1970s Class Notes
1970
Harvey E. Bines has been named Best Lawyers 2015 Boston corporate compliance Lawyer of the Year. He is with Sullivan & Worcester, where he is a partner in the corporate finance and investment management practice groups.
Thomas C. Brown Jr. is listed in Virginia Super Lawyers 2014 and Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers 2014 in business/ corporate, mergers and acquisitions, and health care. He has also been selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers 2015 in corporate law and health care law. He is a partner with McGuireWoods in Tysons Corner, Va.
1971
Dean M. Hasseman retired on April 1 as general counsel and chief compliance officer of CITGO Petroleum Corporation. He was general counsel for 8 years and was employed by CITGO for 23 years. He spent a total of 42 years as an attorney in all aspects of the “downstream” business of the oil industry. Before joining CITGO, he worked for Sun Oil Company and with Williams Pipe Line Company.
Daniel J. Mulcahy, senior counsel at Cadwalader Wickersham and Taft, recently advised the government of the British Virgin Islands in the negotiation of an intergovernmental agreement with the United States to implement the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, commonly known as FATCA.
Mark E. Sullivan received the American Bar Association’s Grassroots Advocacy Award in April for his longstanding support of military service members and their families. He has focused his trial practice on family law since 1981 and is a frequent speaker at programs concerning military and family law. He is a regular lecturer on family law at the Army JAG School and the Naval Justice School. Sullivan is principal of Sullivan & Tanner in Raleigh, N.C.
1972
Stephen T. Bolton has been elected to serve a three-year term as District 13 Representative on the Board of Governors of the Ohio State Bar Association. He is a shareholder with Manchester Newman & Bennett in Youngstown, Ohio, where he is a member of the civil litigation, tort, and insurance defense section. He focuses his practice on commercial litigation and oil and gas law.
George W. House was recognized in Chambers USA 2014 in environmental law and is listed in Best Lawyers 2015 in environmental law, litigation-environmental, mining law, natural resources law, and water law. He is a partner with Brooks Pierce in Greensboro, N.C., where he concentrates his practice on environmental and construction law and litigation.
1973
Ross C. Reeves passed away on July 3 while on vacation with his family on Cape Cod. He was 65. He was a native of Raleigh, N.C. At the Law School he served on the editorial board of the Virginia Law Review and was a member of Order of the Coif. After serving in the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps, he and his wife moved to Norfolk, where he began his legal career with Kaufman, Oberndorfer & Spainhour. In 1984 he joined Willcox & Savage, where he was partner and chair of the creditors’ rights and business bankruptcy practice group. He was chair of the business laws section of the Virginia Bar Association and a founding director of the Virginia Venture Capital Forum. He served on the governing board of the bankruptcy law section of the VBA and was appointed to the American Bar Association’s ad hoc committee on partnerships in bankruptcy. He was also elected a fellow in the American College of Bankruptcy. He was the foremost authority on receivership law in Virginia, and wrote and spoke often on the subject.Reeves was deeply involved in the development of the Hampton Roads area, serving on boards involving the arts, the Norfolk Historical Society, the chamber of commerce, and other community organizations. He was also committed to mentoring young people in law, business, and education. He is survived by his wife, Robin Neuschel Reeves.The eulogy at the memorial services was given by John Jeffries ’73, former dean of the Law School, childhood friend, and classmate at both Yale and UVA Law. Both of Reeves’s children and his son-in-law are graduates of the Law School: Peter Campbell Reeves ’07 and Cameron Reeves Poynter ’02 (daughter) and William Ruger Poynter ’02 (son-in-law).
1974
Nathalie Gilfoyle filed an amicus brief that was cited no fewer than seven times in the recent Supreme Court ruling in Hall vs. Florida. She filed the brief on behalf of the American Psychological Association, where she is general counsel, and a group of related professional associations. The case dealt with the question of whether it is constitutional for the State of Florida to execute a convicted murderer using an IQ cutoff score to determine whether he is mentally competent. There is a consensus among scientists and professional organizations, wrote Gilfoyle, that adaptive functioning—how someone functions in life—must be taken into consideration as well as test scores in determining whether someone is mentally competent enough to qualify for the death penalty. Florida had one of the strictest definitions for mental disability, an IQ score of 70 or below, and anyone with a higher score was not allowed to give other evidence of low function. A 5-4 majority of the Supreme Court agreed that Florida’s use of a fixed cutoff for IQ score was based on a misunderstanding of how IQ scores should be interpreted, exactly the argument made in Gilfoyle’s brief. Hall and his lawyers could present additional evidence of his mental disability, the Court ruled, before the state could call for the death penalty. Gilfoyle has been with the American Psychological Association since 1996.
Edwin Kneedler received the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal at a gala ceremony in September. The Career Achievement Medal is given to a federal employee for significant accomplishments throughout a career in public service. Kneedler is Deputy Solicitor General at the Department of Justice. He has been at the Justice Department for nearly 40 years, through the administrations of Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. He has argued 125 cases before the Supreme Court, more than any other attorney currently practicing law. He argued the U.S. government’s position on whether the Cuban refugee Elian Gonzalez should be returned to his father and whether Paula Jones’ sexual harassment case against President Clinton should take place while the President was in office. He supervised the briefing in the Supreme Court case on whether the Affordable Care Act was constitutional, which he says was the biggest case he ever participated in. Colleagues note his high standards for integrity and diligence in protecting the long-term interests of the United States.
Stephen Price of the Leesburg bar was selected for inclusion among the 2013 Legal Elite by Virginia Business Magazine. Price is a past president of the Loudoun County Bar Association and served on the board of governors of the Virginia Bar Association.
1975
Clifford A. Cutchins IV JD/ MBA is listed in Virginia Super Lawyers 2014 in mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and compliance, and securities and corporate finance, and listed in Chambers USA 2014 for corporate/M&A-Virginia. He is also recognized in Best Lawyers 2015 in corporate governance law, corporate law, and mergers & acquisitions law and as Richmond Lawyer of the Year in corporate governance law. He is a partner with McGuireWoods in Richmond, where he represents and advises clients as corporate counsel and business advisor in corporate matters, including mergers and acquisitions, leverage buyout, and financial and corporate financings.
Don P. Martin is recognized in Chambers USA 2014 in litigation: general commercial. He is a partner with Quarles & Brady in Phoenix, Ariz., where he is national chair of the lender liability task force.
John H. Quinn has been selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers 2015 in litigation-intellectual property, litigation-patent, and trade secrets law. He is a partner with Armstrong Teasdale in St. Louis, Mo., where he is co-leader of the intellectual property litigation practice group and member of the litigation practice group.
James H. Walsh was named Best Lawyers 2014 Richmond Lawyer of the Year in litigation-antitrust. He is listed in Virginia Super Lawyers 2014 in business litigation and in Best Lawyers 2015 in antitrust law and litigation-antitrust. He is a partner with McGuireWoods in Richmond.
1976
Peter E. Broadbent Jr. has been elected board chair for the Library of Virginia. He has held three board terms by gubernatorial appointment and previously served as chair in 2003-04. In addition, Broadbent was named to the 2014 Virginia Super Lawyers list in utilities law. He is a partner at Christian & Barton in Richmond, where his legal practice focuses on telecommunications, intellectual property, business law, and governmental relations law.
William P.H. Cary is listed in Best Lawyers 2015 in employment law-management, labor law-management, and litigation-labor and employment. He is a partner with Brooks Pierce in Greensboro, N.C.
Jane E. Genster has been elected president and CEO of the Cristo Rey Network, a national network of 28 Catholic college-preparatory high schools that provides a rigorous academic program grounded in faith. Genster brings extensive experience in law, education, and non-profit governance to her new position. She is a longtime champion of Catholic education and better access to educational opportunities for low-income students. Genster has been at Georgetown University for 14 years, serving as vice president and general counsel and as senior counselor to the president of the university. In her role as senior counselor, she was a leader working on educational access issues, equity, and academic success for low-income and first-generation college students. She worked on the programs at Georgetown that helped expand access to education, including a partnership with the Cristo Rey Network. Genster was a leader in the development and operation of Georgetown’s three-week summer immersion program that serves as a bridge to college for exceptional Cristo Rey and KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) high school students. She has helped mentor the 74 Cristo Rey alumni who have come to Georgetown as undergraduates. Of those 74 young people, 53 are currently students at Georgetown and 21 have graduated with undergraduate degrees.
James M. Hingeley received the Virginia Bar Association’s prestigious Roger D. Groot Pro Bono Publico Service Award this summer. The award is given in honor of exceptional pro bono and community service. Hingeley has served on the VBA board of governors, as chair of VBA’s criminal law section council, advocate for the VBA’s legislative agenda before the General Assembly, and as an organizer and teacher for VBA’s capital defense workshop, in which capital defense counsel from around the Commonwealth receive crucial training.
Hingeley was in private practice before becoming public defender for the City of Lynchburg in 1991. He is currently public defender for Albemarle County and the city of Charlottesville, and has served in that position for 16 years. He is a fellow of the Virginia Law Foundation and a Wasserstein Public Interest Fellow at Harvard Law School. For the past several years he has taught a criminal defense clinic at UVA Law School.
Jonathan W. Igoe has been selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers 2015 in trusts and estates. He is a partner with Armstrong Teasdale in St. Louis, Mo., where he is a member of the tax, employee benefits, and trusts and estates practice group.
W. Joseph Owen III is listed in Virginia Super Lawyers 2014 in general litigation and Best Lawyers 2015 in litigation-health care and litigation-insurance. He is a partner with Owen & Owens in Midlothian.
Ann Margaret Pointer has been selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers 2015 in labor and employment law. She is a partner with Fisher & Phillips in Atlanta, Ga., where she has represented management in labor and employment matters for more than 30 years. Pointer teaches pretrial litigation at Emory University Law School.
Elizabeth Ritvo has been named a member of the Boston Bar Association Council for a three-year term. She is of counsel in the litigation and arbitration practice group with Brown Rudnick, and represents newspapers, television stations, publishers, and other media in libel, invasion of privacy, access, First Amendment, and copyright matters before state and federal trial and appellate courts.
Donald J. Shuller is listed in Chambers USA 2014 in real estate and Best Lawyers 2015 in real estate law. He is a partner with Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he is a member of the finance, energy, and real estate group.
Stephan K. Todd LL.M. has been appointed vice chair of the disciplinary board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. He has been a member of the board, which assists the court in all matters that involve attorney licensing and discipline in Pennsylvania, since January 2009. Todd retired from the U.S. Steel Corporation as vice president of law and environmental affairs in 2007. He retired from the Army Reserve with the rank of colonel. He is the mentor coordinator for the Butler County Veterans Court and is on the board of Gwen’s Girls, an organization that encourages girls to have productive futures.
John A. Vering III has been named Best Lawyers 2014 as Lawyer of the Year in labor law-management. He is also listed in Best Lawyers 2015 in employment law-management; labor law-management; litigation-labor; and employment. He is a partner with Armstrong Teasdale in Kansas City, Mo., where he leads the employment and labor law practice group.
Christine L. Owens ’77:
Champion of Change
By Rebecca Barns
On July 22 the White House honored Christine L. Owens as a Champion of Change for her efforts to raise wages for workers throughout the United States. For more than two decades she has been a strong voice for strengthening employment rights and increasing opportunities for all low-wage and unemployed workers.
Owens is executive director of the National Employment Law Project (NELP), a non-partisan, non-profit workers’ advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. The organization fights for increasing the wages of millions of full-time workers who struggle to get along on their meager pay.
“Inequality in the work force mirrors and contributes to growing inequality in our society overall,” says Owens, and notes that since 1973, the ratio of CEO-to-worker compensation has grown more than ten-fold, while over roughly the same period, real wages for America’s lowest paid workers have fallen. “The corrosive effect of inequality undermines our capacity to build an inclusive economy with broadly shared prosperity,” Owens says. “We all have a stake in challenging inequality. We can’t afford not to.”
Owens is a longtime employment and civil rights attorney. In 1995 she founded the Worker Options Resource Center, where she was a leading force in bringing together a coalition of national and grassroots organizations to gain passage of the 1996 federal minimum wage increase to $7.25. She joined the AFL-CIO in 1997 as a senior policy analyst focusing on equity issues and became director of policy there in 2001.
She joined the National Employment Law Project in 2008, where she currently leads a group of lawyers, policy analysts, and employment specialists in research and advocacy for disadvantaged workers. The National Employment Law Project enforces the rights of workers, helps the unemployed regain a foothold in the economy through better benefits and services, and promotes policies that help create good jobs.
NELP plays a key role in the current campaign to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, the baseline wage that would lift full-time workers just above the poverty line. NELP’s efforts also extend to state and local efforts. In the past year, there have been significant victories: 16 states and 10 cities and counties have passed increases in the minimum wage. Some states have approved hourly wages of more than $10 per hour, and Seattle and San Francisco have implemented a $15 per hour minimum wage.
Owens went to law school because she thought that would make her a more effective advocate for social and economic justice. “At UVA I had a close circle of friends—including the classmate I married, Sandy Newman—with similar passions and priorities,” she recalls. “These friendships helped deepen my career preferences as a student and have reinforced my career choices over the years. I was also very fortunate in that, although internships for academic credit were fairly uncommon when I was a student, the Law School approved internships for Sandy and me at the Center for Law & Social Policy. That experience laid the foundation for many of the opportunities I’ve had throughout my career.”
1977
Julian D. Bobbitt Jr. is listed in Best Lawyers 2015 in health care law. He is a partner with Smith Anderson in Raleigh, N.C., where he concentrates his practice on providing strategic general counsel and regulatory guidance for health care organizations.
Stephen W. Earp is listed in 2014 Chambers USA, Best Lawyers 2015, and Greensboro Best Lawyers 2015 in environmental law. He is with Smith Moore Leatherwood in Greensboro, N.C., where he advises companies regarding mergers and acquisitions, contracts, and corporate governance. He also handles complex environmental litigation and regulatory matters nationwide.
Graduation day at UVA in May was a very special day for Joan Ehrenworth Erdmann and her daughters: Elizabeth Erdmann Burnett, BA History; Hope Ehrenworth Erdmann, BA Linguistics; and Grace Rebecca Erdmann, MA Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures. The graduates are granddaughters of the late A.M. Ehrenworth (Med ’51).
Gen. Mike Wholley retired as general counsel of NASA after serving ten years in that position. He previously retired from the Marine Corps after 30 years, serving his final tour as the staff judge advocate to the commandant and the highest-ranking military lawyer in the Corps. He then served as the executive director and president of the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation for eight years before accepting his position at NASA. This is the third time he has retired, and he assures all those skeptics that this one will last. He intends to travel, ride his motorcycles all over the world, and generally refuse to act his age. “Good plan,” he adds.
1978
David T. Douthwaite recently retired after 15 years as a vice president and general counsel from the Northwest office of the national firm JE Dunn Construction Company. Previously, he practiced with Baker & Botts in Washington, D.C., and Lindsay, Hart, Neil & Weigler in Portland, Ore., and served as the government relations manager for the Oregon-Columbia chapter of the Associated General Contractors. He resides with his wife, Mary, in St. Helens, Ore.
Michael P. Haggerty is listed in Best Lawyers 2015 in real estate law. He is partner and co-head of the finance practice group with Jackson Walker in Dallas, Tex., where he focuses his practice on finance, real estate, and public finance.
Peter S. Kaufman’s Gordian Group, an investment bank in New York City that provides financial advice in distressed situations, was named Investment Bank of the Year at the 2014 ACG New York Champion’s Awards, and Boutique Investment Bank of the Year by the M&A Advisor at its annual Turnaround Awards earlier this year. Turnarounds & Workouts named Gordian an outstanding investment banking firm for 2014. Gordian Group has also been named a finalist in five categories for the 13th annual The M&A Advisor awards, including firm of the year. Kaufman and his partner, Henry Owsley, were profiled in the Turnarounds & Workouts March/April newsletter (see www. gordiangroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/ TWTrendsMarchApril2014. pdf). Kaufman also appeared recently on Fox Business News to discuss interest rates, bank regulations, and the regulatory market. He is president of Gordian Group in New York City, and heads the restructuring and distressed M&A practice.
Hal K. Litchford is listed in Florida Super Lawyers 2014 in business litigation. He has been recognized as Best Lawyers 2015 Orlando Lawyer of the Year in antitrust law and is listed in Best Lawyers 2015 in antitrust law, appellate practice, bet-the-company litigation, commercial litigation, and antitrust litigation. He is a shareholder with Baker Donelson in Orlando.
George N. Meros Jr. has been recognized by Florida Trend in its list of the 2014 Legal Elite in the civil trial area. He is a shareholder with GrayRobinson in Tallahassee, Fla., where he concentrates his practice in regulatory & administrative law, complex litigation, and government affairs.
James P. Monacell recently published Georgia Public Finance Law Handbook, a comprehensive legal resource on bond and public finance matters. Monacell is a partner and head of the bond and public law practice with Smith, Gambrell & Russell in Atlanta, Ga. (See In Print.)
Blake D. Morant has been named Dean of George Washington University Law School and Robert Kramer Research Professor of Law. He began his new position in September after serving as dean of the Wake Forest University School of Law for seven years.
David L. Richardson was named Best Lawyer 2014 Richmond Lawyer of the Year in public finance law. He was also listed in Virginia Super Lawyers 2014 in bonds/government finance. He is a partner with McGuireWoods in Richmond, where he is senior member of the public finance group and serves on the board of partners.
1979
David J. Bodney recently joined Ballard Spahr in Phoenix, Ariz., where he leads the media law group. He advises clients from the communications industry on issues including the defense of defamation, privacy, and intellectual property claims to the prosecution of open government actions. He was previously with Steptoe & Johnson.
Michael Kuhn is listed in Best Lawyers 2015 in real estate law. He is a partner with Jackson Walker in Houston, Tex., where he focuses his practice on commercial real estate with emphasis on office and retail leasing within the firm’s real estate group.
Ely A. Leichtling is recognized in Chambers USA 2014 in labor & employment. He is a partner with Quarles & Brady in Milwaukee, Wisc. where he focuses his practice on employment and labor law that emphasizes defense of discrimination and wrongful discharge claims.
Daniel M. Mcgillycuddy has joined Morrison Cohen as partner in the white-collar defense and investigations practice group in New York City. He was previously a partner with Bingham McCutchen.
Michael J. Schewel is listed in Virginia Super Lawyers 2014 in mergers & acquisitions and in Best Lawyers 2015 in corporate law, economic development law, energy law, and mergers & acquisitions law. He is a partner with McGuireWoods in Richmond.
Lydia Stefanowicz was recently elected a Fellow of the American College of Real Estate Attorneys. She is a partner with Edwards Wildman in Morristown, N.J., and New York City, and concentrates her practice in commercial lending, real estate, and public finance.
Randall A. Underwood is listed in Best Lawyers 2015 in financial services regulation law and real estate law. He is a partner with Brooks Pierce in Greensboro, N.C.
