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1990
Though Scott Crosby and George Nolan ’91 were good friends at UVA Law, they had not seen each other in years before recently teaming up on a case. Together they successfully blocked the construction of the Byhalia Pipeline across a poor, mostly African American neighborhood in South Memphis, Tenn. Crosby is a member with Burch Porter & Johnson in Memphis, while Nolan is a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center in Nashville. The story is chronicled in an episode of SELC’s podcast, “Broken Ground.”
John P. Edgar, a shareholder in Baker Donelson’s Baltimore office, was recognized as a leading practitioner in the 2022 Chambers High Net Worth Guide, which covers the private wealth market. Edgar earned a Band 1 ranking in private wealth law.
Sean D. Gertner was confirmed as a judge of the New Jersey Superior Court in November. Gertner was nominated by Gov. Phil Murphy and confirmed by the New Jersey Senate.
Throughout his career, Gertner has worked in real estate law in addition to serving in multiple New Jersey governmental positions. He previously served as the municipal attorney for Lakehurst Borough and the zoning board attorney for Jackson Township. He has also served as the municipal attorney for Point Pleasant Beach, and as a public defender and conflict public defender in several Jersey Shore municipalities.
Sarah A. Good was appointed to the State Bar of California’s 13-member Board of Trustees — the bar’s governing body and a group tasked with developing the guiding policies and principles regulating and overseeing approximately 280,000 attorneys. The Supreme Court of California appointed Good on Jan. 26. She will serve through September 2024.
Good is a partner with Farella Braun + Martel in San Francisco. Her practice is focused on complex commercial, consumer and securities litigation matters. In addition to her legal practice, Good serves as Farella’s chief talent and inclusion officer. She is credited with creating the Farella Talent Initiative, a sponsorship program for women and diverse associates from which 88% of participants have been elevated to partner. Under her leadership, the firm was commended in 2020 by Chambers & Partners in the Inclusive USA Firm of the Year category.
1991
Vernon E. Inge Jr. was recognized as a litigation star for his work in construction law by Benchmark Litigation. He was also recognized in the areas of commercial, banking and finance, bankruptcy, construction and municipal litigation in Best Lawyers in America. Inge was named as a “legal elite” by Virginia Business magazine. Inge practices with Whiteford, Taylor & Preston in Richmond.
P. McCoy Smith authored several chapters in the second edition of “Open Source Law, Policy and Practice,” published by Oxford University Press in late 2022. His two chapters deal with the interaction between international copyright and international patent law and free and open-source technology licensing models. McCoy practices intellectual property law — including patent, copyright and trademark law — and technology law, and maintains a subspecialized practice in free and open-source licensing, at Lex Pan Law. He has lived in Portland, Ore., for the past 24 years and maintains a second home in British Columbia, Canada. Smith is a frequent speaker on intellectual property law and free and open-source licensing around the world.
David Alistair Yalof was appointed vice provost for academic affairs at the College of William & Mary and began his new position Jan. 1.
1992
Blanchet House, a Portland, Ore., nonprofit led by Scott Kerman, was featured in an opinion column by Michelle Goldberg in The New York Times. Goldberg recounted a visit she made to the charity, which led her to include it in the “Times Opinion’s Holiday Giving Guide 2022.” Blanchet House offers services to those in need, including three free meals a day to anyone who wants them and a residential program for those recovering from addiction. The organization has a nearby farm where residents garden, care for animals and learn practical skills while putting their lives back together. Goldberg cited the grace with which the free meals are served and a comfortable atmosphere that sometimes includes live piano music.
After nearly seven years, Ilir Zherka stepped down as executive director of the Alliance for International Exchange in August. Under Zherka’s leadership, the alliance commissioned its first-ever impact reports, substantially increased member and stakeholder engagement in advocacy initiatives, and launched new grassroots initiatives. The alliance is an association dedicated to promoting the growth and impact of exchange programs and the effectiveness of its members. Since 1993, it has served as the collective public policy voice for nearly 90 organizations comprising the international educational and cultural exchange community in the United States.
1993
Littler shareholder Dionysia Johnson-Massie was selected as co-chair of the firm’s Career Advocacy Program. Since 2015, the CAP has matched diverse associates with shareholder advocates who encourage and foster their career growth. The program also includes client champions who serve as corporate allies. Based in Atlanta, Johnson-Massie focuses her practice on federal employment discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and wage-hour litigation and compliance issues.
Lorrie L. Hargrove joined Bressler, Amery & Ross as a principal in the labor and employment practice group in Birmingham, Ala. Hargrove has built a national litigation practice, representing clients in class-action litigation, civil anti-racketeering litigation, appellate litigation, insurance and financial services litigation, and product liability matters. Her experience includes defending hundreds of class-action opt-out cases for Fortune 500 companies throughout the state.
Craig W. Sampson was named president of Barnes & Diehl in Richmond. Sampson serves on the board of governors for the family law section of the Virginia State Bar and is a co-author of “Virginia Practice: Family Law — Theory, Practice, and Forms,” published annually by Thomson Reuters. He lectures semi-annually on updates in the law at the Advanced Family Law Seminar hosted by Virginia CLE and has presented on multiple occasions at the Bench-Bar Conference in Richmond.
Michael D. Steger was appointed co-chair of the American Bar Association’s Solo and Small Firm Litigation Committee. He practices intellectual property, entertainment and business law in New York City.
Then-Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland appointed Donnell Turner to the Prince George’s County Circuit Court. Turner had been serving as the inspector general for the Prince George’s County Police Department and managed independent oversight to detect fraud, abuse, misconduct and mismanagement of police department programs. Before that role, Turner held various positions in the public sector, including deputy state’s attorney and principal deputy state’s attorney for the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s Office, and assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.
1994
Patrick Hanes was recognized in Virginia Business magazine as a “legal elite” for appellate law. Hanes practices with Williams Mullen in Norfolk.
Todd C. Peppers’ latest book, “Crossing the River Styx; The Memoir of a Death Row Chaplain,” was published in March. The book is a memoir and biography of the life and work of former Virginia death row chaplain Russ Ford. Ford’s duties included working with the condemned men and being present at their executions (28 in all). The book was written by Ford, Peppers and Peppers’ oldest child, Charles, a recent graduate of Grinnell College. It was released on the second anniversary of the abolition of the death penalty in Virginia.
Peppers recently completed his 20th year of teaching full time in the Political Science Department at Roanoke College and his 14th year as an adjunct professor at the Washington and Lee School of Law. Peppers is a U.S. Supreme Court historian who has authored, co-authored, edited or co-edited four books and over 20 articles on the high court. He lives in Salem, Va., with his wife, Michele, and his children, Charles and Sam.
J. Chapman Petersen wrote that his oldest daughter, Eva, got engaged. His son, Thomas, made all-district in high school football and plans to attend Virginia Tech. Petersen continues to practice law with his wife in the city of Fairfax and has served in the Virginia Senate for 16 years.
1995
Shanti Ariker, general counsel of Zendesk, recently hosted an off-site with her team, where she held a fireside chat with Helen Wan ’98. Ariker wrote, “Everyone enjoyed hearing about Helen’s career transition from in-house lawyer to novelist and how she handled diversity issues in her book ‘The Partner Track.’”
1996
Lily Engle wrote, “After COVID showed us we could successfully work remotely, my husband and I fulfilled a long-held dream, supported by insane interest rates and a crazy market in Alexandria [Va.] (we timed that perfectly, somehow), and bought a house on 21 acres, 15 minutes south of Charlottesville.” Engle has worked for The Conservation Fund for 16 years and her husband continues to work for his Alexandria law firm, “except we are now looking at mountains. We are lucky enough to be five minutes away from dear friends from law school. We spend a lot of time removing invasive species, planting natives, and building walls and digging ditches on our property, as well as becoming certified Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards, so we can do the same sort of work for the city and county.”
Jamie Baskerville Martin was recognized in Virginia Business magazine as a “legal elite” in health law. Martin practices with Williams Mullen in Richmond.
Eric C. Perkins, a small business and nonprofit lawyer with Perkins Law in Richmond, was named chair of the sportsmanship committee for the U.S. Tennis Association, the national governing body for tennis, for the 2023-24 term.
1997
Robyn N. Davis is a partner with Freeborn & Peters’ corporate practice group in New York. An alumna of two American Lawyer 125 firms, Davis returned to private practice after nearly 20 years as senior legal and general counsel to companies, including several in the Fortune 200. Davis leverages her diverse industry experience and transactional background to assist both mature and emerging businesses in issues as varied as early-stage corporate counseling and formation, structuring and documenting innovative business alliances, entry into foreign markets, governance and operational business law.
McClellan ’97 wins Historic Election to Congress
Jennifer McClellan ’97 was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives on Feb. 21 in a special election, making her the first Black woman to represent Virginia in Congress. She was sworn in on March 7.
McClellan announced her intention to run for the 4th District on Dec. 13 following the death of Rep. A. Donald McEachin ’86, who had held the seat since 2017 and whom she considered a friend and mentor. McClellan was expected to win the heavily Democratic district following a landslide primary win in December.
“It’s poetic justice, thinking about what not only my family has been through, but what our country has been through,” McClellan said in an interview with The Washington Post. “To be the first Black woman from Virginia, which was the birthplace of American democracy but also the birthplace of American slavery. And to be someone who … fought my entire adult life to address the lingering impact that slavery and Jim Crow has had on America and on Black communities. … To be able to do that on a national scale is an incredible honor.”
McClellan had served in the state Senate since 2017, also succeeding McEachin, and before that served 11 years as a delegate for the 71st District. She ran for the Democratic nomination for governor in 2021, but lost to former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who was later defeated by Gov. Glenn Youngkin in the general election.
McClellan’s path to public service began in her youth, when history classes stoked her interest in government and politics as a force for change. The University of Richmond graduate and Petersburg, Virginia, native decided to go to law school.
“Lawyers have been integral to [change], from the legislative process to the use of the legal system,” she said in a 2019 UVA Lawyer interview.
During her law school years, she served as president of the Virginia Young Democrats, spending her weekends traveling around the state doing “campaign invasions.”
“At a young age, I dedicated myself to ensuring government was that force of positive change for all,” she said in a Q&A before her 2020 orientation address to new UVA Law students. “For most of my life, I have channeled those values into my commitment to progress, equity and justice in the commonwealth.”
At UVA, McClellan also served as notes development editor of the Virginia Law Review and was involved with the Black Law Students Association and Law Democrats.
After working for the law firm Hunton & Williams for several years, in 2002 she turned to in-house counsel work at Verizon, where she started to think about running for office. When Viola Baskerville decided to run for lieutenant governor in 2005 instead of running for reelection to the House of Delegates, McClellan took the plunge. She was elected and was, at the time, the youngest female delegate in the state’s history, at 32.
She also became the first member of the House of Delegates to have a baby in office. “Jack and Samantha kind of have 139 aunts and uncles,” she said.
Before her election to Congress, she served as vice chair of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, and chair of the Virginia Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Commission. She has also been vice chair of the Democratic Party of Virginia and a member of the Democratic National Committee. McClellan has served on several nonprofit and civic organizations’ boards, including the YWCA of Richmond, the Virginia League of Planned Parenthood, the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia, the Children’s Museum of Richmond and the Robert Russa Moton Museum.
In her UVA Lawyer interview, McClellan said active and empathetic listening was critical to being a leader, and she also espoused the value of understanding history.
“As the great-great-grandchild of slaves, and parents who lived through Jim Crow, and as someone who just has a love of history in general, I have always immersed myself in learning all aspects of Virginia and American history, and world history, really,” she said. “I do that because you can’t understand how we got where we are as a people and a society if you don’t understand all aspects of the history that’s shaped this country.”
—Mary Wood
1998
Valerie Wagner Long was recognized in Virginia Business magazine as a “legal elite” in real estate land use law. Long practices with Williams Mullen in Charlottesville.
Lori H. Schweller was recognized in Virginia Business magazine as a “legal elite” in real estate land use law. Schweller practices with Williams Mullen in Charlottesville.
Joshua Waxman, office managing shareholder with Littler Mendelson in Washington, D.C., was elected to the firm’s board of directors. Waxman has a wide-ranging labor and employment law practice with a primary focus on complex labor and employment litigation and strategic labor advice.
1999
Jeremy A. Ball was recognized in Virginia Business magazine as a “legal elite” in health law. Ball practices with Williams Mullen in Richmond.
Joseph S. Brown joined the employment and labor group with Goldberg Segalla in Buffalo, N.Y. He was previously with Hurwitz Fine. Brown helps clients devise strategies to minimize risk and cost-effectively resolve problems.
Scott A. McQuilkin was promoted to partner with Hinckley Allen in Boston. McQuilkin represents owners, developers, contractors and subcontractors while practicing in the firm’s construction and public contracts group.
Riley H. Ross III received the Hon. William F. Hall Award, presented by the Barristers’ Association of Philadelphia at their annual Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast in January. Ross, who practices with Mincey Fitzpatrick Ross in Philadelphia, said he was honored for his work championing fairness and defending the legal rights of the most vulnerable populations. Ross has litigated at the highest levels of the state and federal court system. Earlier in his career, as an assistant federal public defender, Ross represented Derrick Kimbrough at the trial and appellate level, winning the favorable sentence at issue in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case, Kimbrough v. U.S. This case significantly reduced the crack-powder cocaine sentencing disparity under the federal sentencing guidelines and helped restore judicial discretion.