Class Notes: Fall 2024

Sanford M. Jaffe was inspired by the Class Notes submission of Giovanni Verusio LL.M. ’56 in the last Bulletin to share some of his own story and the impact his HLS education had on him. Jaffe writes that early in his career he was an assistant prosecutor in Essex County, New Jersey; chief of the Criminal Division for the U.S. attorney for New Jersey (Robert Kennedy was then AG); and special assistant to the U.S. attorney general. He was later appointed executive director of the New Jersey Commission charged with investigating the causes of civil disorders that occurred in Newark and other cities in New Jersey and making recommendations for dealing with them. “The recommendations,” he writes, “some of which were adopted and implemented, had far-reaching impacts, and others, remarkably, are still being weighed.”
Jaffe went on to serve as officer-in-charge at the Ford Foundation, where he headed the law and government section for more than a decade, “funding many of the public interest law firms that were created during the tumultuous period of the 1960s and later.” He left Ford to create and direct the Center for Negotiation and Conflict Resolution at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, where he had been an undergraduate. “Primarily motivated to find alternatives to litigation as paths to justice,” he writes, “I realized, with my colleague, that individuals, institutions, and organizations needed more than legal remedies to manage conflicts, particularly those that occur in public domains. We raised funds to support it — it’s still operating now — and we taught for serveral decades while also mediating large-scale disputes that involved public agencies.
Today, Jaffe remains at Rutgers as a senior policy fellow in the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. He writes, “All of the above, and then some, I attribute in large measure to the great education I received at Harvard Law School.”

In the spring, Kent Bishop wrote: “As an 84-year-old grad, I give thanks each morning for the present day. I have a third-year paper on file in Langdell, four books in Widener, one at home in process. I play tennis, golf and swim, bike, run frequently. I work part time as a starter at a golf course and occasionally do a bit of law. I have four children and six grandchildren and, alas, need a good wife.”

Alfred de Zayas, a former U.N. independent expert, writes that he briefed the U.N. Security Council during an “Arria Formula” meeting in March on “unilateral coercive measures, which some countries want to call ‘sanctions,’ although they actually constitute unlawful ‘use of force’ in contravention of the U.N. Charter, specifically article 2, paragraph 4.” His statement was published on the World Beyond War site (bit.ly/Worldbeyondwar). Zayas’ most recent book is “The Human Rights Industry: Reflections of a Veteran Human Rights Defender.” He adds that in June he traveled to the Hermann Hesse Tage at Sils Maria in the Canton de Grisons in Switzerland, where he spoke about his translation of 220 Hesse poems from the cycle “Das Lied des Lebens.”

Richard Hoffman ’70 wrote that he and two classmates participated in a reenactment of the 1935 trial of Bruno Richard Hauptmann for the murder of celebrated aviator Charles Lindbergh’s infant son, in the Marin County Superior Court in San Rafael, California, last May. Noah Griffin ’70, of Tiburon, California, a historian who served as vice mayor of Tiburon, organized the mock trial with retired California Judge Lise Pearlman, who has written a book about the case and suggests that Lindbergh himself might have played a role in his child’s death. The prosecutor in the reenactment was played by Peter Buchsbaum ’70 of Stockton, New Jersey, a retired judge of the New Jersey Superior Court, where Hauptmann had been tried. Buchsbaum recalled the label affixed to a seat in that courtroom that read, “This chair was sat in by Bruno Hauptmann.” Buchsbaum commented: “It was spooky sitting right in front of that seat, and now here I am all these years later doing this mock trial. I didn’t come away from today convinced that Hauptmann was innocent, but I do think it is worth looking into.”

Hoffman, who served as clerk of the D.C. Court of Appeals and executive director of the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission, appeared as a “wood expert” witness from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service. He testified to the strength of the wooden ladder that Hauptmann allegedly used to carry out the kidnapping of Charles A. Lindbergh Jr. from the second-floor nursery in the family home in Hopewell, New Jersey. During the reenactment, amidst testimony from the trial, a current-day public defender pointed out many seeming errors that undermine the state’s case, including withheld facts related to the ladder.

“It’s strange to deliver testimony that has now been deemed totally unreliable in our age of DNA evidence,” Hoffman noted, “and also that just about all of this witness’s testimony regarding the ladder has been shown to be based on sloppy investigation and failure to establish chain of custody.”

Those present at the reenactment — observers, law students, and participants, who included many public defenders, prosecutors, and court staff, among them bailiffs provided by the Sheriff’s Office — voted 38-5 in favor of a new trial for Hauptmann.

Harvey J. Kirsh LL.M. has been awarded the Governor General of Canada’s Medal for Meritorious Service for achievements in the development of the field of construction law in Canada. He was recognized for demonstrating exemplary leadership as a construction arbitrator, mediator, referee, author, counsel, and advocate, and as the founding president of the Canadian College of Construction Lawyers. The presentation ceremony by the governor general will take place at Ottawa in the fall of 2024.

Stephen B. Young published “Kissinger’s Betrayal: How America Lost the Vietnam War” with RealClear Publishing. Young wrote in June that his book includes replicas of documents “which reveal Henry Kissinger on his own in early 1971, without authorization from President Nixon, proposing to the Communist leaders in Moscow, Beijing, and Hanoi that, in return for a peace treaty, the United States would abandon its ally, the Republic of Vietnam.” His book, he wrote, also includes “English translations of the November 1960 directives from Hanoi to its followers in South Vietnam to organize the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (the NLF or Viet Cong) and begin a war against the South Vietnamese government.” He added that in April 1975, he “took the lead in proposing a refugee resettlement program for Vietnamese nationalists as Hanoi brought to a violent end the ‘Decent Interval’ which Kissinger had secretly negotiated for South Vietnam in 1971.”

James D. Adducci, formerly general counsel of The Firm of John Dickinson Schneider Inc., has now assumed the position of general counsel emeritus. JDS is the parent company of Hollister Incorporated, a global provider of health care products and services, and several service companies across the United States and Europe. Adducci continues to serve on the board of directors of JDS.

Olufunke Adekoya LL.M. writes: “A group of international students who met and became friends while attending the Harvard Law School LL.M. program in 1977 decided to mark their 45th reunion (albeit a year late due to COVID travel restrictions) at the end of September 2023 by meeting in Italy. Our reunion showcased the international friendships forged during the LL.M. program as participants hailed from Australia, Belgium, Iran, Italy, Austria, Nigeria, Canada, France, England, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States. … Many thanks to Stefano Burchi LL.M. and Sietze Hepkema LL.M., who organized the event.” The reunion included a stay in the town of Bolsena, and a highlight, according to Adekoya, was the boat ride to Bisentina Island, in the heart of Lake Bolsena. “Here’s to the new memories made, the friendships renewed, and the anticipation of future reunions. Until we meet again!” she concluded.

The Trustees of Minnesota State Colleges and Universities elected George Soule to serve as board chair for a two-year term. He has served on the board of trustees since 2017. Minnesota State’s 26 community and technical colleges and seven universities serve over 300,000 students per year. A graduate of Minnesota State University Moorhead (formerly Moorhead State University), Soule is a partner at Soule & Stull in Minneapolis.

Duquesne University President Ken Gormley shared that 13 HLS classmates gathered in May at Duquesne’s commencement in Pittsburgh to celebrate as classmate U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) served as a keynote speaker and received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at this year’s ceremonies. Warner, who was Gormley’s HLS roommate in a house in Somerville, Massachusetts, now chairs the Select Committee on Intelligence and is a member of the Senate Finance, Banking, Budget, and Rules Committees. He was honored by Duquesne for working with senators and leaders of all political stripes, and demonstrating the virtues of civil discourse, which Gormley has emphasized with students throughout his presidency. The group of HLS friends, who have kept in touch since graduating from the law school, included Lisa Hemmer and Chris Savage, Betsy Merritt, Marc Silverstein, Howard Gutman, Joel Pelz, Russ Daggatt, Marla Williams, Erika Fine, Jorie Roberts, Tom Lucero, and multiple spouses, including Laura Gormley and Lisa Collis, wife of Sen. Warner. Many members of this group met the first week of law school, wrote Gormley, and went on to found “The Somerville Bar Review, a large group of 1Ls who gained notoriety by meeting every Thursday night to take a break from their studies and to review dive bars in and around Somerville.” The classmates continue to gather regularly to celebrate each other’s milestones and successes. Gormley told Warner during the ceremony, when bestowing upon him the honorary degree: “This is even a bigger deal than being [elected] governor or U.S. senator.”

“Bungee jumping from a plane might push my comfort zone more than what I’m doing, but not by much,” wrote Daniel Wolf in mid-June. “With collaborators I have written a practical plan for reconstruction of Gaza, one that creates a foundation for peaceful coexistence. I’m pushing it out to responsible officials as well as protesters; last week I met the president of the U.N. General Assembly. It differs from innumerable other peace plans in that it provides a detailed path to a prosperous state for Palestinians and long-term security for Israel. (See www.tinyurl.com/gaza-2050-summary.) Echoes of my international law studies with Abe Chayes and Dean Smith can be heard if you read closely.” Wolf has also restarted his first tech company, Terra Segura, which is working to develop an affordable landmine clearing technology for Ukraine and beyond. And he is continuing with Democracy Counts, which develops software and processes that empower Americans to conduct legitimate near-real-time audit checks on their local election machinery. “My election audit work,” he added, “traces back to my time at HLS, when in 1984 Dean Frederick Snyder suggested I research Nicaragua’s electoral system to prepare an observers’ mission to the Nicaraguan presidential elections that November. I ended up writing the world’s first country-specific election observers’ manual. If we succeed in saving American democracy, you can blame Fred Snyder.”

In the spring, Shaun McElhatton wrote: “I am honored to be featured in two new books: ‘Enlightened Self-Interest: Individualism, Community, and the Common Good,’ by Thomas Bussen, and ‘La Via Francigena, Passo Dopo Passo: 2200 km da Canterbury a Roma’ (The Via Francigena, Step by Step: 2200 km from Canterbury to Rome), by Alberto Foppa Vicenzini.” The first profiles McElhatton, focusing, in particular, on what led him in his late 50s to volunteer in Kyrgyzstan through the Peace Corps for two years. The second was written by a fellow trekker who encountered McElhatton on the ancient pilgrimage route, which McElhatton and his wife traversed over a summer.

Beth-Ann Krimsky, a partner and the national litigation division chair at Greenspoon Marder in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was selected as the winner of ALM’s Florida Legal Awards “Attorney of the Year.” This recognition honors an attorney who has made a distinct impact in the field of law. Krimsky recently secured and had confirmed two arbitration awards exceeding $100 million for clients. She also holds leadership roles (and is set to become chair in January 2025 ) on the boards of the Memorial Regional Hospital and Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital Foundations.

Andreas Zimmermann LL.M., a professor at the University of Potsdam in Germany, wrote in May that he’d recently “acted as counsel in a high-profile case before the International Court of Justice, namely this time in the advisory proceedings concerning Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.” He added that he is also advising states in other ICJ cases dealing with climate change, state immunities (Germany versus Italy), and a boundary dispute between two Latin American states (Guyana versus Venezuela).

This summer Ted Chiappari, partner at Duane Morris, was named chair of the immigration division of the firm’s employment, labor, benefits, and immigration practice group. Chiappari practices in the area of business immigration, and his work includes representing companies seeking to acquire temporary work permits or permanent resident status for their foreign employees, and also representing individuals on maintenance of U.S. resident status while abroad and on citizenship matters.

Trial attorney Mandy Nathan has joined Reynolds Frizzell as of counsel. She helps guide legal strategies as she develops arguments for motions, briefs, and trials. Prior to focusing her practice on litigation research and writing, Nathan represented plaintiffs and defendants in complex commercial litigation matters related to contracts, partnership agreements, business torts, and professional liability disputes, among others.

Andrea “Andie” Davis writes: “I’m thrilled to announce that my debut novel, ‘Let Me Liberate You,’ is out in the world! It’s the story of a New York artist who returns to Barbados searching for purpose, only to end up setting off a workers’ revolt that brings the island to its knees. It’s a satire of privilege, class struggle, performative activism in the age of social media, and growing distrust in legacy institutions.”

Louis Lopez joined AARP Foundation as vice president for litigation. His portfolio includes economic justice, labor and employment, and consumer protection. Lopez also was appointed chair of the American Bar Association’s Commission on Hispanic Legal Rights and Responsibilities and serves as a board member of the Harvard Law School Association of Washington, D.C.

Earlier this year, Mike McNamara joined Baretz+Brunelle, a growth advisory firm to businesses in the legal industry, as the firm’s first chief executive officer. He was previously managing partner and then CEO of Dentons US, where he also served on the global management committee and the global board.

In August, Daniel Abebe became the 16th dean of Columbia Law School and the school’s Lucy G. Moses Professor of Law. He previously served as vice provost for academic affairs and governance at the University of Chicago and Harold J. and Marion F. Green Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School, where he was deputy dean from 2016 to 2018.

Gaia Bernstein LL.M., professor at Seton Hall University School of Law, writes that she delivered a TEDx Talk based on her book “Unwired: Gaining Control over Addictive Technologies.” (tinyurl.com/5n94av97.)

Scott Claassen has returned to Stinson in the Kansas City, Missouri, office after spending four years in-house as general counsel for a NASDAQ-listed global financial transactions services corporation. His practice focuses on representing clients in mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, and securities law compliance.

Patrick Kassen has joined Greenberg Traurig as a shareholder in the corporate, investment management, and financial regulatory and compliance practices in New York. He focuses on the private equity and real estate sectors. Kassen was previously at Blackstone, where he had most recently served as general counsel of their portfolio company Link Logistics and previously served as managing director and chief compliance officer of Blackstone Real Estate.

UCLA Professor of Law Anna Spain Bradley writes that she was appointed by President Biden as one of four U.S. delegate members to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes Panel of Conciliators at the World Bank. She joined UCLA Law in 2020 and previously served as the university’s vice chancellor for equity, diversity, and inclusion. Spain Bradley has also been a U.S. delegate to the U.N., an attorney-adviser for the United States before the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal, and legal counsel for nations before the Permanent Court of Arbitration. Founding member and former board member of Mediators Beyond Borders International, she has also been vice president and an executive council member of the American Society of International Law. She is author of the book “Human Choice in International Law” and is currently writing another, titled “Global Racism.”

Yoni Rosenzweig was appointed co-head of the antitrust group at Davis Wright Tremaine, a national law firm headquartered in Seattle with over 600 attorneys. His practice focuses on antitrust litigation, disputes, and counseling, and his clients are drawn from sectors including real estate, computer technology, gaming, retail, and finance. Prior to his move to Davis Wright Tremaine, Rosenzweig practiced at Katten Muchin Rosenman and at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan.

In July, Stacy Stitham became managing partner of Maine-based Brann & Isaacson, where she was previously a partner. A board member of the Maine Justice Foundation and Foxcroft Academy, she recently served as president of the Maine State Bar Association.

In April, António Leitão Amaro LL.M. was appointed to the cabinet of the new government of Portugal. He writes that he serves as minister of the presidency, in charge of the executive’s legislative activity, political coordination and communications, and migrations policy. In addition, he adds, he is the fourth in the ranking of the Portuguese national executive branch.

Jennifer Richnafsky has joined the Pittsburgh office of Steptoe & Johnson and is of counsel in the firm’s labor and employment department. She counsels employers on issues such as breach of contract, employment agreements, employee benefits plans, and the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Kenneth Grad LL.M. has been appointed assistant professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Manitoba, where he teaches criminal law and evidence.

Jamie Kapalko has been named vice president and general counsel of Jersey Mike’s Subs. She joined Jersey Mike’s in 2015 and most recently served as deputy general counsel. She is now responsible for overseeing all legal affairs including corporate contracts and regulatory compliance.

Yuan Liang has joined the IP group at Ambrose, Mills & Lazarow, a boutique law firm that focuses on corporate and intellectual property law, as a partner. He previously practiced at Sterne Kessler, where he was a counsel.

Emily Martinez Lieban is a partner in Holland & Knight’s San Francisco office and a member of the firm’s West Coast land use and environment group. She was recently named one of San Francisco Business Times’ 40 Under 40. Lieban helps natural resources, manufacturing, and energy clients manage environmental challenges that arise in project development, regulatory compliance, and litigation.

Alexander Simmonds has joined Cadeler A/S as chief legal officer. “Headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, and listed in New York and Oslo, Cadeler owns and operates a fleet of specialist jack-up vessels for the transportation, installation, and maintenance of offshore wind turbines,” Simmonds writes. He previously was counsel at Davis Polk & Wardwell, where he practiced in both the New York and London offices.

Seun Matiluko LL.M., a British-Nigerian journalist, released a new podcast series in February with the BBC called Seun’s Talking Drum: bit.ly/Seunstalkingdrum. She writes: “The series focuses on Britain’s largest African group — West Africans! It asks whether it’s possible to authentically be both British and West African. How authentic can your British identity be when you’re raised in a very West African household? And how West African can you truly feel when you have little idea of what day-to-day realities are like in your heritage country, beyond what relatives send you in ‘forwarded many times’ WhatsApp videos?”