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2000s Class Notes

2000

Doug Bacon joined Kirkland & Ellis as a corporate partner in Houston. His practice focuses on merger and acquisition transactions, including extensive experience advising private equity firms and other financial investors on significant investments, joint ventures, stockholder arrangements and liquidity events. He was previously a partner with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

Lisa C. DeJacoLisa C. DeJaco was recognized as a leader in intellectual property in the 2017 Chambers and Partners USA. DeJaco is partner with Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs in Louisville, Ky.

Bob ProbascoBob Probasco joined the Texas A&M University School of Law as director of the new low-income tax clinic. He and students represent low-income clients in disputes with the IRS or in tax court. Probasco also teaches a course in federal tax practice and procedure. “Most taxpayers cannot navigate our complex tax system by themselves and may not be able to afford professional help,” he writes. “Support from groups like our clinic is critical. I’m excited about having a new low-income tax clinic in North Texas and the opportunity to be part of it.”

2002

Jason Barclay is general counsel with Athletico Physical Therapy in Oak Brook, Ill. Athletico provides orthopedic rehabilitation services to communities, employers and athletes in more than 350 locations in nine states. Barclay previously served as general counsel to Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner.

Howard H. Hoege IIIHoward H. Hoege III is president and chief executive officer of the Mariners’ Museum in Newport News, Va. After graduating from the Law School he served as an Army judge advocate general officer, then as a counsel on the staff of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee. He was an assistant dean at UVA’s Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and, most recently, he founded a consulting firm that advised clients on leadership development, strategy and culture in civil contexts.

Afi Johnson-ParrisAfi Johnson-Parris was named the top Legal Elite attorney in family law in North Carolina in Business North Carolina. She is with Ward Black in Greensboro, where she focuses her practice on divorce and family law, and veterans disability.

Antony K. Sayess has joined Orr & Reno in Concord, N.H., where he focuses his practice on business transactions and tax matters. Before joining the firm he took a month to travel through Australia and New Zealand.

2003

Krista (Hoekstra) JacksonKrista (Hoekstra) Jackson has relocated from Kotz Sangster Wysocki’s office in Bloomfield Hills to Grand Rapids, Mich., where she focuses her practice on business litigation and trial work. She was named a rising star in Michigan Super Lawyers 2016.

2004

Jonathan B. Altschul was named to Variety’s 2016 list of Hollywood’s new leaders in law and finance. He is senior counsel with Loeb & Loeb in Los Angeles, where his practice includes the representation of high-profile talent and other entertainment clients in a variety of complex transactions, with a primary focus on the music industry.

Allyson M. Maltas Allyson M. Maltas was promoted to counsel at Latham & Watkins in Washington, D.C. She is a member of the litigation and trial department, where she focuses her practice on complex antitrust civil litigation and class actions, and global anti-trust cartel investigations.

Sean Suder joined the Cincinnati office of Calfee, Halter & Griswold as a partner in the real estate practice group. He leads the zoning and land-use practice and also focuses on commercial real estate and economic development transactions. He consults with local governments across the country on zoning code projects.

2005

Jamie L. LisagorJamie L. Lisagor was elected to partnership at Pacifica Law Group in Seattle, where she practices trial and appellate litigation on behalf of public, private and non-profit clients, with a focus on constitutional, municipal, commercial, election and intellectual property law.

Amy E. ParkerAmy E. Parker was elected to partnership at Bracewell in Houston. Parker’s practice focuses on the representation of U.S. and international energy-industry clients in commercial litigation disputes. She has experience representing natural gas and power marketing companies against allegations of market manipulation and related trading violations in federal court proceedings, as well as investigations and enforcement actions brought by Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. She played a key role in the defense of the largest supplier power to the state of California during the California power crisis, in multiple-docket litigation before FERC that culminated in a $750 million omnibus settlement. She has also successfully defended energy industry clients against private market manipulation claims brought under the Commodity Exchange Act. Parker represents clients in complex environmental, products liability and toxic-tort litigation. She has more than 10 years of experience representing refining and marketing clients against groundwater contamination claims brought by private and public water suppliers, state environmental protection departments and state attorneys general. Outside of the energy industry, she was a pivotal part of the team that successfully represented Bexar County, Texas, in a cross-action against a performance bond surety that resulted in a $2.9 million settlement in favor of the county.

Samuel T. Towell was appointed Virginia’s deputy attorney general for civil litigation in January. He previously served as Virginia’s deputy secretary of agriculture and forestry.

2006

Jason R. Brege is listed as a rising star in North Carolina Super Lawyers 2017. He is a partner with Smith, Anderson, Blount, Dorsett, Mitchell & Jernigan in Raleigh, where he works with life sciences and technology companies in developing and commercializing their intellectual property and technology assets through research, development, licensing and other strategic collaboration and acquisition transactions.

Annie E.S. FroehlichAnnie E.S. Froehlich was promoted to counsel at Latham & Watkins in Washington, D.C. She is a member of the litigation and trial department, where she focuses on export controls, economic sanctions and customs practice as well as white-collar defense and investigations.

Brianne L. Kucerik was elected partner in Weil’s antitrust/competition practice in Washington, D.C. She focuses on counseling clients through the merger review process at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division, and routinely obtains anti-trust clearance for major multibillion-dollar transactions.

2007

Joey Ponzi is recognized as a rising star in environmental litigation in North Carolina Super Lawyers 2017. He is a partner with Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard in Greensboro.

2008

Olivia ChungOlivia Chung was elected a partner at Akin Gump in New York City, where she is a member of the investment management practice. She assists private-fund sponsors on matters involving the formation, structuring and ongoing operation of domestic and offshore private equity funds and hedge funds. Chung represents private equity, hedge fund, and fund of fund formation, regulatory compliance, complex fund restructurings and co-investment arrangements. She also represents institutional investors acquiring and selling investments in private equity and hedge funds.

Rodrigo Morales Draxl LL.M. joined Reed Smith in Houston. Previously he practiced at King & Spalding, and before that at Rubio, Leguía, Normand in Lima, Peru. With experience in a variety of complex cross-border business transaction, mainly in Latin America, Morales assists clients with mergers and acquisitions, project development transactions, corporate matters and other complex energy-related deals.

Frankie T. Jones Jr.Frankie T. Jones Jr. was elected chair of the Guildford County Planning Board in North Carolina. He has served on the board since 2014. Jones is a partner with Smith Moore Leatherwood in Greensboro, where he focuses his practice on real estate, land use and business law. He is recognized as a rising star in real estate law in North Carolina Super Lawyers 2017. He was also listed among Business North Carolina’s 2017 Legal Elite in real estate law.

Amy Lentz Amy Lentz was elected partner at Steptoe & Johnson in Washington, D.C. She advises foreign and domestic clients on a variety of international trade matters, including disputes arising under the agreements of the World Trade Organization.

Jennifer McCammon was named shareholder at Bean, Kinney & Korman in Arlington, Va. McCammon represents clients in various family law matters, including custody, visitation, equitable distribution, support, and valuation of businesses and other property.

Luke J. McCammon was elected partner at Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner in Washington, D.C., where he focuses his practice on patent litigation in U.S. district courts and at the International Trade Commission. In addition, he has substantial experience with post-grant proceedings at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and appeals at the federal circuit.

David K. Mroz was elected partner at Finnegan, Henderson, Farbow, Garrett & Dunner in Washington, D.C. He practices all aspects of patent law, including litigation at the trial and appellate court levels, as well as prosecution and post-grant proceedings at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Edward MullenEdward Mullen was named office managing partner at Reed Smith in Richmond, Va. Having previously worked as an aide to Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, Mullen focuses his practice on legislative and administrative matters before the General Assembly, the commonwealth’s congressional delegation, and the offices of the governor and attorney general, along with executive branch agencies. Virginia Lawyers Media named him a 2016 Leaders in the Law — Up & Coming Leader; Virginia Super Lawyers identified him as one of the Virginia’s Rising Stars for his administration law practice (2010-16); and Virginia Business placed him among Virginia’s Legal Elite for legislative/regulatory/administrative law (2011-16). Mullen also serves as an adjunct professor at the Law School, teaching a course in legislative drafting and statutory interpretation.

John Sheehan joined the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center as a staff attorney in the insurance services division. The medical center, headquartered in Pittsburgh, is the largest nongovernmental employer in Pennsylvania and provides insurance services to more than two million members. Sheehan spent the previous two years as a stay-at-home parent to his daughters, Molly and Kate. John and his wife, Alexis, previously lived in Austin, Texas, where John worked as an associate at Andrews Kurth, a staff attorney on the Third Court of Appeals, and the writer and director of the independent feature film, “For Serious.”

Kate SkagerbergKate Skagerberg was elected to partnership with Beck Redden in Houston, where she focuses her practice on employment, commercial, class action, white-collar criminal defense, products liability/personal injury, and estate and probate litigation.

Jeff WeberJeff Weber was named a principal in Fish & Richardson’s patent group in Boston, where he assists companies in identifying and protecting their intellectual property in the U.S. and internationally.

2009

Peter Bosman was named partner with Smith, Anderson, Blount, Dorsett, Mitchell & Jernigan in Raleigh, N.C. He focuses his practice on domestic and international finance transactions, including acquisition financing, asset-based financing and real estate financing. He is listed as a rising star in North Carolina Super Lawyers 2017.

James Faison was honored with a 2017 leadership award from the Specialty Food Association for his advancement of food standards through positive social, economic and environmental impact. Faison founded Milton’s Local, which aggregates pasture-fed, hormone- and antibiotic-free meats from small farmers who receive a fair price, in Hopewell, Va.

Joseph WardenJoseph Warden was named a principal in Fish & Richardson’s intellectual property litigation group in Wilmington, Del. In addition to his focus on IP litigation, he also handles corporate and commercial litigation in the Delaware Court of Chancery.

Students test slipperiness of ethical slopes in class taught by Ben Sachs ’09

BEN SACHS ’09 A law firm is considering taking on new clients. They’ve been asked to represent two officers accused in a high-profile police brutality case. The firm is also considering taking on the police benevolence association in their area—a potential $10 million contract.

Which, if either, should they work for? Can they accept both clients?

UVA Law students taking a novel Professional Responsibility course taught by adjunct professor Ben Sachs ’09 are role-playing how they would respond to potential ethical challenges buried within everyday business decisions.

With any misstep, they could tank their law firm and torpedo their careers.

“With these scenarios, students get a feel for why ethics rules are harder to apply than they might think, and for the practical tradeoffs involved,” Sachs said of the two-credit class, which explores the creation and termination of the attorney-client relationship, the scope of representation, conflicts of interests, confidentiality and the attorney’s ethical obligations during litigation.

Sachs is vice president and general counsel at a D.C.-based tech company. He also teaches the UVA Law course Negotiation. Sachs calls the classroom competition he devised “Occupational Hazard.” (He uses the universal stick-figure symbol for “slip and fall” as the logo.) He has broken the class into 16 groups of four-to-five students, and they comprise the make-believe law firms that are deciding what their next moves will be.

Working on teams with names such as “Blurred Lines” and “Better Call Saul,” students face dilemmas. How they handle the challenges affects their firm’s ethics score, reputation rating and cumulative billings. Maximizing all three at once is not always possible.

“But there is another question I ask them,” Sachs said. “Can you sleep at night with your decisions?”

While Professional Responsibility has long been taught at the Law School, Sachs’ approach is unconventional. He teaches from a variation of the flipped classroom model—in which there are few traditional lectures; students do all their reading and prep work on core knowledge before the class meets and take short in-class assessments designed to mimic the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination. By studying in advance the black-letter ethics rules that they’ll need to know for professional certification, students are better able to spend the rest of class time exploring the gray areas.

In the police-clients scenario, the student firms had different reasons for deciding which client to accept.

“We thought rejection of all parties would boost our reputation points because the general consensus of the nation seems to be antipolice,” one student said.

“So you rejected the case because defending police officers in a brutality action might not look great for you in the papers?” Sachs asked.

“Exactly,” she said.

Another student was concerned that conflicts might arise later if the two policing-related parties were at odds in court. With the benevolence association’s $10 million hanging over their heads, “They have us on retainer, [so] they can get rid of us at any moment,” he said.

Sachs said it has been interesting to see how seriously students take the hypothetical billings and fictional threats to their reputations.

“Even though it’s a fictitious problem, students still find those competitive forces pushing them to make certain decisions,” he said. “Often they will make decisions they feel are ethically permissible and are later surprised to learn they crossed an ethical line.”

To add realism, his game takes into account subjectivity: “Sometimes I introduce a bit of randomness. Not every court is going to review an ethics situation the same way.”

In those instances, Sachs said, he simply rolls the dice to determine the outcome.

—Eric Williamson


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