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2000
Ryan Clinton joined Hunton Andrews Kurth as a partner and will lead the firm’s Texas appeals practice. Clinton formerly served as an assistant solicitor general for Texas and has extensive experience handling state and federal appeals for private-sector clients, particularly in the energy industry.
Based in Austin, Clinton has represented clients in appeals courts throughout the state, as well as in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court. Among his dozens of arguments are 10 appearances before the Texas Supreme Court.
Novant Health named Kelli Ferry executive vice president and chief legal officer, overseeing the organization’s legal, risk management, corporate audit and compliance operations.
Ferry has served as deputy chief legal officer since 2022 and as senior assistant general counsel since 2018. Previously, she served for more than a decade as a federal prosecutor, including as criminal chief for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina. As a prosecutor, she conducted complex fraud investigations involving both individuals and national corporations, and established the district’s Health Care Fraud Task Force.
In 2025, she received the Outstanding Corporate Counsel (Large Company) award as part of the Charlotte Business Journal’s Corporate Counsel Awards program in partnership with the Association of Corporate Counsel. Ferry currently serves as corporate secretary on the board of trustees for Novant Health, and as a board member for the North Carolina Healthcare Association, the Charlotte Ballet and Nourish Up, a network of emergency food pantries based in Charlotte.
Tonya Sulia Goodman, an 18-year veteran of the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in Washington, D.C., and the Western District of Pennsylvania, joined Saxton & Stump as senior counsel in the firm’s investigations, white-collar and criminal defense, and commercial litigation groups in Pittsburgh. Goodman most recently served as deputy criminal chief in the Western District of Pennsylvania, where she oversaw prosecutions involving white-collar and violent crime, child exploitation and significant drug-trafficking matters. Since 2018, she has also served as acting criminal chief and as chief of the violent crimes and narcotics and organized crime and narcotics sections.
Earlier in her career, Goodman was an assistant U.S. attorney in the District of Columbia, where she tried dozens of cases and managed hundreds of grand jury investigations. In private practice, she was a senior associate at global firm Reed Smith, conducting internal investigations and defending corporate clients in federal and state matters.
E. Perry Hicks joined Haynes Boone’s fund finance practice group in Charlotte, N.C.
Hicks has two decades of experience advising leading global financial institutions in fund finance transactions, with a knowledge of traditional fund financing transactions that include net asset value financings, subscription credit facilities and hybrid facilities, as well as experience in more recent fund finance market developments, including private credit transactions and anticipation of securitization structures.
Hicks is a regent in the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers, a professional organization and honorary society for lawyers, jurists and academics who have distinguished themselves in the field of commercial finance law.
2001
Gunes Hopson started GFH Law in Richmond, Va. The firm represents businesses, entrepreneurs and travel advisers. In addition, Hopson still owns a luxury travel agency, Luxe Travel by Gunes. She assists clients on both the legal and travel fronts.
Byron Pickard was elected managing director of Sterne Kessler Goldstein & Fox. He previously served as head of the firm’s trial and appellate group and on the executive committee for the past six years. Pickard maintains his litigation practice, which focuses on high-stakes patent disputes in the biotech and high-tech sectors. Pickard continues to live in Alexandria, Va., with his wife, Cassie (College ’97).
In August, Monica Welt became general counsel for the Retail Industry Leaders Association, the trade association for the nation’s largest retailers. She also serves as president of the Retail Litigation Center, which serves as the retail industry’s voice in appellate courts and the Supreme Court.
Erin Dugan Whealton was promoted to section chief of the Sexually Violent Predators Civil Commitment Section of the Virginia Office of the Attorney General.
2002
Lisa M. Colone was named practice leader for Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi’s litigation group and serves as chair of the securities enforcement group in Roseland, N.J. Before CSG Law, Colone was a vice president in the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s Department of Enforcement, where she led a team of chief counsels and more than 100 attorneys in investigating and enforcing violations of FINRA rules and federal securities laws. She also previously served as chief counsel in FINRA’s Department of Enforcement. As senior regional counsel, and before FINRA, she spent nearly nine years with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, including as deputy chief of the criminal division.
Afi S. Johnson-Parris was elected chair of the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro, N.C. Johnson-Parris, previously chair-elect of the board, will lead the CFGG in its mission to strengthen Greensboro’s future by supporting nonprofits, leading major community projects and helping establish charitable funds. Johnson-Parris is a partner in Fox Rothschild’s family law department and was recently featured on North Carolina Lawyers Weekly’s Family Law Power List. She is actively involved in a variety of North Carolina-based organizations, including serving as a board member of the North Carolina Bar Foundation and the NC Equal Access to Justice Foundation.
2003
Stacey Rose Harris was appointed as a substitute judge in the Fairfax (Va.) County General District and Juvenile and Domestic Relations Courts. She was sworn in by Fairfax Circuit Judge John M. Tran, her former law firm partner. In February, Harris earned a place on Virginia Lawyers Weekly’s annual Influential Women in the Law list. Harris practices general business litigation and defamation defense at Hirschler Fleischer in Northern Virginia.
Roscoe Jones Jr., dean of Drake University Law School, was named co-chair of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law board. Jones is the 22nd dean and the first Black dean in Drake’s 160-year history. Before joining Drake, he taught courses on mass incarceration, civil rights policy and administrative law at Yale, Chicago, Michigan, Georgetown, George Washington and the University of Washington law schools, and the Harvard Kennedy School. Before his career in academia, Jones practiced as a partner and co-chair of the public policy group at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, where he advised clients on government relations and congressional investigations. He served for a decade on Capitol Hill, including as chief of staff to Rep. Abigail Spanberger, legislative director to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, and senior counsel to Sen. Cory Booker and U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy. He also worked as special counsel in the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. A member of the American Law Institute, American Bar Foundation and Council on Foreign Relations, Jones was named by Lawdragon as one of the top 500 lawyers in America, and the National Bar Association awarded him the Presidential Excellence Award.
2005
Charles H. Stopher was recognized in Best Lawyers in America for commercial litigation, litigation (insurance), and product liability litigation (defendants). Stopher practices with Stites & Harbison in Louisville, Ky.
Alumni Confirmed for Federal Executive Roles
In recent months, President Donald Trump chose several alumni to fill high-profile positions in roles that require Senate confirmations.
David Bragdon ’02 was confirmed as a judge for the Middle District of North Carolina. He previously worked in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina since 2007 and was a U.S. Department of Justice resident legal adviser to the Philippines from 2017-20.
James Percival ’13 is serving as general counsel of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He was formerly chief of staff to then-Attorney General Ashley Moody of Florida and served as senior counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice.
Josh Simmons ’07 serves as general counsel of the CIA. He formerly served as principal deputy general counsel at the U.S. State Department, and as senior adviser and attorney-adviser in the department’s Office of the Legal Adviser.
Alumni have been appointed to other leadership roles including:
- Tyler S. Badgley ’16 was named general counsel of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in January, having previously served as deputy general counsel of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
- Stuart McCommas ’13 was named U.S. Department of Justice chief of staff in February, following a role as deputy White House counsel.
- Levi Swank ’13 was appointed deputy director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection in January. He previously was a partner at Goodwin Procter.
—Mike Fox
2006
Asaf Jiménez LL.M. was appointed as a partner with Blanco Carrillo in Mexico City. Jiménez has more than 25 years of experience as a transactional lawyer, with a strong focus on the financing and development of major infrastructure projects, including energy, transportation and public-private partnerships. Jiménez joins his longtime friend and managing partner, Diego Blanco LL.M., rekindling a professional partnership and strengthening the firm’s dedication to enduring, relationship-driven client service.
Jim Mitre was named senior vice president and chief research officer at RAND in January. He leads RAND’s U.S.-based research enterprise, sets research priorities, and upholds the institution’s standards for quality and independence.
Previously at RAND, Mitre served as vice president of the global and emerging risks division and as director of the International Security and Defense Policy Program in the national security research division, where he led research addressing national security strategy, emerging technology and global risk, and expanded RAND’s engagement with senior policymakers across the U.S. government and allied partners.
Mitre previously served for more than a decade in senior roles at the U.S. Department of Defense, including senior adviser to the deputy secretary of defense for data and artificial intelligence, principal director of the office for strategy and force development, and executive director of the 2018 National Defense Strategy, where he helped shape U.S. defense strategy and force planning during a period of significant strategic change.
Between government positions, Mitre served as chief strategy officer at Govini, a data analytics firm, advising national security leaders on the use of data to inform strategy and decision-making. Earlier in his career, he was a presidential management fellow with assignments in Afghanistan and Kenya, and co-founded the SITE Institute, a private counterterrorism research organization.
2007
Austin Curry, a principal with Caldwell Cassady & Curry in Dallas, was selected as one of the top intellectual property attorneys in the country for the Best Lawyers in America. He was also selected to the Texas Super Lawyers list as one of the top IP lawyers in the country.
Tiffany A. Miller was promoted to partner at Mayer Brown in Washington, D.C. Miller represents clients across industries in intellectual property litigation in federal district courts nationwide and in appellate litigation before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Drew Snyder, the former deputy administrator at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and director of the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services, is a strategic adviser with Baker Donelson. Snyder works with the public policy and health care teams to advise on Medicaid policy development, regulatory pathways, program integrity, financing, and state and federal implementation.
Snyder will collaborate with Baker Donelson’s health and government solutions team, which encompasses more than 200 attorneys and public policy advisers across 12 states and Washington, D.C. Before serving as the head of Medicaid at CMS, Snyder led the Mississippi Division of Medicaid for nearly seven years as executive director. Before that, Snyder held senior roles in the Mississippi state government, including as deputy chief of staff and counsel to the governor and assistant secretary of state for policy and research, where he honed his skills in legislative and regulatory strategy.
2008
William R. Barksdale was promoted to partner with Jenner & Block in Washington, D.C. Barksdale focuses his practice on public utilities, power producers, traders and others with complex energy regulatory needs. He also regularly represents clients in federal district and appellate courts in complex commercial disputes.
2009
Eric Gerard joined the equity ranks with Sorrels Law in Houston. Gerard began his career in the trial division of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Later, he served as an assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting white-collar crimes at the Justice Department. As a plaintiff’s lawyer, Gerard has recovered more than $300 million for victims of negligence and fraud over the last five years alone.
