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1980s Class Notes
1980 
Martha Ellett has moved from the Treasury Department to the FDIC’s Legal Division (Consumer and Legislation Branch) in Washington, D.C. She and her husband, Will, reside in Alexandria, Va.
Sally C. Merrell has joined Von Briesen & Roper in the Milwaukee, Wis., office. She is a shareholder in the business practice group, where she focuses on estate planning, estate and trust administration, charitable gift planning, and private foundations.
W. David Paxton has been included in Virginia Super Lawyers in the area of employment and labor. He is a partner in the Roanoke office of Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore.
Beat U. Steiner has been elected a fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers (ACREL). ACREL’s lawyers are elected to fellowship for their legal ability, experience, and high standards of professional and ethical conduct in the practice of real estate law. Steiner is the administrative partner of the Boulder, Colo., office of Holland & Hart, the largest law firm in the Rocky Mountain West, and chairs the firm’s resorts, lodging, and leisure group.
1981
Lora Dunlap has been included in Best Lawyers in America 2010. Dunlap is a partner in the Orlando, Fla., office of Fisher, Rushmer, Werrenrath, Dickson, Talley & Dunlap, where she focuses her practice on professional liability defense in the area of attorney and accountant malpractice.
David P. Ferretti has been selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America 2010 in corporate law and mergers and acquisitions law. He is a member in the Charleston, West Va., office of Spilman Thomas & Battle.
William M. Herlihy has been ranked by Chambers USA 2009 in natural resources law and has been selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America 2010 in the areas of corporate law, energy law, and natural resources law. He is a member in the Charleston, West Va., office of Spilman Thomas & Battle.
Christine Hughes was selected for the list, “In-House Leaders in the Law,” compiled by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly and featuring attorneys who “demonstrate innovative and practical business and legal skills” as general counsel or staff attorney and who have “an uncanny ability to inspire and lead.” Hughes is vice president and general counsel to the president and board of trustees at Emerson College in Boston.
Tom Keane is a columnist for the Boston Globe’s op-ed page and regularly writes for the Globe Sunday Magazine. His pieces have also appeared in the Boston Herald and a number of other publications. Keane has established a reputation for calling things as he sees them (i.e., describing the Rose Kennedy Greenway as “wretched” and weighing in on whether eating locally grown food will really save the planet — in his opinion it won’t). Keane is a partner with Murphy & Partners, a New York-based private equity fund.
Blaine Lucas has been named by Pennsylvania Super Lawyers as one of the top lawyers in the state in the government/cities/municipalities section. He is a shareholder in the public sector services and business services groups in the Pittsburgh office of Babst, Calland, Clements and Zomnir.
Allen Morgan has been elected a company director of Oversee.net, a business headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif., offering integrated services to register, appraise, buy, and sell domain name properties. For the past ten years he has been a managing director and most recently a venture partner at the Mayfield Fund.
David N. Schaeffer was installed as the new president of the Atlanta Bar Association, the largest voluntary bar association in the Southeast, at the bar’s annual meeting and awards luncheon in June. He served as chair of the Litigation Section of the Atlanta Bar Association in 2003-2004, and has been a board member and officer of the organization for seven years. Schaeffer is a partner in the Atlanta office of Holland Schaeffer Roddenbery Blitch (formerly known as Kidd & Vaughan), where his practice includes civil litigation, personal injury claims, employment litigation, and malpractice litigation. With the passing of Charles Kidd ’62 and the retirement of Woodrow W. Vaughan, Jr. ’78, the remaining partners have renamed the firm. David is now the only remaining UVA Law alumnus at the firm.
UVA ties abound. From left: Neal McCarthy, Dana Leff Niedzielska, Lukasz Niedzielski, Cecilia Vidaeus Gleason, and Bob Webb.
The recent acquisition of AbCRO by Pharmaceutical Product Development created a serendipitous instance of Law, Darden, and other UVA alumni working together, writes Bob Webb.
AbCRO, a clinical research organization operating in Central and Eastern Europe,was cofounded in 1999 by Darden alumna Dana Leff Niedzielska. Under Dana's leadership as CEO, AbCRO expanded operations throughout Eastern Europe, including Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Ukraine, and Russia, and had over 230 employees. The sale transaction brought together more Virginia graduates, as Darden alumna Cecilia (Vidaeus) Gleason and McIntire alumnus Neal McCarthy, both of investment banking boutique, Fairmont Partners, served as financial advisors to AbCRO, while Webb of the Tysons Corner, Va., office of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey served as legal counsel to AbCRO and its shareholders.
Not to be left "un-Wahooed," however, Pharmaceutical Product Development turned to Mark Allebach ’98 of the Wilmington, N.C., offices of Murchison, Taylor & Gibson for its outside legal counsel.
1982
Joe Dischinger is vice president of the Colorado Bar Association. Dischinger is with Fairfield and Woods in Denver, Colo., where he focuses his practice on water rights and environmental law.
Wendell Fleming has started a new job as executive director of the LARRK Foundation in Denver, Colo., which focuses on helping at-risk kids. “I have never enjoyed a job this much,” he says. “It is especially gratifying to be giving away money during these tough times.”
Thomas C. Frongillo was the lead attorney in United States v. W.R. Grace, et al., an 11-week federal criminal jury trial in Missoula, Mont., that resulted in acquittal on all counts and was the subject of newspaper articles throughout the country.
Robert Bettacchi, a former senior vice president of Grace and the president of the construction products division, was charged with conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act, knowing endangerment under the Clean Air Act, and conspiracy to defraud the United States. He faced a maximum prison sentence of up to 15 years. The indictment alleged that Bettacchi, several other Grace executives, and the company had endangered the citizens of Lincoln County due to the release of asbestos from Grace’s former vermiculite mining operation near Libby, Mont. The Department of Justice characterized the case as the most significant criminal environmental case ever prosecuted by the federal Government.
The Weil Gotshal trial team, headed by Frongillo, conducted the cross-examination of the Government’s key witness that exposed the Government’s suppression of exculpatory evidence. As a result, the district court imposed sanctions against the Government during the trial and struck all testimony of the witness against Bettacchi. The jury’s verdict exonerated him on all charges. Frongillo leads Weil Gotshal & Manges’ litigation practice in the firm’s Boston, Mass., office.
Michael Houghton has been elected chair of the executive committee of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (Uniform Law Commission). The ULC oversees the drafting and promotion of uniform state laws, including the Uniform Commercial Code, Uniform Probate Code, and Uniform Securities Act.
Since first appointed to the ULC from Delaware in 1995, Houghton has served on drafting committees, as chair of two committees, and as ULC vice president. He is a partner in the Wilmington, Del., office of Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell, where he focuses his practice in the area of commercial law counseling.
Jeffrey Levinger is included in D Magazine’s listing of the “Best Business Lawyers in Dallas.” He is a co-founder of Hankinson Levinger, an appellate boutique firm, and has been recognized among Texas’s top lawyers every year since the Texas Super Lawyers list was first published in 2003. Levinger has also been named repeatedly to lists of the top 100 attorneys in both the Dallas-Fort Worth area and throughout the state of Texas.
Will Lindsey recently closed his office in Salem, Va., after 27 years of private practice and joined the Capital Public Defender’s Office as a senior assistant capital defender. The office, based in Christiansburg, is one of four regional offices in the state, and represents indigent defendants who face the death penalty throughout southwest Virginia.
Jay M. Tannon has helped create a new transatlantic clean energy fund called Novus Energy Partners, with offices in Alexandria, Va., and Oslo, Norway. He is a founder and outside counsel for the fund. Tannon is a partner with DLA Piper in the Washington, D.C., office, where he counsels private equity funds and other businesses on acquisitions and other strategic transactions.
1983
James P. Cox III has been selected for inclusion in Virginia Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers in America 2010. He practices with Michie Hamlett Lowry Rasmussen & Tweel in the Charlottesville office, where he focuses on estate planning and administration, estate litigation, and real estate.
Stephen S. Edelson earned an MBA from Stanford after Law School and has been a biotech and clean tech entrepreneur since then. Currently he is co-founder and president of FogGusters, Inc., which has a novel, eco-friendly technology to remove fat, oil, and grease (FOG) from oil refinery and food factory wastewater so the FOG can be used to make biodiesel — “cash from trash.” Edelson has also founded and headed companies in “precision farming” (using GPS to grow crops using less water, fuel, and fertilizer) and in electric power efficiency (digital filters that clean “polluted” AC electricity). Steve, his wife, Meg, and their daughter live in the San Francisco, Calif., area.
Patrick O. Gottschalk is nearing the end of his four-year term as the Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade. Thus far in Governor Tim Kaine’s administration, more than 70,000 jobs have been created and over $11 billion invested in Virginia.
Lee Guerry married Witney Schneidman on November 15, 2008, in Alexandria, Va., with a reception at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. Lee has two stepchildren: Sam, a junior at Sewanee in Tennessee, and Ellie, a sophomore at St. Joe’s in Philadelphia, Pa. Lee is with Keller Williams Realty in Alexandria.
Don K. Haycraft has been selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America 2010 in the areas of maritime law and personal injury litigation. He is a shareholder in the New Orleans, La., office of Liskow & Lewis.
Jeff Horner has been selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America 2010 in the area of education law. He is a partner in the Houston, Tex., office of Bracewell & Giuliani.
Robert Maguire has joined Perella Weinberg Partners as a partner in the firm’s corporate advisory group in the London office. Maguire provides strategic advisory services to clients in the global energy sector. Prior to joining the firm, Maguire was active in the global energy markets for over 20 years, including his tenure at Basin Capital Partners, where he continues to serve on the advisory board. Prior to Basin Capital, Maguire was an investment banker in Morgan Stanley’s energy group.
Wayne Moore, associate professor of political science in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech, received the University’s 2009 Alumni Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Academic Advising. Recipients may be nominated by faculty members or students, and are selected by a committee of former award winners.
Moore has served as a pre-law adviser for the Department of Political Science since joining the Virginia Tech faculty in 1992 and has been the university’s sole pre-law adviser since 2003. He also teaches constitutional law for the department.
Julie K. Oldehoff has joined Greenspoon Marder in the firm’s West Palm Beach, Fla., office, where she focuses her practice in commercial litigation and collections and appellate law.
John Serpe recently opened Serpe, Jones, Andrews, Callender & Bell in Houston, Tex. The firm handles all areas of litigation with special expertise and experience in medical malpractice, health law, and commercial litigation.
A Fond Memory From the Class of 1983's 25th Reunion in 2008: (from left) Craig Van de Castle, Frank Vecella, Jeff Oleynik and Bob Latham.
Craig Garett Van de Castle passed away on August 2 from pancreatic cancer. As an undergraduate at UVA he was an Echols Scholar and lived on the Range. Craig graduated with a B.A. in history and won a scholarship from the Victorian Society for the study of Victorian architecture in England. After law school he clerked for Ellen V. Nash and practiced with Wood and Stone until 1986, when he joined the National Legal Research Group, where he specialized in the law of governmental bodies.
Craig was one of the first garden guides at Monticello in 1984 and became a gardener there in 1987. In 1994 he became a groundskeeper at the University, maintaining Monroe Hill, the Lawn, Pavilion gardens, and the cemetery. In 1997 he became a private landscaper and worked on estates in the counties surrounding Charlottesville. The work he loved the most was the 36 years of blood, sweat, and tears that he put into Blackberry Hill Farm, where he created an extensive series of trails, rock walls, terraced lawns, and flower beds throughout the beautiful 40 acre farm in Crozet.
Craig is survived by his brothers, Keith of Nashville, Tenn., and Drake of Crozet, and his father, Robert, of Charlottesville.
Missy Young, who is no longer at Monticello, traveled to England this summer and had lunch with Bob Maguire in London. Bob’s wife, Katherine Bucknell, is a literary scholar and novelist. All three of their children are accomplished musicians: son Bobby just graduated from Cambridge, daughter Lucy has begun studies at the New England Conservatory, and 10-year-old Jack follows in his siblings’ footsteps as a talented violinist.
1984
Jeanne Bynum Hipes opened Hipes Law in Alpharetta (metro Atlanta), Ga., in July 2008. Hipes Law (www.HipesLaw.com) consists of four seasoned trial lawyers who focus on the representation of business executives and professionals in disputes involving employment and commercial business matters.
Sarah P. Clement is an administrative judge with the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board in Alexandria, Va. She still sees Joanne Schehl ’84 and Kathleen Nilles ’85, who also live and work in the D.C.-area. Clement’s work involves adjudicating employment appeals of Federal employees. She reports that the work is “very interesting, involving lots of human interest stories.”
Jory Hingson Fisher is a certified life and career management coach in Lynchburg, Va. (www.joryfishercoaching.com) Jory also practices law part-time as a child advocate and as a collaborative family practice attorney.
Mark Mamantov has been named as one of the 101 most influential people in commercial real estate in Tennessee by BusinessTN magazine. The magazine has named him one of the best lawyers in the state of Tennessee every year since 2004, and has recognized him as one of Tennessee’s leaders in commercial real estate since 2007.
Winsor Schmidt LL.M. has been appointed Endowed Chair/Distinguished Scholar in Urban Health Policy at the University of Louisville. He is also professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and professor of family and geriatric medicine, at the University’s School of Medicine, and professor of health management and systems sciences, at the University’s School of Public Health and Information Sciences. Schmidt was previously professor of health policy and administration, and chair, Department of Health Policy and Administration, at Washington State University.
Bill Stuntz reports that in the spring of 2008 he was diagnosed with advanced-stage cancer. So far, his treatment is going well. Stuntz is on the law faculty at Harvard University.
John Weltman continues his practice as a commercial litigator, handling business, real estate, and art-related disputes across the U.S. and abroad. He recently won an international arbitration involving burn unit facilities for oil workers in Algeria and is now handling a hedge fund partnership dispute with mediation in London.
Weltman writes that he and his husband, Cliff, were one of the first gay couples in the country to have children through surrogacy. Shortly following the birth of his second son, Weltman founded a surrogate parenting agency, now called Circle Surrogacy, to help other couples and singles, both gay and straight, have children through surrogacy and egg donation. Circle Surrogacy has had about 300 children born through its program and expects another 100 or so this year. Last year alone, the agency was featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the front cover of Newsweek, the London Times, CNN, and many other magazines, newspapers, radio stations, and television programs worldwide. Circle Surrogacy has clients from nearly 40 countries and has been growing even in this time of economic crisis.
1985
Paul A. Lombardo and his research on state-sponsored sterilizations were the focus of a full-length cover story in USA Today on June 24. For nearly 30 years Lombardo has delved into the facts involved in the Buck v. Bell case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it was legal for the State of Virginia to order the tubal ligation of Carrie Buck because she was deemed “feeble minded.” His book, Three Generations, No Imbeciles, published in 2008, presents his careful research on Carrie Buck, the first victim of a 1924 sterilization law, and the history of eugenics in the United States. Lombardo is professor of law at Georgia State University’s College of Law, where he teaches courses in the history of bioethics, genetics and the law, and mental health law and legal regulation of human research.
Andrew J. Morris has joined the Washington, D.C., office of Carr Maloney, where he focuses his practice on commercial litigation and government investigations with emphasis on high-stakes disputes involving financial reporting, professional liability, securities fraud, and corporate governance. He was previously with Mayer Brown.
Christine Thomson has been selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America 2010. Thomson is in the Charlottesville office of Michie Hamlett Lowry Rasmussen & Tweel, where her practice focuses on medical malpractice. She also represents plaintiffs in products liability and other personal injury actions and legal malpractice in handling medical cases.
Joyce White Vance was nominated by President Barack Obama and approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee for U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama. Vance has been with the U.S. attorney's office in Birmingham since 1991 and served as chief of its appellate division for four years.
1986
William W. Eigner has been selected by his peers as a top attorney in San Diego County, Calif., in the area of corporate transactions, as featured in the San Diego Daily Transcript. Eigner is a partner in the San Diego-based firm of Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch.
Liz Espin Stern travels a good deal and enjoys her global practice in immigration law at Baker & McKenzie in Washington, D.C. “Time flies,” she says, noting that her children, Alex and David, are 15 and 10. She reports that she and her husband, Michael, are really enjoying this period in their lives.
Richard A. Mills has been selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America 2010 in the area of education law. He was also listed in Connecticut Super Lawyers in the area of employment and labor law. He is a partner in the Hartford office of Shipman & Goodwin.
William M. Ragland, Jr., has been named to the first-ever IAM 250—The World’s Leading Strategists. The list, compiled by Intellectual Asset Management magazine, recognizes the world’s top 250 attorneys, financiers, and consultants who work with intellectual property owners to increase the value of their IP portfolios. Ragland is in the Atlanta, Ga., office of Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, where he focuses his practice on complex business litigation, intellectual property litigation, and licensing and technology matters.
1987
Tom Angelo’s firm, Angelo & Banta, was highlighted in a July 6 article in the Wall Street Journal entitled, “Midsize Law Firms Pick Up Clients as Companies Turn From Pricey Giants.” The piece reported on how the current economic crunch has sent some hard-hit businesses to seek smaller law firms for legal work. AutoNation Inc., the largest car dealership chain in the U.S., hired Angelo & Banta to handle the legal work for the company’s move across town.
Angelo was listed among the Legal Elite in Florida Trend Magazine for 2009 and is listed among South Florida’s “Top Lawyers in Real Estate and Corporate Law” for 2009 in South Florida Legal Guide. He was also selected for the list of Florida Super Lawyers in the area of real estate.
Joseph Baker is president of the Medicare Rights Center, a national nonprofit consumer organization that works to ensure access to affordable health care for older adults and people with disabilities through counseling, education programs, and public policy initiatives. He was deputy secretary for health and human services in New York Governor David Paterson’s administration and assistant deputy secretary for health and human services in Eliot Spitzer’s administration. Baker previously served as executive vice president of the Medicare Rights Center from 1994-2001.
Craig Fishman continues to work in the financial markets department in the Washington, D.C., office of Orrick Herrington. He still runs and enjoys free time with his wife, Shari, and playing with his son, Jamie (7).
Kim Michele Keenan was sworn in as the newest president of the D.C. Bar at its annual business meeting and awards dinner on June 25. Keenan is the principal of the Keenan Firm, where her practice focuses on complex medical malpractice litigation and litigation consulting. She was listed among Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers. She was also listed as one of the Top 50 Women Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers and as top lawyer by Washingtonian Magazine.
In January Neil McKittrick became one of the founding shareholders in the Boston office of Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, a national labor, employment, and litigation firm with 35 offices in the U.S. Previously McKittrick had been a director of Goulston & Storrs for seven years and, before that, a partner at Hill & Barlow.
R. Hewitt Pate was tapped by Chevron to become its general counsel. Pate had been global competition group head in Hunton & Williams' Washington, D.C. office, after serving as head of the Department of Justice’s antitrust division.
Samuel B. Sterrett, Jr., has joined Blank Rome as partner in the mergers & acquisitions and private equity group in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office. He was formerly with Foley & Lardner.
Benjamin Webster has joined Littler Mendelson as managing shareholder in the Sacramento, Calif., office, where his practice will focus on labor and employment. Webster had been with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman for 21 years.
Irene Daisy Williams, aka author Treva Harte, was featured in the style section of the Washington Post on June 28. The article traces her journey from U.S. Patent and Trademark Office attorney to novelist, editor-in-chief, and co-owner of Loose Id, an e-publishing company that specializes in romance laced with paranormal events. Williams co-founded the company in 2004 after a frustrating experience getting her first digital novel published. She streamlines the publishing process and revels in taking on titles that more established publishers would probably turn away. She runs the thriving company (more than 1 million books sold, most online) from her home in Falls Church, Va.
1988
John M. Cooper has been appointed as designated legal counsel for the Transportation Communications International Union. Cooper is in the Virginia Beach office of Shapiro, Cooper, Lewis & Appleton, where he focuses his practice exclusively on personal injury and wrongful death cases, primarily on behalf of railroad industry employees under the Federal Employers Liability Act.
Richard Forsten has joined Saul Ewing as partner in the firm’s Wilmington, Del., office, where he focuses his practice in the areas of land use and land use litigation and commercial and real estate transactions and litigation.
Michael Kun is the national chairperson for Epstein, Becker and Green’s wage-hour and class action practice. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Amy, and their 3-year-old daughter, Paige. He is working on a new novel and a children’s book.
In September Colleen Marea Quinn moved her adoption, surrogacy, and personal injury law practice to Locke, Partin, DeBoer & Quinn. She was selected by Virginia Super Lawyers magazine as one of the class of 2009 leaders in the law. Her practice (including the Adoption & Surrogacy Law Center and Women’s Injury Law Center) was a finalist for the Altria Rising Star Award in June 2009 at the Richmond National Association of Women Business Owners Enterprising Women of Excellence Awards.
Matt Myers and his wife, Daisy, recently began their second tour as a diplomatic family. Matt retired from the U.S. Army JAG Corps in June 2007, served a tour of duty as a diplomat in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and is now a consular officer at the U.S. Embassy in Manila, Republic of the Philippines.
1989
Elissa Cadish was appointed as a district judge in Las Vegas, Nev., in the summer of 2007. She successfully ran to retain her seat in 2008 and began serving a six-year term in January 2009. She now handles civil and criminal cases of all kinds.
In November Joan Cohen successfully ran for a seat in the Maine House of Representatives. In December her husband, Jim, retired after 6 years on the Portland City Council, including a term as mayor. On winter weekends, Cohen and her husband ski at Sugarloaf with their two sons, Spencer (12) and Devon (8).
Leo Kane works at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority - Enforcement to protect retirement accounts. He lives in Bethesda, Md., with his wife, Carol, and three daughters, Elise (12), Julia (10), and Lauren (8).
Willis Lanier has completed a judicial clerkship for the Virginia Court of Appeals, and has worked in the private sector as a corporate in-house counsel. He is happily married with four children. He enjoys environmental activism and is interested in all that life has to offer.
