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 Aug. 1 for inclusion in the next issue.
1980
Glenn R. Carrington is in his third year as dean of Norfolk State University’s School of Business, after a 37-year tax career. Carrington writes, “I’m proud to say that the knowledge I gained at UVA Law is serving me well as dean. I am making a difference, and I sincerely thank UVA Law for providing me with the foundation to do so.”
Richard “Ad” Adams Eichner died Oct. 17 in Alexandria, Va. He was 66. Eichner co-founded Ritter & Eichner, a public finance law firm in Washington, D.C., in 1991. Throughout his career, he specialized in tax-exempt financing involving multifamily housing. He played a leading role in developing new structures for housing bonds, and was a lecturer and panelist at many housing finance workshops and events. He was proud of the impact of the work that he did facilitating more low-income housing for families in poverty.
1981
Scott Cairns retired from McGuireWoods on Dec. 31, after 38 years. Cairns continues his mediation practice in Jacksonville, Fla.
Nancy B. Gardiner was named managing partner of Hemenway & Barnes, a Boston-based law firm, serving as trusted counsel to the region’s high net worth families, businesses and nonprofit organizations for over 150 years.
Gardiner joined the firm in 1986 and, after a hiatus from 1993-98, was elected into the partnership in 2005. She is the director of the firm’s family office and philanthropic advisory services, and is the past co-chair of the nonprofit practice group. In addition, Gardiner is a managing director and secretary of Hemenway Trust Co., a New Hampshire-based private fiduciary firm and firm affiliate.
Gardiner is a board member of TSNE Missionworks and on the board of governors of the Colby College Museum of Art.
Gregory W. Nye retired from Bracewell at the end of 2018.
John L. Rivkin was named to Best Lawyers for his insurance law practice. Rivkin practices with Rivkin Radler in Uniondale, N.Y.
Connor ’81 Honored for Work as Appellate Court Clerk
Patricia S. “Pat” Connor ’81, clerk of court for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, has received the 2019 Director’s Award for Excellence in Operations/ Support. The awards recognize outstanding performance, innovation and dedication by employees throughout federal courts each year.
Letters supporting Connor’s nomination were written by more than a dozen federal judges, by district court clerks throughout the Fourth Circuit, and even by federal prosecutors and federal public defenders whose case files Connor’s office administers.
“She is truly the heart and soul of the Fourth Circuit, and the judges and court staff will uniformly attest to that,” wrote Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III ’72. “Pat’s leadership makes the court run like a finely tuned timepiece.”
Supporters mentioned Connor’s commitment — personally traveling to the hometowns of new judges to make sure their chambers and staff are properly functioning, and even wading through flooded hallways during a 2019 water leak to make sure the circuit’s Richmond courthouse was operating the next day.
“Federal defenders have a not wholly undeserved reputation as a contrary, independent-minded group who rarely agree on anything,” said a letter signed by the circuit’s nine federal public defenders. “But when it comes to Ms. Connor, we are unanimous; she is an exemplar of everything a public servant should be.”
Judges praised Connor for her sound advice, saying they routinely turn to her on ethics-related and procedural questions, and for inspiring her staff to provide exemplary service.
“She has created an office that is a model of cooperation and competence,” wrote Judge Diana Gribbon Motz ’68. “Each year or so, we do anonymous surveys of lawyers asking their views of the court. … Never has the clerk’s office received a single complaint. Rather, lawyers initiate compliments on the innovations and efficiency of Pat’s office.”
—Mike Fox
1982
Edna Conway joined Microsoft as vice president and general manager of Global Security, Risk and Compliance, overseeing the company’s cloud supply chain. Conway was previously chief security officer with Cisco, where she held various roles during her 20-year tenure.
Deceased U.S. District Judge Robert R. Merhige LL.M. is the subject of an upcoming documentary, “The Judge: Character. Cases. Courage,” to be released on public television in Richmond, Va., and, filmmakers hope, public television stations nationwide. There are also plans for a longer, theatrical version for screenings at law schools, bar associations and film festivals.
Merhige’s work to desegregate Virginia schools, including ordering the admission of women to UVA, often overshadows other major cases he oversaw. According to a recent Richmond Times-Dispatch article, “[Merhige] presided over one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history, the Allied Chemical Co. spill of the insecticide Kepone into the James River. And he handled one of the largest product liability cases of its era, involving Richmond-based pharmaceutical company A.H. Robins and its Dalkon Shield intrauterine device.”
The article includes some discoveries by the filmmakers: “Merhige — whose pet dog was shot and whose guesthouse was burned down during the early 1970s — remains a polarizing figure nearly a half-century after he ordered crosstown and later cross-jurisdictional busing to achieve the school desegregation that a U.S. Supreme Court ruling had not.”
1983
Mark Davidson was named to Business North Carolina’s Hall of Fame for business law. Davidson is a partner with Brooks Pierce in Greensboro. Davidson was also selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America 2020 for business organizations (including LLCs and partnerships), closely held companies and family business law, corporate law, mergers and acquisitions law, securities/capital markets law and tax law. He was also recognized in North Carolina Super Lawyers for business/ corporate law.
Jeff Oleynik was named to Business North Carolina’s 2020 Legal Elite for his work in bankruptcy law. Oleynik is a partner with Brooks Pierce in Greensboro. Oleynik was also selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America 2020 for antitrust law, bankruptcy and creditor debtor rights/insolvency, and reorganization law. He was recognized in North Carolina Super Lawyers for bankruptcy (for business) and as one of the top 100 North Carolina lawyers.
Craig Owen White was appointed partner-in-charge of the Cleveland office of Hahn Loeser & Parks and will play a leading role in the growth and direction of the firm in Northeast Ohio. White has been with Hahn Loeser since 1990. He was elected to partnership in 1991 and served on the board of directors from 1997 to 2007. As a senior partner in the business practice area, White guides established and growth-oriented companies through mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, enterprise governance, and financing and licensing issues in the United States and abroad. White serves as a director of Great Lakes Cheese Co., one of the largest privately owned food companies in the country. In addition, he was recently appointed for a second term by the U.S. Trade Representative to the Trade Advisory Committee on Africa and was appointed chair earlier this year.
David C. Wright III was inducted as a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers.
Wright’s litigation practice at Robinson Bradshaw in Charlotte, N.C., spans more than 30 years. He represents clients in securities and ERISA class and derivative actions, corporate and regulatory investigations, employment and trade secret disputes, insurance coverage issues and product liability claims. Wright has represented the administrations of four North Carolina governors in significant and groundbreaking constitutional and statutory litigation.
Wright also serves as chairman of the Morehead-Cain Foundation board of trustees.
Alumni in the Los Angeles and Orange County, Calif., region held their “official” Feb Club social events — four of them throughout the month of February — as a nod to the UVA Law tradition. Volunteer region managers Lisa Steen Proctor ’89 and Nancy Schwappach ’87 organize the events on behalf of the Law School Foundation. Pictured are Geoffrey Hale ’93, Dave Grace ’81, Lisa Steen Proctor ’89, Laura Eckerlin Inlow ’87, Nancy Schwappach ’87, Ron Frank ’82 and Robin Roberts McCune ’86.
1984
John B. Lynch Jr., a partner with Robinson+Cole, was named Best Lawyers 2020 Lawyer of the Year in Hartford, Conn., for mergers and acquisitions law. Lynch serves as chair of the firm’s diversity and inclusion committee, the firm’s professional development partner, and the firm’s financial adviser to the managing committee. He is a member of the business transactions practice group.
Lynch’s clients include banks and other financial institutions, public and large private corporations, sovereign tribal nations, health care providers and small-business ventures. He was the firm’s managing partner from 2009 to 2016.
Alison M. McKee was installed as the 132nd president of the Virginia Bar Association. An attorney at the Virginia Beach branch of the Norfolk-based law firm Kaufman & Canoles, McKee’s practice is focused on banking and finance, commercial real estate and senior housing matters.
McKee has been a member of the VBA since 1984. She has co-chaired the VBA Business Law Section’s Third-Party Legal Opinions Report Committee and served as vice chair of the VBA Business Law Section. McKee has also served on the VBA Board of Governors since 2016.
Lonnie D. “Chip” Nunley III and his extensive pro bono work were featured in a Virginia Lawyer article, “Fighting the Giant: A Lawyer and Tenants Team Up to Improve Housing.” Although Nunley’s practice at Hunton Andrews Kurth centers on businesses in state and federal courts in Virginia and across the country, his 1,000- plus annual hours of pro bono work focus on tenants being treated unjustly.
Nunley credits Thomas G. Slater Jr. ’69 with inspiring his pro bono service. Along with his classmate, Rob Brooke, Nunley started a pro bono housing law project with the Richmond Bar Association and Central Virginia Legal Aid Society, at the time led by Henry Mclaughlin ’66. The article ties Nunley’s housing work with wellness initiatives, “We all go through times in our practice when it seems like all we’re doing is either revising contracts or reviewing documents,” he said. “If you can find a break in that to go out and represent an individual, you’ll feel much better about what you’re doing. It helps you with your identity as a lawyer.”
1985
Martha N. Donovan, a member of Norris McLaughlin and co-chair of its environmental law practice group, was named Best Lawyers’ 2020 Lawyer of the Year for environmental litigation in the Woodbridge, N.J., metropolitan area. A resident of West Windsor, Donovan devotes her practice to environmental law and complex litigation with an emphasis on the defense of environmental property damage claims. She also has considerable experience working on related insurance coverage matters.
Donovan has authored articles and given presentations to various trade groups and associations on issues ranging from lender liability under Superfund to the availability of insurance coverage for various aspects of business-related accidents.
Hal Hicks, global head of Skadden’s international tax practice, was named among the top 30 global tax professionals in Euromoney’s 2019 Best of the Best Global Expert Guide (one of only four U.S. tax professionals ranked) and has repeatedly been included in Euromoney’s Best of the Best USA Expert Guide.
Hicks recently shared some family news. He writes that he and his wife of 34 years, Nancy, live in McLean, Va., but spend time at their home in Charlottesville, as well as at the Outer Banks. “Oldest son, Josh, and his wife, Jess, are teachers in Maryland and the family is looking forward to welcoming their first grandchild. Middle son, Matt, is in his second year in grad business school at Georgetown and doing great. Youngest son, William, having graduated from UVA undergrad, is now in his first year at the Law School — having elected to stay in C’ville as a Karsh-Dillard Scholar over going to Harvard (clearly gets his brains from his mother!).” Hicks adds, “Sadly, Nancy continues to struggle with a progressive neurological disease — perhaps not as bad as ALS which took our friend Doug Schneebeck — but pretty bad. Nancy deals with the situation with more grace and dignity than seem possible.”
Melissa Weaver was selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America 2020 for employee benefits (ERISA) law. Weaver practices with Brooks Pierce in Greensboro and Raleigh, N.C.
1986
Engle ’86, Who Spearheaded Landmark FTC Cases, Retires From Agency
Mary Engle ’86, who led the Federal Trade Commission’s first privacy and social media influencer cases, has retired after 30 years with the agency. She joined Better Business Bureau National Programs as executive vice president, policy, in February.
Engle stepped down as associate director of the trade commission’s Division of Advertising Practices in January. She had been the head of that division for nearly 19 years, overseeing its work regarding national advertising policy and law enforcement, including claims made about food, dietary supplements, alcohol, tobacco and broadband, as well as digital technology marketing practices such as native advertising and influencer marketing.
“Consumers nationwide have benefited greatly from many important law enforcement actions and policy initiatives that Mary Engle has directed,” Andrew Smith, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement. “Mary has been an ideal colleague and an inspiring supervisor, and all of us who have had the privilege of working with her have benefited from her wisdom, judgment, kindness and unfailing good humor.”
She successfully led law enforcement actions of national significance, including against POM Wonderful, Braswell, Eli Lilly and Lord & Taylor. She also spearheaded numerous advertising policy initiatives and studies that have transformed advertising industry practices.
In 2002, in the FTC’s first privacy case, drugmaker Eli Lilly agreed to settle charges regarding the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive personal information collected from consumers through its Prozac.com website. In 2016, in the agency’s first case involving social media influencers, Lord & Taylor settled charges that the retailer deceived consumers by paying for native advertisements without disclosing that the posts were paid promotions.
Engle received numerous awards over the course of her federal government career, including the Meritorious Executive Rank Award from President Barack Obama in 2012, for sustained superior accomplishment in the management of U.S. government programs, and the FTC Chairman’s Award for the Commission’s 2000 Media Violence Study and Report.
Engle began her career at the commission in 1990 as an attorney in the Division of Advertising Practices. She served in a range of other positions during her time with the agency, including as assistant to two directors of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, attorney adviser in the office of Commissioner Roscoe B. Starek, and assistant director in both the Enforcement and Advertising Practices divisions.
—Mike Fox
Peter A. Caro was recognized by 2019 Massachusetts Super Lawyers for his work in real estate law. Caro practices with Casner & Edwards in Boston.
William W. Eigner was selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America 2020 for his mergers and acquisitions work. Eigner is a partner with Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch in San Diego.
Charlottesville’s Toscano ’86 Retires From Virginia House
David J. Toscano ’86, a leading lawmaker in Virginia’s House of Delegates, retired from politics after serving the city of Charlottesville for 25 years.
Toscano announced in a floor speech as the General Assembly session ended in February 2019 that he would not seek an eighth term. He was first elected to represent the 57th District in 2005 and was House minority leader from 2011 to 2018.
Toscano served on Charlottesville’s City Council from 1990 to 2002, including a stint as mayor from 1994 to 1996. Toscano’s first foray into politics was an independent run for Congress in 1982. His forthcoming book, “Great States Don’t Just Happen: The Role of Politics, Policy and Personalities in Shaping Virginia and the Nation,” chronicles his career in public service.
Reflecting on his tenure in a floor speech, Toscano said his top legislative accomplishments included a bipartisan transportation package, expanding Medicaid coverage, adoption law reform and efforts to restore hundreds of unidentified African American gravesites in his district. He said his proudest feat was helping Democrats flip 15 House seats in the 2017 election, giving them their largest caucus in 20 years.
“I’m immensely proud, and eternally grateful, for having had the opportunity to play a role in public service for the last 25 years, including 14 in this body,” Toscano said. “It has been the honor of my life. And it’s simply not possible for me to adequately repay the love that my friends, neighbors and family have given me during my public service.” Republican Del. Rob Bell ’95 of Albemarle County, an attorney at Davidson & Kitzmann who took office in 2002, noted how lawmakers — regardless of party — often ceded bills dealing with child custody, divorce or adoption to Toscano because “we trusted him to get it right.”
“It is impossible to overstate the impact David Toscano’s had on Charlottesville,” Bell said in a floor speech. Toscano currently specializes in family law as a partner at Buck, Toscano & Tereskerz, along with trial attorney Frank Buck ’71 (partner Terry Tereskerz ’77 died in 2018). He has taught politics and sociology at various colleges and universities, including Boston College, the University of Maryland (European Division), UVA, James Madison University and Piedmont Virginia Community College.
—Mike Fox
1987
R. Kelvin Antill joined Rosenberg Martin Greenberg in Baltimore. Antill’s practice focuses on commercial real estate including development, acquisition, disposition and real estate financing. He has been in private practice and in-house — the latter serving, among other roles, as general counsel of both a public real estate investment trust and a private development company. In addition to being a key member of the senior management teams, Antill also worked closely with and assisted the development teams in acquiring, entitling, developing, and obtaining municipal and state financial assistance to construct large retail shopping centers around the country.
Roger Brooks writes that after taking early retirement from Cravath at the end of 2016, he is now working full time on constitutional litigation as senior counsel with the Alliance Defending Freedom.
The Center for Responsible Enterprise and Trade, an organization Pamela Passman founded in 2011, recently launched a grants program. CREATe. org has worked to define leading practices and resources to educate organizations about the best ways to manage risk and improve governance and compliance. The grants are an endeavor to help fund projects that will advance CREATe.org’s mission of defining leading practices for addressing key business issues, such as preventing corruption, protection of intellectual property, trade secrets and cybersecurity.
Alfred “Ran” Randolph celebrated his 32nd anniversary with Kaufman & Canoles, where he chairs the recruiting committee and serves as chief growth officer. Randolph and his wife, Kristen, will celebrate their 30th anniversary this summer. The couple has three sons — Ranny, 24; Christian, 20; and Peyton, 17 — who keep them busy and “make them proud,” Randolph writes. He also extends the invitation to friends who are in the Virginia Beach or Norfolk areas to give him a call.
Bob Saunders was selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America 2020 for litigation and tax controversy, nonprofit/charities law and tax law. He was also recognized in North Carolina Super Lawyers for business/ corporate law. Saunders practices with Brooks Pierce in Greensboro and Raleigh.
Randy Tinsley was selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America 2020 for environmental law and environmental litigation. Tinsley practices with Brooks Pierce in Greensboro, N.C.
Beth Wilkinson of Wilkinson Walsh was the featured guest on the “Behind the Trial” podcast’s ninth episode. Topics covered range from what makes an exceptional trial lawyer to the challenges and opportunities faced by female attorneys. “Behind the Trial” is a podcast series presented by Benchmark Litigation, in association with McKool Smith.
1988
John M. Cooper, a partner with Cooper Hurley in Norfolk, was named a 2019 Leader in the Law by Virginia Lawyers Weekly. Cooper wrote that he is enjoying reliving his UVA Law days through his son, Matthew, a second-year.
Richard Forsten, a partner with Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr in Wilmington, Del., was awarded the 2019 Governor’s Outstanding Volunteer Award by the Delaware State Office of Volunteerism and Gov. John Carney. Forsten was selected for his significant contribution, engagement and impact in multiple areas. He has served on the School Board of the Appoquinimink School District since 2011, serving as president since 2015. He is a past president of Middletown’s historic Everett Theatre, where he is still an active volunteer. He is a current board member of the Ministry of Caring in Wilmington, and a past board member of Goodwill of Delaware and the Ronald McDonald House of Delaware. Forsten has also been recognized by the Delaware Supreme Court for exemplary pro bono public service.
Forsten’s law practice is focused on land use, commercial real estate, administrative law and business litigation, both at the trial and appellate level. He is a past president of the Delaware State Bar Association, and still serves on its Executive Committee. He has been ranked by Chambers as one of Delaware’s Leading Lawyers for Real Estate/Land Use since 2003.
Sharon Goodwyn was profiled in The Virginian-Pilot in a “First Person” article last summer. Goodwyn is an employment law specialist and has practiced 31 years with Hunton Andrews Kurth.
Last year, Goodwyn, a longtime supporter of community service organizations, was elected vice chair of the Hampton Roads Community Foundation board of directors. She is the first woman and African American to serve in a top leadership role with the organization, which awards scholarships and grants and coordinates leadership initiatives for the betterment of Southeast Virginia.
Goodwyn also serves on the boards of the University of Virginia Law School Foundation, Eastern Virginian Medical School, Virginia Wesleyan University, St. Mary’s Home and the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia, among others.
Goodwyn lives in Chesapeake with her husband, state Supreme Court Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn ’86.
Michael Kun is the national co-chairperson of Epstein Becker & Green’s wage and hour and class-action practice group. His novel “The Locklear Letters” was filmed for a movie that will be released in 2020 as “Eat Wheaties!” starring Tony Hale, Elizabeth Banks, Danielle Brooks, Paul Walter Hauser and Elisha Cuthbert.
John M. Mitnick, former general counsel and regulatory policy officer of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, serves as a consultant to Draganfly Inc. Mitnick has been engaged to advise on government and commercial business opportunities. Draganfly is an award-winning, industry-leading systems developer within the commercial unmanned aerial vehicle and the unmanned vehicle systems fields.
After 30 years in private practice, Susan B. Read was elected to the juvenile and domestic relations district court bench for the 25th Judicial District of Virginia. She sits in the Staunton/Augusta Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court. Read and her husband, Bill, continue to live in Staunton.
Jennifer Ricketts was awarded the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Division’s highest award, the Stuart E. Schiffer Memorial Award. Ricketts serves as the director of the Federal Programs Branch. The award recognizes an employee who has made an outstanding contribution of long-term impact to the Civil Division, or whose activities reflect credit upon the division.
Michael D. Steger was appointed co-chair of the American Bar Association’s Intellectual Property Litigation Committee. Steger was also named a fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Steger practices copyright, trademark and entertainment law in New York City.
The Washington 2019 edition of Super Lawyers featured an in-depth profile of James F. Williams. Williams is firmwide business litigation chair at Perkins Coie and managing partner of its Seattle office. Washington state is a long way from Williams’ hometown of Rembert Township, described in the article as “a hiccup of a town off Camden Highway, 117 miles outside of Charleston, South Carolina.”
Williams said he was transformed by the discipline, order and consistency he experienced while attending The Citadel before coming to UVA Law. He then served for five years as a judge advocate general before settling into his law practice in Seattle, at the recommendation of Law School friend Marcella Fleming Reed.
1989
Chris Gottscho splits his time between Far Hills, N.J., and Park City, Utah, and has two sons, Teddy, 3, and George, 1.
Benham LL.M. ’89, First Black Justice on Georgia Supreme Court, Retires
Robert Benham LL.M. ’89, the first black justice on the Georgia Supreme Court and its first black chief justice, retired March 1 after serving for 34 years as an appellate court judge.
He announced in December that he would depart before his term was set to end on Dec. 31, 2020.
“Justice Benham has been a steady force behind this court,” Chief Justice Harold Melton said in a statement. “As a jurist, he has been unwavering in his commitment to ensuring that all people have equal access to the courts. As a man, he is the embodiment of justice and mercy. He is one of those who manages to bring the best out of people.”
Gov. Joe Frank Harris appointed the Cartersville, Ga., native in 1989. In 1990, Benham won a statewide election to a full term on the court, and was reelected every six years until his retirement. Benham also was elected by his colleagues to serve as chief justice, from 1995 to 2001.
“Justice Benham is a trailblazer, freedom fighter and fiercely compassionate soul who has always led by example and personified integrity,” Gov. Brian Kemp said in a statement. “The profession of law and Georgia’s judiciary are immeasurably better because of Robert Benham. Neither will be the same once he leaves the bench.”
After practicing as a lawyer in Cartersville, Benham was appointed to the state Court of Appeals in 1984 and months later won a contested race for the seat, becoming the first African American to win a statewide election in Georgia.
He previously was a trial attorney for the Atlanta Legal Aid Society Inc. and a special assistant attorney general, and served two terms as president of the Bartow County Bar Association. After completing law school, Benham served in the U.S. Army Reserve, attaining the rank of captain.
In 1970, Benham became the second African American to graduate from the University of Georgia Lumpkin School of Law, earning a J.D. He earned a bachelor’s in political science from Tuskegee University in 1967 and also attended Harvard University.
—Mike Fox
