University of Virginia
Nonprofit
Organization
US Postage
Law School Foundation
PAID
580 Massie Road
FALL 2015
Permit No. 248
Charlottesville, VA
Charlottesville, Virginia 22903
www.law.virginia.edu/alumni
THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA SCHOOL OF LAW
LEARNING BY DOING
FROM THE DEAN PAUL G. MAHONEY
…
“Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always
cool and unruff led under all circumstances.” —THOMAS JEFFERSON
Theory and Practice
UPCOMING ALUMNI EVENTS
January 13
Miami Reception with Professor A. E. Dick Howard ’61
Offices of Greenberg Traurig
February 17
Atlanta Luncheon
Four Seasons Hotel
February 17
Birmingham Reception
Summit Club
March 2
Dallas Luncheon
Belo Mansion
March 2 Houston Reception
Four Seasons Hotel
March 16 New York City Luncheon
Yale Club
March 30
Northern Virginia Reception
Ritz Carlton, Tysons Corner
April 13
Williamsburg Reception
Home of Sharon and Chuck Owlett
May 13–15
Law Alumni Weekend
Charlottesville
June 2
Richmond Reception
McGuireWoods
June 8
Washington, D.C.
Mayflower Hotel
FOR LATEST ON ALUMNI EVENTS: www.law.virginia.edu/alumni
W
hat should law schools teach? The
question is as old as law schools
themselves. Thomas Jefferson wanted his
Law School to train citizen lawyers capable
of self-government. To that end, his plan
for the curriculum included not just the
complexities of doctrine, pleading, and
procedure, but broad training in political
philosophy and government similar to
what Jefferson himself had received under
George Wythe’s tutelage. The curriculum
took a more practical turn beginning in the
1840s under Professor John Barbee Minor.
Minor created a two-year program in
which the first year was devoted to topics that “form an
essential part of a liberal professional education” while
the second focused on “the study of the theory and
practice of Law, as a profession.” The combination of
theory and practice has characterized the Law School’s
curriculum ever since.
In recent years, the profession has pushed law schools
to offer more “experiential learning” such as clinics and
simulation-based courses. The American Bar Association
now requires that a student earn six credits in skills courses
in order to graduate. Both New York and California are
considering additional requirements in order to sit for their
bar exams. The possibility that there may be multiple and
conflicting state-level requirements presents a challenge for
national law schools like Virginia as well as for the ABA.
We have long had a system in which holding a degree from
an accredited law school enables a graduate to sit for the bar
in any state; that system may be coming to an end.
Putting aside the administrative challenges, how much
should law schools focus on experiential learning? At
Virginia, our approach has been enabling. We recognize
that our graduates go on to careers in large, small, and
medium-sized firms; in litigation, transactional, tax,
and other practice areas; in government agencies and
nonprofits; in finance, management, and academia. Our
goal has been to make it possible for each student to
assemble a program of training that works for him or her.
As part of the menu, we offer an
extraordinarily wide range of clinical
programs. We are fortunate, thanks to our
alumni, to have the resources to make these
deep and meaningful learning experiences,
whether the student is representing a child
with special educational needs, arguing
a case before a federal appellate court, or
shaping environmental regulation through
the notice and comment process. We also
offer a vibrant externship program to give
students who may want to practice in
government agencies or nonprofits a look
at what that practice entails.
But clinics and externships, attractive as they are for
many students, are not the best option for every student.
That is why our approach has not been merely on
experiential learning, narrowly defined, but on contextual
learning. We try to ensure that every single graduate
understands the practical settings in which particular legal
questions arise and can see them not as abstractions but
as problems to be solved for a client as part of that client’s
pursuit of a broader set of goals.
That was the animating concept behind the Principles
and Practice courses that Bob Scott designed. They put
practitioners in the classroom with members of our
faculty to teach substantive law in context. It was also the
motivation behind the Law and Business Program that
John Jeffries inaugurated as well as the Law and Public
Service Program that we introduced during my deanship.
The Law School’s curriculum must stay abreast of
developments within legal practice while providing essential
training in the methods and style of legal reasoning so
that every graduate of the Law School, regardless of career
path, will be able to say that the education provided here
contributed substantially to his or her success. I hope
you enjoy reading about how we try to achieve that
objective today.
FEATURE STORIES
22
Clinics Turn Doctrine and Policy Into Practice
26
DEPARTMENTS
1
FROM THE DEAN
Theory and Practice
5
LAW SCHOOL NEWS
46
FACULTY NEWS
& BRIEFS
55
CLASS NOTES
77
IN MEMORIAM
79
IN PRINT
Theory vs. Practice: A False Dichotomy?
32
Partnership Power: UVA Law + LAJC
34
Externship Program Puts Students in Offices
36
Getting it Right: Legal Research and Writing
38
Labs and Courtrooms: Improving Forensics Analysis
40
Supreme Court Litigation Clinic Wins Big
42
Clinical Offerings Engage Students
83
TO THE EDITOR
84
CLOSING REMARKS
Learning by Doing
in Los Angeles
On the cover: Members of the jury, a.k.a.
Appellate Litigation Clinic Students
FALL 2015 VOL. 39, NO. 2 | EDITOR CULLEN COUCH ASSOCIATE EDITOR DENISE FORSTER CONTRIBUTING WRITER REBECCA BARNS DESIGN ROSEBERRIES PHOTOGRAPHY IAN BRADSHAW, TOM COGILL, TOM DALY, COLE GEDDY, ROBERT LLWELLYN, KIMBERLY REICH, ERIC WILLIAMSON
LAW SCHOOL NEWS
NEW PILA PLAN | Mary Wood
CHANGE IN VIRGINIA Funding Guarantee for
Summer Public Service Jobs
Improved
Lawyering Behind
State’s Vanishing
Death Penalty
T
office in the late 1990s,” said Assistant Dean
he Law School will guarantee fundfor Public Service Annie Kim ’99, director
ing for qualifying students working in
of the Public Service Center. “The program
public service jobs over the summer under
has flourished since then to become one
a new plan for Public Interest Law Associaof the best of its kind. I’m so pleased that
tion (PILA) grants.
funding will be accessible to every stuFirst- and second-years who meet the
dent who wants to dedicate a summer to
requirements—including volunteering a
public service.”
minimum number of pro bono and public
PILA grants began as Student-Funded
service hours while in law school—will
Fellowships under the Student Bar Assoreceive grants of $3,750 and $6,500 before
ciation in 1982, when funding was provided
taxes, respectively, to work for public-sector
to six students. By 1996 the Law School
employers.
Foundation began matching funds raised
“This is an important step in the evoby students.
lution of a program that has encouraged
In recent years the school has funded
many students to pursue public service, not
every student who qualified for a grant, but
only during the summer, but after graduit was not guaranteed. Submitted applicaation,” Dean Paul G. Mahoney said. “We
tions were ranked by the PILA board, which
could not have taken it without the support
also conducted interviews of applicants.
of our alumni.”
PILA president and third-year Reedy
Starting this year, the student-run PILA
Swanson said he expected the new process
will work closely with the Mortimer Caplin
would be easier for
Public Service Center
applicants.
to administer the grant
“We’re thrilled to be
application process,
grants amounting to more
able to take much of the
and the Public Service
than $1.2 million were given to
uncertainty out of this
Center will handle the
students working in public service jobs
process,” Swanson said.
disbursement of grants.
over the summer from 2013 to 2015.
“Students can focus on
Most funding for the
finding a job without
g r ants comes f rom
having to worry about whether they’ll
alumni donations through the Law School
have financial support when they do.”
Foundation. In the past three years alone,
PILA typically raises funds through its
292 grants worth more than $1.2 million
fall auction, used textbook sale, and other
have been given to students.
efforts that will continue, Swanson said.
“PILA grants have a long and proud
Students who receive grants donate back
tradition at the Law School. I remember
20 hours of service to PILA the following
vividly receiving my grant check as a
school year.
1L student to work at a public defender’s
“We depend on the support of grantees
to pay it forward to the next generation of
Innocence Project Clinic participants. Clockwise from
left, Angelique Ciliberti, Ashley Clinton, James Billard,
students,” Swanson said. n
Laura Franks, instructor Jennifer Givens, and private
292
investigator Lisa Inlow.
V
irginia has the highest rate of executions of any death penalty state and
has executed the third-highest number
of prisoners since the 1970s. Yet there are
now two or fewer trials a year in Virginia
at which a judge or jury considers imposing
the death penalty.
A new study of death penalty trials in
the state by Professor Brandon Garrett
found that over one-half of the capital trials
in Virginia in the past decade now result in
a life sentence (11 of 21 cases from 2005 to
the present at which there was a capital sentencing hearing resulting in a life sentence).
There have been no new death sentences in
Virginia since 2011.
Garrett, the author of Convicting the
Innocent: Where Criminal Prosecutions Go
Wrong, said the reason for the sudden
decline may be that attorneys are getting
better at fighting for their clients’ lives. In
2004, Virginia’s legislature created regional
capital defense resource centers to handle
capital cases, especially death penalty
investigations and trials. The change came
in the wake of a Virginia commission report
on indigent defense in the state, which was
found lacking.
“The impact of improved lawyering is
striking, particularly in the cases that the
regional offices handled, but also across the
board,” Garrett said. “The study suggests that
it does not take the ‘best of the best’ or some
kind of ‘dream team’ to effectively represent
a capital defendant. But it does take a team,
a team of specialist capital defense lawyers
and investigators, preferably working in an
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 5
LAW SCHOOL NEWS
…
considered by a judge or jury, as well as a
large collection of pre-2005 capital trials.
At the guilt phase, problems persist,
Garrett said. Many trials from the past
decade involved contested facts regarding
guilt, including undocumented confession
statements and eyewitness evidence, a problem that Garrett has tracked.
“Mo s t Vi r g i n i a
agencies still do not
require recording of interrogations or use best
practices for lineups,”
he said. Many cases
continue to involve confessions to police (seven
of 20 cases, few of which
were entirely recorded
interrogations), informants (12 of 20 cases
had informants of one
kind or another), or eyewitness identifications
(seven of 20 cases).
The study suggests that it does not take the
In the last decade,
only seven counties im‘best of the best’ or some kind of ‘dream team’ posed death sentences in
Virginia, and nine of the
to effectively represent a capital defendant.
11 death sentences were
imposed in some of the
But it does take a team …”
largest jurisdictions. In
decades past, however,
a broad range of counties, including some
From 1996 to 2004 the sentencing phase
of the smallest in the state, imposed large
was typically cursory, averaging less than
numbers of death sentences.
two days. In capital trials since 2005 the
“Smaller jurisdictions clearly lost their
average was twice that—four days for sentaste for capital trials first, but now almost
tencing. Still more striking was the increase
the entire commonwealth has followed
during that time period in the numbers of
their lead,” Garrett said.
defense witnesses called and the more exCapital murder continues to be regularly
tensive use of expert witnesses, particularly
charged and still serves a role in plea-barto develop mental health evidence.
gaining in Virginia, but few counties still
The sentencing hearings in cases
impose death sentences.
handled by regional capital defenders
“The ‘new’ Virginia death penalty is
were still more robust. At sentencing, the
almost never imposed, and when it is, a
bulk of the witnesses and experts are now
death sentence is so freakish that it raises
called by the defense, as compared to the
the constitutional concerns with arbitrari1990s, when, Garrett said, “sentencing was
ness under the Eighth Amendment that
an afterthought, and the defense presented
U.S. Supreme Court justices have long
almost no sentencing cases at all once
expressed,” Garrett said. “Virginia may be
the jury found the defendant guilty of
a bellwether for the future of the American
capital murder.”
death penalty.” n
For the study, Garrett obtained a complete collection of transcripts from Virginia
cases dated 2005 to 2015 at which death was
office, that understand the very different
way that a death penalty case must be
litigated from its inception.”
Garrett said the effects of better lawyering can be seen in how the sentencing phase,
at which the judge or jury decided whether
to impose the death penalty, has changed in
recent years.
“
6 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
TAX JUSTICE | Eric Williamson
Professor
Scores Victory
for Taxpayers
with Influential
Supreme Court
Amicus
P
rofessor Ruth Mason, an expert in comparative taxation, facilitated a victory
for tax justice in the U.S. when her amicus
brief, co-authored with Michael S. Knoll
of the University of Pennsylvania, helped
persuade the Supreme Court in its decision
last term in Comptroller of the Treasury of
Maryland v. Wynne.
The case involved a Maryland couple,
Brian and Karen Wynne, who challenged
being taxed by the state for income earned
outside the state—income they had already
paid taxes on elsewhere. Mason and Knoll’s
analysis showed that the case wasn’t about
double taxation, however, but about tax
discrimination. The Court ruled Maryland’s
tax scheme discriminated against interstate
commerce.
“The reason that they found the tax to
be discriminatory was due to economic
analysis, which we and another amicus brief
provided,” Mason said. “This case implicated everything I’ve been working on in
my academic research for the last 10 years.”
Mason and Knoll filed their amicus in
September 2014, and although their arguments were only touched upon briefly in
October’s [2014] oral arguments, the Court
cited their brief four times in its decision,
and also quoted Mason’s 2008 article, “Made
in America for European Tax: The Internal
Consistency Test.”
“Once the decision came out, it was
clear the majority relied on our arguments,”
she said.
The Court based its decision in the
Commerce Clause of the Constitution. The
clause gives the federal government the
express power to regulate commerce among
“
You cannot ignore any one component. This
in-state commerce? If
the answer is yes,
then the challenged
is really important because the state can bury
tax rule discriminates
in violation of the
discrimination—obscure it—in just one component.”
dormant Commerce
Clause.”
Mason said that one of the advantages
the states, and the Court has interpreted
of the internal consistency test is that it enthe clause to have a dormant aspect that
ables the court to consider all components
restricts states from implementing laws
of a state’s tax system: taxes on inbound,
that discriminate against interstate comoutbound and domestic sources.
merce. The recent decision builds on the
“Wynne made it clear that when you’re
so-called internal consistency test that the
doing a tax discrimination inquiry you
court developed in the 1980s for state tax
have to look at all three components of the
discrimination cases. The test identifies
system,” she said. “You cannot ignore any
instances where the taxing scheme disone component. This is really important
criminates against interstate commerce in
because the state can bury discrimination—
comparison to in-state commerce.
obscure it—in just one component.”
“The Supreme Court in Wynne clarified
Maryland now may owe as much as
that the internal consistency test applies in
$200 million in refunds and interest to the
any kind of tax discrimination case, which is
Wynnes and other affected residents—and
a helpful clarification,” Mason said. “There
the financial implications may be even
was genuine confusion before about which
higher for the estimated thousands of state
cases internal consistency applied to.”
and local governments who must reconcile
She said the concept of internal consissimilar tax laws.
tency is simple when broken down: “The
“The Court did not specify how
Court hypothetically assumes that all states
Maryland had to correct its discrimination,”
implement the challenged state’s tax rule.
Mason said. “For example, the Court didn’t
And then the Court asks, in this hypothetisay that Maryland had to credit the taxes of
cally harmonized situation, does interstate
other states, but crediting other states’ taxes
commerce bear a higher tax burden than
is the easiest way for Maryland or any other
state or locality to bring its tax in line with
the internal consistency test.”
Mason said the principle of internal consistency could be useful to courts outside
of the U.S. as well. Her “Made in America”
paper, which the Court cited, discusses possible applications for the European Union.
“One of the things I’ve been arguing
since 2008 is that the European Court of
Justice should use the internal consistency
test because it really simplifies these inquiries about whether the state discriminates,”
she said.
Mason, the Hunton & Williams Professor of Law, joined the tax faculty in 2013,
having previously taught at the University
of Connecticut School of Law.
The amicus brief was the first Mason
ever filed. She said it was a rare opportunity
to participate in a tax discrimination case at
the Supreme Court level.
“The Supreme Court doesn’t often grant
cert in tax discrimination cases,” she said.
“It’s really nice to see the theory get translated into practice and to have an impact.”
Mason is writing a follow-up paper
with Knoll, provisionally entitled “Legal and
Economic Misconceptions in Comptroller v.
Wynne,” and will incorporate the case into her
January term course, Tax Discrimination. n
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 7
LAW SCHOOL NEWS
…
BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE EVIDENCE | Eric Williamson
As Congress Considers Sentencing
Reform, What Is the Role of Risk?
A
key problems for making risk assessment an
effective ongoing practice.
Monahan said Congress is proposing
several pieces of legislation in response
to the country’s growing incarceration
problem.
“One thing those bills all have in
common is use of risk assessment in sentencing,” he said.
Last year the Bureau
of Justice Statistics
The fiscal and human toll of mass incarceration is
reported that one in
35 adults in the United
difficult to justify, particularly in an era when crime
States was under some
form of correctional
rates are at historic lows.”
supervision.
“The fiscal and
human toll of mass incarceration is difficult
In the forthcoming article “Risk
to justify, particularly in an era when crime
Assessment in Criminal Sentencing,” to be
rates are at historic lows,” Monahan said.
published next year in the Annual Review
But as jurisprudence has begun to shift
of Clinical Psychology, Monahan and cofrom a just deserts approach to a risk assessauthor Jennifer L. Skeem of the University
ment approach, he said, how judges weigh
of California, Berkeley examine jurisprurisk is becoming increasingly important.
dential theories on risk assessment, which
“What we have tried to do in the paper
attempt to determine the risk of recidivism
is to clarify issues that are presented when
and the defendant’s overall threat to society.
one bases criminal sentencing in part not
The authors also review how risk is defined
just on people’s moral responsibility for
and used in the judicial process, and address
s congressional leaders propose reforms to harsh criminal sentencing
laws that many believe have contributed to
prison overcrowding nationwide, Professor
John Monahan, an expert in violence risk
assessment and how courts use behavioral
science evidence, is taking a closer look at
risk’s role in the sentencing process.
“
8 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
LAW SCHOOL NEWS
…
committing crime in the past, but also in
part on people’s empirical likelihood of
committing more crime in the future,” he
said.
Monahan said he relied upon his more
than 40 years of studying risk assessment
of violence within the context of the mental
health system to make comparisons for the
paper. He and his colleague found that current problems with the assessment process
include conflating risk with blame, focusing
on clinical rather than group-based risk
assessment, failing to distinguish risk assessment from risk reduction, and ignoring
the potential for risk assessment in sentencing to affect racial and economic disparities
in imprisonment.
In many instances, judges have been
reluctant to look at demographics as they
determine risk, Monahan said.
“[But] age is clearly associated with
criminal recidivism, and gender is also a
risk factor,” he said. “It’s not unusual to
use gender as a risk factor in civil commitment to the mental health system, and the
existence of gender differences in various
diseases is common.”
In fact, he said, “Not to use gender as a
risk factor in health care would be simple
malpractice.”
But Monahan said that caution has to be
taken when looking at statistics, too.
“If using risk assessment in sentencing results in increasing racial disparity in
imprisonment rates—which is an open empirical question—this would obviously be a
great concern,” he said. “Former Attorney
General Eric Holder stated shortly before
he left office that his major reservation in
risk assessment for sentencing was that it
could exacerbate existing disparities in imprisonment, and he is certainly right to be
concerned about it.”
Monahan, a psychologist, is a member
of the National Academy of Medicine and
serves on the National Research Council. He
was the founding president of the American
Psychological Association’s Division of
Psychology and Law, and has been a fellow
of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation
and the Center for Advanced Study in the
Behavioral Sciences. He twice directed
research networks for the John D. and
Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. n
WIPO ASSEMBLY AGREEMENT | Eric Williamson
Protecting Indigenous IP Rights on an International Stage
T
he possibility of an international legal
instrument to protect indigenous IP
rights remains alive thanks to the efforts of
Professor Margo Bagley and international
delegates who worked down to the wire at
recent World Intellectual Property Organization General Assembly talks.
The assembly, held in Geneva, ended
with a minutes-to-spare agreement to
extend the work of the Intergovernmental
Committee on Intellectual Property and
Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge
and Folklore for another two years. The
work of the WIPO committee is considered
essential for nations hoping to forge an
international legal instrument to fill gaps
in the current global IP system relating to
these three categories of subject matter.
“It was hard-fought, but that is what we’ve
been working towards all year—getting IGC
negotiations restarted,” Bagley said.
At the assembly, Bagley continued her
role as a special adviser to Mozambique
and the Africa Group, and also served
as a resource for other diplomats and
governmental representatives who had
questions regarding the intricacies of
international IP law. Bagley is the Hardy
Cross Dillard Professor of Law and Joseph
C. Carter, Jr. Research Professor, an expert
bioactivity, and only 1 percent of microorin international and comparative patent
ganisms, she said, a lot of room still exists
law issues, and co-author of the casebook
for the development of highly useful—and
International Patent Law and Policy.
highly profitable—pharmaceuticals.
She said it’s important that indigenous
groups and local
communities have
protection for their
It was actually very helpful that we had countries
traditional knowledge and folklore, and
from different world regions willing to work
that patent regimes
facilitate, not hinder,
together …”
the proper acquisition
of and sharing of ben“If biodiversity-rich provider countries
efits from genetic resources used to develop
feel they’re being taken advantage of, then
patentable inventions.
they may make it harder to obtain access
“There currently is an imbalance in the
to their genetic resources,” she said. “So we
traditional IP system, which values and rewant researchers to have access to these gewards certain kinds of creativity and effort,
netic resources to study them and to be able
but not others,” she said. “The WIPO IGC
to identify and develop new cures and other
is working to ameliorate that imbalance.”
products beneficial for society globally.”
WIPO is the global forum for intellecBut the push for protections isn’t all
tual property services, policy, information,
about money. Some intellectual property has
and cooperation. They are a self-funding
deeper meaning to rights holders.
agency of the United Nations, with 188
member states.
The development of new drugs has been
Margo Bagley, center, with Martin Girsberger, left, head of the
a driver behind the push for international
Sustainable Development and International Cooperation Unit of
legal efforts to protect genetic resources.
the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property and Georges
Bauer, academic assistant to the unit. Girsberger served as
With only 15 percent of plants around the
head of the Swiss delegation to the World Intellectual Property
world believed to have been examined for
Organization General Assembly.
“
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 9
LAW SCHOOL NEWS
…
LAW SCHOOL NEWS
…
UVA Law
Clerkships
“There may be sacred rituals or artwork
that are not widely known outside of a particular group or community—they’re not
necessarily secret, but they’re not widely
known—that a treaty could provide protection for and perhaps enable the creators to
better control,” Bagley said.
She gave as an example a carpet company that lifted designs from aboriginal
artwork in Australia.
“This was such a violation for the artists because they are the keepers of the
community knowledge that enabled them
to develop the paintings,” she said. “While
they were able to get some relief using copyright law, this created several additional
problems—for example, the fact that the
protection has a time limit. For things that
are sacred, a community would not want
to have a time limit on its ability to control
certain uses. Because as long as that community exists, this artwork is going to be
sacred to its members.”
Bagley, who helped draft assembly
proposals for both the Africa Group and a
diverse coalition of countries that included
Switzerland, Norway, Kenya, New Zealand,
Mozambique, and the Holy See, said the
talks could be tense when groups disagreed,
but that cooperation ultimately won out.
“I was dashing back and forth between
groups,” she said. “It was actually very helpful that we had countries from different
world regions willing to work together on
these issues. There was a lot more crossregional cooperation at these meetings, and
that is something that has been sorely lacking, in the IGC in particular.”
Bagley said it is fortunate for the future
of WIPO and the broader IP system that the
cliffhanger had a positive ending.
“If we had gone another year without
substantive talks in the IGC, I’m not sure
what it would have taken to get them restarted,” she said. “Moreover, the failure
to renew IGC talks would have threatened
progress on the entire normative agenda
at WIPO.”
WIPO will reconvene the committee
for several meetings in 2016–17, with the
objective of deciding at the end of 2017
whether to continue committee-level talks
or schedule a diplomatic conference for
adoption of one or more IGC treaties. n
10 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
2014 Term
2 U.S. Supreme Court
35 U.S. Courts of Appeal
51 U.S. District Courts
and other Federal Courts
17 State Courts
105 GRADUATES
2015 Term
4 U.S. Supreme Court
24 U.S. Courts of Appeal
62 U.S. District Courts
and other Federal Courts
13 State Courts
103 GRADUATES
CLERKSHIPS| Mary Wood
UVA Law Sets School Records Again
in Clerkship Placement
M
ore than 100 UVA Law graduates
are clerking in the 2015–16 court
term, including four at the U.S. Supreme
Court and a school record 62 in U.S. district
courts. This year marks the third time since
2011 that the number of alumni clerkships
has topped 100.
This year’s success follows a recordsetting term in 2014, Director of Clerkships
Ruth Payne ’02 said. That term featured
school records in the number of graduates
at U.S. courts of appeal (35 clerkships), and
the total number of clerkships (105; this
year’s tally so far is 103).
The school’s graduates have a history
of performing well at elite clerkship placement. UVA is fourth in contributing clerks
to the Supreme Court from 2005–15, after
Harvard, Yale, and Stanford. According
to ABA data, Virginia is fifth among law
schools in the number of alumni earning
federal appellate clerkships for the classes
of 2012–14.
“Our students make great clerks—our
judges are happy and come back for more,”
Payne said. “Every year about 75 percent of
our hires are from judges who’ve hired our
graduates before.”
And the number of judges who hire
UVA Law alumni is growing. At least
58 judges appointed by President Barack
Obama have hired graduates.
Payne attributed some of the success to
faculty who are dedicated to helping students achieve the best possible outcome.
“Our faculty both are very generous
about helping students, and also are wellconnected,” she said.
Many alumni who clerk also advise
Payne and students seeking clerkships,
which helps create a cycle of success, she
said. (Payne herself clerked for Judge
J. Harvie Wilkinson III ’72 on the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and
completed a one-year Bristow Fellowship
with the U.S. Office of the Solicitor
From left, Virginia graduates Andrew Kilberg ‘14, Galen Bascom ‘13,
Ben Tyson ‘14, and Jonathan Urick ‘13 are clerking for the Supreme
Court during the 2015 term.
General.) And of course, many judges hold
degrees from UVA Law—160, according to
Payne’s records.
Clerkships are considered a prestigious
stepping stone to a successful career in law.
Graduates who clerk before starting work at
a firm typically receive sizable bonuses and
join as a second-year associate.
“Employers really want you to clerk,”
Payne said, and many government employers hire from the clerk pool. The hiring
process for firms runs in parallel with the
clerkship application and interviewing
process, so that graduates finishing a clerkship can immediately start at a firm without
another job search. Some graduates clerk
for two years with different judges before
launching their career.
Professor Micah Schwartzman ’05, chair
of the Clerkships Committee, said faculty are “strongly committed” to the school’s
clerkships program.
Professor Micah Schwartzman ’05, chair
of the clerkships committee, said faculty are
“strongly committed” to the school’s clerkships program. “Clerking is a great way
to start your legal career, both in terms of
gaining valuable experience and in opening
doors to future career paths,” Schwartzman
said. “Because our students get so much out
of their clerkships, we want to do everything
we can to support them.” n
CLERKSHIPS| Kimberly Reich
Nicole Frazer ’15 to Clerk for
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Scalia
N
Law Review and a member of the Supreme
icole Frazer ’15 will clerk for U.S.
Court Litigation Clinic, Virginia Law
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
Women, the Federalist Society and the Law
during the 2016-17 term.
Christian Fellowship.
“I am thrilled to have been given such a
She also served as a research assistant to
significant opportunity this early on in my
Professor A. E. Dick Howard ’61, himself a
legal career,” Frazer said. “When you have
former Supreme Court law clerk (for Justice
an opportunity like this, you realize how
Hugo L. Black). many different people have invested in you
“Nicole was uncommonly helpful to
and helped you get where you are. It was
incredibly exciting to share
the good news with family
and friends, but it was
When you have an opportunity like this, you
also immensely rewarding to tell the professors
realize how many different people have invested
who have invested in me
and paved the way for this
in you and helped you get where you are.”
accomplishment.
“I’ve had so many fanme as I shaped a law review article on how
tastic professors here, as well as UVA Law
the Supreme Court has changed since the
alumni and past clerks, who helped me
days of Earl Warren,” Howard said. “She
through the entire process. I’m enormously
is blessed with a first-class mind, a flair
grateful for that,” she added.
for research and analysis, and an impresFrazer is currently clerking for a
sive talent for presenting her findings. Her
year with Judge Jeffrey Sutton of the U.S.
scholarship would do justice to a seasoned
Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in
scholar. Justice Scalia will quickly discover
Columbus, Ohio.
what a good decision he has made in bringAt the Law School, Frazer was an aring her on board.” n
ticles development editor for the Virginia
“
Nicole Frazer ’15
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 11
LAW SCHOOL NEWS
…
LAW SCHOOL NEWS
…
Clerkships for the 2015–16 Term
All are members of the Class of 2015 unless otherwise noted.
Evan Adams ’14
The Hon. Carolyn Chiechi
U.S. Tax Court
Ben Aiken ’14
The Hon. Randolph D. Moss
U.S. District Court for the
District of Columbia
Ryan Baasch
The Hon. Karen LeCraft Henderson
U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
Michael Baker ’14
The Hon. D. Brooks Smith
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Andrew Bank
The Hon. Deborah Chasanow
U.S. District Court for the
District of Maryland
Kathryn Barber
The Hon. Leonie M. Brinkema
U.S. District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia
Peter Benson
The Hon. Stephanie D. Thacker
U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Fourth Circuit
Craig Bergman ’12
The Hon. Alison J. Nathan
U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York
Sarah Brigham
The Hon. Stuart L. Peim
N.J. Superior Court
Matthew Brooker
The Hon. J. Harvie Wilkinson III ’72
U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Fourth Circuit
Audrey Brown ’10
U.S. District Court for the Northern
District of Alabama
Ryan Comer
The Hon. Norman K. Moon ’62, LL.M. ’88
U.S. District Court for the
Western District of Virginia
Nicole Frazer
The Hon. Jeffrey S. Sutton
U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Sixth Circuit
Joel Johnson
The Hon. T. S. Ellis III
U.S. District Court for the
Eastern District of Virginia
Adam Crews
The Hon. T. S. Ellis III
U.S. District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia
Alexandra Gabriel
Staff Clerkship
Virginia Beach Circuit Court
Hilary Johnson
The Hon. Thomas L. Gowen
U.S. Court of Federal Claims
Andrew Gann
The Hon. Norman K. Moon ’62, LL.M. ’88
U.S. District Court for the
Western District of Virginia
Cagle Juhan ’12
The Hon. Norman Moon ’62, LL.M. ’88
U.S. District Court for the
Western District of Virginia
J. Todd Garcia
The Hon. Virginia Emerson Hopkins ’77
U.S. District Court for the Northern
District of Alabama
Allen R. Kathir ’14
The Hon. Beth Labson Freeman
U.S. District Court for the Northern
District of California
Aaron Gober-Sims ’14
The Hon. Solomon Oliver, Jr.
U.S. District Court for the Northern
District of Ohio
Hunter Kendrick ’14
The Hon. David Hale
U.S. District Court for the Western
District of Kentucky
Scott Goodwin ’06
The Hon. Kent A. Jordan
U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Third Circuit
Rachel Kinkaid
The Hon. Raymond M. Kethledge
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth
Circuit
Sarah Daley
The Hon. Keith Starrett
U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of Mississippi
Jamie Deal
The Hon. Rebecca Beach Smith
U.S. District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia
Ariel Dean
The Hon. Solomon Oliver, Jr.
U.S. District Court for the
Northern District of Ohio
Diana Dickinson ’14
The Hon. Howard D. McKibben
U.S. District Court for the
District of Nevada
Megan Durkee
The Hon. Arenda Wright Allen
U.S. District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia
Mark Earley
The Hon. Henry E. Hudson
U.S. District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia
Caitlin Eberhardt
The Hon. Michael D. Wilson
Hawaii Supreme Court
Rory Erickson-Kulas
The Hon. Michael Mosman
U.S. District Court for the District of
Oregon
Sarah Buckley ’14
The Hon. Judith W. Rogers LL.M. ’88
U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
Ronald Fisher ’14
The Hon. Michelle T. Friedland
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth
Circuit
Katie Clifford
The Hon. Donald M. Middlebrooks LL.M. ’04
U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of Florida
Francesca Fitch ’14
The Hon. Liam O’Grady
U.S. District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia
12 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
Kieran Hartley ’14
The Hon. Eduardo Rodriguez
U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of Texas
Cara Henis
Judges Rosemary Betts Beauregard and
Kenneth S. Clark, Jr.
Court of Common Pleas in
Georgetown, Delaware
Carl Hennies ’13
The Hon. Henry F. Floyd
U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Fourth Circuit
Genevieve Hoffman
The Hon. Jay Scott Bybee
U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Ninth Circuit
Sejal Jhaveri
The Hon. John A. Gibney, Jr. ’76
U.S. District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia
Thomas Johnson
The Hon. Eldon E. Fallon
U.S. District Court for the Eastern
District of Louisiana
Christopher Knight
The Hon. Gershwin Drain
U.S. District Court for the Eastern
District of Michigan
Leigh Kobrinski ’10
The Hon. Adalberto Jordan
U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Eleventh Circuit
Emily Kveselis ’14
The Hon. Julia Smith Gibbons ’75
U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Sixth Circuit
Michael Landman
The Hon. Stephen Underhill
U.S. District Court for the District of
Connecticut
W. Andrew Lanius
The Hon. Edith H. Jones
U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Fifth Circuit
Hayden Lawson
The Hon. Amos L. Mazzant
U.S. District Court for the Eastern
District of Texas
Justin Lollman ’14
The Hon. Gregory Kent Frizzel
U.S. District Court for the Northern
District of Oklahoma
Mario Peia
The Hon. Legrome D. Davis
U.S. District Court for the Eastern
District of Pennsylvania
Nicholas Roberge
The Hon. Guy Humphrey
U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of Ohio
Samuel Strongin
The Hon. Leo Sorokin
U.S. District Court for the District of
Massachusetts
Trevor Lovell
The Hon. Roger L. Gregory
U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Fourth Circuit
Nick Peterson ’14
The Hon. Eugene E. Siler, Jr. ’63, LL.M. ’95
U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Sixth Circuit
Kathleen Robeson
The Hon. Stephen C. St. John ’77
U.S. District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia
Sean Suber ’14
The Hon. Thomas Vanaskie
U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Third Circuit
Jason Lynch ’12
The Hon. Rosemary Collyer
U.S. District Court for the
District of Columbia
Bryan Podzius
The Hon. Kevin R. Huennekens
U.S. District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia
Jon Sabol ’11
The Hon. Virginia M. Kendall
U.S. District Court for the Northern
District of Illinois
Kaitlin Venables
The Hon. Thomas A. Varlan
U.S. District Court for the Eastern
District of Tennessee
Brian Mammarella
The Hon. John W. Noble
Delaware Court of Chancery
K. Ross Powell
The Hon. Robert G. Doumar ’53, LL.M. ’88
U.S. District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia
Franklin Sacha
The Hon. Ed Carnes
U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Eleventh Circuit
Jessica Wagner
The Hon. Jerry E. Smith
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Archith Ramkumar ’13
The Hon. Dennis Jacobs
U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Second Circuit
Charles Shin ’13
The Hon. Lee Solomon
New Jersey Supreme Court
David Martin
The Hon. James L. Robart
U.S. District Court for the Western
District of Washington
Robert (Charlie) Merritt III
The Hon. Thomas Johnston
U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of West Virginia
Heather Milligan
The Hon. Thomas C. Wheeler
U.S. Court of Federal Claims
Sinead O’Doherty ’08
The Hon. Patrick Auld
U.S. District Court for the Middle
District of North Carolina
Amanda Oakes ’14
The Hon. Jeffrey Alker Meyer
U.S. District Court for the District of
Connecticut
Lide Paterno
The Hon. Paul V. Niemeyer
U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Fourth Circuit
Nick Reaves
The Hon. D. Brooks Smith
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Heidi Siegmund
The Hon. Robert Payne
U.S. District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia
Brett Rector
The Hon. Michael F. Urbanski ’81
U.S. District Court for the Western
District of Virginia
Matthew Skanchy
The Hon. Robert G. Doumar ’53, LL.M. ’88
U.S. District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia
Rhett D. Ricard
The Hon. Henry M. Herlong
U.S. District Court for the District of
South Carolina
Allison Smith
The Hon. Rebecca Beach Smith
U.S. District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia
Kevin Richards ’14
The Hon. Alan D. Lourie
U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Federal Circuit
Jessica Sommer ’12
The Hon. Elizabeth Harris
Colorado Court of Appeals
Catharine Richmond ’14
The Hon. Elwood Lui
California Court of Appeal
Taylor Steffan
The Hon. Patrick E. Higginbotham
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Dan Wallmuth
The Hon. John Anderson
U.S. District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia
Porter Wells
The Hon. Josiah Dennis Coleman
Mississippi Supreme Court
Christopher White
The Hon. James Cacheris
U.S. District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia
Sam Whitt ’12
The Hon. Leonard P. Stark
U.S. District Court for the District of
Delaware
Jack Zugay
The Hon. David Guaderrama
U.S. District Court for the Western
District of Texas
Ryan Zumwalt
The Hon. Daniel P. Jordan III ’93
U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of Mississippi
Caroline Courtney Stewart
The Hon. James O. Browning ’81
U.S. District Court for the District of
New Mexico
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 13
LAW SCHOOL NEWS
…
LAW SCHOOL NEWS
…
2015 GRADUATION AWARDS
COMMENCEMENT | Mary Wood
Core Values Matter,
DeMaurice Smith ’89 Tells Class of 2015
T
he Class of 2015 should uphold core
values, including having courage and
helping others, NFL Players Association
Executive Director DeMaurice Smith ’89
told graduates at commencement on May 17.
“Know that the personal and core values
that you want to believe matter, actually do
matter,” Smith said. Those values include
treating colleagues well, no matter how they
treat you, he added. “Your greatest victories
will always be those that include the successes of others.”
Smith leads the union responsible for
protecting the interests of NFL players,
a position to which he was twice unanimously elected by a board of active player
representatives. He is a former assistant
U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., and was
counsel to then-Deputy Attorney General
Eric H. Holder Jr. After his government
service ended and before his current role,
Smith worked as a partner in the
law firms Latham & Watkins and
Patton Boggs.
In a speech peppered with humor
and heart, Smith said that he started
to speculate at his selection as the
commencement speaker, as surely
other alumni were better qualified.
To realize that might be the case
“was even a little … deflating,” he
said slyly, referring to then-current
Deflategate woes in the NFL.
Though he didn’t take courses in
antitrust, labor law, or sports law—
all areas he focuses on in his current
role—Smith said he gained a strong
sense of camaraderie with classmates
and gained “authentic friendships.”
“I owe a tremendous debt to this
law school because it gave me the start
that today it gives each of you,” he said.
“I look for opportunities to give back,
because the Law School—as we are
fond of saying—took a chance on me.”
He encouraged the class to help
others the way he was helped.
14 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
“‘Self-made’ is a myth, and therefore
we have a duty to reach back, pull up and
provide a foundation so that hard work can
actually make dreams a reality,” he said. “It
does obligate each and every one of us to
make the same investment for someone else.”
He also encouraged students to be courageous in applying their newfound skills.
He pointed to his successful negotiation
of a historic 10-year collective bargaining
agreement in 2011 with the league and NFL
Commissioner Roger Goodell, following a
132-day lockout.
The players’ goals weren’t about money,
he said, but about “a desire to realize a
vision that our players are more than fungible commodities.”
The resulting agreement resulted in
less rough contact for players in practice,
broader access to better pensions and better
access to health care, he said.
“History proves that the only thing that
makes a vision for a better tomorrow a reality is courage,” he said. “Courage still, and
will always, matter.”
He challenged graduates to find “good
fights” to tackle.
“Ours is a profession that is designed
to arm advocates with the ability to bring
fairness to every contest, and it is grounded
in a belief that justice is a right that can be
achieved by any person,” he said.
The students in the Class of 2015 who
were once strangers are now classmates and
friends, Smith said.
“The years that will come after today will
bring you both joy and pain, but the real
benefit of living through both of them is that
it will sear into you that which is truly important and truly worth living for, every day.”
In total, the Law School conferred 406
degrees: 367 J.D.s, 40 LL.M.s, and one S.J.D.
17,563 pro bono hours to assist those who cannot afford legal
103 graduates met the Pro Bono Challenge by each contributing 75 hours or more of
pro bono service
$23,000
Graduates led an effort to raise more than
through the softball invitational for a local
nonprofit and students working in public service positions over the summer
Through Public Interest Law Association fundraising, the class made it possible for other
students to work in public service
During their three years,
10 student-run academic journals published a total of 37 issues
Two graduates were featured on the Peabody-award-winning podcast “Serial”
Several graduates worked on Supreme Court cases (Elonis and Henderson) and argued before
federal and state courts across the country.
Herbert Kramer/Herbert Bangel
Community Service Award:
Megan Margaret Durkee
To the graduate who has contributed the most
to the community.
James C. Slaughter Honor Award:
Sejal Parimal Jhaveri
To an outstanding member of the graduating
class.
Mortimer Caplin Public Service Award:
Sejal Parimal Jhaveri
To a graduate entering a career in the public
service sector who demonstrates the qualities
of leadership, integrity, and service to others.
Thomas Marshall Miller Prize:
Jessica Leigh Wagner
To an outstanding and deserving member of
the graduating class.
Z Society Shannon Award:
Samuel Matthew Strongin
To the graduate with the highest academic
record after five semesters.
Law School Alumni Association Best Note
Award: John Franklin Sacha Jr.
To the member of the graduating class who
wrote the best note in a current issue of a Law
School publication.
Robert E. Goldsten Award for Distinction
in the Classroom: Colin McGovern Downes
To the graduate who has contributed the
most to classroom education by his or her
outstanding recitation and discussion.
Fast Facts About the Class of 2015
The class volunteered
representation
Margaret G. Hyde Award: Joel S. Johnson
To the graduate whose scholarship, character,
personality, activities in the affairs of the school,
and promise of efficiency have entitled him or
her to special recognition.
“You are trained to be leaders, and
you will be, in your careers, in your communities, and in some cases, in elected or
appointed government service,” Dean Paul
Mahoney said. “Your law school is proud of
you and confident of your future.”
Alex Matthews, the outgoing president
of the Student Bar Association and the president of the graduating class, announced
the class gift: 297 graduates—82 percent—
pledged to support the Law School with
financial donations over the next four years.
Matthews also thanked the family members, friends, and others who supported the
students through law school. “Without your
support, guidance, and tolerance, the many
accomplishments of this year’s class would
not have been possible.” n
Roger and Madeleine Traynor Prize:
Lide Evans Paterno and Evan Thomas
To two graduates who have produced
outstanding written work.
Edwin S. Cohen Tax Prize:
Jasmine Nancy Hay and Stephen N. Shashy
To the graduate(s) who has demonstrated
superior scholarship in the tax area.
Earle K. Shawe Labor Relations Award:
Emily Elizabeth Batt
To the graduate who shows the greatest
promise in the field of labor relations.
John M. Olin Prize in Law and Economics:
Megan Elizabeth Colville
To a graduate or graduates who have produced
outstanding written work in the field of law
and economics.
Eppa Hunton IV Memorial Book Award:
Brett W. Rector
To a graduate who demonstrates unusual
aptitude in courses in the field of litigation,
and who shows a keen awareness and
understanding of the lawyer’s ethical and
professional responsibility.
Virginia Trial Lawyers Trial Advocacy
Award: Sarah Alexandra Smith
To a graduate who shows particular promise in
the field of trial advocacy.
Virginia State Bar Family Law Book Award:
Katie R. Packer
To the graduate who has demonstrated the
most promise and potential for the practice of
family law.
For photos, audio, and video see: bit.ly/uvalaw_commencement2015
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 15
LAW SCHOOL NEWS
…
LAW SCHOOL NEWS
…
WELCOME | Eric Williamson, Mary Wood, & Kimberly Reich
New to the Faculty
LEGAL HISTORIAN
J. GORDON HYLTON ’77
F
or J. Gordon Hylton ’77, joining the faculty is both a homecoming and history
repeating itself. A legal historian, Hylton
has been a visiting professor for more than
a decade. He now formally joins UVA from
Marquette Law School, where he had been
on the faculty since 1995.
In addition to his J.D., Hylton holds
an M.A. from the University, and earned
his Ph.D. from Harvard University in the
History of American Civilization. After
law school, he clerked for Justice
Albertis S. Harrison ’28 and Chief Justice
Lawrence I’Anson of the Virginia Supreme
Court and later worked for a year at the
Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, but the bulk of his career has
been spent in academia.
“I had pretty much decided by the time
I finished law school that I wanted to be an
academic,” he said. His research interests
focus on the history of the legal profession,
the history of civil rights, and the legal history of American sports.
This year Hylton is teaching staple law
classes such as Property (he is co-author of
the textbook Property Law and the Public
Interest: Cases and Materials, now in its
fourth edition), as well as his own unique
course: African-American Lawyers from
the Civil War to Present. His research on
the history of African-American lawyers,
particularly in Virginia, has been an ongoing scholarly interest that has resulted in a
book manuscript Hylton says he hopes to
send to publishers later this year.
For Law alumni, Hylton may have
already made his biggest contribution to
school history. As a student he co-founded
(with Fred Vogel ’77) the North Grounds
Softball League, which has since become
famous for hosting its annual charity tournament among law schools.
“I don’t think any of us thought the
league would still be here even the next year,
let alone 40 years later,” he said.
“
FAMILY LAW, JURISPRUDENCE EXPERT
GREGG STRAUSS
G
regg Strauss, a family law, jurisprudence, and philosophy expert who is
offering fresh insight into questions about
marriage, joined the Law School as an associate professor of law.
Strauss recently served as a visiting
assistant professor at Duke Law School. At
UVA he is teaching Torts and Family Law.
Strauss holds a Ph.D. in philosophy
and a J.D. from the University of Illinois,
Urbana-Champaign, and a B.A. in philosophy from Emory University. He clerked for
Judges William M. Conley and Barbara B.
Crabb of the U.S. District Court for the
Western District of Wisconsin for two years
after law school.
Much of Strauss’ recent scholarship has
revolved around defining a theory behind
marriage, including why the state is involved in licensing marriages at all.
“Why not just get out of that business
altogether? It would certainly seem to make
things easier: You would avoid the problems
I had pretty much decided by the time I finished law school that
I wanted to be an academic.”
of the state deciding who gets to count
their relationship as a marriage, you
would avoid religious objections to
being required to license same-sex
marriages,” he said.
In “Why the State Cannot ‘Abolish
Marriage,’” Strauss argues that the law
could discard the title “marriage,” but
cannot extricate itself from it. Run-of-themill contract and tort standards, Strauss
said, apply differently to different relationships—strangers, clients, employees—and
the same is true for spouses. Even without
an official status of “marriage,” judges would
still need to classify relationships and articulate marriage-like doctrines.
Understanding why the law involves
itself in our relationships, Strauss argues,
is necessary to unravel current marriage
controversies. In particular, he’s using
these ideas to examine polygamy in light
of the extension of marriage rights to
same-sex couples.
Strauss said his interest in jurisprudence
drives him to understand the “deep
philosophical underpinnings” of certain
areas of law, such as torts and family law. He
said he believes the contours of marriage
and divorce law reflect underlying moral
obligations between spouses.
“
The system certainly remains in dire need of prosecutors and
defenders who are smart, fair, and committed to their responsibilities
under the Constitution.”
LITIGATION VETERAN
JENNIFER GIVENS
L
itigation veteran Jennifer Givens has
joined the Innocence Project Clinic as
legal director.
In her new role, Givens works with
students as they investigate and litigate
wrongful convictions of inmates in Virginia.
She co-teaches the classroom portion of
the clinic with Director of Investigation
Deirdre Enright ’92, investigates cases and
file pleadings, and helps evaluate which
cases the clinic will take. Because some
of the cases may go to court, Givens’ role
will include litigation and related efforts in
those situations.
“This is an area of law that I feel very
passionately about, so I feel fortunate to be
able to do this critically important work,”
Givens said.
Most recently, Givens worked in Philadelphia as an assistant federal defender with
the Capital Habeas Unit of the Federal
Defender Office for the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania. She also previously handled
death penalty appeals at the Virginia Capital Representation Resource Center in
Richmond and in Charlottesville.
Her career successes include securing
a grant of clemency for a severely mentally
ill client and winning a life sentence for an
intellectually disabled client, both of whom
had been sentenced to death in Virginia.
“The same types of issues are generally
at play in all of these cases,” she said. “We’ll
re-examine cases in the hopes of determining what went wrong at trial.”
“There are only a handful of lawyers
in the whole country who can claim the
necessary legal expertise that Professor
Givens can, having devoted her entire
legal career to the post-conviction defense
of both state death row clients in Virginia
and federal death row clients while working in Pennsylvania,” Enright said. “She is a
necessary asset to both of our clinics—the
Innocence Project Clinic and the student
volunteer group, the Virginia Innocence
Project Pro Bono Clinic—and of
course, to all our clients.”
Givens said she is looking forward
to helping foster student interest in
criminal post-conviction work. “The
criminal justice system remains in
desperate need of talented and devoted
lawyers,” Givens said. “And the system
certainly remains in dire need of
prosecutors and defenders who are
smart, fair, and committed to their
responsibilities under the Constitution.
Exposing the law students to cases
from the clinic will encourage them
to put their talents to good use in
that respect.” n
From left, Gordon Hylton ’77, Gregg Strauss,
and Jennifer Givens.
16 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 17
LAW SCHOOL NEWS
…
LAW SCHOOL NEWS
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which students provide pro bono services
in partnership with legal aid organizations
abroad. They also host a biannual diversity
reception to help kick-start the career-search
season for first-years. The event gives BLSA
members and students from other organizations the opportunity to network with
attendees from partner firms.
“BLSA is one of the most vibrant and
vital student organizations on our Law
Grounds. Their academic and professional
programs always are first rate, and they
consistently enrich our community by
coming up with innovative ways of supporting everyone who studies and works here,”
said Coughlin. n
BLSA LEADERSHIP | Kimberly Reich
Students Selected to Leadership
Positions in National Association
F
our Law students are serving in leadership positions for the National Black
Law Students Association during the
2015–16 term.
Through serving on the national board, Josephine Biemkpa ’16,
Charis Redmond ’17, Renee Manson ’16,
and Danielle Stokes ’16 support operations
for one of the nation’s largest student-run
organizations, which represents thousands
of minority law students and aims to “increase the number of culturally responsible
black and minority attorneys who excel
academically, succeed professionally, and
positively impact the community,” according to NBLSA’s mission statement.
“It’s incredibly exciting to see our student leaders tapped for these national roles
because they now have the opportunity to
shape a number of important dialogues
taking place around the country,” said
Professor Anne Coughlin, who is a member
of the school’s BLSA chapter advisory
council, along with Senior Director of Law
Firm Recruiting Patrice Hayden ’02 and
Professor A. Benjamin Spencer.
“But the development comes as no
surprise to those of us who have worked
closely with BLSA over the years. Our BLSA
18 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
leaders are among the best of the best, and
the national organization is fortunate to
have them on board.”
Biemkpa, the association’s national
director of membership, chairs NBLSA’s
membership committee and works with
regional liaisons to assist current chapters
and members, while also creating new
chapters, reactivating inactive chapters, and
compiling membership statistics and data.
There are currently more than 200 chapters
nationwide on the law and pre-law levels.
“I am really excited to be working with
a diverse group of like-minded individuals around the country and abroad on the
pre-law, law school and alumni levels,”
Biemkpa said. Biemkpa is a Howard
University alumna.
Manson is the national director of
NBLSA’s Frederick Douglass Moot Court
Competition. She oversees the national
moot court competition, which includes
six regional competitions and the final held
each year during the national convention.
She will determine the problem, set the
rules, and seek accreditation for the competitions. Manson holds degrees from the
University of California, Riverside, and the
University of Pennsylvania.
Redmond, a graduate of George Washington University in Washington, D.C.,
is NBLSA’s programming specialist and
the current president of UVA Law’s BLSA
chapter. She is responsible for developing
and evaluating the effectiveness of existing
NBLSA programs. As part of her role, she
will help plan activities for the 48th Annual
NBLSA Convention, slated for March 9–13
in Baltimore. In the past, the convention
has featured events centered on topics like
mentoring, social media, and ethics.
Stokes, a graduate of the University of
Richmond, will assist in organizing the
NBLSA moot court competition as the national moot court specialist. Working with
the moot court director and the regional
directors, she will solicit sponsors and program participants.
The women said their roles at NBLSA
draw from the strengths of the Law School’s
BLSA chapter. Redmond pointed to community, academic achievement, career
development, and community service as
constant touchstones for BLSA, which has
been active since 1970.
“Our chapter is a safe space for everyone
who identifies with our mission, regardless of
color,” she said. “We try to create a supportive, family-like atmosphere that embraces
diversity and leads others to do the same.”
The Virginia Law chapter sponsors an
annual international service trip, during
ADVISING | Kimberly Reich & Eric Williamson
School Bolsters
Career Counseling
Services
U
VA Law recently welcomed new
career counselors to strengthen
advising services for students and alumni.
Lauren Ventre ’12 and Marit Spekman ’09
are the new directors of career services,
and Lawton Tufts is the director of public
service and alumni advising.
Ventre began with Career Services last
year as associate director, having previously
managed the On-Grounds Interviewing
program for the University’s undergraduate
Career Services—a role that involved
coordinating the logistics of more than
6,500 interviews annually for more than
3,000 students and recruiters. She also
worked with a team that was responsible for
maintaining and developing relationships
with employers interested in recruiting
University students.
Spekman comes from the New
York office of Willkie Farr & Gallagher,
where she was an associate for six years
and served as a member of the firm’s
Professional Personnel/Legal Recruiting
and Professional Development committees.
Both earned law and bachelor’s degrees
from UVA.
Spekman and Ventre advise students
and alumni on private-sector positions,
helping them evaluate practice areas, firms,
and legal markets and develop strategies to
compete effectively for the positions they
target. They assist students as they create
resumes and cover letters and work with
them to prepare effectively for interviews.
They also are working on a range of office
initiatives, including developing online
resources and programming for students
and assisting with employer relations.
As a member of the Mortimer Caplin
Public Service Center team, Tufts will
counsel both current students interested
in pursuing careers in public service and
alumni who are considering transitioning
to positions within the public sector.
Prior to joining UVA Law, Tufts practiced law in Lexington, Va., where he
litigated criminal and family law cases
at a small firm and served as a guardian
ad litem for children. More recently, he
worked as an assistant public defender
for the Charlottesville-Albemarle Public
Defender’s Office, a role in which he represented hundreds of indigent defendants in
misdemeanor and felony trials, while also
assisting in hiring and supervising interns
for the office.
In his new position, Tufts will counsel
current students to best position themselves
for their long-term career goals, including
helping them navigate the public service
sector, customize their resume, participate in mock interviews, or connect with
recent alumni.
Tufts says he plans to expand the Public
Service Center’s mentorship program,
which links students with alumni working
in public interest roles who have similar
interests. “I’m excited to get to know our
students and alumni and be able to forge
lasting connections between the students,
alumni, and the Law School,” Tufts said. n
From left, Lauren Ventre ’12,
Marit Spekman ’09, and
Lawton Tufts.
From left: Renee Manson ’16, Charis Redmond ’17, and
Josephine Biemkpa ’16. Right, Danielle Stokes ’16.
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 19
LAW SCHOOL NEWS
…
LAW SCHOOL NEWS
…
VIRGINIA ENVIRONMENTAL LAW JOURNAL SYMPOSIUM
WATER
RIGHTS
IN THE EASTERN UNITED STATES
Current Issues in Law and Policy
9 a.m.
BREAKFAST
Co-sponsored by the Virginia Environmental Law Forum
9:45 a.m.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
JONATHAN CANNON University of Virginia School of Law
10 a.m.
THE TRI-STATE WATER WAR
WILLIAM ANDREEN University of Alabama School of Law
FRANK CHITWOOD Coosa Riverkeeper
GIL ROGERS Southern Environmental Law Center
TODD SILLIMAN Dentons US
Noon
KEYNOTE ADDRESS AND LUNCH
MICHAEL SHAPIRO
Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Water,
Environmental Protection Agency
1:15 p.m.
CURRENT ISSUES IN RIPARIAN LAW
NOAH HALL Wayne State University School of Law
JEROME C. MUYS JR. Sullivan and Worcester
GEORGE SOMERVILLE Troutman Sanders
A SAMPLE OF THE AUDIO AND VIDEO OFFERINGS FOUND ONLINE, ON YOUTUBE, IN ITUNES, AND ON SOUNDCLOUD
FRIDAY,
OCT. 30, 2015
Caplin Pavilion
Seen and Heard at
www.law.virginia.edu/news
FEDERALISM, LAW AND THE ECONOMY
Barry Cushman ’86 of Notre Dame Law
School, Stephanie Hunter McMahon of
the University of Cincinnati College of Law,
Logan Everett Sawyer ’00 of the University
of Georgia College of Law, and Victoria Saker
Woeste of the American Bar Foundation
discuss their work and celebrate the legacy of
University of Virginia legal historian Charles
McCurdy during the panel “Federalism, Law
and the Economy,” moderated by Sarah Milov
of the UVA Department of History.
ADJUDICATING RIGHTS AND INTERESTS
IN A CHANGING NATION
J. Herbie DiFonzo ’77 of Hofstra Law School,
Richard F. Hamm of State University of New
York at Albany Department of History, Reuel
E. Schiller ’93 of University of California,
Hastings College of the Law, and Patricia
Hagler Minter of Western Kentucky University
Department of History discuss their work and
celebrate the legacy of University of Virginia
legal historian Charles McCurdy during the
panel, “Adjudicating Rights and Interests in a
Changing Nation,” moderated by Claudrena
Harold of the UVA Corcoran Department of
History.
20 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
EPA OFFICIAL ON WATER QUALITY,
WATER RIGHTS
FIREARMS, MENTAL ILLNESS,
AND THE LAW
ADVANCING JUSTICE THROUGH
STORYTELLING
Michael Shapiro, deputy assistant
administrator for water with the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, delivers the
keynote address for the Virginia Environmental
Law Journal Symposium, “Water Rights in
the Eastern United States.” Shapiro’s office is
responsible for federal programs to restore
and protect the nation’s waterways and ensure
safe drinking water.
Jeffrey Swanson, professor in psychiatry
and behavioral sciences at Duke University
School of Medicine, delivers the 16th annual P.
Browning Hoffman Memorial Lecture, with an
introduction by Professor Richard Bonnie ’69.
Swanson’s research is focused on building
evidence for policies and laws to prevent
firearm violence and to improve outcomes
for adults with serious mental illnesses in the
community.
Corban Addison ’04 is the author of three
international best-selling novels, A Walk Across
the Sun, The Garden of Burning Sand, and The
Tears of Dark Water. An attorney, activist, and
world traveler, Addison brings attention to
human rights crises around the world through
the art of novel writing.
BACK FROM THE BRINK
Rachel Kleinfeld, a senior associate with the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
who specializes in rule of law theory, speaks on
building the rule of law.
AFTER OBERGEFELL: WHAT’S NEXT
FOR THE LGBTQ MOVEMENT?
Professors Douglas Laycock and Kim FordeMazrui discuss the implications of Obergefell
v. Hodges, the U.S. Supreme Court case
holding that same-sex couples have a right
to marry under the Due Process Clause and
the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth
Amendment to the Constitution.
INTERNATIONAL LAW AND
CYBER SECURITY
Eneken Tikk-Ringas, senior fellow for
cyber security at the International Institute
for Strategic Studies, talks about the
development of international law in the
context of cyber security. These developments
include proposals for a new treaty, different
interpretations of existing norms and the
evolution of new norms. Tikk-Ringas is
introduced by Tom Dukes ’94, deputy
coordinator for cyber issues at the U.S.
Department of State and UVA Law lecturer
who co-teaches Cyber Law and Policy.
SUPREME COURT ROUNDUP
Professors A. E. Dick Howard ’61, Kerry
Abrams, Frederick Schauer, and Risa
Goluboff discuss key cases from the recent
U.S. Supreme Court term and look ahead to
the coming year.
ALUMNI Q&A: GOV. LUIS FORTUÑO ’85
Luis Fortuño ’85, former governor of Puerto
Rico and now a partner at Steptoe & Johnson
in Washington, D.C., welcomed the Class of
2018 during orientation. Here’s a Q&A with
Fortuño in advance of his visit.
THE ROLE OF THE LEGAL COUNSEL TO
THE CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS
OF STAFF
Brig. Gen. Richard Gross ’93, a member of the
U.S. Army JAG Corps, is legal counsel to the
chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff. His talk
was given as part of the National Security Law
Institute, sponsored by the Center for National
Security Law.
THE FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE
SURVEILLANCE ACT
Professor Molly Shadel, a former attorney
with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of
Intelligence Policy and Review, explains the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA),
including how it can and cannot be used.
Shadel, a senior fellow with the Center for
National Security Law, spoke as part of the
2015 National Security Law Institute.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL
LAW OF CONFLICT MANAGEMENT
Professor John Norton Moore, director of
the Center for National Security Law, leads a
class on the history of the international law of
conflict management at the National Security
Law Institute.
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 21
PEDAGOGY
VS. PRACTICE
Since the onset of the financial crisis in 2008, the legal profession has had to
retool its business model. Clients expect effective and efficient counsel, with
little or no charge for the training and mentoring of young lawyers. Firms and
legal employers continue to absorb these costs, but not without consequence.
New associates have less time to prove themselves. They need to contribute immediately—as researchers,
analysts, strategists, and team members. It behooves them to be prepared for this moment, and it is a natural
opportunity for law schools. The rise of clinical programs, including and especially at Virginia, helps serve the
practice by serving students.
“The world of legal practice is experiencing major changes involving globalization and outsourcing of
legal work,” says Professor Rich Balnave, the Law School’s director of clinical programs. “Previously, legions
of law school graduates would staff the litigation departments in the largest law firms and do things like
document review and other sorts of work that are now outsourced.”
22 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 23
LEARNING BY DOING
LEARNING BY DOING
These changes have forced a re-examination of
legal education and licensure. After extensive study, the
American Bar Association increased its practice credit
requirement from one to six, beginning with classes
entering the 2016–2017 academic year. In addition,
California currently has before it a proposal to require
15 practice credits in order to sit for the bar exam.
Virginia has been far ahead of the new ABA
requirement for at least two decades, offering enough
seats in clinical courses to students who want the
intensity of a practicum. Now the question has
broadened into how legal education should address
skills development across disciplines and for more
students. Clinics clearly are one way, but there are
other offerings, such as externships and simulations,
which are highly immersive and closely supervised. “I
think they collectively respond to this cry for increased
attention to the need for some practice-oriented
education,” says Balnave.
The issue has also hatched what Balnave calls the
“regrettable catchphrase, a ‘practice-ready’ graduate,
as though someone could leave law school with a
sufficient range of skills and knowledge to handle
whatever matters come in their office. That’s not
possible, or at least not wise. It may be feasible in a very
narrow range of areas of the law, but it would be at the
expense of other sorts of work.”
EARLY
YEARS
Litigation and Housing
Law Clinic participant
Daniel Williams.
24 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
When Balnave joined the Law School
in 1984 to run the new Family Law
Clinic, the only other clinical course
was the Criminal Defense Clinic.
Appointed the Law School’s director
of clinical programs in 2011, Balnave now manages 19
clinical programs covering a wide array of public and
private law subject areas.
Balnave is the first to say it was Professor Kent
Sinclair, hired in 1983 by Dean Richard Merrill
(1980–1988) and still the school’s director of advocacy
and lawyer training, who drove the growth of clinical
education.
In turn, Sinclair credits Balnave’s guidance over the
last 30 years for improving and expanding Virginia’s
clinical programs. “Rich’s diplomacy and insight was
invaluable to the Law School community as our clinical
programs grew, and we are fortunate that he now
serves as the director of the programs overall.”
The first clinic involved criminal defense work
in the General District and Circuit Courts of the
Commonwealth of Virginia. “It set a model that we
have used in many clinics since,” says Sinclair, “one that
combines class sessions in the study of lawyering skills,
the substantive law involved with the practice, and then
real-world engagement that representing clients, under
professional supervision, can provide.”
With clinical offerings, the student work does not
compete for business with local law firms. In fact,
avoiding cases that would divert paid work from the
private bar actually expands the availability of legal
services to clients who otherwise could not obtain
professional representation.
STRIKING
A BALANCE
A turning point in the
program came under
Robert Scott’s deanship
(1991–2001). At one of his
early meetings with faculty,
Scott noted their concern that second- and third-year
students seemed less interested in class after the firstyear experience. The curriculum at the time featured
many large classes with fewer seminars and just the two
clinics. Scott wanted to create a curriculum with more
variety in class size, instruction, and practical training.
“He believed that different students wanted
different things,” recalls Balnave. “Students were losing
interest sitting in large class after large class, taking
notes in a lecture-style format, so he wanted to add a
number of clinics. He recognized that if we brought
real-world issues into the Law School, our students
might feel more engaged.” He was right.
During Scott’s term, Virginia expanded the
curriculum, adding courses and 11 clinics. Scott also
introduced the Principles and Practice Program,
teaming a member of the faculty with a prominent
practitioner. The practitioner brought to the classroom
current issues in fresh cases (either active or recently
concluded), and the professor selected readings and
developed a syllabus to complement the material.
Together they taught the students to appreciate the
clients’ interests and be problem-solvers.
Michael Lincoln ’91, the co-founder of the first
East coast office for Cooley LLP and its Washington,
D.C.-based corporate partner who focuses on venture
capital, has been teaching a Principles and Practice
Course on emerging growth companies and start-up
financing for 17 years. He has invited to class guests
such as Nigel Morris, the co-founder of Capital One;
Peter Barris, the managing partner of venture capital
firm NEA; and Ted Leonsis, former AOL executive
and now the owner of the Washington Capitals and
Washington Wizards.
“It has been a very gratifying experience,” Lincoln
says. “I think the primary benefit to students is the
opportunity to be exposed to a perspective beyond
Appellate Litigation Clinic
student Andrew Selman
addresses the jury, a.k.a.
other clinic students.
Front row, from left, Samuel
Cowan and Sean Johnson;
back row, from left, Brian
Remondino, Jude Halawi,
Hardev Chhokar, Travis
Andrews, and Dana Wallace.
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 25
LEARNING BY DOING
LEARNING BY DOING
theory and hypotheticals. I bring a guest every week
for a part of the class so students are exposed to the
technology ecosystem—entrepreneurs, bankers,
venture capitalists, and others. Over the course of a
semester, students get meaningful exposure to the
intersection of law and business in a more interesting,
story-telling format.
“It is also gratifying so see so many of my students
go on to achieve success in business. A year does not go
by when I am working on a transaction or jumping on
a conference call when someone re-introduces himself
or herself as a former student of mine.”
Scott also wanted a different credit structure for
the program. The clinics were credit heavy, and he felt
many students would rather spend fewer credits to test
their interest in an area of practice. The lower credit
load appealed to more students and widened the reach
of the program.
“One of the goals pursued by Dean Scott and Dean
Jeffries was to make certain, as the Law School’s range
of offerings increased, that there was always a spectrum
of intensities available for student choice,” says Sinclair.
“In-court client representation is, for many students,
all-consuming because of the direct impact the work
has on the lives of individual clients. The Law School
has also blended its range of direct client-representation
experiences, with a number of simulation-based—yet
deeply practice oriented—classes.”
CONCRETE
CASES,
REAL
CLIENTS
Dean John Jeffries ’73 (2001–
2008) continued to seed the
clinical program, adding nine
more clinics during his tenure
and five full-time clinical
faculty. The extra faculty gave
the Law School the indicia
of what most law schools
would call an in-house clinical
operation, with other “externals” taught exclusively by
adjunct faculty.
In 2006, Daniel Ortiz, the Michael J. and Jane
R. Horvitz Distinguished Professor of Law, became
intrigued by the idea of starting the Supreme Court
Litigation Clinic, which achieved immediate success
followed by sustained acclaim. “We started the clinic
in order to give our talented third-years a unique
experience at the apex of the legal profession,” says
Ortiz. “They’re forced to use all the book knowledge
they’ve gained over two years, to apply it in concrete
cases with real clients on usually close legal questions,
and to go up against some of the best lawyers in the
country, like the Solicitor General’s office. Often they’re
doing things that only senior associates or junior
partners are entrusted with at law firms, and they get
from the clinic directors, whose names have to go on
the briefs, immediate and extremely close supervision
of their research and writing. What’s not to like?”
THEORY VS. PRACTICE: A FALSE DICHOTOMY?
BY RICHARD BALNAVE
DIRECTOR OF CLINICAL PROGRAMS
T
he bar and the academy do not fully
appreciate what each can contribute to
the education of law students. The academy sometimes undervalues the
intellectual challenge of practicing law. Lawyers
are constantly making judgments in order to
serve their clients well. This is true whether
a client is large or small. It might involve a
complex commercial transaction or it might
focus on how to question a particular witness.
As lawyers progress in their careers,
they encounter more challenging issues
and develop their judgment-making skills.
In contrast to a new lawyer, an experienced
lawyer forming a judgment is likely to identify
more factors to weigh, think more broadly
about potential consequences, and see
26 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
effects farther into the future. Clients value
the enhanced judgment-making abilities of
experienced lawyers.
Similarly, the bar undervalues scholarship.
Practicing lawyers sometimes comment that
law review articles are too theoretical or seem
unrelated to the real world. Caught up in the
immediacy of their clients’ needs, the world of
scholarship can seem distant and unhelpful to
the practicing lawyer. This perspective fails to see the value
of scholarly articles, which can resemble a
thoughtful discussion that takes place over
time and at a different level than standard
legal argument. Articles often address how
an area of law should develop to meet future
challenges while remaining faithful to the
law’s underlying principles and values. They
can illuminate tensions among competing
values that the law aims to advance. Scholarly works are considered by those
engaged in fundamental law reform efforts,
such as the development of model or uniform
laws, or the development of Restatements of
the Law. And occasionally courts, including
the U.S. Supreme Court, cite scholarly articles
that have helped make sense of challenging
legal questions facing our society.
Law students benefit educationally by
studying scholarly analysis of legal issues.
Their education is also enriched by beginning
the career-long process of developing good
judgment in client-related situations, whether
in simulation courses or clinical courses.
“The Pro Bono Program provides law students with an introduction to their
professional obligation to do pro bono before they even begin their legal
careers. We designed it to instill an ethic of service in aspiring young
lawyers through hands-on legal experiences.”
As successive deans were devising curricular
innovations and Sinclair was implementing them, the
Law School began its relationship with the Jessie Ball
duPont Fund, a grantmaking nonprofit in Jacksonville,
Florida, to develop a variety of pro bono clinics.
Assistant Dean for Pro Bono and Public Interest
Kimberly Emery ’91 was in charge of the Mortimer
Caplin Public Service Center when it began in 1996,
and she worked with the Law School Foundation to
submit proposals to the Fund.
“The Pro Bono Program provides law students with
an introduction to their professional obligation to do
pro bono before they even begin their legal careers,”
says Emery. “We designed it to instill an ethic of service
in aspiring young lawyers through hands-on legal
experiences. While pro bono is a critical component
of access to justice and to addressing the unmet
need for legal services, pro bono also offers students
the opportunity to develop legal skills and build a
professional network.” These are Virginia’s goals for
students drawn to public interest law as well as those
eager for learn-by-doing clinical work.
When Paul Mahoney became dean in 2008, he
strengthened the clinical offerings by also engaging
more faculty to lead them. This combined expertise
and availability, the very things that define quality by
and among the partners of a high-functioning law firm.
Students would perform alongside their professors,
and on cases that mattered to the faculty’s research
and scholarship. To that end, Mahoney expanded the
Appellate Litigation Clinic to an in-house clinic taught
by a full-time member of the faculty, and approved
the Family Alternative Dispute Resolution Clinic and
the new Consumer Law Clinic in conjunction with the
Legal Aid Justice Center.
“Today, the Law School offers many times more
clinical courses—and includes a much broader range
of civil and criminal topics for client representation
work—than would have been available 20 years ago,”
says Sinclair, “and many of our full-time faculty have
been deeply involved in the design and oversight of
these classes.”
THE
CLINICAL
EXPERIENCE
What is a clinic and how
does it differ from other
forms of teaching? And
is learning to “think like
a lawyer” about theory,
practice, or both?
In a traditional course students learn about the law
and the values or interests it promotes from casebooks,
articles, lectures, and classroom discussion. They learn
how to unpack issues and solve problems only after
internalizing the rules of procedure and methods of
analysis that form the foundation of a legal education.
Critics allege that the appellate opinions in
casebooks rely on an edited record, one selected by
the court from conflicting facts to support a particular
decision. The result is an incomplete picture of what
happened, what the court heard, and what arguments
failed in order for others to prevail.
Left, Housing Clinic student
Teresa Hepler.
Right, Consumer Law Clinic
participants clockwise
from left, instructor Simon
Sandoval-Moshenberg,
Ryan Pavel, Ben Belair,
Kevin Kraft (unseen), and
Daniel Cohen.
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 27
LEARNING BY DOING
LEARNING BY DOING
Most students require live action to build
confidence and poise in the courtroom. They can
possess superior interpersonal skills, but there is
no substitute for trial and oral argument. “It is just
amazing to watch,” says Balnave. “They all have the
smarts, and they’re always scared, which is a very
appropriate feeling for one’s first time in court.”
Balnave remembers a case in Nelson County with
a student who was arguing her first case. She was well
prepared and Balnave thought she was doing a fine job,
but the judge sensed her worry. Toward the end of the
trial, the judge started writing a note, and as the parties
were leaving he called her to the bench. The judge gave
her the note—a glowing review of the work she had
done and how ably she had performed in court.
“He thought it was something she needed and
he wanted to let her know,” says Balnave. “It’s very
common for judges to compliment our students and
tell them the job they’ve done in court is often better
than half the lawyers they see. Our students put in a
huge amount of time preparing and like what they’re
doing. That kind of professional encouragement makes
it all worthwhile.”
Kim Emery ’91 and
Rich Balnave
28 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
“It’s looking backwards in time,” says Balnave,
“and that’s quite a different view than the lawyer
who’s dealing with all of the potential facts in front
of them, and an unpredictable future on how the case
will unfold since it can go off the rails in so many
different ways.”
Clinics also allow students to approach cases and
clients from that perspective. They don’t focus on the
law. In fact, a clinic is an inefficient way to learn the
principles behind the law. A criminal defense clinic,
for example, may only touch upon a fraction of the
evidentiary issues that would be taught in a basic
evidence course.
What clinics show students is how people and
relationships affect a case, from the underlying action
to the claims, charges, and defenses that are pressed in
litigation and prosecution.
“It’s the human element,” says retired
Charlottesville Circuit Court Judge Edward
Hogshire ’70, who taught with Balnave. “The thrill
you get serving a real client, the appreciation they have
for your efforts, the professional satisfaction you get
from doing a good job protecting their interests. A
big piece of that is why you wanted to be a lawyer to
begin with. You want to be able to serve people facing
dire consequences and try to alleviate them. Some
cases really challenge the students, and some are less
interesting, but they grow in all of them because it is
something they have never done before. It’s the first
time they experienced the attorney-client relationship.
It made them feel like lawyers for the first time.”
Clinic students can reflect on their experiences
and the different judgments they have to make in
representing a client; how to frame the pleadings
most advantageously for their client; whether to
cross examine and, if so, how to structure the line of
questioning; and how to counsel a client who tends to
make self-defeating decisions.
Students also learn how to identify case
management options, explain them to the client, and
consider them relative to the client’s goals. Even when
the facts are repetitive and the applicable law is the
same, each client idealizes a unique outcome.
Further, despite being served by the clinic, not every
client wants to litigate all the way to the Supreme Court.
Many clients want discretion, not publicity. Resources
are mostly free but not limitless. The students
must weigh these parameters in the course of their
representation and direct their efforts—and advise their
clients—accordingly. The next time they confront them
will be as members of the bar or counsel of record.
Risk and fear are natural, so learning to control
those emotions is part of the clinical experience.
“Ted Hogshire used to say to me when we were
co-teaching that there’s just something in your gut
when it’s a person,” recalls Balnave. “Even if it’s just a
misdemeanor, your client could go to jail. You’ve got to
do this and do it right.”
SIMULATIONS
Clinic cases are
sometimes subject to
fate. A story changes,
a new witness emerges, or opposing counsel seeks an
unexpected continuance. The school semester system
isn’t designed to track a docket or trial calendar, so
opportunities for students to appear in open court
don’t always materialize. Simulations, on the other
hand, can be planned and executed to near equal effect.
They are fundamentally different than clinics. The
professor can put forward a dense and complicated
simulation that will conclude in a 13-week semester.
Simulations are predictable in ways cases are not, yet
they are as dynamic and engrossing.
“The beauty of the simulation is you can guarantee
a trial, a series of motions, and the student gets a
detailed look at the federal system of procedure and
adjudication,” says Hogshire. “The students get a
comprehensive look at how to try a case from A to Z.
Evidence, procedure, strategy—it’s all there, and that’s
why they are popular.”
In one of their criminal practice simulations,
Balnave and Hogshire pulled out all the stops. First,
Innocence Project Clinic
participants. Clockwise from
front left, Ashley Clinton,
James Billard (unseen),
Laura Franks, teachers
Deirdre Enright and Jennifer
Givens, private investigator
Lisa Inlow, and Angelique
Ciliberti. Nicholas Cummins
is seated behind Enright.
“Some cases really challenge the students, and some are less interesting, but
they grow in all of them because it is something they have never done before.
It’s the first time they experienced the attorney-client relationship.”
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 29
LEARNING BY DOING
LEARNING BY DOING
“There is a huge intellectual challenge to those who strive to be very good
lawyers. That’s why we ask our alumni to teach courses. They are experts in
their fields who bring into the Law School the intellectually challenging
parts of the real world for our students to see and grapple with.”
Family Alternative
Dispute Resolution
Clinic participants, left,
psychology graduate
student Matthew
Domiteaux and mediator
and trainer Judy Morton.
30 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
they asked Jeffries and two of his colleagues, the late
Bill Stuntz ’84, and Stephen Salzburg, for a serious
criminal procedure challenge that hadn’t been decided
by the United States Supreme Court but was likely to
arrive there. Balnave and Hogshire then buried the
issues in the fact pattern of a drug-dealing conspiracy.
The students would uncover the issues in their
research and brief and argue them to faculty. The
simulated trials were held on Saturdays before sitting
federal judges.
Balnave hired two dozen actors to play the roles of
the parties and potential witnesses. The prosecutors
were told an arrest was made and that there was
going to be a bond hearing at the federal courthouse.
They would have to talk to their “federal agent” and
find out what happened. They would ask Balnave
to “investigate” and he would give those results to
the actors to play out, produce photographs and
taped conversations, and provide other information
discovered pursuant to the investigation.
Students wanted to surveil a particular location in
town. Balnave took pictures of it. When Balnave and
Hogshire thought the students were entitled to some
information because they were following a good lead,
they yielded something useful they had prepared, such
as a tapped phone call.
Another case involved a person trying to smuggle a
knife through the magnetometer at the Charlottesville
Airport. The actors walked through the events at the
airport so they could try to remember their experience
as any witness would on the stand when being
examined. They sat in a Charlottesville restaurant and
formed a “conspiracy,” and then had to remember what
was said and who was there.
The Family Alternative Dispute Resolution Clinic
that Balnave currently teaches with Emery focuses on
mediation as an alternative way to resolving custody
and visitation disputes. While traditional family law
is adversarial, mediation is meant to decrease conflict
between parents and to help them reach their own
solutions. Before they get real mediations, the students
work through a videotaped exercise where actors play
the roles of a mother and a father in a custody dispute.
They may reach impasse, or one may be forceful and
the other withdrawn. Balnave and Emery review the
tape with the students to identify those moments they
found especially challenging, what was going through
their minds, what issues had to be resolved, and what
they decided to do.
“Then we ask are there other ways that they could
have handled it, because frequently the students are
very self-critical,” says Balnave. “We’ll take the time
to explore two or three other ways it might have been
approached and see whether their choice was really so
off base.”
“Students learn how to practice, not as attorneys
advocating for a client, but as neutral facilitators,”
says Emery. “The skills, emphasized in the clinic,
including active listening, creative problem-solving and
paraphrasing, are useful in many different substantive
law areas. Several graduates, including one prosecutor,
have contacted us to let us know how the skills
they learned in the clinic are useful in their current
litigation practices.”
PRACTICE AND
THEORY: A
HARMONIOUS
RELATIONSHIP
According to Balnave,
evaluating any teaching
methodology presumes
an educational goal.
If the goal is to learn
about patent law, then
the student should take
a course in patent law.
But if the goal is to
understand how to turn a person’s thought or invention
or design into protectable intellectual property, then a
clinical program would be a better choice.
From that perspective, Balnave believes that
teaching practice skills works in harmony with teaching
intellectual skills.
“We teach practice skills critical to being a good
lawyer in our first year curriculum,” he argues, “skills
like analytical thinking, being able to distinguish, being
able to compare, being able to extrapolate from one
set of facts and one set of reasons to take on a new but
slightly different kind of set of facts, learning how to
frame the arguments persuasively. All of these cognitive
skills are one of the two central goals I think of a firstyear curriculum.
“Part of it is learning about the law itself, but part
of it is helping people learn how to think like a lawyer,
a critical skill that comes in many different varieties.
It happens in a clinical course but it also happens in
traditional courses.”
Balnave thinks the bar and the academy
underestimate how difficult it is to practice law at a
high level. “There is a huge intellectual challenge to
those who strive to be very good lawyers. That’s why
we ask our alumni to teach courses. They are experts
in their fields who bring into the Law School the
intellectually challenging parts of the real world for our
students to see and grapple with.”
Clearly, the profession has concluded that it
wants law schools to focus more of their attention
and resources on preparing students for the practice,
not just the knowledge, of law. Virginia continues to
provide many opportunities to do that. George Geis,
the vice dean and William S. Potter Professor of Law,
monitors enrollment in courses to see where student
interest leads and builds on those opportunities to
offer a practice dimension that satisfies the new ABA
accreditation standard. A long list of courses currently
offered by the Law School already meets the new
professional skills requirement, a combination of
clinics, externships, short courses, and simulations.
“Our clinical programs present unique
opportunities for students to acquire legal skills in
a sustained manner,” says Geis, “and they are wildly
popular. Students flock to work with our experienced
faculty on matters that include appellate litigation,
fairness in the criminal justice system, and early-stage
corporate strategy and planning. We offer a very wide
range of specialized clinics and continually tailor these
opportunities according to student interests.
“Taken together, our clinics offer a perfect
counterbalance to UVA Law’s theoretical curriculum by
giving students the chance to gain practical experience
and test what different career paths might look like
upon graduation.” n
Left, Consumer Law Clinic
participants Josh Burk and
Daniel Cohen.
Right, Litigation and
Housing Law Clinic student
McKinley Haskin
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 31
LEARNING BY DOING
Learning by Doing
Partnership Power: UVA Law + LAJC
BY MICHELLE KOIDIN JAFFEE
Some of the UVA Law alumni
who work at the Legal Aid
Justice Center, based in
Charlottesville. From left,
Kate Duvall ’06, Amy
Walters ’09, Erin Trodden ’05,
Kim Rolla ’13, Mario
Salas ’14, Mary Bauer ’90,
and Angela Ciolfi ’03.
32 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
ix days before her first court appearance representing
a client, McKinley Haskin stood before two UVA Law
instructors who were acting as judge and defendant.
Haskin, a 3L, referred to her notes, fumbled a bit
and started over.
“My client was locked out of her house with no
notice whatsoever,” Haskin said, going on to argue that
under Virginia law, a landlord is required to provide
written notice and go to court to obtain a judgment of
possession in order to evict a tenant.
It is a rainy Thursday afternoon in October, and
Haskin is not in the classroom. Rather, she is discussing
her case at Charlottesville’s Legal Aid Justice Center
(LAJC), where this academic year 36 UVA Law students
are getting hands-on training under the guidance of
LAJC attorneys.
The partnership between the Law School and the
LAJC goes back many years and only continues to
grow, yielding ever-more robust clinical offerings: The
two institutions now co-host a total of five specialty
clinics in the areas of consumer law, housing, child
advocacy, employment, and health law.
Students in the clinics take the lead on actual cases,
determining whether to take a case, interviewing
witnesses, and representing clients in court in highstakes matters such as that of Haskin’s client, a home
health-care worker and mother of two teenagers who
suddenly became homeless.
“Students get real-life experience and really
make a big difference in an individual’s life,” says
Kim Rolla ’13, a former UVA Law Powell Fellow who
joined the LAJC as a staff attorney and teaches in the
housing and consumer clinics.
For the LAJC—the majority of whose attorneys are
UVA Law alumni—the clinics provide the manpower
to greatly increase its caseload capacity. “There are
lots of cases we take that we couldn’t take without the
students,” says Mary Bauer ’90, executive director of the
Charlottesville LAJC.
The clinics’ cases are all real. “We never give the
students assignments that are made up,” Bauer says.
“They’re working on stuff we need.”
The outcomes are real, too: The Consumer Law Clinic,
now in its second year, already has served 34 clients,
recovering $10,845, saving two homes from foreclosure,
and cleansing seven credit reports. The housing clinic,
meanwhile, spurred an effort last year by Rolla and then
third-year Meryem Dede ’15 to help change publichousing eviction policies in Charlottesville, yielding a
91 percent drop in evictions from 2011 to 2014.
Clinic students develop a wide array of skills,
from conducting research to drafting affidavits to
making arguments.
“Recently, we filed a large, pretty important Fair
Housing Act case against the city of Richmond that
involved 34 plaintiffs, and the students are helping us
to work on that,” Bauer adds.
Students who meet the prerequisites for the
clinics attend lectures but spend the majority of
their time working on cases. “There are things in the
practice of law that you can only learn by doing,”
says Erin Trodden ’05, managing attorney of LAJC’s
Charlottesville office. “Some of these things don’t come
naturally to people. How to conduct an examination or
cross-examination—it’s not a natural conversation.”
Clinic students have the opportunity to practice
such skills, guided by long-time attorneys in the
field, including retired Arlington, Va., prosecutor
Dick Trodden (Erin’s father), who volunteers in the
housing clinic.
The students dive in immediately: On the first day
of the yearlong, for-credit clinics, they begin assessing
cases through group discussions.
“We don’t ever just send them off on their own
without consulting with us,” says Brenda Castañeda ’06,
legal director of LAJC’s Civil Advocacy Program. “We
want them to feel supported, and we’re always here to
answer questions.”
A supervising attorney always accompanies a
student in court, and only students who have earned
Third-Year Practice Certification may represent clients
in the courtroom. Students also must inform clients
that they are in school and not licensed attorneys.
“None of the clients I worked with ever expressed
or showed any concern about working with a student,
and the LAJC advisers really gave us a lot of control
over the contact with the clients,” says Calvin Funk ’15,
who participated in last year’s consumer clinic and
since has joined Morrison & Foerster in Washington,
D.C. “It gave us a lot of responsibility in working with
the clients, which I think was very valuable for us.”
The clients, meanwhile, “are so grateful for the help
they get because they’re in these hard situations where
they’re really at a loss for what to do,” Funk says.
McKinley Haskin’s client is one example.
A 47-year-old home health-care worker whose
hours had recently been cut back, she turned to the
LAJC after her landlord changed the locks on her
duplex, with all her belongings inside. She and her
children had to go live with a friend. The woman
acknowledged she had failed to pay rent for three
months but said she never received written notice nor
was taken to court to be evicted.
Haskin pursued the case and readied a tenant’s
petition to present in a county General District Court.
In the days leading up to the hearing, she felt
nervous, to be sure.
But getting over beginners’ jitters is just one of the
many benefits of the clinic. “It allows us,” says Haskin,
“to get valuable, practical experience that we can take
to our jobs when we graduate.”
For the LAJC, the clinics are a means toward
fulfilling its mission.
“We are methodical and committed to looking
at this and saying, ‘Is this working for clients? Are we
providing better services for clients?’” Bauer says. “And
the answer is: Yes.
“The people in need in Charlottesville and beyond
get a much higher level of service than they would in
other places in the nation because of that relationship.” n
LAJC AND UVA LAW
A look at the five clinics that are partnerships between UVA Law School and Charlottesville’s Legal Aid Justice Center:
Child Advocacy Clinic:
This clinic provides
representation for lowincome children in cases
involving the juvenile justice
system, denial of legally
mandated educational
opportunities, immigration,
foster care, mental health,
and developmental
disabilities law.
Taught by Angela Ciolfi ’03,
legal director of JustChildren,
a program of the LAJC;
Amy Walters ’09, clinic
supervisor with LAJC; and
Kate Duvall ’06 and Mario
Salas ’14, attorneys with
JustChildren.
Consumer Law Clinic:
Students help represent
clients with debt-collection
and other debt-related
cases. This clinic offers
students experience in
drafting court documents,
negotiating, and presenting
arguments in court.
Taught by Angela Ciolfi ’03;
Brenda Castañeda ’06,
legal director of LAJC’s Civil
Advocacy Program; Kim
Rolla ’13, an attorney
with LAJC’s Civil Advocacy
Program; and Simon
Sandoval-Moshenberg, legal
director of LAJC’s Immigrant
Advocacy Program.
Employment Law Clinic: In
this clinic, students handle
matters such as unpaid
wage cases, unemployment
compensation claims, and
employment discrimination
charges. This clinic refines
trial advocacy skills and
offers opportunities to
interview clients, draft
complaints and discovery
requests, draft and argue
motions, and conduct trials.
Taught by LAJC managing
attorney Erin Trodden ’05; Mary
Frances Charlton, attorney
and Affordable Care Act
Coordinator; and Pat LevyLavelle ’05, attorney with LAJC’s
Civil Advocacy Program.
Health Law Clinic: This
clinic handles matters such
as mental health care in
prisons, disability benefits
claims, and access to health
or rehabilitative services.
Students help represent
elderly and mentally ill
clients in negotiations,
administrative hearings, and
court proceedings.
Taught by Amy Walters ’09
and Mary Frances Charlton.
Litigation and Housing
Law Clinic: Students appear
and argue in local courts
as part of this clinic, which
develops trial skills and
teaches basic substantive
housing law. This clinic
handles matters such as
evictions, rent escrow cases,
grievance hearings, and
abatement of substandard
building conditions.
Taught by Brenda
Castañeda ‘06, Kim Rolla ‘13,
UVA Law Lecturer Dick
Trodden, and recently retired
LAJC attorney John
Conover ’78.
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 33
LEARNING BY DOING
LEARNING BY DOING
Learning by Doing
Externship Program Puts Students in Offices
Left photo, from left,
Appellate Litigation
Clinic students Ricardo
Camposanto, Joshua
Robbins, and Kyrie Graziosi.
Right photo, from left, John
Conover, Brenda Castaneda,
and Dick Trodden teach
the Litigation and Housing
Law Clinic.
34 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
hile still a law student, Sam Shirazi ’15 was interested
in taking on public service work for the federal
government. He fulfilled that goal with a semester-long
externship at the Securities and Exchange Commission
in Washington, D.C.
“I also wanted exposure to financial regulatory work
after taking Banking and Financial Institutions Law
during my second-year. Being able to spend that semester
at the SEC in the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis
really gave me a feel for what it was like to work there.”
Shirazi says his fall externship was a more
rewarding experience than a summer internship
because there were fewer interns at the agency and
he had more ownership over the work as a third-year
student. “I was also able to apply what I learned in my
externship when I came back for my last semester and
took Administrative Law.”
In its third year, the Law School’s Externship
Program is a strategic way for students to apply the legal
theory they’ve learned to the actual practice of law—
while still in school. Students earn academic credit while
working in the public sector, year- or semester-long
positions under the supervision of a lawyer.
The Externship Program includes three options:
full-time externships that can be undertaken anywhere
in the world under the supervision of a faculty
member; the UVA Law in D.C. program; and part-time
externships closer to the Law School, traditionally in
Charlottesville, Richmond, or D.C.
“There are externship possibilities almost
everywhere,” said Director of Externships A. Sprightley
Ryan. “It’s getting credit for working, in a framework
that fosters academic reflection. I would have loved to
have done that in law school,” Ryan said. “You’re not
only getting solid training, you’re also getting to know
people who practice in that area of law. It’s a terrific
opportunity to learn not only about the substance of
an area but also how lawyers in that area approach
their work.”
This fall, 13 third-year students are working full-time
in Washington, D.C., and taking an evening seminar as
part of the UVA Law in DC program. They’re at diverse
agencies, from the Department of Justice’s Antitrust
Division, to the Administrative Conference of the United
States, to the Department of Defense General Counsel,
to the White House Office of Personnel.
Four are working full-time in other locations
around the country, including the World Bank’s
Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency and the
Justice System Integrity Division of the Los Angeles
District Attorney’s Office.
Nine students have part-time externships and
work 10 hours a week, in offices such as the National
Women’s Law Center, UVA’s Office of University
Counsel, and the Lynchburg Public Defender’s Office.
“There is a strong academic component to all
three types of externships,” Ryan said. The externships
supplement students’ academic learning and help
them grow as professionals, explore specific areas of
legal practice, learn to work under supervision, receive
feedback, develop interpersonal and professional skills,
and define their career goals.
“We think it’s important for the students to develop
as professionals,” Ryan said, “and the academic part
of their externship work allows them to step back and
reflect on their experience and think about what kind
of lawyers they want to be.”
One of the measures of the program’s success is
that government agencies and non-profits far and wide
contact Ryan for potential externs. “I am inundated
with requests from potential externship hosts eager to
have UVA Law students.”
“It’s getting credit for working, in a framework that fosters academic
reflection. I would have loved to have done that in law school.”
In Their Own Words
As deputy chief counsel in the Arlington Office of the Chief Counsel, Department of Homeland Security, David J.
Kelly has supervised several UVA Law students in the Externship Program.
“Through the UVA Law in D.C. Program, I have been fortunate to supervise multiple UVA externs at the
Arlington office of the Chief Counsel, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). I am impressed with the
school’s ability to provide motivated students eager to take on real-world challenges.
“The UVA externs assist assistant chief counsels representing ICE in removal proceedings before the Department
of Justice’s Executive Office of Immigration Review.
“The UVA course component of the Externship Program adds another dimension to the experience. The entire
office has benefited from the enthusiasm the UVA externs have brought to the office.”
As senior counsel for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, Mary Rouvelas ’96 supervised an extern
in the fall of 2014. “She was dedicated and hardworking; the Externship Program appeals to students who want ‘real
life’ work experience and I think it provides just that.
“Students can do a great job on substantive research but also can be better on the details—we filed a brief in a
[Washington] D.C. Circuit en banc proceeding that had much better citations for having a current [law journal]
articles editor reviewing it before submission.”
“I will be posting for a UVA Law extern for next fall,” she added.
Emily Ponder ’14 found the externship experience to be incredibly valuable. “I spent the fall of my third year in New
York City at the Legal Aid Society. The externship program gave me the opportunity to explore a new area of law—
public defense—that I hadn’t been able to experience during my two summers.
“Being able to work full-time gave me the opportunity to work very closely with my supervising attorneys,
handle a lot of substantive projects, and spend a lot of time in court and with clients—all in the city I where I
eventually wanted to practice.
“The skills and relationships I developed during this semester were fundamental to shaping my professional goals
and in building my resume to eventually land a public interest job in New York. I’m now working as a civil defense
attorney at the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, and I still draw on my experiences gained during my
externship and communicate with my old supervisors all the time.” n
From left, Sam Shirazi,
Mary Rouvelas, and
Emily Ponder
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 35
LEARNING BY DOING
Learning by Doing
Getting it Right: Legal Research and Writing
ach summer, UVA Law students show up at a wide
variety of offices ready to spend a few months learning
on the job. They work at firms and government offices,
in judges’ chambers, and public defender offices. And
the vast majority of them are asked to do one thing:
write.
A summer internship is a great opportunity to learn
how to work as an attorney. The ideal internship would
involve interesting, substantive work. The goal is for
students’ supervisors to realize early on that UVA Law
students are not only intelligent and likeable, but also
immediately useful. Once that realization kicks in, they
invite the student to do more than just background
research. The summer job becomes a better, more
enriching experience.
has for many years sponsored a prize for the best memos
written in each of the first-year class sections. Stephen
McNabb, partner-in-charge of the Washington, D.C.
office, explains, “The most important service a law
school can provide to future employers is to prepare its
students to research and write effectively. We have long
been impressed with the commitment of the Law School
and its professors to legal research and writing.”
The course prepares students to hit the ground
running. Summer experiences build to post-graduation
job offers and long-term career options. In a competitive
job market, proving value is key. A UVA Law graduate
working at a Richmond law firm put it simply: If a
summer intern or new associate turns in a weak piece of
writing, he doesn’t give that person any more work.
“Most of the impressions that an attorney projects—both internally and to
clients—are conveyed through his or her written work product.”
Writing is often the key that opens the door. The
Law School’s Legal Research and Writing Program
prepares students to produce professional work
that says “lawyer,” not “intern.” Through a series of
increasingly difficult writing assignments, students
learn how to organize legal analysis and present a
polished piece of writing.
The program, taught by Ruthie Buck ’85,
Joe Fore ’11, and Sarah Ware, engages students with
both neutral analysis and advocacy.
In the fall, students research and write neutral
memoranda evaluating a fictional client’s legal
problem. In the spring, students write an appellate
brief and argue their case before a three-judge panel.
The assignments expose students to an array of
emerging and challenging areas of the law. Recent
topics have included the reach of a district court’s
equitable powers under the RICO Act, the impacts
of the Endangered Species Act on alternative energy
projects, and the availability of the innocent owner
defense in a federal civil forfeiture action.
In recognition of the importance of UVA’s Legal
Research and Writing program, Norton Rose Fulbright
36 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
Because of their communications skills, UVA
students often find themselves invited into the most
interesting work. Ralph “Chet” Otis ’17 interned for a
district court judge this past summer and was asked,
along with interns from several other top law schools,
to write bench memos. They were given two weeks to
complete their memos. Otis needed only one week to
complete his first one. He then experienced the thrill
of having his words appear in the judge’s opinion. He
credits UVA’s Legal Research and Writing Program for
giving him the tools to turn out a solid work product
so quickly. Indeed, Otis estimates he wrote 13–14
bench memos over the course of his internship. In addition to instruction and feedback from
the Legal Research and Writing faculty, students
receive detailed comments on multiple drafts from
student teaching assistants. UVA’s tradition of student
collegiality is reflected in the Dillard Fellow program,
which pairs up each new student with a 2L or 3L
teaching assistant. Connor Crews ’16 found great
value in the relationship. “The program provided me
with access to an experienced student colleague who
analyzed my work in a low-pressure environment
and taught me that accepting criticism is critical to
developing as an attorney.” Crews went on to serve as
a Dillard Fellow himself, helping the next class learn to
write with logical rigor and clarity.
The program also helps students learn how to
talk about their analysis. The spring oral arguments
program is a highlight for both students and alumni.
More than 100 alumni return to act as judges for what
is, for many of our students, a first attempt at oral
advocacy. The judges’ questions and feedback help
students build confidence in their oral advocacy skills.
That skill set helps in a variety of settings.
Gretchen Nygaard ’11 started her career at a
prestigious law firm in Washington, D.C. “During
one of my first annual reviews, many of my reviewing
partners commented that not only did I write clearly,
but I effectively communicated about my written
work product. The UVA program taught me both
to write and to speak with clarity about my research
and writing.” She is now working at the Department
of Justice.
Bracewell & Giuliani has been a long-time
sponsor of prizes for the best advocates in the spring
semester, providing awards for top briefs and best oral
arguments. Bracewell’s Chairman, Patrick Oxford,
summed up the importance of the program: “It has
been our firm’s 100% experience that a new associate
who has achieved with proper instruction a high level
of legal writing skills is far ahead in the game. Although
interpersonal skills are important as well, most of the
impressions that an attorney projects—both internally
and to clients—are conveyed through his or her written
work product.”
UVA Law students engage in a wide range of work,
and the skills they learn in the Legal Research and
Writing Program are highly adaptable to an array of
practice areas and, indeed, careers beyond traditional
law practice. Buck, who has been a co-director of
the program for 25 years, has heard many stories
of how students put their skills to good use over
the summer. “Every fall, students return from their
summer positions and say, ‘I knew how to do the job.
Thanks.’” n
From left, Ruthie Buck,
Joe Fore, and Sarah Ware
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 37
LEARNING BY DOING
LEARNING BY DOING
The center also plans educational opportunities for
legal practitioners. Last month, Garrett and contributors
debuted the Forensics Forum blog, www.forensicsforum.net,
which facilitates discussion on news, issues, and trends
in forensics. Garrett said the blog is just the beginning
in terms of promoting a dialogue.
“We plan to offer training here at the Law School,
to bring in leading forensics experts and to add
forensics courses to the curriculum,” he said. Garrett
and Professor John Monahan taught a forensic science
seminar for Law students last year, and they are
planning future courses.
From left, Allison
Thornton ’17, Brandon
Garrett, and Stephanie
Boutsicaris ’17
“Our focus at the Law School is to study
how forensics get used in the laboratory
and in the courtroom.”
Learning by Doing
Labs and Courtrooms:
Improving Forensics Analysis
BY ERIC WILLIAMSON
he Law School and the University are partners in the
recently formed Center for Statistics and Applications in
Forensics Evidence, established by the U.S. Commerce
Department’s National Institute of Standards and
Technology as a Science Center of Excellence.
The center, which is based at Iowa State University
and is coordinated locally by the UVA Department of
Statistics, will focus on the statistical analysis of pattern
and digital evidence. Professor Brandon Garrett is
38 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
helping to coordinate the Law School’s efforts as a
principal investigator.
“The overarching goal of the center is to pursue
research that can add statistical and scientific rigor to
the benefit of forensics work,” Garrett said. “Our focus
at the Law School is to study how forensics get used in
the laboratory and in the courtroom.”
The Law School will conduct much of its research in
association with the UVA Institute of Law, Psychiatry &
Public Policy. Daniel Murrie, also a principal investigator
who serves as the institute director of psychology and
an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry
& Neurobehavioral Sciences, is leading center-funded
efforts to work with crime labs. The goal is to better
understand how the scientists approach their work and
to test out improvements to lab procedures.
Garrett said a second major goal is to study how
forensic evidence is understood by lawyers, judges and
jurors. “Even when the statistical basis for forensics
is improved, there’s the question of whether jurors
properly understand the statistics and whether lawyers
and judges appreciate their meaning,” he said.
To that end, he and Professor Greg Mitchell
plan to build on their research regarding how jurors
understand presentations of forensic evidence. In
research they published in 2013, they found use of
language, methodology and error acknowledgement
were essential to how mock jurors evaluated
hypothetical fingerprint evidence.
Second-year students and inaugural forensics
fellows Allison Thornton and Stephanie Boutsicaris,
who work as research assistants for the center, have
contributed much of the blog’s content and will
be involved in future research and programming.
Thornton said she has already gained new insights
from the fellowship opportunity.
“A large portion of my studies have focused on
criminal law, and serving as a forensic fellow has
given me the opportunity to explore the scientific and
technical aspects of forensic evidence in criminal law,”
Thornton said. “This fellowship has also allowed me
stay up to date with the technological developments
related to forensics and the use of that technology in
criminal proceedings.”
Other UVA partners include the College of Arts
& Sciences, the School of Nursing, the Quantitative
Collaborative and the Data Science Institute. UVA and
Iowa State collaborate with higher education affiliates
Carnegie Mellon University and the University of
California, Irvine.
Karen Kafadar, professor and chair of the UVA
Department of Statistics, directs UVA’s overall role in
the center’s research. She said the presence of a top law
school at UVA may have made a difference in landing
the project.
“I actually think it was the fact we have such a
strong law school that was a really attractive part of the
proposal,” Kafadar said. “It’s very exciting for the whole
center to be collaborating with various stakeholders,
not just statisticians. It’s that collaboration we hope
will lead to a very successful endeavor.” n
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 39
LEARNING BY DOING
LEARNING BY DOING
ARTHUR LIEN
TRACK RECORD
Learning by Doing
Supreme Court Litigation Clinic Wins Big
BY THEODORE ANDERSON
by an 8-1 vote, although it left open the definition of a
true threat.
Daniel Ortiz, the Michael J. and Jane R. Horvitz
Distinguished Professor of Law, argued the Henderson
case before the justices. Ortiz founded the clinic and
remains its co-director. “The cases we get tend to be
criminal procedure and criminal law cases, where
you’re going up against the Office of the U.S. Solicitor
General, which is often called the best law firm in the
country,” he says. “So we are particularly happy when
we win one of these cases.”
In choosing which projects to pursue, the clinic’s
instructors and students weigh several factors,
including the educational value of a case and its
chances of being heard by the court. They selected
Henderson and Elonis in part because the lower courts
were deeply divided in their rulings. The Supreme
Court tends to prefer such cases, which offer the
justices an opportunity to settle contentious legal
disputes and clarify the law.
“Both cases also asked pretty fundamental
questions,” Ortiz says. “Henderson asked what it means
to ‘possess’ something, which is critical to property and
criminal law, and Elonis asked what mental state was
required to convict someone of a ‘word’ crime.”
Taking part in the clinic provides “a sort of
capstone experience” for third-year students, Ortiz says.
“It takes things they’ve been learning and uses them at
what you might think of as the apex of the profession.
The level they’re doing it at, and the lawyers they’re
doing it against, make the experience a very special one.
We have third-year law students going up against some
of the most experienced lawyers in the country.”
8
CASES WON
3
CASES LOST
1
SPLIT DECISION
11
CLINIC STUDENTS WHO HAVE GONE ON
TO CLERK FOR THE COURT:
Winn Allen ’08
Galen Bascom ’13
Andrew Bentz ’12
Donald Burke ’08
Nicole Frazer ’15
Mark Hiller ’09
Andrew Kilberg ’14
Brinton Lucas ’11
Matt Nicholson ’09
John Moran ’10
Jonathan Urick ’13
The number of students in the clinic has ranged
from 12 to 17, selected from a pool of 30 to 45
applicants. The clinic has five instructors who advise
the students, supervise their work, and argue cases
before the court. Students and instructors often work
with the litigant’s legal representation in preparing a
case, though that relationship varies.
The Supreme Court accepts roughly the same
number of cases each year, but the competition to have
one accepted is increasing, Ortiz says, as law schools and
firms seek the prestige of arguing cases before the Court.
The clinic, nearing its 10th anniversary, seems well
positioned to remain competitive. Its five instructors all
appeared on a 2014 Reuters list of the 75 lawyers who
appear most frequently before the Court. “A lot of it is
trying to understand what the other side is going to say
before you say anything,” Ortiz says. “That determines
how you actually make the argument. You have to think
five moves ahead. That’s not something you would get
in many places in law school.” n
Reprinted with permission from Virginia Alumni Magazine
This courtroom sketch
shows Daniel Ortiz arguing
Henderson v. United States in
front of the Supreme Court.
40 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
he Law School played a key role in two decisions handed
down by the nation’s high court in its most recent term.
Each year, as part of the Supreme Court Litigation
Clinic, some of the best third-year students prepare
and submit requests to the Court to review lower-court
rulings. The clinic files up to five certiorari requests—
known informally as cert petitions—each court term.
The justices receive about 7,000 cert petitions
annually; they accept about 70. If the Supreme Court
agrees to hear one of the clinic’s cases, students
work on every phase of trial preparation, from
conducting research and writing briefs to doing mock
examinations of the clinic instructor who will argue
before the justices.
In the Court’s most recent term, the clinic litigated
two cases: Henderson v. United States and Elonis v.
United States. Representing Henderson and Elonis
before the justices, members of the clinic won both
cases. Since its inception in 2006, the clinic has won
eight cases and lost three. In another case, in which
there were two issues at stake, it won one ruling and
lost the other.
Henderson centered on the right of convicted
felons—who are prohibited from possessing firearms—
to request that the government transfer their weapons
to an independent third party. In May, the Court struck
down the government’s prohibition on such transfers
by a 9-0 vote.
Elonis focused on the free-speech rights of a man
who had been convicted of making threats against his
former wife on Facebook. He claimed that the posts
were a form of therapeutic venting rather than a “true
threat,” which is the legal standard for conviction. In
June, the Supreme Court overturned his conviction
A mix of counsel, professors,
and students on the steps of
the Supreme Court after the
Elonis argument in December.
From left, Ronald Levine,
Julie Wolf ’15, Abraham
Rein, Lide Paterno ’15, John
Elwood, Peter Benson ’15,
Toby Heytens ’00, Daniel Ortiz,
Nick Reaves ’15,
Trevor Lovell ’15, and
Mark Stancil ’99.
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 41
LEARNING BY DOING
LEARNING BY DOING
and, in a number of cases, personally
present oral argument on the issues to the
appellate court.
CRIMINAL
DEFENSE
CLINIC
Learning by Doing
Clinical Offerings Engage Students
T
The Appellate Litigation
Clinic in action. Clockwise
from left, Professor
Stephen Braga, student
judges (named on
page 34), members of
the jury (named on
page 25), Andrew Selman
at the podium, and Kaitlyn
Tongalson at the desk.
42 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
oday’s UVA Law students enjoy an array of clinics and courses that offer a wide range of practical training options.
Virginia’s 19 clinics, many of which offer contact with clients, build experience with real-world problems.
Students also advance their skills through courses in public speaking, trial advocacy, and professional responsibility,
as well as extracurricular moot court and mock trial competitions.
Under the supervision of an attorney, students perform the lawyer functions associated with their cases,
including client and witness interviews, factual development, legal research, preparation of pleadings, and
negotiation. Students with third-year practice certification may also be responsible for courtroom advocacy.
Here are additional UVA Law clinic offerings not mentioned in other stories in this issue.
APPELLATE
LITIGATION
CLINIC
The clinic offers hands-on
practice of appellate
litigation through actual
cases before various federal
circuit and/or state courts of appeals.
Students handle primary responsibility for
work on at least one appellate case during
the course of the year. Students also work
together as a small law firm to provide
secondary-level assistance to each other.
Clinic students identify the issues to be
raised on appeal through factual analysis
and legal research, prepare opening and
reply briefs persuasively advocating for
the client’s position on those issues,
Students gain first-hand,
experience-based study of
the processes, techniques,
strategies, and responsibilities of legal representation at the trial level.
Each student represents defendants
in actual criminal cases pending in the
local courts under the direct supervision
of a local criminal defense attorney.
The students themselves—not their
supervising attorneys—perform all of
the lawyering functions associated with
their cases, including interviewing,
investigation, research, plea negotiation,
and courtroom advocacy.
ENTREPRENEURIAL
LAW CLINIC
The clinic provides
instruction and
practical training
on advising startup companies and
drafting basic corporate documentation.
Students work with entrepreneurs starting
new companies, such as Darden Business
School students who have been accepted
to participate in the Darden Business
Incubator.
The students take the lead role in
working with the entrepreneurs, including
conducting interviews, performing
research, providing a legal plan for the
business, identifying documents to be
drafted and drafting documents.
ENVIRONMENTAL
LAW AND
CONSERVATION
CLINIC
Students represent
environmental
nonprofits, citizens’
groups, and other
community
organizations seeking to protect and
restore the environment. The clinic works
closely with lawyers at the Southern
Environmental Law Center, a preeminent
environmental public interest law firm
headquartered in Charlottesville.
Students participate in a range of
activities on environmental matters.
They comment on administrative rules,
participate in permitting proceedings,
advocate before state administrative
agencies and boards, and contribute to
Kim Rolla ’13 of the Legal Aid Justice Center teaching the
Consumer Law Clinic.
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 43
LEARNING BY DOING
factual investigations and litigation. The
clinic explores the limits of the law in
protecting natural resources and examines
cooperative and innovative ways of
protecting and restoring the environment.
Focuses on
mediation as an
alternative
dispute
resolution method to resolve conflicts
involving families and children.
Students serve not as attorneys
representing clients, but as mediators
assisting the parties to develop mutually
agreeable resolutions to their disputes. After
completing mediation training, students
co-mediate cases with court-certified family
mediators associated with the Mediation
Center of Charlottesville. Most of the
disputes being mediated involve child
custody and visitation, although some also
include child and spousal support issues.
Conducted in conjunction with the Thomas
Jefferson Center for the
Protection of Free
Expression and the Washington, D.C. office
of Baker Hostetler, the clinic offers students
the opportunity to gain practical legal
experience involving timely free speech
and press issues. Students conduct legal
research, meet with clients and co-counsel,
and draft legal memoranda and briefs.
Assignments involve both appellate-level
and trial-level litigation, but more frequently the former, including the
U.S. Supreme Court.
The clinic, a partnership
with the Legal Aid
Justice Center, is more
than free counsel for qualifying clients, but
also a community service providing an
orientation to basic rights and available
services to walk-ins and the wider community. For example, the clinic not only is
taking some of the new “Dreamer” cases of
undocumented youth, but coordinating a
community outreach effort.
44 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
LEARNING BY DOING
Clients come from diverse backgrounds
and frequently have unusual factual
scenarios that bring them to the doors of
Legal Aid. Women victims of violence are a
priority with the clinic and can qualify for
asylum and other special remedies such as
through the Violence Against Women Act
(VAWA) and U visa petitions.
INNOCENCE
PROJECT
Students investigate and
litigate wrongful convictions of inmates
throughout the Commonwealth of
Virginia. Some of the cases have forensic
evidence (usually DNA) that could be
tested, and some are non-DNA cases.
Although the clinic has a mandatory
classroom component, most time is
devoted to casework—interviewing
potential clients and witnesses, general
investigation, reviewing case files,
collecting records, searching court files,
and drafting pleadings. Students likely
visit inmates at correctional centers, and
conduct investigation in a wide variety of
socioeconomic settings accompanied by a
clinic professor, private investigator or, in
some instances, another student.
INTERNATIONAL
HUMAN RIGHTS
LAW CLINIC
Students gain firsthand experience in
human rights advocacy,
working in partnership
with nongovernmental organizations,
human rights practitioners, and law firms
in the United States and abroad.
Clinic projects are selected to build the
knowledge and skills necessary to be an
effective human rights lawyer; to integrate
the theory and practice of human rights;
and to expose students to a range of human
rights issues. Students collaborate on two
or more projects in small teams, and have
direct contact with the partner-clients.
NONPROFIT
CLINIC
Students in this clinic
advise and work directly
with local nonprofit boards
on a “legal health checkup” and other
matters such as initial formation, establishing tax-exempt status, charitable
solicitation, state/local taxation, contracts
and ongoing legal compliance.
PATENT AND
LICENSING CLINIC
The clinic involves
instruction and
practical training in
patent drafting as well as the negotiation
and drafting of patent and software license
agreements. Students participate in class
sessions covering these topics and are
assigned to one or more significant drafting
and counseling projects in one or both of
these two areas.
The clinic also covers evaluation of
inventions and computer software for
patentability and commercial value;
counseling of UVA faculty inventors
regarding patentability, inventorship and
the patenting process; preparing, filing
and prosecuting provisional U.S. patent
applications; dealing with patent
examiners; and researching current issues
in the fields of intellectual property and
technology transfer. Students help resolve
disputes with licensees and possible
infringers where appropriate.
PROSECUTION
CLINIC
This course exposes
students to all aspects of
the prosecutorial function.
Through a combination of classroom
lectures and discussions, readings, guest
speakers, and a field placement in one of
several local participating prosecutors’
offices, students explore a range of
practical, ethical, and intellectual issues
involved in the discharge of a prosecutor’s
duties and responsibilities, including the
exercise of discretion in the decision to
initiate, prosecute, reduce, or drop charges,
and sentencing; interaction between
prosecutors and investigative agencies
and law enforcement personnel; dealing
with victims and other witnesses; and
relationships with defense counsel.
Ethical issues addressed may include:
exculpatory evidence, duty not to prosecute
on less than probable cause, cross-warrant
situations, witness recantation and
preparation, and improper argument
at trial. n
From left, Charlottesville Police Officer James Burnett,
Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Joseph Platania,
and Prosecution Clinic student Amelia Nemitz
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 45
FACULTY NEWS AND BRIEFS
…
FACULTY NEWS & BRIEFS
KENNETH
ABRAHAM
published
“Tribute to
Judge Guido
Calabresi” in
the Annual
Survey of American Law and “Risk
Aversion, Insurance Insurance,
and the Limits of Regulation” in
the UC Irvine Law Review.
Abraham presented “Prosser’s
The Fall of the Citadel” at
the Symposium on the 100th
Anniversary of the Minnesota
Law Review at the University
of Minnesota Law School
in October.
MARGO
BAGLEY
published
“‘Grant Me
Justice
Against My
Adversary’:
What Parables Can Teach Us
About Organic Seed Growers &
Trade Assoc. v. Monsanto,” in
Irene Calboli and Srividyha
Ragavan, eds., Diversity in
Intellectual Property: Identities,
Interests, and Intersections
(Cambridge University
Press, 2015).
In May she presented
“Towering Wave or Tempest
in a Teapot? Synthetic Biology,
Access and Benefit Sharing,
and Economic Development”
at the International IP Scholars
Workshop at Duke Law School in
Durham, N.C.
In June Bagley presented
“Cross-Border Protection
of Intellectual Property:
46 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
Issues and Opportunities for
Genetic Resources, Traditional
Knowledge, and Traditional
Cultural Expressions,” at the
World Intellectual Property
Organization Seminar on IP and
GRs/TK/TCEs: Regional and
International Dimensions in
Geneva, Switzerland.
In September she presented
“Digital Biopiracy” at the
European Policy on Intellectual
Property (EPIP) Conference in
Glasgow, Scotland.
Bagley’s forthcoming
presentations include “‘Thou
Shalt Not Steal’: Morality and
Misappropriation in Life Sciences
Patenting” at a symposium,
Patents on Life: Through the
Lenses of Law, Religious Faith,
and Social Justice, hosted by the
Von Hügel Institute, St. Edmund’s
College, University of Cambridge,
and the Murphy Institute for
Catholic Thought, Law, and
Public Policy, of the University of
St. Thomas.
In June
Happens in Nevada? SelfSelecting into Lax Law” in the
Review of Financial Studies (2014;
with David C. Smith).
This fall Barzuza is presenting
at the Stanford Law and
Economics Workshop, the Texas
Law and Economics Workshop,
and the George Mason Law and
Economics Workshop.
In 2014 she presented at the
Corporate and Capital Markets
Law and Policy and Empirical
Law and Economics symposia
at Harvard Law School, and was
a discussant at the Conference
of Empirical Legal Studies and
conducted a Law & Economics
workshop at UC Berkeley
Law School.
This year Barzuza was part
of a Kirkland & Ellis M&A
Round Table, a discussant at the
American Law and Economics
Association Annual Conference
at Columbia Law School, and at
a Law & Economics Workshop
at Michigan Law School; and a
moderator on Conflicts of Interest
on Investment Committees at
the Jewish Federations of North
America Investment Institute.
MICHAL
BARZUZA was
elected to the
board of the
American
Law and
Economics Association.
She published “Board
Interlocks and Corporate
Governance” in the Delaware
Journal of Corporate Law (2015;
with Quinn Curtis); “SelfSelection and Heterogeneity in
Firms’ Choice of Corporate Law”
in Theoretical Inquiries in Law
(Symposium 2015); and “What
In the wake
of tragic
shootings in
Virginia and
elsewhere,
RICHARD
BONNIE ’69
continues to be actively engaged
in efforts to reform mental health
laws and services in Virginia. He
is advising the General Assembly’s Joint Subcommittee to Study
Mental Health Services in the 21st
Century and made a presentation
to the joint subcommittee at its
meetings in Staunton in June. He
is also serving on a task force
established by the commissioner
of Behavioral Health and
Developmental Services, at the
direction of the General Assembly, to develop proposals for
reducing unnecessary delays in
conducting emergency mental
health evaluations. Finally, he
made a presentation to the
General Assembly’s Joint
Commission on Health Care in
September covering policy issues
regarding the psychiatric
hospitalization of minors and
summarizing trends in involuntary commitment proceedings for
adults and juveniles over the past
five years.
Efforts to improve the mental
health services system have
become intertwined with intense
debates about the desirability of
restricting access to firearms as a
means of reducing suicides and
gun violence. Since the spring
of 2013 Bonnie has served as
one of the founding leaders of
a Consortium for Risk-Based
Firearm Policies, a coalition
of experts from public health,
mental health, and law. The
consortium has issued major
reports recommending state
and federal action for restricting
access to firearms, based on
fair procedures and properly
tailored criteria, by individuals
whose conduct manifests
an elevated risk of harm to
themselves or others. Articles
co-authored by Bonnie describing
the consortium’s approach
were published in 2015 in the
American Journal of Public Health
and the Journal of Behavioral
Sciences and the Law.
In June Bonnie presented
a paper at the University of
Massachusetts Medical School
entitled “Reducing Deaths
and Injuries while Protecting
Constitutional Rights: Searching
for Common Ground on Gun
Policy.” He also participated in
an FBI-sponsored symposium at
the Morven Estate in Albemarle
County in July on developing best
practices for threat assessment
and interventions to prevent
mass shootings.
Bonnie and his research
team at the Institute of Law,
Psychiatry and Public Policy are
collaborating with Jeffrey Swanson
and his research team at Duke
University on a study funded by
the National Science Foundation
to assess the effectiveness of
the National Instant Criminal
Background Check System
(NICS) in reducing suicide and
gun-related violence by persons
with mental health commitments
and other adjudications that
disqualify them from purchasing
firearms under state and federal
law. Bonnie and Swanson also
submitted written testimony in
June to a U.S. Senate committee
considering the Veterans Second
Amendment Protection Act, a
proposal to restore the firearm
rights of veterans determined
by the Veterans Administration
to lack the capacity to manage
their financial affairs due to
mental illness.
Finally, Bonnie devoted time
during this period to reform of
the juvenile justice system and
other aspects of law relating to
adolescents and young adults.
He presented a paper entitled
“Reforming Juvenile Justice: A
Summary of Recent Reports
by the National Academy of
Sciences” in June at the University
of Massachusetts Medical Center
and another paper at a Temple
Law Review Symposium in
October on the implications
of emerging developmental
neuroscience research for law
and policy relating to young
adulthood. In May he was also
appointed by the American Law
Institute to serve as a co-reporter
for a newly approved Restatement
on Children and the Law. He was
also elected to membership in
the ALI.
In September JON
CANNON
participated
in a panel
discussion of
the Supreme
Court’s recent decision in
Michigan v. EPA sponsored by the
Administrative Law and Agency
Practice section of the D.C. Bar. In October he traveled to China
to address the All China Lawyers
Association (in Xian) about U.S.
environmental law and to speak
at the Natural Resources Defense
Council regional headquarters
(in Wuhan). In November he is
holding a faculty workshop on his
book, Environment in the Balance,
at the University of Michigan
Law School. In October
This summer
ASHLEY
DEEKS
KIMBERLY
FERZAN sent
participated
in the
Duke-Yale
Foreign
Relations Roundtable, where she
presented on the role of consent
to the use of force in the Obama
Administration. In November she
is serving as a commentator to
the 2015 Frankel Lecture by
Harold Koh at the University of
Houston, which will address
humanitarian intervention.
This spring the American
Journal of International Law will
publish her review of Michael
Glennon’s book National Security
and Double Government.
Deeks also contributed a
number of blog posts to Lawfare,
including posts on issues related
to the use of force by the United
States in Somalia and the United
Kingdom in Syria; the need for
surveillance diplomacy; and the
forthcoming Tallinn Manual 2.0
on cyber operations.
In March Deeks will present
an article on international law
and intelligence agencies at the
University of North Carolina Law
School’s faculty workshop.
to Oxford
University
Press the
completed
manuscript of a festschrift for
Michael Moore, her mentor,
friend, and former professor,
which she is co-editing with
Stephen Morse (University of
Pennsylvania): “Legal, Moral and
Metaphysical Truths: The
Philosophy of Michael S. Moore.”
The volume includes her contribution, “Self-Defense: Tell Me Moore.”
Ferzan also completed
“Consent and Culpability,” a
solicited symposium contribution
for the Ohio State Journal of
Criminal Law.
In September she attended
a workshop at Yale Law
School on Douglas Husak’s
forthcoming book on ignorance
of law, and also presented a
paper, “Defending Honor,” at
a workshop on two books on
just war theory—Helen Frowe’s
Defensive Killing and Seth
Lazar’s Sparing Civilians—at the
Carnegie Council for Ethics and
International Affairs. In November she is presenting
“Defending Honor” at the Harvard
Law and Philosophy Colloquium.
MICHAEL
DORAN
In October
GEORGE
COHEN
participated
in a
symposium
at Fordham
Law School on Lawyering in the
Regulatory State. He presented a
paper entitled “The Laws of
Agency Lawyering.”
presented
“The Puzzle
of NonQualified
Retirement
Pay” at the Columbia Tax Policy
Colloquium in October and at the
Virginia Invitational Tax
Conference in November, and
will present at the University of
Colorado Tax Policy Colloquium
in April 2016.
While a
visiting
fellow this
summer at
All Souls
College,
Oxford,
BRANDON GARRETT presented a
draft paper, “The Decline of the
Virginia (and American) Death
Penalty,” at Warwick Law School
and at the Death Penalty Project
in London. He also gave a talk,
“Too Big to Jail: The Evolution of
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 47
FACULTY NEWS AND BRIEFS
…
Corporate Prosecutions in the
U.S.,” at the Political Economy of
Financial Markets Seminar, St.
Antony’s College; and a talk, “Too
Big to Jail: How Corporations Are
Prosecuted in the U.S.,” in an All
Souls Visiting Fellow Seminar.
In July he gave a talk, “The
Use of Blinded Eyewitness
Identification as a Forensic
Procedure,” at the International
Symposium on Forensic Science
Error Management hosted by the
National Institute of Standards
and Technology in Arlington,
Va.; and a talk, “The Law and
Science of Eyewitness Memory,”
at the National Black Prosecutors
Association conference in
Washington, D.C.
In August Garrett presented to
an Association of Federal Defense
Attorneys Webinar, “Negotiating
Effective Non-Prosecution
and Deferred Prosecution
Agreements.”
In September he gave a talk
entitled “Too Big to Jail: Theory
and Evidence on Corporate
Prosecutions,” at a UVA Law
alumni reception. Garrett
presented a book chapter,
“Convicting the Innocent Redux,”
and participated in a plenary
panel discussion at a conference,
Wrongful Convictions and the
DNA Revolution: Twenty-Five
Years of Freeing the Innocent, at
Northeastern University School
of Law.
In October Garrett spoke on
a panel regarding the Virginia
Writ of Actual Innocence at the
University of Richmond Law
School, and presented a paper,
“Cumulative Constitutional
Harm,” with Kerry Abrams at
American University, Washington
School of Law.
Lee Kovarsky and Garrett have
just signed a contract to write
a Concepts and Insights Series
book, The Death Penalty, for
Foundation Press. 48 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
FACULTY NEWS AND BRIEFS
…
Garrett completed drafts of
three book chapters: “Convicting
the Innocent Redux” (chapter
in Wrongful Convictions and
the DNA Revolution, Daniel
Medwed, ed., Cambridge
University Press, forthcoming
2016); “The Constitutional Rights
of Corporations in the United
States” (chapter in Understanding
the Modern Company, Barnali
Choudhury, ed., Cambridge
University Press, forthcoming
2016); and “Individual and
Corporate Criminals” (chapter in
Research Handbook on Corporate
Crime and Financial Misdealing,
Jennifer Arlen, ed., Edward Elgar,
forthcoming 2016).
His recent op-eds include, in
August, “Coerced Confessions
and Jailhouse Snitches: Why
the Death Penalty Is so Flawed”
in The Conversation; in June,
“Last Words for the Death
Penalty” (with Lee Kovarsky)
in the Huffington Post; and in
March, “Time to Crack Down
on Recidivist Banks” in The
Conversation.
In April, Garrett was elected to
the American Law Institute. He is
currently assistant reporter on a
project regarding policing.
In addition
to his vice
dean duties,
GEORGE GEIS
recently
published a
book chapter
entitled “Shareholder Power in
India” in the Research Handbook
on Shareholder Power (Edgar
Elgar, 2015). He gave a presentation at the University of Chicago
Law School, where he also visited
as the Charles J. Merriam Scholar
during the spring 2015 quarter.
His latest article, “Ex-Ante
Corporate Governance,” is
forthcoming. It explores the
increasing efforts of both
shareholders and managers to
shape their corporate governance
power via tactics that move from
ex-post response to ex-ante
planning.
This fall
MICHAEL
GILBERT
received the
UVA Student
Council
Distinguished
Teaching Award. He is the first
law faculty member to be selected
for the honor.
Gilbert teaches courses on
legislation, law and economics,
and election law. The award is
given annually to recognize a
teacher who makes a positive and
lasting impact on the University
by developing relationships with
students through the creation
of an engaging and challenging
classroom atmosphere.
Recipients of the award are
chosen by a selection committee
composed of undergraduate
and graduate students who
consider both quantity and
quality of nominating letters,
said Shelbey Keegan, co-chair of
the Student Council Academic
Affairs Committee.
“Out of 65 nominations,
Professor Gilbert received a
whopping total of 30, and each
nomination was clearly very
sincere and demonstrated to us
how deserving he is of the award,”
Keegan said.
The group praised Gilbert’s
ability to relate obscure legal
doctrines to students’ cultural
touchstones.
“In his Law and Economics
class he has illustrated the
economic reasoning that
underlies criminal behavior
by drawing on episodes of
‘The Wire,’ the principle of the
tipping point by discussing the
changing fashion of Brooklynites,
and hidden costs by way of
an example having to do with
yuppies and diaper disposal,”
Joel Johnson ’15 wrote. “His
lectures are serious, but they are
laced with nerdy asides, selfeffacing jokes, and subtle jabs at
the absurdities of life.
“The upshot of all this is that
students learn the material, and
we learn it well. We have a great
time learning because we feel as
though we’ve made a friend in
Professor Gilbert.”
History for the Gilder Lehrman
Institute of American History.
In November the Law School
hosted a conference (with the
Miller Center and the History
Department) to celebrate Charles
W. McCurdy and inaugurate the
Charles W. McCurdy Fellowship
in Legal History. The fellowship
is jointly sponsored by the Law
School and the Miller Center,
and is part of the Miller Center
National Fellows Program.
In December Goluboff and
her husband, Rich Schragger,
will co-teach a course at Tel Aviv
University on Advanced Topics
in U.S. Constitutional Law: Race
and Religion, and she will present
on her book to their legal history
workshop.
Next
February
RISA
GOLUBOFF is
publishing a
book,
Vagrant
Nation: Police Power, Constitutional Change, and the Making of
the 1960s (Oxford University
Press, 2016).
She is discussing the book
this fall at a number of venues:
in September at the Fairfax
County Bar Association, in
October at the Legal History
Workshop of the University of
Pennsylvania Law School, and at
the University of Texas as part of
a conference, “The Constitution
and Economic Inequality.” There
will also be a book panel at the
Law School in February. In
March, she will discuss the book
for the Great Issues series at the
UVA Miller Center.
Goluboff is also appearing in
an online course for teachers
on the Federal Judiciary for
James Madison’s Montpelier.
She is teaching her own sixsession online graduate course
for teachers on Constitutional
In July
of the Federal Reserve Bank of
New York, will be published in
the peer-reviewed Journal of
Money, Credit and Banking.
He continues to work with
Michael Gilbert on a paper
analyzing the strategic behavior
of government agencies and
regulated parties when the
costs of enforcing the law are
uncertain.
He presented a paper on
Economic Models of Mens Rea
in September at Vanderbilt
University and again in March
at the University of Toronto. In
November he will present “Effects
of the 2008 Federal Stimulus
Payments on State Tax Return
Filings” at the National Tax
Association Annual Meeting.
Hayashi is also organizing
the annual junior tax scholars
conference, to be held at UC
Irvine in June.
Constitutional Law Workshop
at the University of Chicago
Law School and at the Law
and Philosophy Colloquium at
Harvard Law School. She was a
participant in a symposium on
“Advancing a New Jurisprudence
for American Self-Government
and Democracy,” at Harvard Law
School. In addition, she delivered
a public lecture on “Political
Bribery and Responsive Politics”
at the Keller Center for the Study
of the First Amendment at the
University of Colorado. Lastly,
Hellman presented her chair
lecture on “Money and Rights,”
celebrating her inauguration as
the D. Lurton Massee Professor of
Law at the University of Virginia.
This fall Hellman will deliver
a lecture at the University of
Vermont in honor of recently
deceased professor Alan
Wertheimer.
RACHEL
HARMON
published
“Federal
Programs
and the Real
Costs of Policing” in the NYU
Law Review. She also presented
her paper, “Why Arrest?” at
CrimFest 2015 at Yeshiva
University, Benjamin N. Cardozo
School of Law, and at the UVA
Law summer faculty workshop.
ANDREW
HAYASHI’s
paper
“Determinants of
Mortgage
Default and
Consumer Credit Use: The Effect
of Foreclosure Laws and
Foreclosure Delays,” co-authored
with Sewin Chan at New York
University and Wilbert Van der
Klaauw and Andrew Haughwout
DEBORAH
HELLMAN
published
“Unintended
Implications,” a
commentary
on an article by John Mikhail in
the Virginia Law Review’s
symposium issue on Jurisprudence and (its) History, and
“Equal Protection in the Key of
Respect” in the Yale Law Journal,
part of a symposium issue
celebrating the 50th anniversary
of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
She also published “Political
Participation: A Hybrid Sphere”
in the online version of the NYU
Law Review.
Hellman presented a new
paper, “Two Concepts of
Discrimination,” forthcoming
in the Virginia Law Review, at a
A. E. DICK
HOWARD ’61
visited
England
during the
summer,
giving
lectures in London, Oxford, and
Salisbury. Some of the lectures
were inspired by 2015’s being the
800th anniversary of Magna
Carta. At the British Library,
Howard gave the annual Robert
H. Smith lecture on American
Democracy, cosponsored by the
Library’s Eccles Center, the
American Embassy, and the
Benjamin Franklin House. His
lecture highlighted the library’s
special exhibit, “Magna Carta:
Law, Liberty, Legacy.”
At Salisbury Cathedral,
Howard lectured on “Magna
Carta’s American Adventure.”
The cathedral has one of the four
extant copies of the 1215 Charter.
Howard’s lecture concluded a
series of eight lectures at Salisbury
featuring leading English judges
and scholars.
In Oxford, Howard presented
a paper at a conference, hosted
by Oriel College, on how Magna
Carta has contributed to the
diffusion of constitutionalism
around the world. While in
Oxford, he also spoke on “Magna
Carta’s American Journey” at
the Bodleian Library. Howard’s
lecture was chosen to inaugurate
the library’s new lecture hall, a
feature of the Bodleian’s recently
renovated Weston Library.
The influence of the American
constitutional experience on
other countries and cultures was
the subject of a lecture Howard
gave at the American Embassy in
London. Organized by American
Ambassador Matthew Barzun, the
session offered members of the
embassy’s staff the opportunity to
explore a range of constitutional
topics in which culture shapes
constitutional attitudes.
At Oxford’s Lady Margaret
Hall, Howard spoke on the
origins of judicial review and
constitutional supremacy. His
remarks were part of the annual
Howarth & Smith Law Lecture,
made possible by alumna Suzelle
Smith ’83 and her partner, Don
Howarth.
The American Bar Association
held its 2015 meeting in
London. Howard organized
and moderated the meeting’s
concluding plenary session,
devoted to assessing the
future prospects for global
constitutionalism. His panelists
included Richard Goldstone, a
former justice of South Africa’s
Constitutional Court; Lord Igor
Judge, former lord chief justice
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 49
FACULTY NEWS AND BRIEFS
…
of England and Wales; Baroness
Patricia Scotland; Diane Wood,
chief judge of the Seventh Circuit
Court of Appeals; and Sir Robert
Worcester, chairman of the
Magna Carta 800th anniversary
committee.
At the request of the British
Broadcasting Corporation’s World
Service, Howard did an interview
on the intersection of the AngloAmerican constitutional tradition
with global constitutionalism.
The program was broadcast
from the Temple Church, the
“Mother Church of the Common
Law.” BBC told Howard that
the broadcast would be heard
by 45 million people—a large
classroom by anyone’s standards.
While in London, Howard
made remarks at a reception for
alumni and friends of the Law
School. The reception took place
in the legendary Reform Club,
founded in 1836 by members
pledged to support the Reform
Bill of 1832.
Howard published an article,
“The Changing Face of the
Supreme Court,” in the Virginia
Law Review. The article traces
changes in the Court since the
days of the Warren Court, when
Howard clerked for Justice
Hugo L. Black. The article looks
at the justices, life at the Court,
and the Court’s relation to
the country.
Howard also wrote several
articles about Magna Carta and
its influence in the modern world.
These include “Magna Carta’s
American Journey,” in the Temple
Church’s publication, Magna
Carta: 1215–2015. On this side of
the Atlantic, Howard contributed
a chapter to Magna Carta:
Muse and Mentor, published
by the Library of Congress in
connection with the library’s
display of the Lincoln Cathedral
copy of Magna Carta.
50 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
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…
In June
LESLIE
KENDRICK ’06
published
“Nonsense
on Sidewalks:
Content Discrimination in
McCullen v. Coakley” in the
Supreme Court Review. The article
addresses the First Amendment
implications of a recent case in
which the Supreme Court
invalidated a picketing buffer
zone around a Massachusetts
abortion clinic. Kendrick is
currently completing a book
review of Seana Shiffrin’s Speech
Matters: On Lying, Morality, and
the Law for the Harvard Law
Review. She is also working on an
essay on Justice Brandeis’ free
speech jurisprudence for a 2016
series of conferences at Brandeis
University commemorating the
100th anniversary of Justice
Brandeis’ appointment to the
Supreme Court.
In September Kendrick
delivered the keynote address
at the 2015 Constitution Day
celebration at Tennessee Tech
University in Cookeville, Tenn.
She also participated in an online
American Bar Association CLE
previewing the 2015 Supreme
Court term, and appeared
in an ABA Supreme Court
Preview at the Wilson Center in
Washington, D.C. In April
DOUGLAS
LAYCOCK
lectured on
“Religious
Liberty and
the Culture
Wars” at Santa Clara University
in California.
In May he gave the Plenary
Address on “Religious Liberty,
Health Care, and the Culture
Wars” at a conference on Law,
Religion, and Health in America
at the Harvard Law School, and
he spoke on “Recent Litigation
Involving Religious Liberty
Issues” at the Becket Fund for
Religious Liberty in New York
City, and again at a conference
in Baltimore of the lawyers who
represent the various bodies of
the United Methodist Church.
In June he spoke on “Hobby
Lobby, Religious Exemptions
and Antidiscrimination Laws” at
the National Convention of the
American Constitution Society
in Washington D.C. In February,
he spoke on “Hobby Lobby and
Other Recent Religious Liberty
Litigation” to the University
of Michigan Alumni Club
in Richmond.
In July
MICHAEL
LIVERMORE
published
(with several
coauthors)
“The
Measurement of Subjective Value
and Its Relation to Contingent
Valuation and Environmental
Public Goods” in the peerreviewed scientific journal PLOS
One. That piece presented the
results of a multi-year collaboration with a group of neurologists
and economists that examined
how the brain processes information about environmental value.
Livermore published a follow-up
opinion piece, “What Is Nature
Worth to You?” with study
coauthor Paul Glimcher, a
professor at the Center for Neural
Science at New York University,
that appeared in The New York
Times Sunday Review.
In May Livermore’s forthcoming article, “A Quantitative
Analysis of Writing Style on the
U.S. Supreme Court” (with Keith
Carlson and Daniel Rockmore),
received considerable media
attention, including coverage
by The New York Times, The
Wall Street Journal, and NPR.
That article uses computational
tools to examine how writing
style has evolved on the Court
over time. Livermore continues
to work in collaboration with
a group of computer scientists
at Dartmouth College to apply
advanced automated text analysis
techniques to the law.
Livermore’s article “Political
Parties and Presidential
Oversight” will appear in the
Alabama Law Review this fall.
He has two forthcoming book
chapters: “Environmental Law
and Economics” (with Richard L.
Revesz) in the Oxford Handbook
of Law and Economics (Francesco
Parisi, ed.) and “Setting the
Social Cost of Carbon” in Climate
Change Law (Daniel Farber
and Marjan Peeters, eds.). He is
currently working on an article
that examines the political
consequences of federalism,
which he will present at Cornell
Law School in the fall.
RUTH MASON
co-authored
an amicus
brief (with
Michael
Knoll) cited
by the U.S.
Supreme Court four times in
Comptroller of Maryland v.
Wynne. Her 2008 article “Made in
America for European Taxation:
The Internal Consistency Test”
was quoted in the same case.
She published “Wynne: It’s Not
About Double Taxation” (with
Michael S. Knoll) in State Tax
Notes; and “Comptroller v. Wynne:
Internal Consistency, a National
Marketplace, and Limits on
State Sovereignty to Tax” in the
University of Pennsylvania Law
Review Online (with Knoll). See
related story on page 6.
In October
GREGORY
MITCHELL
gave a talk
on “The
Dangers of
Closed
Minds, and How to Avoid Them”
to the Virginia Mediation Network
at its fall conference held in
Richmond. Mitchell and Dr. Philip
Tetlock of the University of
Pennsylvania published an entry,
Implicit Attitudes, in Emerging
Trends in the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Mitchell is currently
working on a book on American
courts with David Klein from the
Politics department at the
University of Virginia.
Last spring,
with his
former
students
David
Faigman ’86
(professor at
the University of California
Hastings College of the Law) and
Christopher Slobogin ’77, LL.M.
’79 (professor at the Vanderbilt
Law School), JOHN MONAHAN
published “Group to Individual
(G2i) Inference in Scientific
Expert Testimony” in the
University of Chicago Law Review.
Another article by the same
authors, titled “Gatekeeping
Science: Using the Structure of
Scientific Research to Distinguish
between Admissibility and
Weight in Expert Testimony,” is
forthcoming in the Northwestern
University Law Review.
The eighth edition of his
casebook with Professor Emeritus
Laurens Walker, Social Science
in Law, recently appeared. In
addition, Monahan published
“The Inclusion of Biological
Risk Factors in Violence
Risk Assessments” in the
Oxford University Press book
Bioprediction, Biomarkers, and
Bad Behavior: Scientific, Legal,
and Ethical Challenges, as well
as “Risk Redux: The Resurgence
of Risk Assessment in Criminal
Sanctioning,” with Jennifer Skeem,
in the Federal Sentencing Reporter.
A number of Monahan’s
articles and chapters—often with
coauthors—will be published in
the coming months, including
“The Individual Risk Assessment
of Terrorism” in the Handbook
of the Criminology of Terrorism;
“Social Science in Law: Continuity
and Change” in the Oxford
Handbook of Psychology and Law;
“Risk Assessment in Criminal
Sentencing” in the Annual
Review of Clinical Psychology;
“Evidence-Based Sentencing:
Public Openness and Opposition
to Using Gender, Age, and Race
as Risk Factors for Recidivism”
in Law and Human Behavior;
“Psychosis Uncommonly and
Inconsistently Precedes Violence
Among High-Risk Individuals”
in Clinical Psychological Sciences;
and “Gun Violence and Stranger
Victims in the MacArthur
Violence Risk Assessment Study”
in Psychiatric Services.
Earlier this year Monahan
was appointed to the Board
on Behavioral, Cognitive, and
Sensory Sciences of the National
Research Council. He was an
invited participant at meetings
of the United States Sentencing
Commission, the Justice
Center of the Counsel of State
Governments, and the Safety
and Justice Challenge of the John
D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation.
School and a former colleague at
the Law School. He has also been
working on a cert petition in
Mueller v. Mueller for the
Supreme Court Litigation clinic.
In August
DOTAN OLIAR
presented at
Northwestern Law
School a
draft chapter
on the use of copyright registrations in empirical studies as a part
of a conference for the Research
Handbook on the Economics of
Intellectual Property Law (forthcoming 2016); and a draft of a
coauthored paper with Bob
Brauneis (George Washington Law
School) analyzing copyright
registrations from 1978–2012 at
the IP Scholars Conference at
DePaul College of Law, Chicago.
The paper is the result of cooperation with the Copyright Office,
which provided data for the piece.
Oliar and Brauneis presented
earlier versions of the work in
March at the Intellectual Property
Law Speakers Series, University
of San Diego School of Law
and the St. John’s Intellectual
Property Law Colloquium in
New York City; in February at the
Intellectual Property Colloquium,
Loyola Law School in Los
Angeles; and in October 2014 at
the IP Scholarship Seminar at the
University of California Berkeley
Law School.
DAN ORTIZ
wrote a piece
called
“Comparative Positive
Political
Theory and
Empirics” with Elizabeth Magill
’95, the dean of Stanford Law
In September the UVA
Board of
Visitors
dedicated a
newly
renovated
building on Rugby Road to
ROBERT O’NEIL. The BOV
proclamation states:
WHEREAS, Robert M. O’Neil
was the sixth president of the
University of Virginia, from
1985–1990; and
WHEREAS, Mr. O’Neil set
and achieved significant
goals during his presidency,
including improving student
and faculty representation of
African-Americans and faculty
representation of women at the
University; and
WHEREAS, Mr. O’Neil
established task forces to study
the status of women and
minorities at the University, and
under his tenure, the Holland
Scholarships were launched to
encourage increased enrollment
of African-American students,
and the Women’s Center opened;
and
WHEREAS, Mr. O’Neil
developed four new programs of
study at the University, including
biomedical ethics, environmental
science, women’s studies, and
Tibetan studies, and he also
established a new degree, a
masters of teaching in the Curry
School of Education; and
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 51
FACULTY NEWS AND BRIEFS
…
WHEREAS, after serving as
president of the University,
Mr. O’Neil became the first
director of the Thomas Jefferson
Center for the Protection of Free
Expression, strengthening his
stature as a leading authority on
the First Amendment; and
WHEREAS, during his
presidency, Mr. O’Neil made a
mark that was significant and
long-lasting, and he remains a
Professor of Law Emeritus and
University Professor Emeritus;
RESOLVED, the Board of
Visitors names the Rugby Road
office building O’Neil Hall.
The modern
president is
often
criticized
when he
wields
executive
power without seeking congressional approval, but a new book
by SAIKRISHNA PRAKASH says that
type of autonomy is very much in
keeping with how the role of the
executive was conceived.
“The presidency established
by the Constitution was really
quite regal in the sense that it was
really a quite powerful office,” said
Prakash, author of Imperial from
the Beginning: The Constitution of
the Original Executive. Published
by Yale University Press, the book
offers the most comprehensive
study of the origins of the
American presidency to date.
“Though the founders were
concerned about excessive
presidential power, or more
precisely excessive executive
power, they nonetheless created a
very strong institution—stronger
than any that existed in America
prior to 1787,” Prakash said.
52 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
FACULTY NEWS AND BRIEFS
…
In 13 chapters, the book traces
the origins of Article II of the
Constitution, which establishes
the presidency, and tries to
explain the legal traditions
behind each provision and what
people of the time period took
the provisions to mean. Prakash,
who has written extensively
on presidential power, drew
upon well-known and obscure
sources to reconstruct the
understood powers, duties and
responsibilities of the office. For
more on the book and a video
interview with Prakash, see
bit.ly/imperialpresidency.
While other authors have noted
the similarity of the presidency to
a monarchy, Prakash’s goal was to
compile an authoritative source
for the rationales behind this
view, he said.
“The name ‘presidency’ today
certainly doesn’t conjure up in
our minds a monarchy,” he said.
“But one of the interesting things
in the book is that a dictionary
of the era defined ‘monarch’
with the word ‘president.’ This
suggests that ‘president’ had some
connection to ‘monarch.’”
Prakash’s scholarship extends
beyond the presidency to also
encompass the separation of
powers among the branches,
and he teaches courses on
constitutional law and foreign
relations law, in addition to a class
on presidential powers.
This spring Prakash gave
a talk on the book at Oxford
University. He also published
“50 States, 50 Attorneys General,
and 50 Approaches to the Duty
to Defend” in the Yale Law
Journal (with Neal Devins); “The
Sweeping Domestic War Powers
of Congress” in the Michigan
Law Review; and “The Boundless
Treaty Power Within a Bounded
Constitution” in the Notre Dame
Law Review (2015; symposium on
Bond v. United States).
Earlier this fall, Dean Paul
Mahoney announced that
Prakash is the recipient of the
Roger and Madeleine Traynor
Faculty Achievement Award. The
award is generally given every
other year to a senior faculty
member in recognition of his or
her scholarly achievement.
“Sai’s work focuses on the
Constitution’s structural provisions, particularly the separation
of powers,” Mahoney said. “He
is one of the country’s most
influential voices on the original
meaning of those provisions.”
Mahoney said he appreciated counterintuitive insights in
Imperial from the Beginning.
MILDRED
ROBINSON
wrote a
chapter, “It
Takes a
Federalist
Village: A
Revitalized Property Tax as the
Linchpin for Stable, Effective
K–12 Public Education Funding,”
in The Enduring Legacy of
Rodriguez with Harvard Education Press. The book, edited by
Kimberly Jenkins Robinson
(University of Richmond School
of Law) and Charles J. Ogletree Jr.
(Harvard University School of
Law), was released in October.
At the
biennial
conference
of the
International
Association
for Legal and
Social Philosophy, FRED SCHAUER
gave one talk on the theory of
evidence, another on law and
coercion, another on legal
education as graduate education,
and another on the normativity of
law. There was also a day-long
“author meets critics” session
about his book The Force of Law,
with commentators from Austria,
Italy, Switzerland, Argentina,
Brazil, and the United States, and
a response by Schauer.
Schauer published “The
Politics and Incentives of First
Amendment Coverage,” part
of a symposium on free speech
theory, in the William & Mary
Law Review; “Out of Range: On
Patently Uncovered Speech” in
the Harvard Law Review Forum;
“On the Utility of Religious
Toleration” in Criminal Law and
Philosophy; and “Legal Fictions
Revisited” in (Maksymilian Del
Mar & William Twining, eds.,)
Legal Fictions in Theory and
Practice (Springer, 2015).
In October the American Bar
Foundation and the University
of Chicago Law Review jointly
hosted a day-long symposium
about The Force of Law and
a book on the expressive
function of law by Richard
McAdams ’85. Commentators
were from the Northwestern
University, University of Southern
California, New York University,
University of Michigan, University
of Illinois, and Yale Law Schools,
with responses from Schauer and
McAdams, with all papers and
responses to be published in Law
and Social Inquiry.
Schauer became a co-editor of
Jesse Choper et al., Constitutional
Law, and Steven Shiffrin, et al.,
The First Amendment, the 12th
edition of the former and the
6th edition of the latter, both
published in July.
In August he presented a
paper on “Precedent” at the
Latin American Conference on
Procedural Law in Cartagena,
Colombia; and in September a
paper on “Source Formalism in
International Law” at a conference on source in international
law in Fribourg, Switzerland.
A. BENJAMIN
SPENCER has
joined the
Wright &
Miller
Federal
Practice &
Procedure treatise as an author
and will be publishing an update
to volume 5A this spring, to be
followed by updates and new
editions of additional volumes.
He also will be publishing an
article this winter entitled
“Rationalizing Cost Allocation in
Civil Discovery” (to be published
in the Review of Litigation). Most
recently, Spencer published the
revised 4th edition of his
casebook, Civil Procedure: A
Contemporary Approach (West
Academic, 2015).
Spencer remains active with
the state’s two main bar groups.
Earlier this year, he was named
to the board of governors of the
Virginia Bar Association. He also
will remain active in the bar this
year and next as a member of the
Virginia State Bar Council and as
a member of its Future of Legal
Practice Committee and Bench
and Bar Relations Committee.
PAUL
STEPHAN ’77
is currently
teaching a
graduatelevel course,
Energy
Resources in Emerging Markets,
at Melbourne Law School, after
which he will teach a graduatelevel course, Doing Business in
Emerging Markets, at Sydney Law
School. He will then teach a
course on international civil
litigation at the Peking University
School of Transnational Law in
Shenzhen, China.
In October Stephan taught two
courses at Paris II on the common
law system.
In September
RIP VERKERKE
presented a
new paper at
the International Labour
Organization
in Geneva, Switzerland. In
October he participated in an
international conference on labor
law and policy at Renmin
University Law School in Beijing,
and gave speeches at both Renmin
and Nankai University in Tianjin. Over the
summer
PIERREHUGUES
VERDIER
presented a
chapter on
the new generation of financial
sanctions against states such as
Iran and Russia, and their impact
on U.S. and international
financial institutions, at
workshops at the University of
Michigan and Georgetown
University. The chapter is part of a
book project on new actors and
developments in international
financial regulation. He also
participated in a workshop at
Northwestern University
organized by the journal
International Organization, to
discuss his empirical work with
Mila Versteeg on the reception of
international law in national legal
systems around the world.
Verdier also had the privilege of
welcoming all new LL.M. and
S.J.D. students to the Law School
in his capacity as acting director
of the Graduate Studies Program.
GEORGE YIN’s
major
project this
past year was
to complete a
manuscript
entitled
“Preventing Congressional
Violations of Taxpayer Privacy.”
The paper asserts that the U.S.
House Ways & Means Committee
violated the law in 2014 when it
voted to disclose the confidential
tax information of 51 taxpayers.
Because, however, the Speech or
Debate Clause of the Constitution
insulated the committee from
prosecution for the violation, the
paper recommends new restrictions on committee access to the
information to prevent a future
breach of taxpayer privacy.
Yin presented an earlier
version of the paper to several
faculty and student audiences,
including a Tax Law and
Public Finance Workshop at
Georgetown Law Center, a Tax
Policy Colloquium at NYU Law
School, a Georgetown faculty
workshop, and the Critical Tax
Conference held at Northwestern
University Law School. The paper
will appear in a forthcoming issue
of the Tax Lawyer, published by
the Tax Section of the ABA.
In late 2014 he delivered the
keynote address to the 18th
Annual Western Conference on
Tax Exempt Organizations (EO)
in Los Angeles, co-sponsored
by the Loyola (L.A.) Law School
and the UCLA School of Law.
His topic was “The IRS’s Misuse
of Scarce EO Compliance
Resources,” and his remarks were
published in Tax Notes (2015).
During the past year, he
published two other pieces
relating to the IRS’s controversial
administration of the EO tax
laws: “Reforming (and Saving)
the IRS by Respecting the
Public’s Right to Know” in the
Virginia Law Review, and a short
summary, “Saving the IRS” in
Tax Notes (2014). He and his
co-author, Karen Burke, also
completed the manuscript for the
second edition of their casebook,
Corporate Taxation, published by
Wolters Kluwer.
Some of Yin’s other activities
included commenting on a paper
on partnership taxation at the
National Tax Association’s 2015
symposium in Washington, D.C.,
continuing his consulting work
for the IRS’s “Tax Gap” Advisory
Group, and commenting on
papers at the Law School’s
1st Annual Invitational Tax
Conference.
Yin was a visiting professor
at Georgetown Law Center
during the 2014–15 school year
and was recently appointed to
serve on the board of directors
of the Charlottesville Symphony
Society, which has responsibility
for the performances of the
Charlottesville Symphony
Orchestra. n
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 53
CLASS NOTES
We welcome submissions for inclusion in Class Notes.
Online, submit them at www.law.virginia.edu/alumni; e-mail them to lawalum@virginia.edu;
mail them to UVA Lawyer, University of Virginia School of Law, 580 Massie Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903; or
fax them to 434/296-4838. Please send your submissions by March 25 for inclusion in the next issue.
1948
CHARLES S. RUSSELL continues to serve as a senior
justice on the Supreme
Court of Virginia. Russell
served on the court from
1982–1991, then returned
as senior justice in 2004.
featured on a Jacksonville,
Fla., news program
(http://www.news4jax.
com/news/unbreakablebond/32954228).
1959
HARWOOD MARTIN traveled
1949
FRANK WARREN SWACKER is
senior managing partner
and CEO of Lawyer Literary
Agency (www.lawyerliteraryagency.com.) The
Web-based agency seeks
book proposals, primarily
from lawyers, to present
to publishers of legal
texts and fiction. Swacker
writes, “An honorable
junior partnership interest
in the agency is offered
to those who submit a
proposal that is eventually
published.” Swacker, an
accomplished international lawyer, is the author
of many published law
books, murder mysteries,
plays, and articles.
1957
to Columbia, S.C., last
October for a celebration
of the life of William J.
Quirk, who for almost
50 years was a professor
at the University of South
Carolina Law School.
Those who spoke included
judges, members of the
bar, fellow professors,
former students, and his
daughter, Augusta.
1960
1962
JAMES B. ALLEY, JR. died on
September 2. Alley joined
Debevoise & Plimpton
in New York City after
graduation, but found his
true calling as a lawyer
in Santa Fe, N.M., where
he served the interests of
every constituency that
sought his help. An avid
outdoorsman, he was
on the board of the New
Mexico Environmental Law
Center. In the late 1960s,
as an attorney for the
Upper Pecos Association,
he fought an initiative to
pave a 26-mile highway
across Elk Mountain in the
Pecos Wilderness, a case
that went all the way to
the Supreme Court before
the highway proposal
was defeated.
RUST E. REID is listed in
Texas Super Lawyers
2015 in estate planning
and probate and in Best
Lawyers 2016 in trusts and
estates. He is of counsel
with Thompson & Knight
in Dallas.
1961
JOHN CORSE and three
ROBERT L. MONTAGUE III
friends who regularly
swim together and have
won numerous relays in
U.S. Masters meets were
serves on the board of
Frontier Nursing University,
located in Lexington and
Wendover, Ky.
JOHN EARLY MCDONALD, JR.
died December 31. He
graduated from the Law
School following two
years of active service
with the U.S. Army. He
was a tax attorney with
the IRS regional counsel in
Dallas, Tex., before going
into private practice with
Christian & Barton, Hunton
& Williams, and McDonald
& Crump. His practice
focused on civil litigation, construction law,
and complex real estate
development transactions.
For two decades he was
an officer in what became
LandAmerica Financial
Group, acting as general
claims counsel and senior
litigation counsel, participating in lawsuits in U.S.
District and state courts
throughout the U.S. He
served as a committee cochair in the ABA litigation
section that developed
the first guidelines for
litigation management.
McDonald served as
company commander in
the 80th Division Army
Reserve and the 49th
Armored Division of the
Texas National Guard, later
transferring to the Judge
Advocate General’s Corps.
He graduated from the
U.S. Army War College at
age 42 and was promoted
to colonel. His 30-year
military career culminated
in his assignment as commander of the 75-attorney
10th Military Law Center
primarily assigned to Ft.
Bragg, N.C. In 1987 he
was awarded the Legion
of Merit.
work the ideals of the
founder” of Williamson
College. Clemens has
been a trustee of the
college, which provides
a full scholarship to all its
students, since 2006.
The Florida Bar honored
JOSEPH Z. FLEMING for
50 years of practice. He
is a shareholder with
Greenberg Traurig in
Miami, where he concentrates his practice on
litigation and employment
law. He is recognized as
Best Lawyers 2015 Miami
Lawyer of the Year for environmental law, as a top
lawyer in the South Florida
Legal Guide 2015, and in
the Legal 500 United States
in labor and employment
and labor-management
relations. Fleming is also
listed in Florida Super
Lawyers 2015 among the
top 100 lawyers in Miami.
1966
1965
RICHARD CLEMENS has
been awarded the Isaiah
Vansant Williamson
Award by Williamson
College of the Trades “for
exemplifying in life and
GUY O. FARMER II was
named in Chambers USA
2015 in labor & employment, Florida Super
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 55
CLASS NOTES
…
CLASS NOTES
…
LAW ALUMNI WEEKEND 2015
1250+ alumni and guests
75+ magic tricks
20+ bats, balls, and gloves
attended
performed for children at Saturday’s BBQ
at Copeley Field for Saturday’s
Alumni and NGSL Softball Game
275+ omelets
Lawyers 2015 in employment & labor, and Best
Lawyers 2016 in employment law-management,
labor law-management,
and litigation-labor and
employment. He is of
counsel with
GrayRobinson in
Jacksonville, where he is a
member of the labor and
employment group.
EDGAR F. “HIKE” HEISKELL III
made to order at Sunday’s brunch
1200
The 2015 Reunions were a tremendous success, with more than
graduates and guests returning to Charlottesville for Law Alumni Weekend in May.
May 13–15
The 2016 reunion weekend is scheduled for
for the Classes of 1956, 1961, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1981, 1986, 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006, and
2011. As always, all alumni are invited to attend.
For information on upcoming reunions, see www.law.virginia.edu/reunions, call
1-877-307-0158, or email lawalumnievents@virginia.edu.
has founded Drone Law
Strategies, a consulting
firm for lawyers wanting
to attain proficiency in
the emerging legal field
involving unmanned
aerial systems. Heiskell is a
lawyer, aviator, and drone
operator who has helped
major law firms form and
market their drone law
practice groups. He is
based in Charleston, W.Va.
1967
GENE DAHMEN has been
honored with a
Massachusetts Continuing
Legal Education ScholarMentor Award, presented
annually to members of
the bar who have shown
leadership through
long-term service to MCLE,
excellence in teaching or
writing, and creativity in
the suggestion of program
and publication ideas.
Dahmen is senior counsel
with Verrill Dana in Boston,
56 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
Mass., where she focuses
her practice on family law.
was honored as Ball Park
of the Year, beating out
several major league
stadiums in the process.
1968
GERALD PARSKY has been
BILL BROADDUS writes that
he’s retired and enjoying
the good life on the
Northern Neck of Virginia;
golfing occasionally with
classmate Dirk Metzger;
and sailing, gardening,
reading, and generally
“having more fun than I
deserve.”
JOHN W. MERTING is listed in
Florida Super Lawyers 2015
in transportation. He was
the first in North Florida to
be board certified in
admiralty and maritime
law in 1996, and has been
recertified every five years
since. He is in private
practice in Gulf Breeze,
focusing on maritime and
personal injury law.
Merting recently presented a paper,
“Representing Braininjured Clients,” at a
maritime law seminar.
He has served as a
trustee of the nonprofit
Community Maritime Park
since 2006 and also serves
as chairman of its operations and audit committee.
The 30-plus acre park
is located on Pensacola
Bay and its stadium is the
home of an AA baseball
team. In 2012 the facility
elected to the RAND
Corporation board of
trustees, where he will
serve a five-year term. He
is founder and chairman of
Aurora Capital Group, an
investment firm based in
Los Angeles, Calif.
The Hon. KENNETH F. RIPPLE
has been appointed
as an advisor to the
American Law Institute’s
Third Restatement of
the Conflict of Laws. He
is professor of law at the
University of Notre Dame
Law School and has served
as a judge on the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the
Seventh Circuit since his
appointment by President
Reagan in 1985.
1970
joined Porter, Wright, Morris, & Arthur in Columbus,
Ohio, where he became a
partner. For a number of
years he was listed among
the top 100 lawyers in the
U.S. in his field. He excelled
in his profession despite
suffering from a disabling
spinal cord injury in
1976, which left him with
chronic pain and other
health problems.
FREDRICK R. TULLEY is listed
in Best Lawyers 2016 in
litigation-banking and
finance, and litigationbankruptcy. He is a partner
with Taylor Porter in Baton
Rouge, La.
KIRK C. SHAW is listed in
Best Lawyers 2016 in
employment lawmanagement, labor
law-management, and
litigation-labor and
employment. He is a
partner with Armbrecht
Jackson in Mobile, Ala.
J. RANDOLPH SMITH, JR.
retired from the Henry
County (Virginia)
Commonwealth Attorney’s
Office as assistant
commonwealth attorney
on January 31 of this year.
1971
EDWIN M. BARANOWSKI died
on July 23 in West Palm
Beach, Fla. He practiced
law for more than 40
years and focused his
practice on intellectual
property law.
Baranowski began his
career at Kenyon & Kenyon
in New York City and later
Bar’s legal ethics committee, where he will serve a
two-year term. He is senior
counsel in Denton’s real
estate practice.
1972
GEORGE HOUSE is listed
in Chambers USA 2015
in environmental law
and Best Lawyers 2016
in environmental law,
litigation-environmental,
mining law, natural
resources law, and water
law. He is a partner with
Brooks, Pierce, McLendon,
Humphrey & Leonard in
Greensboro, N.C.
1973
PAUL C. HURDLE has been
elected chair of the D.C.
1974
JULIA TAYLOR CANNON died
on October 16, 2014.
Cannon dedicated her
career to her community
in Loudoun County, Va.,
where she served as a
lawyer, a prosecutor, and
a judge. She was a role
model to many people,
particularly young women
lawyers.
Cannon began her
career in private practice
before becoming Loudoun
County Attorney. In 1992
she was appointed to the
general district court, and
stepped down from the
court as chief justice in
2011. She continued to
sit on the general district
court as a substitute judge
after retirement.
Cannon was deeply
committed to civil rights.
In one of the first cases she
won, she successfully argued that an anti-loitering
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 57
CLASS NOTES
…
ordinance was unconstitutional on behalf of a
court-appointed client.
In a Loudoun TimesMirror tribute, a young
judge recalled taking a recess to consider a decision
in a criminal case. Cannon
saw him pacing back and
forth in chambers and
asked him what was going
on. When he said he was
having trouble deciding
whether to convict or find
the defendant not guilty,
Cannon remarked, without
hesitation, “Sounds like
reasonable doubt to me.”
Her colleague realized
then and there she
was right.
“Judge Cannon was a
wonderful person and
a great judge,” Attorney
General of Virginia Mark
Herring said. “Loudoun
was fortunate to have her.
She was well-respected
by those who entered her
courtroom and well-liked
by those who knew her
outside of it.”
JOHN A.C. KEITH is listed
in Virginia Super Lawyers
2015 in business litigation. He also earned the
distinction of being
included among the top
100 Virginia Super Lawyers
for 2015. He is a principal
with Blankingship &
Keith in Fairfax, where he
concentrates his practice
on business litigation.
CLASS NOTES
…
and employment. He
practices with Brooks,
Pierce, McLendon,
Humphrey & Leonard in
Greensboro, N.C.
PRISCILLA LUNDIN has
been appointed to the
Lasell College Board
of Overseers, an advisory group to the school’s
board of trustees and
senior management. The
coeducational campus
school, founded in 1851, is
located in Newton, Mass.,
near downtown Boston.
With an emphasis on integrating professional and
liberal arts courses with
work experience in the
private and public sectors,
Lasell is on the U.S. News
short list of the top ten
colleges with the highest
rates of undergraduate
internship participation.
J. KEITH MORGAN has been
named executive vice
president and chief legal
officer of TIAA-CREF. Based
in New York, Morgan will
lead TIAA-CREF’s legal and
compliance, government
relations, and corporate
secretary functions. He
was most recently the
founder and CEO of Morris
Lane Capital.
litigation-health care and
litigation-insurance. His
practice includes civil and
commercial litigation,
criminal defense, personal
injury, real estate, estate
planning, corporate, and
construction law. He is a
founding partner of Owen
& Owens in Midlothian.
ANN MARGARET POINTER is
listed in Best Lawyers 2016
in labor and employment. She is a partner
with Fisher & Phillips in
Atlanta, Ga., where she
represents management
in labor and employment
matters. Pointer is an
adjunct professor at Emory
University Law School in
Atlanta, where she teaches
pretrial litigation.
DONALD J. SHULLER is listed
in Best Lawyers 2016 in real
estate law. He is a partner
and member of the
finance, energy, and real
estate group with Vorys,
Sater, Seymour & Pease in
Cincinnati, Ohio.
Syracuse, where he focuses
his environmental practice
on federal and state
regulatory compliance and
enforcement matters.
CHANNING D. STROTHER, JR.
has been appointed an
administrative law judge
for the Social Security
Administration in
Johnstown, Pa.
1978
1979
MARK N. DUVALL has been
recognized in Washington,
D.C. Super Lawyers 2015 in
environmental law. He is
a principal with Beveridge
& Diamond, where he
co-chairs the chemicals,
products, and nanotechnology practice group.
“Life is good,” he writes.
“My younger son was married in May, my daughter
is getting married in
October, and my older son
is getting married next
year. We all should have
such happiness.”
MICHAEL P. HAGGERTY is
1977
JULIAN D. BOBBITT, JR. is
listed in Best Lawyers 2016
in health care law. He
is a partner with Smith
Anderson in Raleigh, N.C.,
where he provides strategic general counsel and
regulatory guidance for
health care organizations.
intellectual property law
and in Delaware Super
Lawyers 2015 in business
litigation and administrative law. He is a director at
Bayard in Wilmington,
where he focuses his
practice on general
business litigation,
intellectual property
litigation, administrative
law, and alternative
dispute resolution.
listed in Best Lawyers 2016
in banking and finance law
and real estate law. He is
a partner and co-head of
the finance practice group
with Jackson Walker in
Dallas, Tex.
PETER S. EVERETT was
selected as Best Lawyers
2016 personal injury
litigation-plaintiffs lawyer
of the year for Washington,
D.C. Washingtonian
magazine listed him in
the top one percent of
personal injury lawyers in
Washington. He represents
clients seriously injured in
motor vehicle collisions,
especially individuals who
have suffered traumatic
brain injuries. He also represents victims of violent
crimes, including sexual
assault. He is a principal
with Blankingship & Keith
in Fairfax, Va.
ANNE L. KLEINDIENST is
BILL CARY is listed in Best
Lawyers 2016 in employment law-management,
labor law-management,
and litigation-labor
recognized in Upstate
New York Super Lawyers
2015 and Best Lawyers
2016 in environmental
law. He is a member with
Bond, Schoeneck & King in
listed in Chambers USA
2015 in health care. She is
a shareholder with
Polsinelli in Phoenix, Ariz.,
where she focuses her
practice on health care,
58 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
RICHARD D. KIRK is listed in
Chambers USA 2015 in
& corruption governance
at Wells Fargo. Jon and his
wife, Doreen, continue to
live in Washington, D.C.
1981
ANNUAL GATHERING CLASS OF 1983 FRIENDS. “This year in
GEORGE C. HOWELL III has
JOHN W. SINDERS, JR. has
returned to Houston,
Tex., from Dubai, UAE,
and has joined Frank’s
International, a company
known for tubular and
oil and gas services
worldwide. He is executive vice president for
administration and is
in charge of corporate
development, strategy,
and communications.
RANDALL A. UNDERWOOD
is listed in Best Lawyers
2016 in financial services
regulation law and real
estate law. He is with
Brooks, Pierce, McLendon,
Humphrey & Leonard in
Greensboro, N.C.
1980
been elected to a third
term on the Nevada State
Board of Governors. He is
the administrative partner
for the Nevada office of
the New York-based Boies,
Schiller & Flexner.
BARRY R. KOGUT has been
in Virginia Super Lawyers
2015 in general litigation
and Best Lawyers 2016 in
MICHAEL K. KUHN is listed in
Best Lawyers 2016 in real
estate law. He is a partner
with Jackson Walker in
Houston, Tex., where he
focuses his practice on
commercial real estate.
RICHARD J. POCKER has
1976
W. JOSEPH OWEN III is listed
franchise, and corporate
and transactional law.
In January, after 33 years
of federal government
service, including 31 with
the U.S. Department of
Justice, JON RUSCH retired
from public service to become senior vice president
and head of anti-bribery
D. FRENCH SLAUGHTER has
joined Fox Rothschild as a
partner in the taxation and
wealth planning department in Washington, D.C.
He focuses his practice on
federal, state, and local
taxation matters, including
income tax, franchise tax,
gross receipts tax, sales and
use tax, and property tax.
He was previously a partner
with McGuireWoods.
PAUL B. TERPAK was
selected as Best Lawyers
2016 eminent domain and
condemnation law lawyer
of the year for Washington,
D.C. He has handled
hundreds of condemnation cases in the past 30
years, including more than
50 trials before juries and
commissioners in every
jurisdiction in Northern
Virginia. He is a principal
with Blankingship & Keith
in Fairfax.
BARBARA A. YOUNG is listed
in Chambers USA 2015 in
corporate/mergers and
acquisitions law. She is a
partner with Verrill Dana in
Westport, Conn.
begun a one-year term as
chair of the American Bar
Association section of
taxation. He is head of
Hunton & Williams’ tax and
employee benefits
practice in New York and
Richmond, Va. His work
focuses on tax aspects of
REITs, REMICs, securitizations, master limited
partnerships, private
investment funds, and
other financial products
and transactions.
Howell regularly lectures on REITs and REMICs
at the Law School. He
was recently selected for
inclusion in Best Lawyers
2015 and Virginia Super
Lawyers 2015 in tax law,
and recognized as a leader
in the field for national
REIT practice in Chambers
USA 2015.
1982
MICHAEL D. HANKIN received
the inaugural Harbor Hero
Award from the Waterfront
Partnership of Baltimore
for his commitment to the
health of Baltimore’s Inner
Harbor and the vitality
of its waterfront. Hankin
is chair of the Waterfront
Partnership’s board and
president and CEO of
Brown Advisory, an independent investment firm.
Seattle, we toasted Joan Markman, whose life and
friendship we continue to celebrate.”
Left to right: Dave Mushinski, Elaine Metlin, Alice
Hill, Janet Napolitano, Mark Kantor, Kent Alexander,
John Youkilis, and Steve Edelson.
1983
JAMES P. COX III was named
the Charlottesville lawyer
of the year in trusts and
estates for 2016 in Best
Lawyers. He practices with
MichieHamlett.
CHARLES J. JOHNSON is
associate director of the
Berthiaume Center for
Entrepreneurship at the
UMass Amherst Isenberg
School of Management.
He will also be a clinical
associate professor at the
Isenberg School and will
teach classes on entrepreneurial finance and
launching start-ups.
Johnson was previously a
partner in the private
equity group at Choate,
Hall & Stewart.
JAMES S. RYAN III is listed
in Best Lawyers 2016 in
corporate law and mergers
& acquisitions law. He is
a partner with Jackson
Walker in Dallas, Tex.
MARK DAVIDSON has been
named Greensboro, N.C.,
2016 lawyer of the year by
Best Lawyers for mergers &
acquisitions law and was
recognized as an industry
leader in Best Lawyers 2016
and 2015 in corporate law,
mergers & acquisitions law,
securities/capital markets
law, and tax law. He is listed
in Chambers USA 2015 in
corporate/mergers &
acquisitions law and North
Carolina Super Lawyers 2015
for business/corporate
law. He is a partner with
Brooks, Pierce, McLendon,
Humphrey & Leonard.
DON K. HAYCRAFT is listed
in Best Lawyers 2016 in
admiralty and maritime
law and personal injury
litigation-defendants. He is
a shareholder with Liskow
& Lewis in New Orleans, La.
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 59
CLASS NOTES
…
CLASS NOTES
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Justice = Law + Mercy
In her role as supervising attorney
with the housing unit at The Legal Aid
Society of Cleveland, MARIA SMITH ’83
advocates for people in disputes that
involve basic human needs. Her
workload, about two dozen active cases
and counting, never ends and was part
of the cover story of the July issue of
American Lawyer magazine, “The Justice
Gap: How Big Law is Failing Legal Aid.”
Eviction cases are among her most
urgent work. Usually the tenant does
not have a lawyer. An eviction judgment
can result in a person having just seven
days to find a new place to live, setting
into motion a downward spiral that’s
difficult to escape. An eviction on a
tenant’s record reduces her chance
of getting safe and affordable housing and could disqualify her for subsidized
housing. Smith’s representation can stop such a free fall from happening.
Smith has advocated for people who are marginalized since she graduated
from the Law School. She worked for the nonprofit Institute for Child Advocacy
and The Legal Aid Society before heading to Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Brazil to
work alongside people living in violence and economic oppression. In 1998 she
returned to The Legal Aid Society.
Over the years many of Smith’s clients have told her that because of her
representation they avoided homelessness, which meant they could graduate on
time, keep their children out of the foster care system, or continue their cancer
treatments.
“In some ways I wish that all policy makers could be homeless for 24 hours
to see how awful it is,” says Smith. “Even things as simple as where to keep birth
certificates, tax returns, and receipts for security deposits or utility bills. A person
can’t apply for HUD-assisted housing without birth certificates for the entire
household. Imagine if someone in the household was born elsewhere.”
“At the Law School I sat in the same classroom with some of the most brilliant
legal minds in the country. I was impressed that people so intelligent were also so
kind. I knew I could not be brilliant, but I could be kind and compassionate, and
ultimately that is what mattered most. I still think of Cal Woodard writing on the
blackboard, justice = law + mercy.”
The article in American Lawyer notes that while profits are up for many law
firms, the most generous ones contribute little more than one-tenth of one percent of their gross revenue to organizations that provide basic legal service to the
poor. Pro bono work plays a crucial role in legal aid, but nothing is as important as
increased funding.
“I hope more people will be inspired to support their local legal services
program,” Smith says. “Some people buy homes for $10 million. Imagine what a
difference a $10 million gift could do for a couple of legal aid programs.”
—REBECCA BARNS
60 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
CHRISTOPHER S. KNOPIK
received the Joseph P.
Milton Professionalism and
Civility award from the
Florida Chapters American
Board of Trial Advocates
convention in Fort
Lauderdale. He is chief
legal officer and general
counsel for Laser Spine
Institute in Tampa.
ROBERT P. LATHAM is listed
in Best Lawyers 2016 in
commercial litigation, First
Amendment law, litigation-First Amendment,
litigation-intellectual
property, litigation-patent,
and sports law. He is a
partner with Jackson
Walker in Dallas and
Houston, Tex.
Greensboro, N.C., 2016
lawyer of the year by Best
Lawyers in bankruptcy
and creditor debtor rights/
insolvency and reorganization law. He is also
listed as an industry
leader in Best Lawyers
2016 in antitrust law,
bankruptcy and creditor
debtor rights/insolvency,
and reorganization law.
He is a partner with
Brooks, Pierce, McLendon,
Humphrey & Leonard.
of directors of Great
Lakes Cheese Co., Inc.
and of the International
Senior Lawyers Project,
a provider of pro bono
legal services in support
of the rule of law and
equitable economic
development. He is listed
in Ohio Super Lawyers 2015
in business/corporate;
closely held business;
and government/cities/
municipalities.
JOHN M. SHEFTALL is listed
in Georgia Super Lawyers
2015 in estate planning
& probate. He is also
listed in Best Lawyers 2016
in litigation-trusts and
estates and trusts and
estates. He is a partner
with Hatcher, Stubbs,
Land, Hollis, & Rothschild
in Columbus, where he
focuses his practice on
estate planning and administration and fiduciary
litigation.
1984
STEVEN W. SLOAN is listed in
Texas Super Lawyers 2015
in employment & labor
and Best Lawyers 2016
in employment lawmanagement and labor
law-management. He is of
counsel with Thompson &
Knight in Dallas.
GEOFF LEWIS has been
named president of RE/
MAX Holdings, Inc. in
Denver, Colo. He previously served as executive
vice president and chief
legal officer.
JEFFREY E. OLEYNIK is listed
in Chambers USA 2015 in
antitrust and litigation:
general commercial law
and has been named
CATHERINE CURRIN
HAMMOND retired from the
judiciary after 16 years as a
circuit court judge in
Henrico, Va. Hammond is
now a mediator and
arbitrator with Juridical
Solutions PLC.
DAVID M. ROSENBERG is
listed in Best Lawyers 2016
in nonprofit/charities law
and tax law. He is a partner
with Thompson & Knight
in Dallas, Tex.
CRAIG OWEN WHITE has
been reappointed to the
Trade Advisory Committee
on Africa. He was first
appointed to the committee in 2013. White is a
partner with Hahn Loeser
in Cleveland, Ohio, where
he co-chairs the food and
beverage and government
practice groups. He is a
member of the board
1985
LAWRENCE J. BRACKEN II
received the Justice Ally
of the Year Award from
the Southern Center for
Human Rights in Atlanta,
Ga., in May. He is a partner
with Hunton & Williams
in Atlanta and New York
City, where he focuses his
practice on litigating and
investigating class action,
technology, insurance,
environmental and
commercial matters. He
is listed in Chambers USA
2015 for litigation and in
Georgia Super Lawyers 2015
for insurance coverage and
civil litigation: defense,
class action/mass torts.
ANTHONY P. DELLA PIETRA, JR.
assumed the role of
president and CEO of
Citibank Japan Ltd. in
June. In late 2014 Citi
announced its agreement
to sell Citibank Japan’s
retail banking business to
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking
Corporation by the end of
the year. Following the
sale, Citibank Japan will
continue to focus on
corporate banking,
markets, and transaction
services businesses. Della
Pietra joined Citi in 2004
and since then has served
as COO of Citibank Japan
and general counsel of
Asia Pacific for Citi before
assuming his current post.
YUJI IWASAWA (S.J.D. ’97)
was elected as an associate of the Institut de Droit
International, a prestigious
academic society of international law, at its Tallinn
session in August. Iwasawa
is on the law faculty at the
University of Tokyo.
JAMES T. MCDERMOTT was
elected chairman of Ball
Janik in Portland, Ore., and
is head of the litigation
practice group. His first
novel, Bitter is the Wind,
will be published by Cune
Press in February.
First in the Nation
LINDSAY ROBERTSON ’86 was selected as
the Chickasaw Nation Endowed Chair in
Native American Law at the University
of Oklahoma College of Law. This is the
first Native American law chair to be
held by a permanent faculty member at
any law school in the United States.
Robertson joined the OU law faculty
in 1997 and has been instrumental in
the school’s becoming a global leader in
the field of indigenous law. Located in
the heart of Indian Territory, the school
has had the highest average enrollment
of American Indian students nationwide
in the past decade.
“We applaud the choice of Dr.
Robertson as the first Chickasaw
Nation Native American Law Chair,”
said Bill Anoatubby, governor of the Chickasaw Nation. “He is a highly respected
scholar who brings an incredible record of achievement to this position. He has
been instrumental in helping make the law school a global leader in the field of
indigenous law.”
“Over the past 18 years, Dr. Robertson has worked tirelessly at OU Law to build
one of the most comprehensive Indian Law curricula in the nation,” said OU Law
Dean Joseph Harroz.
Robertson co-teaches a seminar in international and comparative indigenous
peoples law with colleagues in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. He also
teaches federal Indian law, constitutional law, and legal history, and has helped
OU Law alumni find jobs throughout the U.S., including policy positions in Washington, D.C. He leads the school’s Center for the Study of American Indian Law and
Policy and is the founding director of its International Human Rights Law Clinic.
Robertson, who earned three post-graduate degrees at UVA, has spoken widely
on international and comparative indigenous peoples’ law issues in the United
States, Europe, Latin America, and Asia. In 2014 he received the inaugural David
L. Boren Award for Outstanding Global Engagement and served as an advisor
on indigenous peoples’ law to the chair of the United Nations Committee on the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination. He serves as a justice on the Supreme Court
of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes.
Robertson began his teaching career as a lecturer at UVA Law, where from
1991–96 he taught Federal Indian Law with Professor Richard Merrill. “I’ll always be
grateful to Professor Merrill for inviting me to co-teach. I wouldn’t be where I am
today had it not been for that experience.”
—REBECCA BARNS
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 61
CLASS NOTES
…
JONATHAN D. MOONVES
was recognized on The
Hollywood Reporter’s
2015 power lawyer list.
He is a partner with Del
Shaw Moonves Tanaka
Finkelstein & Lezcano
in Santa Monica, Calif.,
where he represents
entertainers, writers,
producers, executives, and
production entities.
CLASS NOTES
…
liability and medical
malpractice, and practices
federal criminal defense.
Calif., until it relocates to
Playa Vista early next year.
TIMOTHY S. GOETTEL is listed
in Best Lawyers 2016 in
corporate law and mergers
and acquisitions law. He
is a partner with Smith
Anderson in Raleigh, N.C.
CATHERINE NGO was named
1986
ANN PELDO CARGILE was
named a power leader in
commercial real estate by
the Nashville Business
Journal and is listed in
Chambers USA 2015 and
Best Lawyers 2015 in real
estate law. She is a partner
with Bradley Arant Boult
Cummings, where she
represents parties in all
aspects of commercial real
estate, including leasing,
finance, and joint ventures.
JOHN E. LICHTENSTEIN was
elected president of the
Virginia Trial Lawyers
Association for 2015–16.
He is a fellow of the
American College of Trial
Lawyers and a fellow of
the American Board of
Criminal Lawyers. He is
a founding member of
LichtensteinFishwick,
where he represents victims of catastrophic injury
in cases involving product
62 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
president and CEO of
Central Pacific Financial
Corporation and its
subsidiary, Central Pacific
Bank. Ngo joined the
Hawaii-based CPF in late
2010 as executive vice
president and chief
administrative officer after
working as a founding
general partner of Startup
Capital Ventures in Silicon
Valley. She is currently a
venture partner of Startup
Capital Ventures and is a
trustee of the University of
Hawaii Foundation and on
the board of The Nature
Conservancy of Hawaii.
1987
CRAIG GATARZ joined The
Honest Company in 2014
as executive vice president
and general counsel.
The Honest Company is
a leading lifestyle brand
founded by Jessica Alba
that makes safe, effective,
and beautifully designed
consumer products
that are affordable and
responsibly made. Gatarz
manages the legal, human
resources, compliance,
facilities and social goodness departments. Honest
is based in Santa Monica,
The Hon. DAVID C. KEESLER
has been elected president
of the Federal Magistrate
Judges Association for
2015–16. FMJA is an
association of more than
750 active and retired
federal magistrate judges
from across the country.
Keesler has served as a
magistrate judge in
Charlotte, N.C., for 12 years.
BOB SAUNDERS is listed
in Best Lawyers 2016 for
litigation and controversytax, nonprofit/charities
law, and tax law. He is with
Brooks, Pierce, McLendon,
Humphrey & Leonard in
Greensboro, N.C.
RICHARD R. SPORE III is the
managing partner of Bass,
Berry & Sims in Memphis,
Tenn., where he concentrates his practice on
commercial real estate and
lending and business and
transaction planning. He is
listed in Best Lawyers 2016
in banking and finance
law, closely held companies and family business
law, project finance law,
and real estate law, and in
Chambers USA in real estate law. He was profiled in
the February 27th edition
of the Memphis Business
Journal, highlighting his
involvement in Memphis
redevelopment projects.
V. RANDALL TINSLEY is listed
DAYNA BOWEN MATTHEW is
living in Washington, D.C.,
spending a two-year leave
from her faculty position at
the University of Colorado
Law School to serve in
the federal government.
During 2015 Dayna worked
as a senior advisor to
the Office of Civil Rights
for the Environmental
Protection Agency. As of
September she is a Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation
Health Policy Fellow at
the National Academy of
Medicine.
in Chambers USA 2015
in environmental law
and Best Lawyers 2015 in
environmental law and
environmental litigation.
He was recognized as
Best Lawyers’ Greensboro
lawyer of the year in
litigation-environmental
law for 2015. He is listed
in Best Lawyers 2016 in
environmental law and
litigation-environmental.
He is a partner with
Brooks, Pierce, McLendon,
Humphrey & Leonard,
where he focuses his
practice on environmental
and natural resources law
and water rights.
1988
WILLIAM E. BERLIN joined
Hall, Render, Killian, Heath
& Lyman in Washington,
D.C., as a shareholder. He
focuses his practice on
counseling and defending
hospitals, health systems,
physicians, and other
health care providers in
federal and state antitrust
enforcement agency
investigations, as well as
litigation involving
mergers and acquisitions.
He is listed in Washington,
D.C. Super Lawyers 2015 in
antitrust litigation and
health care law. Since 2013
he has served as a
monitoring trustee in a
multi-billion dollar
divestiture for the
Department of Justice. He
was previously in private
practice and served as a
senior trial attorney for the
Department of Justice
antitrust division.
At the Forefront of Legal Reform
From the time he first thought about
a career, BERT BRANDENBURG ’88
remembers focusing on public service.
“At Law School I realized that I loved the
intersection of law, politics, and policy,”
he says, “and I’ve never looked back.”
His first-year summer at a legal aid
office showed him how law could be a
bridge for people seeking opportunities
to improve their lives. He has built on
that early experience ever since.
This summer Brandenburg became
president of Appleseed, a nonprofit
network of pro bono resources across
the country that works to pass reforms
and litigate cases to remove barriers to
opportunity.
Appleseed sponsors research and
advocacy to improve education, decrease poverty, support vulnerable youth,
and promote health and safety. Its 17 public interest justice centers in the United
States and Mexico are led by experienced advocates who are well respected in
local policy and legal matters. They know how to get things done.
Brandenburg has traveled an interesting path to his current position. In the
1990s, not long after graduating from law school, he ran the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Public Affairs and served as chief spokesman for Attorney General
Janet Reno. “Any job where you translate the law makes you think about how well
it actually serves justice,” he says. “Speaking for the Justice Department makes you
acutely aware of just how powerful the law can be, as well as the challenges of
doing justice in a large, sprawling society.”
Following his years at Justice, Brandenburg served for a decade as executive
director of Justice at Stake, a non-partisan campaign of more than 50 organizations working to keep courts fair and impartial. Justice at Stake strives to educate
the public and supports reforms that keep politics and special interests out of
courtrooms.
Looking back, Brandenburg credits the Law School’s openness to course
selection with helping him find his niche. “The Law School let me broaden my
course choices, including classes outside the program, to better explore policy
issues. One favorite was a seminar called Government, Politics, and the Law taught
by D.C. super lawyers Weldon Latham and Jim Dyke. It used current case studies to
explore how law and politics really work, and I was hooked.”
--REBECCA BARNS
JOHN COOPER has been
appointed as a governorat-large to the board of
governors of the Virginia
Trial Lawyers Association.
This summer, at the
American Association for
Justice convention in
Montreal, he was
re-elected chair of a
working group that assists
injured railroad workers.
Cooper is listed in Virginia
Super Lawyers 2015 in
personal injury law and is
a founding partner with
Cooper Hurley Injury
Lawyers in Norfolk.
R. CRAIG JONES reports
that he enjoys helping
independent schools
recruit and hire teachers
and school leaders in his
position with Southern
Teachers Agency in
Charlottesville. The
agency, founded in 1902,
is the oldest independent
school placement service
in the U.S., and the only
one that focuses on private
and independent school
placements in the South.
The Hon. ERIC C. TAYLOR of
the Los Angeles County
Superior Court has been
elected president of the
California Judges
Association by the
organization’s executive
board. He will serve a
one-year term. This will be
his second term as
president, having been
elected the first time
in 2003.
1989
PAT BROOKS celebrated
her 20th anniversary as
in-house counsel with
Towers Watson in
Philadelphia, Pa., in April.
She currently handles
insurance regulation for
TW’s multiple entities
worldwide and writes that
she has frequent early
morning calls—as early as
5 a.m.—with businesses
in Asia Pacific. “My son,
Steve, his wife, Kim,
and two granddogs are
doing great.”
STEVEN FOGG has been
inducted as a fellow in
the American College
of Trial Lawyers and is
listed among the top
100 lawyers for 2015 in
Washington Super Lawyers.
Fogg is a partner with
Corr Cronin Michelson
Baumgardner Fogg &
Moore in Seattle.
DOUGLAS F. GANSLER,
former attorney general of
Maryland and president of
the National Association
of Attorneys General,
is now a partner in the
Washington, D.C., office
of BuckleySandler. His
practice focuses on
advising businesses and
individuals on federal and
state investigations and
enforcement actions and
litigation matters involving
state attorneys general,
the Department of Justice,
and other state and federal
enforcement and regulatory agencies.
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 63
CLASS NOTES
…
ARTHUR V. LAMBERT joined
Fisher & Phillips as partner
in Dallas, where he focuses
his practice on employment law. He was
previously a partner with
Constangy, Brooks & Smith.
Lambert is listed in Texas
Super Lawyers 2015 and
Chambers USA 2015 in labor
and employment law.
STEPHEN H. PRICE, a
partner in Burr & Forman’s
labor and employment
practice, has been
named managing
partner in the Nashville,
Tenn., office, where he
will oversee plans for
continued expansion.
CLASS NOTES
…
served as senior VP and
senior counsel specializing
in corporate governance,
proxy voting, contract negotiation, and regulatory
analysis. She also served
on the board of governors
and as chair of the legal
and regulatory committee
of the Investment Adviser
Association, an industry
trade group. She writes
that after 24 years in the
legal field she is taking
time off to spend a year
or two with her children
before they leave for
college. In the meantime,
she is investigating encore
career ideas, including
corporate and nonprofit
board opportunities.
She feels very blessed to
have the luxury of some
time off to spend with
family, including a recent
visit to Ecuador and the
Galapagos Islands.
ZANE DAVID MEMEGER
1991
AUDREY TRUNDLE BAUHAN
left her part-time position
with Gibson, Dunn &
Crutcher in 2014 to return
to the full-time practice
of law with the legal
department at Dominion
Resources in Richmond,
Va., where she is senior
counsel with the corporate
finance, securities and
mergers and acquisitions
group. She lives near
Richmond with her
husband and two middle
school-aged daughters.
CHERYL HESSE retired
after 20 years at Capital
Research & Management
Company, where she
64 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
continues to serve as
United States Attorney
for the Eastern District
of Pennsylvania and as a
member of the attorney
general’s advisory committee. For his work on issues
related to criminal justice
reform, Zane recently
received the 2015 Civil
Rights Champions Award
from the NAACP at its
annual convention, which
was held this summer in
Philadelphia.
WILLIAM SHUTKIN is
president and CEO
and Richard M. Gray
Fellow in Sustainability
Practice at Presidio
Graduate School in San
Francisco, Calif. Presidio
has placed sustainability
DOUG KENDALL ’92, progressive litigator,
author, activist, nonprofit entrepreneur
named a “Visionary” by the National Law
Journal in 2011—and founding president of Constitutional Accountability
Center (CAC) since June 2008, passed
away in September from complications
of colon cancer. He was 51.
Following law school Kendall was an
associate with Crowell & Moring in Washington, D.C., for several years before
leaving to do public interest work at the National Environmental Trust. He left
to establish the Community Rights Counsel, a law firm that defended environmental legislation. In 2008 he founded the CAC in response to the fact that
conservative voices were dominating debates over the meaning of the text of
the Constitution. Through original scholarship and tireless advocacy, he built a
foundation for the argument that “the Constitution is, in the most vital respects,
a progressive document.”Under his guidance the CAC developed a litigation
strategy that involved the organization in numerous cases before the Supreme
Court of the United States. Kendall played an important role in the defense of
the Affordable Care Act through his briefs and through his coordination of the
work of others.
The CAC put together a tribute to Kendall at bit.ly/dougkendall, with links to
obituaries in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and more.
and services for homeless
youth worldwide.
Small is in private
practice in Deland, where
he focuses on business
and employment law,
contracts, and litigation.
SUSAN EBERLE STAHLFELD
is listed among the top
50 women in Washington
Super Lawyers 2015
and Best Lawyers
2015 in employment
law-management and
litigation-labor and
employment. She is a
partner with Miller Nash
Graham & Dunn in Seattle,
where she leads the
employment law and labor
relations practice group.
RHONDA M. TAYLOR is
directors at Facebook and
other major companies; its
graduates have founded
sustainability-focused
companies as well. The
school was featured in an
April 7th New York Times
article, “M.B.A. Programs
That Get You Where You
Want to Go.” Presidio was
recognized as the school
to go to “if you want to
change the world.”
1992
MATTHEW J. CHOLEWA
joined the Hartford-based
law firm of Hunt Leibert
Jacobson as a partner in
its title practice group. His
practice concentrates on
expert witness work in
title and real estate-related
litigation; title insurance
claims; and title-related
litigation, including
quiet title, boundary line
disputes, and adverse
possession actions; and
residential and commercial
real estate transactions. He
previously had an accomplished career in private
practice as underwriting
and claims counsel in the
title insurance industry.
Cholewa was recently
elected as chair of
the Connecticut Bar
Association’s real property
section for 2015–16 and is
an elected member of the
CBA’s House of Delegates,
its governing body.
DWIGHT M. FRANCIS is listed
in Best Lawyers 2016 in
commercial litigation.
He is a partner with
Gardere Wynne Sewell in
Dallas, Tex.
VYTAS A. PETRULIS is listed
in Best Lawyers 2016 in real
estate law. He is a partner
with Jackson Walker in
Houston, Tex.
executive vice president
and general counsel
of the Dollar General
Corporation. She has
been in-house with Dollar
General since 2000. Taylor
serves on the board of
directors for the Tennessee
Performing Arts Center
and lives in Nashville with
her husband, Kevin Forbes,
and their two children,
Maddie (16) and Jack (11).
1993
RICHARD GROSS, Brigadier
General, U.S. Army, is
transitioning from the
military this fall after over
30 years of service. For the
past several years, Rich has
served as principal counsel
to a number of senior
military leaders, including
serving as chief legal
advisor for all U.S. and
NATO forces in
Afghanistan, chief legal
advisor for U.S. Central
Command, and for the
past four years legal
counsel to the chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Upon his retirement from
the military, Rich plans to
continue working in
national security and
international law.
Rich and his wife,
Vickie, recently celebrated
their 26th wedding
anniversary and plan to
stay in the D.C./Northern
Virginia area. Two of
their sons, Benjie (21)
and Joshua (19), are
UVA undergrads; their
other son, Nathaniel (19),
attends James Madison
University.
THEODORE W. SMALL
delivered opening remarks
for the American Bar
Association’s International
Summit on the Legal
Needs of Street Youth
held in London in June.
Small, who is chair of
the ABA Commission
on Homelessness and
Poverty, participated
virtually from his home in
Deland, Fla., and shared
insights from the summit
with colleagues and the
Law School. The summit
was held at Baker &
McKenzie’s London office
and satellite offices around
the world and drew more
than 160 experts from
36 countries to plan a
global initiative that will
provide greater protection
LOUIS W. UTSCH has joined
Crowe & Dunlevy as a
director in the taxation
practice group in
Oklahoma City, Okla.,
where he focuses his
practice on energy tax law
and tax consulting.
Foundation. He is listed as
a litigation star in
Benchmark Litigation
2015, in Best Lawyers 2015
in commercial litigation
and litigation-environmental law, and in
Chambers USA 2015 in
litigation: general
commercial. Manuel is a
partner with Bradley Arant
Boult Cummings in
Jackson, Miss., where he
focuses his practice on
commercial and employment litigation.
ROB TYLER has returned to
1994
ZEBULON D. ANDERSON is
listed in Best Lawyers 2016
in litigation-labor and employment. He is a partner
with Smith Anderson in
Raleigh, N.C.
AMELIA A. FOGLEMAN is
listed in Best Lawyers 2016
in appellate practice,
commercial litigation,
and litigation-antitrust.
She is a shareholder with
GableGotwals in Tulsa, Okla.
PATRICK J. JOHNSON is listed
in Best Lawyers 2016 in
corporate law and mergers
& acquisitions law. He
is with Brooks, Pierce,
McLendon, Humphrey &
Leonard in Raleigh, N.C.
the University of Virginia
as associate university
counsel. He continues
to practice intellectual
property law and walks
around Grounds asking,
“Where did that building
come from?”
1995
NORMAN S. FLETCHER LL.M.
received the Golden
Promise Award from
the Southern Center for
Human Rights in Atlanta
in May. He is of counsel
with Brinson, Askew, Berry,
Seigler, Richardson &
Davis in Rome, Ga., where
he focuses his practice
on litigation, education,
mediation/arbitration,
and municipality/local
government. He served
as chief justice of the
Supreme Court of Georgia
from 2001–05.
RICK MITCHELL and Megan
MICHAEL C. WU ’92, fourth from the left, senior vice president, general counsel, and
secretary of Carter’s Inc., and members of the Carter’s leadership team rang the NYSE
Closing Bell on May 27 to celebrate the company’s 150th anniversary.
J. WILLIAM MANUEL is a
fellow of the American Bar
Poitevint Mitchell ’11 were
married on November
22, 2014, in Watercolor,
Fla. A number of UVA Law
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 65
CLASS NOTES
…
alumni attended. Rick
and Megan both practice
business litigation at Arnall
Golden Gregory in Atlanta.
MICHAEL S. NACHMANOFF
was selected as a U.S.
magistrate judge in the
Eastern District of Virginia.
The American Bar
Association conferred its
John Marshall Award upon
RANDALL SHEPARD LL.M.,
the longest-serving chief
justice of the Supreme
Court of Indiana.
Shepard, now retired
and serving as a senior
judge for the Court of Appeals for Indiana, served
for 25 years as chief justice.
That service was highlighted by his being the force
behind rules of resolution
that help citizens avoid
litigation, instructions that
allow jurors to be more
involved in the judicial
process, the expansion
of translation services in
trial courts, a scholarship
program for minority law
students and a statewide
pro bono model.
Among Shepard’s
numerous honors and
activities are his serving as
chair of the ABA’s Council
of the Section of Legal
Education and Admissions
to the Bar, receiving
the Dwight D. Opperman Award for Judicial
Excellence, being elected
president of the Conference of Chief Justices,
and chairing the ABA
Task Force on the Future
of Legal Education. After
non-legal public service
positions and service as
a local and county judge,
Shepard was named
66 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
CLASS NOTES
…
Indiana’s 99th Supreme
Court justice in 1985. He
became chief justice two
years later.
The ABA established
the John Marshall Award
in 2001 to recognize
individuals who have made
a positive national impact
on the justice system. Past
recipients include Supreme
Court Justice Anthony
Kennedy, former Supreme
Court Justice Sandra Day
O’Connor, the late former
U.S. Sen. Howell Heflin
of Alabama and former
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom
Ridge. The award is named
for the fourth chief justice
of the United States, who
served for 34 years and is
credited with establishing
the independence of the
judiciary and enhancing its
moral authority.
The Hon. KARLA N. SMITH
was appointed associate
judge for the circuit court
of Montgomery County,
Md., in December 2014 by
Governor Martin O’Malley.
She served on the District
Court of Maryland from
August 2012 until her
appointment. She
represents the Circuit
Court on the Montgomery
County Domestic Violence
Coordinating Council, and
is chair of the council.
Smith was a prosecutor for
more than 15 years and
tried hundreds of cases in
the district and circuit
courts of Montgomery and
Prince George’s Counties,
involving serious crimes.
Smith was awarded the
National Education Association’s Mary Hatwood
Futrell Award for 2015
for her involvement in
women’s rights that have
impacted education and
the achievement of equal
opportunities for women
and girls.
1996
reception was held on
Charlottesville’s Downtown
Mall at Rob’s firm, Cardagin
Networks, Inc., a mobile
relationship management
company. Scott and Rob
were joined by Del. David
Toscano ’86 and three
other ’96 graduates—Don
Long, Jonathan Wren, and
Jamie Baskerville Martin.
BRAD BARLOW ’96 married Heather Henderson in
ERIC MCCLAFFERTY has been
Destin, Fla., on May 10. They met in Northern Virginia
and currently live in Charlottesville. Heather is from
Tuscaloosa, Ala., attended the University of Alabama,
and worked as an accountant for several years in D.C.
named head of the Kelley
Drye Warren international
trade practice group.
His wife, Bonnie, was
just named head of the
Washington, D.C., office
of the Global Alliance for
Improved Nutrition. Their
son, Ryan, is a second-year
at UVA Law, and their son,
Brendan, recently graduated from Wake Forest and
works at the university’s
hospital in Winston-Salem.
JOHN E. DAVIDSON is in
private practice with
Davidson & Kitzmann
in Charlottesville, along
with John Kitzmann ’96,
Rob Bell ’95, and Kim
Mattingly ’04. He focuses
his practice on employment law, white-collar
defense, and complex trial
and appellate litigation.
Davidson is listed in
Virginia Super Lawyers for
2015 in employment and
labor, general litigation,
and appellate law. He has
been an adjunct faculty
member at the Law School
for 16 years, teaching
employment law and trial
advocacy.
Davidson won the
2012 and 2010 short story
contests held to coincide
with the Virginia Festival of
the Book, judged solely by
best-selling author John
Grisham. He has published
his debut novel, Virginia
Dawning, a thriller set in a
fictional Blue Ridge town
in western Virginia (see In
Print). “This is not about
lawyers,” Davidson says.
“Well, ok, there is one
lawyer in it, and a judge.
But that’s all!” He and
his wife live in Western
Albemarle County with
their three children.
ARNOLD EVANS has been
named SunTrust division
president for Central
Florida. He previously
served as regional president of the Jacksonville
market and has been with
SunTrust since 2005.
PAUL A. GARRAHAN has
been appointed attorneyin-charge of the natural
resources section at the
Oregon Department of
Justice.
BENJAMIN T. KING has
been elected president
of the New Hampshire
Association for Justice
for 2015–16. King, who
practices with Douglas,
Leonard & Garvey in
Concord, has been
listed since 2014 in Super
Lawyers for representing
employees in employment
discrimination cases.
MARK A. KNUEVE is
listed in Best Lawyers
2016 in employment law
management-labor and
employment litigation. He
is a partner and member
of the labor and employment practice group with
Vorys, Sater, Seymour and
Pease in Columbus, Ohio.
JAMIE BASKERVILLE MARTIN
is president of McCandlish
Holton in Richmond and
chairs the firm’s corporate
and health care sections.
She represents hospitals,
physician groups, and
others in the health care
industry in transactional
and regulatory matters.
Jamie and Alton ’92 live
in Goochland County
(between Richmond and
Charlottesville) with their
three children.
ROB MASRI hosted a
reception for Scott
Surovell, who is currently
a member of Virginia’s
House of Delegates and
who was running for
the Virginia Senate. The
companies on employment
and workers’ compensation
matters, and the defense
of tort claims.
After serving six years
in the Virginia House of
Delegates, SCOTT SUROVELL
was elected to represent
the 36th District in the
Senate of Virginia. Scott
continues to live in Mt.
Vernon with his wife, Erinn
Madden, and their four
children, Eva, Leia, Mara,
and Colin. Surovell still
practices law with Surovell
Isaacs Petersen & Levy
PLC, where he focuses on
civil and criminal litigation
including personal injury,
family law, criminal, and
consumer litigation.
1997
ERIC S. EASLEY, his wife,
Hilal, and their twoyear-old daughter, Berin,
moved to Bucharest,
Romania, in September
for a diplomatic assignment to the U.S.
Embassy, Bucharest. “As
hard-working American
taxpayers supporting our
diplomats abroad,” Eric
and his family expect a
visit “any time from UVA
lawyers with an inkling to
visit Romania,” he writes.
“We look forward to hosting you. And this is serious.
We mean it!”
WALLACE C. “CHUCK”
HOLLOWELL III has been
named general counsel
for Cardinal Innovations
Healthcare in Kannapolis,
N.C. He previously served
as deputy general counsel.
ANDREW BROWN was
DILIP PALIATH has been
appointed by Maryland
Governor Larry Hogan
to the Baltimore County
Judicial Nominating
Commission, which is
tasked with making
judicial appointment
recommendations to the
governor for the district
and circuit courts of
Baltimore County. His
term will end in 2019.
Paliath has been selected
as one of the top 100 trial
lawyers in Maryland by
the National Trial Lawyers
Association.
elected chairman of the
management committee
of Levine, Blaszak, Block
& Boothby (“LB3”) in
Washington, D.C., where
he represents large
corporate clients in their
strategic sourcing of
global telecommunications
and IT services and
in regulatory matters
affecting corporate
customers of information
technologies. Brown
also serves on the
board of directors of
LB3’s consulting firm,
TechCaliber Consulting
(“TC2”).
IAN ROSENTHAL co-founded
Rosenthal Parks in Mobile,
Ala., which has a general
litigation practice with
a particular focus on
commercial litigation,
providing guidance to
YOST CONNER married Sam
Taylor on January 2 in
Washington, D.C. They live
in Arlington, Va.
MARK R.A. HORN has been
elected president of the
Charlotte, N.C. Estate
Planning Council. He has
served on the board since
2011 and was elected vice
president in 2014. He is a
member with Moore & Van
Allen, where he is a North
Carolina State Bar certified
specialist in estate
planning and probate law
and a frequent speaker on
tax and estate planning
topics. He is listed in North
Carolina Super Lawyers
2015 in estate planning
and probate law.
YUJI IWASAWA S.J.D. was
elected as an associate
of the Institut de Droit
International, a prestigious
academic society of international law, at its Tallinn
session in August. Iwasawa
is on the law faculty at the
University of Tokyo.
NEIL RICHARDS is a national
trustee of the Freedom to
Read Foundation and was
appointed as an affiliate
scholar of the information
law centers at Yale and
Stanford. He teaches
privacy, free speech, and
constitutional law at
Washington University
Law School. He published
his first book, Intellectual
Privacy, with Oxford
University Press (see
In Print) this year.
JUSTIN A. SAVAGE joined
Hogan Lovells in
Washington, D.C., as a
partner in the litigation
group. He previously
served nearly a decade
in the environment and
natural resources division
at the U.S. Department
of Justice. His practice
focuses on complex litigation and investigations
concerning environmental
and safety matters. “I’m
happy to be in a firm with
so many alumni,” he writes.
JASON M. SNEED was named
Charlotte trademark
lawyer of the year in Best
Lawyers 2016. He founded
the trademark, trade dress,
and copyright boutique
firm SNEED PLLC in 2011.
This year the firm hired
its fifth and sixth lawyers,
including Neal Hayes ’10,
who practices in Davidson,
N.C. SNEED PLLC also
has an office in Sullivan’s
Island, S.C.
LORI D. THOMPSON is a
shareholder and office
leader with LeClairRyan
in Roanoke, Va. She was
named Roanoke lawyer
of the year in bankruptcy
litigation in Best Lawyers
2015. She concluded
her term as president of
the Virginia Poverty Law
Center, a nonprofit organization that represents the
interests of low-income
Virginians and provides
statewide training to
legal aid program staff on
poverty law issues, and
has been appointed by
the chief justice of the
Virginia Supreme Court to
the pro bono committee
of the Virginia Access to
Justice Commission. She
has also been elected
to serve on the Virginia
Bar Association’s board
of governors. She lives
in Roanoke with her
husband, Mark, and their
two children.
1998
ADRIENNE PRUDEN ASHBY
is in her fourth year of
homeschooling her
children. In addition, she
works as a staff attorney
for the Georgia Senior
Legal Hotline of the
Atlanta Legal Aid Society.
WILLIAM R. BORCHERS was
included in the S.A. Scene
best San Antonio lawyers
list for 2015 in intellectual
property and information
technology. He is a partner
with Jackson Walker.
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 67
CLASS NOTES
…
CHRISTOPHER D. BREARTON
was recognized on The
Hollywood Reporter’s
2015 power lawyer
list. He is a partner
in Latham & Watkins’
entertainment, sports, and
media practice and the
deputy office managing
partner in Century City,
Los Angeles, Calif.
J. LANE CROWDER joined
Baker Donelson and is of
counsel in the financial
services transaction
group in Chattanooga,
Tenn., where she
represents banks and
other financial institutions
in HUD-insured loan
transactions for multifamily and senior housing
facilities. She previously
served as law clerk to the
Hon. R. Allan Edgar, U.S.
District Court, and the
Hon. Shelley D. Rucker, U.S.
Bankruptcy Court, both
in the Eastern District of
Tennessee.
CLASS NOTES
…
1999
After 16 years with the
same firm, ALEXANDER M.
BROWN has been elevated
to member with Dickinson
Wright in Columbus, Ohio.
Alex is in the corporate
group, where he focuses
on advising privately held
software and technology
companies from start to
finish. He writes that his
golf game is deteriorating
because he no longer
gets to play Birdwood
every day.
2000
CHRIS CONVERSE is included
in D Magazine’s list of best
lawyers in Dallas in 2015
in the area of corporate
law: general and in Best
Lawyers 2016 in corporate
law. He is a partner with
Gardere Wynne Sewell,
where he chairs the
securities and corporate
governance team and is
a member of the private
equity industry team.
STEPHANIE L. CHANDLER was
included in the S.A. Scene
Best San Antonio Lawyers
list for 2015 in mergers &
acquisitions, and securities
& corporate finance. She
is a partner with Jackson
Walker, where she leads
the technology section.
E. PERRY HICKS has joined
Hunton & Williams as
partner in the lending
services practice in
Charlotte, N.C. He was
previously a partner with
Mayer Brown.
KRISTINE DUNNE MAHER
The Law School is well represented in McCandlish
Holton’s health care practice. From left,
Jamie Baskerville Martin ’96, Dominic Madigan ’98,
Jeremy Ball ’99, Maggie Krantz ’04,
Tom McCandlish ’76, and Jennifer Long Ligon ’10 all
practice health care law at the firm.
68 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
is the chair of this year’s
Red Mass Committee in
Washington, D.C. Hosted
by the John Carroll Society,
the Red Mass is held each
year on the Sunday before
the first Monday in October
to coincide with the new
Supreme Court term.
Judges, lawyers, diplomats,
government officials, and
people of all faiths attend
the Mass to invoke God’s
blessing and guidance
on the administration of
justice. This year the Red
Mass was celebrated on
October 4 at the Cathedral
of St. Matthew the Apostle
in Washington, D.C. The
John Carroll Society’s
chaplain is Rev. Msgr.
Peter J. Vaghi ’74.
PHIL NEISWENDER was
named president of the
Center for Board
Excellence (CBE), the
leading provider of
compliance and governance solutions. He will
also remain a member of
CBE’s board of directors,
which he joined in 2013.
Prior to CBE, Neiswender
held roles as chief legal
officer and executive vice
president for operations &
corporate development at
UIEvolution; chief
operating officer at
Garagiste; and general
counsel, vice president of
legal at BSQUARE
Corporation. He also held
both legal and business
roles at Getty Images and
practiced at Graham &
James, and Riddell
Williams, in Seattle.
Neiswender also currently
advises several early-stage
startups and is on the
board of Vinzar.
Founded in 2010 by
attorneys and technologists, the Center for Board
Excellence has built an
innovative governance
platform for board
assessment, directors’ and
officers’ questionnaires
and other compliance
processes.
DAN PASQUARELLO and
Scott Fink ’02 partnered
to form Pasquarello Fink
LLC. The litigation boutique, which is located in
Boston’s financial district,
focuses on business
disputes, employment
matters, and real estate
and land use litigation. The
firm also advises clients on
a host of business issues
and acts as outside general counsel for privately
held companies.
MICHELLE COLLEEN ROBERTS
died on August 13. She
was senior counsel in
the division of investment management at
the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
2001
TILLMAN J. BRECKENRIDGE
joined Bailey & Glasser as
a partner in Washington,
D.C., where he concentrates his practice on
appellate litigation. He
is listed in Washington,
D.C. Super Lawyers and
is on Virginia Business
magazine’s legal elite list
for appellate practice.
ADAM M. GERSHOWITZ is
associate dean for research
and faculty development
at the William & Mary Law
School. He has been on
the faculty since 2012
and is a nationally known
scholar of criminal law
and criminal procedure.
Gershowitz is the Herbert
V. Kelly, Sr., Professor
of Teaching Excellence
for 2014–16. In May he
received the Walter L.
Williams, Jr. Memorial
Teaching Award, given by
the class of 2015.
As a federal prosecutor, Andrew
led some of the nation’s largest and
most complex international fraud
and cybercrime investigations
and prosecutions of corporate
executives, businesses, and others.
He was elected to the American
Law Institute in April, where he
will contribute to new projects
on corporate compliance and
police investigations among
other projects. He was featured in
ALI’s summer newsletter, The ALI
Reporter, in a Q&A. The following
excerpt is from that interview.
LATHROP B. NELSON III has
been elected to the board
of directors of the
Committee of Seventy, a
nonpartisan government
watchdog group that
works to promote clean
and effective government,
fair elections, and
informed citizens. He is a
partner in the litigation
department at
Montgomery McCracken
Walker & Rhoads in
Philadelphia, Pa., where he
focuses his practice on
complex commercial
litigation, white-collar
crime, and government
investigations.
USHA R. RODRIGUES has
been appointed associate
dean for faculty development at the University
of Georgia School of
Law. Rodrigues joined
the school’s faculty in
the fall of 2005 and was
named the holder of the
M.E. Kilpatrick Chair of
Corporate Finance and
Securities Law in 2014.
Currently, she leads
courses in contracts and
business ethics, and
business associations.
ANDREW S. BOUTROS ’01, an Assistant
U.S. Attorney in Chicago, serving
mostly in the financial crimes
and special prosecution section,
departed the U.S. Attorney’s Office
in October after nearly eight
years of decorated federal service.
Andrew has joined Seyfarth Shaw
as a litigation partner and national
co-chair of its white collar group,
where he will have offices in
Chicago and D.C.
Before his departure, Andrew
was selected in 2015 as the Federal
Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA) national prosecutor
of the year. One year earlier, the
American Bar Association awarded
Andrew the criminal justice
section’s Norm Maleng Minister
of Justice Award, which is presented to one federal, state, or local
prosecutor in the country a year for
exemplifying the principle that the
“duty of the prosecutor is to seek
justice, not merely to convict.”
The FLEOA National Prosecutorial Award is presented to the
nation’s federal prosecutor
who, working with federal law
enforcement officers, “secured the
conviction of a notorious criminal
in the face of formidable obstacles
through untiring effort.” The honor
stems from Andrew’s extensive
work in helping take down the
Darknet website “Silk Road” and his
successful investigation, prosecution, and conviction of the world’s
largest drug trafficker on the site.
Silk Road has been described as the
most sophisticated and extensive
criminal marketplace of its kind on
the Internet.
Think back to your days as a student
at the University of Virginia School of
Law. Who was your favorite professor
and why?
“UVA Law is chock-full of
dynamic professors, who are as
caring as they are accomplished.
That said, I really enjoyed learning
from Professor Jeffrey O’Connell,
who until he passed away in 2013,
was one of the leading lights of
the insurance and tort bars. Having
created the theoretical underpinnings for no-fault insurance,
Professor O’Connell was able to
import the challenges of the real
world into the classroom, where
we discussed both problems and
solutions. In doing so, he offered
wonderfully practical insights,
while simultaneously maintaining
a demanding academic setting. I
not only took Professor O’Connell’s
advanced torts course, but I later
became his research assistant. And,
together, we authored a comprehensive article on certain aspects
of tort reform that was published
by the Notre Dame Law Review—an
experience that was both rigorous
and educational. All these years
later, I am very grateful for the time
and energy Professor O’Connell
invested in me. I believe I am a
better lawyer for having studied
under his care.”
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 69
CLASS NOTES
…
MICHAEL J. SCHWARTZ has
been elected partner in
the corporate finance
group with Skadden,
Arps, Slate, Meagher &
Flom in New York City.
He represents U.S. and
international issuers,
private equity sponsors,
REITs, and underwriters
in a wide variety of
public and private finance
transactions.
DAVID STUCKEY is cofounder and executive
editor of CEE Legal Matters
magazine, the leading
publication for and about
lawyers across Europe’s
emerging markets. He was
one of the hosts and organizers of the 2015 General
Counsel Summit, held in
Budapest in September.
The conference, attended
by more than 100 senior
in-house counsel from
across Central and Eastern
Europe, was the first of its
kind for general counsel
and heads of legal in
the region.
JASON TRUJILLO and his
wife, Lauren, welcomed a
son into the world in June.
Dominic Augustine joins
his big sister, Maria (7).
Tom Valente is godfather
to both children. Jason
continues to serve as the
Law School Foundation’s
70 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
CLASS NOTES
…
chief development officer
and resides in Charlottesville.
Dedicated to the Idea of
Servant Leadership
RYAN MALONE joined the
U.S. Attorney’s Office for
the District of Columbia as
an assistant U.S. attorney
handling criminal cases. He
was previously a member
with Ropes & Gray in the
government enforcement and appellant and
Supreme Court practices.
2002
In January MARK CROOKS
said farewell to 13 years
of service as a state and
federal prosecutor and
joined Maryland’s new
governor as deputy legal
counsel. Mark now works
in Annapolis in the Shaw
House (built in 1720), from
which he bustles back and
forth to the State House
and Government House
to provide counsel to
Governor Larry Hogan and
his cabinet.
KENDALL DAY and
DANIELLE BAUSSAN live in
Washington, D.C., with their
toddler, Gavin. In March
Kendall was appointed
chief of the asset forfeiture
and money laundering section in the Criminal Division
of the U.S. Department
of Justice. Danielle is the
managing director of
energy policy at the Center
for American Progress.
SCOTT FINK and Dan
Pasquarello ’00 partnered
to form Pasquarello Fink
LLC. The litigation boutique, located in Boston’s
financial district, focuses
on business disputes,
employment matters, and
real estate and land use
litigation. The firm also
advises clients on a host
of business issues and
acts as outside general
counsel for privately held
companies.
This spring HOWARD HOEGE ’02
launched his own consulting firm,
3H3 Leadership, with an ambitious
goal—partner with businesses and
communities to create a culture of
servant leadership, a discipline he
believes every leader should possess.
“Servant leaders recognize they
are part of something bigger than
themselves, and they serve that larger
purpose,” says Hoege. “For them, job
one is empowering and developing
people. In that sense, leaders serve
those they lead.”
Hoege’s own leadership experience
is broad and deep. He graduated from
West Point in 1994 as first captain of
the Corps of Cadets, having gone through training as an Army Ranger, a grueling
72-day-long program he aced, in part, because he and three other soldiers made
a pact to support each other. Committing to someone else first, he says, helped
each of them succeed.
He was a platoon leader at Fort Hood, Tex., before leaving to attend Law School
through an Army program.
After passing the Virginia Bar he went to the Army’s Judge Advocate General’s
School for the officer basic course. Following graduation he joined the 101st
Airborne Division and deployed to Iraq during the initial invasion in 2003. By the
time Hoege returned to the United States from his 11-month tour of duty, his
experience in war had sharpened his interest and ideas regarding public policy
and the need for better leadership.
“I believe to my core,” he said, “that even though we are more connected
than ever before through social media and the like, we are actually increasingly
disengaged from one another.” He’s committed to finding ways to inspire and
support the instincts in people that value and respect others, including those who
are different from them. “To do that you have to stop, connect, and be present and
vulnerable.”
Servant leadership, Hoege explains, is an effective way to build a culture in
an organization that supports ownership of core values and a common mission so members work as an effective team. He works with organizations to
create project-based opportunities for rising leaders to practice their skills, and
provides coaching to ensure that the organization supports the newly learned
leadership skills.
Hoege’s clients include the Hampton Roads Community Foundation, the
Mariners’ Museum in Newport News, The Virginian-Pilot, and the Jefferson Scholars
Foundation at UVA, for which he’s designed a year-long leadership development
program for second-year scholars. He is also a lecturer at the Batten School where,
until recently, he was a full-time dean.
—REBECCA BARNS
BERND J. HARTMANN LL.M. is
dean of the University of
Osnabrueck School of Law.
With an enrollment of
about 1,500 students, the
school is internationally
recognized, especially for
its European legal studies.
DAN NELSON has worked as
a white-collar assistant U.S.
attorney in Kansas City for
the past 11 years. Last year
Nelson received the Lon
O. Hocker Award, which
is presented annually by
state and federal judges to
the top three Missouri trial
attorneys under 40. Nelson
married Katherine Baker
on October 10. “I would
love it if any Lawhoos
passing through town
would look me up for
some outrageously good
KC BBQ,” he writes.
clients based on a flat fee
monthly retainer or per
project billing, with no
billing by the hour. Billy
continues to focus on
intellectual property law
in the software, entertainment, manufacturing,
health care, hospitality,
and technology industries.
Cameron Reeves
Poynter is the author of
the blog www.luckyorangepants.com, and her
work has been published
on various Web sites.
Billy and Cameron live
in Norfolk, Va., with their
two children, Jack (8) and
Will (6).
ANTONY SAYESS was elected
chair of the tax section of
the New Hampshire State
Bar. He continues to serve
as chair of the board of
trustees of New Hampshire
Audubon.
AFI JOHNSON-PARRIS is
president of the
Greensboro Bar
Association for the
2015–16 term. She also
presides over the GBA
Foundation and the 18th
Judicial District Bar, which
covers all lawyers in
Guilford County as an
entity of the North
Carolina State Bar.
Johnson-Parris is with
Ward Black Law in
Greensboro, where she
practices family law and
veterans’ disability law.
Johnson-Parris was
editor and contributing
author for the ABA book
Marketing Success: How
Did She Do That? Women
Lawyers Show You How
to Move Beyond Tips to
Implementation (see
In Print).
ELENA PARENT is serving her
JENNIFER KAUFMAN STILLMAN
first term in the Georgia
State Senate, representing
a DeKalb County-based
district. She previously
served in the Georgia
House of Representatives
in 2011 and 2012. Elena
and her husband, Briley
Brisendine, and their sons,
Brooks (5) and Reid (2), live
in Atlanta.
lives in Ridgewood, N.J.,
with her husband and
their two children, Jackson
(8) and Charlotte (6). After
12 years working as a
trusts and estates
associate at Debevoise &
Plimpton, she has joined
Noble Black ’01 at
Douglas Elliman in New
York, working as an
associate real estate broker
in Manhattan.
BILLY POYNTER recently
left his partnership at
Williams Mullen to join
Kaleo Legal with two
colleagues, Tina Payne
Bingham ’00 and Brian
Wainger (College ’91). The
firm provides both legal
and business consulting
services to startups,
mid-size growth companies, and Fortune 500
JENNIFER SWIZE was
married September 19 to
David Montes, a graduate
of Stanford Law School.
The wedding took place in
Washington, D.C., where
Jennifer and David reside.
They honeymooned in
Sicily. Jennifer is a partner
in the issues and appeals
practice of Jones Day, and
David is chief of staff for
U.S. Congressman Ruben
Gallego of Arizona.
2003
SHERYL KOVAL GARKO has
BECKY BROWN has been
an attorney with the
Department of Homeland
Security since graduation, and for the past
eight years has advised
Homeland Security
investigations special
agents on their criminal
investigations and policy
matters. This fall, Becky
was selected to serve as
the acting principal director for law enforcement
policy for the Department
of Homeland Security.
In her free time, Becky
is usually out and about in
Washington, D.C. with her
dog, Tazewell, or working
on a food-related project.
Becky’s cooking blog,
My Utensil Crock (www.
myutensilcrock.com), has
turned into more of a
venture than planned; this
summer, Becky’s blog led
to her first series of cooking classes, designed for
the practical professional.
The classes were taught at
Prequel, a new crowdfunded restaurant pop-up
incubator in the heart of
downtown D.C.
been named a 2015 top
women of law honoree by
Massachusetts Lawyers
Weekly and joins an elite
group of women who are
educators, trailblazers,
pioneers, and role models.
Garko is a principal with
Fish & Richardson in
Boston, where she focuses
her practice on intellectual
property litigation with
emphasis on patent,
trademark, copyright,
trade secret, and false
advertising litigation.
ADAM GREEN is co-founder
of the Progressive Change
Campaign Committee
(BoldProgressives.org), a
national electoral and issue
advocacy organization
with nearly one million
members. This year the
PCCC successfully helped
move issues like debt-free
college, expanding Social
Security, and Wall Street
reform and criminal
accountability to the center
of the 2016 presidential
conversation.
2004
JEFF BARNES has joined
Fisher & Phillips as a
partner in Houston, Tex.,
where he represents
employers before state
and federal courts and
administrative agencies
in a variety of labor and
employment matters. He
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 71
CLASS NOTES
…
has been listed as a rising
star in Texas Super Lawyers
every year since 2007.
ANN CABELL BASKERVILL
writes that she’s honored
to serve as commonwealth’s attorney for
Dinwiddie County in
Virginia. Baskervill has held
the position since 2014.
CHRIS RICHARDSON was
recognized in Legal500’s
GC Powerlist for the Middle
East. He serves as the general counsel of Mubadala
Petroleum, an international
oil and gas company based
in Abu Dhabi. Chris, Andi
(Nursing ’04), Campbell (9),
and William (4) would
welcome a visit by any UVA
alumni who happen to be
passing through the UAE.
CLASS NOTES
…
2005
CAROLINE GREENE has
left the law to launch a
coaching business to help
well-educated moms find
work that matters. Her
new book, Matter: How
to Find Meaningful Work
That’s Right for You and
Your Family, was released
this fall (see In Print). More
information is available at
www.carolinegreenecoaching.com.
2006
JENNIFER ATTREP was appointed by the governor,
after being recommended
by a bipartisan nominating
commission, to serve as
district court judge in the
First Judicial District Court,
State of New Mexico. She
has a general jurisdiction
docket that covers three
counties in Northern New
Mexico and is running in
the 2016 election to retain
her seat as judge. See
www.keepjudgeattrep.com.
EDMUND S. SAUER has
CHAD BELL joined Korein
been elected chair
of the Tennessee Bar
Association’s appellate
practice section for a oneyear term. In conjunction
with his leadership role, he
presented at the section’s
Tennessee Supreme Court
Academy CLE on oral argument in October. Sauer
is a partner with Bradley
Arant Boult Cummings in
Nashville, concentrating
his practice on handling
appeals and drafting trial
and post-trial motions on a
wide range of legal issues.
Tillery in Chicago, Ill.,
where his practice focuses
on plaintiffs’ securities,
antitrust, and complex
civil litigation, including
current work on behalf of
the National Credit Union
Administration against
major banks in connection
with the sale of residential
mortgage-backed
securities. He and his wife,
Susan, live in Chicago,
where Susan works as
an executive assistant to
architect Jeanne Gang of
Studio Gang Architects.
In September 2014 they
72 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
private markets, public
company reporting
obligations, and general
business matters.
welcomed their first son,
Ethan Anderson Bell.
ANDREA C. DVORAK, a
professional cyclist, participated in the 2015 UCI World
Cycling Championships
in Richmond, Va., in
September. The nine-day
event, which is often
referred to as the Super
Bowl of cycling, features
12 championship races in
three different disciplines:
a traditional road race,
individual time trial, and
team time trial. More than
1,000 athletes compete.
Andrea’s passion for the
sport took off during Law
School.
TIFFANY M. GRAVES,
executive director of the
Mississippi Access to
Justice Commission, was
selected as a fellow of the
American Bar Foundation.
Graves is an adjunct
professor with the Pro
Bono Initiative of the
University of Mississippi
School of Law.
STEPHEN NG lives in Dunn
MATTHEW H. MEYERS was
Loring, Va., with his wife
and two daughters. Last
December he left Baker
Botts after six years to
join the office of the
general counsel at the U.S.
Securities and Exchange
Commission, where
he works in the legal
policy group. Stephen is
a songwriter, singer, and
guitarist for The Restless,
which recently released its
first EP (therestless.net).
elected partner with
Drinker Biddle & Reath
in Philadelphia, Pa. He
represents both public
and private companies
in a variety of corporate
and securities matters,
focusing on mergers
and acquisitions, private
equity investments,
joint ventures, corporate
governance, capital-raising
transactions in public and
DAVID REED and his wife,
Sara, welcomed their first
child, Anne Moseley Reed,
in February. The Reeds
live in Atlanta, Ga., where
David is a patent attorney
with Kilpatrick Townsend
& Stockton. David, Sara,
and Annie will visit
family in northern Tuscany
this fall on Annie’s first
overseas trip.
TREVOR MCFADDEN was
elected to the partnership
of Baker & McKenzie in
Washington, D.C., where
he is a white-collar litigator. He and his wife, Kelly
(Lynch) McFadden ’08,
live in Northern Virginia
and have two children,
Katie (3) and Will (1).
MARTIN TOTARO left the
partnership of litigation
boutique MoloLamken
to join the Securities and
Exchange Commission’s
appellate litigation group.
2007
CHRISTOPHER JACKSON
In July JASON BEATON accepted an appointment as
an assistant United States
attorney in Gainesville,
Fla., after having served
in the same capacity in
Tallahassee.
has joined the U.S.
Department of Justice in
Washington, D.C., as a trial
attorney in the Criminal
Division’s Fraud Section.
He prosecutes white-collar
crime and other federal
criminal offenses.
VANESSA KOLBE EISENMANN
lives in Milwaukee, Wisc.,
with her husband, Erik,
who is a shareholder
at Whyte Hirschboeck
Dudek, and their two
daughters, Cora (4) and
Elsa (1). After five years as
a federal law clerk, Vanessa
has returned to private
practice at Biskupic &
Jacobs. She concentrates
her practice mainly on
complex civil litigation and
appellate work, including
criminal appeals in the
Seventh Circuit.
KALEB FROEHLICH has joined
the government relations
firm Cassidy & Associates,
where he focuses on
energy, natural resources,
and arctic-related policy issues. He previously worked
for the U.S. Senate Energy
and Natural Resources
Committee. He lives in
Washington, D.C., with his
wife, Annie ’06, and their
two sons, Graham and Elias.
STEPHANIE ULLMAN GRAU,
In July, 2006 SECTION B MEMBERS (from left) John Mark Goodman, Jim Pinna,
Rhett Kier, and Jason Brege hiked, camped, and fished the Gunnison River in
Colorado for their seventh annual fishing trip. “A good time was had by all.”
welcomed baby boy
Holden W. Grau on
September 15, 2014.
Stephanie is a full-time
mom and part-time
attorney practicing in the
field of estate planning.
together with her
husband, Eric and their
daughter, Willow, proudly
JOSH KAPLOWITZ joined the
U.S. Department of Interior
in April as an attorneyadvisor in the solicitor
office’s division of mineral
resources. He advises the
Bureau of Ocean Energy
Management regarding its
offshore renewable energy
(wind, marine hydrokinetic) program. Kaplowitz
lives in Arlington, Va., with
his wife, Andrea, who
recently started her own
landscaping business, and
their three children.
In January JOHN F. LASALLE
was promoted to partner
at Boies, Schiller & Flexner,
where he also serves as
the firm’s deputy general
counsel. John and his wife,
Emera, live in New York
City with their two
children, Eleanora (4) and
Raphael (1).
ALLIX MAGAZINER joined
Clean Energy Collective
(CEC) as corporate counsel
in April. CEC develops
community-owned renewable energy solutions for
electric utilities and their
customers. She lives in
Boulder, Colo., with her
husband, Nate Hunt, and
son, Townes.
ALEX PATTERSON left Tough
Mudder, where he held
positions of in-house
counsel, chief marketing
officer, and VP of brand,
to create a new company
in the adventure activities
space, called Task Force
Zero (www.taskforce-zero.
com), headquartered in
Brooklyn, NYC. TFØ will
“turn your weekend into a
mission” with one-day and
two-day adventure missions comprising activities
such as white-water rafting,
mixed–martial arts lessons,
rock climbing, sky diving,
stand-up paddle boarding,
CrossFit classes, and more.
Participants don’t know
the itinerary until they are
on the mission itself. “Good
luck to everyone on life’s
adventures,” Alex writes,
“and please connect if
you’re in NYC. E-mail me at
alex.patterson@taskforcezero.com!”
TAYLOR PHILLIPS became
an assistant U.S. Attorney
in Charlotte, N.C., in
February. He joined the
U.S. Attorney’s Office
after seven years in the
litigation and government
investigations groups of
Bass, Berry & Sims, where
he was based in Nashville,
Tenn. and Washington,
D.C. Taylor and his wife,
Meghan, are raising an
18-month-old daughter
while trying to explore
their relatively new city.
CONNIE CHILTON ’08 married CHARLIE LAPLANTE ’08 on May 9
in Palm Springs, Calif. Cate Dundon, Jeff Albertson,
Hamp Nettles, and Tom Wood were in the wedding
party and joined many other Law School classmates
in attendance. The couple lives in Los Angeles, where
Connie is an associate at Sidley Austin and Charlie is
senior counsel for Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley.
acquisitions counsel in
November 2014. He had
previously been with
Reed Smith in Chicago,
Ill., where he focused his
practice on mergers and
acquisitions for Hub and
other clients. Matt lives
in Chicago with his wife,
Carrie, and son, Jack.
BEN REEVES is a partner at
Snell & Wilmer in Phoenix,
Ariz., where he focuses
his practice on creditor’s
rights litigation, real estate
litigation, and receivership
law. This year he was
appointed by Governor
Doug Ducey to the
Commission on Appellate
Court Appointments, a
section of the Judicial
Nominating Commission,
which participates in
the process of selecting
appellate judges under
Arizona’s merit selection
system. Ben and his wife,
Stacey, expect their fourth
child early next year.
JACKIE GHARAPOUR WERNZ
MATT PINKHAM joined Hub
International Limited
(Hub) as mergers and
education law. She and her
husband, Matt, welcomed
their second child, Cecily
Zahra, in August 2014.
Big brother Isaiah and the
family are doing well.
2008
AMY FITZHENRY lives in
Los Angeles, Calif., and is
the North American legal
counsel for the Movember
Foundation, a global men’s
health charity. Her first
novel, Cold Feet, is out this
fall with Berkley/Penguin
Random House (see
In Print).
OM JAHAGIRDAR is associate
general counsel at Freddie
Mac in Tysons, Va., where
he focuses on servicing
transactions and credit risk
transfers.
WALTON H. WALKER III was
sworn in as assistant
district attorney for
Charlotte-Mecklenburg,
N.C. in August.
is a partner at Franczek
Radelet in Chicago, Ill.,
where she practices
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 73
Class notes
…
Class notes
…
Streamlining Pro Bono
Through Technology
2009
Patrick McCann joined
Michael Hollander ’08 is a staff
attorney at Community Legal Services
of Philadelphia, where he represents
low-wage workers in a range of
employment issues, including wageand-hour violations, ex-offender
re-entry work, and unemployment
compensation claims.
Before entering law school, Hollander
was a computer programmer for a
software company. He’s now using
those skills to modernize pro bono legal
services for low-income clients.
Hollander created an application
called the Expungement Generator
that converts an electronic version of
a criminal record to an editable and
ready-to-file expungement petition. The app cuts the petition drafting time by
two-thirds.
The Generator is used by Hollander’s office in Community Legal Services and
by Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity, a legal services provider that Hollander
co-founded. It’s also used by a wide variety of other organizations in the state,
including the Philadelphia Barristers, the Montgomery County Public Defender,
and legal aid offices. Since the Generator’s release in 2011, more than 10,000
petitions have been prepared and filed using it.
“The code for the app is open source and available on GitHub,” says Hollander. “I
have consulted with a number of programs around the country about modifying
it for their purposes, and I would be happy to talk to anyone else.” He can be
contacted at hollander@gmail.com.
Hollander’s work was also key to a successful campaign to get Philadelphia
courts to forgive older bail judgment debt—some of which was decades old. He
met with opposition when he tried to get data from the court, so he developed his
own tool to extract the data. Because of this melding of legal and technological
work, a September feature in ABA Journal dubbed him a “legal rebel.”
Community Legal Services supports Hollander’s inventiveness by giving him
space and time to develop his ideas. With growing caseloads of low-income
clients and a shortage of attorneys to serve them, he’s finding ways to streamline
procedures and enable a hard-pressed system to do more with less.
Chamberlain, Hrdlicka,
White, Williams & Aughtry
in Atlanta, Ga., as an associate in the tax practice.
2010
municipal law practice
group of Best Best &
Krieger in Walnut Creek,
Calif., where he focuses his
practice on water quality,
land use, and toxic tort
matters. He was previously with Olson Hagel &
Fishburn.
2011
Jeffrey R. Chang married
Jessica Childress received
the National Bar
Association’s 40 Under 40
Nation’s Best Advocates
Award at the National Bar
Association’s annual
convention in Los Angeles,
Calif., in July. The award
honors lawyers who
exemplify a broad range of
high achievement,
innovation, vision,
leadership, and legal and
community involvement.
Childress is an associate
with Proskauer in
Washington, D.C., in the
labor and employment
group and represents
employers in all aspects of
employment litigation
and counseling.
—Rebecca Barns
Matthew J. Yao is a partner
at Woehrle Dahlberg Jones
Yao, a general practice
74 UVA Lawyer / FALL 2015
firm with offices in Fairfax,
Fredericksburg, Richmond,
and Woodbridge, Va.
Yao is in Fairfax, where
he focuses primarily on
juvenile and family law,
immigration law, and elder
law and estate planning.
He is listed in Virginia Super
Lawyers and Washington,
D.C. Super Lawyers as a
rising star for 2015.
Dr. Sarah E. West on
September 6 at Heritage
Hills Golf Resort in York, Pa.
The bride is the daughter
of Neal S. West ’80.
Stephen S. Cohen served
as one of the groomsmen.
Jeff Cottle moved to
London in 2011 to run the
compliance program for
the world’s largest mining
company. He is now a
partner in the London office of Steptoe & Johnson.
Cottle lives in Surrey with
his wife, Lisa, and their four
children. He spends about
25 percent of his time
stateside working with
U.S. clients.
James M. McWeeney II
is an associate in the
education law group
with Walter| Haverfield
in Cleveland, Ohio. He
focuses his practice on
school law, including First
Amendment issues, labor
and employment matters,
contract disputes, public
record compliance, and
policy drafting.
Johnathan S. Perkins is on
the board of trustees of
the Eastern Pennsylvania
chapter of the Leukemia
& Lymphoma Society, the
largest voluntary health
organization dedicated to
funding research, finding
cures, and getting
access to treatments for
blood cancer patients.
Perkins is a Hodgkin’s
lymphoma survivor.
He is an associate with
Montgomery McCracken
in Philadelphia, where he
focuses his practice on
commercial litigation and
higher education.
Matthew Reardon lives
with his wife, Genevieve
Aguilar Reardon ’13 in
2011 classmates standing on the Svínafellsjökull Glacier in Iceland. Front row (from
left): Erin Kelly and Jacqui Jones. Back row: Elizabeth Kade, Elizabeth Horner,
Elizabeth Krabill McIntyre, and Sally Handmaker
the South End of Boston,
Mass. Matt and Eve
married in September
2014 in Gloucester,
Mass. The ceremony was
presided over by classmate Matthew Hanson
and attended by many
UVA Law alumni. Matt is
an associate in Goodwin
Procter’s technology
2012
Rena Kelley has joined
Greenberg Traurig in West
Palm Beach, Fla., where
she focuses her practice on
real estate. Rena and her
husband, Charles, live in
Boynton Beach. Their son,
Walter, celebrated his first
birthday in September.
Jacqui Jones joined the
U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office as a trademark
examining attorney in
May. She lives and works
in Alexandria, Va. In
March she and five fellow
classmates traveled to
Iceland where they went
ice caving, hiking on a
glacier, and swimming in
the Blue Lagoon.
Benjamin C. Lee is a
litigation associate in the
and life sciences group.
His practice focuses on
mergers and acquisitions,
investment transactions,
securities law, and general
corporate matters. Eve
is an associate in Choate
Hall & Stewart’s litigation
department. Her practice
focuses on complex trial
and appellate litigation,
labor and employment
law, and government
investigations.
Megan Poitevint Mitchell ’11 and Rick Mitchell ’95 were married on November 22,
2014, in Watercolor, Fla. A number of UVA Law alumni attended. Megan and Rick
both practice business litigation at Arnall Golden Gregory in Atlanta, Ga.
Brian Polley joined Baker
& McKenzie in Houston,
Tex., in January 2014 and
transferred to the firm’s
London office in May
2015. His practice focuses
primarily on mergers and
acquisitions/private equity
transactions and global
corporate reorganizations
for large multinationals,
especially those in the
energy industry. He also
assists on FCPA, CFIUS and
cybersecurity/data breach
investigations. Brian
maintains connections
to the national security
community through his
pro bono work for the ABA
Standing Committee on
Law and National Security.
He currently lives in the
Southwark neighborhood
of London, but will return
to Houston in 2016.
Zach Rowen is clerking
for Judge Jerry Pappert
in Philadelphia, Pa., in
the district court for
the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania. He was
previously a litigation
associate at Latham &
Watkins in New York City.
UVA Lawyer / FALL 2015 75
CLASS NOTES
…
IN MEMORIAM
2013
JULIA ABELEV has joined
EarthShare Washington as
a member of the nonprofit’s board of directors. ESW
works with more than 70
environmental organizations, partnering with
business and government
agencies to encourage
employees to give to
environmentally focused
programs at work through
payroll giving programs
and volunteering.
LAUREN BINGHAM and
CHRISTOPHER HATFIELD
were married at Veritas
Vineyard & Winery in
Afton, Va., on April 18. The
Hon. Richard E. Moore ’80
presided over the ceremony, Ricky Shelton
served as an usher, and
Cindy Kung ’12 played
piano at the ceremony.
Hatfield is an associate
at Trout Cacheris & Janis,
a Washington, D.C.
litigation firm, and
Bingham is working at
the Department of Justice
Office of Immigration
Litigation. The couple lives
in D.C.’s Cleveland Park
neighborhood.
ANDREW DUFFIELD GARRAHAN
and Emily Jane Wang
Garrahan (Commerce ’04,
Darden ’10) welcomed a
son, Henry Francis, on
March 26. Henry joins big
brother George. The boys
are grandnephews of Paul
76 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
The Bingham-Hatfield wedding, from left: Courtney Marello ’12, Brigitte Eichner ’13, Esther Cantor Allred ’13,
Kathryn Young Galla ’13, Scott Galla ’12, Lynn Schlie ’13, Michael Small ’14, Shaun Bockert ’12, Cassandra
Maximous ’13, Esther Winne ’13, Matthew Gill ’13, Sarah Pergolizzi ’13, Lauren Bingham ’13, Christopher
Hatfield ’13, Rick Cinquegrana ’73, Cindy Kung ’12, Elizabeth Dobbins Moskowitz ’13, Michael Moskowitz ’12,
Hon. Richard E. Moore ’80, James Allred ’13, Alexandra Aurisch ’13, Tope Leyimu ’13, Richard Shelton ’13.
Andrew Garrahan ‘96).
The family resides in
Alexandria, Va.
securities law, and general
corporate matters.
GENEVIEVE AGUILAR
REARDON lives with her
2014
husband, Matthew
Reardon ’11, in the South
End of Boston, Mass.
Eve and Matt married
in September 2014 in
Gloucester, Mass. The
ceremony was presided over by classmate
Matthew Hanson and
attended by many UVA
Law alumni. Eve is an
associate in Choate Hall &
Stewart’s litigation department, where her practice
focuses on complex trial
and appellate litigation,
labor and employment
law, and government
investigations. Matt is
an associate in Goodwin
Procter’s technology
and life sciences group.
His practice focuses on
mergers and acquisitions,
investment transactions,
RONALD J. FISHER began a
2015
KATIE PACKER LENCIONI
clerkship in the chambers
of the Hon. Michelle
T. Friedland of the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the
Ninth Circuit in July 2014.
Previously he was a civil
litigator at Shartsis Friese
in San Francisco, Calif.
married Michael Lencioni
in Palm Beach, Fla., on
August 8. Many UVA
alumni attended the
wedding, including three
section J classmates who
were bridesmaids. The
bride and groom met
while serving in Teach
For America in Baltimore.
Michael was a teacher
in Albemarle County
while Katie attended
Law School.
MEREDITH C. NEELY
joined Hollingsworth in
Washington, D.C. She practices in the firm’s complex
litigation, pharmaceutical
products, and toxic torts
and products liability
groups.
Fitzhugh Elder, Jr. ’41
Staunton, Va.
June 5, 2015
H. Richard Chew ’52
Arlington, Va.
July 5, 2014
Philip L. Knotts ’61
Hockessin, Del.
June 2, 2015
Kenneth E. Updegraft, Jr. ’71
Glenfield, N.Y.
January 16, 2015
Howard S. Tuthill ’41
Stamford, Conn.
July 8, 2015
C. Flippo Hicks ’52
Gloucester, Va.
August 13, 2015
James B. Alley, Jr. ’62
Santa Fe, N.Mex.
September 2, 2015
Robert G. Andary ’74
Washington, D.C.
March 27, 2015
Robert C. Barclay III ’43
Portsmouth, Va.
June 6, 2015
Edward T. Brennan ’53
Savannah, Ga.
August 14, 2015
C. Walter Whitmoyer, Jr. ’62
Myerstown, Pa.
September 15, 2015
James A. Yano ’77
Columbus, Ohio
September 14, 2015
William McC. Blair, Jr. ’47
New York, N.Y.
August 29, 2015
Richard Van Emon Hantzmon ’54
Charlottesville, Va.
May 13, 2015
William P. Reilly ’63
Fort Myers, Fla.
August 17, 2015
Richard B. Schiff ’80
Oakland, Md.
September 18, 2015
Robert P. Craig ’48
Winter Haven, Fla.
August 21, 2015
George R. Aldhizer, Jr. ’58
Harrisonburg, Va.
September 19, 2015
Benjamin H. Woodbridge, Jr. ’63
Fredericksburg, Va.
June 4, 2015
Richard D. Shepherd ’80
Troy, Va.
July 27, 2015
William E. Mohler ’48
Charleston, W.Va.
September 6, 2015
Frederick Jay Jackson ’58
Troutville, Va.
March 23, 2015
Edgar P D Humann Guilleminot ’64
Hamilton, Bermuda
March 29, 2015
Howard Curtis Martin ’81
Brooksville, Maine
April 30, 2015
Lionel E. Z. Cohen ’49
Tulsa, Okla.
August 2, 2015
Fred C. Alexander, Jr. ’59
Alexandria, Va.
May 9, 2015
Richard E. Minshall ’64
Tulsa, Okla.
June 7, 2015
H. Bradford Glassman ’94
Alexandria, Va.
July 15, 2015
Robert D. Hursh ’49
Rochester, N.Y.
June 28, 2015
Robert G. Sullivan ’59
La Jolla, Calif.
June 4, 2015
H. Kendrick Sanders ’65
Clifton, Va.
June 25, 2015
Geoffrey S. Bald ’95
Springfield, Va.
July 22, 2015
Homer J. Rose ’50
West Lafayette, Ind.
September 6, 2015
William A. Waller ’59
Nantucket, Mass.
February 27, 2015
Edward R. Baird, Jr. ’66
Norfolk, Va.
May 12, 2015
Anthony W. Lineberry ’99
Manakin Sabot, Va.
May 24, 2015
Jerrold G. Weinberg ’50
Norfolk, Va.
June 12, 2015
John D. Phillips ’60
Castle Rock, Colo.
May 3, 2015
Louis B. Frost ’66
Pelham, N.Y.
May 6, 2015
Francis Gregory Lastowka ’00
Swarthmore, Pa.
April 27, 2015
William Moultrie Guerry ’51
Norfolk, Va.
May 27, 2015
Charles S. Bailey ’61
Richmond, Va.
February 23, 2015
Jackson W. Tarver ’66
Atlanta, Ga.
August 29, 2015
Michelle C. Roberts ’00
Alexandria, Va.
August 13, 2015
Charles B. Reeves, Jr. ’51
Baltimore, Md.
June 27, 2015
Donald P. Blakeslee ’61
Bronxville, N.Y.
July 12, 2015
Edwin M. Baranowski ’71
West Palm Beach, Fla.
July 23, 2015
G. Alan Blackburn ’01
Marietta, Ga.
May 9, 2015
Wilkes Coleman Robinson ’51
Destin, Fla.
May 11, 2015
William Franklin Faison II ’61
Naples, Fla.
April 21, 2015
John J. Finley ’71
Hudson, N.Y.
July 2, 2015
MARGARET X. “MEI” YANG
joined Christian & Barton
as an associate in
Richmond, Va., where she
will focus on corporate,
municipal governance, and
public finance matters.
The Packer-Lencioni wedding, from left, back row:
2015 classmates Javier Gomez, Susan Foster,
Jackie Ryberg, Rachel Wade, Kelsey Bryan, Samuel
Strongin, Sejal Jhaveri. Seated, Katie Packer
Lencioni, and Michael Lencioni.
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 77
IN PRINT
NONFICTION
Machiavelli and the
Modern State: The
Prince, the Discourses on
Livy, and the Extended
Territorial Republic
Alissa M. Ardito ’07
Cambridge University Press
Machiavelli and the Modern
State presents a reinterpretation
of the history of republican
political thought and Niccolo
Machiavelli’s place in it. Alissa
Ardito gives insights to the
meaning of his writings by
putting them in their historical
context—a period of great
political upheaval in Italy. She
applies Machiavelli’s political
thought to the challenge faced
by James Madison and the other
Founding Fathers when they set
about creating a republic out of
13 sprawling colonies.
Readers might think
James Madison and Niccolo
Machiavelli would have little
in common, but as Ardito
explains in Machiavelli and the
Modern State, these two men
are connected in important
ways. Both were visionaries
and pragmatists seeking the
answer to the same challenge
of improving and modernizing
republican government. Her
work explains why Machiavelli
deserves to be recognized as the
first modern political theorist to
see the possibility of a republic
that extends over expansive
territory. “A sophisticated
contribution to the neverending challenge of interpreting
Machiavelli’s seminal ideas,”
writes Jack Rakove of Stanford.
Alissa Ardito is a visiting
fellow at the MacMillan Center
at Yale University.
Matter: How to Find
Meaningful Work
That’s Right for You and
Your Family
Caroline Greene ’05
Difference Press
When Caroline Greene left her
law practice to be a stay-athome mother, she set out to
find meaningful work that
was right for her and for her
family life. Her story is one of
transformation that entertains
as well as informs.
Motherhood can seem like
one endless to-do list, with
sleep and dreams left behind.
Sometimes the really important
things—like building a life
that you love—get left off the
list altogether. Greene urges
mothers not to wait until their
children are older, or their
husband’s career is established.
Finding a life you love should
be a priority, and your family
will be happier when you are
fulfilled in that way.
For working mothers who
struggle to achieve a balance
between their career and home
life, or mothers interested in
transitioning back into a day
job, Matter is a straightforward
guide to help women find the
path that’s right for them.
The author shares insights
from her own life and work
and includes practical tools to
help readers discover what they
really want, overcome common
obstacles, describe their ideal
job, and make connections that
can help make it happen.
Caroline Greene is a life coach,
www.carolinegreenecoaching.
com. This is her first book.
Marketing Success: How
Did She Do That? Women
Lawyers Show You How
to Move Beyond Tips to
Implementation
Afi S. Johnson-Parris ’02 and Dee A.
Schiavelli, Editors
American Bar Association
Successful lawyers must include
business development and
marketing in their practice, and
such skills take trial and error to
find what works best. Women
lawyers in particular may need
coaching in how to identify and
make the most of their strengths
to create a successful law
practice. In Marketing Success:
How Did She Do That? JohnsonParris takes the best tips on
how to do this and carries them
forward to show how to apply
them successfully.
Key topics covered in the
book include how to use
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 79
IN PRINT
…
software, mobile applications,
and social media to improve
your reach; how to use public
speaking to increase your
profile, how to network most
effectively, and how to turn
good prospects into clients.
The book features the stories
of how 46 successful women
lawyers—solo practitioners,
small firm lawyers, partners in
large firms, as well as women
who transitioned to law-related
careers—made the most of
creative marketing techniques
to build their client base. Their
anecdotes are informative and
inspiring.
Afi Johnson-Parris practices
family law in Greensboro, N.C.
Sand in My Sandwich
and Other Motherhood
Messes I’m Learning
to Love
Sarah Parshall Perry ’99
Revell
Before she married and had
children, Sarah Parshall
Perry described herself as
high-achieving, high-strung,
and very, very orderly: taxes
complete in January, spice
jars organized alphabetically,
vacuum tracks in the carpet.
80 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
IN PRINT
…
Then came marriage to a
wonderful man and the birth
of their three children, Noah,
Grace, and Jesse. Perry’s
carefully planned life turned
to chaos. Two of her children
are autistic, and have brought
challenges she never imagined.
Their unpredictable impulses
are almost impossible to
control, at times leading to
embarrassing or even dangerous
situations.
Perry describes their lives
with unflinching honesty and
sharp humor.
Though driven at times to
her wit’s end, she manages to
find strength just when she
needs it. Throughout the book,
she includes passages from the
Bible that reflect her faith and
sense of purpose. Sand in My
Sandwich will be a source of
encouragement for all families
living with disabilities. This is
the author’s second book.
Forging Rivals:
Race, Class, Law,
and the Collapse of
Postwar Liberalism
Reuel Schiller ’93
Cambridge University Press
In Forging Rivals, Reuel Schiller
examines the conflicts between
labor lawyers and civil rights
lawyers in San Francisco from
the 1940s through the 1970s.
He explains how the goal of
promoting economic equality
and ethnic, racial, and religious
pluralism led to a contentious
relationship and the end of
progressive politics in the last
third of the 20th century.
Schiller includes five
stories from 1945 to 1975
involving conflict between
African American civil rights
organizations and labor unions.
By using this narrative style, he
makes the abstract ideas such as
conflicts within liberalism and
group rights versus individual
rights easy to understand.
Forging Rivals tells the
fascinating story of how labor
lawyers and civil rights lawyers
started out as allies and ended
up as bitter rivals. “Elegantly
written, deeply researched, and
convincingly argued,” writes
Michael Klarman of Harvard
Law School (and formerly
UVA Law).
Reuel Schiller is a professor
of law at the University of
California, Hastings College
of the Law in San Francisco,
where he teaches American
legal history, labor law, and
administrative law.
Being Nixon:
A Man Divided
Evan Thomas ’77
Random House
In Being Nixon, Evan Thomas
presents a three-dimensional
portrait of our most
controversial president. Moving
past the cartoon version of
“Tricky Dick,” Thomas delivers
a balanced picture of the dark
and light sides of the strange
and brilliant man. His in-depth
research included interviews
with 35 Nixon aides and review
of recently released tapes and
archival material.
Nixon’s formative experiences
growing up, his lifelong
battles with enemies real
and perceived, his role in the
modern Republican party, and
landmark policy-making both
foreign and domestic are part
of this insightful character
study and engrossing political
biography. “[Thomas] has
rendered a new Nixon who,
in vital and unexpected ways,
is very different from the
character about whom, for the
past 70 years, so much has been
said and written,” notes political
historian Michael Beschloss.
Evan Thomas was a writer,
correspondent, and editor for
33 years at Time and Newsweek
and is a frequent commentator
on TV and radio. This is his
ninth book.
FICTION
The Tears of Dark Water
Corban Addison ’04
Thomas Nelson
Sometimes a work of fiction
provides invaluable insight
into the kinds of complex
issues involved in international
politics. Corban Addison’s
extensive firsthand research
in Somalia and Washington,
D.C., brings authenticity to
the setting, the action, and
the characters in The Tears of
Dark Water.
When a father and son on
a sailing trip are accosted by
pirates in the Indian Ocean,
an experienced U.S. hostage
negotiator is called in, with
tragic results. The pirates are
captured and extradited to stand
trial in the U.S. A young pirate
named Ismail who is identified
as the perpetrator seems to be
motivated by more than just
anti-American extremism.
Ismail is silent about his
motivations to protect his sister,
Yasmin, who is plotting her own
daring escape from a radical
Islamist leader named Najiib.
Ismail’s American defense lawyer
suspects there are complex
motives for Ismail, and she sets
out on a journey of discovery
from the Somali immigrant
community in Minneapolis to
a refugee camp in Kenya to a
village outside Mogadishu.
At its core, this novel is
about individuals and their
relationships, set against an
epic tragedy of our time. “A
fast-paced thriller that puts
its humanitarian moral at the
forefront,” says Kirkus Reviews.
Corban Addison is an
attorney and activist whose
novels address modern human
rights issues. This is his
third book.
Memory Man
David Baldacci ’86
Grand Central Publishing
Amos Decker’s pro football
career ended soon after it
began, when the impact of a
helmet-to-helmet collision sent
him to the sidelines for good.
His injury had a remarkable
effect on his brain; he could
never forget anything.
Years later, the towering
athlete became a police
detective. One night he came
home from a stakeout and
walked into a horrific scene. His
wife, daughter, and brother-inlaw had all been murdered, each
in a different way. He barely
survived in the aftermath, no
longer able to hang onto his
job or his house. Sometimes he
took on small jobs as a private
investigator just to get by.
A year after the murders,
when a tragic event takes place
in town, he’s called back to help
investigate. He also throws
himself into finding out what
happened to his family on that
terrible night. His memory
brings everything back in
excruciating detail. Why, he
wonders, does he see it all in
a terrifying shade of blue? He
will have to endure all of this to
get to the truth. “It’s big, bold
and almost impossible to put
down,” says a Washington Post
review of Memory Man. “Highly
entertaining.”
David Baldacci’s novels have
been translated into more than
45 languages and sold in more
than 80 countries.
The Jezebel Remedy
Martin Clark ’84
Alfred A. Knopf
Lisa Stone and her husband, Joe,
are law partners in rural Henry
County, Virginia. Most of their
cases are routine domestic
disputes and personal injury
cases, interspersed with walk-in
visits from their most eccentric
client, Lettie VanSandt. When
Lettie dies in a mysterious fire,
the Stones wonder if she could
have been cooking meth in her
trailer. In time they have reason
to suspect that her death might
not have been an accident
after all.
The Stones become involved
in settling Lettie’s complicated
estate and find themselves
in the midst of a corporate
conspiracy that threatens their
careers. As they work side by
side, Lisa wants above anything
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 81
IN PRINT
…
IN PRINT
…
to the editor
14 July, 2015
Dear Editor,
Thank you for your focus on
the importance of leadership
and public service obligations
of the citizen-lawyer. It’s
precisely what Mr. Jefferson
envisioned nearly two
centuries ago.
Virginia Dawning
Legrand resents his arrest
and the examination of his
sanity and threatens to hogtie
Luke’s children and let them
rot in a cellar. A cunning
criminal suspected in a trail of
awful crimes, he manages to
escape from jail. He is clearly a
dangerous man. Luke and his
wife, with two children of their
own, soon find their family in
the middle of an unspeakable
nightmare, face-to-face with
evil.
Told in first-person narrative
that alternates between Luke
and Sarah, Virginia Dawning is
a fast-paced thriller that draws
on themes of faith and love.
John Davidson practices law
in Charlottesville. This is his
first book.
John E. Davidson ’96
JGL Publishing
On a beautiful spring morning
in Jameston County, Virginia,
Dr. Luke Andrews kisses his
wife, Sarah, goodbye and
drives into town to evaluate a
defendant’s competency before
an arraignment and bond
hearing. The arrested man,
Hiram Legrand, is a rough
character accused of kidnapping
a child whose whereabouts were
still unknown.
82 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
Devil’s Bridge
Linda Fairstein ’72
Dutton
In Devil’s Bridge, Linda
Fairstein’s 17th novel featuring
New York Assistant District
Attorney Alexandra Cooper, a
paralegal takes Cooper’s files
on a sex trafficking case and
delivers them to the defendant.
There’s a suspicious link
between that theft, a couple
of shady characters, and Paul
Battaglia, the DA.
Tension builds to a high
pitch when someone kidnaps
Alex. Her romantic partner,
the smart, appealing NYPD
homicide detective, Mike
Chapman, takes over in
first-person narrative. This
is the first time Fairstein’s
readers get a deeper look into
Chapman’s character and his
perspective on Cooper. His
search for Cooper takes him to
the George Washington Bridge,
where danger waits along its
lofty expanse. Readers who have
come to delight in Fairstein’s
delivery of interesting historical
details along with a fast-paced
thriller will not be disappointed.
The author’s own decadeslong career as chief of
Manhattan’s sex crimes unit
is the inspiration for Alex
Cooper’s character.
Cold Feet
Amy FitzHenry ’08
Berkley/Penguin Random House
A week before she’s set to marry
Sam, a charming, sensible man,
Emma Moon takes off with
her best friend, Liv, on a road
trip in search of her father,
who she’d never known. If she
could find him, she might find
the answers to questions she’d
always had about herself. Was
she the kind of person meant
for marriage? She wanted to
believe she was, but worried she
might be doomed to repeat her
parents’ mistakes.
Emma’s relationship with
her mother, Caro, is polite but
always teetering on the edge
of uncomfortable. Caro’s a
high-powered lobbyist whose
work on Capitol Hill is her
life. Everything else comes
second, including her daughter’s
wedding rehearsal dinner,
which she’ll miss because of a
Congressional hearing.
Emma’s father, Hunter Moon,
left home when she was just six
months old. Finding him will
stir up her emotions in ways she
can’t predict, but that’s a risk
Emma meets head-on. How
will her past shape her future?
Will she be happy in a lifelong
marriage with the man she
loves? Or will she keep running?
Cold Feet explores friendship,
family, and commitment with
wit and humor.
“A heartwarming and
uproariously funny debut,”
writes one reviewer.
Amy FitzHenry practices law
in Los Angeles, Calif. This is her
first novel.
Murder in the Grove
Michael Henry ’74
Henry and Henry Books
In Michael Henry’s latest novel,
former district attorney Willie
Mitchell Banks moves from
Yaloquena County, deep in the
heart of the Mississippi Delta,
to Oxford, with the notion
that retirement will bring
relaxation and a life of leisure.
He’s just settling in when he’s
asked to investigate a murder
that took place decades ago on
the campus of the University
of Mississippi in the Grove, a
shady tract of towering oaks,
elms, and magnolias.
The murder was carried
out during the 1962 riot that
occurred in protest of James
Meredith’s enrollment in Ole
Miss. The killer of a 22-year-old
student used the riot to cover
up the crime, which involved a
former Miss Mississippi and a
founder of the White Citizens’
Council with ties to the
Dixie mafia.
Before he knows it, shrewd,
wise-cracking Willie Mitchell
is knee-deep in the mystery
that surrounds the case and
following the loose ends that
could lead to finally solving it.
Murder in the Grove is
Michael Henry’s eighth novel.
He served as a prosecutor and
district attorney before turning
to writing full time.
Old Wounds to the Heart
Ken Oder ’75
SkipJack Publishing
The second Whippoorwill
Hollow novel opens in the
Shenandoah National Park, on
Thanksgiving morning of 1967.
The morning mists are still
rising in Whippoorwill Hollow
when two aging friends find
themselves staring at each
other: one pointing a gun and
the other beaten and chained to
a tree. Their love for the same
woman has buckled under the
weight of a long-held secret—
until now.
Out of the blue mountains
of Virginia comes a 1960s
American tale bound with the
regrets people carry to their
graves and a tumultuous chance
at redemption. Three friends
decide if their hearts will lock
them into old wounds or lead
them to new love.
“… masterfully crafted,
brimming with the sort of
spellbinding wisdom that takes
your breath away. Cast from
characters who could easily
be our friends and family, this
story confronts the darker
side of human nature with
unflinching precision. It reveals
that the line dividing right
from wrong isn’t always clearly
defined, that an undeniable
symbiosis exists between joy
and heartache,” writes Daniel
Wimberley, author of The
Pedestal.
Ken Oder grew up in White
Hall, Va., a farm town of about
50 peo­ple at the foot of the Blue
Ridge Moun­tains. He and his
wife moved to Los Ange­les in
1975 and raised their fam­ily
there while he prac­ticed law and
served as an exec­u­tive until he
retired.
With kindest regards
Gerald L. Baliles ’67
University of Virginia
Nonprofit
Organization
US Postage
Law School Foundation
PAID
580 Massie Road
SPRING 2015
Permit No. 248
Charlottesville, VA
Charlottesville, Virginia 22903
www.law.virginia.edu/alumni
THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA SCHOOL OF LAW
The Citizen-Lawyer
SPRING 2015 VOL. 39, NO. 1
else to keep Joe from knowing
one secret that she hoped she
could hide from him forever.
His discovery of it could
change everything.
“Not only do the frequent
plot twists keep the reader
glued to the page, but Clark’s
depiction of life in rural
Virginia and the depth and
sensitivity of his character
portrayals make the book
memorable for much more than
its clever legal machinations,”
notes the review in Library
Journal.
Martin Clark is a Virginia
circuit court judge. This is his
fourth book.
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 83
CLOSING REMARKS
Learning by Doing in Los Angeles
Q & A with Susan Akens ’88
After 25 years of “doing deals” and leading the charge at domestic and
international entertainment giants, Susan Akens ’88 changed direction
in her career.
Most recently the executive vice president of business affairs at CBS
Studios International, Akens is now executive director of the UCLA
School of Law’s Ziffren Center for Media, Entertainment, Technology
and Sports Law and a member of the full-time faculty.
We caught up with Akens to ask about the transition from practice
to the classroom, to hear more about her plans for the school’s program,
and to ask her opinion on the value of practical experiences in law school.
I would be given a clean slate to create programs, externships, and
other offerings to enhance and supplement the already exceptional
academic offerings of the law school. The annual listing of the top 100
entertainment lawyers is consistently dominated by UCLA Law alumni
and many of them were already on board to help build this program.
It is a wonderful challenge and with the unbelievable diversity in what
constitutes “entertainment” these days, there are unlimited possibilities.
Q: Had you had much interaction with the school or the program
in your years of practice in Los Angeles?
Q: How would you summarize your 25 years of practice in the
A: Interestingly no. I, like most entertainment industry folks, know
entertainment industry in Los Angeles?
and have attended the annual UCLA Entertainment Symposium, but
that is where my interaction ended.
This is an area where I see a lot of potential for the program to
grow. Building a robust interaction between the entertainment industry
and the law school is a win-win for both. UCLA School of Law sits in
a town with more practitioners in the areas of entertainment, sports,
media, etc. than anywhere else in the United States. That affords the
students here amazing access for training, mentoring and careers.
In the same respect, with the faculty, speakers, research and classes
here at the law school, the members of the legal community have an
amazing resource in their backyard. This bridge-building is a key area
of the vision I spoke about earlier.
A: I have had the great fortune of working in iconic entertainment
industry institutions from the entertainment department of O’Melveny
& Myers to Paramount Pictures to CBS. That practice has put me in
the heart of an amazing transformation in the entertainment industry
with the advent of the digital/internet world as well as the globalization
of an industry that was once almost solely based in Hollywood.
The first deal I did when I started was acquiring the car for a little
film called “Driving Miss Daisy.” The last deal I did was a deal of first
impression for the Showtime show, “Penny Dreadful,” for first window
(i.e. initial) exhibition in France for Netflix’s launch of its OTT (overthe-top) service … a true paradigm change for the television industry.
Q: What captured your interest in the Entertainment, Media and
Intellectual Property Law Program at UCLA?
A: I approached Ken Ziffren, one of the true leaders in the practice
of entertainment law (also a professor and distinguished alumni of
UCLA Law) about teaching . . . something that had for years interested
me. As fate would have it, UCLA Law was looking for someone for
the position and after an hour or so with Ken I was intrigued about
the program and the vision Ken and others have for the program.
84 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015
Q: How hard was the decision to make the change?
A: I was incredibly flattered to be offered the position, but it was
a daunting proposition for me. I loved what I had been doing all
these years and I think I was pretty good at it, so it was not an easy
decision to step away. That said, it is really exciting to try to utilize the
experience and relationships I have gained over the last 25+ years to
build hopefully the premier program in this space. The daunting piece
comes from starting something new and the responsibility to take to
new levels an already amazing offering at UCLA Law.
Q
: UCLA’s program consists of “courses intended to present the
fundamental principles and practices of contemporary entertainment
law,” and cover copyright protection, transactional doctrines, and
media law. How are the practical aspects of these matters covered
inside the classroom and out?
A: Well, this is definitely a big area of focus. To date, UCLA Law
has invested a tremendous amount of resources in expanding its
experiential offering. Assistant Dean Luz Herrera has been on board
for a year or so and under her watch UCLA Law has, as relates to my
program, a number of clinical and experiential courses (e.g., Patent
Clinic and Trademark Clinic). In addition there are externships at
talent agencies, studios, networks and gaming companies to name a
few. There are also luncheon seminars focused on training for lawyers
in their early years. Also, being in the heart of Hollywood, there are
numerous speakers from the industry who speak with our students
on a regular basis about the “art” and “business” of entertainment.
Susan Akens ’88, Executive Director, UCLA School
of Law’s Ziffren Center for Media, Entertainment,
Technology and Sports Law
UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015 85
CLOSING REMARKS
…
Q: As the California Bar contemplates increasing the requirement Q: In the ongoing conversations in the field of American legal
for practical coursework to 15 credit hours, is it a goal for you to bring
clinical offerings or expand the practical coursework at UCLA Law?
education, do you have strong feelings about the need for more
practical/clinical experiences for all law students?
A: Absolutely. I am happy to say that in the couple of months I have
A: I can’t speak to all areas of legal practice but I can speak to my
been here we already have expanded the externship program. The new
dean, Jennifer Mnookin (former professor of law at UVA), is extremely
supportive of growth in this area and I believe very supportive of a
practitioner bringing real-world experience to the table in deciding
what is truly beneficial practical coursework for the students.
area and yes. Some of the reasons I have discussed earlier, but one
area we haven’t mentioned is the role of large law firms.
In my day, anyone from a top law school who wanted, could get a
job at a major law firm. Like any good boot camp you were whipped
into shape. You were trained on drafting and negotiating. You learned
through massive repetition the standard documents for your practice
area. You got to watch those who had practiced for years negotiate. With
different clients you advocated for very diverse positions. All of this
was done in an environment designed to train the “right” way to do it.
But while learning how to do it the “right way” may still exist in
large law firms, the number of students fortunate enough to get jobs
in large law firms is much smaller and the financial pressures are such
that staffing which is optimal for training may not occur. And yet,
young lawyers do need to be trained.
Coming directly out of law school into small law firms without
the bandwidth to staff deals with lawyers of differing levels or which
have a client base that sits predominately on one side of the table,
severely limits the training.
In addition, for those students who begin their career directly in
a company, their interaction may be predominately with non-lawyers
and there is little room for the errors of learning. So I firmly believe
that the “law school” process needs to play much more of a role in
providing that training. If you look at many western countries (e.g.,
Canada, the United Kingdom, and Germany), they all require one or
more years of hands-on training prior to being able to sit for their
bar. So yes, coming from where I sat as a practitioner, I truly believe
successful lawyers require a combination of a strong academic education
and hands-on training to develop critical lawyering skills.
Q: Many lawyers talk about the changes in the legal industry. How
has the practice changed during your career? Were there times while
managing teams where you noticed changing trends in the types of
recent law school graduates and their practical abilities?
A:
There are a lot of answers to your questions. Let me address
one practical change and that is technology/email and the reliance
by lawyers on it.
When I started, negotiation occurred largely verbally (in person or
over the phone) or through carefully written comment letters. Today
comments are often written in an email, perhaps on an iPhone and
then sent in a keystroke.
Often the original email spawns a litany of clarifying emails by
one or more recipients of the first email, or strange responses because
the recipient tried to read it on her iPhone and missed part of the text.
More efficient … maybe.
As someone whose practice for the last decade or so involved
varying time zones and little proximity, I definitely know the benefit
of email. But nine times out of ten, when difficult issues needed to
be addressed or the most movement in a deal was accomplished was
when there was direct verbal communication.
Yet I continually saw younger lawyers resist leaving their comfort
zone of the digital world. This was true equally in the negotiation of
documents. While perhaps a great equalizer in the world of drafting
such that both sides control the pen, I watched many deals negotiated
by dueling agreements with weeks of back and forth with very little
progress until someone reluctantly picked up a phone.
Circling back to the crux of this conversation, in a world where
law students in their personal life communicate with emails/tweets/
texts and the like, there is a real need for them to gain experience in
face-to-face negotiation so as to develop those skills.
Law schools have always had trial advocacy and moot courts for
those with an interest in litigation, but the skills and a comfort with
those skills for those in the transactional arena is extremely important
in the current digital world.
Susan Akens ’88 is the executive director of the Ziffren Center for Media,
Entertainment, Technology and Sports Law at the UCLA School of Law.
Previously she was executive vice president of business affairs for CBS
Studios International; and prior to that held the same position with
Paramount Pictures International Television. After graduating from the
Law School she was an associate at O’Melveny & Myers, later becoming
special counsel.
Akens is very active in community service and was awarded the
President’s Volunteer Service Award by President George Bush. She has
served for more than ten years on the board of directors of the American
Red Cross of Greater Los Angeles and resides in Los Angeles with her
daughter Katie.
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86 UVA LAWYER / FALL 2015