2000s Class Notes

Send Us Your News

To submit a class note, email us or submit mail to UVA Lawyer, University of Virginia School of Law, 580 Massie Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903. Please send your submissions no later than Feb. 1 for inclusion in the next issue.

2002

Stuart Cawthorn died Nov. 19, 2018. Cawthorn “grew up in Richmond and loved many things about Virginia — she was a graduate of William & Mary in 1999 and the University of Virginia School of Law in 2002 — but she was not one to be constrained by Southern traditions,” according to her obituary. “She never lost a fight (verbal or on the field); loved playing, watching and discussing sports; enjoyed many a cold beverage and most certainly did not think she (or anyone) needed to live life according to someone else’s rules.” Cawthorn’s athletic and academic accomplishments reflect the hard work she put into both. In high school at Collegiate, Cawthorn graduated cum laude and was a member of the National Honor Society. She also played field hockey, lacrosse and basketball. In 1995, she was both named Athlete of the Year and set a basketball team record for the most fouls ever in a season.

After graduating from Collegiate, Cawthorn was selected to play for the United States in the first International Federation of Women’s Lacrosse Associations Under 19 World Championship held in Philadelphia in 1995. “Representing her country was one of her proudest moments,” the obit says.

At William & Mary, she was a James Monroe Scholar and a member of Omicron Delta Kappa. She played field hockey for two years and lacrosse for four. In 1999, Cawthorn was a captain of the lacrosse team and selected to the All-CAA team.

At the Law School, Cawthorn played softball and golf, but her love was still lacrosse, and she became an assistant coach of the UVA women’s lacrosse team. After graduating, she moved to New York City to work as an associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, and then as vice president, mergers and acquisitions counsel, at IAC Interactive.

Cawthorn leaves behind her parents, a sister and “the love of her life, her husband, Mike Chitwood,” her obituary reads. “And for the record, she did not lose her battle with cancer. Stuart never lost a battle. She was ready to meet her maker, but her family is not sure ‘The Maker’ was ready to meet Stuart.”

Justin C. Jeffries was named associate regional director for enforcement in the Atlanta Regional Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Jeffries oversees the SEC’s enforcement efforts in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama. Jeffries joined the SEC’s Division of Enforcement as a staff attorney in 2010 and was promoted to assistant regional director in 2017.

Afi Johnson-ParrisAfi Johnson-Parris was selected to chair the family law section of the North Carolina Bar Association as of July 1. The section consists of 1,382 lawyers and paralegals whose practice includes child custody, child support, divorce and alimony. As head of Ward Black Law’s family law department, Johnson-Parris brings strong leadership to the firm in the areas of divorce and separation, child custody, child support and adoptions, as well as veterans’ disability. A North Carolina board-certified family law specialist, she was named by Business North Carolina magazine as the 2017 statewide “Legal Elite” winner for family law. She is a former president of the Greensboro Bar Association and achieved an AV preeminent peer review rating by Martindale-Hubbell for integrity and expertise in her field.

Jay MitchellJay Mitchell was elected in November 2018 as an associate justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. Mitchell won the statewide Republican primary with more than 70% of the vote and the statewide general election with over 60% of the vote. He is now serving a six-year term on the state’s highest court. He and his wife, Elizabeth Bloodworth Mitchell, have four school-age children and continue to reside in Homewood.

2003

Krista A. JacksonKrista A. Jackson joined Smith Haughey Rice & Roegge in Grand Rapids, Mich. Jackson focuses her practice on business litigation and trial work on diverse matters including contract disputes, agribusiness disputes, environmental litigation and insurance disputes.

Adrienne M. PentaAdrienne M. Penta received the 2019 Boston Estate Planning Council Excellence Award in May. Penta is managing director of private banking and founding executive director of the Center for Women & Wealth at Brown Brothers Harriman. The BEPC cites her “tremendous efforts to support women in their creation and management of wealth, while continuing to give back to her profession and the community.” Penta joined Brown Brothers Harriman in 2008. She led the creation of the Brown Brothers Harriman Center for Women & Wealth, which supports women as they create and manage wealth, and seeks to create a dynamic and inclusive environment where women can engage in conversations about wealth, family and values.

2004

Sean Suder was recognized in 2019 for his work in the category of real estate: zoning/land use by Chambers USA and was named in the 2019 Best Lawyers in America for real estate law. He is a commercial real estate, land use and zoning partner in the Cincinnati office of Calfee, Halter & Griswold. Suder presented on zoning at the national conference of the Congress for the New Urbanism in Louisville, Ky., in June, and at the American Institute of Architects’ DesignDC conference in Washington, D.C., in September.

2005

Bress ’05 Confirmed to Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

Daniel A. BressDaniel A. Bress ’05 was confirmed as a circuit judge on the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in July.

He was formerly a partner at the law firm Kirkland & Ellis in Washington, D.C. Bress represented clients in complex litigation matters involving class actions, government fraud, commercial disputes, products liability, securities fraud and employee benefits. He was involved in cases in state and federal trial, and appellate courts nationwide.

His clients included Boeing, Honeywell, Raytheon, Teva and Wyndham. Bress’ wins include three complete dismissals with prejudice for United Technologies of three putative federal class actions stemming from alleged defects in Carrier home air conditioning systems. At the time of his nomination in February, he was defending BASF in a proposed asbestos class action against its subsidiary.

“Your goal as a younger attorney is to get some at-bats,” Bress told Law360 in 2016. “Don’t wait to be told what to do, but think creatively and raise your hand and offer to do something.”

He has received numerous recognitions in his career: DCA Live 2018 Rising Stars of Law (40 under 40); The National Law Journal 2017 DC Rising Stars; Law360 2016 Rising Star for Class Actions; and the Legal 500 U.S.

Prior to joining Kirkland & Ellis in 2011, Bress worked in the San Francisco office of Munger, Tolles & Olson. He has also been a lecturer at UVA Law and at the Columbus School of Law, teaching seminars on constitutional and statutory interpretation.

Bress, a California native, clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III ’72 of the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. At UVA Law, he was inducted into the Order of the Coif, a recipient of the Roger and Madeleine Traynor Award for outstanding scholarship and served as editor of the Virginia Law Review.

He graduated magna cum laude with an A.B. from Harvard College.

Mike Fox

2006

Caleb M. TurnerCaleb M. Turner was named a partner at Meyer, Unkovic & Scott in Pittsburgh. Turner focuses on complex business and commercial litigation. He has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in a variety of complex state and federal civil actions, including actions for breach of contract, common law fraud, negligent misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of restrictive covenants, securities fraud, civil RICO, civil antitrust and other claims.

2007

Austin CurryAustin Curry was named, for the sixth consecutive time, among the best in the state on Thomson Reuters’ 2019 Texas Rising Stars list. Curry practices intellectual property litigation with Caldwell Cassady & Curry in Dallas. This marks the second year that Curry was also named to the Up-and-Coming 100 list of the top young lawyers in Texas.

Since last year’s Texas Rising Stars list, Curry and other lawyers at the firm won an $8.2 million patent infringement verdict for Acantha against medical device manufacturer DePuy Synthes, a subsidiary of health care giant Johnson & Johnson.

2008

James S. Baehr is a special assistant to President Donald Trump in the White House Office of Policy Development. Baehr had been the general counsel at the Pelican Institute for Public Policy, and also served as Louisiana’s chair to the State Funeral for World War II Veterans. Baehr also served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Louisiana for several years.

Ray D. Mckenzie is a member and founder of WTAIII, a new law firm focusing on government enforcement actions, internal investigations, litigation, compliance and diligence matters. He partnered with Warren Allen, with whom he worked for six years at Skadden. McKenzie most recently served in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland for four years.

Sabina Vayner was recognized this year, for the fourth consecutive year, in the World Trademark Review’s WTR 1000. Vayner is of counsel with Greenberg Traurig in Atlanta.