1970s Class Notes
1971
John Finley was honored by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, in recognition of his contribution to the promotion of British trade and investment, by being invested as an honorary Member of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in a ceremony presided over by Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the United States, Sir David Manning, at the Ambassador’s official residence in Washington, D.C., on December 10, 2003. Finley is the past Chairman of BritishAmerican Business, Inc. (formerly the British-American Chamber of Commerce) with offices in London and New York, and is a director (and founder) of the British-American Chamber of Commerce Foundation, which donates funds to causes in the New York-area.
Sandra Horwitz sadly reports the passing away of her husband Arthur H. Horwitz on May 8, at the age of 57.
Ralph B. Robertson retired from the judgeship of the Richmond General District Court. He reports he has a practice restricted to Federal Courts.
1972
Steven Davis has become a partner in a new firm, Schiffman Berger Abraham Kaufman & Ritter, PC, in Hackensack, NJ.
R. Craig Hopson reports he is still happily married to his wife of 35 years, Sharon. Craig’s law practice consists mainly of estate planning, elder law, and real estate. He is enjoying his practice more than ever (along with two grandsons, golf and antique toy/train collecting). Craig’s oldest daughter Heather graduated with her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UVA in 1997. His son Ryan is currently a third-year at the University’s McIntire School of Commerce. Hopson has recently been elected to the following positions: trustee of Winfree Memorial Baptist Church in Midlothian, VA ; member of board of directors of the Virginia Baptist Homes Foundation; member of advisory board of BB&T Bank-Richmond; and member of the citizens’ advisory board of Bon Secours-St. Francis Hospital.
Robert Musick, Jr., has joined Palmer & Cay Consulting Group in Richmond, VA, as a principal and will help lead the qualified retirement plans and executive compensation practice.
James J. Tanous has been re-elected as chairman of the executive committee of Jaeckle Fleischmann & Mugel, LLP, a full-service firm with offices in Buffalo, Amherst, and Rochester, NY.
1973
Paul Hurdle has joined Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld as senior counsel in its Washington, D.C. office, specializing in securitization and structured finance.
Jonathan Kane, partner
at Pepper Hamilton LLP, has been elected fellow of the College
of Labor and Employment Lawyers. Kane is chairman of Pepper’s labor and employment
group and works in the firm’s Berwyn, PA, office.
In December of 2003, Hugh McIntosh became headmaster of the Keystone School in San Antonio, TX. After law school McIntosh practiced with Vinson & Elkins, LLP, in Houston. In 1986, he and his family moved toWashington, D.C., where McIntosh worked in corporate finance as public policy partner in Vinson & Elkins’ office there. In 1998 he withdrew from partnership to pursue a degree in theology at Harvard Divinity School. After Harvard, McIntosh worked at Punahou School in Honolulu, and then as coach, religion teacher, and chaplain at the St. Albans School in Washington, D.C., before heading to Texas. He and Sara Bullock McIntosh have been married for more than 28 years, and have three children. Their oldest, Hadley, attends the University of Texas School of Law.Middle child Hugh Barnes has begun work on his Ph.D. in the human sciences at George Washington University. Jess, the youngest, is a junior at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. Mrs.McIntosh is a writer on First Lady Laura Bush’s staff.
John Hardin Young has been elected for a four-year term as the Fourth Circuit Trustee of the American Inns of Court Foundation. He is a member of Sandler, Reiff & Young, PC, in Washington, D.C., in the areas of administrative and technology law, commercial litigation, and dispute resolution. Young is the president of the George Mason American Inn of Court and served as a founding member of that Inn, as well as its program chair and counselor. The American Inns of Court is a national legal association dedicated to promoting ethics, civility, and professionalism, and is comprised of more than 24,000 federal, state, and local judges, lawyers, law professors, and law students in some 350 chapters across the United States.
1974
Whittington W. Clement received the Virginia Bar Association Distinguished Service Award on January 16. He currently serves as the Virginia Secretary of Transportation and was a representative in the House of Delegates for 14 years. Clement retired from the Danville law firm of Clement & Wheatley and serves on the board of managers of the University Alumni Association.
Larry Fullerton recently completed his term as president of the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Denver. He reports that he is proud of leading the 1,500-member professional organization to “higher standards of community building, improving access for people with disabilities, and offering a plan for workforce housing to the City of Denver.” He also served this fall on newly-elected Mayor John Hickenlooper’s transition team, as co-chair of the Public Works Committee. Fullerton is happy to return full-time to his real estate development company, and to be able to spend more time with his wife, four grown children, and grandson Alec.
1975 
Tina Swent Byrd has been elected a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers. She and classmate John Charles Thomas were both faculty members at the May 2004 ABA Arbitration Training Institute.
John Eckstein is still a director at Fairfield and Woods in Denver. He also spends time serving on the board of the Colorado Bio Science Association, as well as several other boards, speaking on technology-based business financing at CLE events, playing charity golf tournaments, watching his kids grow up, and having a great time practicing law.
New York venture capital firm, Easton Capital, announced that Charles B. Hughes III has joined the firm’s New York office as managing director. Prior to joining Easton, Hughes was a senior partner specializing in venture capital and private equity transactions at Torys LLP. Before joining Torys in 1992, Hughes was a partner at the New York office of Richards & O’Neil.
1976
Christian & Barton, LLP is pleased to announce that partner Peter E. Broadbent, Jr., has been elected as Virginia ’s Republican 7th District Elector for the 2004 presidential election.
Daniel J. Hoffheimer has published “Professionalism in Estate Planning, Trust, and Probate Law,” in the Probate Law Journal of Ohio, March-April 2004.
Thomas L. Higginson, Jr., has embarked upon a project to fund the construction of a medical clinic in Kien Giang Province in southwestern Vietnam. Though the Vietnamese government will run it once completed, Higginson notes how far a dollar goes in the province—to operate a clinic with seven professionals treating 6,000 cases a year costs roughly $3,000.
1977
E. Tazewell Ellett of Alexandria is president of the Virginia Bar Association for 2004, having served as VBA president-elect in 2003 and on the board of governors in 2002. Ellett is a partner at Hogan & Hartson, LLP, where he serves as administrator of the aviation group and as a member of the legislative group.
Gary Feulner writes from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to provide the following clarification: “Your account of my natural history activities in the most recent Class Notes (Spring 2004) is likely to give many of my classmates the (envious?) impression that I have abandoned the practice of law. Nothing could be further from the truth.My natural history studies, although undertaken seriously, are strictly extra-curricular. I continue to be employed full time as general counsel of SHUAA Capital, a growing regional investment bank based in Dubai, itself an emerging financial center. Transactional work and corporate finance came easily after private practice. Legal supervision of asset management activities has been a learning experience.” Gary invites classmates visiting or professionally involved in the Arabian Gulf region to contact him. Among others, Caffey Norman has joined Gary for a jaunt in the field—uphill at 100°F.
Virginia Emerson Hopkins was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on June 15 as a District Judge for the Northern District of Alabama.
Thomas Michael Melo still has great fondness for Bracewell & Patterson, his firm for 26 years, “but decided it would be fun to practice with a wonderful national labor and employment specialty firm—Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C.,” he writes. Melo still resides in Houston.
1978
Mitchell J. Kassoff has
published his latest article on franchise law titled “Can a Choice of Forum
Clause Force a Franchise to Litigate in the Franchisor’s
Home State?” in the June issue of the New York State
Bar Association Journal. Kassoff has been elected as vice
president of the North East Academy of Legal Studies in Business.
He practices franchise law nationwide (www.franatty.cnc.net),
with offices in New Jersey and New York. His son Jonathan is
currently attending the UVA Engineering School and enrolled in
Naval ROTC. His daughter Sarah graduated from UVA in 2003. His
wife Gwendolyn graduated from the College in 1975 and received
her master’s from the School of Education in 1976. “The
entire family is devoted to the University of Virginia,” says
Kassoff.
George Meros, Jr., was named one of the American Tort Reform Association’s (ATRA) “Legal Reform Champions,” a group of highprofile lawyers dedicated “to restoring equal justice under law and reclaiming the civil justice system from the grip of plaintiffs’ lawyers.” ATRA’s honorees have performed pro-bono work on behalf of civil justice reform organizations, supported pro-reform candidates, refused to accept cases that abuse tort law, and taken a public stand against abusive lawsuits.Meros, a partner in GrayRobinson’s Tallahassee, FL, office is a frequent guest lecturer and author on legal reform issues. He played a central role in the passage of Florida ’s 2003 Medical Malpractice Act and the Worker’s Compensation Reform Act. In addition, he drafted The Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act that was introduced in the 108th Congress.
Paul Schott Stevens was unanimously elected president of the Investment Company Institute (ICI). Washington, D.C.-based ICI is a national trade association representing mutual funds, unit investment trusts, and closed-end funds. The purpose of the Institute is to represent members and their shareholders in matters of legislation, regulation, taxation, pension, international issues, public information, industry statistics, economic and market research.
1979
Andrew A. Guy is now working as a commercial litigator at Stoel Rives LLP in Seattle, WA.
Ron Manthey has joined Baker McKenzie in Dallas, TX, and chairs the labor and employment section. Manthey left Littler Mendelson with a group of six shareholders and others to join Baker McKenzie in April.
Capie A. Polk is posted to the U.S. Embassy at The Hague in the Netherlands with the Department of State.
