W&L Law Discovery - Winter 2017

Discovery

Winter 2017 % Volume 3, No. 1

the newsletter from washington and lee university school of law

Q&A with ABA President Linda Klein ’83L What are your top priorities and initiatives for your term as ABA president?

Addressing the legal needs of our nation’s veterans is one of my top priorities. Veterans returning home after persistent combat exposure, redeployment and separations encounter a variety of legal problems, including evictions, child-custody disputes, wrongful denial of benefits and credit problems.

I may be the most recent Washington and Lee Law School graduate to become ABA president — but I’m certainly not the last.

—Linda Klein ’83L

More than 13 percent of our nation’s heroes live near or below the poverty line. Virginia veterans are a little better off than the national average, but nonetheless almost one of 20 veterans in Virginia lives below the poverty line. Virginia has been certified by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as the first state in the nation to functionally end homelessness. But the situation for homeless veterans is drastically different elsewhere in the country. Nationwide we have nearly 40,000 homeless veterans. In fact, the fastest-growing homeless population in American is women veterans.

Many people don’t know that half of the top-10 needs

that stand between homeless veterans and selfsufficiency are legal needs.

Lawyers can do so much good. Take Mathew, a disabled veteran wrongfully evicted from his rental home. A lawyer had his housing restored and won him a $120,000 judgment. Or Sara, a veteran with traumatic brain injury who was told by the VA that her 70 percent disability rating would be reduced to zero. Her legal clinic appealed, and Sara was rated 100 percent disabled, with monthly payments of more than $3,000 and $76,000 in back pay. The VA award allowed Sara to purchase her own home.

We want to see more positive outcomes like Mathew’s and Sara’s. So we have launched an ABA veterans’ initiative, a multipronged, holistic effort led by a distinguished 20-member commission headed

by Nanette DeRenzi, a retired three-star rear admiral, and Dwight Smith, a Tulsa, Oklahoma, attorney who has held several key leadership roles in the ABA. We have ambitious plans — employing medicallegal partnerships to pair VA facilities with lawyers to solve clients’ legal problems, and promoting veterans’ treatment courts and possible expansion to areas like debt collection and domestic relations. And we want to address the unique needs of female veterans and homeless veterans.

We are asking lawyers from around our nation to join in the veterans-specific pro bono activities in conjunction with our annual National Celebration of Pro Bono in October, which we extended this year to include Veterans Day. And also new this year, we’ll continued on next page

W&L Law alumni celebrate with Linda Klein—Nainesh Ramjee '09L, Todd Holvick '08L, Marie Trimble Holvick '08L, Dean Brant Hellwig, Howard Wall '83L, Klein, David Friedfeld '83L and Kevin Gray '82L.

be mobilizing state and local bar associations and other providers to sponsor veterans’ pro bono events in May, to provide a meaningful way to serve veterans around Memorial Day. Education is another one of my top initiatives.

I’m proud of all the ABA’s good works, but I’m particularly proud of our advocacy for children and our support for providing a quality education to all.

There is no pipeline of new lawyers if youngsters cannot get a primary education that prepares them for college. More than that, the rule of law depends on an educated citizenry.

As everyone at Washington and Lee knows, a good education is essential in this country — both for individual opportunity and for the well-being of our society. Yet it remains out of reach for many, especially children of low-income families, children of color, children with disabilities, children whose primary language is not English, children in foster care and homeless children.

During my presidential term, the ABA is promoting the right of every child to a highquality childhood education. We have established a six-member Education Commission, chaired by Reginald Turner, a longtime ABA member with a distinguished record of service to this nation and to our association.

My final initiative is aimed at helping lawyers, our members, grow their practice to be successful.

I spent much of this past year on a listening tour, asking lawyers what they need to better serve their clients. I learned that lawyers want to help our fellow citizens, but they can’t.

Lawyers, particularly solo practitioners and those in small firms, told me that the administrative burdens of running a law practice cut deeply into the time they have to do what they love — practicing law. During a listening tour stop in Denver, a solo lawyer told me: “I don’t have time to practice law, because I have to make time to send client bills and collect them and pay my own bills.” I heard stories like that all over the country.

So the ABA is going to help with what we are calling ABA Blueprint. This program will be a one-stop shop for members to get what they need — technology, time and billing software, insurance and other services — while saving far more than they pay in dues. We’re launching the program in the fall, and if anyone is interested, they can sign up for more information at abablueprint.com.

If you plan to become solo practitioner or join

Law Firm Giving Competition

a small firm — and I know that is the career path for many new law school graduates — I urge you to look into Operation Blueprint. It will be an invaluable aid to your practice.

What advice can you offer new lawyers on developing a practice and being happy in the profession?

My father once told me: “If you have a solid base and a strong plank, you can move anything.”

Once you’ve constructed a strong base and rocksolid plank of legal knowledge and commitment to the rule of law, you need to network and be prepared to outwork everybody. Make sure that you join your state or affinity bar association and, if you haven’t already, don’t forget about the free membership to the American Bar Association for law students, and our new premium membership offer.

Everything in life, and every job, is built on good relationships and connections, and there is no better connection that being part of the ABA, the world’s largest professional association.

and law) continue to support Washington and Lee at impressive rates. Below is the list of firms that reached 75 percent or greater participation in the Annual Fund (undergraduate or law). We thank the law firm liaisons who solicited gifts from their colleagues and thank all alumni for their generous support.

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You will be W&L Law’s seventh ABA president, which is the third most of any law school.

Why do you think a small school like W&L has had so many ABA presidents?

What specific advice can you give to women lawyers on being successful in the profession?

Because W&L produces outstanding lawyers and encourages leadership — both essential attributes for ABA presidents. It does this in so many ways — lots of one-on-one contact with professors, opportunities for mentoring and participating in discussions.

Although women lawyers still face significant headwinds, it’s easier today than in the past. And the ABA and other groups have worked hard to expand opportunities for women in the legal profession.

Because of this, the sense of fellowship and bonding with professionals and with each other is unique. Also, the School’s extensive network of alumni, and 81 alumni chapters in the U.S. and abroad, offers advice, networking and guidance.

Students are encouraged and trained to develop leadership skills.

I may be the most recent W&L Law graduate to become ABA president — but I’m certainly not the last.

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who at first couldn’t get a job at a law firm despite graduating from Stanford Law School, once offered advice that still holds true today: “Do the best you can in every task, no matter how unimportant it may seem at the time. No one learns more about a problem than the person at the bottom.”

I was the only woman in the law firm where I started and knew I had to succeed, or I would be the

FIRM

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LAW FIRM LIAISON

FIRM

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LAW FIRM LIAISON

Bass Berry

100% W. Brantley Phillips ’97L

Balch & Bingham

85% Michael Hastings ’93L

Christian & Barton LLP

100% David D. Redmond ’66, ’69L

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

85% Anne Yuengert ’89L

Jackson Walker LLP

100% Jeffrey M. Sone ’78

Alston & Bird

80% Blas P. Arroyo ’81L

Klinedinst PC

100% John D. Klinedinst ’71, ’78L

Hirschler Fleischer

80%

Miles Stockbridge

100% Tim Hodge ’90L

Holland & Knight

80% Greg Digel ’70, ’73L

Moore & Van Allen PLLC

100% Thomas L. Mitchell ’93L

Hunton & Williams LLP

80% James S. Seevers ’97L

Petty, Livingston, Dawson & Richards

100% Paul J. Feinman ’86L

Jackson Kelly

80%

Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson PA

100% Heyward H. Bouknight III ’04L

JonesDay

80% James C. Olson ’79L

Timberlake, Smith, Thomas & Moses

100% Ross Newell ’81, ’85L

Jones Walker

80% Edward B. Crosland Jr. ’66, ’70L

Burr & Forman

95% John C. Morrow ’85L

Reed Smith

80% Robert M. Dilling ’76L

McGuire Woods LLP

95% William C. Mayberry ’91L

Spilman, Thomas & Battle

80% Amy R. Condaras ’02L

Sidney Austin LLP

95% Michael P. Peck ’71

Weil, Gotschal & Manges

80% Lauren H. Helenek ’06L

Baker Botts

90% William H. Jeffress ’67

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Alumni (undergraduate

last. I took cases that other lawyers avoided, had some success by working harder and digging deeper.

The harder I worked, the luckier I got.

A greater focus on mentoring has been one of the most significant cultural developments in the legal profession. Law firms and lawyers have become more sensitive to the idea of bringing the next generation of lawyers along.

The ABA has many programs in which women help promote the success of other women. One tool helps women lawyers refer business to other women lawyers, helping them advance to the next level.

The Power of the Purse initiative advises in-house counsel on ways to use their economic influence to increase diversity on law firm teams and reform business-origination-credit and client-succession policies to make them fairer to women lawyers. It’s an enormous success. This and other resources for women are available on the ABA website, at ambar. org/CWPresources.

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Wiley Rein LLP

80% Bennett L. Ross ’83

Baker, Donelson, Beamer, Caldwell & Berkowitz 90%

Williams Mullen

80% Alexander B. Hock ’80, ’83L

Bryan Cave LLP

90% Clifford B. Stricklin ’91L

Elizabeth M. Horsley ’94L

Crenshaw Ware & Martin

90% Donald C. Schultz ’89L

Womble, Carlyle, Sandridge & Rice

80% Heather K. Mallard ’88L

Frost Brown Todd

90% Thomas P. O’Brien ’88, ’91L

Baker & McKenzie

75% Thomas J. Egan Jr. ’83L

Glenn, Feldmann Darby & Goodlatte

90% Paul G. Beers ’86L

Covington & Burling

75% Christopher D. Van Blarcum ’05L

K&L Gates LLP

90% Stuart B. Nibley ’75, ’79L

Dinsmore & Shohl

75% Monika J. Jaensson ’93L

Jason P. Walton ’01L

Frith, Anderson & Peake PC

75% Linda Frith ’82L

LeClair Ryan

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90% Tracy T. Hague ’97L

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Goodwin Procter LLP

75% Lauren T. Lebioda ’06L

John T. Jessee ’79L

Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd PA

75% Kellie Hill ’13L

Lightfoot, Franklin & White LLC

90% Lee M. Hollis ’86L

Huddleston Bolen LLP

75% Thomas J. Murray ’73, ’76L

Littler Mendelson PC

90% Dana S. Connell ’82L

Kirkland & Ellis LLP

75% Meg Campbell ’81L

Maynard, Cooper & Gale PC

90% Kathryn R. Eldridge ’03L

Ogletree Deakins

75%

Ober/Kaler

90% John A. Wolf ’69, ’72L

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

75% Peter A. Baumgaertner ’83, ’86L

Richards, Layton & Finger

90% Samuel A. Nolen ’79L

Troutman Sanders LLP

75% Steve Rosenthal ’71, ’76L

Whiteford, Taylor & Preston

90% Bradford Englander ’85L

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Career Paths Tyler Sanderson ’18L spent the summer working for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary in Washington, D.C., specifically the subcommittee on crime, terrorism, homeland security and investigations.

Having completed policy work in D.C. prior to law school, I knew that I wanted to get back to that arena my first summer after my 1L year. Fortunately, W&L is well connected in Washington, and I was able to take full advantage of those connections when applying to intern with the House Judiciary Committee. The chairman of the committee, Rep. Bob Goodlatte ’78L, is himself a Washington and Lee Law alumnus. A good friend of mine from a previous internship, who is also an alumna of the undergraduate university, was working in Rep. Goodlatte’s personal office on Capitol Hill at the time of my application. I sent her an email and she responded immediately, offering to contact the intern coordinator and put in a good word for me. W&L’s alumni network is truly phenomenal, and really helped me get my foot in the door with the Judiciary Committee.

As the only law clerk assigned to the crime subcommittee, much of my work focused on some of the nation’s larger stories and headlines that took place over the summer. The week after the horrific shooting at a gay night club in Orlando, I was tasked with continually updating subcommittee attorneys on the details surrounding the shooting and any information that came to light on the gunman. In response to the shooting, I had the opportunity to draft a number of legal memos, one of which was requested by the chairman of the judiciary and pertained to the constitutionality of deactivating radical jihadist websites with the goal of combating self-radicalization and lone-wolf terrorism. In addition, I also was tasked with researching and drafting legal memos on a number of different subject areas, including criminal justice reform, the constitutionality of prosecuting juveniles as adult offenders in cases of violent crime, and ongoing efforts to strengthen international law enforcement cooperation.

Lizzy Williams ’17L is copresident of the Women’s Law Students Organization, a Burks Scholar, a student attorney for the Criminal Justice Clinic, a lead articles editor on the German Law Journal and a research assistant for Professor Todd Peppers. After her 1L year, she worked in Frankfurt, Germany, at a German law firm. This past summer, she was a summer associate with Sullivan & Cromwell LLC, in New York City.

I mostly worked on litigation assignments, which I received through the formal assignment system, from my partner and associate advisors, and from lawyers that I met at networking events. This variety allowed me to work on a litigation project in most of the areas that S&C does litigation. I also took part in a wide range of projects within these fields, from researching, to drafting, to creating interview questions, to helping to organize facts. I was able to get a real sense of what kinds of projects are available to attorneys at S&C. This summer I ended up drawing on things I had learned in Contracts, American Political Law Process, Complex Litigation: Injunctions, Close Business Arrangements, Publicly Held Businesses, Evidence and even Constitutional Law (for my pro bono project).

I was a little nervous about what the people would be like, because there are so many negative stereotypes about BigLaw and NYC lawyers and firm life. I am so happy to say that, in my experience, those people are the

visit law.wlu.edu/career to learn more about recruiting law students for jobs and internships

exception and not the rule. I met so many wonderful people across every part of the firm: from partners to security. All of the lawyers loved their work, even when they wished for a few more hours of sleep. It was an intellectually stimulating world of people working hard.

After graduation in May, I will be returning to Sullivan & Cromwell’s New York City office, as a litigation associate.

Austin Woodside ’18L spent the summer working in Kathmandu, Nepal, for the International Legal Foundation, an organization focused on establishing public defender systems in countries emerging from conflict.

The Nepal branch was started in 2008, as Nepal was coming out of a civil war. Common problems that the judicial system faces in Nepal are the lack of representation, and more specifically the lack of effective counsel. This lack has led to enormously high conviction rates. The goal of ILF is to ensure that these individuals receive the representation that is necessary for a quality criminal judicial system.

My task was focused on creating a report to illustrate the negative effects that the earthquakes in Nepal had on the criminal judicial system. In 2015, Nepal had two earthquakes that killed over 9,000 people.

After the earthquakes, many of the prisons were severely damaged or entirely destroyed. This led to many of the prisoners being put into unsafe and extremely uncomfortable living conditions. Some prisoners even lacked access to basic necessities, such as drinking water.

The ILF, besides criminal defense, is interested in ensuring prisoner rights and is involved in litigation attempting to right these apparent wrongs. I examined the data that we had created and organized it into a written report. In this report, we integrated Nepal’s constitutional language along with international agreements that Nepal belongs to.

Bo Mahr ’17L spent the summer working for the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) in the Office of the General Counsel as a law clerk. At W&L Law, he serves as vice chair of the Moot Court Executive Board. He received partial funding for his internship from the A. Paul Knight Program in Conservation.

As a 1L interested in environmental law, I was told to talk to Cameron Tommey ’15L. Little did I know at the time, he had previously worked as a law clerk at the CEQ. He helped me pull my application together and served as a great resource during the interview process.

The CEQ is a part of the Executive Office of the President and helps coordinate and develop national environmental policies and initiatives. The Office of the General Counsel was a small team that included four

clerks, four attorneys and the general counsel.

Both the breadth and depth of the work done at the CEQ were impressive, and being a part of a small team meant that I was able to contribute from the start. From memos over public lands to briefings about renewable energy credits, I covered more ground in three months than I thought was possible. Overall, it was working with incredibly qualified individuals who cared deeply about the work that set this experience apart.

A good deal of my time was spent talking with experts in fields other than law. This meant that I had to come up to speed on the technical, economic and scientific side of the issue, while being able to frame the legal and regulatory implications in an easily digestible manner. At a place where few people are generalists, this became a key ability to have. The gravity of the issues we were trying to solve was something I won’t soon forget. To be able to be a small part of an administration that is tackling conservation and climate change with a renewed sense of importance was truly a great experience. This summer reminded me just how far we have to go in solving many environmental issues.

This experience served to reiterate the importance of working for an organization that is out there making a difference.

Kit Thomas ’18L spent her summer at the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center (LCAC), a nonprofit, trial-level, death-penalty organization located in New Orleans, Louisiana.

I learned about LCAC from Professor Jon Shapiro. I essentially went to Professor Shapiro’s office to introduce myself and to let him know about my interest in death penalty work, but I left with contact information for his daughter, who is an attorney for LCAC in its Shreveport office.

I spoke on the phone with Meghan Shapiro about my motivations and interest in the death penalty, and at the end of the conversation she offered me a summer position.

I was assigned to a federal habeas death penalty case and a project that required me to organize and orchestrate an in-house training on a particularized method of voir dire used by capital defense attorneys.

With regard to my case, I was assigned numerous legal research tasks, including finding requirements to prove ineffective assistance of counsel for failure to mitigate and fees for Freedom of Information Act requests. I also had the opportunity to participate in a client welfare project, which allowed me to find, purchase and ship items to our clients at Louisiana’s state penitentiary (Angola). Additionally, I was able to travel to Angola to visit a number of clients and to discuss their cases.

I gained a better understanding of how to craft a legal question and what to look for when trying to answer that question. Although courses during law school can help to prepare you for what is expected of you during a job, nothing teaches you better than being thrown a question and spending hours poring over case law to try to figure out an answer. Coming away from my time at LCAC, I feel more confident and competent with regard to my ability to conduct legal research and come to a succinct conclusion.

We Can Use Your Help!

Almost 80 percent of the Class of 2016L have already found jobs or are enrolled in full-time LLM or other graduate programs. For those graduates who are still seeking, you can help.

Keep an eye out for an email from Elizabeth Branner. We will be sending out profiles of these recent graduates to alumni in the cities where

these graduates are looking to start their careers.

If your firm, company or organization has an opening, please consider hiring one of these recent graduates. Otherwise, if you know of openings elsewhere or can help a recent graduate make a connection that would further his or her job search, please contact the recent graduate, or Cliff Jarrett at jarrettc@wlu.edu.

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Gail Deady ’11L Lands Dream Job and Landmark Case

As the Secular Society Women’s Rights Legal Fellow for the ACLU of Virginia, Deady works on issues related to gender equality, reproductive rights and LGBT discrimination.

G

ail Deady ’11L came to law school to fight for civil liberties and gender equality. Little did she know that five years after graduation, one of her cases would be heading to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Deady, a legal fellow at the ACLU of Virginia, is one of the attorneys representing Gavin Grimm, the Virginia high school student at the center of a dispute over bathrooms and transgender rights. The high court added the case to its docket in October, and it is likely to be one of the most anticipated decisions of the current term.

While at W&L Law, Deady pursued practice experiences that allowed her to advocate for issues affecting women. She interned with Rappahannock Legal Aid her 1L summer and spent her 2L summer and her 3L externship with the Central Virginia Legal Society, handling a range of family law and domestic abuses matters.

However, like most of her classmates graduating at the height of the legal recession, Deady had trouble finding opportunities for legal aid fellowships or postgrad clerkships. Luckily, her small-section professor from her first year was able to connect Deady with an alum at a midsize firm in Richmond, which ultimately led to a job offer with the litigation group at McCandlish Holton.

In all, Deady spent three-and-a-half years at the firm doing mostly tort defense, starting with small-scale bench trials in district court and moving up to bigger cases in federal court. She also kept up an active pro bono practice focused on women’s rights law, and when an opportunity to join the ACLU of Virginia opened up in early 2015, she jumped.

“To do women’s rights work for the ACLU was like a dream come true,” said Deady.

As the Secular Society Women’s Rights Legal Fellow, she works on issues related to gender equality, reproductive rights and LGBT discrimination. In addition to case work, Deady lobbies for legislative change and is also authoring a white paper exploring why women represent the the fastest-growing prison population in Virginia and the nation.

The headline-making Grimm case was waiting on Deady’s desk the day she started her new job.

“To do women's rights work for the ACLU was like a dream come true.”

—Gail Deady ’11L

“At the time, I don’t think anyone realized how far the case would go,” said Deady, whose role in the case in similar to that of a second chair at trial. She does most of the work on the ground in Virginia, gathering information and helping draft briefs for the hearings in federal court. Oral arguments are handled by litigators in the ACLU’s New York office, most notably Joshua Block, who is a senior staff attorney at the ACLU Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Project.

In December 2014, the school board of Gloucester County adopted a bathroom policy requiring students use bathrooms corresponding with their biological sex. A motion for preliminary injunction filed by the ACLU was denied in district court, but that decision was overturned in August 2016 following a hearing by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Deady had just begun the discovery process when the U.S. Supreme Court decided to take the case, following a petition from the school board. Oral argument will likely take place in March 2017.

“It’s really been a crash course in appellate practice and procedure for me,” Deady said, noting the speed with which the case has moved through the judicial system. “For a case to advance this far in less than two years and to be able to experience all those stages is pretty unique.”

Deady says working with the seasoned attorneys from the ACLU as they prepared for argument in the Fourth Circuit was a great learning experience and helped tremendously as she prepared for oral argument in another case before the Virginia Supreme Court earlier this year.

In Luttrell v. Cucco, Deady represented an ex-husband who was suing to have his spousal support agreement modified since his ex-wife was cohabitating with someone — in this case, another woman. A circuit court had concluded that only opposite-sex couples can cohabit in a relationship analogous to marriage, as determined by Virginia statute, and so Luttrell had no grounds to change the support agreement.

“It was actually a pretty typical ACLU case,” explained Deady. “We weren’t representing the group that is most often discriminated against, but we were pointing out the inequality of the situation.”

Deady won the case with a 7-0 decision.

Deady’s ACLU fellowship will last three years, after which she hopes to continue working on women’s rights and LGBT issues.

“It is humbling and such a privilege to be able to do this kind of work,” she said. “You get to do something that makes a real difference in people’s lives, and that’s not something every lawyer gets to experience.”

Shawn Boyer’s Mission: Help People Live Happier Lives

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n 2005, Shawn Boyer ’97L, the founder of Snagajob.com, decided he needed to make some changes to his worklife equation.

“I was 4½ years into Snagajob and had reached a point where my life was totally off balance,” he said. “Work was basically all I did. So I started to be more intentional about planning to do things in other areas of my life. For the next 10 years, until I stepped down from Snagajob, I made room for other activities.”

He discovered that his resolution involved making notes in a Google doc, transferring that to his calendar, and then emailing the people he wanted to spend time with.

“It was very clunky,” he said. “I did some research to see whether there was a tool I could use to do all of that for me, but nothing really fit.”

While talking to others, he noted that while everyone said spending time with family and friends was a high priority, few were actually devoting the effort to achieve that goal.

“The research shows that what makes people truly happy is the quality of their relations,” he said.

In 2015, Boyer, with a team of seven, set out to develop an app that would help users focus on shaping and capturing positive experiences. Their result, DieHappy.com, a year 4

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in the making, just made its public début in the Apple store, with an Android version in the works. The app enables users to form groups and share information only among that group, typically 10 to 40 people.

As well as a picture-sharing feature, a group-scheduling function makes it easier to plan events. The app also includes a wish list and can alert users to upcoming birthdays or other milestone events.

“It fills a void that is out there now, from a social media perspective, in terms of people wanting to be private but also be intentional,” Boyer said. “Not everyone wants to share everything on Facebook, but they do want to share parts of their lives with a smaller group of people.”

Boyer, a big believer in living life to the fullest, has a couple of his own favorite DieHappy moments — an RV trip out West with his family and his 10th wedding-anniversary trip to Sonoma, California, for great wine and food.

The quote Shawn Boyer ’97L (right) lives by: “One day you will wake up and there won’t be any more time to do the things you’ve always wanted.”

—Paulo Coelho

On her final day of class, Professor Margaret Howard receives a standing ovation.

Professor Margaret Howard Retires Margaret Howard, the Law Alumni Association Professor of Law, concluded her nearly 40-year teaching career at the end of the Fall 2016 term.

“In recognition of her contributions to the field, Margaret received the inaugural Jean Braucher Memorial Award from the American Bankruptcy Institute in 2015. Countless students have benefited from her dedication to legal writing instruction in our hallmark small sections and enjoyed fellowship, fine dining and conversation at her home.”

—Dean Brant Hellwig

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“Though Margaret has often shied from the limelight, she is one of our most distinguished scholars and teachers,” said Dean Brant Hellwig. “In recognition of her contributions to the field, Margaret received the inaugural Jean Braucher Memorial Award from the American Bankruptcy Institute in 2015. Countless students have benefited from her dedication to legal writing instruction in our hallmark small sections and enjoyed fellowship, fine dining and conversation at her home.”

Howard received her undergraduate degree from Duke University. She attended Washington University, focusing on a master’s in social work. But after taking family law and welfare law, two classes she believed would provide important grounding for a career as a social worker, she ended up earning a J.D. from Washington University, as well as her master’s in social work.

She also earned an LL.M. from Yale Law School.

She began practicing law at Lewis and Rice, a general corporate firm, in St. Louis before joining the faculty at St. Louis University School of Law and then the faculty at the Vanderbilt University School of Law. Howard’s colleague Doug Rendleman noted, “When Margaret joined Washington and Lee, she was one of the leading experts on bankruptcy. Her publications are the best evidence of her steady effort and pre-eminence. Her law school casebook, ‘Bankruptcy: Cases and Materials,’ on bankruptcy and classic bankruptcy scholarship, is now in its sixth edition. Her review of ‘The Fragile Middle Class’ in the Bankruptcy Developments Journal in 2001 is excellent; I thought it was one of the best reviews I have ever read. And I

am not the only fan of her publications — her article ‘Shifting Risk and Blame: The Vexing Problem of Credit Card Obligations in Bankruptcy’ was selected for The American Bankruptcy Law Journal Editors’ Prize. Each of her publications is infused with the ethical sense that has strengthened all her professional endeavors.”

Howard’s stature in the law school world has been reflected in her visiting positions at Emory University School of Law, the University of North Carolina School of Law, Duke University School of Law, the University of Alabama Law School as the Charles E. Tweedy Jr. Visiting Professor, and Harvard Law School as the Bruce W. Nichols Visiting Professor of Law. Professor Sally Wiant ’73L noted, “Margaret left Vanderbilt when she thought that it was losing the values of education she held dear. The values of community and civility and commitment to students drew her to Washington and Lee University. She has committed herself to turning students into the best lawyers they can be. In class she is demanding, in her substantive classes as well as in her small section writing classes.

She has been known to annotate papers with such phrases as ‘You are in love with passive voice — fall out of love.’ As a follow-up she would comment, ‘Still in love, I see.’ At the same time she is encouraging and caring.”

At W&L, Howard taught Bankruptcy, Secured Transactions, Contracts and Legal Writing; published “Bankruptcy Overview: Issues, Law and Policy” and “Cases and Materials on Bankruptcy,” and was the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Scholar in Residence in 2002. She also published law review articles, with a particular focus on the 2005 amendments to the Bankruptcy Code.

In 2013, she led a major empirical study for the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI). The project focused on individual filers for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Howard was named to the ABI’s board of directors in 2006. In 2009 she began a three-year term as vice president, executive committee member and chair of the Research Grants Committee.

W&L Negotiations Team Wins Regionals, Headed to National Championships

he Washington and Lee School of Law team of Thomas Griffin ’18L and Stephen Edwards ’18L will compete at the American Bar Association’s National Negotiations Competition, to be held in Chicago in February.

The ABA-sponsored competition begins each fall with school-based competitions, followed by regional tournaments. The competition tests students’ practical legal skills by emphasizing teamwork and the ability to solve disputes in a negotiation, pre-trial setting.

Griffin and Edwards secured an invitation to Nationals following a first-place finish at the regional competition, held in Baltimore. At regionals, they topped 25 teams across three rounds of negotiations.

At the national competition, the W&L team will

face off against teams from law schools spread across the ABA’s 10 student-division regions.

During the negotiations competitions, teams of students acting as lawyers for opposing parties received confidential information about how they can best represent their clients’ interests. The teams work together in a limited time frame to find a compromise that is acceptable to both of their clients.

Negotiation is one of several ABA-sponsored competitions that help students develop the kind of practice skills they will employ as professional attorneys. Other competitions include appellate advocacy, mock trial, mediation and client counseling.

For more information about Moot Court at Washington and Lee Law School, please visit law.wlu. edu/mootcourt.

The W&L Law Team of Thomas Griffin ’18L and Stephen Edwards ’18L will compete at the ABA National Negotiations Competition in February.

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facult y accomp l i s hm e n ts DAVID BALUARTE participated in the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) consultation on statelessness in Geneva, Switzerland this June. In October, he spoke at Yale University at an event on migration and statelessness organized by the Global Justice Program. Baluarte participated in an experts meeting convened by UNHCR D.C. in November, where he assisted in the development of a manual for immigration practitioners representing stateless persons in the U.S. Also in November, he taught a CLE for the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s D.C chapter on advanced issues in asylum law.

CHRISTOPHER BRUNER spent a week in September as a visiting professor at the Southwest University of Political Science and Law (SWUPL) in Chongqing, China, where he gave two lectures based on his first book, “Corporate Governance in the Common-Law World: The Political Foundations of Shareholder Power” (Cambridge University Press, 2013). A Chinese edition of the book, translated by Lin Shaowei of SWUPL’s Civil and Commercial Law School, recently appeared in print (Cambridge University Press and Law Press China, 2016). Bruner’s second book, “Re-Imagining Offshore Finance: Market-Dominant Small Jurisdictions in a Globalizing Financial World,” was published by Oxford University Press in November (see below). Also forthcoming are two invited book chapters on corporate law topics for edited volumes from Cambridge University Press and Edward Elgar.

MARK DRUMBL began a new project on the relationship between film and international criminal justice, which he presented at the London School of Economics in September. He traveled to Australia that same month, where he taught a course at Monash University in Melbourne and also gave a faculty workshop at Griffith University in Brisbane.

He lectured on the ability of international criminal tribunals to deter atrocity in Nuremberg, Germany, and The Hague, Netherlands. He delivered talks at Warwick and Leeds in the U.K., Laval University in Canada, and Pace University in the U.S., and traveled to Austria and the Czech Republic to develop new initiatives for W&L students. Closer to home, he spoke on the relationship between the Nuremberg Principles and Germany’s relationship with migrants to the W&L Institute for Honor.

BRANT HELLWIG is coauthor of two forthcoming textbooks on tax law. Both published by Foundation Press, the casebooks are titled “Fundamentals of Partnership Taxation” and “Fundamentals of Business Enterprise Taxation.”

LYMAN JOHNSON gave a paper on corporate law fiduciary duties at Duke Law School in June and a paper on corporate law and the history of corporate responsibility at the University of St. Thomas Law School in November. He delivered the keynote address during the W&L Law Review symposium on corporate law and purpose. In addition, Johnson consulted on two litigation matters.

TIM MACDONNELL published two articles this fall.

“When More is Less: SWAT and Procedural Justice,” in the W&L Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice, examines the increased deployment of SWAT teams and discusses how the overuse of SWAT units is harmful to procedural justice and the public’s perception of police legitimacy. In “The Rhetoric of the Fourth Amendment: Toward a More Persuasive Amendment,” published in the Washington and Lee Law Review, MacDonnell conducts a rhetorical analysis of Fourth Amendment jurisprudence to determine why court opinions in this area have been unconvincing to scholars and jurists.

DAVID MILLON delivered a keynote lecture titled “Looking Back, Looking Forward: Personal Reflections on a Scholarly Career” at the W&L Law Review symposium on corporate law and purpose.

BRIAN MURCHISON was the guest of the Federal Bar Association in Roanoke and delivered a lecture on the 2015-16 U.S. Supreme Court term, “Institutions under the Microscope.” At the 24th Annual Alumni College Weekend on Law and Literature, focusing on Shakespeare’s King Lear, his lecture was “Lear’s Advisors and Counsellors.”

KISH PARELLA’s forthcoming scholarship includes “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. Her work in progress, “Reputational Regulation,” was selected for presentation at conferences and workshops hosted at Georgetown University Law Center and the University of Oxford, among others.

Small Jurisdictions in Cross-Border Finance

T

he 2016 release of the so-called Panama Papers detailing the financial holdings of numerous politicians and affluent individuals from around the world, and news accounts of companies reducing their tax liabilities through foreign subsidiaries, have shone a bright light on the mysterious world of offshore finance. Trillions of dollars are now held outside New York, London and other major-market financial centers, and a handful of small jurisdictions have accordingly become major players in cross-border corporate and financial services.

Professor Christopher Bruner explores how these offshore financial markets emerged and rose to prominence. His new book, “Re-Imagining Offshore Finance: Market-Dominant Small Jurisdictions in a Globalizing Financial World,” is now available from Oxford University Press.

The secrecy and opacity associated with these small jurisdictions have led critics to claim that they profit solely by facilitating money laundering and tax evasion. Others respond, however, that such jurisdictions offer real and legitimate benefits, including specialized expertise and increased competition, as well as financial and regulatory innovations.

Given the controversy, Bruner noted the time is ripe for a thorough analysis of these growing markets.

“The nature, legal status and market roles of small jurisdictions remain under6

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VICTORIA SAHANI presented her forthcoming Tulane Law Review article, “Reshaping Third-Party Funding,” at the 10th Anniversary Lutie Lytle Black Women Law Faculty Writing Workshop at the University of Iowa College of Law. She presented her newest work in progress, “Governing Third-Party Funders,” at the Dennis J. Block Center for the Study of International Business Law 2016 Scholars Roundtable at Brooklyn Law School. In December, she presented her subcommittee’s report on arbitrator conflicts of interest during the London meeting of the Task Force on Third-Party Funding in International Arbitration. She is also working on the second edition of her co-authored book, “Third-Party Funding in International Arbitration” (Wolters Kluwer, 2012), and completing two chapters for books that will be published by Cambridge University Press and Brill Nijhoff Publishers. In early 2017, she will join the editorial board of the Journal of Legal Education, published by the American Association of Law Schools and the Executive Council of the American Society of International Law. DOUG RENDLEMAN published two articles, “Foreclosure of a Deed of Trust in Virginia,” in the University of Richmond Law Review, and “The Triumph of Equity Revisited: The Stages of Equitable Discretion,” in the Nevada Law Journal.

He also authored an amicus brief with other restitution and remedies scholars in support of the respondent in Spokeo v. Robins.

CHRIS SEAMAN published an empirical study of permanent injunctions in patent litigation after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in eBay v. MercExchange, in the Iowa Law Review. His forthcoming article on permanent injunction decisions at the Federal Circuit after eBay (with co-author Ryan T. Holte) won the Young Legal Scholars Paper Competition for the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies. Seaman participated in the initial meeting of the International Patent Remedies for Complex Products (INPRECOM) project at King’s College London in October. INPRECOM is a group of international patent law scholars who are drafting a series of white papers regarding the harmonization of patent remedies. He also moderated a panel at the University of Virginia School of Law on issues and potential reforms to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

A new book by Professor Christopher Bruner explores how offshore financial markets emerged and rose to prominence.

theorized,” said Bruner. “Lacking a sufficiently nuanced framework to describe their functions in cross-border finance — and the peculiar strengths of those achieving global dominance in the marketplace — it remains impossible to evaluate their impacts in a comprehensive manner.”

In the book, Bruner advances a new conceptual framework to refine the analysis and proposes a new concept that better captures the characteristics, competitive strategies and market roles of those achieving global dominance in the marketplace — the marketdominant small jurisdiction (MDSJ). Bruner’s account focuses on the central features giving rise to the MDSJs’ strengths — some reflecting historical, cultural and geographic circumstances, while others reflect development strategies responding to those circumstances — and emphasizes their striking ability to bridge major-market economies and financial centers.

Through this lens, Bruner evaluates a range of small jurisdictions that have achieved global dominance in specialized areas of crossborder finance, including Bermuda, Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Switzerland and Delaware.

“The MDSJs’ significance will likely continue to grow,” concluded Bruner, “as will the need for a more effective means of theorizing their roles in cross-border finance and the global dynamics generated by their ascendance.”

2003L

Class Notes 1971L

Nicholas Bonarrigo joined Kansas City Power and Light as corporate counsel.

H. William Walker (’68) became the interim rector of St.

Andrew G. Phillips is working as corporate counsel, litiga-

Philip’s Episcopal Church, in Brevard, North Carolina, in May 2016. He remains senior counsel with the law firm of Alvarez Arrieta & Diaz-Silveira LLP, in Miami, Florida, and associate rector of St. Thomas Episcopal Parish in Coral Gables.

tion, for Auto Plus Auto Parts and lives in Atlanta.

2004L

Allison H. McJunkin was named a 2016 Woman on a Mis-

1976L

sion by Union Mission Ministries, to recognize and celebrate local community members who consistently dedicate their time, resources, talents and hearts to help others. She is the executive director of Education Elevators in Charleston, West Virginia, and lives in Denver.

Robert J. Grey Jr. was honored by the American Bar

Association Forum on Construction Law for his commitment to diversity and inclusion. Grey served as ABA president in 2004–05 and is president of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity. He lives in Richmond.

1979L

2006L

Sherry Teborg-Galloway Fox has been named a Leader in

Susan Hamilton Churuti retired from the Bryant Miller

Olive law firm, where she specialized in local government and public finance law, but remains active in her family business, Beach Drive Retail. She lives in St. Petersburg, Florida.

1981L

Marcus A. Brinks (’78) was sworn in as the new general

district court judge for Virginia’s 21st Judicial District on June 24, 2016. Before his election by the General Assembly, he served as chief deputy commonwealth’s attorney for Patrick County. He served in the Army Reserve as a member of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps, retiring with the rank of colonel. Brinks lives in Patrick Springs, Virginia.

1982L

James L. Chapman IV, a senior partner with Crenshaw,

Ware & Martin PLC, was elected to serve as rector of the Virginia Tech board of visitors. He lives in Norfolk, Virginia.

Nathan H. Smith was recognized by 2016 Chambers

USA directory for his work as a partner in the corporate mergers and acquisitions practice group at Bernstein Shur. He lives in Kealakeua, Hawaii.

1983L

C. Jay Robbins IV opened his own law firm, C. Jay Robbins IV PC, specializing in business law in the Richmond area.

1985L

Robert W. Ray became a partner at Thompson & Knight P.C. in New York City.

1986L

James Lance is a founding partner of NoonanLance. He

represents both plaintiffs and defendants in complex commercial cases, with a focus on real estate disputes. He lives in San Diego.

1989L

Brian Manning is the new director of the Appomattox

Regional Library System, serving the city of Hopewell, town of McKenny, Prince George County and Dinwiddie County.

Manning lives in Hopewell, Virginia.

1990L

Elizabeth Doyle Teare was appointed county attorney for

On June 30, 2016, Richard Sandy ’89L (left) was sworn in as an associate judge for the Circuit Court for Frederick County, Maryland. John H. Tisdale '74L, a retired associate judge for the Circuit Court for Frederick County, Maryland, attended his investiture.

the Law in Virginia Lawyers Weekly. She has been an attorney with Thompson McMullan since 2006 and represents constitutional officers, businesses, adoptive families, adoption agencies, employers and insurance companies. She lives in Mechanicsville, Virginia.

2007L

Sarah Davis Sparling joined Parsons McEntire McCleary & Clark PLLC, in Dallas, as an associate.

1996L

T. Adam Gregory joined BB&T Insurance Services Inc. in

June 2016. He is working in Richmond as underwriting counsel and assistant vice president.

Amanda Shaw joined the Office of General Counsel at the

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Roanoke as an attorney.

1998L

Scott DeMartino joined Dentons as partner in its Wash-

ington, D.C., office. He specializes in real estate transaction structuring with rehabilitation, new markets and renewable energy tax credits. Before joining the firm, he was a partner at Blank Rome LLP.

1999L

2008L

Lisa St. Martin Hedrick was included on the list of Up &

Coming Lawyers by Virginia Lawyers Weekly. She counsels clients in complex matters dealing with mergers and acquisitions, capital raising, private equity, business formation and general business law. She is an active member of Hirschler Fleischer’s Women’s Initiatives Network and co-chair of the firm’s recruiting committee. She lives in Richmond.

2009L

Christopher Lauderman (’06) joined Carson Ryan LLC in Roswell, New Mexico.

Michael J. Lombardino became an associate with Jackson Lewis PC in October 2016. He lives and works in Houston.

Srikanth Vadakapurapu is associate director at the law

Kelly Horan Florio (’96) is an assistant attorney for the Civil Rights Unit at the U.S. Department of Justice, District of New Jersey. She works in the civil rights unit and lives in Brooklyn.

Andrew J. Gottman moved to a position as senior director

of Chico’s FAS Inc. in July 2016. He now lives and works in Fort Myers, Florida.

2001L

Phylissa D. Mitchell is content stewardship librarian at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville,Virginia.

2002L

Russell J. Rigby is director, post grant proceedings, at Intel-

lectual Ventures. The position has moved him and his family to Bellevue, Washington, near Seattle.

Tobi Bromfield Wiseman is working as corporate counsel

practice SKP Business Consulting LLP, in Pune, India.

2010L

Elizabeth E. Clarke (’05) is working as a freelance attor-

ney and has started her own calligraphy and design company, redclaypaper.com. She lives in Mexico City with her husband, who is in a finance leadership program for Siemens, but will be moving in February 2017 to a yet-to-be-determined location.

The Hon. Christopher R. Riano was appointed an administrative judge for the state of New York. He is the youngest judge in the state. He lives and works in New York City.

2011L

Anthony J. Glover was appointed director of the Florida Di-

vision of Pari-Mutuel Wagering, which regulates casinos, horse racing, greyhound racing and jai alai games in the Sunshine State.

and director of compliance for Flatirons Capital Management LLC in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Fairfax County, Virginia.

1992L

Elizabeth Ewert is associate dean of students at the George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C.

Joseph S. Zasa has written a book with his managing partner, “Developing and Managing Ambulatory Surgery Centers.” He lives in Dallas.

1993L

Brentton Wolfingbarger is the CMS payment error rate

management project director at Chickasaw Nation Industries Inc. He lives in Charles Town, West Virginia.

1995L

Kelly A. Cameron is a managing partner at Perkins Coie’s Boise, Idaho, office.

John A. Trocki III became deputy general counsel and

director of litigation at Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority in October 2016. He lives in Lansdowne, Virginia, with his family, and works in Washington, D.C.

Left to right: Judge Mark P. Ciarrocca '85L, his law clerk Elizabeth Farrell '15L, his law intern Devin White '18L and his college intern Micaela Owens '19L, who started at W&L Law this past fall.

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Margaret Hannapel Ogden has taken a new position as the staff attorney for the Pennsylvania Interbranch Commission on Gender, Racial and Ethnic Fairness, based in Pittsburgh.

Kasey M. Oliver has accepted a position with Sony Pictures

Television as director of business affairs, where she’ll be working on behalf of Sony’s international TV networks to acquire content. She lives in Manhattan Beach, California.

2012L

John H. Scully (’09) joined Brumback & Langley LLC as an associate. He lives in Greenville, South Carolina.

Rudolph J. Burshnic II joined Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP as an associate. He lives in Hillsborough, New Jersey.

Sarah J. Choi was promoted to assistant general counsel at

New York Life Insurance Co. She lives and works in New York City.

Lauren N. Keefe has been an associate with Krooth & Alt-

Weddings

Jasmine D. Brooks ’15L to Ryan C. Redd ’15L in Mem-

Raleigh, North Carolina, on Sept. 4, 2016.

phis, Tennessee, on Aug. 6, 2016. They were joined by classmates Chad Cormier, Nigel Wheeler, Gretchen Cleevely, Jordan Cherry and Regan Loper. Jasmine works for Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma, and Ryan is a captain in the Army JAG.

James D. Laukkonen ’08L to Holly Scott in Jackson Hole,

Rory T. Gray ’04, ’07L to Lea Preston on May 14,

Laura A. Iheanachor ’15L to Imani D. Hutty ’15L in

man since September 2012. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia, and works in Washington, D.C.

Joy Y. Lee was named associate counsel for Americans for Prosperity. She lives in Arlington, Virginia, and works in Washington, D.C.

Todd A. Levy joined CuraLeaf LLC as chief compliance officer and corporate counsel, in Simsbury, Connecticut.

2013L

Luther R. Ashworth II moved to Sidley Austin LLP, in Los Angeles. He lives there with his wife, Jen.

2014L

Maigreade Burrus joined Bailey & Glasser LLP as an

associate. She was formerly with Shuman, McCuskey & Slicer PLLC. She lives in Charleston, West Virginia.

Gregory A. Crapanzano II is a judicial law clerk for the

Wyoming, on July 22, 2016. From l. to r.: Ben Byrd ’08L, Tia Byrd, Ada Byrd, Mac Byrd, the groom, the bride, Ryan Gardner ’08L, Will Gardner, Helena Gardner ’05L.

2016, in Lawrenceville, Georgia. Groomsmen included David A. Greene ’07L, Kort D.L. Peterson ’07L and Aaron A. Wilson ’07L.

Eastern District of Virginia. He lives in Richmond.

Emily A. Feenstra joined Crabtree and Rahmsdorff defense

services as deputy public defender, specializing in misdemeanors. She lives in Bend, Oregon.

Ellen Marks is an attorney with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, in Long Beach, California.

Jillian F. Nyhof moved to Australia to start a new job at

Gilbert + Tobin. She is excited to join her fiancé in Sydney.

2015L

Stephen R. Halpin III became an associate at Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP. He lives and works in Washington, D.C.

Mingyang Liu became an associate in the Beijing Global Law Office in Beijing, China.

Astrika E. Wilhelm became assistant general counsel for

Chinenye Dorris Okafor ’13L to Nnamdi Dike on Aug. 13, 2016. She works with Intrepid USA Healthcare Services in Dallas. The couple live in Lewisville, Texas, with their daughter, Breanna.

Annalisa Stanton ’14L to Evan M. Feinman ’10L, on Aug. 27, 2016, in Lee Chapel, Lexington.

ERP Compliant Fuels. She lives and works in the Roanoke area.

2016L

J. Zachary Balasko is law clerk to the Hon. Paul M. Black, a

C. Quinn Adams joined Hunton & Williams LLP as an associate on the products liability and mass tort litigation team.

He lives and works in Richmond.

Yasin G. Amba became an assistant public defender in the law offices of Robert Wesley, public defender, Ninth Circuit.

He lives and works in Orlando, Florida.

Pete Straub '61, '64L decked out in his W&L gear for National College Colors Day on Sept. 2, 2016.

U.S. bankruptcy judge for the western district of Virginia. He lives in Roanoke.

Julian F. Harf is an associate attorney with Guynn & Waddell PC. He lives in Roanoke.

Eric Santos is an associate with Catania, Mahon, Milligram & Rider PLLC in Lexington.

Births and Adoptions

Christopher D. Van Blarcum ’05L and his wife, Anna

Marie, a son, Bennett David, in March 2016. Chris joined PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Washington National Tax Services practice in the mergers and acquisitions group. The family live in Alexandria, Virginia.

Charles R. Yates III ’06, ’10L and Lane Morgan Yates ’07, a daughter, Morgan Malone, on April 18, 2016. The family live in Atlanta.

Obituaries

Hendricks C. Alford Jr. ’39, ’39L, of Pensacola, Florida, died on Sept. 12, 2014.

8

W&L

Law

Discovery

Edwin S. Pickett ’46, ’49L, of Charleston, South Carolina, died on Feb. 8, 2016. He belonged to Pi Kappa Phi.

John S. Bailey Jr. ’51L, of Pinehurst, North Carolina, died

on Aug. 12, 2016. He served in the Army during World War II. He began his law practice in New York City and then moved to Parkersburg, West Virginia, where he formed Early, Bailey and Pfalzgraff. He was a brother of William Bailey ’55 and belonged to Alpha Tau Omega.

Donald L. Litton ’50, ’52L, of McLean, Virginia, died on

Sept. 11, 2016. He served in World War II and received the Noel Davis trophy for the best helicopter squadron in the Navy. He also served in the International Division of Civil Aeronautics, where he successfully negotiated aeronautics treaties with countries all over the world. He belonged to Phi Kappa Psi.

The Hon. James P. Brice ’54L, of Roanoke, died on Sept.

15, 2016. He served the Merchant Marines on an oil tanker in the North Atlantic during World War II. He later joined the Army and became a Japanese translator and interrogator. His later career spanned private practice, the VA, the U.S. District Attorney’s Office and the Roanoke General District Court, where he served as a judge for 20 years.

Edward E. Ellis ’52, ’56L, of New Smyrna Beach, Florida,

died on Aug. 15, 2016. He served in the Air Force. He practiced with the New York law firm of Davis, Polk, and Wardwell, and was general counsel for Kentucky Fried Chicken and Holiday Inns Inc. He belonged to Kappa Alpha.

Celebrating admission to the bar of the Supreme Court.

Front row l. to r.: Susan Gray Winstead '79L, Professor J.D. King, George Ragland '68L, Dean Brant Hellwig and Joan Gardner '80L. Second row, l. to r.: Lauren Fisher White '10L, Ellen Gray Owen '85L, Josh Payne '08L, Jonathan Robbins '06L and Mary-Caitlin Ray '09, '12L. Back row, l. to r.: Scott Ford '90L, Brian Richardson '02L, Aaron Wieczorek '10L, John Sullivan '81L and Mitchell Morris '05L.

Jason B. Sowell Jr. ’54, ’56L, of Dallas, died on Oct. 11,

2016. He served in the Navy. He practiced law for 50 years and belonged to Kappa Sigma.

Edward Bell Jr. ’60, ’62L, of Fort Myers, Florida, died on

July 9, 2016. He worked for IBM and for the Lane Co., of Altavista, Virginia. In retirement he began a financial planning company, Cornerstone Financial, in Fort Myers. He belonged to Phi Kappa Psi and was the father of Gretchen Bell McThenia ’89.

Perry E. Mann ’49, ’62L, of Hinton, West Virginia, died

on Sept. 19, 2016. He served overseas as a radio operator in World War II. He taught French, English and social studies in Covington and other Virginia towns. After earning his law degree, he opened a private practice. He was a devoted Democrat and environmentalist, publishing essays on politics, religion, ecology and country living and two books of essays.

Leonard Sargeant III ’63L, of Williamsburg, Virginia, died

law firm established by his grandfather, father and uncle. He belonged to Delta Upsilon.

Douglas C. Arthur ’67L, of Strasburg, Virginia, died on Aug 25, 2016. He served in the Army during Vietnam. He had a law practice in Strasburg.

C. Alton Phillips ’68L, of Flora, Mississippi, died on July

30, 2016. He served in the Air Force and was a partner at Watkins, Ludlam, Winter and Stennis. He later practiced real estate law and had his own firm. He belonged to Sigma Nu.

Lt. Col. Thaddeus E. Mendenhall III ’69L, of Ches-

apeake, Virginia, died on Aug. 8, 2016. He served in the Army National Guard and was clerk of the juvenile court in Henrico County and later site commander at the State Military Reservation at Camp Pendleton.

Grady C. Frank Jr. ’75L, of Alexandria, Virginia, died

died on Nov. 28, 2011. He belonged to Kappa Sigma.

on July 9, 2016. He served in the Army. He practiced law with Boothe Prichard & Dudley, Reed Smith, LeClair Ryan, Troutman Sanders, and Kaplan, Voekler, Cunningham & Frank. He was a past president of the Alexandria Bar Association. He belonged to Sigma Alpha Epsilon and was the father of Grady Frank III ’00.

Herbert P. Sapp Jr. ’62, ’65L, of Panama City, Florida, died

Irving C. MacDonald ’76L, of Wayzata, Minnesota, died

on Sept. 17, 2016. He served in the Army Corps of Engineers.

He worked as an attorney with the Charleston Group Companies of The Columbia Gas System Inc.

Herbert A. Taylor III ’63L, of Middletown, Rhode Island,

on July 11, 2016. He served in the Army. He practiced in the

on May 22, 2016.

Robert B. Dickert ’84L, of Bristol, Virginia, died

on June 12, 2016. He practiced in the office of Bristol lawyer and commonwealth attorney George M. Warren Jr., was assistant commonwealth attorney, and ran his private practice in Bristol.

Matthew J. Pappas ’88L, of Birmingham, Alabama,

died on July 8, 2016. He worked for Senator Howell Heflin after law school and then spent his career with the U.S. government as a patent and trademark attorney.

Fay Wilson Hobbs ’97L, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama,

died on Oct. 15, 2016. She was an advocate for those in need and served her community through programs such as Big Brothers Big Sisters. She is survived by her husband, Steven Hobbs, former W&L professor of law.

Robert D. Mason Jr. ’00L, of Clemmons, North

Carolina, died on June 6, 2016. He was a partner in Womble, Carlyle, Sandridge and Rice.

S. Mark Joyce ’02L, of Spring, Texas, died on July 10,

2016. He was a computer programmer for Philadelphia Life and Houston Lighting & Power.

John R. Syllaios ’09L, of Dallas, died on May 19, 2016.

He worked in the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office.

The Law Annual Fund reminds me of a stage manager — we may be only peripherally aware of it, but it fundamentally impacts the quality of our educational experience at W&L. At W&L, I have had classes with faculty who take time to answer my questions, welcome me into their offices and connect me with opportunities that are uniquely tailored to my interests and background. They’re able to be superlative at what they do because of the faculty support provided by the Law Annual Fund.

The Law Annual Fund may not seem sensational, but it has contributed considerably to making my positive experience at W&L possible. Because of the Law Annual Fund, we can focus on building relationships with professors and peers and on maximizing our learning.

Your support of the Law Annual Fund helps to make W&L’s high-quality legal education possible.

Thank you, Jess Winn ’17L

Support the Law Annual Fund • www.law.wlu.edu/give

Winter

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Linda Klein, new ABA president, pg. 1

Negotiations team wins, pg. 5

New header to come, pg. 2 Professor Howard retires, pg. 5 Supreme Court bar admission, pg. 9

Discovery

the newsletter from washington and lee university school of law law.wlu.edu

Washington and Lee University School of Law 204 W. Washington Street Lexington, VA 24450-2116

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Washington and Lee University

wa s h i n g t o n a n d l e e u n i v e r s i t y s c h o o l o f l aw

ALUMNI WEEKEND a p r i l 7 - 9 , 2 0 1 7 • # w l l aw 2 0 1 7

During Alumni Weekend 2017,

you will have a chance to renew friendships with classmates and professors and to create some new ones.

There is much to see.

The exciting construction projects around campus are positioning the Law School as a focal point of university life. Likewise, the spectacular renovations in Lewis Hall, including expanded group study space and an additional reading room, have reinvigorated our collaborative approach to legal education and the community it fosters.

So come on home.

I hope you will join us.

Visit law.wlu.edu/alumni-and-giving/alumni-weekend to review the complete schedule. Questions? Contact Suzanne Wade at (540) 458-8996 or swade@wlu.edu.