce at Law Alumni Weekend 2015. Hold the date and spread the word.
Don’t miss the Public Interest Law Student Association Silent Auction. Stop by the Moot Court Lobby during registration hours and during the Progressive Reception to bid on items. Proceeds will go toward PILSA summer grants for students working in non-paying summer jobs.
Visit law.wlu.edu/alumniweekend to view the complete schedule. Questions? Contact Suzanne Wade at (540) 458-8996 or swade@wlu.edu.
Class Notes 1951L
James T. Graybeal (’49) attended the christening of the John Warner SSN 785 submarine at Newport News Shipbuilding. He said, “It was a spectacular ceremony, and I’m glad my wife, Tris, was able to attend with me. What a thrill to hear the Navy Band play the ‘W&L Swing’ at the ceremony!” Sen. Warner and Graybeal interrupted their W&L education to serve in the Navy during World War II. They both returned and graduated in the Class of 1949.
1957L
Stephen M. Quillen (’55) received the Tradition of Ex-
cellence Award from the Virginia State Bar’s General Practice Section.
1964L
Peter T. Straub (’61) received the 17th District Vice Com-
mander of the Year award from The American Legion Department of Virginia for his work with four American Legion posts in the district. He is the commander of Post 123 at Greenspring retirement community in Springfield, Virginia.
1969L
James D. Humphries III (’66), a partner at Stites & Harbi-
son, received the Randall L. Hughes Lifetime Commitment to Legal Services Award. He has worked with Atlanta Legal Aid for almost 30 years. He was Legal Aid’s annual campaign chairman from 2003 to 2006, and led the campaign to raise more than $1.5 million for the program’s ongoing operating needs. Humphries was also recently elected to the Georgia Lacrosse Hall of Fame.
1972L
James W. Jennings Jr. (’65) received the 2014 Excellence in
Civil Litigation Award from the Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys. He has practiced law at Woods Rogers P.L.C. for more than 45 years.
1974L
Kent M. Brown was named a 2014 Distinguished Gradu-
ate of Centre College of Kentucky for his efforts challenging government authority as a practicing lawyer, for authoring six critically acclaimed books on the American Civil War, and for writing, hosting and producing nine award-winning documentary films for public and cable television on various aspects of American history. He delivered the keynote speech about Civil War hero Lt. Alonzo Hereford Cushing at the 151st anniversary of the Gettysburg address, in the Gettysburg National Cemetery, on Nov. 19, 2014.
1975L
Angelica Didier Light was appointed to the Council on
Childhood Success by Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe. The council will work to ensure that basic health, education and child care needs are being met for Virginians up to age 8.
1976L
Robert J. Grey Jr. was honored with the 2015 Spirit of Excel-
lence Award from the American Bar Association’s Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession. Grey was the first African American to serve as chair of the ABA’s House of Delegates and served as president of the ABA in 2004. He serves on the board of directors of the Legal Services Corp.
E. Marshall Braden (’73) was named 2014 Republican Law-
yer of the Year by the Republican National Lawyers Association for outstanding professional accomplishments and years of dedicated service to the party.
1977L
The Hon. Pamela J. White, Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge, was named the Robert M. Bell Judge of the Year for her strong commitment to improving access to justice for all Marylanders. She has overseen the court’s Civil Alternative Dispute Resolution Program since 2009, has served as the pro bono committee liaison for the Circuit Court bench for the past six years, and remains actively engaged on the local pro bono committee.
1978L
The Hon. W. Ray Price Jr., a partner at Armstrong Teasdale, in Saint Louis, has been included in the 2015 edition of Best Lawyers in America.
1979L
Scott A. Storey, a shareholder at Foster, Swift, Collins & Smith P.C., has been included in the 2015 edition of Best Lawyers in America in the fields of commercial litigation, litigation—real estate, and product liability litigation—defendants.
1980L
program of The Chamber Foundation Inc., dedicated to motivating professionals to become involved as community leaders.
Robert M. Connolly was elected chair of Stites & Harbison P.L.L.C. in its Louisville, Kentucky, office. He is an award-winning trial attorney and a member of the firm’s torts and insurance practice and business litigation service groups.
Powell L. Duggan has been elected mayor of Warrenton,
Virginia, his home since he joined Walker Jones P.C. in 1980. He served as general counsel for the Fauquier Health Foundation from 1986 through 2013, and was president for Hospice Support of Fauquier County and a member of the town council.
Leslie Skiba Rudzinski joined SunTrust Bank as group vice president, closing specialist team lead, in Richmond.
2003L
Marie E. Washington was named to the Class of 2014 of
Influential Women of Virginia by Virginia Lawyers Media, an honor given to individuals who are making notable contributions to their chosen professions, their communities and society at large. She has her own firm in Warrenton, Virginia.
1987L
2004L
1988L
2005L
Blackwell N. Shelley announced that his firm, Shelley & Schulte P.C. and Cupp & Cupp P.C., have merged their civil rights and employment litigation practices. The new firm, Shelley Cupp Schulte P.C., has offices in Harrisonburg and Richmond. Lauren Fisher ’10L is an attorney with the firm.
Ryan C. Berry joined the international law firm of Greenberg
Traurig L.L.P. in northern Virginia as a shareholder in the firm’s litigation practice.
Justin R. Arnold (’02) opened his own State Farm insurance
Harold D. Lester Jr. was appointed a judge with the U.S.
Civilian Board of Contract Appeals, which resolves government contracts monetary claims by and against civilian agencies of the federal government.
Heather K. Mallard joined Concord Hospitality Enterprises
Co. as senior vice president, general counsel. Based in Raleigh, North Carolina, the firm owns and/or manages more than 90 hotels in 21 states and two Canadian provinces. She and Craig are thrilled to be back home.
1990L
Jon M. Jurgovan was appointed administrative patent judge
agency in the D.C. metro area. Specialties include retirement planning, life insurance, long term care insurance and disability insurance.
Susan Richter Bilbro was named early childhood director at the Covenant Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee.
Marc A. Granger (’99) was promoted to counsel at Latham & Watkins L.L.P. in its Washington office and is a member of the corporate department, representing public and private companies and private equity sponsors in M&A transactions, tender offers, going-private transactions, divestitures of divisions and product lines.
at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Dallas.
William Darryl Harris is of counsel at Kirby McInerney L.L.P. in New York City. His focus is on antitrust and consumer litigation.
Lawrence W. Striley was appointed by the Supreme Court of California as the 25th Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Court and the Courts of Appeal in San Francisco. He is responsible for supervising the preparation of more than 12,000 opinions each year, including opinions published in the Official California Reports and the Official California Appellate Reports, as well as unpublished opinions posted on the judicial branch’s California Courts website.
Leigh Kite Hickman has joined CaroMont Health in Char-
1995L 1996L
lotte as associate general counsel and director of legal affairs.
Michael J. Sartor is a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery L.L.P. in its Boston office and represents private equity sponsors, as well as public and private companies in connection with mergers and acquisitions.
K. Brent Tomer is chief trial attorney at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission in New York City.
Ondray T. Harris was appointed president of The Center for
American Racial Equality. Previously, he worked for the Public Employee Relations Board, the U.S. Department of Justice, as a partner at LeClair Ryan, and as an assistant attorney general for Virginia.
1997L
Christopher C.S. Manning founded a legal recruiting firm, The Manning Group L.L.C, which offers a full complement of recruiting services to include law firm partner, counsel and associate placements. He resides in Washington.
Karen Tracy McElhinny is managing member at Shuman, McCuskey & Slicer P.L.L.C. in Charleston, West Virginia.
1998L
Kevin K. Batteh (’95) is general counsel to the Commodity Markets Council, a trade association that represents energy and agriculture future and derivatives market participants, as well as the exchanges that trade futures and swaps. He is also a partner at Delta Strategy Group, a boutique government relations firm that specializes in financial regulation issues with an emphasis on securities and derivatives. He resides in Washington.
1999L
Erika Harmon coauthored “The Practitioner’s Guide to Trials Before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board,” which provides a practical guide to navigating Patent Trial and Appeal Board trials. She is an attorney at Finnegan, in Reston, Virginia, and chairs its patent office practice.
2001L
Soha F. Turfler is a legal research and writing instructor at the University of New Mexico. She resides in Albuquerque.
2006L
William W. Fagan III is a northern district of Georgia
representative to the Executive Council of the Young Lawyers Division of the State Bar of Georgia for a two-year term, and co-chair of the council’s Legislative Affairs Committee.
Nathan P.J. Lebioda joined Wells Fargo as capital markets counsel in its Charlotte office.
2007L
Joseph C. Bernard III received his M.B.A. from the University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business. He joined A.T. Kearney as an associate and lives in New York City.
Diana Grimes Palmer joined Athene USA as vice president, senior counsel, corporate and procurement. She resides in Des Moines, Iowa.
Amanda L. Thrash is corporate counsel at Laredo Petroleum Inc., an independent energy company with headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
2008L
Edward V. Arnold (’03) is an attorney in the litigation department of Seyfarth Shaw L.L.P.’s Washington office. Joshua M. Autry is an attorney at Lavery Faherty Patterson, a litigation firm in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
The Hon. Andrew J. Russell ’01L was recently appointed as
a commissioner of the Maricopa County Superior Court, where he presides over probate matters. Andy and his wife, Kathryn, live in Phoenix with their daughter, Abigail (born at Stonewall Jackson Hospital), and son, Matthew.
2002L
Jessica R. Berenyi joined American Express as counsel in global network and merchant services in the greater New York City area. Brian J. Dunkel is an international tax manager at KPMG L.L.P. in Atlanta.
Trey T. Parker is an attorney at Carrell Blanton Ferris &
Dean A. Barclay joined White & Case L.L.P. as an attorney in
its Washington office. He helps clients lawfully move goods and services across international borders and solve problems that arise from the unlawful movement of competitors’ goods.
Penny Smith Hahn, an associate with Iseman, Cunningham,
Riester & Hyde L.L.P., has completed Leadership Dutchess, a
Associates P.L.C. His areas are estate planning, estate and trust administration and business formations.
2009L
Jonas A. Callis is an associate in PennStuart’s Richmond
office. He focuses on insurance defense litigation and represenWinter
2015 l aw.wlu.e du
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tation of employers and insurers before the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission and the Court of Appeals.
Michael P. Duffy was promoted to manager, state and local taxation, at KPMG L.L.P. in Stamford, Connecticut.
Berit L. Everhart joined Arnold Gallagher as an associate.
Her focus is on business law and estate planning, with an emphasis on state and federal taxation. She is admitted to practice in Oregon and New York.
C. Ryan Germany is general counsel to the Georgia Secretary of State, Brian P. Kemp. He and Andrea Dunuwila Germany ’09L live in Atlanta with their daughter, Clare, 2.
David C. Kiebler is an attorney for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, customs and border protection. Noah C. Lauricella, a personal injury lawyer, recently joined the Minneapolis law firm GoldenbergLaw P.L.L.C. Garrett S. Ledgerwood is a bankruptcy and creditors’ rights attorney at Hershner Hunter L.L.P. in Eugene, Oregon.
Francis D. McWilliams IV (’01) joined Johnson Trent West
Daniel E. Howell is an associate at Troutman Sanders L.L.P.,
Amanda K. Streff is an associate at Mayer Brown in its
Audrey N. Karman is an associate at Steinman & Rodgers L.L.P. in Washington. The firm specializes in the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
University School of Law in May 2014 and joined Deloitte Consulting L.L.P., in Atlanta, as a tax consultant.
Chicago office.
Kristen Gustavson Zalenski is an assistant commonwealth’s attorney in Shenandoah County, Virginia.
2012L
J. Patrick Becker joined Jones Day in its Atlanta office as an
associate.
Mary Katherine Vigness Clarke works at the Kennedy Center, in Washington, as the assistant manager in corporate and foundation relations, focusing on the theater, jazz and special events. Koral E. Fusselman joined the Los Angeles-based firm Kes-
selman, Brantly & Stockinger L.L.P., which was started by fellow alumnus Trevor Stockinger ’97. She is an associate, focusing on antitrust, employment and corporate litigation matters.
& Taylor in October 2013 in its Houston office and focuses on civil litigation. He has a background in products liability, construction and contract law.
Andrew S. Gerrish (’09) joined Frith, Anderson & Peake
Allen C. Myers joined Ocwen Financial Corp. as litigation counsel in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
ney at Galloway, Johnson, Tompkins, Burr & Smith P.L.C.
Kathryn Trau Powell joined TeleTracking Technologies as corporate counsel. She resides in Pittsburgh.
Sarah Shyr, an associate at Eckert, Seamans, Cherin & Mellott
L.L.C., was elected treasurer of the Washington D.C. Bar.
Rebecca D. Stanglein is an attorney at Doerner, Saunders, Daniel & Anderson L.L.P. in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Jonathan R. Wright (’03) joined Gebhardt & Smith L.L.P. as an associate.
2010L
Elizabeth E. Clarke (’05) is a flextime attorney at Littler
Mendelson P.C. in the Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, area.
Victoria V. Corder recently joined Olshan Frome Wolosky
L.L.P. as an associate in the litigation group, focusing on commercial litigation and white-collar matters. She lives in New York City.
Amanda R. Ledford joined Breakaway Policy Strategies as
policy director. She lives in Washington.
Guy B. Sereff II is corporate counsel at Level 3 Commu-
P.C. as an associate in Roanoke.
Chaz D. Klaes (’09) of Houston, Texas, is an associate attorJoy Y. Lee joined the Federal Labor Relations Authority in
Washington as attorney advisor.
J. Charles Nixon is an associate at Davis, Gerald & Cremer
in Midland, Texas. He specializes in business formation and general transactional work for oil and gas operators and service companies.
Suzanne E. Peters is an attorney at Jackson Lewis in New
York City.
Mary-Caitlin Ray (’09) is an attorney at the Federal Aviation Administration, office of the chief counsel, in Washington.
Elizabeth Petty Summers joined Cohen & Grigsby in its Pittsburgh office as an associate.
Zayne R. Tweed is an associate at Hunton & Williams L.L.P. in McLean, Virginia, and is a member of the financial institutions corporate and regulatory team.
2013
Luther R. Ashworth II is an associate at Weil, Gotshal & Manges L.L.P. in its New York City headquarters. Michael P. Bombace is vice president at citi-global
nications, a company that builds, operates and maintains a global communications network for enterprises, carriers and governments. He is also a professor at W&L Law, teaching a practicum on e-commerce. He and Kate Silvers Sereff ’11L live in Thornton, Colorado.
anti-money laundering for New Payments. He resides in New York City.
Tayyaba Waqar joined the U.S. Small Business Adminis-
Evan M. Dyer is an attorney with Louis Himmelstein & Associates in Philadelphia.
tration, office of advocacy, in Washington, as assistant chief counsel.
2011L
Fadil M. Bayyari is an associate at Pillsbury, Winthrop, Shaw,
Pittman L.L.P. He lives and workes in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, practicing finance and general corporate work.
Celebrating admission to the bar of the Supreme Court. Front row, l. to r.: Joe Turzi ’88L, Barry Gainey ’84L, Sam Flax ’81L (who moved the admission), W&L Law Dean Nora Demleitner, Professor Emerita Anne Massie, Amara ChaudhryKravitz ’01L, Bob Vaughan ’79L, Clifford Ashcroft-Smith ’09L. Back row: Rob Aliff ’91, ’97L, Tim Hartley ’84, ’87L, Dayton Haigney ’87L, Sandy Hooper ’97, ’03L, Adam Peck P ’15, ’18, Gerald Titus ’00, ’03L. Not pictured: Christopher Brumback ’06L.
10
David J. Gundlach earned his tax LL.M. from the New York
W&L
Law
Discovery
Brandy R. Cannon is an attorney at The House of Ruth in Maryland, a domestic violence crisis center.
Garrett R. Greiner joined Gannam, Gnann & Steinmetz
L.L.C. in Savannah, Georgia, as an associate. He specializes in civil litigation (federal and state), real estate, immigration, probate, subrogation and bankruptcy.
Kyle R. Hosmer is a law clerk at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, in Atlanta.
in the corporate section of the Virginia Beach office.
M. Margaret Nerino is an associate attorney at Henson Pachuta P.L.L.C. , which specializes in traffic, criminal and immigration issues. She lives in Washington. Katie N. Reese, after clerking for the Delaware Superior Court, joined Richards, Layton & Finger, in Wilmington, Delaware, as an associate. Jeffrey L. Wieand is legislative counsel at the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington.
2014L
R. Patrick Bolling joined Edmunds & Williams P.C. as an associate in Lynchburg, Virginia.
Joshua C. Laguerre joined United Bankshares Inc. as a risk management specialist. He lives in Morgantown, West Virginia. Jillian F. Nyhof is an associate at McGuireWoods L.L.P. in its
Charlotte office.
Patrick E. Sweeney is a law clerk at the Michigan Supreme Court in Lansing.
Marriages
William W. Fagan III ’06L to Jessica Lee Reece, on March 29, 2014, in Augusta, Georgia. Fagan is a commercial litigation attorney with Duane Morris L.L.P. The couple live in Atlanta.
Ariel H. Brio ’12L to Karen Berman, on Aug. 31, 2014, in York, Pennsylvania. Both are attorneys in the Washington area and reside in North Bethesda, Maryland. Randall W. Miller ’14L to Kate Whitehead, on May 11, 2014, in Bristow, Virginia. Guests included Alan Bart ’14L, Laura Erdman ’14L, David Hurst ’14L, LeMont Joyner ’13L, Tom McClendon ’13L, Cara Parcell ’13L and Howard Wellons ’14L. The Millers live in Dallas.
Births and Adoptions
Amy Estes McCullough ’99L and her husband, Stephen, a son, Andrew Stephen, on Jan. 25, 2014. They live in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Christopher W. Price ’01, ’07L and his wife, Lenore, a
daughter, Scarlett Anna, on July 27, 2014. She joins brothers Owen and Thatcher. The family live in Andover, Massachusetts.
Susan Richter Bilbro ’05L and her husband, Mitchell, a daughter, Sarah Jane Callaway, on July 28, 2013. The family live in Nashville, Tennessee. Jennifer Belcher Munsey ’05L and her husband, Michael, a son, Jackson Robert, on July 20, 2013. They live in Roanoke.
Obituaries
Adelbert D. Boggs ’41L, of Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylva-
nia, died on Dec. 12, 2010.
Wilbur S. Metcalf ’40 ’48L, of Lynchburg, died on Aug. 21, 2014. He served in the Army during World War II. He worked for the F.B.I, the Pennsylvania Crime Commission and as an attorney in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He was father to Richard H. Metcalf ’74 and Robert G. Metcalf ’76. He belonged to Alpha Tau Omega. William N. Shearer Jr. ’49L, of Charleston, W.Va., died on May 14. During World War II, he served with the 8th Air Force, 401st Bomb Group. He was chairman, president and director of Kanawha Banking and Trust Company, International Bankshares and Teays Valley National Bank. He also served as a trustee of the University of Charleston and CAMC and as president of United Way. He belonged to Sigma Chi. Thomas J. Condon Jr. ’51L, of Woodbridge, Connecticut,
died Oct. 7, 2014. He was a decorated World War II veteran, serving in Europe with G Company, 291st Infantry, of the 755th Division. He was a prosecuting attorney in the Ansonia City Court, and an unemployment compensation commissioner for the 5th District, and practiced law for 59 years with Condon & Savitt P.C.
Warren L. Snead ’51L, of Greenville, Tennessee, died on
Dec. 20, 2013. A World War II veteran, he served in the Army with the the 463rd Parachute Field Artillery Battalion. He received the Purple Heart. He was owner and president of Bob Smith Construction and served on the board of directors of Tusculum College. He was father to Dr. Warren L. Snead Jr. ’83 and belonged to Sigma Chi.
many professional honors and awards. He was grandfather to Robert S. Day ’12 and belonged to Delta Tau Delta.
Edward L. Oast Jr. ’53L, of Portsmouth, Virginia, died on June 13, 2014. He served in the JAG Corps of the Air Force for two years. He was a senior partner with Williams, Kelly and Greer, a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and past president of the Portsmouth-Chesapeake Bar Association, and served two terms on the Portsmouth City Council. He belonged to Kappa Alpha. John F. Kay Jr. ’51, ’55L, of Richmond, died on Aug. 13, 2014. During the Korean War, he served in the Marine Corps. He then practiced with Mays and Valentine, and served as president of the Virginia Bar Association, the Virginia Board of Bar Examiners and the Washington and Lee Law School Association. He was cousin to John W. Kay ’51 and belonged to Pi Kappa Alpha. Peter F. Matera ’55L, of West Park, New York, died on
June 1, 2014. He served in the Army as a tank mechanic and instructor. He formed the law firm Matera & Matera with one of his brothers. He was also a deputy game warden and an Ulster County special deputy sheriff. He was father to Peter F. Matera ’85L.
Clifton T. Hunt Jr. ’52L, of Dallas, died on Jan. 7, 2013.
Leonard C. Greenebaum ’56, ’58L, of Charleston, South Carolina, died on Sept. 11, 2014. He practiced law in Washington at Sachs, Greenebaum & Tayler and then Baker & Hostetler. He was a second lieutenant in the Air Force Reserves. He was father to Steven I. Greenebaum ’88 and Cathy Greenebaum Borten ’95L. He belonged to Zeta Beta Tau.
J. Glenwood Strickler ’50, ’52L, of Roanoke, died April 28,
James D. Ritter ’55, ’60L, of Exton, Pensylvania, died on July
2014. He practiced law with his father, John O. Strickler, and served as the Chapter 13 bankruptcy trustee for the Western District of Virginia. He also volunteered with the Roanoke City Rescue Mission and gave free legal advice to people in need. He was father to William Strickler ’79.
23, 2014. He served in the Navy and was an international tax lawyer for the Sperry Corp. and the Unisys Corp. He belonged to Sigma Nu.
The Hon. James C. Turk ’52L, of Radford, Virginia., died
Weldon J. Smith ’64L, of Mill Valley, Calif., died on Aug. 5.
July 6. He served in the Army and then practiced law with the Radford firm of Dalton, Poff & Turk before serving in the state senate. In 1972, President Richard Nixon named him a federal judge, and he presided in Roanoke’s federal court for more than 40 years. He was brother to S. Maynard Turk ’52L and uncle to Thomas M.T. Turk ’84. He belonged to Pi Kappa Phi.
Robert J. Ingram ’51, ’53L of Radford, Virginia., died on
Sept. 29, 2014. He was an Army JAG officer before joining Gilmer, Sadler, Ingram, Sutherland & Hutton Law. He received
Frank A. Jacobs ’61L, of Virginia Beach, died Aug. 12, 2012. He was a self-employed finance attorney.
James S. Maffitt IV ’64, ’66L of Easton, Maryland, died on
July 29, 2014. He practiced law with a number of firms before going into private practice. He served as president of the Bar Association of Baltimore City and on the boards of Chesapeake College, the Grace B. Kerr Fund, United Way of Talbot County and the Academy Art Museum. He belonged to Pi Kappa Alpha.
Hayward F. Day Jr. ’62, ’68L, of Dorset, Vermont, died on May 24, 2014. He served in the Marine Corps. He worked for the Morgan Guaranty Trust Co., the United States Trust Company, and Blatz & Blatz and as a sole practitioner. He was a member of the Chester Planning Board, a trustee of Purnell School and a trustee of Upper Raritan Watershed Association. He belonged to Phi Gamma Delta. Ronald G. Kinzler ’69L of Northfield, N.J., died on Sept.
11, 2014. He was a graduate of Rutgers University and Temple University. He was a practicing attorney in Somers Point.
Albert M. Orgain IV ’71L, of Manakin Sabot, Virginia, died
on June 27. He served in the Army during Vietnam and flew 99 combat missions with the 9th Infantry Division. He earned two Distinguished Flying Crosses, two Purple Hearts and six Air Medals. He also served in the Virginia Army National Guard. A specialist in aviation litigation, he worked for Sands, Anderson, Marks & Miller. He was named multiple times one of the Best Lawyers in America and a Virginia Super Lawyer. He was a former chairman of the Virginia Aviation Historical Society, which inducted him into the Virginia Aviation Hall of Fame in 2010. He belonged to Kappa Alpha.
James W. Brown ’73L, of Newark, Delaware, died on April 24, 2014. He worked for the Army JAG Corps and W. L. Gore & Associates. He volunteered with Delaware Service Academy Selection Board and the Union Hospital board of directors and was a past president of the Delaware Valley Corporate Counsel Association. He belonged to Lambda Chi Alpha. Ellen L. Farnum ’78L, of Charlottesville, died Oct. 28, 2014. She practiced law, specializing in stocks and bonds, in New York City.
Joseph D. Schwerin ’65L, of Margaree Forks, Nova Scotia, died on April 21. He served in the Navy and worked on Wall Street. He belonged to Chi Psi.
William C. Connor ’79L, of Jamestown, North Carolina,
Charles E. Hamilton III ’66L, of Luray, Virginia, died June
Karen R. Hammond-Nash ’87L, of South Bend, Indiana, died Oct. 9, 2014. She served as an assistant prosecuting a attorney, on the staff of the Michigan State Legislature, as director of the Historical Preservation Commission and as a delegate to the Republican State Convention.
29, 2014. He was an attorney for the Department of Justice for 35 years. He was cousin to Frederick H. Belden Jr. ’60.
died on April 28. He practiced commercial law at the Greensboro firm of Tuggle Duggins.
Law Firm Giving Competition Alumni (undergraduate and law) continue to support Washington and Lee at impressive rates. Below is the list of firms that reached 75 percent or greater participation in the Annual Fund (undergraduate or law). We thank the law firm liaisons who solicited gifts from their colleagues and thank all alumni for their generous support. firm
% law firm liaison
Bass Berry 100% Christian & Barton L.L.P. 100% Jackson Walker L.L.P. 100% Klinedinst P.C. 100% Moore & Van Allen P.L.L.C. 100% Petty, Livingston, Dawson & Richards 100% Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson P.A. 100% Timberlake, Smith, Thomas & Moses 100% Baker Botts 95% Balch & Bingham L.L.P. 95% Burr & Forman 95% Lightfoot, Franklin & White L.L.C. 95% McGuire Woods L.L.P. 95% Sidney Austin L.L.P. 95% Stites & Harbison 95% Baker, Donelson, Beamer, Caldwell & Berkowitz 90% Bryan Cave L.L.P. 90% Crenshaw Ware & Martin 90% Frost Brown Todd 90% Glenn, Feldmann, Darby & Goodlatte 90% Jackson Kelly 90% K&L Gates L.L.P. 90% LeClair Ryan 90% Littler Mendelson P.C. 90% Ober/Kaler 90% Richards, Layton & Finger 90%
W. Brantley Phillips ’97L David D. Redmond ’66, ’69L Jeffrey M. Sone ’78 John D. Klinedinst ’71, ’78L Thomas L. Mitchell ’93L Paul J. Feinman ’86L Heyward H. Bouknight III ’04L Joseph R. Newell ’81, ’85L William H. Jeffress ’67 J. Vance Berry ’79L John C. Morrow ’85L Lee M. Hollis ’86L William C. Mayberry ’91L Michael P. Peck ’71 James D. Humphries II ’66, ’69L Buckner P. Wellford ’81L Clifford B. Stricklin ’91L Donald C. Schultz ’89L Thomas P. O’Brien ’88, ’91L Paul G. Beers ’86L Robby J. Aliff ’91, ’97L Stuart B. Nibley ’75, ’79L Jason P. Walton ’01L Tracy T. Hague ’97L John T. Jessee ’79L Dana S. Connell ’82L John A. Wolf ’69, ’72L Samuel A. Nolen ’79L
firm
% law firm liaison
Whiteford, Taylor & Preston 90% Bradford Englander ’85L Michael Hastings ’93L Alston & Bird 85% Blas P. Arroyo ’81L Bradley Arant Boult Cummings L.L.P. 85% Paul S. Ware ’86L Maynard, Cooper & Gale P.C. 85% Kathryn R. Eldridge ’03L Dinmore & Shohl 80% Monika J. Hussell ’93L Hirschler Fleischer 80% Hunton & Williams L.L.P. 80% James S. Seevers ’97L JonesDay 80% The Hon. Walter D. Kelley Jr. ’77, ’81L Jones Walker 80% Edward B. Crosland Jr. ’66, ’70L Reed Smith 80% Robert M. Dilling ’76L Spilman, Thomas & Battle 80% Amy R. Condaras ’02L Weil, Gotschal & Manges 80% Lauren H. Helenek ’06L Wiley Rein L.L.P. 80% Bennett L. Ross ’83 Womble, Carlyle, Sandridge & Rice 80% Heather K. Mallard ’88L Baker & McKenzie 75% Thomas J. Egan Jr. ’83L Covington & Burling 75% Christopher D. Van Blarcum ’05L Goodwin Procter L.L.P. 75% Lauren T. Lebioda ’06L Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd P.A. 75% Huddleston Bolen L.L.P. 75% Thomas J. Murray ’73, ’76L King & Spalding L.L.P. 75% James K. Vines ’81, ’88L Kirkland & Ellis L.L.P. 75% Hans P. Dyke ’06L Ogletree Deakins 75% Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman L.L.P. 75% Peter A. Baumgaertner ’83, ’86L Troutman Sanders L.L.P. 75% Robert L. Brooks ’81 Williams Mullen 75% Alexander B. Hock ’80, ’83L Elizabeth M. Horsley ’94L Vinson & Elkins 75%
Winter
2015 l aw.wlu.e du
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Supreme Court Associate Justice Alito Presides Over Moot Court Finals, pg. 1
Dramatic Renovations at Sydney Lewis Hall, pg. 2
Discovery Washington and Lee University School of Law 204 W. Washington Street Lexington, VA 24450-2116
Scholarship Named for Darlene Moore, pg. 5
Black Lung Clinic Named One of Nation’s Most Innovative, pg. 6
the newsletter from washington and lee university school of law law.wlu.edu Non Profit Org U. S.
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P o s t a g e
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P e r m i t No. 78 R o a n o k e , Va
Law Dean Nora Demleitner cutting the ribbon to celebrate renovations to Lewis Hall—including the new entrance, behind her— with (l. to r.) Ryan Redd ’15L, William Toles ’92, ’95L and Brian Connolly, project manager. (See story on page 2)