1980s Class Notes

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1980

Rich Lovering, a partner with Bricker & Eckler in Columbus, Ohio, and recognized by Best Lawyers from 2006-17, won a jury trial that was the subject of a book, “Disappearing Ink: The Insider, the FBI and the Looting of the Kenyon College Library.”

W. David Paxton was named to Virginia Business 2016 Legal Elite list for labor/employment law. He is listed in Best Lawyers 2017 in employment law (individuals), employment law (management), and labor law (management), and was named Roanoke Lawyer of the Year 2017 in labor and employment litigation. Paxton was also recognized as a Local Litigation Star by Benchmark Litigation for his general commercial, insurance, and labor and employment practices. He is a partner with Gentry Locke in Roanoke, where he chairs the labor and employment practice.

1981

Kenneth W. Lehman was named Lawyer of the Year in health care law in Best Lawyers 2017. He is a shareholder in the litigation group and chair of the health care practice group with Bernstein, Shur, Sawyer & Nelson in Portland, Maine.

1982

Mark W. Merritt became vice chancellor and general counsel of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in September. He also serves as president of the North Carolina State Bar.

Judge Richard Mills LL.M. has presided for a half-century on the bench. He began his law career in Cass County, Va., in the office his grandfather and namesake opened in 1870. He was a country lawyer, public defender and state’s attorney before he was elected circuit judge.

On Dec. 5, 1966, Mills was sworn in as circuit judge of the 8th Judicial Circuit of Illinois. The ceremony took place in the courtroom in which Abraham Lincoln argued the famous “Almanac Trial” and won his client an acquittal in a murder case.

Mills rode the circuit for 10 years before being elected to the Appellate Court of Illinois. In the nine years he served as appellate judge he was twice presiding justice and participated in several hundred opinions.

In 1985, President Ronald Reagan appointed Mills a U.S. district judge for the Central District of Illinois. From 1989 to 2014, he sat on eight of the 13 U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal. He continues to preside on the bench with senior status and a partial caseload in Springfield. He has described his judicial career as “a marvelous adventure.”

Anne Strassfeld '82Anne Strassfeld is counsel with Ulmer & Berne in Cleveland.

She returned to Ulmer after serving as general counsel at Saint Luke’s Health System in Kansas City, Mo., associate general counsel at Cleveland’s University Hospitals Health System, senior counsel at the Cleveland Clinic, and, most recently, as associate special adviser to the executive vice president for health affairs at UVA.

Strassfeld focuses her practice on advising health care industry clients, with emphasis on strategic responses to health care reform initiatives.

1983

Mark A. Bradley was appointed director of the Information Security Oversight Office by President Barack Obama, an appointment that carries on in the current administration. He is responsible to the president for policy and oversight of the federal government’s security classification system and the National Industrial Security Program. The office is housed in the National Archives and receives policy guidance from the National Security Council. Bradley is a career member of the Senior Executive Service.

Mark Davidson is listed in North Carolina Super Lawyers 2017 in business/corporate law and in Best Lawyers 2017 in corporate law, mergers and acquisitions law, securities/capital markets law and tax law. He is a partner with Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard in Greensboro, where he plans, negotiates and documents a variety of business transactions.

Michael D. Kitsis was appointed as a judge in the New York Criminal Court in January by Mayor Bill de Blasio. Kitsis served in the New York County District Attorney’s Office for 33 years in various positions, including bureau chief of the frauds bureau and senior investigative counsel of major economic crimes.

Jeffrey E. Oleynik is listed in North Carolina Super Lawyers 2017 in bankruptcy: business law and in Best Lawyers 2017 in antitrust law and bankruptcy and creditor-debtor rights/insolvency and reorganization law. He was also listed among Business North Carolina’s 2017 Legal Elite in bankruptcy law. Oleynik is a partner with Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard in Greensboro.

Terence P. Ross '83Terence P. Ross joined Katten Muchin Rosenman in Washington, D.C., as a partner in the intellectual property group. He concentrates his practice on litigating disputes involving intellectual property, media, e-commerce and technology, and is co-chair of the trademark and brand protection group. He was previously with Crowell & Moring.

In an interview with Law360, Ross noted that he was drawn to Katten’s strength in the IP field. He was also excited about the prospect of working with Roger P. Furey, who was named chairman of Katten last year.

1984

Michael Crehan is associate general counsel for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority and the attorney for the construction of the Silver Line Metrorail to Dulles International Airport.

1986

Peter A. Caro is listed in Super Lawyers 2016 in real estate. He heads the real estate practice with Casner & Edwards in Boston.

Elizabeth J. Stewart '86Elizabeth J. Stewart received the 2016 Pro Bono Award for the District of Connecticut for her outstanding service as pro bono counsel. She helped a client prosecute a civil rights case brought under the Eighth Amendment in which they alleged that corrections officers transported the client from a correctional institution to a hospital in a way that showed deliberate indifference to the risk of serious harm to the plaintiff. Stewart is a partner with Murtha Cullina in New Haven, Conn., where she chairs the complex litigation practice group and is a member of the insurance recovery and appellate practice groups.

1987

Timothy S. Goettel is listed in North Carolina Super Lawyers 2017. He is a partner with Smith, Anderson, Blount, Dorsett, Mitchell & Jernigan in Raleigh, where he handles complex acquisitions and divestitures, advises clients on corporate governance, and represents issuers in public and private offering and financing transactions.

Neil McKittrick, a shareholder in the Boston office of Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, was elected as a fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and was later inducted into the college in November in Chicago.

Ogletree Deakins practices all aspects of labor and employment law and litigation in 49 offices in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Europe.

Alfred M. Randolph Jr. looks forward to seeing classmates at the upcoming 30th reunion. He enjoyed a recent visit with Dave Dallas in Charlottesville and caught up with David Keesler last fall. He and his wife, Kristin, stay busy with their three sons (21, 17 and 14). He just celebrated 29 years with Kaufman & Canoles in Norfolk, Va., where he chairs the recruiting committee and is a member of the lender representation and mergers, acquisitions and strategic alliances practice groups.

Tom Walls '87

Restoring Public Confidence in Politics, One Leader at a Time

Tom Walls ’87 is the new executive director of the University of Virginia’s Thomas C. Sorensen Institute of Political Leadership, a non-profit that educates leaders in effective political skills and public policy and pro- motes ethics and civility in government. Its programs for high school and college leaders, for business and community leaders, and for first-time political candidates focus on improving the quality of government throughout Virginia.

“We’re not just exhorting people to be civil and ethical and constructive in politics or government because it’s nice,” Walls said. “We’re working to change the norms and incentives that drive the behavior of our leaders in politics and governance so that they can do a better job representing people.”

With nearly 2,000 graduates, the Sorensen Institute is a force for restoring public confidence in the political system. Twenty-nine institute alumni currently serve in the Virginia General Assembly, and two alumni were elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010. Many more hold positions in local government throughout the commonwealth.

Prior to joining the institute, Walls served as senior staff member to three U.S. senators, most recently as chief counsel to Mark Warner of Virginia. At McGuireWoods in Washington, D.C., he was a partner and founder of the firm’s political law group and senior vice president of federal public affairs at McGuireWoods Consulting. Most recently, he was a principal in the public policy and regula- tion group at Dentons US. For many years he taught as an adjunct faculty member at the George Washington University Law School.

“This job requires an ability to see the reasoning of people who inhabit every part of the ideological spectrum,” he said. “I’m also expected to observe a scrupulous nonpartisan neutrality in my public role, no matter my own political opinions, a bit like a judge. So the lawyering skills help.”

The Sorensen Institute, he pointed out, takes no public funding and relies on private donors.

“Our programs make our politics better by making our future politicians better, on both sides of the aisle,” Walls said. “We’re pushing back against a lot of forces that are moving in the other direction. I tell people, if you don’t like the tone of our politics today, you ought to support the Sorensen Institute.”

Walls started law school in order to be a public interest lawyer, and has split his career about evenly between public service and law firms. He said he is delighted with the opportunity to get back into a public service job, in Charlottesville.

“I married my Law School classmate, Molly Fields Walls ’87, and we share an abiding love of Charlottesvillle that became a determination to live here. My job at Sorensen and our new home in downtown Charlottesville amount to me having my cake and eating it too. About 15 of our classmates live here now. I think we are on to something!

Rebecca Barns

1988

'88 Group
Class of 1988 Graduation Flashback: Law School friends are the best, as a photo of this power trio suggests. Hanging out at the McIntire Amphitheatre are Pat Quinn, now the managing partner of Cadwalader in New York City; Alan Meltzer, deputy chief of mission in the U.S. Embassy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan; and Lu Alvarez, chief executive officer of the Law School Foundation in Charlottesville.

Thomas S. Burack '88Thomas S. Burack has returned to Sheehan Phinney Bass & Green in Manchester, N.H., as shareholder in the environment and energy and nonprofit groups, after serving for more than a decade as com- missioner of the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services. Burack led the creation of E-Enterprise for the Environment, a shared governance approach among the Environmental Protection Agency, states and tribal governments to modernize and streamline environmental protection and regulation in the U.S. He now serves as an executive adviser and consultant to the initiative.

David A. Flanigan Jr. was keynote speaker for the fall 2016 commencement exercises at King University, his alma mater. He is a capital partner with Barnes & Thornburg in Atlanta, where he is administrator of the corporate department.

Kevin P. Mullen is a partner in the public contracts group with Morrison Foerster in Washington, D.C.

Maureen Enright '88

Maureen Enright ’88:

A Leader in Reducing Childhood Obesity

Maureen Enright ’88 was recently named director of the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, a voluntary coalition of food companies and quick-serve restaurants that addresses concerns about food advertising to children in light of the problem of childhood obesity. She was also named vice president of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, which administers the program. Enright said she is excited to use her understanding of the food industry, nutrition, public policy and the regulatory environment so that CFBAI can continue to be an important voice in the global conversation about childhood obesity.

Since the program’s inception in 2006, 18 restaurants and food and beverage companies representing the majority of food advertising on children’s television programming have pledged to advertise only foods that meet rigorous nutrition criteria. A number of these companies are direct competitors, so getting them to agree on how they advertise to children and the nutrition criteria that determines which foods they can advertise is a complex undertaking.

“Compliance has been excellent,” Enright said. “In large part the program’s strength comes from the fact that participants choose to join the program and make it succeed.”

As the initiative marked its 10th anniversary last year, Enright helped launch the Children’s Confection Advertising Initiative in partnership with the National Confectioners Association. Participants pledge not to market candy directly to children.

The programs are designed to make foods advertised to children under age 12 healthier. Participating companies often improve their recipes to reduce sugar or sodium and increase the amount of whole grains, according to the 2015 CFBAI annual report, in part so their products meet CFBAI’s uniform nutrition criteria and so can be advertised to kids.

Before becoming director of CFBAI, Enright served for six years as deputy to the founding director. She also served as of counsel at a private firm and was an attorney in the Division of Advertising Practices at the Federal Trade Commission, where she also served as an assistant to the director fo the Bureau of Consumer Protection and acting director of enforcement.

]Looking back on her experience at the Law School, Enright said she remembered one class that turned out to be particularly influential. “Like many students,” she said, “ I took a wide variety of classes and didn’t have one area of concentration. In my third year, on whim, I took Professor [Emeritus] Lillian BeVier’s trademark class and found the discussions on the role of consumer deception fascinating.”

Taking that class led Enright to interview with the Federal Trade Commission, which turned out to be the beginning of her career.

Rebecca Barns