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1980
Barbara (Dixon) Ryan and her husband are moving back to Charlottesville after 33 years away. The couple married just before her 3L year. She wrote, “I look forward to more opportunities to be engaged in Law School alumni activities.”
1981
Travis Brown sent a nice note, “I’m grateful every day for my time at the Law School. I cannot imagine my life without the benefit of a legal education. It’s sustained my intellectual curiosity and offered hope when our public life seems broken. And it was, and it is, a joy to know so many talented and charming classmates.”
Darrel Tillar Mason was elected vice president of the Virginia Law Foundation, which manages a grant program that has paid over $30 million to recipients aligned with the foundation’s mission of promoting, through philanthropy, the rule of law, access to justice and law-related education.
David Schaeffer released his fourth book and first novel, the legal thriller “Initiation at the Scum Pond,” about a fraternity hazing case. The book was inspired by a case Schaeffer handled in the 1990s, in which his client was rendered quadriplegic in a mysterious “incident.” The client would not reveal what happened to cause his devastating injury or anything about the hazing. The university and fraternity were likewise uncooperative and evasive throughout the investigation and ensuing litigation. “Initiation at the Scum Pond” tells the story of a mother’s quest for justice with the help of an attorney determined to crack the code of silence and pledge of loyalty to find the truth.
1982
James P. “Jim” Bassett returned to Orr & Reno in Concord, N.H., after serving for 13 years as the 107th justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court. Bassett focuses his practice primarily on alternative dispute resolution matters, working as a mediator and arbitrator, and on appellate litigation cases working their way through the state and federal court systems.
Before his appointment to the court, Bassett worked as a trial and appellate lawyer, concentrating his practice on constitutional law, commercial litigation, medical malpractice defense, First Amendment, and right-to-know issues and land-use matters. He argued cases before the New Hampshire Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
During his tenure on the court, he served as chair of the Commission on Judicial Branch Workplace Environment, co-chair of the Committee of the Judiciary and the Media, and co-chair of the Access to Justice Commission. He also served as the court’s representative on the New Hampshire Judicial Council, and the court’s liaison to the N.H. Bar Foundation and N.H. Bar Association. He was also instrumental in expanding the court’s internship program to include college undergraduates.
The Phi Beta Kappa Key Reporter published a review of Allen D. Boyer’s “The Rise and Fall of Treason in English History.” They also published Boyer’s reviews of “Mark Twain” by Ron Chernow and “The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History” by Ned Blackhawk.
Boyer hopes to have the second volume of his Sir Edward Coke biography finished “in a couple of years.”
Patrick J. Coyne joined the panel of JAMS in Washington, D.C. Coyne worked at Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner from 2003 to 2024 and at Collier Shannon & Scott from 1984 to 2003. He has tried and argued more than 100 cases in state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. He has represented clients before the U.S. International Trade Commission, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, and the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. Coyne also oversees domestic and international arbitrations and mediations.
David B. Kearney died peacefully on Nov. 23 at the age of 71 in Richmond, Va. Born in Illinois, Kearney mainly grew up in northern Indiana near the Indiana Dunes and Lake Michigan. His love of nature and the environment began at an early age and followed him for the rest of his life. In the early 1960s, the family lived briefly in Virginia before returning to Indiana.
Kearney graduated from Purdue University’s School of Agriculture in 1976 with a Bachelor of Science in natural resources and environmental science with highest distinction. He served as articles editor for the Virginia Journal of Natural Resources Law while at UVA Law. He also earned the Phi Beta Kappa designation.
From 1982-85, Kearney was an associate at McGuire, Woods & Battle. From 1985 to 1999, he served as an assistant city attorney in the Richmond City Attorney’s Office. From 1999 to 2008, he was owner and publisher of Neighborhood Sports Magazine. From 2008-12, he was with Virginia’s Department of Conservation and Recreation. From 2012 to 2020, and during his retirement, he served again as a senior assistant city attorney at the Richmond City Attorney’s Office.
His family said Kearney enjoyed hiking, camping, Civil War history, walking in the neighborhood, and spending time with family, friends and his cats. During the late 1990s and into the 2000s, he was an assistant scout leader for Boy Scout Troop 799. He enjoyed rooting for Purdue and UVA in all sporting events, and especially watching the Washington Redskins/Commanders.
In 1990, Kearney felt lucky to be an extra in the TV film “Traitor in My House,” starring Mary Kay Place, about Union sympathizer Elizabeth Van Lew in Civil War-era Richmond. But his biggest accomplishment was appearing as an extra in the 2012 film “Lincoln,” directed by Steven Spielberg. Kearney often relayed what Spielberg told him and several of his fellow extra representatives: “Don’t forget, you were one of the good Republicans then.” In 2016, Kearney was an extra in the short-lived PBS series “Mercy Street,” a historical drama set during the Civil War that follows nurses and civilians at a Union hospital in Alexandria, Va. He made it into the season’s climactic scene — nodding to President Lincoln as he stepped from his carriage to visit the hospital.
Kearney’s family said he will be remembered for his kindness, analytical skills, laughter and unwavering love, and that he will be deeply missed by all who knew him. He is survived by his loving wife of 45 years, Jane (Venables) Kearney; his sons, Graham Thomas Kearney (Loren) and Evan Forrest Kearney (Kylene Nickoli); his five cherished grandchildren; his brothers, Stephen Charles Kearney (Martha) and Gregory John Kearney (Judy); and several nieces and nephews.
John S. Ross III teaches classes focused on constitutional law and the Supreme Court in several lifetime learning programs in Massachusetts. Ross is also a leader in the Massachusetts mental health community. In the summers, he retreats to the family lake home in Northern Michigan.
1983
Tim Cupp started Cupp Law & Mediation, where he continues his employment law practice in Harrisonburg, the Shenandoah Valley and Central Virginia. His focus is on the review and negotiation of employment, severance and noncompete agreements, and on litigation involving discrimination, sexual harassment, protected leave, retaliation, whistleblowing, wage and hour disputes, and defamation. He also offers mediation for employment, real estate and business disputes.
Paula A. Monopoli, the Sol & Carlyn Hubert Professor of Law at the University of Maryland Carey School of Law, was named distinguished university professor, the highest faculty distinction conferred by the university in recognition of academic excellence and significant contribution to the recipient’s field.
1984
Bruce Brumberg contributed an article to Forbes in December. Brumberg reached out to experienced advisers to find out what they have been recommending to their affluent clients — and what their clients have been doing. “What Financial Advisors Recommend to Wealthy Clients for Year-End 2025 Donations” covers the uniqueness of the year-end of 2025 and 2026 for charitable donations by wealthy individuals, a multiyear stock price boom that makes donating shares more attractive, and federal government cuts in funding for nonprofits and charities.
Kevin C. Donovan published “A Historiographical Case Study: Challenging the ‘Last Reunion’ Legend of Gen. Carnot Posey, Dr. John Staige Davis, and 33 West Lawn,” in the Magazine of Albemarle Charlottesville History. The article explores the often-repeated story that Posey died in the same University of Virginia room on the Lawn in which he had lived as a student in 1836-37, while being cared for by his former roommate.
Donovan was selected to join Emerging Civil War, a public history platform for sharing original scholarship on the American Civil War. He serves on the board of the Roanoke Civil War Round Table and is an associate editor of North & South magazine.
Willis Padgett “Bill” Whichard LL.M. S.J.D. ’94, of Chapel Hill, N.C., died Nov. 18. He received his A.B. and J.D. degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, after which he practiced law in Durham, N.C. He served in the North Carolina House of Representatives from 1971-74 and in the Senate from 1975-1980, on the North Carolina Court of Appeals from 1980-86, and on the North Carolina Supreme Court from 1986-1998.
While sitting on the Court of Appeals, Whichard participated in the Law School’s graduate program for judges, which brought him to Charlottesville for two summers. He went on to pursue his S.J.D. For his dissertation, he wrote about the life of Justice James Iredell, a North Carolinian who served on the first U.S. Supreme Court. He edited this work into a book, which Carolina Academic Press published in 2000. After retiring from the court, Whichard was dean of the Campbell University Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law from 1999-2006. In later years, he returned to private practice, joining Tillman Whichard & Cagle, where he practiced until 2024. He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Leona Paschal Whichard, two daughters and six grandchildren.
1985
Faegre Drinker partner Steven Kennedy leads the firm’s manufacturing sector in Minneapolis. Kennedy counsels corporations and their directors on securities law, corporate governance and significant corporate matters. His practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings, and private equity and venture capital investments.
Nancy Guthrie Summers, of Lexington, Va., died on Dec. 13. A native of Virginia, she graduated from the College of William & Mary and received her master’s degree from the University of Illinois before graduating from the Law School. Summers practiced public interest law and worked on behalf of citizen groups to improve air and water quality. She was an active member of the Conservation Council of Virginia, serving on its board for several years and later as its president. She also served on the State Air Advisory Board.
1986
Tracey Braun (writing under her pen name, T. Elizabeth Bell) published her third novel, “Sheepish,” in May. Like her first two novels, “Goats in the Time of Love” and “Counting Chickens,” “Sheepish” is a beach read and romantic comedy set on Martha’s Vineyard. While not enjoying the success of classmate David Baldacci, she’s happy with her achievement as a local bestselling author, she said.
Now retired from her position as assistant general counsel for policy at the Export-Import Bank in Washington, D.C., Braun spends most of the year writing and beaching on Martha’s Vineyard with her husband, Chris McIsaac ’85, and her two dogs, Jockamo and Phineas. Reach Braun at @tb.dc.mv on Instagram, @telizabethbell on Facebook and The Creative Current on Substack.
Peter A. Caro was named a “Go To Commercial Real Estate Lawyer” by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly and was recognized in Best Lawyers in America for real estate law. Caro practices in Boston with Casner & Edwards.
William Eigner was included in Best Lawyers in America for mergers and acquisitions, corporate law and corporate governance. Eigner practices with Procopio Cory Hargreaves & Savitch in San Diego.
1987
Jeffrey Kerr’s work at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals was featured in the January/February issue of Washington Lawyer. Kerr started as a staff attorney for PETA in 1993. Months later, he became the organization’s general counsel. He was recently named the inaugural chief operating officer of the PETA Foundation and continues to serve as chief legal officer for the broader organization.
Pamela Passman has been chair of the board of Kids in Need of Defense, an organization she helped launch in 2008 while working at Microsoft, since January 2024. KIND works nationally and internationally to protect the rights and well-being of unaccompanied immigrant children on the move. KIND conducts its mission through a combination of pro bono and direct services (legal representation and psychosocial services) and by advancing systemic, bipartisan child-centered solutions for both immigrant and refugee children and families.
Passman, who serves as global chair, corporate advisory of APCO Worldwide, based in New York City, has recruited fellow UVA Law alumni to assist with KIND’s work. Her classmate Robert B. Duncan added that he and “many, many UVA Law alumni have worked with KIND on pro bono matters at big law firms over the last 15-plus years, both representing individual children and advising the organization itself on a range of legal matters. I would not be surprised if they easily number in the hundreds.” The nonprofit now consists of 18 offices, with operations in the U.S., Europe, Mexico and Latin America. In addition to Microsoft, the organization relies on the support of more than 400 law firms and nearly 100 corporate legal departments from across multiple industries.
Stephen B. Pershing, counsel with Kalijarvi, Chuzi, Newman & Fitch in Washington, D.C., was selected for inclusion in the Best Lawyers in America for employment law (individuals).
1988
Maria Leonard Olsen spoke at TEDx Warrenton on Oct. 25 on “Before and After You Take a DNA Test.” Her book on the consequences, legal and otherwise, of taking a consumer DNA test will be published by Bloomsbury in November. Olsen spoke at TEDx at the City University of New York in 2021 on “Turning Life’s Challenges into a Force for Good.”
1989
Carlton W. Reeves is one of three jurists serving at the heart of U.S. democracy — federal trial courts — whose record is featured in a new book by Reynolds Holding, a journalist, Pulitzer Prize finalist, lawyer and research scholar at Columbia Law School. “Better Judgment” includes the stories of Jed Rakoff, Martha Vázquez and Reeves, and argues that the erosion of federal court power and people’s ability to seek justice has undermined the U.S. constitutional system. Combining archival and legal records with hours of interviews with the principal characters and their clerks, colleagues, friends and families, Holding animates the lives and work of the judges who are the first, and usually only, stop for ordinary people seeking justice.
