2010s Class Notes
2010
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.
Matthew J. Yao is a partner at Woehrle Dahlberg Jones Yao, a general practice 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.
2011
Jeffrey R. Chang married 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.
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.
2011 classmates standing on the Svínafellsjökull Glacier in Iceland. Front row (left to right): Erin Kelly and Jacqui Jones. Back row: Elizabeth Kade, Elizabeth Horner, Elizabeth Krabill McIntyre, and Sally Handmaker
Benjamin C. Lee is a litigation associate in the 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.
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.
Megan Poitevint Mitchell 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.
Matthew Reardon lives with his wife, Genevieve Aguilar Reardon ’13 in 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 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.
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.
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.
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.
Left to right: 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 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 Andrew Garrahan ‘96. The family resides in Alexandria, Va.
Genevieve Aguilar Reardon lives with her 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, securities law, and general corporate matters.
2014
Ronald J. Fisher began a 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.
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.
2015
Katie Packer Lencioni 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.
Left to right: Javier Gomez, Susan Foster, Jackie Ryberg, Rachel Wade, Kelsey Bryan, Samuel Strongin, Sejal Jhaveri, Katie Packer Lencioni, and Michael Lencioni.
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.
