The Washington and Lee University School of Law celebrated its 169th commencement on Friday, May 10, awarding 141 juris doctor degrees.
W&L President Will Dudley greeted the graduates and their families gathered on the front lawn between the University Chapel and the Colonnade, evoking memories of the time the graduates have spent together building a remarkable community at one of the nation’s most unique law schools.
“You have spent three years together in this beautiful place. It has shaped you, as individuals and as a class. Together you have studied, argued, and developed the habits of mind that characterize good lawyers. You have made lasting friendships that will give you pleasure and support wherever you go,” said Dudley.
Melanie D. Wilson, dean of the law school, followed President Dudley to the podium. Dean Wilson praised the class for its intellect, grit, and compassion, remarking on their law school journey that began during the thick of COVID. She also recounted by name many of the students and accomplishments that she would remember from her second year leading the school.
During her remarks, Dean Wilson turned to advice shared by Kara Lawson, women’s basketball coach at Duke University, who encourages her team to strive to “handle hard better” rather than simply waiting for life to get easy.
“You arrived to W&L Law with the smarts and the aptitude,” said Wilson. “Now you have the skills and education. You are ready to handle hard better. You are ready to overcome any adversity thrown at you. You are ready to represent clients at some of the most vulnerable times of their lives.”
After the graduates were awarded their degrees, Dean Wilson introduced Utah Gov. Spencer Cox
as this year’s commencement speaker. A 2001 graduate of W&L Law, Cox was elected governor in 2020, having previously served as lieutenant governor and as a member of the Utah House of Representatives. In 2023, he was elected to lead the National Governors Association.
During his remarks, Governor Cox urged the graduates to pursue a life focused on others, to engage with their communities through service, and to spend time with those who are different.
“Today, my friends, is all about you. And it should be all about you. You have worked so hard for these three years. But I sincerely hope that this is the last day that’s all about you.
“As you look behind you, there are all these people in your life that made this possible. You did this, but you did not do it alone. I hope that you will turn around and do the same favor for other people.”
The Student Bar Association Teacher of the Year and Staff Member of the Year award were presented at the awards ceremony on May 9. Professor Kish Parella was named Teacher of the Year, and Susan LeMert, law student affairs program coordinator, won the staff award.
AWARDS
Madelyn Kay Bellew
John W. Davis Prize for Law (highest cumulative grade point average)
Olivia Maier
American Bankruptcy Institute Medal (excellence in study of bankruptcy law)
Christian Addams Kelling &
Samuel Gary Gustafson
Roy L. Steinheimer Jr. Commercial Law Award (excellence in Commercial Law)
Courtney Ebersohl
Virginia Trial Lawyers Association Award (effective trial advocacy)
Haley Lauren Carter
A. H. McLeod-Ross Malone Oral Advocacy Award (distinction in oral advocacy)
Amir A. Soleimanpour & Kaitlyn Hyun
Frederic L. Kirgis Jr. International Law Award (excellence in international law)
Catalina Victoria Perez Parra
Virginia Bar Family Law Section Award (excellence in the area of family law)
Tom Boss
Barry Sullivan Constitutional Law Award (excellence in constitutional law)
Taryn E. Washburn
James W. H. Stewart Tax Law Award (excellence in tax law)
Andrew Christian Morales & Madelyn Kay Bellew
Thomas Carl Damewood Evidence Award (excellence in the area of evidence)
Courtney Ebersohl
Criminal Law Award (excellence in courses of criminal law)
Samuel Gary Gustafson & Olivia Maier Business Law Award (excellence in courses of business law)
Adam Thomas Cline & Olivia Allison Luzzio
Administrative Law Award (excellence in courses of administrative law)
Chloe Madison Dupre & Jo Won Shin
Clinical Legal Education Association Award (outstanding clinic student)
Morgan S. Brody
Clinical Legal Education Association
Outstanding Externship Award (outstanding externship student)
Andreya M. Steidl
Charles V. Laughlin Award (outstanding contribution to moot court program)
Rachel Marie Silver & Colleen A. Karlovich
The Washington and Lee School of Law Women’s Law Award (outstanding contribution to women in the law)
Lucie Hunter Fisher
Calhoun Bond University Service Award (significant contribution to the University community)
Dominique Claire Cravins & Jasmine Nicole Cooper
Randall P. Bezanson Award (outstanding contribution to diversity in the life of the Law School community)
The Class of 2024
Chloe Dupre and Courtney Ebersole enjoying the ceremony.
President Dudley with Albert Zhu and Alexis Smith
Utah Governor Spencer Cox
Employment Outcomes
Our graduates continue to achieve success in the job market at the highest levels. According to the annual 10-month employment report, 98.1 percent of the class of 2023 secured a job that either requires bar passage or for which a J.D. degree is an advantage. The overall employment rate for the class, including all employment types and graduate school, is 99.1 percent.
CAREER PATHS: WHERE ARE THEY GOING?
COLLEEN KARLOVICH ’24L is from Pittsburgh, Pa. She attended Davidson College (‘18) where she graduated cum laude with a B.A. in political science and Hispanic studies. After college, she did a year of service with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in Los Angeles, Calif. Afterwards, she returned to the East Coast and primarily worked as a paralegal at Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Lowery and staffer for the Safe Helpline at the Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network (RAINN). At W&L Law, she served as co-president of the Women Law Students’ Organization, vice chair of Externals for the Moot Court Board, and lead articles editor for the Journal of Civil Rights and Justice. Colleen will work in the New Lawyer’s Group at Jones Day in Washington, D.C.
“Over the course of my 2L summer at Jones Day, I had the opportunity to try several different practice areas and explore how it feels to be in a group that is industry-focused, such as healthcare and life sciences; skillsbased, such as litigation; or code/ statute-based, such as Family Medical Leave Act disputes in the labor and employment group. Through this process, I learned that I liked practice areas that have an established code or statute and the lawyer’s role is to problem solve a specific scenario for the client that may encompass numerous types of resolution methods, such as client counseling, litigation or negotiation. In these areas, the lawyer’s best assets are to know the law and the facts extremely well so that they can find creative solutions.”
IAN JOSEPH ’24L is from Johns Creek, Ga. After high school, he first attended Macalester College, where he was a member of the men’s basketball team. He then went on to attend the University of Georgia, where he received a B.A. in political science. After college, he worked for a year as a paralegal in Savannah, Ga., before deciding to attend W&L. At the law school, he served as a Kirgis Fellow during his 2L year, and he has been an active member of BLSA and Law Families. Ian will work as a general litigation associate for McGlinchey Stafford in their Nashville office.
“I worked with McGlinchey during my 1L summer in their Baton Rouge office, and I was fortunate enough to be able to parlay that into a 2L summer role in Nashville. Being from the metro Atlanta area, I wanted to get a little closer to home, and the wonderful attorneys in both offices helped make that dream a reality. I also always knew that I wanted to work in a mid-size firm rather than a big firm, and with McGlinchey I found a firm with smaller office vibes but big firm resources. I am very excited to dive into the work and begin learning as much as I can. While law school provides you with the tools you need to become a lawyer, I am ready to start practicing and figuring out the type of attorney that I want to be.”
Class of 2023 by Sector
SARA LEE ’24L is from Los Angeles County, Calif. She attended Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., where she received a B.A. in public policy and law and a B.A. in urban studies with a minor in Japanese. After college, she worked for a year as an English teacher in Seoul, South Korea, then worked as an AmeriCorps legal advocate in central Massachusetts at a legal aid organization. At W&L, she was co-executive editor of the German Law Journal, president of the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association, and SCOTUS Preview co-chair for the American Constitution Society. She will clerk for a federal district trial court judge and then join Kirkland & Ellis in New York in the general litigation group.
“I didn’t know coming into law school that I wanted to clerk but learned very quickly my 1L year that it was something I would be interested in. I did know that I wanted to work in private practice before I came to law school due to my public interest background. While I really enjoyed the work and found it to be very valuable, it was emotionally difficult to handle the client stories. The experience led to my pivot to private commercial practice, which I hoped would be removed enough from personal experiences. Both of my summer jobs confirmed that I would be happy working at a law firm. I remained undecided on if I wanted to be in transactional work or litigation work until my 2L summer. During my 2L summer, I did a couple of transactional projects that taught me my brain worked better with litigation.”
Mastro ’24L is from New York City. He attended Florida State University, where he majored in political science and international affairs. After college, he worked as a headhunter for finance professionals in New York City. At W&L, Ryan worked as a student prosecutor in the Rockbridge County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office. He will work for the Manhattan district attorney as an assistant district attorney.
“In my 1L summer, I had the opportunity to work at the Staten Island District Attorney in their Trials Bureau. My first day coincided with the beginning of a months-long trial where the defendant was accused of murder, sexual assault and kidnapping. As I watched the ADAs work throughout the trial, I knew that this was exactly what I wanted to do. For my 2L summer, my plan was to start applying directly with the Manhattan DA and then focus on other offices afterwards. Fortunately, I received an invitation to interview about a week later and received an offer to join the office as a summer law fellow. Towards the end of the summer, I was invited to participate in a panel interview with three senior ADAs from different divisions. There were a few legal questions, but most of the time was spent on ethical hypotheticals and discussing how to deal with the more difficult aspects of prosecution. A few months later, I finally received an invitation for a final round interview with District Attorney Bragg where he extended me a formal offer to be an assistant district attorney.”
Ryan
Clinic Students Win Asylum For Afghanistan Human Rights Advocate
The case spanned nearly two years and involved two sets of clinic students who worked to secure the outcome.
LAW STUDENTS IN W&L LAW’S IMMIGRANT Rights Clinic won asylum in the U.S. for a client from Afghanistan. The case spanned nearly two years and involved two sets of clinic students who worked to secure the outcome.
The client, named Mohammad, was working as an advocate for women’s rights in Afghanistan when the Taliban took control of the country in 2021. Fearing he would be a target for his human rights work, Mohammad fled to the airport in Kabul and was one of the lucky few who were able to escape on a military flight to the U.S.
After spending some time in poor conditions at a refugee camp in Texas, Mohammad was able to make his way Richmond to stay with a friend and begin his quest for legal status. He would have a year from entering the U.S. to file for asylum.
Winni Zhang ’24L joined the Immigrant Rights Clinic because she experienced first-hand the challenges of starting over somewhere new as the daughter of Chinese immigrants. She was part of the first team of students, along with Jack Keltner ’23L, to work on the case. They conducted the initial interview with Mohammad, gathered evidence to support his application and prepared all of the necessary documents, including a written brief in support of his application. The students filed the application in the fall of 2022 and prepared Mohammad for the asylum interview, which took place in April 2023.
“Over a year, we got to know Mohammad and understand his story well – his dreams, aspirations, upbringing, and so much more,” said Zhang. “Using the legal knowledge that we gathered to build out his case was incredibly fulfilling.”
By law, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is required to render asylum
decisions for Afghans within 150 days of the interview. However, data on similar cases showed that USCIS was not processing claims fast enough, requiring the clinic to take additional steps to secure a decision in Mohammad’s asylum case.
Enter students Chandler Marshall ’24L and Jared Hunter ’24L, who took on the case in the fall of 2023. In order to move Mohammad’s case forward, they decided to file a writ of mandamus in federal court to compel USCIS to render an asylum decision. Six weeks of research and drafting followed before the students were ready to submit their argument.
“It was a challenge to advocate strongly for our client while keeping our emotions in check in order to produce an objective piece of writing for the court,” said Marshall. “In addition to presenting all the facts from Mohammad’s case, we also wanted to make clear the U.S. government had certain amount of responsibility here for the situation in Afghanistan.”
While the students prepared the writ, they also communicated their intentions to USCIS several times, hoping that a potential federal case would compel the agency to act. But after receiving no reply, Marshall and Hunter filed their writ in the Eastern District of Virginia just after Thanksgiving, with the help of Professor Jon Shapiro, who is admitted in that court. The filing was accepted more than 275 days after Mohammad’s initial application was submitted.
By comparison, the response to the writ of mandamus was at light speed. Two weeks after filing, Marshall and Hunter received an email from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Mohammad’s asylum application had been granted, and the government was requesting the parties file a joint dismissal of the complaint.
“To be able to call Mohammad with this amazing news, that he had a clear path forward, was just an amazing feeling,” said Marshall. Mohammad’s plans include going to school with hopes for joining the health profession as a nurse or physician assistant. With his asylum application granted, he can apply for permanent residency in a year. Four years later he will be able to apply to become a U.S. citizen.
After graduation, Marshall and Hunter are both headed into transactional practices in Washington, D.C., and New York, respectively. But it is hard to overstate the value they place on their experience in the Immigrant Rights Clinic.
“I signed up for the clinic knowing that I might never get this kind of experience again, especially any litigation experience,” said Marshall. “And I know both Jared and I feel like this is probably the best decision we could have made in law school.”
W&L Law Student Wins Case Before Third Circuit Court of Appeals
Haley Carter ’24L argued the case as a student attorney in W&L Law’s Advanced Administrative Law Clinic, better known as the Black Lung Clinic.
IF YOU ARE WONDERING WHAT A LAW STUDENT does the night before making an oral argument in front of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, watching “My Cousin Vinnie” might not be the first thing that comes to mind.
But after months of mastering case information and countless moot arguments, Haley Carter ’24L knew that the best thing she could do was try to relax.
“You get to a point where you just realize there is nothing more you can do to prepare,” said Carter. “I needed to turn my mind off for a bit and have a good laugh.”
Carter argued the case as a student attorney in W&L Law’s Advanced Administrative Law Clinic, better known as the Black Lung Clinic. For nearly 30 years, the clinic has represented coal miners diagnosed with pneumoconiosis, also known as Black Lung disease, in their pursuit of benefits from the coal companies they worked for. Cases in the clinic typically take many years to resolve, but Carter’s case was an outlier.
The clinic took the case last summer after the Benefits Review Board and the Administrative Law Judge has already decided in favor of the miner and the mining company’s appeal was accepted by the Third Circuit. Carter was assigned to the case in the
fall, and immediately dove into the case files — over 600 pages of background information, depositions, and extensive medical evidence and testimony.
After evaluating the case, Carter felt it was clear that her client met all the criteria to receive benefits, including that he was completely disabled and did have Black Lung disease that was caused by his employment. But what stood out the most to Carter and others in the clinic was the physical demands the client faced in his work.
“It was really shocking to us to think about a 20-year career working in a space just 42 inches tall,
carrying heavy tools and lifting 150-pound cables,” said Carter. “It is hard to imagine the physical toll.”
Carter spent most of the fall working on a case brief for the court, which was submitted in November. In January, the court notified the parties that they wanted to hear arguments in the matter, but it was not until the beginning of March that the court set a date, leaving Carter just a few weeks to prepare for oral argument.
Five moot arguments with several different professors helped Carter hone her ability to translate the complex medical testimony into powerful support for her client’s claims. Along with clinic director Tim MacDonnell, Carter was grilled with expert questions from Brian Murchison, who founded the clinic almost 30 years ago, and Dan Evans ’85L, who supervises the clinic during the summer. She also drew valuable insight from David Eggert, who brought a non-expert’s perspective to the preparation, similar to what she could expect from a panel of Third Circuit judges who do not hear Black Lung cases regularly.
“They all brought such different flair and perspective, and that really helped round out the preparation process,” said Carter.
Jack Keltner ’23L, center, and
Winni Zhang ’24L, right, with their client.
MAUREEN EDOBOR TAPPED FOR INAUGURAL BRENNAN CENTER FELLOWS PROGRAM
Professor MAUREEN EDOBOR ’17L has been selected as one of the first five recipients of the Steven M. Polan Fellowship in Constitutional Law and History. The fellowship comes from a new program launched by the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan law and policy institute housed at New York University Law School. As a Polan Fellow, Professor Edobor will organize forums marking the 250th anniversary of the Articles of Confederation, the United States’ first constitution. This series will consider
why the framers replaced the weak, decentralized system of government under the Articles with our current Constitution — and consider its relevance to 21st-century originalism.
BLSA MAKES IMPACT AT NATIONAL CONVENTION
At the 56th National Convention, held in Houston, Texas, March 6-10, 2024, third-year law student JASMINE COOPER ’24L made a significant impact. Serving on the National BLSA Board as the national director for the Constance Baker Motley Mock Trial Competition, Cooper was honored as the Director of the Year. EBONY AIKEN ’25L, a key member of the National BLSA (NBLSA) Board, served as the National Convention coordinator
for the 56th National Convention. Her tireless efforts and strategic planning contributed to the convention’s success. At the same event, Ebony received the prestigious Top Contributor of the Year award. Under her leadership, the 2024 NBLSA Convention became the largest in the organization’s 56-year history, welcoming over 900 law students, pre-law students, attorneys and legal professionals.
SCHOLARSHIP OF LAW PROFESSOR CITED IN FTC NONCOMPETE DECISION
Two articles by Washington and Lee law professor CHRIS SEAMAN were cited in a ruling that bans nearly all noncompete agreements. The FTC cited Seaman’s most recent article that was published in the Yale Law Journal. The article, titled “Beyond Trade Secrecy: Confidentiality Agreements That Act Like Noncompetes,” examines overly broad confidentiality agreements (also called nondisclosure agreements, or NDAs) that act like a noncompete agreement – namely, they operate to prevent employees from accepting new positions under threat of breach of contract. In addition, the
FTC cited Seaman’s empirical study of the Defend Trade Secrets Act, the results of which were published in the Wake Forest Law Review. The article is titled “The DTSA at One: An Empirical Study of the First Year of Litigation Under the Defend Trade Secrets Act.”
LAW STUDENTS COMPETE AT GLOBAL ANTITRUST COMPETITION
LAW STUDENTS COMPETE AT UVALDO HERRERA NATIONAL MOOT COURT COMPETITION
The team of ALEXIS ACOSTA ’24L, SIMON CICCARILLO ’24L, and CHRISTIAN SANCHEZ LEON ’24L participated recently in the 29th annual Uvaldo Herrera National Moot Court Competition conducted by the Hispanic National Bar Association. The team, all third-year law students and members of the school’s Latin American Law Students Association (LALSA), competed against teams from 32 other law schools. Advancing to the quarter finals, the team finished in the top eight in the oral argument portion of the competition.
place overall for submitting the best petitioner brief.
ALI FAZAL ’25L NAMED ACS NEXT GENERATION LEADER
The American Constitution Society (ACS) has named second-year law student ALI FAZAL ’25L as a 2024 Next Generation Leader. Fazal is one of only 34 up-and-coming legal professionals selected for the program. The Next Generation Leaders program recognizes and supports law school students who have shown exceptional leadership in their work with their ACS student chapters. Next Generation Leaders are selected through a competitive application process. The selection committee looks for students who demonstrate strong legal skills, a commitment to public ser-
vice, and a track record of leadership and community engagement. Fazal has served on the W&L Law ACS Board for two years, first as a 1L rep and then as outreach director. He will serve as vice president of the W&L chapter next year.
OLIVIA MAIER ’24L HONORED BY AMERICAN COLLEGE OF BANKRUPTCY
Law student OLIVIA MAIER ’24L was named as the Distinguished Bankruptcy Law Student for the Fourth Circuit. Only one student from each of the 11 U.S. circuits receives this prestigious award. The award is given by the American College of Bankruptcy to recognize and promote prospective leaders in the insolvency and bankruptcy profession. The criteria for the selection of the distinguished law students include academic excellence, professional
accomplishments, commitment to public service, and extraordinary law school experience and familiarity with insolvency law. Maier was nominated for the award by Judge Rebecca Connelly and her clerk Caleb Chaplain of the Western District of Virginia Bankruptcy Court. Maier interned for Judge Connelly during her 1L summer, and Caleb Chaplain acted as her note adviser during her 2L year as she wrote her article on the Texas Two-Step bankruptcy maneuver.
Members of the W&L Antitrust and Consumer Law Society at Washington and Lee University School of Law recently competed at the Global Antitrust Institute Invitational, a moot court competition hosted by George Mason Law School. W&L Law fielded two teams for the competition, including the team of JACK PERRYMAN ’25L and JACK KELLERMAN ’25L and the team of NICOLE JIA ’26L and SIMON CICCARILLO ’24L. Following two
rounds of oral arguments, Perryman and Kellerman emerged as the runners-up in the competition. They were also recognized with the Best Defendant’s Brief award. The students competed against representatives from more than dozen law schools, arguing before high- level FTC officials as well as Judge Douglas Ginsburg, senior judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
Alexis Acosta, Simon Ciccarillo and Christian Sanchez Leon
The students were awarded first
Inside the 2L Year with Zoe Speas ’25L
What can the melancholy Jaques from Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” teach us about law school?
Zoe Speas is a member of the Class of 2025 at the Washington and Lee University School of Law. Prior to law school, she traveled the country as a Shake spearean actor and musician, and she continues to participate in the theater community as a playwright and adapter of classical texts. Zoe is an executive editor of the Washington and Lee Law Review, a Legal Writing Burks Scholar, a W&L Law Ambassador, and a faculty research assistant in various topics, including tax and property law. In 2023, Zoe served as a judicial intern in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Richmond, and she looks forward to joining Jones Day for its 2024 Sum mer Associate Program in Washington, D.C. In her free time, Zoe enjoys New York Times crossword puzzles, lap swimming, and the antics of her corgi‑at‑law, Bertie Woofster.
One of the most famous soliloquies in Shakespeare’s Canon occurs in Act II of “As You Like It.” It is delivered by the melancholy exiled lord, Jaques, as a reflection on the various phases of the human experience from cradle to death. You might be most familiar with its opening line: “All the world’s a stage.”
Jaques splits up life into seven acts. It begins with a “puking” infant and “whining school-boy . . . creeping like snail/Unwillingly to school.” Then comes the lover, writing ballads about a beloved’s eyebrow. Next, the rash and brazen soldier takes the stage before retirement as a “justice . . . Full of wise saws and modern instances.” Finally, after withering into the “shrunk[en] shank” of old age, comes “second childishness and mere oblivion,/Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.”
Cheerful, right? Well, that’s Jaques. You want sunshine and optimism, see Touchstone.
There’s a bit of a “Seven Ages of Man” element to law school. In the fall of 1L, I learned how to be a baby again. I learned to read and write as though for
the first time because of how different it was from what I’d previously known of reading and writing. In the spring, I began to crawl, and I tottered through Property Law and Constitutional Law on wobbly legs. Maybe there was a touch of the “whining school-boy” as I stared down the barrel of an appellate brief deadline. With my “satchel/And shining morning face,” I
If 1L teaches you how to be a law student, then 2L challenges you to discover what kind of law student you are and perhaps offers a glimpse of the lawyer you want to become.
commuted to the federal judicial internship in which I participated that summer, often leaving for the day more baffled than I was when I got there. It’s a big, scary thing, realizing how much there is to learn and how little of the world you understand even in your thirties.
2L falls somewhere between the school-boy and
the soldier. Let’s call it law student adolescence, zits and all. 1L follows a set curriculum for both fall and spring, but, for the most part, 2L is yours to do with and customize as you like [it]. Your 1L cohort will always be your 1L cohort, but with each choice of 2L class or extracurricular, you begin to form a new community that reflects your developing interests. For me, the first development was acceptance onto Law Review. Next, with quite a bit of overlap with Law Review, was joining the W&L Law Ambassadors team, which serves prospective and admitted students in the admissions process. By 2L spring semester, I started to encounter familiar faces in the classes I chose — studdents who were drawn to similar subjects and study as me. If 1L teaches you how to be a law student, then 2L challenges you to discover what kind of law student you are and perhaps offers a glimpse of the lawyer you want to become.
I suspect the goal of law school is to deposit us at graduation in the full flush of the fourth stage of Jaques’s acts: as soldier-scholars, “[f]ull of strange oaths” (shout out to my loved ones for enduring holiday dinners with me sounding off about Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code) and well-equipped to contribute to the practice of law. Though I’ll still be wobbling about on baby lawyer legs when I join the legal profession, it will be my time at W&L Law that will give me the courage to fail, the grace to learn from my mistakes, and the eagerness to strive again for success. I look forward to repeating that cycle throughout all (seven?) stages of my career and life. Unlike Jaques’s school-boy, though, I am in no hurry. I love law school. I am already mourning my departure from this haven of exploration, scholarship, and support. In 3L, I look forward to encouraging the incoming classes of 1Ls and 2Ls as they begin this journey. More than anything, this institution’s legacy of service makes me proudest to graduate next spring as a member of the Class of 2025.
Inside the 1L Year with Jeremy Thompson ’26L
Law student Jeremy Thompson reflects on the challenges and successes of his first year at W&L Law.
Jeremy Thompson is a member of the Class of 2026 at W&L Law. Prior to law school, Jeremy worked for a federal agency in Washington D.C., for three years. During Jeremy’s first year of law school, he participated in the Black Law Students Association (BLSA) mock trial competition in Baltimore, Md., and this next year will serve as a Law Ambassador. While he is outside the walls of the law school, Jeremy enjoys playing chess, watching sports, and working out. He also serves as a board member on the mental health advocacy not for profit organization called Friends of the Alexandria Mental Health Center. For the 2024 summer, he will join McGuireWoods for their 2024 Summer Associate Program in Charlotte, N.C.
Something that surprised you about 1L year?
What has surprised me about 1L year is largely divided into two components. First, I was surprised with the genuine and caring character of my classmates at W&L. Everyone understands the rigors of law school and here at W&L, we use friendships and hard work to overcome academic obstacles together. Secondly, I was surprised with how much public policy factors in when determining law’s impact, repercussions, and creation.
Favorite classes from fall and spring semester?
My favorite class from fall semester was Torts. At first blush, torts can be intimidating and a difficult doctrine to get a good grasp on. However, once you
understand the foundational elements of torts, you can quickly start to see how applicable it is in daily life and how you can use your own creativity to help form the best case for your client.
My favorite class in the spring semester was Criminal Law. I enjoy criminal law because it pulls back the curtains on the history of criminal law, its process to where it is today, and the trajectory of where it is headed. Learning concepts like “mens rea” calls for you to try to understand the mind frame of someone at the time of a crime, and I find that intriguing.
Biggest takeaway from 1L year?
My biggest takeaway from 1L year can be summed up in one word: uncomfortable. Law school is challenging in all respects, and it forces you to be positively uncomfortable. You are constantly around smart and talented classmates, learning tough legal doctrines, in tight timelines, and it makes you uncomfortable. I have learned that figuring out how to navigate and harness that uncomfortable feeling is the key to not only success in law school, but success in life. It is okay to be uncomfortable; that is where you learn your true potential and grow the most.
Things you are looking forward to in 2L year?
I am most looking forward to getting involved with more extracurriculars with the school, like moot court competitions and negotiation competitions. I find those to not only be helpful in growing as a legal
professional, but it also breaks the monotony of just learning inside a classroom.
Advice to students going to law school in the future?
My biggest piece of advice for prospective law students would be to figure out their “why” for wanting to go to law school. I would urge them to find out what is the driving factor for wanting a legal career, embrace that reason and hold on to it, because that will be the one piece of motivation that will push them through the long nights.
The last thing I would add is always to remain humble. Be thankful for the opportunity that God has provided and give thanks to God for that. It is a tough but rewarding process and remembering that God, your family/friends, and mentors are a large reason why you have been successful so far.
Kish Parella
Class of 1960 Professor of Ethics and Law and 2024 Teacher of the Year
Kishanthi Parella is the Class of 1960 Professor of Ethics and Law at W&L Law. Prior to joining W&L Law in 2013, she practiced investor-state dispute settlement at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, where her practice involved defending sovereign governments before international tribunals regarding their alleged violations of international investment law.
After joining the legal academy, Parella focuses on other ways that international law is enforced that do not involve a court or tribunal. It’s a particularly important question to explore when it comes to corporate conduct, which may involve violations of international law but there are limited opportunities to hold corporate actors accountable. In her research and scholarship, Parella explores the relationship between corporate governance and international law and explains to corporate executives why they need to start thinking about compliance with international law when they make otherwise routine business decisions.
For example, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, hundreds of companies from around the world had to decide how to respond. If they had business interests in Russia, would they remain? Scale back? Pull out entirely? Would they seek to assist Ukraine? Parella began researching the reasons companies responded as they did. Only seven months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Parella argued in her article “Corporate Foreign Policy in War” (Boston College Law Review) that supply-side factors explained many of the stay or leave decisions as much as demand-side factors, such as boycotts or social media campaigns. Parella posited that corporate business models, contract designs, political risk insurance, and international investment law were also important. Parella saw the situation as a cautionary tale for companies that might find themselves embroiled in a geopolitical crisis, realizing only too late that their ability to turn on a dime is limited by decisions they made 10 years earlier.
“Say you were a company that decided to go into Russia using a particular business model because you thought it would give you a low-cost option,” she said. “Years later you might find that the low-cost option tied your hands when it came to closing your stores or exiting from Russia and that your inability to do that exposed you to reputational risk and other kinds of risk.”
These same issues were the subject of W&L’s annual Institute for Honor symposium that Parella directed in February 2023. The symposium was titled “McDonald’s vs. Putin: Corporate Responsibility in Times of Armed Conflict” and featured a keynote address by David Scheffer, the first U.S. Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues.
Parella explained that she approaches her research by first identifying a question before taking a position. As an example, her article “International Law in the Boardroon” (Cornell Law Review) began when she asked what it means to incorporate international law into corporate governance. Through cases studies on climate change, human rights and sustainable development, she concluded that a company’s compliance with international law is frequently motivated by a desire “to manage risks, appease stakeholders, and advance corporate purpose and strategy.” International law, said Parella, can provide a baseline of expectation for companies, especially regarding human rights.
Parella has advised government officials, corporate executives, and United Nations working groups and serves on the Executive Council of the American Society of International Law, which was founded in 1906 and has nearly 4,000 members from more than
W&L Law Student Wins Case
Carter also drew significant support from other students in the clinic. One clinic member wrote up an extensive guide of all the necessary regulations so she could reference them quickly if asked. Other students examined the case record for any inconsistencies in the testimony from the employer’s doctors. Still others participated in the moot arguments.
“I think every single person in the clinic helped me out on certain things,” said Carter. “It really was a full court press team effort.”
Carter and MacDonnell arrived at the courthouse early and were able to watch the judges hear another matter before Carter would take the podium. And although she was not without some nerves when the moment finally came to make her argument, Carter was able lean on her deep preparation, as well as her undergraduate training in theater.
“There were different skills that I was able to pull from my life prior to law school and combine with the tools I have learned at W&L Law in order to lock in and make a good argument,” said Carter. “And this is one of things I learned as a theater major — if you’re
(from page 3)
not nervous, it means you don’t care.”
The rest of the clinic members were back in Lexington, listening to live audio of Carter making her case for the client. Immediately afterwards, fellow clinic member Jordan Hicks ’24L sent an email to Dean Melanie Wilson praising Carter’s advocacy.
“I cannot overstate how great Haley’s performance was today. Her mastery of the record, understanding of the issues, and preparation for the argument were evident to us, the opposing counsel, and the Court,” wrote Hicks. “At the end of the arguments, the judges on the panel openly praised her performance — stating that she argued better than ‘many seasoned attorneys’ that have appeared before the Court, and that they hope to see her arguing before the 3rd Circuit again in the future.”
And while it normally takes some months before receiving a decision, the court ruled in favor of Carter’s client just a few weeks after her appearance. Carter went on to graduate magna cum laude on May 10 and also received the A. H. McLeod-Ross Malone Award for distinction in oral advocacy. She will join
100 nations. Based on her experience, she observes: “There is a consensus emerging regarding what responsible business conduct looks like — a strong consensus among stakeholders as to what they want companies to do to avoid committing human rights abuses.”
Parella takes particular pleasure in sharing her work with non-academics and especially in getting their feedback.
“The best thing someone can say to me, if they’re a practicing attorney or a businessperson, is, ‘You’re asking the exact questions we’re struggling with’,” said Parella. “I presented my research at a W&L alumni event not long ago and heard some of those comments. There’s nothing better for an academic than to be exploring something that is timely and impactful.”
In the classroom, Parella said her research informs her teaching in several ways. First, she wants her students to see the law as a problem-based profession and to avoid thinking in silos. She also wants their work to be deeply practical.
“For example, my first-year students in Contracts do at least one exercise in which they negotiate and draft a term sheet for a contract. And when we read a case, we ask how the lawyer and parties would have designed their contract differently if they’d know how terribly a deal would go?”
In the first four weeks of her course on corporate compliance, students gave presentations on how different companies adhered to the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
“They did a beautiful job of analysis. I could have walked them into a corporate boardroom and turned them loose,” she said.
Not only does her scholarship influence her teaching, said Parella, but the opposite happens as well. Two of her recent articles were based on an insight she gleaned while teaching Contracts. As she explained, something “just clicked” in the moment, and she saw the problem clearly.
One of those papers, “Protecting Third Parties in Contacts,” appeared in the American Business Journal where a footnote reads: “I am grateful to my 1L contracts and torts students for inspiring this project.”
“That’s a fairly typical case,” Parella said. “My students will often make comments that make me think about things differently, even if I don’t change my mind. The learning process goes in both directions.”
the litigation group at Munsch Hardt in Dallas for two years before assuming a judicial clerkship in a federal district court in Texas.
Carter recognizes that arguing a case in front of a federal appeals court was an incredible opportunity that not many law students get.
“I truly don’t think any of it would have been possible without Professor MacDonnell’s incredible support and encouragement,” said Carter. “He made himself available 24/7 and spent countless hours helping me craft and perfect the argument. His mentorship was absolutely invaluable.”
MacDonnell’s commitment and the support of other students have highlighted for Carter what is so special about the W&L community.
“Tons of different professors and students, helping or just reaching out with encouragement. And everybody just being excited that somebody gets this opportunity. Professor McDonald on the phone with me at 9:30 at night listening to me practice my oral argument. You just don’t see that kind of care and support anywhere else.”
‘Why Ordinary People Commit Terrible Acts’
Mark Drumbl’s Latest Research Focuses on Informers in Repressive Societies
Ever since he worked as a defense attorney in the genocide trials in Rwanda, Mark Drumbl has been intrigued by this question: What motivates ordinary people to participate in movements of mass atrocity?
Drumbl is Class of 1975 Alumni Professor of Law and director of the Transnational Law Institute at W&L Law. His initial interest in the question began when he encountered a group of New York City public defenders who had been seconded to Rwanda to represent accused perpetrators in the 1994 genocide.
At the time, Drumbl was taking a break from his work in Manhattan and Toronto as a lawyer in international arbitration and commercial law and was attending graduate program in law at Columbia University. The Rwanda-bound lawyers needed a French-speaking lawyer to join them. Drumbl, a Montreal native, chose to go and soon found himself defending women and men accused of terrible crimes in the massacres that killed more than 800,000 civilians.
Why, he wondered, did these otherwise meek and marginalized individuals who were at the bottom of the social hierarchy participate in gruesome acts of violence?
That question has animated Drumbl’s research and teaching for more than two decades. He’s published numerous papers on the Rwandan genocide and is the author of the 2007 book Atrocity, Punishment, and International Law (Cambridge University Press). He has explored other examples of individuals who occupy marginal roles in society and participate in terrible acts, including child soldiers whose lives he examined
Czechoslovak state). These four emotions are not mutually exclusive but each may be more or less influential at various moments.
“From our reading of the files, we found these emotions stood out in explaining why ordinary people do these terrible things. Unless we appreciate that this is the case, we will never be able to prevent this kind of violence or put in place effective mechanisms to bring justice and reconciliation after the fact,” Drumbl said.
After the fall of communism, many postcommunist governments opened their archives to
“By and large, these informers are meek, weak, marginal, insecure, anxious folks who are simply trying to get through to tomorrow. They get caught up in the machinery of the state, and they do it because of emotions.”
in a ground-breaking volume, Reimagining Child Soldiers in International Law and Policy (Oxford University Press, 2012).
Drumbl’s latest research focuses on informers in repressive societies — i.e., individuals who form the bulk of the state’s surveillance network. Using communist Czechoslovakia from 1945 to 1989 as a case study, Drumbl investigated the people who informed on their friends and neighbors for the secret police, known as the Státní bezpecnost (StB).
“The common thread between this work and my previous research is asking why and how ordinary people commit terrible acts,” Drumbl said. “And then what do you do about them afterward?”
With co-author Barbara Holá, a law professor from The Netherlands who was Frances Lewis Law Center Scholar-in-Residence in 2022, Drumbl published Informers Up Close: Stories from Communist Prague (Oxford University Press) earlier this year. Using secret police archives and oral histories, they seek to understand the informers’ motivations.
“By and large, these informers are meek, weak, marginal, insecure, anxious folks who are simply trying to get through to tomorrow,” said Drumbl. “They get caught up in the machinery of the state, and they do it because of emotions.”
Specifically, Drumbl identified four emotions as the driving factors: fear (of the state or of the “enemy”); resentment (getting even and settling scores); desire (getting things or getting ahead); and devotion (to the Communist ideology or the
the public. The Czech Republic’s parliament passed a law requiring full public disclosure of the more than 100,000 individuals who helped the StB build cases against supposed dissidents. The law was controversial because the informers often became pariahs when their role was made public.
“It’s easy to scapegoat informers,” Drumbl said. “After all, ‘snitches get stitches.’”
As Drumbl and Holá pored through files, they developed biographical narratives, or “file-stories,” that offer detailed portraits of informers. Six filestories are featured in this highly-acclaimed book and another 17 are in an online appendix. The narratives feature personal anecdotes and insights into the informers’ lives — from the time they were initially recruited by StB through evolving relationships over many years and often decades.
The StB often forced cooperation from informers by threatening to expose compromising information about them, but Drumbl said informers sometimes turned the tables on handlers and gained some control over the secret police as well.
“What we find really interesting is how informers, even though they’re marginalized in society, will bargain by saying, for instance, ‘I’ll talk about people in my workplace, but I won’t talk about my neighbors or my family.’ That’s one way they exert control,” Drumbl said. “It creates an interesting interplay between the agency of the informers and of the secret police.”
Drumbl also examined similarities between
informers working with the StB in communist Czechoslovakia and informers in liberal democratic states who help with police investigation. In both cases, Drumbl said, informers are essential for the state to maintain authority.
“Secrets are everywhere; informing is everywhere,” he said. “No movement, no political entity, no state, no corporation, nothing can exist without the information that is surreptitiously provided by informers.”
That includes individuals who call corporate hotlines to inform on neighbors or friends. Two examples Drumbl cited are COVID hotlines some cities created to report people disregarding mandatory lockdowns and the now-defunct website that had been created to report abortions in Texas in response to the Heartbeat Act.
“In both situations, data show most people reported on others not because they were committed to public health in the case of COVID, or to the Heartbeat Act, but because they wanted to settle a score. The motivations were emotional, not philosophical,” Drumbl said.
“The motivation to informing has some universalism, and that raises another question about how to separate good informing from bad informing — Fredo Corleone in the Godfather vs. Deep Throat in Watergate,” he said. “We have to be careful about how harshly we judge or value people when it comes to informing because it is often politically contingent.”
For Drumbl, the research, publishing and consulting he does on these issues are helpful to his teaching by ensuring that he stays current with practical applications. “Through the research and consulting, I share my experiences with clients with my students and remain on top of newer and cutting-edge developments,” he said.
In addition, the Transnational Law Institute offers W&L law students summer internship opportunities, many of which have come to fruition through the personal contacts Drumbl, and valued colleague Professor Speedy Rice, have made with lawyers at not-for-profit groups, firms, the United Nations, and officials within U.S. agencies. Drumbl has taught a mass atrocities seminar at W&L and was instrumental in developing the transnational law course that is required of all 1Ls.
“We treat international law no differently than we treat contracts, torts, property, criminal law and professional responsibility,” Drumbl has said. “It is central to our vision of how a lawyer of the 21st century needs to think.”
Be sure to check out this recent episode of Afterclass
Law Alumni Weekend 2024
More than 350 Washington and Lee law school alumni and guests returned for this year’s reunion celebration, held April 12-14 in Lexington. This was the second highest attendance on record since the law school began holding a separate alumni weekend in 2007.
DURING THE LAW ALUMNI ASSOCIATION annual meeting, Law Council President Corrine Hufft ’00L passed the gavel to Neil Millhiser ’11L, who will lead the association in the coming year. Afterwards, Dean Melanie Wilson announced the recipients of the Outstanding Alumnus/a Award, Volunteer of the Year Award and Young Volunteer of the Year Award.
The 2024 Outstanding Alumus/a Award was given to Bill Oast ’71, ’74L for exceptional achievements in his career and unselfish service to his community and his alma mater. Oast’s practice areas include elder law, trust and fiduciary litigation, guardianships and conservatorships, estate and trust administration, and estate planning. Among other associations, he is a member of the Virginia State Bar, the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, and the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association. In 2019 the Red Cross recognized Oast’s extraordinary service and dedication
with the Red Cross Celebration of Heroes Award. Oast has been giving blood since he enlisted in the National Guard in the late 1960s. Over the years, he has given blood twice a month in what is a four-hour process. To date he has donated 16 gallons of whole blood and 130 gallons of platelets and plasma.
The Volunteer of the Year Award was presented to Calvin Awkward ’06, ’09L. Awkward is a partner at Goldberg Segalla in Baltimore. Active in state and local bar associations, Calvin is also on the Construction Law Section Steering Committee of the Defense Research Institute (DRI) and is the committee’s online programming co-chair and diversity liaison. Awkward’s previously served as a member of the law school’s Young Alumni Board and Williams School of Commerce Young Alumni Council. He has served as a mentor for minority undergraduate students and serves as an alumni career mentor. Currently, Awk-
ward is a member of the Baltimore Alumni Chapter, Law Council, co-chair of the Law Annual Fund, class agent for the Class of 2009 Law, class agent for the Class of 2006, member of the Class of 2006 Reunion Committee and member of the Class of 2009 Law Reunion Committee.
The Young Volunteer of the Year Award was presented to Kathy McLaughlin ’19L. Since graduation, McLaughlin has served as a deputy state public defender working for the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender. McLaughlin also supervises new attorneys in her regional office. McLaughlin has been an outstanding partner for the Offices of Career Strategy and Law Admissions. She has participated in Zoom calls to recruit students and spoken with current students about public defense work and about how to maximize their time at W&L to prepare for a career in public interest.
1. Legal legacies visit Tucker Hall, the original home of the law school.
2. Law Council president Corrine Hufft ’00L passes the gavel to incoming president Neil Millhiser ’11L.
3. Young Volunteer of the Year Kathy McLaughlin ’19L with Dean Melanie Wilson.
4. Calvin Awkward ’06, ’09L was honored as Volunteer of the Year. 5. Bill Oast ’71, ’74L received the Outstanding Alumnus Award.
Members of the Class of 2004 enjoying the great weather. 7. Some of the more than 350 alumni and friends that returned for the weekend. 8. Laura Erdman ’14L and Tiffany Eisenbise ’14L catching up.
William Toles ’92, ’95L Named Fellow of American College of Trial Lawyers
Toles, a member of the W&L Board of Trustees, was recently named a fellow of one of the premier legal associations in North America.
William Toles, a 1992 graduate of the College and a 1995 graduate of the School of Law, was recently named a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, one of the premier legal associations in North America.
The College is an invitationonly fellowship of exceptional trial lawyers of diverse backgrounds from both the United States and Canada. Members are chosen though their demonstration of the very highest standards of trial advocacy, ethical conduct, integrity, professionalism, and collegiality. Membership in the College cannot exceed 1 percent of the total lawyer population of any state or province.
A member of the W&L Board of Trustees since 2016, Toles is a shareholder at Munsch Hardt in Dallas. He has successfully
tried more than 70 civil jury trials to verdict. In addition, his trial experience throughout Texas includes tort litigation, ranging from negligence and transportation matters to more complex premises
serving on the board from 2000 to 2009.
1971
Starline published “Wire Strike” by Jerry Roehl. The book is a fictional account of an actual trial, including the events that occurred before, during, and after the trial. While the accident upon which the trial is based was tragic, what developed afterwards was unexpected.
1975
Charlie Tomm retired as a trustee of Mayo Clinic after 10 years of service and is now an emeritus trustee. Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit medical center focused on healthcare, research and education, and is consistently ranked as the number one hospital in the U.S. He was chair of its Audit & Compliance Committee for nine years and was also a member of the Governance & Nominating, Finance & Investment and Business Development committees. Mayo has primary campuses in Rochester, Minn., Phoenix, Ariz., and Jacksonville, Fla., and has a hospital and health system in the upper Midwest. He is also an emeritus trustee of Washington and Lee,
1982
Dana Petersen Moore joined the mayor’s office in Baltimore as the senior adviser for rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
Effective Jan. 1, 2024, Eric Ward and his partners at Ward Greenberg will join Hodgson Russ’ Rochester, N.Y., office. As a litigator, Eric focuses his practice on business and intellectual property disputes.
1984
The Hon. Mary Miller Johnston retired from Superior Court of Delaware in Wilmington, Del. She will be serving as a mediator for Delaware ADR, LLC on a part-time basis.
1990
Kathy McLeroy received the Women Business and
liability, Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA), commercial and contractual dispute litigation. He has been selected by D Magazine as one of the “Best Lawyers in Dallas” since 2016.
Commercial Advocates Award from the Business and Corporate Litigation Committee of American Bar Association Business Law Section on April 4, 2024.
1991
Bill Geary joined IDEAHUB as executive vice president, Acquisition & Business Development.
1995
William Toles was inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers in March.
Stacy Gould Van Goor retired from Sempra Energy in San Diego, where she served as chief counsel-regulatory strategy.
1997
Courtney Camp Enloe joined Bio-Rad Laboratories in San Francisco as executive vice president, general counsel and secretary.
1998
Richard Smith joined Sidley in Washington, D.C., as partner with the litigation practice group.
00s
2000
On top of his thriving legal practice, Toles is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) National Executive Committee. He is also a member of the International Society of Barristers (ISOB). Memberships for ABOTA and ISOB are both by invitation only, and involve a rigorous screening process that takes into consideration each lawyer’s ability, experience, accomplishments and ethical standards as assessed by trial lawyers and judges.
In addition to his service on the W&L Board, Toles is a class agent for his law school class and a member of the advisory council for the Dallas alumni chapter. He is a former member of the Washington and Lee Alumni Board, former president of the Law Council, and former chair of the Washington and Lee Law Annual Fund.
Corinne Hufft joined Mr. Cooper in Dallas as senior vice president, head of litigation. Mr. Cooper is the largest, nonbank mortgage company in the country.
2003
Herman Hoying joined Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell LLP in Denver as Of Counsel. His practice focuses on high-stakes commercial litigation.
2004
Evan Sauda joined Baker Donelson in Charlotte as a shareholder. His practice focuses on business and commercial litigation
2005
Joe Dunn joined Covington and Burling in Los Angeles as a partner. His practice focuses on bankruptcy and restructuring.
Jared A. Hembree was appointed to fill a vacancy in
the New Mexico House of Representatives, District 59, by the Chaves County Commission.
Magali Langhorne joined Deloitte as managing director, U.S. Anti-Money Laundering and Sanctions Services.
Mitch Morris joined Smithfield Foods as associate general counsel—litigation.
Nathan Weinert joined Vulcan Materials Company in Birmingham, Ala., as attorney.
2006
Rakesh Gopalan joined Troutman Pepper in Charlotte as a partner to help anchor and grow its securities and technology practice.
Nathan Lebioda joined Chain Bridge Partners in Charlotte as general counsel and managing director.
Ashley Pearson joined Bringewatt, Wolter & Snover in Charlotte as a partner.
2008
W.W. Norton & Company published “The Truce: Progressives, Centrists, and the Future of the Democratic Party,” written by Luppe
William Toles ’92, ’95L
Luppen and co-author Hunter Walker. Luppe is a lawyer, reporter, and commentator who writes under the nickname @nycsouthpaw. His writing has appeared in many publications, including the Washington Post, Vanity Fair, Yahoo News, and his Pawprints newsletter on Substack.
George McCormick joined BakerHostetler in New York as a partner. He provides tax and trust planning advice for individuals, fiduciaries and business owners.
10s
2010
Patrick Chamberlain joined the chambers of the Hon. Bernadette T. Clark of the New York State Supreme Court as a principal law clerk.
2011
Kristen G. Zalenski was appointed chief deputy commonwealth’s attorney for Shenandoah County, Va., in January 2024.
Katie Abplanalp Brown joined FisherBroyles, LLP in Detroit as a partner. Her practice focuses on employment law.
2013
Emily Walters Baker joined family law firm Tucker PLLC in Washington, D.C., as a partner.
Stephen Holland joined Crowell & Moring in
Washington, D.C., as senior counsel in the Government Affairs Group.
Jessica Unger Tracy was named general counsel at Vimeo in New York.
2014
John Cleveland joined Sinclair Public Affairs as vice president, Business Development & Public Affairs.
Diana Defino was named partner with Jones Day in Pittsburgh. Her practice focuses on employee benefts and executive compensation.
David Hurst joined DLA Piper in Phoenix as an associate. His practice is concentrated in the areas of structured finance, securitization, and public company representation.
Thomas Short was promoted to partner with Jones Day in Atlanta. His practice focuses on financial markets.
2015
Thayer Ellis joined Faegre Drinker in Washington, D.C., as an associate.
Stephen Halpin was promoted to partner at Ford O’Brien Landy LLP in New York City. His practice focuses on securities litigation and investigations, complex commercial litigation, and white-collar criminal defense.
Stevi Frost Winer joined Block in Charlotte as global policy lead.
2016
Aria Allan joined Auburn University as assistant vice president for equal opportunity compliance.
Ashley Barendse joined Grenadier, Duffett, Levi, Winkler & Rubin in Sterling, Va., as an attorney.
Morgan Fiander joined Fried Frank in New York as a litigation associate.
Brian Livingston joined Southeast Space Institute in Charleston, S.C., as a Southeast Conservation Operations associate.
Kate Ryland joined Wharton Levin in Fairfax County.
2017
Stacey LaRiviere joined Sidley Austin in Washington, D.C., as an attorney.
2018
Mark Bonin joined Major League Baseball in New York as counsel.
Roland Hartung joined Winston & Strawn in Washington, D.C., as an associate.
Maria Rossi was named 2023 Outstanding Young Lawyer Award by the Westmoreland Bar Association in Westmoreland County, Pa.
Starleigh Smith opened SKS Legal, PLLC in Wenatchee, Washington. SKS Legal is a
boutique firm specializing in family law and landlord tenant issues.
Kari Still joined Johns Hopkins University Center for Gun Violence Solutions as a law and policy adviser.
2019
Maj. J. David Thompson began a Ph.D. at King’s College London, where he is researching the ethics of proxy warfare, earlier this year. He was recently selected for promotion to lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army. During his time at W&L, David primarily focused on international human rights and humanitarian law. He uses the education from W&L and experience in the Army as part of his philosophical research at King’s College London.
20s
2020
Jared Sammons joined Fluet in Washington, D.C., as a government contracts associate.
2021
Tomi Akinmola is serving as a law clerk for the Hon. Jamar K. Walker with the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Norfolk.
Alexander Moldauer joined Tenaglia & Hunt in Rockville, Md., as an associate.
Haley Doss Santos joined Harman Claytor Corrigan & Wellman in June of 2023 and focuses her practice on medical malpractice, products liability, and premises liability matters.
Thuan Tran joined the Office of the Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney as assistant commonwealth’s attorney.
2022
Jemma De Rogatis joined Troutman Pepper in Philadelphia as an associate in the Insurance + Reinsurance Group.
Destiny Kosloske joined Ashby & Geddes in Wilmington, Del., as an associate restructuring attorney.
Kylan Memminger joined Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton in Chicago as an associate.
WEDDINGS
Webb Cook ’87L to Gretchen Walden on Dec. 9, 2023, in Lancaster, Pa. W&L Law alumni in attendance included Edward Allen ’87L, Karen Freeman ’87L, Monique Kadner ’87L, and Mark Thornhill ’87L.
Alumni and Friends Endow Scholarship to Honor Long-time Staff Member
The gifts honor Elizabeth Outland Branner and her 25 years of service to the School of Law.
During the spring Law Council meeting and Reunion Weekend held April 12-14, Dean Melanie Wilson announced the creation of the Elizabeth Outland Branner Scholarship Endowment. Alumni and friends contributed over $125,000 to endow a student scholarship to honor Branner, who is retiring this year after
giving and the law school endowment. Beyond that, her reputation within the law alumni community contributed greatly to the success of the admissions and career offices.
As Dean Wilson said in her message announcing Elizabeth’s decision to retire, “she knows everyone, and they all love her.”
Ten lead donors formed the
“No one has meant more to the alumni connection to our law school than Elizabeth. This recognition has been earned many
times over. Her legacy will live on for generations.”
—Greg Stillman ’74L
a distinguished career overseeing fundraising and alumni engagement at the School of Law.
Branner joined the Law School in 1999 as assistant director of Law School Relations, and led the Law Advancement office since 2008 as the assistant dean for law school advancement. During her tenure, she oversaw significant growth in annual
endowment and were joined by several others who contributed to the scholarship fund. The toughest part was keeping the gift secret from Branner, who maintains a close eye on all law school business.
Among the lead donors was Greg Stillman ’74L, who first met Branner more than twenty years ago. “No one has meant more to the
Dean Melanie Wilson surprises Elizabeth Branner with an endowed scholarship to honor her service to the law school.
alumni connection to our law school than Elizabeth,” said Stillman. “This recognition has been earned many times over. Her legacy will live on for generations.”
Pam White ’77L, former W&L Trustee, recalled scrolling through hundreds of email exchanges from Branner over the years to gain a measure of her impact. “It becomes
apparent that Elizabeth has been the glue to keep many alumni wellconnected and well-informed about W&L Law’s challenges and successes,” said White.
Alumni and friends interested in contributing to the Elizabeth Outland Branner Scholarship Endowment should contact Sarah Hughes at shughes@wlu.edu or 540.458.8191.
William Toles ’92, ’95L to Wendy Parnell on Feb. 3, 2024, in Charleston, S.C. W&L alumni in attendance included Evan Beale ’92, Dana Bolden ’89, Courtney Penn ’92, Jon Harris ’92, Alexander Boone ’95L, Curtis Joseph ’93, ’96L, Matt Zamaloff ’92, Matt Gilman ’95, Ben Weinstein ’93, Kevin Fliess ’93, Hampton Nager ’95L, Nick Peters ’02, and David Stevens ’92.
Glenn Williams ’18L to Jesse Kurowski on March 16, 2024, at Wachesaw Golf and Country Club in Murrell’s Inlet, S.C. Pictured are (from left) Tyler Sanderson ’18L, Natalie Ecker ’18L, Dave Weaver ’81L, Mark Zhuang ’18L, Greg Funk ’18L, Jeff Edwards ’78, ’81L, Todd Hyde ’81L, Glenn Williams ’18L (groom), Jesse Kurowski (bride), Donna Williams (Glenn’s mother), Bill Milani ’81L, Brian Wagnor ’18L, Mark Williams ’81L (Glenn’s father), John File ’81L, Jesse Sharp ’20L, Hugh Brown ’19L, Lesesne Phillips ’18L, and Chris Losito ’18L.
Members of ’81L gathered in Murrell’s Inlet, S.C., for the wedding of Glenn Williams ’18L, son of their classmate Mark Williams. Pictured are (from left) Dave Weaver ’81L,
Jeff Edwards ’78, ’81L, Todd Hyde ’81L, Bill Milani ’81L, Mark Williams ’81L, and John File ’81L.
Daniele San Roman ’19L and Benton Morton ’19L were married on Dec. 11, 2022, in Key West, Fla. Andrew Mossman ’19L, Kelly Cunningham ’19L, Paige Elizabeth Avery ’19L and Brandon Koenig ’19L were in the wedding party.
DEATHS
Thomas O. Bagley ’51, ’53L of Fayetteville, Tenn., died April 12, 2024. He was a founding partner of the law firm Stevens, Bagley, and Stevens until his retirement in 2002. He served as Fayetteville city attorney for over 41 years, state representative 1959-1960, judge of Fayetteville’s Municipal Court, member and president of the Tennessee Bar Association, Fayetteville-Lincoln County Bar Association, and on numerous boards and committees over the years on both the local and state level.
William A. Strutz ’59L of Bismarck, N.D., passed away on Jan. 25, 2024. He attended Washington and Lee University and the University of North Dakota School of Law, earning his Juris Doctor degree in 1959.
Manley P. Caldwell Jr. ’58, ’60L of Palm Beach, Fla., died Dec. 23, 2023. He was a partner with the law firm Caldwell, Pacetti, Edwards, Schoech & Viator where his practice focused on estates and trusts. He also served as a JAG officer in the U.S. Army Reserves for 25 years. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Order of the Coif.
The Hon. Frank A. Hoss Jr. ’58, ’61L of Apex, N.C., died Dec. 19, 2023. He graduated with letters in four sports and an undergraduate degree in geology and his law degree from Washington and Lee’s School of Law. He dedicated 40 years of his life to public service and the pursuit of justice as an assistant commonwealth’s attorney, and later, appointed by the state to the Circuit Court bench in 1986. He retired from the bench in 2001.
Malcolm B. Burton ’60, ’63L of Manahawkin, N.J., died April 18, 2024. He enjoyed a 40-year career with Chubb and Son Inc. as a managing director and upon retirement at age 65, spent 12 years as an arbitrator. He was a member of the U.S. Supreme Court Bar, New Jersey Supreme Court, New Jersey District Court Bar, Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals and the Maryland Court of Appeals.
William B. McWilliams ’61, ’65L of Raleigh, N.C., died Feb. 23, 2024. After serving in Korea as captain in the U.S Army during the Vietnam War, he returned to begin his lifelong career in banking at Wachovia in Winston-Salem, where he met his wife Karen Ann Herndon, of Albemarle, N.C. He worked for several financial institutions, including Bank of Virginia, Bank of America and GE Capital, jobs that led him and his family to Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, and ultimately back to settle in North Carolina.
J. Holmes Morrison ’63, ’67L of Charleston, W.Va., died Dec. 4, 2023. After two years practicing law, he entered the banking profession at the suggestion of a family friend. This led to a long career in banking that culminated in serving as president and chief executive officer of One Valley Bancorp and subsequently as chairman and CEO of BB&T, WV, and member of the BB&T Corporation board.
Hugh J. M. Jones III ’69L of Lynchburg, Va., died Jan. 21, 2024. He served as a captain in the U.S. Army JAG Corps from 1969 to 1974. He moved back to Lynchburg in 1974 where he began the practice of law, eventually opening a solo practice that encompassed everything from criminal defense to real estate law. He retired from Jones, Johnston and White in 2023.
Sidney H. Kelsey Jr. ’71L of Virginia Beach died May 9, 2024. He joined his father, Sidney H. Kelsey Sr., in his Norfolk firm, Kelsey & Kelsey. Upon his father’s death in 1981, Sidney Jr. set up an independent practice to serve “average working folks” on cases of criminal, traffic, personal injury and workers’ compensation in Virginia Beach.
Clyde M. Henkel ’73L of Waynesboro, Va., died March 13, 2024. He served and retired from the U.S. Coast Guard in 1989.
Dennis Economides Gilchrist ’74L of Brevard, N.C., died Dec. 11, 2023. He graduated from W&L cum laude. He practiced law in South Carolina for a number of years.
Gerald F. Sharp ’79L of Lebanon, Va., died March 6, 2024. He took a job with the United Mine Workers of America in Castlewood, Va., representing miners who were injured on the job. After several years, he joined the firm of Browning, Moorefield, Lamie, and Sharp, representing injured workers and people seeking disability benefits. Later, he opened his own firm in Lebanon, where he worked until his retirement. He served on the board of directors for Southwest Virginia Legal Aid Society.
Brenda Dance Unti ’80L of Jacksonville, N.C., died Dec. 26, 2023. She practiced law on her own in Raleigh and Jacksonville, N.C.
Pat O’Hare ’82L of Charlottesville, Va., died Feb. 27, 2024. He served in the Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps for over 20 years and continued his career as a civilian at the JAG Legal Center and School in Charlottesville until his retirement in August of 2021.
G. Michael Pace ’84L of Salem, Va., died on Jan. 8, 2024. During his career, he practiced law at Gentry Locke in Roanoke, where he was managing partner, and served as general counsel for Roanoke College. He created the Virginia Law Foundation/ Virginia Bar Association Rule of Law Project, which was focused on partnering judges, lawyers and teachers with middle and high school students to teach them the importance of the rule of law as the basis of the rights and freedoms Americans enjoy so they will become active and engaged citizens as adults. Mike served as a law class agent, law firm liaison, and created and taught a practicum at the law school. In 2008 he received the Honorary Order of the Coif award.
Randy Wellford ’85L of Surfside Beach, S.C., died on Jan. 24. During his career, he practiced law with several firms in Virginia, including his own.
Gary “Frank” Gumataotao ’88L of Yona, Guam, died Jan. 26, 2024. Most recently he served as deputy attorney general in Guam’s Attorney General’s Office. He was a partner with Gumataotao & Pole for 35 years.
Kathleen Kelley ’00L of Falls Church, Va., died on Dec. 10, 2023. She practiced law at Been Kinney & Korman and Richards, Layton & Finger.
Discovery
A generous donor who wishes to remain anonymous has pledged $2.5 million to support student financial aid at Washington and Lee University School of Law. The donor will match every new dollar given or pledged for scholarships during the remainder of the university’s capital campaign, Leading Lives of Consequence.
The $2.5 Million Financial Aid Challenge will contribute to a goal of $20 million that the law school is seeking for financial aid as part of the Leading Lives of Consequence campaign. The anonymous donor will match dollar for dollar every new gift toward student scholarship endowments that the law school receives between October 2023 and the conclusion of the campaign on June 30, 2027.
Alumni and friends of W&L Law can establish their own scholarship with a minimum gift of $100,000 or contribute to one of the school’s existing scholarships. The law school currently has 127 named scholarships.
To learn more about the challenge or how to fund a scholarship, contact Sarah Hughes, assistant dean of Law School Advancement, at shughes@wlu.edu or 540-458-8191.
