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2000s Class Notes

2000

Chris Converse is listed in Texas Monthly as a rising star in business/corporate law. He is a partner and chair of the securities and corporate governance team with Gardere in Dallas, where his practice involves all areas of corporate law, including mergers and acquisitions, recapitalizations, financings, and public and private offerings of debt and equity.

Michael P. Elkon '00Michael P. Elkon is listed in Georgia Super Lawyers 2014 in employment and labor law. He is of counsel with Fisher & Phillips in Atlanta, where he represents management in all areas of employment law in state and federal courts and state and federal agencies.

Aleksander J. Goranin has joined Duane Morris in Philadelphia, Pa., as a partner in the intellectual property practice group, where he litigates patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret cases. He was formerly with the IP boutique Woodcock Washburn.

Wilton H. Strickland practiced commercial litigation in Florida until he moved to Montana in 2010. He recently co-founded Strickland & Baldwin, which provides legal research and writing to attorneys nationwide and to non-attorneys in Montana and Florida. See www.mylegalwriting.com.

Tonya Sulia Goodman and her husband, Gregg, welcomed their third child, Carmella Grace, on November 5.

2001

Christian A. Atwood was named a private equity rising star by Law360 and honored as one of The M&A Advisor’s 40 Under 40 award winners in the legal advisor category for 2014. He is a partner in the private equity group at Choate, Hall & Stewart in Boston, Mass.

Dave Bell has been promoted to vice president and senior counsel with Marriott International, Inc., where he is an in-house litigation attorney. In September he and his wife, Elizabeth, welcomed the birth of Declan Peter, their fourth child.

Steven M. Klepper responded to an article by Professor Kenneth Abraham entitled “Four Conceptions of Insurance” 161 U. Pa. L Rev. 653 (2013), that appeared in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review Online. Klepper’s response, “Whose Conception of Insurance?” 162 U. Pa. L. Rev. Online 83 (2013), is available.

Klepper is a principal with Kramon & Graham in Baltimore, Md., where he is an appellate litigator in civil and criminal cases before state and federal appellate courts. He is listed in Maryland Super Lawyers 2014 in appellate, insurance coverage, and general litigation and was recognized as a rising star for 2013. He serves on the Criminal Justice Act appellate panels for the D.C. Circuit and the 4th Circuit and on the Maryland State Bar Association’s appellate litigation committee.

Lathrop Nelson '01Lathrop Nelson was a key member of the defense team from Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads that successfully defended U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Sinclair in a recent high-profile court martial. The case involved multiple allegations, the most serious of which was sexual assault of an Army captain who was his mistress. At one point the general faced the possibility of a lifetime in prison.

Nelson and other members of the defense team were able to show that “unlawful military command” had influenced the prosecution. They negotiated a deal in which the most serious charges of sexual assault were dismissed, allowing Sinclair to plead to lesser charges. Nelson was responsible for drafting and arguing the motion to dismiss for reasons of unlawful command influence, which the military judge reconsidered and then granted. The judge found that politics might have improperly influenced the prosecution’s plea agreement. In the end, Sinclair was reprimanded and required to pay a $20,000 fine.

The case triggered renewed debate over whether the Pentagon should reform the way it handles serious crimes such as sexual assault.

David Stuckey is co-founder and executive editor of CEE Legal Matters, an online and print publication that provides in-depth coverage of the lawyers and legal markets of Central and Eastern Europe. See www.ceelegalmatters.com.

Kevin M. Yopp has been named partner with Gilchrist & Rutter in Santa Monica, Calif. He concentrates his practice on litigation in trial and appellate courts, representing major corporations and executives in complex business disputes and serving as lead counsel in multimillion-dollar litigation in state and federal courts.

2002

Jason R. Barclay '02Jason R. Barclay was named a 2014 rising star in white-collar law by Law360. He was also named a rising star in Indiana Super Lawyers in criminal defense: white-collar law this year. He is a partner in the litigation department with Barnes & Thornburg in Indianapolis.

Associate Professor Neva Browning Jeffries was granted tenure at Atlanta's John Marshall Law School. She joined the faculty in 2008 and teaches legal drafting; legal research, writing & analysis; pretrial practice & procedure; and business organizations.

2003

Andrew G. Beshear '03Andrew G. Beshear was named USA consumer lawyer of the year for 2013 and is included on the 2014 leading lawyer global 250 list in Lawyer Monthly. He was named a rising star in Kentucky Super Lawyers 2013 and listed in Best Lawyers 2013 in commercial litigation. He is a member with Stites & Harbison in Louisville, where his practice includes litigation, business and finance, nonprofit, environmental, and economic development work. He represents utilities, banks, manufacturers, health care providers, transportation companies, international distributors, and start-ups, and he also works on large-scale industrial development and relocation projects.

Katherine J. Brennan became general counsel of Guy Carpenter, the reinsurance subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan in New York City, on January 1. She also serves as a member of Guy Carpenter’s board of managers and global operating committee. She joined Marsh & McLennan in 2008 and was previously senior counsel for corporate and securities matters.

Melissa F. Danielson '03Melissa F. Danielson has been elected to partnership with Kightlinger & Gray in Indianapolis, Ind. She focuses her practice on construction, transportation, product liability, general insurance defense litigation, and corporate and business litigation. She serves on the Indiana Supreme Court Commission on Race and Gender Fairness.

Danny Kim and Meagan Toohey were married on June 15, 2013, in Columbus, Ohio.

Colleen C. Smith made partner with Latham & Watkins in San Diego, Calif. She is a member of the securities litigation and professional liability practice, as well as the life sciences and information technology–hardware, software & services industry groups.

Bret T. Winterle '03Bret T. Winterle is now a principal in Fish & Richardson’s IP litigation group in Dallas, Tex. He focuses his practice on patent litigation matters involving e-commerce, banking, payments, electronic messaging, computer software, business methods, medical devices, telecommunications, semiconductors, and oil and gas drilling technologies.

2004

Tirzah S. Lollar is now counsel with Vinson & Elkins in Washington, D.C. Lollar concentrates her practice on white-collar criminal defense, government investigations and litigation, and client counseling.

Allison Orr Larsen '04Allison Orr Larsen was honored with the State Council for Higher Education for Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award for 2014. Larsen is one of two recipients recognized as a rising star, an accolade given to faculty who show exceptional promise early in their teaching careers. She is associate professor of law at the William & Mary Law School, where she teaches administrative law, constitutional law, and statutory interpretation. She completed her undergraduate degree at William & Mary and joined their law faculty in 2010.

J. Corey Reeder was elected to membership with McNees Wallace & Nurick. He practices in the business counseling, Pennsylvania oil and gas, estate planning, and real estate groups in State College and Harrisburg, with his primary location being State College.

Bryan M. Rhode has been appointed CSX Corporation’s regional vice president for state government affairs in Virginia. He is responsible for CSX Transportation’s executive branch, legislative and community initiatives in the state, and oversees similar efforts in Maryland and Delaware.

Elizabeth C. Sauer has been elected partner with Waller in Nashville, Tenn., where she is a member of the real estate practice.

Sean S. Suder has joined the partnership of Graydon Head in Cincinnati. He served as chief counsel for land use and planning for the city of Cincinnati from 2010-14. He focuses his practice on land use, zoning, real estate, and local government law, and is also developing a national zoning consulting practice. He is an adjunct professor of land use law at the University of Cincinnati College of Law. In November Sean’s wife, Elisa Hoffman, was elected to the Cincinnati Board of Education. Their twins, Lily Hope and Abbott, start kindergarten in the fall.

Jeff White '04Jeff White has been made partner with Weil, Gotshal & Manges in Washington, D.C., where he practices in the antitrust/competition group, focusing his work on antitrust clearances for m&a transactions, government investigations, and antitrust litigation.


William K. Wynne
joined Thorn Run Partners in Washington, D.C., as partner. He provides consulting and advocacy services to a portfolio of over 20 healthcare companies and organizations. He recently launched Healthcare Lighthouse, “the only comprehensive source for unbiased Federal health policy information” (www.healthcarelighthouse.com).

2005

Marcus Brown '05Marcus Brown was named a rising star for 2014 in Texas Monthly in employment and labor law. He is a shareholder with Winstead in Dallas, where he practices in the labor, employment & immigration group.


Kay Hill and Andy Foy welcomed their second child, a daughter, Georgia Carolynn, on September 14, 2012. They live in Arlington, Va. Andy recently started a new job with Iridium Satellite, where he is director and senior corporate counsel with overall responsibility for all intellectual property and litigation matters involving the company.

David J. Greene is a partner with Latham & Watkins in Washington, D.C. He is a member of the corporate department, where his practice focuses on investment fund formation, structuring, and related transactions, as well as the representation of institutional investors in alternative asset products.

Toni J. Hoverkamp was appointed to a five-year term on the board of directors for the Flying Point Foundation for Autism. She is a real estate associate with Farrell Fritz in Hauppauge, N.Y., where she represents purchasers, sellers, and lenders in residential and commercial transactions, private developers and investors in joint venture negotiations, and landlords and tenants in leasing transactions.

Dominic Kouffman is now partner with Holland & Knight in Tampa, Fla. Kouffman is a member of the litigation section, where he concentrates on complex commercial litigation, including contractual disputes, business torts, fraud, and commercial credit litigation.

Alexandra Machinist '05Alexandra Machinist recently joined ICM Partners in New York City, where she is a literary agent for a variety of genres. She represents several international and New York Times best-selling authors, including Kevin Kwan and Koethi Zan. She was previously with Janklow & Nesbit Associates.

Alexander W. Mejias is now counsel with BrownGreer in Richmond, Va. He provides legal counsel to artists, artists’ managers, and record labels in the music industry. He drafts claims administration policies, manages internal procedures, and contributes to the design of claims review processes.

Matthew M. Sonne is a partner in the labor and employment practice group with Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton in Orange County, Calif., where he represents employers in all aspects of employment law and related litigation.

Christopher J. Terhune is now counsel with Vinson & Elkins in Washington, D.C., where he focuses his practice on federal energy regulation and energy transactions.

David W. Thomas '05David W. Thomas is now partner in the commercial group with MichieHamlett in Charlottesville, where he focuses his practice on commercial and civil litigation with emphasis on employment law and other business disputes. He was named a rising star for 2013 in Virginia Super Lawyers. He is an adjunct professor of trial advocacy at the Law School.

2006

Christopher Mangin, Jr. '06Christopher Mangin, Jr. is partner at Hunton & Williams in Richmond, Va., focusing his practice on federal income tax issues associated with real estate capital markets transactions and real estate companies.



Danielle Muraca Sloane '06Danielle Muraca Sloane is now a member at Bass, Berry & Sims in Nashville, Tenn., where she focuses her practice exclusively on health care law, advising clients on a multitude of complex regulatory, operational, compliance, and transactional issues.


John Sherman
and his wife, Hobby, announce the birth of their son, Joseph McBride Sherman, on September 7.

Catherine Stahl is now partner at Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago, Ill., focusing her practice on complex commercial litigation matters.

2007

Katie Townsend has been named one of Law 360’s rising stars for 2014 in media and entertainment. She is a litigation associate with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Los Angeles, Calif., where she is a member of the media and entertainment, appellate and constitutional law, and transnational litigation and foreign judgments practice groups.

2008

Elliott M. Klass joined Vedder Price in New York City as an associate and member of the global transportation finance team, where he focuses his practice on aviation finance. He was formerly with Latham & Watkins.

Edward A. Mullen is with Reed Smith in Richmond, where he has an administrative and legislative law practice before Virginia state agencies and the general assembly. Virginia Business recognized him as a legal elite for legislative, regulatory, and administrative law, 2011-13. He was named a rising star by Virginia Super Lawyers, 2010-13. In the fall he joined the adjunct faculty at the Law School, co-teaching a seminar on legislative drafting and statutory interpretation with Lane Kneedler ’69.

Gregory W. Olson joined the full-time faculty at San Joaquin College of Law in Clovis, Calif., where he teaches real property. He also serves as the legal director for the New American Legal Clinic, which trains students in immigration law while providing free legal services to the underprivileged immigrant communities in and surrounding the Fresno area.

Health-Conscious Entrepreneurs

Doug Bouton ’10 and Mike Keenan ’08 worked in law firms for a few years before they left to launch two different, health-conscious businesses involving food: Halo Top Creamery and The Juice Laundry, respectively. Both start-ups are on track to make a healthy profit.

Halo Top Creamery

Doug Bouton '10Not long after he joined the corporate department of a large law firm, Doug Bouton realized it wasn’t a good fit for him. “In my case, going to a big law firm was a mistake. But I chose a law degree because I knew it would open doors and wouldn’t shut any. It’s all over the board what JDs are able to do with their degrees.”

Two years ago, in the Los Angeles lawyers’ basketball league, he met Justin Woolverton, a Columbia Law School graduate who was also pondering a career move. They became good friends. Woolverton’s passion for ice cream led to their starting a business together—Halo Top Creamery.

Woolverton is hypoglycemic; rollercoaster blood sugar levels have at times made him faint in public. He couldn’t find the kind of ice cream he wanted in stores, so he made his own all-natural, low-sugar, low-fat, high-protein kind at home in a Cuisinart. Friends liked the taste of his healthier version so much that he began to consider marketing it.

Halo TopBouton knew he and Woolverton could work well together, and the time seemed right, so they took the plunge. “We bootstrapped,” says Bouton, who quit his law firm job to join the company while his partner worked on research and development. Neither had experience in the food industry, and ice cream is in some ways particularly challenging. It took more than a year to learn the science of making and packaging their Halo Top brand, www.halotop.com.

They invested their savings in the business and raised $500,000 from about 20 friends and family members. As with many new businesses, scaling up nearly stopped them in their tracks a number of times. Their demand that their product be all-natural, low-fat, and low-sugar proved a challenge to ice cream chemistry (sugar and fat help give ice cream that creamy, scoopable texture).

There’s no stinting on the high-quality ingredients they use: organic strawberries, Belgian chocolate, and organic Madagascar vanilla. Halo Top is the first and only light ice cream that is all-natural, with 7 grams of protein, 4 grams of carbs, and 70 calories per serving (a quarter of the calories in regular ice cream). Instead of corn syrups and artificial sweeteners, Halo Top is sweetened with organic stevia.

Even the pint lid is a standout, with its shiny gold rim. “We like to say it stands for a halo of health,” says Bouton.

Bouton is president and chief operating officer of the business, and oversees all operations, inventory, storage, shipping distribution, and sales. He also targets and secures new accounts, among them Wegmans, Kroger, and Whole Foods. Halo Top is currently sold in approximately 700 stores and 30 states. In Charlottesville, Foods of All Nations carries it.

Because traditional public relations and advertising can generate lots of talk, but not much in terms of sales, Halo Top is focusing more on influencer marketing tailored to particular groups. Fitness buffs, for example, can become brand evangelists, posting reviews on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. When their excitement catches on, sales take off.

“Halo Top could do in the low-calorie ice cream category what Chobani has done in yogurt,” says Bouton, and it seems to be on its way: In the first quarter of 2014 Halo Top sales were more than 75 percent of total sales for the entire 2013 fiscal year.

The Juice Laundry

Michael Keenan '08After law school, Mike Keenan worked at a mid-size firm in Washington, D.C., for four years before deciding to make a career switch. He wanted to return to Charlottesville and do something new and different. His interest in juices and other healthy foods inspired him to launch his own business, The Juice Laundry, in 2013.

“It’s tough starting a business from scratch and navigating the local, state, and federal regulations in the food world,” he says. “You’ve got to have the knowledge and ability to interpret and abide by them. The food business is complicated and can be difficult. After law school and four years practicing, I had the confidence to know I could do this.” Law school, he notes, gave him a broad skill set and taught him how to pay close attention to detail.

Juice LaundryThe Juice Laundry produces 17-ounce bottles of fresh-pressed juice and nut milks, including combinations like “citrus fire,” a blend of grapefruit, orange, lemon, ginger and cayenne pepper; “rinse + rebeet,” with beet, carrot, cucumber, celery, and lemon; and the “green agitator,” with kale, spinach, cucumber, celery, apple, parsley, ginger, and lemon.

While many consumers enjoy individual juices or milks, packs of seven are recommended for one, two, or three-day cleanses. Why cleanse? The human body does a good job of getting rid of toxins, but it’s hard work and expends a lot of energy. A juice cleanse delivers concentrated nutrition in an easy-to-digest form, allowing the system to rest and heal. The company Web site, www.thejuicelaundry.com, includes a detailed explanation of the benefits of cleansing and juicing.

Making the juice is both time and labor intensive. Keenan and three employees grind fresh produce into pulp, then apply two tons of pressure to it in a hydraulic press juicer to extract the juice. Two pounds of produce go into every bottle. Keenan only uses organic produce and sources it locally whenever possible.

It’s a cold-press operation, so no heat, no pasteurization, nothing added--just pure juice. Because it’s unpasteurized, it can’t be sold wholesale to retail businesses. Keenan delivers to individual customers in Charlottesville, Richmond, and other locations in Central Virginia, much the way the milkman once did. He also has a regular stand at the booming farmer’s market in Charlottesville.

When it comes to getting the word out about his product, he, like Bouton, places little stock in traditional advertising or PR. Word of mouth works best. “When people like what we offer,” says Keenan, “we see their family and their friends.” And word spreads rapidly; in one year the Juice Laundry has grown to the point where it has reached its peak capacity.

“The next step big step for us will be a full retail location that offers smoothies and a salad bar,” says Keenan. His regular customers can hardly wait. – by Rebecca Barns

2009

Christine Bestor TownsendChristine Bestor Townsend joined Belin McCormick in Des Moines, Iowa, as an associate in the litigation and labor and employment law groups. She was previously with Katten Muchin Rosenman in Chicago, Ill.

 

2011

Rachel Brown and Noah Mink 11

Rachel Brown and Noah Mink were married on September 15 at Trump Winery in Charlottesville, with many of their Law School friends in attendance.

Noah M. Galton is an associate in the litigation section at Jackson Walker in Austin, Tex., where he focuses his practice on commercial litigation, including contractual and real property disputes and eminent domain. He helped win significant victories for Lone Star Transmission in two eminent domain cases tried before juries in 2013. The company completed electric transmission lines to carry wind power through 11 counties in Texas but could not reach an agreement with landowners on the value of their property. In both cases the jury reached verdicts favorable to Jackson Walker’s client.

Priya Roy joined Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads in Philadelphia, Pa., as an associate in the litigation department, where she concentrates her practice on commercial litigation. Before joining the firm, Roy was a clerk for the Hon. Michael F. Urbanski ’81 and the Hon. Robert S. Ballou ’87, both on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia.

2013

Julia Abelev '13Julia Abelev joined the construction and litigation practice groups with Lane Powell in Seattle, Wash. She focuses her practice on complex disputes involving construction, contract, and environmental law.



Hailey Elizabeth Proctor
married Michael James Barnett (Darden ’12) at Pippin Hill Vineyards in Charlottesville on September 7. The Barnetts reside in Atlanta, Ga.

Ryan Woessner '13Ryan Woessner joined Faegre Baker Daniels in Minneapolis, Minn., where he is an associate in the corporate and franchise and distribution practices. He focuses his practice on cross-border transactions and mergers and acquisitions.


Hyun (Eric) Yoon '13Hyun (Eric) Yoon joined Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease in Cleveland, Ohio, as an associate in the litigation group.

 

 

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