1980s Class Notes

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1980

R. Peyton Mahaffey was named to the Virginia Lawyers Hall of Fame Class of 2019. The Hall of Fame is sponsored by Virginia Lawyers Weekly, and honors attorneys on the basis of their career accomplishments, contributions to the development of law in Virginia, contributions to the bar and the commonwealth, and efforts to improve the quality of justice in Virginia.

Mahaffey is the president and managing partner of McCandlish Lillard, and has actively litigated business, corporate, commercial and fiduciary matters since 1980. He has extensive experience as a trial lawyer and lead counsel in state and federal cases, as well as arbitration and mediation. He has tried many jury and non-jury cases, written and argued many appellate briefs to the Supreme Court of Virginia and Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and been the principal attorney on many reported state and federal decisions. Mahaffey’s practice is based in Fairfax.

Paul B. Terpak was named in 2019 Virginia and Washington, D.C., Super Lawyers for eminent domain. Terpak practices with Blankingship & Keith in Fairfax, Va.

1981

Travis Brown writes that he’s “happy to have a boutique practice in D.C. working with a few clients in the tech space.” His recent extra-legal projects include long-distance biking, winning a Latin Grammy, creating the role of Yahweh in a play and frequent travels. “Life has been kind,” he writes.

C. Steven Mason was recognized in Chambers USA 2019 for real estate law. Mason practices with Smith Anderson in Raleigh, N.C.

1982

St. John ’82 Named Chancellor of University of Alabama System

Finis St. JohnLongtime trustee Finis “Fess” St. John IV ’82 was named chancellor of the 70,000-student University of Alabama System in April after serving in an interim role since 2018.

In this capacity, he serves as chief executive officer of Alabama’s largest higher education enterprise, which is comprised of three doctoral research universities — the University of Alabama, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and the University of Alabama in Huntsville — and the UAB Health System.

“The board continued to return to one name, one individual we compared other potential candidates to,” trustee Karen Brooks told AL.com. “It became abundantly clear and unanimous opinion that interim chancellor Fess St. John was the most qualified to serve as chancellor of UA System.”

During his 17-year tenure on the board of trustees of the UA System, St. John chaired numerous standing committees and played a key role in the recruitment of senior campus leadership. He was unanimously elected to three successive terms as president pro tempore of the board and was directly involved in managing more than 450 capital projects exceeding $3 billion on the campuses.

“We have made tremendous strides. The quality gets better and better at each institution and we want to continue that,” St. John told The Cullman Times. “We’re more in touch with the workforce needs in the state and we want to play a stronger role in providing capable employees and retaining more talent for our economy.”

To improve workforce development and the available pool of employees, St. John said a top priority will be recruiting out-of-state students and convincing more of them to remain after graduation.

He is a member of the law firm St. John & St. John in Cullman.

St. John earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Alabama, where he graduated cum laude and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and Omicron Delta Kappa.

Mike Fox

Richard MillsU.S. District Judge Richard Mills LL.M. of the Central District of Illinois at Springfield celebrated his 90th birthday July 19. Mills was first sworn in as an Illinois circuit judge in 1966, in the Beardstown Courtroom where Abraham Lincoln successfully defended “Duff” Armstrong in the famous “Almanac Murder Trial” in 1858. After 10 years “riding” the Eighth Judicial Circuit, Mills was elected a justice of the Fourth District Illinois Appellate Court in 1976 and sat in Springfield until he was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1985 to be a U.S. district judge, sitting primarily in Springfield.

Over his many years on the federal bench, Mills has been assigned by the chief justices of the United States to sit upon U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal around the country. To date, he has sat on eight of the 13 circuit courts of appeal, writing his fair share of opinions and dispositions.

“I am indeed grateful that the Good Lord has seen fit to allow me to continue to serve so long,” Mills said. “I only hope I can continue to contribute to the search for justice as long as I am able. It has all been a simply marvelous adventure.”

Kent SullivanKent Sullivan was appointed to a second term as Texas insurance commissioner, and the appointment was unanimously confirmed by the Texas Senate. Sullivan took office in October 2017, having been asked by Gov. Greg Abbott to serve in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. As commissioner, he is the sole regulator for the second-largest insurance market in the country and the eighthlargest market in the world. Sullivan’s prior professional experience includes over 25 years in private law practice and service as a justice on the Texas Court of Appeals, a state district court judge and first assistant attorney general for the Texas attorney general.

1983

Brent A. TorstrickBrent A. Torstrick is the 2019 recipient of the William Thorp Pro Bono Service Award. Given by the North Carolina Bar Association, the statewide honor recognizes an attorney who has provided ongoing, substantial legal services without charge to a client who could otherwise not afford counsel. Torstrick, a real estate attorney with Robinson Bradshaw in Charlotte, has advised multiple community organization leaders on their physical infrastructure needs. As part of his recent efforts, Torstrick represented the Council for Children’s Rights in converting a donation of four undevelopable lots into real income for the nonprofit organization.

In addition, Torstrick recently guided the Men’s Shelter of Charlotte through all the legal hurdles involved in the major renovation of its flagship campus and is now doing the same for the shelter’s secondary campus.

“On behalf of the nearly 2,000 men who will spend the night in our shelter this year, we are deeply grateful for Brent’s generosity,” Men’s Shelter Executive Director Liz Clasen-Kelly said. “With Brent’s help, our shelter now reminds our guests not that they have hit bottom, but that they are at the start of a new beginning.”

At Robinson Bradshaw, Torstrick’s practice includes all aspects of commercial real estate development.

1984

John M. Paris Jr. was recognized in Chambers USA 2019 for corporate and mergers and acquisitions law. Paris practices with Williams Mullen in Virginia Beach.

1986

Katina Dorton joined Repare Therapeutics as executive vice president and chief financial officer and leads financial, capital markets and administrative operations. Dorton is based in Cambridge, Mass. Prior to joining Repare, Dorton was chief financial officer of Avrobio, a clinical-stage gene therapy company.

On March 11, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan Jr. elevated Judge Gregory Wells from the circuit court for Calvert County to the Court of Special Appeals, Maryland’s intermediate appellate court. Wells previously served as deputy state’s attorney and state’s attorney for Calvert County from 1995-98. Prior to his appointment to the District Court of Maryland in 2008, Wells served as an assistant attorney general in the Criminal Appeals Division of the Office of the Maryland Attorney General. Wells, who also served as the county’s administrative judge, was appointed to the circuit court in 2012.

1987

Calvin W. “Woody” Fowler Jr. was recognized in Chambers USA 2019 for commercial litigation as an eminent practitioner. Fowler practices with Williams Mullen in Richmond, Va.

Timothy Goettel was recognized in Chambers USA 2019 for corporate and mergers and acquisitions law. Goettel practices with Smith Anderson in Raleigh, N.C.

1988

Mike Andresino’s former Boston law firm, Posternak Blankstein & Lund, has merged with and become the Boston office of Washington-based Arent Fox. At Arent Fox, Andresino is reunited with classmate Hunter Carter. Andresino will continue his practice in corporate and securities law.

Kelley Coyner has joined Stantec as mobility innovation leader. Her new global position guides Stantec’s growing smart mobility business, focusing on partnerships and products needed to launch new smart mobility strategies, programs and deployments.

Coyner is the former executive director of the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission, Senate-confirmed CEO for research and special program administration at the U.S. Department of Transportation, and a fellow and adjunct professor of smart mobility at George Mason University. Her technical and policy expertise has been honed and applied through her work at MIT, Harvard, the Coast Guard Academy, the National Academy of Sciences and the Volpe Transportation Center.

Since 2017, Coyner has been CEO of her own firm, Mobility e3 (Me3), which has had a key role in the development, funding and assessment of major autonomous vehicle shuttle pilot projects, and developing best practices in planning, safety and operations of AV shuttles.

In addition to Stantec’s infrastructure and smart mobility teams, Coyner will collaborate with experts from Stantec’s urban places, buildings and power groups to create mobility solutions that solve the needs of communities through a holistic approach that integrates with smart cities strategies. She will be based in Stantec’s Arlington, Va., office.

David J. Gogal was named in 2019 Virginia and Washington, D.C., Super Lawyers for business litigation. Gogal practices with Blankingship & Keith in Fairfax, Va.

1989

Leanne Fallin started a new position in February, working as an assistant general counsel for the FBI’s National Security and Cyber Law Branch of the Office of General Counsel.

Patrick H. Gaughan, associate professor of law and associate dean of global engagement at the University of Akron School of Law, has been accepted as a Fulbright Scholar to Hanoi Law University in Vietnam for the 2020 spring term. Gaughan will be the first U.S. Fulbright Scholar to teach at Hanoi Law University and is the first Core U.S. Fulbright Scholar among Akron Law faculty.

Joseph D. Heyd Joseph D. Heyd, global head of litigation for Procter & Gamble, is president of the Cincinnati Bar Association for the 2019-20 term. The May-June CBA Report featured an in-depth profile of Heyd’s career, which started as an assistant U.S. attorney in Chicago. After a year as a litigation associate in his hometown of Cincinnati, Heyd transitioned to an inhouse position at GE Aircraft Engines. In 2010, Heyd moved to Procter & Gamble. “I have enjoyed the most professional fulfillment from obtaining successful results in big cases and investigations I have worked on at the Chicago United States Attorney General’s Office, GE and P&G. While the results, of course, mattered much, the fulfillment has come more from the experience of working long and hard and well, alongside talented colleagues, to achieve a common, difficult objective,” Heyd said. “To borrow a metaphor that I realize is not fully deserved: Serving under fire in a fox hole with someone forms strong bonds of mutual respect, friendship and trust. Building such bonds of trust and feeling that I have earned such trust in return, has provided the most fulfilling moments in my career.”

Margit Hunt Nahra is the director of the UrbanPlan program at the Urban Land Institute in Washington, D.C. UrbanPlan educates students, public officials and community stakeholders about the impact and tradeoffs of urban land use decisions.

Joe PerkinsJoe Perkins was appointed to Martin University’s board of trustees. Perkins is corporate counsel for regulatory and global business operations at Allison Transmission in Indianapolis. He has more than 20 years of experience with global manufacturing companies and previously served at global manufacturers NIBCO Inc. and Cummins Inc. As a member of the Indiana Stadium and Convention Building Authority board, Perkins helped oversee all aspects of the construction of Lucas Oil Stadium and the latest Indiana Convention Center expansion.

Bob Tata, managing partner of the Hunton Andrews Kurth Norfolk office, was invited by UVA’s Athletic Department to speak at the “Coach George Welsh Tribute” held at the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville on April 27. Welsh was the winningest coach in both Virginia and Navy history when he left both schools, and later was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Tata, who played for Welsh at Navy and was a graduate assistant for him, talked about the coach’s “Navy years” at the tribute. Tata was joined at the podium by other current or former coaches and players such as Franco Harris, Ronde Barber, Bronco Mendenhall and Bill Curry. The event was livestreamed on Facebook.