W&L Law Discovery - Winter 2025

THE DEAN’S PERSPECTIVE

What’s Next for W&L Law

Melanie Wilson, Dean and Roy J. Steinheimer, Jr., Professor of Law, is now in year three of her deanship. In the Q&A below, Dean Wilson looks back on the school’s progress and shares her priorities for the future.

As you reach the midway point of your third year as dean, what accomplishments are you most proud of?

I am proud of the outstanding people we’ve attracted to this wonderful place. In this regard, I think about the students who have enrolled here. I’m proud that we continue to attract students who are incredibly talented. During the past three years, we’ve enrolled the most highly credentialed students in the history of the law school, as well as the most diverse group of students in our history. At the same time, we’ve hired more than a dozen exceptional faculty, including nationally known scholars and rising academic stars. These students, who will become alumni before we can blink, and these extraordinary faculty will continue to guarantee excellence at W&L Law for decades to come. Together with our impressive staff, they will also ensure that we continue to foster the close-knit, supportive community we inherited.

What have been the most and least surprising aspects of your tenure as dean?

I continue to be amazed at the beauty of this region and Lexington. I continue to be impressed with the loyalty of our alumni and our entire community. Our staff and our faculty are so dedicated to the law school and to each other. I continue to be amazed by their deep commitment every day.

I also continue to be surprised by just how collegial the faculty are and how focused on the students they are. That’s not a slogan. I heard this during my interview for the position of dean, but it’s more true than I imagined. I see that dedication to the students every day. It’s a nice surprise.

I’m not surprised, though, at how this law school continues to focus on practical and experiential education. That’s something that I knew about long before I arrived on campus. For well over a decade, W&L Law has been synonymous with smart, practical legal preparation, and that continues to be a focus and strength of W&L Law.

Can you share a story that, for you, encapsulates the spirit of W&L Law?

One event comes to mind immediately. We host a “50 Days to Graduation” gathering for the 3L students. As part of that, many of the students address their colleagues to recount a special moment or express appreciation for a faculty member or a fellow student.

During the event, a student recounted gratitude for two classmates. He worked a job overnight at a local hotel. This was a student who needed to work to support himself financially. Every Friday, as he was working the late shift and no one was around, his two classmates would bring him a late meal and spend about an hour with him. His peers supported him in a way that was thoughtful and tailored to his needs. It was really touching, and it captured this sense of community and support that I see every day in the classroom and throughout the building—faculty for students and students for other students. I could

In fact, I think it’s fair to say that the W&L Law community is unique.

What’s one thing you want alumni to know about W&L Law today or about legal education in general?

We have a number of new academic programs for students because we are intent on providing every law student with the tools needed to succeed. In other words, we continue to adapt and to innovate. But we enjoy and maintain the same commitment to honor and integrity that our alumni experienced 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago. So, as we continue to pursue excellence and to foster our community, that core commitment and those core values remain intertwined and beneath everything we do. I’d like the alumni to come back to campus, see for themselves all of the progress we are making, meet some of our exceptional students, faculty, and staff, and know that they can be very proud of what has changed and what continues today.

What are your priorities going forward?

I am so excited about the positive momentum of the law school, with student credentials and employment rates at all-time highs. We’re going to continue to focus intently on raising money for student scholarships. We are fortunate to have a commitment from a generous anonymous donor who is matching up to $2.5 million dollar-for-dollar new philanthropy pledged to scholarships. That generosity is going to make a difference to the students who choose W&L

Law because every dollar in scholarships reduces student debt and allows students to pursue law jobs that they really want and came to law school to pursue. Many such positions are in the public sector. I’m also really excited about collaborating with the university on housing opportunities for law students. Housing has been an ongoing challenge for us at times. There’s on-campus university housing for most of the undergraduate students, of course, but none for law students. Occasionally, we lose an outstanding prospective student because they are unable to find suitable housing, and another law school in a larger city can easily accommodate them. The university has agreed to work with us to develop additional housing options for professional students, which will allow us to continue to attract and enroll the very best students from across the country and beyond. I’m excited about that and appreciative of the university’s support.

We will also continue to focus on the full W&L Law experience. That means devoting resources to academic excellence that we’ve expanded in the past two and a half years, emphasizing student wellness, and making sure students receive the guidance they need to become ethical, capable lawyers. We will continue to grow funding to support our intensive Immersion experiential program and to ensure that every student who needs funding to travel for a position in a judge’s chambers or a public service opportunity, or who cannot afford a commercial bar preparation course can afford those necessities. These are my three primary priorities at this time. That last one fits nicely under the umbrella of wellness for our community, and that’s something that we all continue to prioritize.

describe a number of similar instances of kindness and caring. This community is special in this way.

Joan Shaughnessy, Roger D. Groot Professor of Law

In a career that spanned nearly 40 years, Professor Shaughnessy inspired and mentored a generation of future lawyers and scholars.

Joan Marie “Shaun” Shaughnessy, a legendary teacher and trusted colleague at Washington and Lee University School of Law, died on Sunday, Nov. 24, in Fredericksburg, Virginia. She was 71.

“Professor Shaughnessy’s legacy includes thousands of brilliant and accomplished alumni who benefited from her intellect, encouragement, rigor and kindness. Her positive influence on her students, colleagues, friends and community is incalculable. We will all sorely miss her,” said Melanie D. Wilson, Dean and Roy L. Steinheimer, Jr., Professor of Law.

Born June 7, 1953, in South Bend, Indiana, Professor Shaughnessy spent most of her childhood in Chicago as the oldest of eight children, surrounded by a large extended family. She went on to receive her bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the State University of New York at Binghamton and earned her J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, where she was associate editor of the law review and member of the Order of the Coif.

Professor Shaughnessy joined W&L Law in 1983 after beginning her legal career as an associate at Cleary Gottlieb Stein and Hamilton LLP, and spent

“Professor Shaughnessy’s legacy includes thousands of brilliant and accomplished alumni who benefited from her intellect, encouragement, rigor and kindness. Her positive influence on her students, colleagues, friends and community is incalculable. We will all sorely miss her.”

–Melanie D. Wilson, Dean and Roy L. Steinheimer, Jr., Professor of Law

the entirety of her storied academic career at the university. From the beginning, she distinguished herself as an outstanding classroom teacher. She taught a formidable range of courses, including Civil Procedure, Federal Courts, Complex Litigation, Evidence and Jurisprudence. She also spent many years teaching Legal Writing, spending untold hours with new law students as they encountered the challenges of legal analysis for the first time. She published a number of scholarly writings, covering complex issues across a number of areas, including personal jurisprudence and parental rights, as well as legal issues arising from poverty and child neglect. She also played an active role in the Shepherd Program, opening her seminars to undergraduates and law students alike.

“Professor Shaughnessy was a role model for students and also for her junior colleagues — an exceptional teacher, a true scholar and a community member whose impact reached all corners of our university and well beyond,” said Wilson.

Through her role in the classroom and in her personal time, Professor Shaughnessy influenced a whole generation of W&L students to become ethical and socially responsible attorneys. She generously supported the writings of her colleagues and students, reviewing countless manuscripts and working closely with authors to develop and shape their ideas. Whenever a colleague or visiting scholar presented a work in progress, Professor Shaughnessy’s helpful questions and participation were invaluable to the ultimate success of the project. Through all these efforts, she greatly contributed to the intellectual life of the law school.

“Shaun gave her all to this school,” said Brian

(continued next page)

Alumni Remember Professor Shaughnessy

Upon learning of Professor Shaughnessy’s passing, hundreds of alumni shared memories of her impact via email and across social media. Below are some of these tributes.

Professor Shaughnessy helped me to learn how to think like a lawyer. She had great impact on my professional life and career. On top of that, she was a super kind person who truly cared about her students. So glad I got a chance to learn from her and know her. She will be missed.

— Brian Jackson ’91L

Any student who encountered Professor Shaughnessy in the classroom knew that while she may have spoken with a little voice, she had a huge intellect. She pushed students in class to be rigorous in their analysis of the case materials she assigned and we are all better lawyers for it. My favorite classroom memory is the way she would begin discussions of a new case. She would always say - in her unmistakable, high-pitched voice - “Mr. So & So (usually Mr. Titus), what happened in the real world to bring this case to court?” In other words, “can you please set out the facts” so we can have a thoughtful discussion of the legal questions presented by the case. She was a legend, and I will miss her.

— Sandy Hooper ’97, ’03L

Once upon a time, an internet quiz called “Which rule of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are you?” made its rounds amongst first years. We convinced Professor Shaughnessy to take it. With glee and a twinkle in her eye, she proudly announced her results — “Rule 11, Sanctions!” She was as tough and fair as she was soft spoken and kind. I’m proud to have been a part of her legacy of teaching students.

— Allison Jetton ’06L

She was the absolute best professor I have ever known and is singularly responsible for my hanging in there in my first semester of law school when I felt like I may have made the wrong choice. She always had a smile and a joy about her that made you feel like it was all going to be worth it, and it was. She always had time for her students.

— Danielle Carter ’05L

She was very good at pushing us to think thoroughly in a demanding yet supportive manner. I’m still proud of the one time I spotted a jurisdictional issue and she said that was a great question. A nugget of praise that I warmly remember 20 years later.

— Katie Suttle Weinert ’05L

Hard to put into words how sad this news is. Professor Shaughnessy taught my first and favorite law school class. Civil Procedure — a potentially dry topic in the wrong hands. But not in hers. With inimitable charm and wit, she made every class entertaining. She was kind but tough, brilliant yet effortlessly funny. And she challenged us to think deeply and critically about the law, often through her notoriously incisive cold-calls. On a personal level, Professor Shaughnessy was especially supportive of me and my career; she offered invaluable comments on my Law Review note (written on a civil procedure topic she inspired) and recommended me for judicial clerkships. Her impact on me was so profound that, during my third year, two my classmates and I spent an embarrassing amount of money at the PAD auction just for a batch of her homemade cookies. They were delicious, but the real highlight was just catching up with her at the law school when she brought in the cookies for us. Professor Shaughnessy truly was, and still is, the best of Washington and Lee. Our community will forever be in her debt.”

— Matt Kaminer ’18, ’22L

Murchison, Charles S. Rowe Professor of Law. “Her goal was to help students achieve their full potential, and she helped her colleagues in that mission as well. We all benefited from her honesty and humor, her compassion and understanding. W&L was a richer place with her presence. I speak for many when I say we will never forget her.”

Professor Shaughnessy also contributed to faculty governance by serving in numerous leadership capacities, including for several years as associate dean for Academic Affairs. Her colleagues elected her to multiple terms as a member of the President’s Advisory Committee and as a faculty representative to the Board of Trustees. She chaired several committees, including the Appointments Committee and the Curriculum Committee and

also served multiple times on search committees for the School of Law’s dean.

Beyond the halls of the law school, Professor Shaughnessy served on the university’s LongRange Planning Committee, the Confidential Review Committee, the Dean of the College Search Committee, the Dean of Students Search Committee and the Steering Committee for SACS Reaccreditation. Beyond Washington and Lee, she served as chair of the Association of American Law Schools Section on Children and the Law and as secretary of the Virginia Bar Section on the Education of Lawyers.

In recognition of her many contributions, Professor Shaughnessy received numerous awards and honors. For the 2003-2004 school year, she

Reflections on a Colleague

was honored with the John W. Elrod Law Alumni Association Fellow in Teaching Excellence. In 2012, she was named the inaugural holder of the Roger D. Groot Chair, exemplifying Professor Groot’s own values of honesty and diligence in the service of legal reform. In 2017, Professor Shaughnessy received honorary membership in Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Society.

Professor Shaughnessy concluded her teaching career in 2023 after nearly 40 years. In a tribute prepared at the time of her retirement, her longtime colleague, Mary Natkin ’85L, professor of law emerita, said, “I don’t think you can name a big thing the university has done that Shaun hasn’t had a role in. She cared about the job. She cared about her students. She is kind of the soul of the place.”

After she retired, Professor Shaughnessy split her time between Lexington and New York City. In her obituary, her family noted that as a fan of opera, museums, theater and ballet, she took full advantage of all New York had to offer. She joined St. Bart’s Episcopal Church, where she was a member of the Usher’s Guild.

Shaughnessy was predeceased by her parents, godchild M.C. (Mary Catherine) Shaughnessy and brother-in-law Gregory Duchane. She is survived by her siblings Ann DuChane of Fredericksburg, Virginia, Catherine (John) Brennan of Okemos, Michigan, Monica (William) Henderson of Baltimore, Edward (Tricia) Shaughnessy of San Antonio, John (Barbara) Shaughnessy of Barrington, Rhode Island, Lawrence (Linda) Shaughnessy of Germantown, Maryland, and Vincent Shaughnessy of Baltimore, as well as many nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.

Services will be held in New York and Lexington in 2025. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Professor Shaughnessy’s memory to the Rockbridge Area Relief Association, the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank or a food bank near you.

The following tribute by Professor Brian Murchison was published in the Washington and Lee Law Review upon Professor Shaughnessy’s retirement.

Professor Joan Shaughnessy arrived in Lexington in the summer of 1983. It was an electric moment: Roy Steinheimer was the charismatic law school dean, riding herd (to the extent possible) on such faculty giants as Rick Kirgis, Roger Groot, Joe Ulrich, Lash LaRue, Sally Wiant, and Uncas McThenia. The Frances Lewis Law Center (the law school’s research arm) was a hotbed of ideas about law reform; a new curriculum was under construction; the student body was smart, funny, and engaged; and suddenly there was this brilliant lawyer named Shaughnessy, arriving direct from a top New York law firm and undaunted by any of the challenges presented by Lexington or Lewis Hall. Over time, it became clear that she was one of the all-time greats of a distinguished group of teacherscholars.

It’s hard to capture in words the scope and depth of Professor Shaughnessy’s fabled career. In four decades, she nurtured countless students, whether in the intricate art of legal writing or the mastery of courses as daunting as Civil Procedure and Federal Courts. She was tough, demanding, funny, and fair. There were always students walking through her doorway: some in search of guidance for their first legal memo, others seeking a Note topic, still more simply needing encouragement, humor and calm amidst the trials of law school. One Note writer (Lucy Dempsey ’21L) spoke for many in expressing “deepest gratitude to Professor Joan Shaughnessy for her superb edits, patient conversations, and knack for asking questions that forced me to rethink everything.” How many others, looking back now, can see quite clearly how

they grew from her concern for them, and matured from the respectful way she engaged with them and taught her courses? Her mentoring was a constant element of a long career.

Professor Shaughnessy’s colleagues benefited just as much. Her comments on our draft articles were incisive, and her work as associate dean for academic affairs helped solve many issues of governance, large and small. She advocated for programs and policies designed to make W&L a more inviting and inclusive place. She was the faculty’s conscience and institutional memory. In addition, she played an active role for many years

in W&L’s Shepherd Poverty Program, whether in teaching courses like Poverty Law and Child Abuse and Neglect, or interviewing students for summer placements. As Fran Elrod, the Shepherd Program’s associate director, stated, Professor Shaughnessy was a “consistent, necessary, and deeply appreciated” member of the Shepherd team.

For me, Joan Shaughnessy embodied the aspirations of the university’s mission statement: to develop the students’ “capacity to think freely, critically, and humanely.” As she retires, we can only thank her for bringing out the best in us and the institution. Her legacy is permanent.

MEMORIAL RECEPTION

Joan

“Shaun”

Shaughnessy Roger D. Groot Professor of Law Emerita

SATURDAY, APRIL 5, 2025 3–4 P.M.

WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW

LIBRARY — MAIN READING ROOM

Why W&L Law

First-year law students discuss why they chose W&L.

ALLY ORR

Hometown: Warren, Ohio

Undergraduate Institution: Charleston Southern

W&L Law was an easy choice for me because of how natural it felt just to be in the town, on the campus, and in the law school. Everyone is so friendly and supportive no matter where I go. W&L Law concentrates on each and every individual and it showed in my interactions with current students and alumni.

TYLER SHOWALTER

Hometown: Harrisonburg, Virginia

Undergraduate Institution: James Madison University

I have always loved this part of Virginia and that is partly what drew me to W&L. I feel like I will really enjoy life in Lexington over the next few years. I have also heard great things about the community of people at W&L and all the alumni I have spoken with have been very encouraging.

BRAXTON BERRY

Hometown: Richmond, Virginia

Undergraduate Institution: Washington College

I chose W&L Law because it embodies the dynamic learning environment I’m looking for, one that fosters diverse opinions and empowers me to affirm my own. I’m drawn to how W&L seamlessly blends theoretical knowledge with practical approaches. The fact that it’s in my home state and surrounded by the beautiful Shenandoah Valley is just the cherry on top!

SHWETA KARMAKAR

Hometown: Bay Shore, New York

Undergraduate Institution: Stony Brook University

Coming to Accepted Students Weekend this March was truly enlightening. Seeing peers eager to help one another out, combined with the beautiful hiking scene and fellow chess fiends, only solidified my decision to enroll. The biggest factors were the sense of community on campus, impressive employment outcomes, and the generosity of alumni and staff to help out current and enrolled students beyond academic success.

Yardley Borten ’25L and Sadie Mapstone ’25L discuss the Kirgis Fellows, a mentoring program designed to assist first year and transfer students with the adjustment to law school.

What are the goals of the Kirgis Fellows program?

Kirgis Fellows play a large role during orientation and share their perspective as experienced students throughout the year. Over the course of regular meetings, Kirgis Fellows meet with first-year students to discuss study strategies, summer jobs, law school exams, coping with the stress of law school, and the traditions that make W&L Law unique. In addition, Kirgis Fellows are available throughout the year to answer questions and to provide support to first-year students. Students are encouraged to keep in touch with their Kirgis Fellows and ask for help and advice as they encounter questions and challenges during their first year of law school.

One of the main goals of the Kirgis Fellow program is to connect every single student with someone who will act as a resource, support system, and cheerleader throughout their first year and beyond. We hope the Kirgis Fellows serve as a friendly face for all of the new members of our W&L Law community, creating a foundation of encouragement for our students to find their feet within this community and thrive in this academic space.

SCENE ON CAMPUS

What are typical events that are scheduled over the year for the 1L students?

We aim for each Kirgis Fellow team to hold two events per semester with their section of 1L students. These events are meant to give students the opportunity to connect with each other, their Kirgis Fellows, and to interact in a more informal way. Events have ranged from section dinners, happy hours, hikes, cookouts, field days, and game nights. We encourage collaboration between Kirgis Fellow sections for joint events!

How do you think the Kirgis Fellow program impacts the W&L Law community?

The Kirgis Fellow program is essential to cultivating the culture that makes W&L Law so special. W&L Law is wonderfully situated as a collaborative, welcoming, and supportive community of incredible individuals; the Kirgis Fellows are integral in fostering a sense of collective responsibility to maintain that community with each new set of students we eagerly welcome to campus. The Fellows exemplify the best parts of the community — friendship, encourage-

ment, a deep engagement with your peers — leading by example to bring the new students into the fold of what it really means to be a member of this community and how we must each support that culture with our own actions. By enforcing that sense of togetherness in each small-section, the Kirgis Fellows supply the whole of each new class with the tools to nurture this special community culture.

1. Cassie Carr, Rosaline Meyer, and Paige Hawkins get ready to start law school.

2. Arianna Kiaei ’25L and Zoe Speas ’25L were honored for their scholarly contributions to the Law Review.

3. Students in Professor Speedy Rice’s drone seminar.

4. Emma Claire Canterbury ’26L and Caroline Penfield ’26L celebrate after competing in the final round of the Robert J. Grey Jr. Negotiations Competition.

5. Professor Russ Miller teaching a mock law class during Family & Friends Weekend.

6. Guy Mannick ’26L and Mya Phillips ’26L get ready for the finals of John W. Davis Appellate Advocacy Competition.

7. W&L Law students enjoying the Northern Lights at Devils Backbone.

8. Thanks to alumni Katie Blaszak ’09L, Rober Grey ’76L, and Scott Patterson ’90L for judging the 2024 Negotiations Competition.

Yardley Borten and Sadie Mapstone are the Head Kirgis Fellows who lead this unique mentoring program.

‘Have

the Courage to Take Those Chances’

Professor Russell Miller’s latest book offers students, comparative law scholars, and practitioners an introduction to and survey of the German legal system.

BY JEFF HANNA

Serendipity. Russell Miller uses that word when he talks about the twists and turns his career has taken. Principally, an unexpected development led Miller from defending death row inmates to exhaustively examining the German legal system.

When he graduated from law school at Duke, Miller was heading toward a career in human rights law, focused in particular on death penalty defense work. He didn’t speak a word of German, had never traveled abroad, didn’t even have a passport. Then, he took a job as a staff attorney with the Arizona Capital Representation Project where he worked with a small team of lawyers on death penalty appeals. One of those cases involved the Apelt brothers, Michael and Rudi, who were German nationals under a death sentence on Arizona’s death row.

“I was the youngest member of the team representing the Apelts. My boss gave me the task of regularly meeting representatives from the German consulate, which was actively supporting our work on the case. I met these consular officials once a month, briefed them on the status of the case, coordinated their support, and drove them to the prison to meet our clients,” said Miller, the J. B. Stombock Professor of Law at W&L.

During those drives into the Sonoran Desert, Miller struck up a friendship with the German officials, and they urged him to consider going to Germany one day. They even suggested possible fellowships he might pursue. Miller eventually took their advice, applying for and receiving a fellowship from the Robert Bosch Foundation. Once in Germany, Miller proceeded to talk his way into an unprecedented internship with the Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court), Germany’s highest court. That was followed by an equally remarkable internship at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. The latter tribunal hears cases asserting international human rights violations against Germany and more than 40 other European countries.

“It was classic American hubris that got me those two assignments that had never been given to Bosch fellows before,” Miller conceded. “They told me that they’d unsuccessfully tried to secure internships at those courts in the past, and I said, ‘Let’s try one more time.’”

The year was transformative for Miller, and it all began, unexpectedly, on the road to Arizona’s death row. “Maybe there is an overarching message for our students in this story,” said Miller. “You have to be really committed to something, and engaged with it, and energetic about your work. And then, you have to be prepared for serendipity to come along. I’ve seen that over and over in my career as opportunities I had not anticipated surface. Then you have to have the courage to grab those chances.”

His year as a Bosch Fellow not only introduced him to German law and culture, but also marked his shift from criminal law and death penalty work to what has become his academic and research interest: comparative constitutional law. “The experience provided a credible break point in my practice where I could move to the academy,” he said. “When you’re practicing law, it’s hard to find the time to write scholarship and to present yourself as interested in research and teaching.”

During his internship at the Federal Constitutional Court, Miller and a fellow clerk, Peer Zumbansen, started a bi-weekly newsletter designed to provide English-speaking lawyers with greater insight into German constitutional law. As Miller recounts, the two aspiring scholars would put a bottle of wine on a table in Frankfurt and start writing. When they were

Professor Russell Miller with students in Germany to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the launch of the German Law Journal. L-R Caroline Martin ’26L, Yardley Borten ’25L, Mikayla Nasis ’25L, Russell Miller, Ben Wood ’26L, and Vimi Shad ’09L.

finished with the essays and reports, and maybe the bottle of wine as well, they would email the newsletter to friends and colleagues. From those humble but passionate beginnings, the German Law Journal was born. In Google Scholar’s impact rankings, it is now the top-ranked journal in the fields of international law and European law. This year, the German Law Journal cracked the global top-10 ranking for all law journals in all fields.

The Journal has been headquartered in the School of Law since Miller arrived at W&L in 2008, and student editors are involved in all phases of its production and administration, including working with scholars from around the world. In September 2024, the German Law Journal celebrated its 25th anniversary with a program in Berlin featuring keynote addresses from the ministers of justice of both Germany and Poland.

While he was celebrating that major milestone with the law journal he founded, Miller was also excited about the publication of his new book, “An Introduction to German Law and Legal Culture.” The 500-page volume is being published by Cambridge University Press as part of its “Law in Context” textbook series.

Designed for students, comparative law scholars, and practitioners, the book offers an introduction to and survey of the German legal system. The book accepts that German legal culture is predominantly shaped by the European civil law tradition. But Miller challenges that orthodoxy by considering the influence other traditions have had on German law, including socialist law, the common law tradition, the Islamic legal tradition, and European law. The special value – and challenge – in confronting the German legal system, said Miller, is that Germans think of law as a science.

“They have convinced themselves, and maybe the world, that the product of their legal thinking is something like the product of scientific analysis and logic,” Miller said. “To the degree that you don’t have different versions of gravity around the world, the Germans have asserted a similarly objective understanding of the law that makes their approach more transferable. Everywhere you go, for example, their approach to analyzing a criminal

case should be the correct approach.”

Although the book is aimed at an English-speaking audience, Miller said it has found a surprising audience. When presenting the book in Germany he repeatedly hears from German students and practitioners who say that they would have benefitted from the kind of overview his book provides.

Teaching comparative legal systems has many practical advantages, said Miller. He’s had W&L alumni report that merely dabbling in German law has paid dividends for them in practice. They describe the value of their work in Miller’s classes or with the German Law Journal when their firm opened an office in Germany, or they were appointed as American co-counsel in a case based in Germany. There’s a more theoretical or academic dimension that Miller emphasizes as well. Students’ encounter with a foreign legal system helps them develop and refine the skills they need when engaging with people – clients or attorneys – from different cultures and backgrounds.

Miller insists that his interactions with W&L’s students are indispensable parts of his research. Students in his comparative law seminar helped him vet chapters of his book. But his time in the classroom also gives him an opportunity to engage with new ideas. In the last year or so, Miller has explored a new theory of the doctrine of stare decisis in his constitutional law class. This led to the publication of two major articles exploring the purpose and practice of precedent at the Supreme Court before and after the Dobbs decision.

“Talking with students and getting their reactions to the question of precedent was invaluable,” Miller said. “In some ways it would be artificial for us to keep opening the casebook every year without recognizing that the very theory that justifies using cases to learn the law is now in question.”

For Miller, the dynamic that mixes world-class research efforts and total dedication to teaching is what makes W&L Law special.

“This is a particular privilege at Washington and Lee,” he said. “We have amazing, brilliant, sincere, and engaged students. It’s part of our ethos here that we have managed to have civil conversation with these smart kids. I feel super lucky to have this time with them.”

‘It

Keeps Me On My Toes’

Professor Karen Woody, an expert in securities law, financial regulation, and white-collar crime, has used the podcast format to advance teaching and research.

BY JEFF HANNA

Karen Woody has described her path to the W&L School of Law faculty as “a bit of a winding one.”

After graduating from the Washington College of Law at American University, Woody immediately began practicing corporate law and spent the next decade defending multinational companies, often in very large cases involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. That meant flying around the world and operating at a breakneck speed.

Even with such a hectic schedule, Woody found time to work as an adjunct law professor and discovered that she often left the classroom with more energy than she had when she’d entered. “Teaching is really energizing,” said Woody. “There are new ideas. There is a new sort of life to it. It’s also fun.”

In addition to that spark she got from working with students, Woody enjoyed the opportunity to dive deeper into issues because of the comparatively slower pace of academic life. “I was able to grapple with these issues at length. It was nice to spend some time thinking about the ideas and theories behind the work. That is what enticed me into academia.”

When she made the move to academia in 2015, it was to a business school rather than a law school. She joined the faculty at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business where she taught courses in corporate finance law and business planning. She found her teaching there dovetailed nicely with much of the work she’d been doing. But in 2019, she had the opportunity to transition to law school teaching at W&L, where she particularly enjoys watching students begin the process of becoming lawyers and helping them stay current on an area of the law, like securities regulations, that is constantly changing. “It’s what keeps me coming back and keeps me fresh,” she said.

In 2019, more than 18,000 SolarWinds customers installed the company’s Orion software as part of a routine update. Orion was infected with a malicious code, providing Russian hackers a backdoor into the computer systems of about 100 companies and a dozen government agencies. The SEC alleged SolarWinds not only failed to maintain adequate internal controls but also overstated its cybersecurity practices and understated known vulnerabilities. The SEC filed its complaint in October 2023, but a judge dismissed most of the case this past July.

“Even though it was an internal controls charge, the SEC tried to use the provision that

“Should the standard for companies be more of a ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ negligence-based standard — as in, I’m doing the best I can under the circumstances? Or should any failure of internal controls mean strict liability? What level of liability should we push for a company if it’s acting in good faith?”

Woody’s scholarship has focused on securities law, financial regulation, and white-collar crime. Her current research deals with corporate internal controls — processes, regulations, and practices that a company puts in place not only to enhance performance but also to comply with laws and avoid fraud. Woody has compared these controls to a smoke alarm that warns of incidents that could threaten a business.

She is particularly interested in the government’s oversight of these internal controls and the Securities and Exchange Commission’s increasing use of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) to punish — or threaten to punish — companies for the ineffectiveness of their controls. As an example of this trend, she cites the SolarWinds case from 2023 when the SEC brought charges of fraud and internal control failures against the software company after one of the worst computer hacks of the 21st century.

has to do with accounting controls and apply it to cybersecurity controls,” said Woody. “It was the first time a judge pushed back and said the internal controls provision has to do with accounting and books and records, but not about cybersecurity. In essence, the judge was telling them to find a different law.”

Although Woody agrees with the judge’s decision in this case, she also thinks there needs to be separate internal controls for cybersecurity issues, which are bound to become more frequent.

“I agree that the government should be going after SolarWinds for what happened and its lack of internal controls, but I think there are other ways to prosecute this kind of case.”

Because Woody served as outside counsel to defend multinational companies in significant FCPA cases, she does see a company’s side of many issues. For instance, she said it’s impossible

for a company to protect itself against issues it has never even known about. In some cases, a company could be allowed to admit that something went wrong with its internal controls even as it was making best efforts to keep up with rapid change, especially as technology evolves.

“This is what I’m currently exploring,” she said. “Should the standard for companies be more of a ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ negligencebased standard — as in, I’m doing the best I can under the circumstances? Or should any failure of internal controls mean strict liability? What level of liability should we push for a company if it’s acting in good faith?”

Technology has made an impact on Woody’s own work as well in the form of podcasting. She is not only a frequent guest on podcasts that focus on compliance, securities and accounting fraud, and white-collar crime, but also has her own podcast — “The Woody Report,” a bi-weekly series that has covered everything from Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter to “shadow insider trading.” She uses podcasting to keep current in her field.

“I realized how much I had to ramp up when the podcast was going to be about something new,” she said. “It keeps me on my toes.”

Woody took the medium to another level three years ago when she and her students in her insider trading seminar launched “Classroom Insiders,” an eight-episode show featuring Woody in conversation with a student in the class. The podcast was honored by the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts with a 2022 Communicator Award in the category of Individual Episodes — Crime and Justice.

The podcast’s second season, underway this semester, has a different twist. Pairs of students will explore important cases that have not been covered in class, then Woody will conduct recorded interviews with them. “I’ve always said that I know my students get it when they can teach it back to me and to someone else,” Woody said. “The technology allows me to do this in a new way.”

“Classroom Insiders” is available through a variety of streaming services, including Spotify and Apple Music.

The Stories Behind The New Faces

A dozen new faculty members have joined the School of Law over the last two years. We will be introducing several of them to you in this and future editions of Discovery.

SHANNON FYFE

Shannon Fyfe is an assistant professor with a focus of international law and philosophy. She joined W&L from George Mason, where she was an assistant professor of philosophy, the director of Graduate Studies in Philosophy, and a Fellow in the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy. She received both her J.D. and her Ph.D. in philosophy from Vanderbilt University.

Even before going to college, Fyfe knew law school was in her future. As a senior in high school in North Carolina, she worked with lawyers while working on a political campaign and felt like her brain worked like theirs did. “I thought going to law school would give me the tools I needed to help vulnerable people, which was what I was interested in doing.”

Fyfe’s direction toward law school came more into focus when she studied abroad in east Africa, where she learned about conflicts in Rwanda and Uganda and especially the use of gender-based violence. Her first summer internship at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) was a pivotal moment. “I was kind of hooked on international criminal law after that,” she says. Her experience at the ICTR not only solidified her interest in the field but also exposed her to the shortcomings of international legal institutions, which would later become a significant focus of her academic research.

As her legal education progressed, Fyfe found herself increasingly drawn to the philosophical underpinnings of law. During her last semester at Vanderbilt, she took a class on the philosophy of international law that profoundly influenced her thinking. She practiced law in Richmond for three years before deciding to return to Vanderbilt to pursue a Ph.D. in philosophy, with a focus on international law.

After completing her Ph.D., Fyfe took a position as a philosophy professor at George Mason University, where she taught for six years. There, she advised many pre-law students. “A lot of my students were first-generation college students or first-generation U.S. residents, or both, and they really needed help figuring out what steps to take to achieve their goals,” she said. For these students, Fyfe emphasized the importance of standing out. “There are going to be a lot of people who apply to law school who studied political science, but if you have a different set of interests, your application can really shine.”

At W&L Law, Fyfe teaches a seminar on mass atrocities and courses on transnational law and professional responsibility in the spring semester. She brings a philosophical lens to her legal instruction. “My seminars are taught like a philosophy class,” she said, explaining how she encourages students to engage with big-picture questions rather than focusing solely on technical legal details.

Fyfe’s initial impressions of her new role have been overwhelmingly positive. “This is a really special environment to be in, in such a small community, to be able to really focus on what you are doing,” she said of W&L Law. “The students here have a really beautiful and supportive community, and that’s incredibly important because law school is hard.”

TAMMI ETHERIDGE

After a year as a visiting professor, Tammi Etheridge joined W&L Law as a member of the permanent faculty in 2024. Etheridge teaches in the areas of torts, administrative law, law and economics, and public health law. Her scholarship concerns the business of food and agriculture, its regulation, and questions of food accessibility. She received her J.D. degree and a Master of Public Policy from the University of Minnesota.

Etheridge knew she wanted to go to law school from a young age, learning “advocacy at the dinner table” as she lobbied her parents to let her do things her younger siblings were not allowed. Etheridge attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for her undergraduate degree and then began her legal education at Minnesota.

Etheridge knew after the first semester that her ultimate professional goal was to be a law professor, but it was during her 1L summer working for medical device company Medtronic where she developed an affinity for tort law and products liability, particularly in the medical space. This experience set the stage for her early career in big law, where she represented major corporations like Boston Scientific and Johnson & Johnson.

Her next stop was a clerkship in West Virginia, where her judge assigned her his entire MDL (multi-district litigation) docket, which involved thousands of transvaginal mesh cases.

“I’m lucky to have practiced law and seen different sides of the law in various regions,” said Etheridge. “I have worked for clients who’ve dealt with the worst of situations and experienced profound loss, but also with defendants who haven’t done anything wrong and are simply pushing for innovation to improve health outcomes and save lives. Those experiences made me not only a better lawyer, but also a better human and certainly a better teacher.”

Etheridge carved out her research and teaching niche by examining the ways in which tort law, legislation, and regulation work together for the betterment of society, specifically as it relates to food and drug law. One of her most recent articles, “The Big Cost of Small Farms,” set to be published in the Florida Law Review, examines the Biden administration’s push to break up large agricultural companies. Etheridge argues that while large corporations often receive negative attention, they provide significant benefits to consumers by keeping food prices low.

“The reality is that there are times when business is good for us, and there are times when it needs to be checked,” said Etheridge. “And I think we don’t do a good job of discerning which is which because so much of it is political now. My goal is to pull politics out of it and help us get to the best answers for the people.”

Now beginning her second year as a member of the W&L Law community, Etheridge has been especially impressed by the work ethic of the students.

“Not only are the students deeply intelligent, but they’re willing to put in the work to back that up, which is a rare combination in my experience,” said Etheridge. “Their enthusiasm makes the teaching fun.”

ALEXI PFEFFER-GILLETT

Alexi Pfeffer-Gillett joined W&L Law in the fall of 2023 as an assistant professor of law. He teaches Civil Procedure and a Consumer Protection Law seminar, among other classes, and in his research, he studies the legal contours and practical effects of modern consumer and employment contracts.

Pfeffer-Gillett graduated from the University of Virginia with an English degree, after which he spent two years working in Washington, D.C., with the American Federation of Teachers. His work there focused on hospital and charter-school operations as part of nurse- and teacher-organizing campaigns and gave rise to a greater interest in public policy, leading him to pursue a master’s degree at Brown University with a focus on education policy. That degree ultimately led him to pursue legal studies. “My main reason for going to law school was to explore how the law shapes and responds to policy,” he said. He began his studies at the UC Irvine Law, transferring after his first year to Berkeley Law, where he completed his J.D.

As the child of parents with teaching backgrounds, Pfeffer-Gillett always suspected teaching might be in his own future, and it was during his first year of law school that he seriously considered legal academia as a career path. He cited his civil procedure professor as a significant influence who mentored him and helped him lay out a timeline for the steps he would need to take to achieve his goals.

After graduating from law school, Pfeffer-Gillett clerked for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and then spent nearly four years practicing at a plaintiff-side securities litigation firm. Next, he took a position as a visiting assistant professor at the University of Maryland, where he first taught legal writing and advocacy, then torts and property, before moving into a tenure-track position at W&L Law.

At W&L, Pfeffer-Gillett teaches courses in civil procedure and consumer protection, areas closely tied to his research, which focuses on arbitration and its intersection with employment and consumer rights. His research in part addresses the fairness of mandatory-arbitration clauses in consumer contracts, which he explains are often presented in boilerplate terms with limited options for consumers. His recent article, “Unfair by Default: Arbitration’s Reverse Default Judgment Problem,” published in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, discusses the filing-fee structure in arbitration cases and how the burden often falls unfairly on consumers if the opposing company fails to pay its fee.

In addition to teaching and research, Pfeffer-Gillett is active in public advocacy. Over the past year, he has written two amicus briefs supporting plaintiffs’ rights in mass-arbitration cases, an alternative to class action lawsuits in which individuals file thousands of simultaneous claims against a company.

He said he appreciates his students’ curiosity and thoughtfulness about law as well as their commitment to the community. “They aren’t just here to pass exams; they’re interested in discussing issues beyond the classroom—career goals, work-life balance, and what kind of lawyer they want to be.”

A Trusted Expert

Jonathan Gould ’01L is a partner in the Financial Markets Group at Jones Day

With extensive experience in government and business, Jonathan Gould provides financial regulatory and strategic advice to financial services providers of all types.

For more than 20 years, W&L Law graduate Jonathan Gould ’01L has worked in financial regulation, including two stints in government during some of the most volatile periods for the banking industry. As a partner in the Financial Markets group at Jones Day, Gould now lends that experience to financial providers and serves as a trusted expert advising congressional oversight committees.

He began his career as an associate in the Financial Services group at Alston & Bird in Washington, D.C., where he did everything from general corporate work, such as SEC filings, to transactional work with banks that had heavy regulatory components. He was involved in new bank charters as well, including the creation of one of the few D.C.-chartered banks. These experiences in his early career sparked an interest in policymaking. “I remember driving down Pennsylvania Avenue late one night after work, flanked by these beautiful federal-style buildings, wondering what the people who worked there did all day.” It was then he started laying the groundwork for the next phase of his career. In 2005, he went to work on the staff of the Senate Banking Committee, an opportunity, he said, “to get involved in the business of D.C. rather than just being a bystander.”

During his time there, he contributed to several bills that became law, including legislation that reshaped the Deposit Insurance Fund for the FDIC. His exposure to regulatory matters deepened, and he became involved in the oversight of banking agencies, concluding his work on the Senate Banking Committee just as the first waves of the 2008 financial crisis appeared.

Gould returned to the private sector as a consultant and deputy general counsel at Promontory Financial Group, then a leading regulatory consulting firm, where he helped banking clients navigate often opaque supervisory expectations. He joined the firm in March 2008, and by the summer, problems began manifesting in the banking system, including the failure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as major financial services firms like Lehman Brothers. “So there was an immediate need for someone of my background

to help these various financial institutions navigate both the market crisis, but also the regulatory and subsequent legislative response that followed.”

The financial crisis created a significant paradigm shift in banking regulation, which was eventually codified in the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010. What followed was a period of great expansion for Promontory, which grew in headcount and geography, including into non-U.S. jurisdictions. Gould supported that growth as its corporate counsel before deciding to focus full-time on his consulting role. It became clear to him in the aftermath of the financial crisis that his consulting expertise would be more effective with a stronger background in quantitative analysis. A move to BlackRock Solutions in 2014 provided just that

“So

reorganization of the 200-person Law Department, which had not been updated in roughly 30 years. “Given the amount of change and technological advances in the banking sector over the last 20-plus years, it was very important to me that we get fresh thinking on legal issues so we could provide creative legal advice to the agency as a whole.”

From there, Gould began working on the implementation of the Economic Growth Act on an interagency basis with the Federal Reserve, the FDIC, and other agencies. He positioned the OCC to support innovation by chartering banks with novel business models, including fintechs, and issuing legal opinions on which crypto-related activities were permissible if conducted in a safe and sound manner.

One of his most significant achievements at the OCC was leading the effort to reform the Volcker Rule, a critical component of the Dodd-Frank Act. The rule was originally intended to prevent banks from engaging in speculative trading that could put their deposits at risk. However, over the years, the rule became a “massive compliance exercise with minimal benefit to the banking system’s overall safety and soundness. We were able to keep the safety and soundness benefits of the rule while eliminating the costly and unnecessary compliance burden,”he said.

Gould’s time at the OCC also placed him in the heart of crisis management during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The financial system faced unprecedented stress, with market participants scrambling to move into cash as uncertainty gripped global markets. Gould likened the early weeks of the crisis to a “2008 crisis wrapped into a super compressed time frame,” highlighting the severity of the situation. Despite the challenges, Gould’s leadership and deep knowledge of financial infrastructure helped steer the OCC through those turbulent times, ensuring that regulatory agencies remained agile and responsive.

there was an immediate need for someone of my background to help these various financial institutions navigate both the market crisis, but also the regulatory and subsequent legislative response that followed.”

chance to “get into the financial modeling space, specifically risk analytics, and become more fluent in making those arguments.” At BlackRock, Gould expanded his knowledge base beyond the banking world by working with traders, asset class specialists, financial modelers, and more to harness existing BlackRock infrastructure and turn it into new sources of revenue for the firm—while at the same time helping BlackRock clients address regulatory issues created as a result of the 2008 crisis.

But Gould felt the pull of government service again in 2018 when he returned to serve as chief counsel to the Senate Banking Committee, where he worked on the first major banking legislation since the 2008 crisis, the Economic Growth Act. From there, he was recruited to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the oldest regulatory agency in the U.S., which exists to charter, regulate, and supervise the national banking system, composed of over a thousand national banks and federal savings associations that hold almost $16 trillion in assets. As senior deputy comptroller and chief counsel, his first task was to lead a major

Gould returned to the law firm world in 2022 and now advises clients on a wide range of banking and financial services issues. While the managerial responsibilities of his previous roles might be behind him, he finds fulfillment in helping clients navigate the complex regulatory landscape. “What’s been nice is being able to have a variety of different clients on a variety of different issues and continue to focus on the things that I cared about in government,” he said. His ability to balance regulatory integrity with a forward-looking approach has made him a soughtafter expert in his field, having testified before the U.S. House of Representatives on four occasions regarding banking policy.

Reflecting on his career both in government and the private sector, Gould shared one aspect of lawyering that he feels is paramount. “I’ve seen too many circumstances where lawyers or other advisers substitute their own personal preferences for that of the decision maker. In doing so, they risk neglecting the important role that non-legal factors play in the decision-making process. It’s critical to provide a full range of options.”

It’s the Personal Aspect

Elizabeth Summers ’12L

is an estate planning consultant with Wealthspire Advisors

As senior vice president and director of Wealth Strategy, Family Wealth at Wealthspire Advisors, Elizabeth Summers helps families plan for their future and solve the problems that keep them up at night.

After more than a decade of advising clients in trusts and estate matters both at law firms and as a wealth strategist at financial institutions, Elizabeth Summers ’12L recently began a new chapter in her career, becoming senior vice president and director of Wealth Strategy, Family Wealth at Wealthspire Advisors, an RIA that manages over $27 billion in assets. She helps high net worth families plan for their future and solve the problems that keep them up at night.

Her career path came into focus early in her law school career when she spent her 1L summer working for a solo trusts and estates practitioner, Jeanne Longsworth, in her hometown in Indiana. Summers found the work engaging but was also struck by just how much Ms. Longsworth’s clients really seemed to love her.

“It was this great combination of technical, interesting work with the emotional component of really understanding where people were coming from, what was important to them, what goals they wanted to accomplish, how they wanted to help their kids, their grandkids, their church, the local museum, whatever the case may be.” said Summers. “I just I loved it, and I realized this is it. This is what I want to do.”

She dove into as much related course work as she could during her 2L and 3L years and gained more experience as a summer associate at an estate planning firm during her 2L summer. In addition to her income tax class with Professor Jeffrey Kahn and serving as a research assistant to Professor Robert Danforth, who tutored her in partnership tax, the Trusts and Estates practicum with Lee Osborne and Neil Birkhoff was an important capstone to her legal education during her final year of law school.

One thing that shines through in her journey is the importance of the W&L alumni network. It was a challenging time to find legal employment when Summers graduated, perhaps more so for someone interested in trusts and estates as changes in federal estate tax exemptions had caused many firms to eliminate entire practice groups. She was grateful to connect with John Allevato ’79L, who hired her as a trusts and estate associate for Spilman, Thomas and Battle in Charleston, West Virginia. After two years there, Summers moved to Dentons Cohen & Grigsby in Pittsburgh to practice with another alumnus, Samuel Goncz ’92L. She says both alumni were instrumental in her development as a lawyer.

“Not only were they personally invested in me from day one, but they were just tremendous teachers, curious thinkers and really great people

Law School Increases Campaign Goal to $55M

Following a year of record-breaking fundraising for the law school, the Board of Trustees in October approved a new campaign goal of $55 million for the school during the Living Lives of Consequence capital campaign.

The law school surpassed the original goal of $40 million ahead of the public launch of the campaign this fall.

This accomplishment was fueled in part by an all-time high in fundraising for the law school in the 2023-2024 fiscal year, during which the school raised just over $12 million in gifts and pledges. Major sources for this philanthropy included several significant estate gifts, as well as outright gifts. The majority of the fundraising, over $10 million, was designated for law student scholarships.

“The commitment to current and future generations of W&L Law students is inspiring,” said Melanie Wilson, Dean and Roy J. Steinheimer, Jr., Professor of Law. “In today’s highly competitive market for the most exceptional law students, scholarships are critical. Our alumni support ensures that we are able to provide access to one of the nation’s finest law schools to anyone who meets our high standards regardless of their financial situation.”

Motivated by the $2.5 million matching gift for scholarships from an anonymous philanthropist, numerous donors have stepped forward to contribute to existing scholarship funds or create their

own. For example, Law Council President Neil Millhiser ‘11L, along with his wife, Emily, established the Emily and Neil Millhiser ’11L Law Scholarship, which will support law students who, like Emily, are the first in their family to graduate from college.

“Emily and I value greatly the educations we received that have allowed us to become successful in our professions and engaged members of the Richmond community,” said Neil. “And as a first-generation student herself, Emily was able to pursue higher education through the generosity of others. We are excited to pay it forward by providing this support to future law students.”

The total fundraising goal for law scholarships during the campaign is $35 million, of which over $27 million has already been raised. Key to this ambitious goal is the anonymous donor who will match every new gift devoted to student scholarship endowments received by the law school between October 2023 and the conclusion of the campaign in July 2027. Alumni and friends of W&L Law can establish scholarships 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.

to work with,” said Summers. “Everything they say about the alumni network at W&L is true. I’ve experienced it personally, and that’s why I am always happy to talk to current students when they call.”

A move to another firm was prompted by her husband’s decision to go to law school himself at the University of Minnesota. Following his graduation, she chose to apply her estate planning expertise in the wealth management space as a wealth strategist, first at the financial services firm UBS and then with Wells Fargo. These experiences allowed her to have deeper relationships with clients without worrying about the billable hour.

As a wealth strategist, Summers said she is able to get the best of both worlds. The technical complexities of estate planning intrigued her, but it was the personal aspect—the deep trust clients placed in her—that kept her passionate about the field. She found herself navigating delicate family dynamics and helping clients tackle some of the most challenging questions of their lives, such as how to pass on wealth in a way that aligned with their values.

Summers made the move to Wealthspire to join a smaller, more nimble business that is extremely client focused, and to help grow and define the direction of the Family Wealth group.

“I get to sit down with the client and help them define their goals and their interests and what they’re hoping to accomplish. But more than that, we are solving problems that keep people up at two in the morning like ‘how am I going to help pay for my grandchildren’s education’ or ‘what happens when I’m gone and my two sons don’t get along anymore?’ These are things that we can provide solutions for in a real, tangible way. And I think doing that preplanning really is a gift you can give to your family.”

Emily and Neil Millhiser ‘11L

What They’re Doing Now

Three Recent Graduates Discuss Their Career Paths, How They Find Balance

NORIYA SHAHADAT ‘21L

Noriya Shahadat is an associate at McGuireWoods in the Environmental and Mass Tort litigation group. Outside of work, Noriya enjoys travelling and spending time in the company of family and friends.

Discuss your career path and how it led you to working at McGuireWoods.

Coming into law school I had a leaning towards defense litigation but had never heard of “big law.” The first time I was introduced to the concept was at one of the bi-weekly academic success workshops hosted in the fall of my 1L year. I was immediately interested and reached out to the panelists after the workshop with some follow-up questions. A few weeks later, I attended an etiquette dinner hosted by McGuireWoods on the W&L campus. I had wonderful interactions with the McGuireWoods lawyers and recruiters and knew I wanted to learn more about the firm. I then had conversations about the firm with the Office of Career Strategy (OCS) and professors that had worked at McGuireWoods. Both provided me with guidance on how to navigate the application process for a 1L LCLD position. I am glad that things fell into place the way they did because this has been a great place to start my legal career. I also really enjoy the type of work I do, which is defending various business entities in high-stakes commercial litigation matters.

What sort of legal issues do you handle on a day-to-day basis?

I work in the product liability space, which involves defending corporate defendants in a wide variety of complex, high-value lawsuits centered around a given product. At the risk of sounding cliché, no two workdays are the same for me. The legal issues I work on vary depending on the type of product at issue, and some cases I work on are general litigation matters with no product focus at all. So, it would be accurate to say that there is a lot of variety in the issues I handle day-to-day, but the majority of the cases I work on are rooted in tort law.

Along with my regular practice, I enjoy working on immigration matters and have an extensive immigration pro bono practice. My work in this area often involves seeking immigration benefits on behalf of minors, asylees, and refugees.

What are some practices you have in your daily life as an attorney to maintain wellness?

I prioritize getting a healthy amount of sleep regularly. I find that I show up as my best self when I am well-rested. I also recently bought a walking pad to get my daily steps in while I take calls or catch up on emails. This has been a gamechanger for me because it takes away the guilt I would sometimes feel after sitting at my desk all day with very little movement. It feels rewarding to hit my movement goals daily, which is a nice bonus.

ROY ABERNATHY ‘20L

Roy Abernathy works as an associate attorney for Crowell & Moring in the Advertising and Brand Protection and Litigation and Trial practice groups.

Discuss your career path and how it led you to working as an associate at Crowell. Well, I went to Virginia Tech to study engineering after attending a high school specialized in science and mathematics. So, I did not necessarily expect to be a lawyer, much less an advertising lawyer. After pivoting to economics, politics, and the social sciences in undergrad, my career makes a bit more sense. But, I did spend a few years teaching high school students math, which I loved. Finally, I found my way back to law school, but my background has surprisingly prepared me in unexpected ways. For all the lawyers who say they went to law school because they were bad at math, I’d assume they have not had to review an expert report on damages valuations. Overall, my career path to becoming an advertising and consumer protection attorney was part intentional and larger part happy accident.

What sort of legal issues do you handle on a day-to-day basis?

Honestly, every day is different and packed with a variety of assignments. As a litigator, I’m always balancing discovery across multiple cases, and for my practice, those are often cases focused on consumer protection issues such as false advertising, fraudulent business practices, and anticompetitive practices, among others. In the last week, I’ve drafted, edited, and filed a motion to compel, reviewed discovery responses and objections to draft a letter to opposing counsel, reviewed depositions for admissions, and continued working on ongoing document review. Beyond the ins and outs of discovery, I also provide regulatory guidance on clients’ advertising and consumer protection issues. This may include reviewing a client’s advertising materials and campaigns to ensure all claims are properly substantiated and are low risk for regulatory scrutiny or consumer class actions, as well as reviewing a client’s technical interfaces with consumers to ensure such technologies and practices will not be considered deceptive by the FTC.

What are some practices you have in your daily life as an attorney to maintain wellness?

Realistically, I endeavor to have more practices to maintain my wellness. But, in the last year I’ve become more intentional with my time. For example, I often plan to work later during the week to protect my weekends. Others may find better balance by protecting their evenings and planning to work some over the weekend. With that protected time, I ensure that I use some of it with my friends and some of it to enjoy my hobbies. Also, during the work week, I really enjoy an afternoon coffee break.

MORGAN FIANDER ‘16L

Morgan Fiander is a litigation associate at Fried Frank in New York City, where she represents clients in a variety of real estate, financial, and general commercial disputes.

Discuss your career path and how it led you to working for Fried Frank.

My interests changed pretty drastically from when I entered law school to 2L summer, after OCI had already taken place. I started with a small civil litigation boutique in New York right after passing the bar and moved to a mid-size firm after about a year and a half. In those first three or so years, I was able to get significant hands-on experience in court appearances, depositions, and drafting major motions and briefs, which is what helped me stand out when I looked to apply to larger firms. I spent about four years with one firm doing work similar to what I am now doing at Fried Frank. My decision to come to Fried Frank was ultimately based on a desire to work on a broader range of larger, more complex matters primarily in New York, with a team based in New York, and the Fried Frank Real Estate Litigation team is consistently considered to be a top group for this work.

What sort of legal issues do you handle on a day-to-day basis?

Within our Litigation Department, I focus on real estate litigation matters. This practice encompasses any sort of dispute, issue, or question arising out of a real estate deal, most often a distressed deal. We handle commercial lending and leasing disputes, receiverships and foreclosures, construction disputes, joint venture disputes, and advise on enforceability and liability questions on real estate-related transactions. On any given day I could be drafting pleadings and motions, managing discovery projects, preparing a diligence memo in connection with a real estate transaction, drafting demand or other letters, or conducting research on any number of issues.

What are some practices you have in your daily life as an attorney to maintain wellness?

I prioritize exercise. Mostly running, and I am often training for a marathon or other race distance. It is extremely helpful for both my physical and mental health; I sleep and eat better, am in a better mood, am actually better at my job, and overall feel better than I do when I am not exercising regularly. I try to find one other thing for myself weekly, whether it is volunteering, going to a museum, trying a new restaurant, just something that can reset me after a hard week. Planning ahead can be difficult so having a list of things I’d like to do at any given time and can jump into last minute is helpful.

80s

1982

Dana Moore was promoted to senior adviser to Mayor Brandon Scott, the 52nd mayor of Baltimore, Maryland.

1983

Tom Gruenert joined Shackelford, McKinley & Norton, LLP, Dallas, Texas.

Howard Wall joined Epstein Becker & Green, a national law firm in Nashville, Tennessee, as Of Counsel. He joins EBG’s Health Care & Life Sciences practice and has more than four decades of experience advising large and mid-size health care companies as an executive, private practice attorney, general counsel, and consultant.

1987

Rodney Moore joined Jones Day as partner in the Dallas, Texas, office.

90s

1990

Andy Lee was reelected to the board of directors for a four-year term at Jones Walker. Andy is a partner in the litigation and corporate compliance practice groups in the New Orleans office; co-leader of the firm’s privacy, data strategy, and artificial intelligence team; and co-leader of the technology industry team.

M. Bryan Slaughter ’97L Receives 2024 Lewis F. Powell Jr. Pro Bono Award

Bryan Slaughter ’97L was awarded the 2024 Lewis F. Powell Jr. Pro Bono Award, given by the Access to Legal Services Committee of the Virginia State Bar to honor an attorney who has made outstanding pro bono contributions in the commonwealth.

Slaughter, a partner of MichieHamlett in Charlottesville, was nominated by the Honorable Stephen R. McCullough, justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia and judicial co-chair of Virginia’s Access to Justice Commission. In his nomination, Justice McCullough said, “Bryan

00s

2001

Anne Guillory joined the United States Equestrian Federation in Lexington, Kentucky, as senior counsel for dispute resolution.

2003

Anthony Briggs was named emerging technology counsel at Accenture.

2004

Jennifer Andrews joined RaceTrac in Atlanta, Georgia, as corporate counsel.

is a member of the Access to Justice Commission, and he chairs the Commission’s pro bono campaign. In that capacity, he has spent countless hours skillfully and thoughtfully advancing the cause of pro bono. When he was president of the VTLA, he

Leah Garabedian joined Gartner in Houston, Texas, as associate director.

Josh Jones was appointed as a member of the newly formed Management Committee for Bressler, Amery & Ross. Jones will continue as the Birmingham Office managing principal and practice area leader of the firm’s Securities group.

2005

Maxwell Smith was honored with the Meritorious Service Award from the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, where he has worked for the past 17 years.

2006

Chris Brumback joined Michelin North America, Inc., in Greenville, S.C., as senior corporate counsel.

David Giles ’92L Appointed Chief Legal Office at Scripps

The board of directors of the E.W. Scripps Company has appointed Scripps Deputy General Counsel David Giles as the company’s new chief legal officer.

Dave has served as chief ethics officer since 2010 and been with the organization since 2004. He oversees the company’s litigation, including defamation and intellectual property matters, antitrust

compliance and regulatory issues involving the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission. He has also overseen Scripps’ employment and labor practice.

Prior to joining Scripps, he was an attorney with BakerHostetler. Before law school, he was a reporter at The Philadelphia Inquirer and USA Today.

led the development of its pro bono strategic plan. He helped create the Charlottesville Albemarle Bar Association’s Volunteer Lawyer Program. He has served on the boards of the Legal Aid Justice Center and the Virginia Poverty Law Center. His devotion to, and impact on, the cause of Access to Justice and to pro bono has been nothing short of extraordinary.”

Former VSB President Stephanie E. Grana of Cantor Grana Buckner Bucci in Richmond seconded the nomination, writing, “I have known Bryan for 30 years as we both handle similar catastrophic cases for injured

Hans Dyke has rejoined Bracewell LLP in the Washington, D.C., office as a partner in the energy practice.

2007

Tom Good joined Paul Weiss as counsel in the Capital Markets Group in Washington, D.C.

2009

Oleg Nudelman joined Littler in Dallas, Texas, as special counsel.

10s

2011

Massie Payne Cooper was promoted to partner at Troutman Pepper Locke LLP in Richmond, Virginia.

Christopher Hirsch started a new position as assistant district attorney at the New York County District Attorney’s Office.

Daniel Newton joined Guidewire Software in Birmingham, Alabama, as corporate counsel.

2012

Cameron Duncan joined Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas in Austin as director of State Government Relations.

Chaz Klaes opened the Texas office of Weinberg Wheeler Hudgins Gunn & Dial in Houston as managing partner.

persons. In addition to his busy legal practice, Bryan takes the time to give back to his local community and encourages others to do the same. He is a friend, a colleague, and a shining example for other attorneys.”

The Lewis F. Powell Jr. Pro Bono Award is named for the U.S. Supreme Court justice and W&L alumnus, who once stated, “Equal justice under law is not merely a caption on the facade of the Supreme Court … It is fundamental that justice should be the same, in substance and availability, without regard to economic status.”

Tyler Laughinghouse was promoted to counsel at Hunton Andres Kurth LLP in Richmond, Virginia.

Michael Warner joined Weinberg Wheeler Hudgins Gunn & Dial in Atlanta, Georgia ,as an associate.

2013

Kellen Lavin joined Goldman Sachs in its New York office as vice president.

2015

Tom Bortnyk joined másLabor in Saint Petersburg, Florida, as senior vice president of development and general counsel.

Donavan Eason was named partner at Moseley Marcinak Law Group, LLP, specializing in transportation and logistics law. He and his family recently moved from Savannah, Georgia, to James Island, South Carolina, when his wife, Ashley, was appointed as an associate professor in the Division of Hematology/ Oncology at MUSC Children’s Hospital. Donavan is currently licensed to practice law in Georgia and plans to sit for the South Carolina bar exam in spring 2025. The couple has two children, Ellie (9) and Davis (1).

Anjelica Hendricks joined the standing faculty at the University of Penn Carey Law School as an assistant professor of law. She published her second article, “Tolling Justice,” in The Ohio State Law Journal, Vol. 85, p. 471, 2024.

Chris Yianilos ’97L Publishes Second Edition of “The Law School Breakthrough”

Nearly 20 years after the he published the original book, Chris Yianilos ’97L has released the second edition of “The Law School Breakthrough,” a book that provides a comprehensive, holistic approach to excelling in law school —

Austin Lomax joined DoorDash in Seattle as senior product counsel. Previously, he was senior legal counsel – product at X.

2016

Zak Balasko joined Steptoe & Johnson in Martinsburg, West Virginia, as a member.

Christina Rossi Pantazis joined the Labor and Employment practice group at Ogletree Deakins in Birmingham, Alabama, as an associate.

2017

Carl Krausnick joined Hollywood Feed, LLC in Memphis, Tennessee, as director of legal and real estate.

2018

John Fluharty joined Paul Hastings in Washington, D.C., as an associate in the Structured Credit practice group.

Ben Nye joined Stephen K. Greene, LLC, in Birmingham, Alabama, and is practicing trusts and estates law.

2019

Frank Bozzi joined Tradeweb in New York City as corporate counsel.

Michael Lehr joined Exodus in Richmond, Virginia, as corporate counsel.

Tiffany Feller Yo joined Asian Family Support Services of Austin as manager of their sexual violence program.

both inside and outside the classroom.

The book contains proven techniques for overcoming every obstacle students are likely to face during the three most challenging years of their lives. The second edition includes new advice from some of the best legal minds in America, including current and former United States senators, current and former members of the U.S. House of Representatives, jurists, law professors, practitioners, a legal recruiter, and students.

Chris serves as the vice president for Government & Community Relations at Virginia Tech. He joined Virginia Tech’s Government Relations team in 2009 after serving for a decade as Sen. John Warner’s chief counsel, legislative director and deputy chief of staff. Chris is the founder and faculty lead of the Virginia Tech Hokies on the Hill experiential learning program, which is a semester in Washington, D.C., focused on Capitol Hill and the U.S. government.

20s

2020

Megan Williams joined Lord, Abbett & Co. in Livingston, New Jersey, as corporate counsel.

2022

T.J. Benedict joined the Antitrust practice group at Sheppard Mullin in Washington, D.C.

2023

Natalia Micheli joined Odin Feldman Pittleman in Reston, Virginia, as a litigation associate.

Lillian Spell joined the general liability team at Harman, Claytor, Corrigan, Wellman in Richmond, Virginia, as an associate.

2024

Robert Hawes joined Alston & Bird as an associate.

Jared Hunter joined Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft as a Capital Markets associate.

Colin Matthaei joined Lightfoot, Franklin & White as an associate.

WEDDINGS

Mary Kathryn Field ’21L to Will Mallery ’16, ’21L on Sept. 14, 2024, in High Point, North Carolina. The wedding party included Bentley Boldt ’16, Jim Dwyer ’22L, Virginia Dwyer ’21L, Robert Eckstein ’16, Giles Geddes ’16, Morgan Hall ’16, Bennett Henson ’16, Jack Koch ’16, Mark Mallery ’16P, ’21LP, Patrick Wright ’16, ’21L. Mary Kathryn and Will met at W&L Law and are both practicing attorneys in Dallas, Texas. She is a managing associate in the Global Finance group at Sidley Austin and he is an associate in the Corporate Group at Jones Walker.

Georgi Pisano Goetz ’20L to Eric Yan on Sept. 28, 2024, in Dripping Springs, Texas. Alumni in attendance included Evelyn Clark, Emily Chowhan, Sean Moran, Joe Oschrin, Roy Abernathy, Whitney Lambeth, Joe Barton, Whitney Davis, Natey Ndlovu, and Junior Sicelo Ndlovu.

Joe Carpenter ’02L Named Vice President Law at Norfolk Southern

DEATHS

C. Hobson Goddin ’50L of Richmond, Virginia, died on July 17, 2024. He was a WWII veteran who served in New Guinea and the Philippines. He had a general practice that was started by his father, which eventually became Troutman Sanders.

The Hon. Robert B. Murdock ’52L of Satellite Beach, Florida, died on Feb. 8, 2024.

James M. Gabler ’53, ’55L of Jupiter, Florida, died on June 29, 2024. He was a trial lawyer at Smith, Somervile & Case before being made partner. He went on to open his own firm, Sandbower, Gabler, & O’Shaughnessy, and transitioned to a plaintiff’s practice. He was a wine expert and wrote many books on the subject.

The Hon. David G. Simpson ’56, ’58L of Winchester, Virginia, died on Sept. 13, 2024.

The Hon. Merrill C. Trader ’58L of Dover, Delaware, died on Oct. 10, 2024.

Joseph C. Knakal Jr. ’57, ’59L of Monroe, Virginia, died on June 8, 2024. He was commissioned as an officer in the Army JAG Corps after law school and then joined Caskie & Frost firm in Lynchburg. He enjoyed calling sports play-by-play on the radio and started at WREL while a student at W&L. He was the “Voice of VMI” for 15 years.

Robert R. LaFortune ’64L of Winchendon, Massachusetts, died on Aug. 16, 2024. After graduating from the Law School, he established a solo general practice in Winchendon, Massachusetts.

R. Kemp Morton, III ’59, ’64L of Huntington, West Virginia, died on Sept. 10, 2024. A trial lawyer for 45 years, he was president of the West Virginia Bar, chairman of the Lawyer Disciplinary Committee, and chairman of the West Virginia Ethics Commission.

Stewart M. Hurtt ’65, ’72L of Columbia, Maryland, died on Aug. 12, 2024. He served as a second lieutenant in the Military Police Corps and spent two years of active duty in Paris, France.

John J.E. Mankham, II ’72L of Boston, Massachusetts, died on July 12, 2024. He was an editor for the Law Review and would later teach law at Harvard Law, Santa Clara Law, and the Attorney General’s Advocacy Institute.

Samuel L. Obenschain, Jr ’72L of Woodstock, Georgia, died on Oct. 14, 2024.

James A. Philpott, Jr ’69, ’72L of Lexington, Kentucky, died on Sept. 2, 2024. During his time in Law School, he was editor–in–chief of the Law Review. He would go on to clerk for J. Braxton Craven of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He was one of the three founding members of Breeders’ Cup, LTD, and served in various capacities with the organization for 30 years.

E. Patrick Burke, Jr. ’73L of Proctor, Vermont, died on July 30, 2024.

Greer D. Saunders ’96L of North Chesterfield, Virginia, died on July 12, 2024. She was a Marine Corps veteran who served five years on active duty and continued to serve in the Marine Corps Reserve for 20 years. She retired with the rank of gunnery sergeant. She was a senior assistant attorney general to the Virginia Community College System in her legal career.

Norfolk Southern Corporation announced the appointment of Joseph H. Carpenter IV ’02L as Vice President Law. Joe brings more than 22 years of experience in the rail industry, with expertise in managing complex litigation and driving strategic legal initiatives.

Reporting to Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer Jason Morris, Carpenter will lead the company’s law department, guiding legal efforts, advancing regulatory initiatives, and

supporting Norfolk Southern’s longterm strategy.

Carpenter joined Norfolk Southern in 2002, holding positions of increasing responsibility throughout his career. Most recently, he has served as Norfolk Southern’s Senior General Counsel Complex Litigation and Information Governance. His experience spans many significant incidents and regulatory challenges, as well as leadership in corporate litigation and transactional matters.

The Hon. Christine C. Antoun ’97L of Denver, Colorado, died on May 25, 2024. She was a deputy public defender before opening her law practice. She often offered up her expertise and coached trial lawyers from around the country. She was routinely asked to judge and critique Moot Court and Mock Trial programs for the law schools in Denver and Boulder.

Class notes and other updates can be emailed to Joan Miller at jhmiller@wlu.edu