Discovery
Summer 2016 % Volume 2, No. 2
the newsletter from washington and lee university school of law
Commencement 2016 T
he Law School celebrated its 161st commencement on May 7, awarding 93 juris doctor degrees. The rainy weather that pestered Lexington all week cleared off to brilliant blue skies and a crisp spring morning for the ceremony, which began with an official welcome and remarks from President Ken Ruscio ’76. He reminded the graduating students that Washington and Lee seeks to produce not just attorneys, but a certain type of attorney. “I believe that the men and women who graduate from this institution are particular kinds of
“Be an entrepreneur within an organization. That means that you take responsibility, you take risk, and you can make an impact and believe that organization is yours even though you may not be the founder.”
The Class of 2016L with proud family members. Back row, from l. to r.: Cornelia Woodley, Loren Peck, Hunter Bayliss and Elaine McCafferty. Front row, l. to r.: J.P. Woodley ’74, ’77L, Shawn Peck ’94L, Delmara Bayliss Sigl ’87L and John Czap ’73.
Commencement speaker Reggie Aggarwal ’94L (left), founder and CEO of event management company Cvent, with President Ken Ruscio ’76.
From l. to r.: Dean Brant Hellwig received the third-year class pledge from Christina Tacoronti, Bethany Belisle and Claire Leonard.
Listening to the commencement speaker.
—reggie aggarwal ’94L people,” said Ruscio. “People who understand that being a lawyer is so much more than a set of technical skills, more than a trade, more than a job. It is an ethic and carries with it a set of values.” Brant Hellwig, dean of the Law School, followed Ruscio to the podium. He congratulated the students on their achievement and also thanked them for their many contributions to the life of the school, both inside and outside the classroom. “Our academic community thrives on the energy and the intellectual curiosity of our students, and we are grateful for your significant contributions on that front,” said Hellwig. He encouraged students to be open to the professional opportunities that will present themselves, even if they are unconventional. “There is no one defined successful career path to pursue,” said Hellwig. “Success will mean finding a position that allows you to utilize your particular talents in a way that you find fulfilling or rewarding.” After the degrees were presented, Reggie Aggarwal ’94L, founder and CEO of event management company Cvent, delivered the commencement address. In his remarks, he recounted both the highs and the lows of his journey from taking a twoperson startup to a 2,000-person company with
customers across the globe. Aggarwal shared a number of lessons about what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur, including being persistent and consistent in the face of failure. He also extolled the importance of people, whom he calls the DNA of his company. “Jack Welch, former CEO of GE, said a CEO can focus on one of three things: strategy, customers or people,” said Aggarwal. “I’ve chosen people.” He personally interviewed 700 of Cvent’s first 800 employees and said he spends 60 percent of his time on his workforce. “At the end of the day, there are 1,000 competitors across the globe against Cvent. How did we become number one? It’s simple. We had the best team and the best people.” Aggarwal noted that among the things he
John W. Davis Prize for Law
(highest cumulative grade point average) CHRISTINA LYNNE TACORONTI
Academic Progress Award
Awards
(most satisfactory scholastic progress in final year) ZACHARY JAMES CLIFTON WATKINS
Virginia Trial Lawyers Association Award (effective trial advocacy) EMELIA N. HALL
Roy L. Steinheimer Jr. Commercial Law Award (excellence in commercial law) PAUL KENT KEITH
Calhoun Bond University Service Award
(significant contribution to the university community) VINCENT LOUIS SMITH
Frederic L. Kirgis Jr. International Law Award (excellence in international law) ARIA BIANCA MARIA ALLAN JULIANNE CATHERINE FREEMAN
National Association of Women Lawyers Award
learned at W&L was the importance of a caring community, and he has tried to create that same sense of community and trust at Cvent. He urged the graduates to do the same wherever they go and in whatever position they hold. “Be an entrepreneur within an organization. That means that you take responsibility, you take risk, and you can make an impact and believe that organization is yours even though you may not be the founder. I can promise you the journey will be more fun, it will be more interesting, and it will be more rewarding.” Two students graduated summa cum laude, 15 graduated magna cum laude and 15 graduated cum laude. Nine students were named to the Order of the Coif, an honorary scholastic society that encourages excellence in legal education. James W. H. Stewart Tax Law Award (excellence in tax law)
(outstanding woman law student) EMILY ELAINE TICHENOR
HOLLIE A. FLOBERG CHRISTINA LYNNE TACORONTI
Charles V. Laughlin Award
Thomas Carl Damewood Evidence Award
CHRISTOPHER QUINN ADAMS
JAMES A. COOPER KIRBY ZOE KREIDER
(outstanding contribution to Moot Court Program)
Randall P. Bezanson Award
(outstanding contribution to diversity in the life of the Law School community) HÉCTOR LEONARDO DEJESÚS ALVAREZ ARIEL S. WOSSENÉ
Virginia Bar Family Law Section Award (excellence in the area of family law) JENNIFER LYNN HARRINGTON
American Bankruptcy Institute Medal (excellence in the study of bankruptcy law) KELTON PATRICK FRYE
Barry Sullivan Constitutional Law Award (excellence in constitutional law) PAUL C. JUDGE
(excellence in the area of evidence)
A. H. McLeod-Ross Malone Advocacy Award (distinction in oral advocacy) LOREN K. PECK
Student Bar Association President Award
(recognition for services as president of the Student Bar Association) JULIAN F. HARF
Clinical Legal Education Association Award
(outstanding clinical student Award) ALEXANDRA L. KLEIN
Law Team Wins Energy and Sustainable Development Moot Court Competition Max Gottlieb ’17L, Jenna Lorence ’17L and Bo Mahr ’17L won the sixth annual National Energy and Sustainable Development Moot Court Competition, hosted by West Virginia University College of Law. They bested teams from 23 other law schools. During the competition, students tackled a legal problem that involved an environmental group’s
appeal of a federally approved interstate natural gas pipeline. Allegations included violations of the National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species Act. The final round was judged by Judge Stephanie D. Thacker, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit; Judge Irene M. Keeley, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia; Senior Judge Frederick P. Stamp Jr., U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia; Senior Judge David A. Faber, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia; and Judge Frank W. Volk, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of West Virginia. The team was sponsored by Tom Sansonetti ’76L in Denver, a partner at Holland & Hart, and Calder Ezzell ’74, ’77L and Jared Hembree ‘05L, partners at Hinkle Shanor, in Roswell, New Mexico.
From l. to r.: Max Gottlieb, Bo Mahr and Jenna Lorence, all Class of ’17L
BLSA Members Honored at National Conference W&L law students returned from the National Black Law Students Association (NBLSA) annual meeting with several honors.
From l. to r.: Vincent Smith ’16L, Adrianne Williams ’17L and Maureen Edobor ’17L
Maureen Edobor ’17L was elected NBLSA attorney general in a general election by representatives of BLSA chapters from around the nation. In this position, Edobor will write an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, as well as a public comment to a regulatory agency. Additionally, the NBLSA attorney general plans Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Weekend with the CBC staff, organizes an advocacy day on Capitol Hill, responds to issues facing communities of color via memos and official statements to the press, and plans national NBLSA advocacy events.
Vincent Smith ’16L, former W&L Law BLSA chapter president, won the NBLSA Oliver Hill Award. Named after the civil rights giant, the award recognizes one NBLSA member for his or her contributions to the community, specifically in fighting against racial discrimination through their service. W&L Law also sent a team for the Thurgood Marshall Mock Trial competition. While the W&L team was unable to repeat as national champions, one member of the team, Adrianne Williams ’17L, was named the third best oral advocate for the competition. Lastly, Hernandez Stroud ’15L, a past national champion of the NBLSA Frederick Douglass Moot Court Competition, served as one of the head judges of the final round of the moot court competition. The BLSA Mock Trial and Moot Court expenses were sponsored by Tom Evans 91L, vice president and general counsel-merchandising, with Walmart, in Bentonville, Arizona.
Rep. Bob Goodlatte Inducted Into ODK The Alpha Circle of Omicron Delta Kappa welcomed the Hon. Robert W. Goodlatte ’77L, Virginia’s 6th District representative to the U.S. Congress, as an honorary member during W&L’s Founders Day ceremonies. His political career began in 1977, when he was named district director for former Rep. Caldwell Butler. He served in the position for two years before entering private law practice in Roanoke. He was a partner in the law firm of Bird, Kinder and Huffman from 1981 until winning office in 1992. In the 113th Congress, Goodlatte was elected chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, the first from Virginia in 125 years. He has been chairman of the Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet, vice-ranking member of the Judiciary Committee and ranking member of the Task Force on Judicial Impeachment, ranking member of the Antitrust Task Force, and vice chairman of the Subcommittee on the Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property. Goodlatte also served on the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security. He serves on the House Agriculture Committee. He is a member of the Subcommittee on Livestock, Rural Development, and Credit, which is of particular importance to the 6th District since it is one of the leading turkey- and poultry-producing districts in the nation. He also serves on the Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight, and Nutrition. He is co-chair of the Congressional Internet and the Congressional International Anti-Piracy caucuses as well as chairman of the House Republican Technology Working Group. Joining Goodlatte as members of ODK are Lucas M. Barta ’17L, Leanna Catherine Minix ’17L and Jessica Ann Winn ’17L. 2
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L. to r.: Bob Goodlatte ’77L with this year’s honorary ODK initiates Rob Straughan, the Crawford Family Dean of Washington and Lee’s Williams School of Commerce, Economics, and Politics and professor of business administration; Kim Ruscio, first lady of W&L; Lucas Morel, the Class of 1960 Professor of Ethics and Politics; and Tom Gage ’70, retired sportswriter for the Detroit News.
Career Paths
visit law.wlu.edu/career to learn more about recruiting law students for jobs and internships firm’s offer. I was attracted to the firm’s culture and how dedicated it is to its clients. I also really liked that W&C is a truly global firm. They have offices all over the world, and case teams often span different offices. For example, as a legal assistant, I worked on a case with attorneys from the D.C., New York, Palo Alto and Tokyo offices. I found that the classes at W&L Law that focused on legal-writing and advocacy skills have been most helpful. No matter what area you practice in, it is important to be an effective communicator. Law school is the time to hone those skills, so you are ready to dive in once you start working. I started my job-search process in June of my 1L summer. I had my heart set on returning to the Washington, D.C., area, so I focused my search there. I applied to firms through the OCI interview programs, but I wanted to cast the net wide, so I also sent my résumé to a bunch of firms not participating in OCI. I ultimately chose White & Case because of the people. At a big law firm, you are going to have many late nights and early mornings, so you need to genuinely like the people you are working with. I love W&C’s team atmosphere — the attorneys work extremely hard and collaborate with each other to produce the best result for their clients.
Julianne Freeman ’16L spent last summer as a law clerk at Norfolk Southern Corp. in Norfolk, Virginia, and will join the company after graduation. She was a lead articles editor for the Washington and Lee Law Review.
I was interested in working as in-house counsel, but I assumed I would need to work in a law firm first. During the summer after my first year, I worked in-house as a legal intern with Major League Baseball. This was a wonderful experience, and it confirmed my ultimate preference for being in-house. My time at W&L has prepared me by giving me both traditional legal education and hands-on experience. Having a strong foundation in some of the core areas — contracts, property and constitutional law — allowed me to handle assignments and further develop my research and writing skills throughout the summer. This will no doubt continue throughout my employment. Further, my experience with the 3L program, particularly my work with the Immigrant Rights Clinic, has helped me to develop my persuasive-writing, legal-research and critical-thinking skills. I feel confident that my experience with the clinic will serve me well in my post-graduation employment. I am absolutely delighted about my job following graduation. I will be doing challenging, engaging legal work, and I’m lucky to be joining an incredibly talented group of attorneys. Additionally, I am hopeful that I can give back to the Law School as an alumna in the future, because I had such a great experience.
Paul Judge ’16L was commissioned as a second lieutenant out of ROTC. He is now a first lieutenant in the Army and will enter the Army JAG Corps following his clerkship.
I’m clerking for Judge Margaret Ryan at the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF). I will work with two other clerks in writing draft opinions for all of the cases that come before CAAF, a five-judge federal appellate court that deals with a mostly criminal docket. CAAF is the highest military appellate court in the country and its decisions can only be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Clerking is a mark of prestige on a résumé. Pick any lawyer in a position of power in the federal government, and most of the time you’ll find that they have one or two federal clerkships in their background. I clerked for a judge in Christiansburg and loved it. Getting a behind-the-scenes look about how a judge thinks and operates is an invaluable experience, and a clerkship is really the only way to get it. CAAF deals almost exclusively with criminal appeals, so all of my criminal procedure classes will be helpful. I would not want to clerk for any appellate court, however, without having taken Federal Jurisdiction and Procedure and Conflicts of Laws. Those classes gave me the tools to understand some of the more complicated procedural issues that appellate courts often wrestle with. I love discussing legal issues and hate working in a solitary environment. My favorite part about the law is chewing over tough legal issues with other smart, passionate lawyers. I look forward to doing that with Judge Ryan and my fellow clerks.
Claire Leonard ’16L was a managing editor for the Washington and Lee Law Review and was a student caseworker in the Black Lung Clinic. Leonard spent her 1L summer as a judicial intern at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. She spent her 2L summer working as a summer associate for White & Case in Washington, D.C., and joined the firm after graduation.
Prior to law school, I worked at White & Case for two years as a legal assistant. I had a great experience — I worked on a number of complex litigation matters and assisted with two federal trials in the Northern District of California. I was drawn to the fast-paced atmosphere, and I knew I wanted to work in big law. It was a combination of my experience as a legal assistant and my time as a summer associate at White & Case that made me confident in my decision to accept the
W&L Law Releases 2015 Graduate Employment Report EMPLOYMENT REPORT
SECTOR
2014
2015
Change
At Grad (All Jobs)
47%
64%
+16%
At 10 Months (JD required/preferred)
75%
82%
+7%
At 10 Months (All Jobs)
87%
94%
+7%
11%
30%
9%
1%
49%
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the University of Pennsylvania, is the U.S. Open ashington and Lee University School CLASS OF 2015 — WHERE THEY ARE record holder in the 50-meter breaststroke. All The class is employed in 29 states and one foreign country. Top destinations are Virginia, Washington, DC, of Law has released a report on New York and California. FIRM SIZEwith deferred start dates already other students employment rates for its Class of 2015. have started or 24% will be in full-time, long-term, barData from the Office of Career Strategy show required57%positions. 7% another year of strong growth in employment 12% If students with start dates after the over previous years. The report measures 10-month ABA window are included, Jarrett notes employment 10 months after graduation. the overall employment rate for the Class of 2015 According to the report, 85 percent of the is 94 percent. Class of 2015 has secured a full-time job that CLERKSHIPS “Brendan’s story is just one of several from either requires a J.D. degree or for which a J.D. 3% this class of an employed student who is not degree is preferred. The overall employment rate 27% reflected for the class, including all employment types and 70% in our report,” says Jarrett. “In most 2015 BAR PASSAGE cases, these uncounted students are doing exactly graduate school, is over 90 percent. Virginia New York Nationwide what they want to meet their career objectives.” “This is really great news for our students,” W&L 91.5% 93% 90% National Avg. 76% 70% 72% The report shows graduates working in a said Cliff Jarrett ’91L, assistant dean for career diverse range of jobs. Fifty percent are heading strategy. “I credit our students for working with to law firms, and nearly a quarter of those will our office and putting the time and energy into “I credit our students for working with our office be working for Big Law, typically firms with their job searches that lead to great employment and putting the time and energy into their job searches over 500 lawyers. Thirty percent are working in opportunities. Our alumni and other employers that lead to great employment opportunities. government, 11 percent in business or industry, continue to assist in all phases of our students’ Our alumni and other employers continue to assist and 9 percent in public interest jobs such as legal career development and are a tremendous asset in all phases of our students’ career development aid offices. to our students and recent graduates.” and are a tremendous asset to our students One particular area of strength for the The employment report, available at law.wlu. and recent graduates.” Washington and Lee School of Law has always edu/about-wandl-law/aba-required-disclosures, been placement in federal and state clerkships, was prepared in accordance with requirements —cliff jarrett ’91l, and this remains the case for the Class of of the American Bar Association and includes assistant dean for career strategy 2015. Nineteen percent of those employed are summary data about the employment status of clerking, including placements in the U.S. Court the 174 graduates in the Class of 2015, the largest of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, the Delaware graduating class in the school’s history. Supreme Court and several federal district courts. The report does not count as employed those graduates with deferred start The 2015 graduates are employed in 29 states and one foreign country, South dates, such as Brendan McHugh, a member of the Class of 2015 who postponed Korea. The top geographic areas for employment are Virginia, the District of his start date with the Philadelphia law firm Drinker Biddle so he could train Columbia and New York, followed by California, Delaware and West Virginia. for the 2016 Summer Olympics. McHugh, a standout collegiate swimmer at
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Human Rights Advocacy and Scholarship First-year law students Jonathan Murphy and Luisa Hernandez had the unique opportunity to present a paper this year at the London School of Economics, in the process of petitioning the World Bank to investigate human rights abuses in Ethiopia. Murphy describes the project and this ongoing crisis. (You can watch Jonathan’s and Luisa’s presentations beginning at 2:47:50 at go.wlu.edu/human advocacy)
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n October 2015, Washington and Lee Research Fellow Henok Gabisa reached On Jan. 13, the news broke that the Ethiopian government was suspending the out to Luisa and me to inquire about our interest in filing a Request for implementation of the development plan in response to the unrest it had caused Inspection with the World Bank Inspection Panel. The request would focus and the international outcry that had occurred. This appeared to be tremendous on human rights abuses occurring in news that would make our Request for Ethiopia over the implementation of the Inspection no longer necessary, but national Integrated Development Plan would also require significant changes (2013-present). to our paper. I was personally concerned The plan required the forced about our paper’s relevance after the displacement (without compensation or plan was suspended. However, the resettlement) of thousands of Oromo protests and the killings continued and people around the capital city of Addis are still ongoing, as the concerns of Ababa. Responding to the early phases the protesters ran much deeper than of the unconstitutional land grabbing, the plan itself (and because the land Oromo protestors gathered to decry grabbing had continued). what they felt was one more step in The abstract for our paper was the historic ethnic marginalization of accepted in February for presentation the Oromo people by the Ethiopian at the London School of Economics, government. These protests were met conditional upon the paper’s completion by violence from the Ethiopian military, by late March. With the help of Professor leading to the deaths of hundreds of Chris Seaman, Professor David Eggert, Jonathan Murphy presenting a paper at the London School of Economics. Oromo and the arbitrary imprisonment Research Librarian Jennifer Martof thousands more. Since November Rice, and a number of fellow students, 2015 alone, Human Rights Watch has we were able to complete the paper. reported that more than 200 Oromo From expropriation laws and bilateral With the help of Professor Chris Seaman, protestors have been killed. investment treaties to presentation Professor David Eggert, Research Librarian Jennifer Students at W&L Law are partners feedback and bluebooking tips, the in the Global Forum on Law, Justice, faculty and students at W&L Law all Mart-Rice, and a number of fellow students, we were and Development through the World contributed significantly. Bank. This was a tremendous asset as The Transnational Law Institute able to complete the paper. From expropriation laws we began the process of requesting an at W&L Law supported our trip to and bilateral investment treaties to presentation inspection from the inspection panel London, making it affordable and because of the research resources that possible with our ongoing classes. In feedback and bluebooking tips, the faculty and students we had access to as a result. London, we were able to share a podium at W&L Law all contributed significantly. Over winter break, Henok Gabisa with many of the scholars and journalists suggested that the World Bank we had cited in our own paper as we Request for Inspection might also be presented on the counter-developmental appropriately edited and submitted as a paper for consideration for a conference impact of the Plan on the Oromo. The trip was a tremendous learning experience occurring at the London School of Economics. We submitted our abstract and that provided life-long memories. We would like to thank Professor Mark Drumbl continued working on the request for inspection and the paper. and Henok Gabisa in particular for their support in making this possible.
Students Raise Funds To Help Area Families During Blizzard
W “I was absolutely amazed, not merely by the generosity of my fellow students, their friends and members of the local community, but also by the timeliness of their response. In just five hours, we were able to serve our community in a simple, but intentional and tangible way.” —alan carrillo ’18L
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hen the winter’s biggest storm bore down on Virginia in January, Alan Carrillo ’18L wasn’t concerned with whether he had enough milk and bread on hand. His thoughts were focused on the area’s needy and how he and his fellow students could help. On the Thursday before the storm, Carrillo, a first-year law student from Bedford, Texas, contacted the Rockbridge Area Relief Association (RARA) to see what kind of help the organization might need. Staff there reported that their immediate need was to cover the hotel lodging costs for three homeless families who had contacted the organization for assistance. Carrillo quickly set up a fund-raising site at gofundme.com and asked his fellow students for help. In a matter of five hours, the site brought in over $1,000, which covered the costs for a week’s stay in a motel for the three families. “I was absolutely amazed, not merely by the generosity of my fellow students, their friends and members of the local community, but also by the timeliness of their response,” said Carrillo. “They saw a need and
an opportunity to help, and with no hesitation, they gave. In just five hours, we were able to serve our community in a simple, but intentional and tangible way.” The fundraising site, available at https://www. gofundme.com/rockbridgerelief, is still operational. So far, 63 people have donated over $1,200 to help RARA. The organization serves the Rockbridge area primarily as a food pantry, and Carrillo, who serves as the 1L representative to the Executive Committee, is urging the W&L community to continue to support RARA’s efforts. “I’m so honored to be part of a W&L community that is full of kind, generous and responsive people that care enough to act and support organizations like RARA, who are on the front lines investing in our neighbors’ lives and well being,” said Carrillo. Kitty Brown, executive director of RARA, said she was most impressed by the caring shown by the students. “Our staff and volunteers feel honored to have these young people partner with us,” she said.
Law Students Release Human Rights Report On Early Marriage and Pregnancy in Tanzania
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tudents in the International Human Rights Practicum traveled to Tanzania this past fall to research the problem of early marriage and its effects on girls’ access to educa tion. Along the way, they discovered that early pregnancy also was a serious problem in the country. The results of the study, along with recommendations for improving the situation, have now been released in a 40-page report, available at go.wlu.edu/tanzania2016. “There are many factors that lead to early marriage, including a patriarchal culture and conflict of laws issues between customary law, statutory law and Islamic law,” said Emily Tichenor ’16L. “I think the biggest factor, however, is poverty, because many families are forced to marry [off] their young daughters to receive a bride price and have one less person to take care of at home. Once the young girls are married, they often have children at a young age and the cycle of poverty continues.” Nearly 30 percent of the population of Tanzania lives below the basic needs poverty line, and consequently, women are often viewed as a family asset. They can earn money working outside the home, but they can also be married off in exchange for the customary bride price. The opposite of a dowry, bride price is paid by the groom’s family to the bride’s family in the form of livestock or money. This, combined with the costs associated with primary and secondary education, creates pressure for girls to forgo education and to marry early. However, just how early depends on which legal or customary regime is applied. Islamic law allows girls to marry as young as nine, while national domestic law sets the minimum age at 15 and allows for earlier marriage in certain circumstances. Provisions in the various international treaties and conventions that Tanzania has signed set the age of consent at 18 years. And because of this confusion in the law, there is limited enforcement of the minimum age by authorities. Tichenor added, “It almost seems like a chicken-and-egg issue — does poverty cause these oppressive regimes that lead to the problem, or do the oppressive regimes cause poverty? Because there are so many factors contributing to early marriage and early pregnancy, it is difficult to isolate any one factor.” Yasin Amba ’16L has up-close experience with this problem. He was born in southern Ethiopia, where he says early marriage remains common. His mother was married to his father at 13, and Yasin was born the following year. “The practice remains integral to most cultures, especially those in the more rural areas, where families support themselves through subsistence farming,” Amba explained. “While education may or may not be valued, more pressing is the need to feed their families and maintain ties within their communities by creating alliances with another family through the marriage.” Before traveling to Tanzania, the students in the class began their semester researching the Tanzanian legal system and the law and policy around early marriage and education. They also conducted a number of practice interviews specifically
From l. to r.: Winston Mosha (WLAC attorney), Zak Balasko ’16L, Emily Tichenor ’16L, Xan Miltenberger ’16L, Jane Park ’16L, Professor Johanna Bond, Grace Daffa (WLAC attorney), Brittany Dunn Pirio ’16L, and the group’s driver, Francis. designed to teach them how to extract the most accurate information from people often reluctant to speak out on sensitive issues. On the ground in Tanzania, students worked with lawyers in Dar Es Salaam from the Women’s Legal Aid Centre (WLAC), the same group that has assisted W&L students in previous years. During a week-long fact-finding mission, students conducted more than 40 interviews in the Tanga and Lindi regions of mainland Tanzania. Students learned that early pregnancy prior to marriage is also a huge problem. Sex education is very limited and the penalties for statutory rape are severe, which leads to underreporting of these incidents to the authorities. And although there are no codified rules that require pregnant girls to leave school, most school administrators believe this is the case and will not allow the girls to return following delivery, whether they marry or not. The report makes a number of recommendations for the Tanzanian government, including the implementation of all relevant international treaties and protocols and amending the country’s Law of Marriage Act to provide a minimum age of 18 for both girls and boys and for all types of marriages. Of all the recommendations, Amba believes a law that specifically allows pregnant girls to remain in school and to return after giving birth is key to solving the problem. “I consider this to be the most important because it is one that can be implemented and enforced immediately,” he said.
From l. to r.: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Judges Evan Wallach, Kathleen O’Malley and Todd Hughes following the sitting of that court in Lewis Hall’s Millhiser Moot Court Room.
On March 23, W&L Law hosted the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit for oral argument in the Millhiser Moot Court Room. The court heard two cases: Grandeye
Limited v. Google, a dispute over a patent related to rendering images in a virtual environment; and Milik v. Secretary of Health and Human Services, which involves the contention that a measles, mumps and rubella vaccine caused a child to develop spastic diplegia. A Q&A period with the judges followed the court session.
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Professor David Baluarte Awarded Fulbright for Statelessness Study David Baluarte has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Grant to study the stateless population in Argentina. Baluarte will conduct his research at the University of Buenos Aires Law School, where he also will teach refugee and asylum law in the immigration clinic. With the ratification of two conventions in the 1950s, Argentina made an international commitment to protect refugees and the stateless, those who have no country of nationality and are often condemned to roam the globe without the protection of any government. Over 5,000 refugees and asylum seekers from 65 different countries reside in Argentina, making it one of the largest systems of refugee protection in the Americas. Baluarte says that while much is known about the refugee population in Argentina, virtually nothing is known about the stateless population in that country. “Argentine legislators have recently proposed legislation to protect the stateless population in accordance with that country’s international obligations under the 1954 Convention,” said Baluarte. “I plan to collaborate with Argentine partners to incorporate a statelessness perspective into their work on behalf of refugees, to better understand statelessness in Argentina, and to inform the legislative process underway to protect stateless persons.” In addition to the research project, Baluarte will teach in his host school’s immi-
gration law clinic, where he will incorporate a specialized module about refugee protection into their curriculum. This module will involve instruction about regional and international standards and will incorporate a comparative component in which students learn about the U.S. system of refugee and asylum protection. Last year, W&L was recognized as a top producer of Fulbright scholars thanks to the successful applications of three law professors, Jill Fraley, J.D. King and Johanna Bond. Fraley studied property law in Ireland, King researched Chile’s criminal defense system, and Bond worked on access to legal aid in Tanzania. Baluarte teaches and writes about topics ranging from immigration, refugees and stateless persons, and transnational law with a specific focus on international human rights law and practice. He also serves as director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic, a semester-long practical lawyering experience available to third-year students as part of W&L’s innovative third-year curriculum. Last year, Baluarte joined the advisory council of the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, an independent non-profit organization dedicated to promoting an integrated human-rights based response to the injustice of statelessness and exclusion. He is also a member of the board of directors for the ACLU of Virginia. Before coming to W&L, Baluarte was a practitioner-in-residence and Arbenz Fellow in the International Human Rights Law Clinic at American University Washington College of Law. He also managed projects and consulted for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and the Open Society Justice Initiative. Prior to his teaching career, Baluarte served as a staff attorney in the Immigration Unit the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and as a staff attorney at the Center for Justice and International Law.
J.D. King Appointed Director of Experiential Education at W&L Law This new position was created to foster and further cultivate W&L Law’s experiential course offerings by promoting the integration of experiential components into doctrinal areas of the curriculum and ensuring a robust selection of high-quality experiential offerings. “J.D.’s extensive experience both as a practitioner and educator make him the perfect person to take up this new post for W&L Law,” said Dean Brandt Hellwig. “As we continue the expansion of our experiential offerings across the curriculum, we need a thoughtful, experienced and dedicated member of our faculty member to steward our institutional commitment to practice-based legal education.” King has been a member of the W&L Law faculty since 2008 and currently directs the school’s Criminal Justice Clinic, in which law students represent indigent people facing criminal charges in local trial courts. He regularly teaches Evidence and Criminal
Procedure, and he has participated as a small-section instructor in the school’s two-week litigation skills immersion course. “W&L is well known as a leader in experiential legal education, having been in the vanguard of law schools to increase substantially the practice-based offerings available to upper-level law students,” said King. “With experiential opportunities now available to second-year law students and the upcoming development of experiential supplements for core courses, our curriculum continues to evolve to best meet the needs of our students in order to prepare them for the legal profession.” In addition to overseeing the ongoing assessment and evaluation of the experiential curriculum, King will also arrange faculty enrichment opportunities, such as workshops or presentations, on the topic of experiential education. King’s scholarly research focuses on criminal defense ethics and the right to counsel. In 2014, he received a Fulbright to study the evolving role of the public defender in Chile as the country’s criminal justice system underwent a transition from an inquisitorial system to an adversarial system. Prior to teaching, King was a supervising attorney at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, a Prettyman Fellow at Georgetown University Law Center, and a law clerk to United States District Judge Richard H. Kyle.
Sam Calhoun Named Class of 1960 Professor of Ethics Sam Calhoun, professor of law and associate dean for academic affairs, has been named the Class of 1960 Professor of Ethics. As the holder of a term professorship, Calhoun will have the position for a three-year period. The Class of 1960 Professorship seeks to honor and recognize a W&L faculty member whose teaching and scholarship include ethics, honor, integrity, honesty and applications of ethical reasoning in addressing contemporary issues. In addition to teaching contracts, sales and legal writing, Calhoun teaches and researches on the legal and religious issues implicated by the controversy over abortion. His recent articles in this area have addressed the case of Philadelphia abortion provider Kermit Gosnell, as well as partial-birth abortion. He has also critiqued Justice Lewis F. Powell’s vote with the majority in Roe v. Wade. “Sam Calhoun is an obvious and excellent choice for this prestigious term professorship,” said Provost Marc Conner. “As a scholar, a teacher and an academic citizen, his career at Washington and Lee has been defined by a commitment to and study of ethics and the interplay of religious belief and moral values in law and society. I cannot think of a better person to inhabit the Class of 1960 Professorship in Ethics.” The professorship, established during the Class of 1960’s 50th reunion, stems from the Institute for Honor, which the class inaugurated for its 40th reunion. The 6
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chair includes serving on the Institute for Honor Advisory Board, taking a leading role in conceiving and organizing Institute for Honor symposia, and planning and executing a number of additional programs and projects in honor and ethics during the duration of the professorship. “I am honored and very pleased by my selection as the Class of 1960 Professor of Ethics,” said Calhoun. “I look forward to helping promote programming that emphasizes the crucial significance of honor and integrity, values of particular importance to W&L.” Calhoun joined the W&L Law faculty in 1978. He taught previously at the University of Wyoming and the University of Puget Sound. A highly regarded teacher, Calhoun has twice been awarded fellowships recognizing excellence in the classroom. In 2013, he spearheaded the W&L Law Review Symposium commemorating the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Calhoun has also written about the role religion played in the beliefs and actions of Abraham Lincoln. “Sam is uniquely well-suited to receive this honor,” said Brant Hellwig, dean of the Law School. “Throughout his remarkable tenure of service to the Law School and the university, Sam has exemplified the traits the chaired professorship seeks to promote — ethics, honor, integrity and honesty.” Calhoun is currently wrapping up a three-year stint as associate dean for academic affairs, where he spearheaded curricular initiatives, oversaw the staffing and scheduling of all law classes, served as the primary liaison between the faculty and dean of the law school, and coordinated preparation for the ABA’s fall 2015 reaccreditation inspection of the law school.
facult y accomp l i s hm e n ts After returning from her Fulbright in Tanzania, JOHANNA BOND published “Gender and Non-Normative Sex in Sub-Saharan Africa” in the Michigan Journal of Gender and Law. Bond presented her research at the Center for Constitutional Democracy at the Indiana University School of Law. Bond was also a participating faculty member in W&L’s interdisciplinary Mellon Seminar on Human Rights in Africa. On July 1 she will assume the role of associate dean for academic affairs. DAVID BRUCK continued to serve as lead defense counsel in United States v. Dylann Roof, the Charleston church shooting case now pending trial in the United States District Court for South Carolina. He lectured to mental health professionals at the biennial program for certification to perform evaluations in Virginia death penalty trials at the University of Virginia Institute on Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy. He testified before the Courts of Law Committee of the Virginia Senate concerning proposed legislation to require electrocution as an alternative method, if lethal-injection drugs are unavailable. CHRISTOPHER BRUNER’s second book, “MarketDominant Small Jurisdictions in a Globalizing Financial World,” is forthcoming from Oxford University Press. Also forthcoming are two invited book chapters on corporate law topics for edited volumes from Cambridge University Press and Edward Elgar. Additionally, a Chinese translation of his first book, “Corporate Governance in the Common-Law World: The Political Foundations of Shareholder Power,” is forthcoming from Cambridge University Press and Law Press China (translated by Shaowei Lin of the Southwest University of Political Science and Law in Chongqing, China). NORA DEMLEITNER presented papers on risk control in the criminal justice system and on electronic supervision at the Max Planck Institute for International and Criminal Law in Freiburg and at the University of Goettingen, both in Germany, and at the University of Basel, Switzerland. She also presented a paper on U.S. approaches to terrorism at an international conference on ISIS at the InterUniversity Centre in Dubrovnik, Croatia. She also published a critique of the proposed congressional sentencing legislation in the December issue of the Federal Sentencing Reporter (FSR). She edited an FSR issue on supervision in the criminal justice system, in which she published an article on “How to Change the Philosophy and Practice of Probation and Supervised Release: Data Analytics, Cost Control, Focus on Reentry, and a Clear Mission.” She was featured on an interview segment on New Hampshire Public Radio about the proposed prisoner re-enfranchisement in that state. This fall, she has been named the Boden Visiting Professor at Marquette Law School. MARK DRUMBL published articles on the use of international law by U.S. federal courts and on prosecutions in Israel in the 1950s of Nazi collaborators. He also participated in blog discussions about the prosecution of a former child soldier at the International Criminal Court and on the deterrent ability of war crimes trials. He served as a distinguished visitor at Haverford College; and gave lectures at Yeshiva University, Masaryk University (Czech Republic), William and Mary, and the University of Johannesburg. In April, he participated in a conference on the 20th anniversary of the work of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Johannesburg, and also gave a public lecture at the Johannesburg Holocaust Centre. Drumbl serves as the external reviewer to the International Nuremberg Academy (Germany) on a project investigating the ability of international criminal prosecutions to prevent mass atrocity and war crimes. He also served as
ter on “Law, Agape and the Corporation” for a forthcoming book to be published by Cambridge University Press. Johnson also signed a contract with West Academic Press to co-author a book on business organizations. He serves as a consultant on two litigation matters, one involving Delaware corporate law and the other Virginia corporate law. JIM MOLITERNO’s book project, “The Global Legal Profession,” is under contract with West Academic and is slated for West’s Hornbook Series. While on leave, he continued an active engagement with international institution-building projects in Republic of Georgia, Czech Republic and Slovakia. He made presentations regarding his 2013 Oxford Press book at Instituto Empresa in Madrid and Trinity College in Dublin.
This year’s Student Bar Association Teacher of the Year Award went to Professor David Millon, who teaches corporate law.
a visiting professor teaching intensive courses at the University of Ottawa and the University of Western Ontario. He joined the editorial board of the International Journal of Transitional Justice. MICHELLE DRUMBL spoke at the 12th International Conference on Tax Administration in Sydney, Australia, where she received the Cedric Sandford Medal for best conference paper. Her paper, “Beyond Polemics: Poverty, Taxes and Noncompliance” will be published in the eJournal of Tax Research. JOSHUA FAIRFIELD presented chapters of his forthcoming book from Cambridge University Press, “Owned: How the Internet of Things Took Our Privacy and Property,” at Yale’s Information Society Project, a blockchain workshop hosted at NYU, a New York conference on blockchain technologies in high finance, and at Fordham and Pittsburg Law School. He gave the annual Gedid Lecture at Widener University on “The Law of Technological Change.” His article with Erik Luna, “Digital Innocence,” was selected by the Getting Scholarship into Court Project, sponsored by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, for inclusion in the must-read list in The Champion, the association’s publication. JILL FRALEY won the AALS Scholarly Papers Award for her article “A New History of Waste Law,” which will be published in the Marquette Law Review. She spoke at Tulane University Law School and Arizona State University about the history of surface water liability. BRANT HELLWIG published “The Constitutional Nature of the United States Tax Court” in the Virginia Tax Review. The article explores the unique constitutional status of the tax court — a judicial body that does not fit well within any of the three branches of government. This issue recently has garnered attention as a result of a circuit court case addressing a separation-of-powers challenge to the ability of the president to remove a tax court judge for cause. The article flows from Hellwig’s recent publication of the second edition of a manuscript exploring the history of the United States Tax Court. LYMAN JOHNSON spoke on LLCs at the annual AALS meeting in New York. His co-authored article on Justice Stevens’ securities law opinions was published in the Journal of Law, Economics and Public Policy. He completed a book chap
BRIAN MURCHISON taught Separation of Powers in the U.S. Constitution in the College’s Spring Term. He also lectured on “Confidential Sources Then and Now” at the Watergate retrospective in Lewis Hall, “Flannery O’Connor’s Displaced Person” in the College, and “The Endangered Species Act: Current Developments” on the spring alumni trip to Costa Rica/Panama Canal. KISH PARELLA presented her research at the Research Forum of the American Society of International Law and at workshops hosted by Georgetown University Law Center, William & Mary Law School and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Her forthcoming articles include “Treaty Penumbras” in the University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law, and “The Stewardship of Trust in the Global Value Chain” in the Virginia Journal of International Law. She joined the AALS Scholarship Section Executive Board and the planning committee for the 2016 Workshop on Business & Human Rights, hosted by the University of Washington School of Law. DOUG RENDELMAN published “The Triumph of Equity Revisited: The Stages of Equitable Discretion” in the Nevada Law Journal in a symposium issue for Professor Steve Subrin. The article has been on four of SSRN’s eJournal’s top-10 download lists. VICTORIA SAHANI’s published “Judging Third-Party Funding” in the UCLA Law Review. She presented her research on third-party funding at the American Society of International Law (ASIL) annual meeting and served as the conference commentator for the Institute for Transnational Arbitration and ASIL joint conference entitled “A Spotlight on Ethics in International Arbitration: Advocates, Arbitrators and Awards.” She also presented at the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota Judges’ in-court seminar to an audience of over 20 federal district court judges, magistrate judges and bankruptcy judges seated in that district. CHRIS SEAMAN was counsel of record and co-author of an amicus brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court. The brief addresses two cases that the court consolidated for decision. Both cases, Halo Electronics v. Pulse Electronics and Stryker Corporation v. Zimmer Inc., deal with a federal statute that authorizes trial courts to award increased damages to a prevailing patent owner in litigation. Seaman discussed the cases and his brief at the American University Washington College of Law as part of the school’s Supreme Court Series. He presented a new paper, “Obvious to Collaborate,” at the 2016 Works-in-Progress Intellectual Property Colloquium at the University of Washington School of Law. He also participated in a panel debate at the University of Pennsylvania Law School on the Defend Trade Secrets Act and organized an online roundtable on the same topic for the Washington and Lee Law Review. Summer
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The Law Class of 1981
Law Alumni Weeke
Jim Seevers ’97L accepts the gavel from outgoing Law Council president Alexander Boone ’95L.
Students join alumni for a networking session over breakfast.
Class Notes 1972L
Henry M. Coxe III received the 2016 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the 11th Circuit. He specializes in federal and state criminal matters at Bedell, Dittmar, Devault, Pilans & Cox, in Jacksonville, Florida.
1973L
J. Jeffries Miles is included in the 2016 edition of D.C. Super Lawyers. He works for Ober/Kaler in Washington, D.C.
1977L
Charles M. Lollar and his son, Charles “Chip” Jr., have
opened their own law practice. Lollar Law PLLC, in Norfolk, Virginia, focuses on eminent domain and property rights.
1977L
George R. Moore was named Concord Lawyer of the Year
for insurance law in Best Lawyers. A partner with Devine Millimet & Branch, he works with large and small businesses, as well as individuals, to defend against civil suits in the New Hampshire Supreme Court, New Hampshire trial courts and administrative agencies.
1978L
John D. Klinedinst (’71) opened a new office of his firm, Klinedinst PC, in Seattle.
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WALT KELLEY ’77, ’81L received the Outstanding Law Alumnus award for exceptional achievements in his career and unselfish service to his community and his alma mater. Kelley is a litigator with the global litigation firm Hausfeld in Washington, D.C. Prior to his work as a high-stakes litigator, he served as a U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of Virginia and as a partner at Jones Day in D.C., and with Willcox & Savage and Troutman Sanders in Norfolk, Virginia. As a lawyer, Kelley has tried more than 25 jury cases, obtaining verdicts for his clients in cases ranging
from monopolization and resale price fixing, to the Robinson-Patman Act, to patent infringement. He has negotiated settlements for companies that were targeted by international cartels and has served as counsel in numerous shareholder and partnership disputes. He has argued appeals in the Third, Fourth and Ninth Circuits, as well as state appellate courts. As a judge, Kelley presided over thousands of cases encompassing all areas of the law and authored 50 published opinions. He also sat by designation on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and authored six appellate opinions. In addition to maintaining an active
The Law Class of 2011
L. to r.: Mary McGraw, Steve McGraw ’76L, Dick Hooker ’76L, Jan Hooker, Blair Kooi ’76L spent some time on the Lexington golf course.
1980L
Mark L. Flynn is a lobbyist at Advantus Strategies and an attorney at Advantus Law Group PLLC, in Richmond.
Robert S. Link Jr. is vice president and senior trust officer for TNB Financial Services in Clinton, South Carolina.
1984L
Ellis B. Drew III is a partner at Craige Jenkins Liipfert &
Walker LLP, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, practicing civil litigation and trial work. He and his wife, Susan, live in Winston-Salem and have two children, David and Caroline.
Peter W. Leberman joined Upton & Hatfield LLP, focusing
on counseling for profit and not-for-profit businesses and health care providers and insurers. He lives in New Hampshire and will be working in both Hillsborough and Concord.
R. Craig Wood received the William J. Brennan Jr. Award
from the National Trial Advocacy College at the University of Virginia School of Law. The award recognizes Wood for his 30-year career as a lawyer and for more than two decades of teaching at the law school and the annual National Trial Advocacy College program. He is a partner at McGuireWoods, in Charlottesville.
1987L
Daniel J. Fetterman (’83) was named as one of the National
Law Journal’s 2015 White Collar Trailblazers. He is a partner at Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman, in New York City.
1989L
J. Patrick Darby became executive vice president, general
counsel and corporate secretary of HealthSouth Corp. He lives in Birmingham, Alabama.
1990L
Michael P. Cohen is teaching constitutional law and business organizations at the Monterey College of Law. He moved his practice closer to home, to Sheppard Mullin, in San Francisco.
Kathleen E. McLeroy received The Florida Bar Foundation’s 2016 Medal of Honor Award, the foundation’s highest honor. She works for Carlton Fields Jorden Burt in Tampa, Florida.
1992L
David H. Timmins was named to D Magazine’s list of Best
Lawyers in Dallas. He works for Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP.
1995L
William M. Toles (’92) was was named to D Magazine 2016
Best Lawyers list. He is a partner at Fee Smith Sharp & Vitullo, in Dallas.
M. Lucy Anderson (’89) became a senior attorney for the city of Houston.
J. Alexander Boone, Talcott J. Franklin and Dennis C. Taylor started Secure/Higher Ed, which offers educational
programs for parents and students. The company is staffed by
The reunion classes presented a collective gift of $1.5 million to Brant Hellwig, dean of the Law School.
end 2016 • April 15–17 trial docket, Kelley serves as a mediator and arbitrator for business-related disputes. Kelley’s dedication to W&L is evident in his service as president of the Law Council, law firm liaison, Chapter Law Liaison, on the Law School campaign committee, and on several reunion committees, including the one for his class’ 35th reunion. He has held many volunteer leadership positions, including serving on the boards of Old Dominion University, the Norfolk Botanical Garden Foundation, and the Hampton Roads Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center. NEIL MILLHISER ’11L received the 2016 Volun-
teer of the Year award, which recognizes those individuals who go above and beyond assisting the Law School. Millhiser has served W&L as law class agent since he graduated, as service chair for the W&L Richmond Alumni Chapter, as a member of the Law Young Alumni Council and as chair as of the reunion committee for the Class of 2011L’s fifth reunion. Since 2013, Millhiser has served as general manager at Patient Services Inc., a nationwide, healthcare non-profit providing financial support and guidance for patients with chronic illnesses who were struggling to keep up with expensive premiums and copayments.
Legal Legacies, from l. to r.: Baxter Davis ’66L, Sandy Harman ’66L, Kemp Morten ’59, ’64L, Ron Sommer ’66L, Kent Wilson ’66L
educators, physicians, counselors, law enforcement personnel and attorneys who offer individualized solutions to the problems of sexual violence, alcohol abuse and hazing. Shannon Brown ’93L is a principal at the company.
Ann Claire Hoffman Phillips joined U.S. Bank as its chief
government investigations counsel, after nine years as an assistant U.S. attorney. In her new role, she heads the government investigations division, responsible for all government and regulatory investigations and inquiries involving U.S. Bank. She has relocated to Minneapolis, the bank’s headquarters.
1996L
Brian S. Dowhower became the head of specialty private
wealth management for SunTrust Bank. He lives with his family in Atlanta.
Law Reunion award winners gather for a double-family portrait: Tom Millhiser ’81L; his wife, Shelly Millhiser; Emily Lowry, fiancée of Neil Millhiser; Neil Millhiser ’11L, Volunteer of the Year; Jennifer Kelley, wife of Walt Kelley; and the Hon. Walt Kelley ’77, ’81L, Outstanding Law Alumnus.
1997L
Stacy Ostrowski Louizos became a partner in the New York office of Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP.
W. Brantley Phillips Jr. was appointed chair of his firm’s
litigation and dispute resolution practice group. He works for Bass, Berry & Sims PLC.
the artEAST Art Center. She lives and works in Seattle.
Jeffrey L. Rhodes joined Doumar Martin PLLC in Arlington, Virginia, as a partner, specializing in the areas of employment law, business law and civil litigation.
2000L
1999L
2001L
Elizabeth A. Garcia is general counsel for the Second Judicial District Court in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Morgan D. Meyer moved to Wick Phillips, in Dallas, focusing on commercial litigation.
Gail Deady ’11L played a role in the landmark Title IX ruling issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals
Carla Villar O’Donoghue became the executive director of
1998L
Gail Deady ’11L Represents Transgender Student in Virginia Restroom Case
Getting an early start to the day with a fun run through Lexington.
for the Fourth Circuit. In a decision that made national headlines, the court ruled in favor of a transgender student who wishes to use the boy’s restroom at his Virginia high school. Deady represented the transgender plaintiff, Gavin Grimm. This is the first time a federal appellate court has ruled that Title IX protects the rights of transgender students with regards to bathroom use. In its decision, the Fourth Circuit instructed a lower court that had ruled against Grimm to re-evaluate the Title IX claim. Deady is the Secular Society Women’s Rights Legal Fellow at the Virginia ACLU, which took up Grimm’s case. Prior to joining the ACLU, Deady was in private practice as a civil litigation attorney in Richmond.
Melissa Memolo Nichols is Title IX and Americans with
Disability Act coordinator for Furman University and Wofford College. She lives in Greenville, South Carolina.
Wyatt M. Booth has relocated his practice to the Williams
Mullen law firm as a partner in the finance and real estate section. He works in the firm’s Raleigh, North Carolina, office.
W. Ryan Snow has been named a fellow in the Litigation
Counsel of America, a national honor society of appellate and trial lawyers. He is the managing partner for Crenshaw, Ware & Martin, in Norfolk, Virginia, and chairs the business disputes and construction law groups.
2002L
Steve L. Brinker became a partner at Crenshaw, Ware & Martin PLC. He lives and works in Norfolk, Virginia.
Heather N. Winter became vice president and associate
general counsel at News Corporation of America in New York. Summer
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2003L
Susan Stanier Healey is senior transactional counsel at WP Glimcher in Columbus, Ohio.
Joseph A. Kaufman is president and owner of Lemon Law Aid Inc., providing diligent, effective and honest counsel to consumers with automotive, consumer good, boat, motorcycle and RV breach of warranty matters. Joe lives and works in Pasadena, California.
Erika Patrick Leonard became a partner of the Atlanta law firm, Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart PC.
Lawrence L. Muir Jr. joined Mark Obenshain ’87L at the Obenshain Law Group. He focuses on cybersecurity and data privacy. Muir is also an adjunct law professor at W&L Law, teaching a seminar on cyber crimes.
Matthew M. Shultz works at Arnold & Porter as a member of the firm’s antitrust/competition practice and is based in Washington, D.C.
Molly Widener Thompson is an attorney adviser for the
Technology Controls Program in the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations in Washington, D.C.
Marie E. Washington’s firm was named the 2015 Best Law
Firm by readers of the Warrenton Lifestyle Magazine for a fifth year in row.
2004L
David S. Freed moved to Vinson & Elkins LLP, in New York City.
Leah M. Garabedian is senior program manager of the
Justice Management Institute. She lives and works in the Washington, D.C., area.
Daniel L. Payne is a large loss claim attorney for OneBeacon Insurance Co. He lives in Plymouth, Minnesota.
Y. Titilola Talabi is the acting company secretary and legal
adviser to A.G. Leventis PLC in Nigeria. She is also the firm’s secretary for Leventis Group-affiliated companies, Nigerian Bottling Company Ltd. and Beta Glass PLC.
Graham H. Watson received the 2015 CarMax Cares
Community Service Award for his advancements on the Home Office Giving Committee, for his ability to turn ideas into reality and for setting high standards for leadership and teamwork. A donation was made on his behalf to his chosen nonprofit, Sportable. He lives in Henrico, Virginia.
Philip H. Yoon received the Michael K. Smith Excellence in
Service Award from the Pennsylvania Bar Association Young Lawyers Division. He is the chief staff attorney for the Superior Court of Pennsylvania.
2005L
Brian A. Berkley joined Fox Rothschild LLP, in Philadelphia. He represents Fortune 500 and midsize companies as well as start-ups in lawsuits involving software technology, health care, mortgage banking, commercial real estate and financial services.
William M. Braxton started his own law firm in Roanoke
with partner Mike Doherty. Braxton & Doherty PLC opened its doors in January 2016.
Ryan A. Glasgow became a partner at Hunton & Williams
LLP, in Richmond. He focuses on complex labor and employment litigation and strategic advice with an emphasis on wage and hour litigation.
2006L
Sarah Wayland Bell is an attorney at Edmunds & Wil-
liams in Lynchburg, Virginia, focusing on family law, estate planning and general civil litigation.
Katherine Tritschler Boone is a corporate attorney for Beardsley PC. She lives and works in Atlanta.
David D. Christensen is a partner in K&L Gates’ Boston office. He practices in the financial institutions and services litigation sections and handles class action litigation defense.
William W. Fagan III joined Sterling Risk Advisors as general counsel, focusing on construction, professional services and real estate and benefits.
Taryn Koball Williams moved to Portland in January to
work as IP and commercial litigation counsel at Stoel Rives LLP.
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W&L Law Alumni Bring Down “King of Coal” In March, CBS aired a riveting feature from “60 Minutes” exploring the 2010 disaster at the Upper Big Branch mine that killed 29 miners, and the subsequent prosecution of mine owner Don Blankenship. In December of 2015, Blankenship was found guilty in a landmark ruling of willfully violating mine safety laws. This was the first time the CEO of a major company was convicted of a workplace safety crime. Booth Goodwin ’96L, former U.S. attorney for West Virginia, and Stephen Ruby ’06L, assistant U.S. attorney, led the prosecution of Blankenship. “This could be likened to a drug organization and the defendant was the kingpin,” Goodwin said in the report. Ruby and Goodwin argued that Blankenship ignored regular reports of safety violations and instructed employees to ignore safety laws and mislead mine inspectors. “The men and women that we talked to who worked in this mine said that it was absolutely understood, it was expected that if you worked at that mine, you were going to break the law in order to produce as much coal as possible, as fast and as cheaply as possible,” said Ruby.
2009L
Thomas H. McElroy is vice president and assistant general counsel of global wealth management at JP Morgan, in New York City.
Elizabeth Yost Neidzwski is an attorney in the Skagit County Public Defender’s office, in Seattle.
Oleg V. Nudelman is an associate at Thompson & Horton LLP. He lives and works in Dallas.
Srikanth Vadakapurapu became assistant vice president at Mindcrest, in Pune, Maharashtra, India.
2010L
Joshua B. Cannon is an associate at Ray Quinney & Nebeker, in Salt Lake City, Utah.
James E. Collins Jr. is a liaison in educational technology for
the Office of the Secretary in the U.S. Department of Education, in Washington, D.C
Victoria V. Corder is an associate at Chadbourne & Parke LLP. She lives and works in New York City.
2011L
2007L
John C. Eller is an administrative law clerk to Mary Malveaux,
Heather L. Curlee is of counsel in the energy and infra-
structure practice at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where she focuses on providing federal regulatory advice to investors, developers and the owner/operators of energy transmission and generation projects in the U.S. She lives and works in Washington, D.C.
Thomas H. Good joined the global finance practice
at Nixon Peabody. He focuses on leveraged lending and structured finance deals for the D.C. and Boston offices.
Melissa Kolovrat Goymerac is an assistant federal defender in St. Louis, Missouri.
Donald M. Houser is a partner at Alston & Bird, in Atlanta.
judge of the Court of Appeals of Virginia. He lives and works in Richmond.
Christopher J. Hartsfield works at Troutman Sanders LLP, in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Lauren M. Snyder is corporate counsel at Amazon. She lives and works in the Seattle area.
2012L
Daniel J. Isaacs-Smith is an attorney advisor at the administrative office of the United States Courts. He lives and works in Washington, D.C.
2013L
Michael P. Bombace is a BSA manager at Ripple, a Fintech
James D. Humphries IV is senior corporate counsel for Jack Cooper Holdings Corp., in Atlanta.
2008L
Jessica R. Berenyi is vice president and senior counsel at American Express, focusing on global network and merchant services. She lives and works in New York City.
Benjamin J. Conley became a partner at Seyfarth Shaw LLP. He lives and works in Chicago.
Lisa St. Martin Hedrick was named an Emerging
Leader by The M&A Advisor in the category of mergers and acquisitions. She works for Hirschler Fleischer, in Richmond.
company that is creating the Internet of Value. He is in charge of the anti-money laundering and anti-bribery and corruption programs. He lives and works in San Francisco.
Misha K. Daha joined the New York office of Ashurst LLP,
focusing on transactional finance work covering banking, derivatives and project finance.
Carter L. George is an associate at Baker Marquart LLP. He lives and works in Los Angeles.
Kathryn M. Gray is a trial attorney in the civil division of the U.S. Department of Justice, in Washington, D.C.
Michael J. Humphries joined Marshall Dennehey Warner
dix Inc. He lives and works in San Francisco.
Coleman & Goggin as an associate in the firm’s Jacksonville office. A member of the firm’s casualty department, he focuses on retail and commercial premises liability matters, product liability, automobile and general liability matters.
Robert L. Littlehale (’03) became a partner at Kirkland
Matthias J. Kaseorg is a litigation associate at Moran Reeves
Todd B. Holvick is an associate legal counsel at Augme-
& Ellis LLP. He lives in Arlington, Virginia, and works in the D.C. area.
Lisa Manning was named the 2015 Young Lawyer of the Year by the Bar Association of the District of Columbia. She works for Schertler & Onorato, in Washington, D.C.
& Conn PC. He lives in Richmond.
J. Scott Thomas is law clerk to the Hon. Joan A. Lenard, United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, in Miami.
Ernani DeAraujo ’08L Receives Emerging Leader Award Ernani DeAraujo ’08L, general coun-
sel at the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center (EBNHC), was named an Emerging Leader by the Geiger Gibson Program in Community Health Policy, part of the Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University. A life-long resident of East Boston, except for his time at W&L Law, DeAraujo has served this community in several capacities. Prior to joining EBNHC, where he is also compliance manager, he was Boston Mayor Thomas Menino’s community liaison to East Boston. DeAraujo practiced in the business department of the law firm Foley Hoag LLP before joining the mayor’s office, which he left in 2012.
Ernani DeAraujo ’08L (left) with Manny Lopes, East Boston Neighborhood Health Center general counsel and compliance manager.
Each year, the Geiger Gibson Program in Community Health honors young professionals currently working in community health. According to an article in the East Boston Times-Free Press, DeAraujo was nominated by EBNHC to receive the honor because he exemplifies the mission and vision of Dr. H. Jack Geiger and Count Gibson, pioneers of the community health movement. A graduate of the Boston Latin School and Harvard, DeAraujo served as a White House intern for Presidents Clinton in 2000 and Bush in 2001, and after graduating from Harvard in 2003, worked as an investment banker with JPMorgan Securities Inc. in New York and Texas.
Daniel L. Welsh is an assistant commonwealth’s attorney for the city of Staunton.
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William G. Beecher is an associate at Dentons, representing national mortgage lenders, servicers, Wall Street institutions, hedge funds, private equity funds, loan fulfillment providers, diligence companies, student lenders and secondary market participants. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Katherine M. Coleman is an assistant commonwealth attorney in Henrico County. She focuses on juvenile and domestic relations and lives in Richmond.
Amy T. Johnson is an associate at Baldwin Morgan & Rider PC. She lives and works in the Denver area.
John J. Lafferty is an assistant prosecutor for the Atlantic
County Prosecutor’s Office. He lives in Stratford, New Jersey.
Elizabeth L. Noles is an associate attorney for Glenn, Feldmann, Darby & Goodlatte. She lives and works in Roanoke.
Lorna E. Port is an assistant commonwealth’s attorney in Staunton, Virginia.
Chrishantha R. Vedhanayagam works for Bloomberg
BNA, in Chicago, as a customer engagement account manager for the Midwest and Southeast.
My Old Kentucky Home During February, PBS aired Kent Masterson Brown ’74L’s ninth documentary film, “The Lincolns in Kentucky,” which chronicles the 34 years Abraham Lincoln’s family lived in Kentucky. Beginning with Lincoln’s grandparents, Capt. Abraham Lincoln and Bathsheba Lincoln, and continuing through the years that his parents, Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln, spent in Kentucky, the documentary focuses on the lawsuits against Thomas Lincoln over land claims in Hardin County. Kent first uncovered this aspect of the Lincoln story in the mid-1990s, when he conducted a title examination for the National Park Service of the Knob Creek Farm, the place of Abraham Lincoln’s first memory. As a result of Kent’s work, the National Park Service was able to add the Knob Creek Farm to the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Park. “The Lincolns in Kentucky” drew rave reviews and had more than 1.5 million viewers, rivaling Kent’s previous broadcast production, “Daniel Boone and the Opening of the American West in 2015.”
Kent practices law with offices in Lexington, Kentucky, and with Webster, Chamberlain & Bean, in Washington, D.C. He is the founder and former editor in chief of The Civil War: The Magazine of the Civil War Society and has won numerous awards for his books, which include “Retreat From Gettysburg: Lee, Logistics and the Pennsylvania Campaign” and “The Civil War in Kentucky: Battle for the Bluegrass State.” In addition, he has hosted and produced nine award-winning documentary films for public and cable television on various aspects of American history. In October, he was named a 2014 Distinguished Graduate of Centre College of Kentucky for his efforts challenging government authority as a practicing lawyer, as well as for his Civil War scholarship.
Priscilla K. Williams is an associate at Gaines Gault Hendrix PC. She lives and works in Birmingham, Alabama.
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of Richmond. He served on the VMI board of visitors and was president for two years. He belonged to Phi Kappa Psi. He was father to Carter H. Tucker ’80 and grandfather to Carter H. Tucker Jr. ’13.
Ethan M. Bishop-Watt is an attorney in the individual safety
unit of Lone Star Legal Aid. He lives in Channelview, Texas, and works in Houston.
Lawrence B. Wales Jr. ’48L, of Virginia Beach, Virginia,
Kevin J. Coghill is an associate at Setliff and Holland, in Glen
died on Jan. 2. He served in the Navy for four years, in the Pacific during World War II and in the Korean War. He served in the Navy Reserves for 18 years. He worked in finance.
Allen, Virginia.
Cameron T. Crowther is director of student professional
development at Southern Virginia University, in Buena Vista.
Alison E. Leary is deputy general counsel at the League of
California Cities. She lives and works in Sacramento, California.
Katherine C. Skilling is an attorney at Wimbish Gentile McCray & Roeber PLLC, in Richmond.
Weddings
Luther W. White III ’49L, of Lynchburg, Virginia, died Koral E. Fusselman ’12L to S. Ferrell Alman Jr. ’12L on
Jan. 30, in Winter Park, Florida. Marcena Hunter (née Winterscheidt) ’12L served as maid of honor and Anthony G. “Roddy” Flynn 12L served as the bride’s attendant. Alumni in attendance included Jacob Triolo ’12L, Gibson S. Wright ’12L, Suzanne Peters ’12L, Daniel Isaacs-Smith ’12L and Rae Mueller ’12L.
Lauren F. Formica ’14L to Ferdinand Iannaccone, in August
2015. She works for Connell Foley, and the couple live in Boonton, New Jersey.
Births and Adoptions
Jane Ledlie Batcheller ’03, ’08L and G. Brooks Batcheller ’04, a son, William Daly, on June 13, 2015. They live and work in Atlanta.
Jacob E. Comer ’03L and his wife, Irina, a son, Timothy Elinor P. Hindsley ’05, ’08L to Ken Clendenin on April 18,
2015, at the Baltimore Country Club. Alumni in attendance included Christine Fritz Lloyd ’05, Caroline Crawford Childers ’05, Valerie A. Delaune ’07, Marian S. Steele ’05, Andrew R. Lloyd ’06, Whitney R. Travis ’08L, Joseph P. Hindsley ’72 (father of the bride), W. G. Crisler Clore ’72, Timothy D. A. Chriss ’72, Donald W. Kellerman Jr. ’83, Richard B. Jones ’84, Joseph C. Wich Jr. ’69 and Robert C. Walker Jr. ’72.
Alexander, on Nov. 13, 2015. The family live in Norwalk, Connecticut.
Ryan J. Preston ’03L and his wife, Betsey, a daughter, Virginia Katherine, on Jan. 13. Ryan and Virginia now happily share a birthday. The family live in Dallas.
Timothy R. Lankau ’04L and his wife, Sarah, a daughter,
Elisabeth Grace, on March 24. She joins brother Benjamin, 5, and sister Esther, 3. They live in Houston. Lloyd, on Jan. 4. They live near Lansing, Michigan.
Charles L. Capito III ’07L and his wife, Laura, a daughter,
Rose Barbara, on Jan. 6, 2015. She joins sister Celia and brother Charles. The family live in Bethesda, Maryland.
James D. Humphries IV ’07L and his wife Katie, a daughter, Phoebe Kate, on Nov. 1, 2015. She joins sister Lucy Lawver and brother George Howell.
Eric D. Chapman ’13L and his wife, Aliya, a son, Ayden Front row, l. to r.: Kiyomi Bolick ’10L, Jenny Cantwell ’10L, the bride and groom, Alexandra Botwinick Litvack ’10L, Michael Lotito ’10L, Kara Webster ’10L and Francesca Jean Baptiste ’10L. Back row, l to r.: Travis Cushman ’09L, Brittani Nichols Cushman ’10L, Christopher Riano ’10L, Brian Bell ’10L and LeMont Joyner ’13L.
Samuel M. Boykin Jr. ’49, ’51L, of Palm Beach, Florida,
died on Dec. 8, 2015. He served in the Army as an Airborne Ranger paratrooper and jumpmaster. He owned the SMB Steel Corp. and was chairman of the board, president and CEO of Ingalls Iron Works Co. His projects included the space shuttle towers and moon launch towers at Cape Canaveral. He belonged to Phi Delta Theta.
Donald R. Klenk ’54L, of Potomac, Maryland, died on
March 9. A veteran of the Army, he served as deputy chief counsel to several board members of the National Labor Relations Board. He was a long-time W&L Law class agent.
William W. Blanton Jr. ’53, ’55L, of Southampton, New
Michael J. Pattwell ’06L and his wife, Samantha, a son, Jack
Kristina D. Joyner ’10L to Edward Leslie, on Nov. 10, 2015.
on Jan. 9. He entered private practice in Norfolk, Virginia, before forming the law firm Worthington, White & Harper. He was appointed to the Virginia Board of Law Examiners by the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia. He served as president of Randolph-Macon College and as president of Kentucky Wesleyan College. He belonged to Phi Delta Theta and was grandfather to Patricia I. King ’12.
Karim, on March 9, 2015. The family live in Blacksburg, Virginia.
Obituaries
The Hon. J. Randolph Tucker Jr. ’48L, of Richmond,
died on Nov. 27, 2015. He served in the Army as a combat officer with the Second and Third Armored Divisions during World War II and was promoted to lieutenant colonel. He served as judge of the circuit court of the city
York, died on Nov. 13, 2015. He worked for Bozell & Jacobs Advertising and belonged to Phi Gamma Delta.
John R. Kaiser ’55L, of Wilmington, Delaware, died on
Jan. 8. He served in the Navy and founded Kaiser Yachts to design and build semi-custom cruising sailboats. He belonged to Sigma Phi Epsilon and was uncle to Nicholas J. Kaiser ’83L.
Claude W. Nicholson Jr. ’56L, of Fort Myers, Florida, died on Feb. 15.
Grant M. Gille ’67L, of Spring Lake, New Jersey, died on Jan. 11. He served in the Armed Services. He was former mayor of Montclair, New Jersey, partner in his law firm of Ferguson and Gille, and a leader in education and civic circles.
Robert H. Weinstein ’78L, of East Hartford, Connecti-
cut, died on Dec. 10, 2015. He practiced with Weinstein & Associates for more than 30 years.
M. Wayne Ringer ’80L, of Norfolk, Virginia, died on
April 18. He was chief deputy in Norfolk’s city attorney’s office. Prior to that, he was a lawyer for Williams, Worrell, Kelly & Greer.
Thomas G. Baker Jr. ’82L of Dublin, Virginia, died on
April 15. He served as the Dublin town attorney and ran his own law practice in Dublin for many years. He was also a member of the Virginia State House of Delegates for 10 years and was chair of the House Courts Committee. Summer
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ODK, pg. 2
BLSA Wins Honors, pg. 2
New header to come, pg. 2 Community Service, pg. 4 Law Alumni Weekend Recap, pg. 8
Discovery Washington and Lee University School of Law 204 W. Washington Street Lexington, VA 24450-2116
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