Heytens ’00 Begins Service as Fourth Circuit Judge
<p>Heytens’ first clerks include Reedy Swanson ’16, Jessica Merry Samuels, Marcella Coburn (Col ’11) and Megan Keenan ’18.</p>
Former Law School professor Toby J. Heytens ’00 was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as a judge on the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and received his commission in November.
Heytens is the second UVA Law resident faculty member appointed to a federal appeals court while serving on the faculty. The first was Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III ’72, who has served on the Fourth Circuit since 1984.
Since 1939, 15 federal judges taught at the Law School before taking the bench, including U.S. Supreme Court Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Antonin Scalia. Over 130 alumni are serving as judges nationwide.
Heytens was nominated the same day as Patricia Tolliver Giles ’98 and Michael S. Nachmanoff ’95, who were confirmed to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in October.
"Based on their fairness, temperament, and integrity, we believe they will all serve Virginia and the country with distinction," U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner of Virginia said in a statement.
Heytens' nomination received bipartisan support, garnering praise from Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Chuck Grassley of Iowa called
Heytens "a mainstream nominee" who "could serve as a moderating force on the Fourth Circuit," and John Kennedy ’77 of Louisiana said Heytens had a "well-established" intellect.
Heytens was on leave from the Law School faculty from February 2018 to August 2021 to serve as Virginia's solicitor general.
"One of the things that's so significant about government service is the knowledge that you're never just representing an individual in the way that you sometimes are in private practice," Heytens said at his federal confirmation hearing in July about having served as solicitor general. "You are representing the commonwealth as a whole."
In his role as solicitor general, Heytens successfully argued before the U.S. Supreme Court twice and represented the state on numerous other matters in the Supreme Court of Virginia and federal circuit courts. In 2019, he and his colleagues won the National Association of Attorneys General's Supreme Court Best Brief Award for the brief filed in Virginia House of Delegates v. Bethune-Hill.
Heytens first joined the faculty in 2006 and then rejoined in 2010 after taking leave for three years to serve in the Office of the U.S. Solicitor General, during which he argued six cases before the Supreme Court.
At the Law School, Heytens served as one of the directors of the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic. He is an expert in civil procedure, constitutional torts, criminal procedure and remedies.
Dean Risa Goluboff said Heytens brought much to the Law School community as a faculty member.
"Toby is a stellar teacher and legendary mentor, as well as an accomplished advocate and scholar," Goluboff said. "The Fourth Circuit is gaining a brilliant judge who will bring distinction to the bench and humanity and wisdom to the operation of the law. Though we will miss him sorely, we are excited for his next steps and proud of his public service."
Before joining the UVA Law faculty, Heytens worked in the law firm Melveny & Myers Supreme Court and Appellate Practice Group in Washington, D.C. After graduating from law school, he clerked for then-Chief Judge Edward R. Becker of the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, served as a Bristow Fellow in the Solicitor General's Office and clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
During law school, Heytens served as articles development editor of the Virginia Law Review and received the Alumni Association Award for Academic Excellence for having the highest grade point average in his graduating class. His student note, "School Choice and State Constitutions," received the Alumni Association Best Note Award.
Heytens served as head coach of UVA's undergraduate trial advocacy team, which won its third national championship during the 2016-17 season. He won a Raven Award in 2015 for "excellence in service and contribution to the University of Virginia" and an All-University Teaching Award in 2016.
Heytens received his B.A. from Macalester College in 1997.
—Mike Fox
2000
Allison Lefrak joined Pixalate, the market-leading fraud protection, privacy and compliance platform for connected TV and mobile advertising, as senior vice president of public policy, ads privacy and Children's Online Privacy Protection Act compliance. She leads a new division that engages with policymakers and stakeholders to advocate for consumer privacy. Prior to joining Pixalate, Lefrak spent nine years at the Federal Trade Commission, first in the privacy division and later in the Office of International Affairs.
2001
Dwight Floyd was promoted to chief operating officer of Eversheds Sutherland (US). He oversees human resources, conflicts and client information, operations, pricing and value, research and knowledge services, and technology and information services. Floyd previously served as the firm's U.S. chief pricing and value officer.
Steve Klepper was named a leading lawyer in appellate practice and insurance law in Best Lawyers in America. Klepper is a principal in litigation firm Kramon & Graham in Baltimore and leads the firm's appellate group.
Susan Kay Leader joined the Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati litigation department as a partner in the Los Angeles office. She joined the firm from Akin Gump, where she spent 10 years as a trial lawyer. Leader has successfully first-chaired more than a dozen high-stakes commercial matters and class actions in federal and state courts, as well as confidential matters through domestic and international arbitration. Her clients include leading organizations in the entertainment, media, communications, hospitality, financial, education and renewable energy sectors.
Southern Center for Human Rights Promotes Ganzy ’02 to Executive Director
The Atlanta-based Southern Center for Human Rights promoted Terrica Redfield Ganzy ’02 to executive director. She is the first Black person to hold the position.
Ganzy served as deputy director since 2018 and previously worked for four years as SCHR's development director, fueling a fundraising strategy that helped double the nonprofit's budget.
In 2004, she began her nine-year tenure as a staff attorney in the Capital Litigation Unit, where she represented people on death row in Georgia and Alabama. During that time, she served for five years as the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ death penalty resource counsel, providing training and resources to capital defense attorneys across the country.
"Terrica has dedicated her career to SCHR, first as a capital defense attorney, then as development director, and most recently as deputy director," SCHR Board Chairman James Kwak said in a statement announcing the promotion on Dec. 13. "She has been instrumental to our successes, and I look forward to working with her for many years to come."
Ganzy previously served for two years as president of the board of the Georgia Legal Services Program, and serves as vice president of the Center for Death Penalty Litigation's board of directors, vice president of the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys, and as mentoring co-chair for the Atlanta chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. Her roles also included serving as vice president of the State Bar of Georgia's Professionalism Committee and as a member of the State Bar's Seeking Equal Justice and Addressing Racism and Racial Bias Committee. Additionally, she is a member of the Judicial Council of Georgia's Access to Justice Committee.
"I am honored to build on the vision of SCHR's founders and leaders, people who make a habit of seeking out, disrupting, and dismantling injustice," Ganzy said in a statement. "I am a native Southerner, a descendant of people who chose to stay and fight. I consider it my duty to carry that legacy forward, and I am grateful to do so by advancing SCHR's ongoing efforts towards equality, dignity, and justice."
—Mike Fox
2003
Roscoe Jones was elected partner and co-chair of the public policy group at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher in Washington, D.C. Jones focuses on promoting and protecting companies' interests before Congress and the administration. His work includes providing a range of public policy services, such as strategic counseling, advocacy, coalition building, political intelligence gathering, substantive policy experience, legislative drafting and message development.
2004
Courtney Caprio joined AXS Law Group as a partner in Wynwood, Fla. Caprio's practice focuses on high-stakes litigation and arbitration. Caprio also handles transactional work, including advising startups and female-owned businesses on employment, intellectual property and corporate matters.
Kevin Alden Maxwell joined Smith & Wesson Brands as senior vice president, general counsel, chief compliance officer and corporate secretary. Maxwell previously served as vice president, associate general counsel and assistant secretary for WestRock Company. Maxwell and his wife and children relocated from Sandy Springs, Ga., to Knoxville, Tenn.
Jennifer Nadborny was elevated to partner with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. Nadborny advises companies on all aspects of their compliance with U.S. securities laws and the listing requirements of the major U.S. exchanges. She is resident in New York City.
2005
Azish Filabi was named chair-elect of the New York State Bar Association's International Section. She will become chair of the section in June. Filabi is the executive director of the Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics in Financial Services, the Charles Lamont Post Chair of Business Ethics, and associate professor at the American College for Financial Services in King of Prussia, Pa. From 2015-19, Filabi was the executive director of Ethical Systems, an organization housed at the New York University Stern School of Business.
Jennifer Banner Sobers was elevated to of counsel at Pomerantz, a firm specializing in litigating securities class actions. Banner Sobers lives in New York, "with her wonderful husband and two girls," she writes.
Richard C. Wetzel III was named deputy general counsel with Dominion Energy. He leads a team of attorneys who advise on the company's securities, corporate finance, commercial transactions, and mergers and acquisitions matters. Wetzel previously served as managing counsel for the company's commercial transaction matters.
2006
In June, Kathryn “Kate” Duvall joined Charlottesville's Piedmont Court Appointed Special Advocates as president and CEO.
Joe McMullen and his friend and co-counsel Michael Marrinan obtained the largest jury verdict in California for a surviving victim of police excessive force in 2020. The verdict ranked among the top 30 plaintiff verdicts in any type of case in California last year. In February 2021, a post-trial settlement of $2.5 million was approved, which The San Diego Union Tribune reported as "one of the largest payouts in San Diego history."
Andrea Parisi welcomed daughter Charlotte Alessandra on Dec. 23. "Miss Charlotte is positively perfect in every way and encouraged to be a future UVA lawyer," writes her mom. The family currently lives in Richmond, Va.
Jason Stavers spent 10 years as a litigator at Gibson Dunn before switching gears to make his living as a writer and journalist. In October, he reported that his first major project debuted, a 10-episode podcast "Bonaparte."
"Bonaparte" follows the story of Stavers' former colleague, Gibson Dunn partner Anne Champion, as she tries to solve the mysterious death of a friend that happened more than 25 years ago. Stavers writes, "I am very proud of what my team and I have accomplished. It's true crime, but we hope something more — a deep study of the woman who was killed and the way her death, and the mystery of it, has changed the lives of those close to her." The podcast is available on all major platforms, as well as online.
2007
Jamie Burro is now a chief prosecutor and supervisor in the adult sex crimes and human trafficking division of the Harris County District Attorney's Office in Houston. In her role, Burro works to protect victims of the high-volume route for sex trafficking, stretching from Central and South America to the Southwestern United States and beyond.
Austin Curry was selected as a leading lawyer for intellectual property litigation and patent litigation in Best Lawyers in America. Curry practices with Caldwell Cassady & Curry in Dallas.
Christopher Jackson was promoted to assistant chief within the fraud section of the U.S. Department of Justice's Criminal Division.
Alexandra Marzelli joined Alston & Bird in Washington, D.C., as counsel. Marzelli spent five years with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration working with bio-similar and other generic drugs. She also worked with the FDA's Office of the Chief Counsel's COVID-19 response team, managing requests for legal advice.
Albert “BJ” Stieglitz has joined Alston & Bird as a partner in the firm's white-collar, government and internal investigations practice. Most recently the acting principal deputy chief of the U.S. Department of Justice's Criminal Fraud Section, Stieglitz served for more than 12 years as a federal fraud and corruption prosecutor, including on a three-year posting to the United Kingdom, where he was seconded to the U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority and Serious Fraud Office. Stieglitz is based in the firm's Washington, D.C., office, where he advises companies and individuals on investigations, litigation and compliance issues related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, securities fraud and market manipulation, and other complex and cross-border conduct.
Joey Ponzi was recognized as a leading attorney for commercial litigation in Best Lawyers in America. Ponzi practices with Brooks Pierce in Greensboro, N.C.
2008
Matt Berde was promoted to counsel with Weil, Gotshal & Manges. Berde practices banking and finance law in Dallas and advises borrowers and leading private equity sponsors in a variety of financing transactions, including first and second lien credit facilities, middle market and large cap financings, cross-border and domestic acquisition financings, and debt restructuring transactions.
Kiran S. Kadekar joined Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft as a partner in New York. Practicing with the corporate group, Kadekar represents family offices, private equity firms, hedge funds, global financial institutions and life sciences, and industrial and energy companies in connection with public and private domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions transactions, restructurings, joint venture formations and corporate governance.
Damien Lyster was promoted to partner at Vinson & Elkins. Lyster advises clients on numerous transactional and state and federal regulatory issues related to the production, gathering, transportation and storage of natural gas; the transportation, terminaling and storage of liquid hydrocarbons; power sales and marketing; and the sale or acquisition of natural gas, oil and electric power commodities and assets. He has represented companies in negotiating commercial agreements and pursuing applicable authorizations from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Texas Railroad Commission. He practices in both Houston and Washington, D.C.
Betty Segaar was elected to partner of Troutman Pepper's corporate practice. Based in Richmond, Va., Segaar represents issuers and underwriters in connection with all aspects of public and private securities offerings, with a significant portion of her work concentrated in regulated industries, including the energy and utility industries and the telecommunications industry.
2009
Christopher H. Langbein died on May 5, 2021, in Chicago, after a three-year struggle with sarcoma cancer. He is survived by his wife, Becky, whom he married in 2016, and by their two children. In 2001, Langbein graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a double major in economics and English. He joined the Washington office of National Economic Research Associates, a consulting firm specializing in market share analysis and similar projects for companies involved in regulatory proceedings before the federal antitrust agencies. In 2005, he began a four-year joint-degree program in the business and law schools at UVA. He then joined the Chicago office of Kirkland & Ellis, specializing in bankruptcy and corporate restructuring. In 2013, Langbein moved to the Chicago office of the international investment banking firm Lazard, where he continued his career in restructuring troubled companies.
Besides being a devoted husband and father, Langbein was a skilled photographer and a determined golfer. During his married years, he became an accomplished cook and baker.
Nitin Shah serves as general counsel to the U.S. General Services Administration and as a council member of the Administrative Conference of the United States. As general counsel, Shah provides legal advice to the GSA administrator and other government senior officials, while ensuring implementation of GSA's statutory responsibilities. He manages a 170-person nationwide legal team.
