Class Notes: Spring 2024

Giovanni Verusio LL.M. ’56 writes that 68 years after he graduated, he still receives the Bulletin in Italy and reads much of it with interest. “In turn, I would like to update you somewhat about what I have been doing since. I am now nearly 92, sadly a widower, but in good health if not exactly kicking (my legs are not what they were). I practiced law in Rome for 63 years, until I was 89, when I decided that enough was enough. Three years ago, I was honoured by the Rome Bar on the occasion of my 60th year of membership; not many reach that far.” Verusio’s sixth book, “A lawyer’s life” (written in Italian), is just being published. He is now doing research for another book on three wars fought in South America during the second part of the 19th century and in 1932. “Besides practicing law, and writing books,” he writes, “my hobby has been ethnography: Since 1960, when I took part in the expedition of the University of Florence in the Hindu Kush (Kafiristan), I have participated in 38 others, ranging from the North Pole to Cape Town, from Viet Nam to New Zealand, from Bolivia and Chile to Alaska and three in the Amazon Forest (lots of ghastly insects).” Verusio adds, “I have always been proud of my days in HLS, and what I learnt there has been my faithful companion during my whole life.”

Dick Klein sent the news that the third edition of his Thompson Reuters trial practice book for lawyers, “Trial Communication Skills,” has been published.” It was written with Julius Fast, the author of the first “Body Language” book, and the new edition covers communicating in AI, remote communication, communicating with different cultures, communicating across generations, and more.

S. Mason Pratt retired after 47 years of practice with Pierce Atwood in Portland, Maine, and became a writer, publishing his first novel, “The Truth About Hannah White,” a Maine North Woods murder mystery, in 2015. In March he wrote: “I am just now publishing my second novel, a Maine North Woods spy thriller, ‘On the Knife Edge,’ based, in part, on the tragedy of the El Faro, a container ship that sank off the Bahamas on Oct. 1, 2015, with all 33 lives lost, including five graduates from Maine Maritime Academy.”

David Drachsler writes that he’s had two articles published recently: “LSC Funding Restrictions Deny Pretrial Detainees Access to Justice,” Taking the Stand, Washington Lawyer, November-December 2023, and “Utilization of Healthcare and the Commerce Clause,” Indiana Health Law Review (online edition), Jan. 9, 2024.

Lawrence Frolik, professor emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh Schoolf Law, was a visiting professor at Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport, Florida, in the spring semester of 2023 and taught a first-year class in torts. In January 2024, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Section on Aging and the Law of the Association of American Law Schools at the annual meeting. Frolik was honored for his distinguished career of teaching, service, and scholarship in the field of elder law. The seventh edition of his casebook, “Elder Law: Cases, Materials, and Problems,” was published in March 2024.

Peter Buchsbaum writes: “2023, terrible in many ways, resulted in deepening my involvement with Jewish organizations. In May in Israel I was elected to the executive board of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, which encompasses millions of Reform and progressive Jews on six continents. Then, in December I was appointed to the Commission on Social Action of the Union for Reform Judaism, which is the U.S. organization of Reform synagogues. I continue to write on affordable housing issues, and to serve on nonprofit boards dealing with housing and domestic violence issues in New Jersey and in Maine, where we spend about five months a year. So life after my retirement from the bench 10 years ago has been reasonably full and just became fuller with the addition of our first grandson in January 2023. Looking forward to our 55th Reunion in 2025 since I had to miss the delayed 50th due to COVID.”

John Welch, counsel in Wolf Greenfield’s trademark and copyright practice, received the International Trademark Association’s 2023 President’s Award. The award is given annually to one or more individuals who have, over the course of their careers, made a lasting impact on INTA and its mission and who have had a profound impact on the global trademark community. Welch was honored at INTA’s 2023 leadership meeting in November.

Steve Whelan writes that he is a member of the Legal Advisory Council of the Academic Freedom Alliance, along with HLS Professor Jeannie Suk Gersen ’02 and former ACLU President Nadine Strossen ’75. “The AFA was created to provide legal representation to faculty members across the country who are threatened with disciplinary action arising from their protected speech,” he adds.

St. Louis-based Thompson Coburn partner Larry Katzenstein was the 2023 recipient of the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils’ Hartman Axley Lifetime Service Award. The award honors those who have been highly active in the estate planning community. A nationally recognized authority on estate planning and charitable giving and an adviser to charitable organizations locally and nationally, Katzenstein is a frequent speaker to professional groups, including American Law Institute estate planning programs and other national tax institutes. He also serves on the board and rates committee of the American Council on Gift Annuities. In addition, he is active as a board member and as general counsel to several local charities, including the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, which he conducts in an annual concert for clients and friends. His most recent concert included the Shostakovich Symphony No. 1.

Jeremy Fogel, executive director of the Berkeley Judicial Institute at Berkeley Law School, wrote in December 2023: “Our article on law clerk diversity (my co-authors are Professor Mary Hoopes from Pepperdine Law School and Justice Goodwin Liu of the California Supreme Court), based upon in-depth interviews of 50 active United States circuit judges, has been published in this term’s Harvard Law Review. I never imagined, when I was a lowly and alienated 1L, that one day I might write that sentence. In a similar vein, I never imagined that I would be recognized by the American College of Trial Lawyers for my efforts to emphasize the importance to judges of emotional intelligence, but it happened. I’m beyond grateful to the ACTL to have been honored by their Gates Litigation Award earlier this year.”

Ron Weaver retired from Stearns Weaver Miller last December. Over 40 years, he played a large role in establishing and growing the firm’s Tampa, Florida, presence from just two people to an over 50-person office. He represented landowners, development companies, and local governments in environmental, land use and property rights law, real estate acquisition, and financing matters. Weaver’s involvement in philanthropic organizations, he writes, included his founding, in 2008, of CareerRebound (formerly known as Real Estate Lives), a not-for-profit organization that helped support those in real estate and related industries affected by the Great Recession – more than 4,300 unemployed people to date.

Frank Holleman has joined the American College of Environmental Lawyers as a fellow. A former deputy secretary of education under President Clinton, Holleman joined the Southern Environmental Law Center in 2011. He now leads the center’s regional litigation and policy work on coal ash pollution and is involved in other SELC programs related to clean energy, water protection, and wildlife.

Last September, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky awarded Eli Rosenbaum the Order of Merit, conferring the title Chevalier of the Order of Merit, for his work leading the U.S. Justice Department’s efforts to pursue justice on behalf of Ukrainian victims of Russian aggression, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland ’77 subsequently selected Rosenbaum, whom he had appointed in 2022 as the Justice Department’s counselor for war crimes accountability, as the sole 2023 individual recipient of the Attorney General’s David Margolis Award for Exceptional Service, which is the Justice Department’s highest award for employee performance. Rosenbaum retired from federal service in January.

Robert P. George received an inaugural 2023 Barry Prize for Distinguished Intellectual Achievement from the newly established American Academy of Sciences and Letters. George is the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, professor of politics, and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. A specialist in moral and political philosophy, constitutional law, bioethics, and the theory of conscience, he has served as chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and the President’s Council on Bioethics. George writes that HLS Professor Ruth Okediji LL.M. ’91 S.J.D. ’96 also received a Barry Prize last year.

Stuart W. Davidson was named among the 2023 “Best of the Bar” by the Philadelphia Business Journal for his decades of advocacy on behalf of labor unions and workers. A partner at Willig, Williams & Davidson, he represents public and private benefit funds and serves as chief counsel to large regional and local unions along the East and Gulf coasts and in the Chicago area. He has also played key roles in the development of new and progressive benefit structures with the pension and health and welfare plans he represents.

Keith James was re-elected as mayor of West Palm Beach, Florida, for another four-year term. James is the first mayor in the city’s 130-year history to have been re-elected without opposition. He was sworn in on April 6, 2023.

John Fisher Gray and his wife, Elizabeth, are among the founders of Autism Delaware, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Gray continues to serve as an officer and board member. He writes: “Started in 1998 by a handful of families gathered around a kitchen table, today Autism Delaware has a staff of more than 100, providing statewide, daily services to families and individuals affected by autism. With a modest annual budget of just over $6 million, the staff at Autism Delaware work diligently to field more than 8,400 support calls from the community every year, as well as provide employment opportunities for 150+ adults living with autism. Through family guidance, job skills training for adults, and numerous social and recreational events held throughout the year, Autism Delaware strives to make the First State, and the world beyond, a more inclusive place for those living with autism.”

Luc Frieden LL.M. was appointed prime minister of Luxembourg in November 2023 after winning the general elections in his country.

This past April, Scott Kline ’88, at age 61, completed the Boston Marathon, for the second time — something that anyone could be proud of. But for Kline it was a recovery run of sorts. Last October, he reached a long-term goal of running one marathon in each of the 50 states. Read more about Scott’s running journey.

In February, Charles Facktor wrote: “Classmates, I have retired; no more fame and fortune for me. I have four kids and four grandchildren and another on the way. You can find me in Holly Springs, North Carolina, or on Facebook.”

Jon Dauphiné is CEO of the Foundation for Financial Planning, an organization whose mission is to expand the provision of pro bono financial advice and planning to underserved people. In December, he wrote: “We’ve been growing the pro bono movement in financial advice, persuading thousands of certified financial planners to get involved and provide their services for free to people in need. This fall, we released a report that I wrote on the most comprehensive research ever done on pro bono in this field.” It found, he added, that “70% of the almost 1,200 financial advisors we surveyed said they wanted to see advisory firms become more like law firms in their support for pro bono.” He said he hoped the report “will drive increased volunteerism and engagement across the financial advisory profession and in turn enable us to reach many thousands of additional families.” After the report’s release, Dauphiné was named to the InvestmentNews “Hot List” of 100 “movers and shakers” who are propelling the financial advice profession forward.

Sara E. Colón-Acevedo LL.M., an attorney at Jackson Lewis in San Juan, was featured in the 11th Edition of “The Best Lawyers in Puerto Rico.” Jackson Lewis is a national law firm focusing on labor and employment law, and Colón-Acevedo was recognized for her work in those areas.

Roger A. Fairfax Jr. has been appointed dean of the Howard University School of Law, effective July 1, 2024. He currently serves as dean of the American University Washington College of Law. Prior to academia, he practiced with O’Melveny & Myers in Washington, D.C., and served as a trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice’s criminal division. Fairfax’s scholarship has been published in numerous books and journals, and he has taught courses and done research on criminal law and procedure, professional responsibility and ethics, criminal justice policy and reform, and racial justice. He currently serves on the boards of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

Peggy S. Chen has been promoted to special counsel in the trial practice group at Duane Morris. She practices in intellectual property law and litigation with a primary focus on copyright, trademark, and trade dress litigation and complex commercial litigation.

Mike Schechter has become a partner at Ashburn & Mason in Anchorage, Alaska, where he has lived for the last 10 years. He advises clients on real estate, aviation, and land use matters while maintaining a healthy litigation practice. Schechter and his wife, Kate, are the proud parents of twin kindergartners Zoe and Maximus.

Lawson Fite is a new shareholder in Schwabe’s Portland, Oregon, office and practices in the firm’s natural resources industry group, where he guides clients through environmental regulation, compliance, permitting, and litigation. He has argued in state and federal trial and appellate courts.

In January of 2023, after nearly 15 years practicing immigration law, Monica Eav Glicken became the executive director and general counsel of the Public Law Center, a nonprofit, pro bono law firm providing free legal services to low-income and vulnerable communities across Orange County, California, including immigrants, veterans, seniors, children, survivors of trafficking, and survivors of domestic violence. PLC also provides legal support to Orange County emerging nonprofit organizations and microbusinesses.

Erika Harold, executive director of the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism, is a 2024 recipient of the Earl B. Dickerson Award from the Chicago Bar Association. The award, named for a prominent Chicago lawyer and civil rights activist, honors minority lawyers and judges whose careers in the law emulate the courage and dedication of Dickerson in making the law the key to justice for all in our society. As executive director, Harold leads the Commission on Professionalism’s extensive educational programming, which is focused on advancing civility, integrity, and inclusion among Illinois’ lawyers and judges to build confidence in the justice system. Before joining the commission, she was a commercial and civil litigation attorney at Meyer Capel in Champaign, Illinois. A member of the teaching faculty for Harvard Law School’s Trial Advocacy Workshop for the past seven years, she is currently leading the Commission on Professionalism’s Bullying in the Legal Profession initiative, believed to be one of the first wide-scale research projects in the U.S. on this topic.

Polina Tulupova LL.M. has been promoted to counsel at Latham & Watkins in New York. A member of the capital markets practice and corporate department, she advises clients on a full range of equity derivatives and equity-linked transactions, including convertible notes, structured share-repurchase transactions, hedging and monetization transactions, and margin loans.

As a new partner at Farella Braun + Martel since earlier this year, Greg LeSaint advises operating companies, private funds, lenders, entrepreneurs, and others in complex transactions, corporate governance matters, and succession planning. He works across multiple industries, including technology and software, wine, real estate, and professional services. In addition, LeSaint serves on the pro bono advisory board for the nonprofit Swords to Plowshares.

Miguel Lopez has been elevated to shareholder in the New York office of Littler Mendelson. His litigation practice focuses on high-stakes disputes concerning trade secret misappropriation, restrictive covenants, and other unfair competition claims.

Brandon Johnson has joined Davis Wright Tremaine as a partner in Washington, D.C. His practice focuses on advising technology and telecommunications companies on transactional and regulatory matters, particularly in the areas of cloud communications, the Internet of Things, and emerging technologies

Alexander Rokas LL.M. writes that he has been appointed assistant professor of commercial law at the Law School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, the oldest law school in Greece, and that his most recent book is “The management of the group of companies as a right and duty of parent company” (in Greek), published by Nomiki Bibliothiki in 2022.

Grant Strother has been promoted to counsel at Latham & Watkins in the San Francisco Bay Area. A member of the complex commercial litigation practice and the litigation and trial department, he represents clients in complex business litigation, licensing disputes, and insurance recovery matters.

Jillian N. London has been promoted to partner (litigation) at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Los Angeles and represents media, entertainment, and technology clients.

Cynthia Chen McTernan, a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher since January, works in the firm’s Los Angeles office and represents clients in high-exposure complex commercial actions, class actions, and mass actions, with a focus on consumer protection and employment matters.

Svitlana Starosvit LL.M. S.J.D. ’22 helped to organize the “Stand Tall for the Rule of Law” Summit that took place in Lviv, Ukraine, over three days in December 2023, marking the 75th anniversaries of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Genocide Convention. It brought together 75 international law experts and 75 Ukrainian counterparts (including Starosvit, who was a discussant at one of the summit sessions) to commemorate the treaties and reaffirm commitment to fundamental principles of international law. “We tried to design the program to ensure the discussion of urgent legal questions but also with an eye to long-term collaborative research projects,” she writes. “I appreciate all the international lawyers who bravely joined us.” Starosvit, who worked as a lawyer at Ukraine’s Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Foreign Affairs earlier in her career, is an international law fellow with the American Society of International Law.

David Delmar has joined The Watson Firm in Dallas, which provides legal services for master-planned, mixed-use, and resort communities, and he provides real estate services such as acquisition, sale, leasing, land use, and development. Previously, Delmar was a real estate attorney in the Dallas office of Polsinelli.

Zachary Eddington has been promoted to counsel at Latham & Watkins in Washington, D.C. A member of the white-collar defense and investigations practice and the litigation and trial department, he advises clients in matters before the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and advises clients on CFIUS issues.

Benjamin Harmon has been named to the partnership at Lightfoot, Franklin & White in Birmingham, Alabama. He represents clients in matters including general commercial and environmental defense litigation, and his clients include leading companies in the financial services, consumer goods, health care, and telecommunications sectors. Harmon currently serves on the board of the Alabama Appleseed Center for Law & Justice and frequently takes on pro bono cases through that organization representing individuals appealing lengthy prison terms for low-level crimes due to Alabama’s Three Strikes Law.

Alison T. Rosenblum is now special counsel in the health law practice group at Duane Morris in Chicago. She advises owners, operators, and managers of seniors housing communities on regulatory and licensing matters and the drafting of transaction documents in connection with multistate transactions. In addition, she advises a variety of health care providers on legal topics such as state and federal regulatory compliance matters, clinical research-related issues, and fraud and abuse.

David Kim has joined IP boutique Friedland Cianfrani in Irvine, California. “After years of working in Biglaw, I’m enjoying the collaborative atmosphere and helping to grow a new firm,” he writes. The firm was co-founded by Michael Friedland ’91 in 2023.

Emily Whitcher and Andrew Blythe, who met in Section 4 at HLS, got engaged inside the Haleakalā volcano in Maui on Nov. 26, 2023. They both work as associates at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.

Last year Jessica Ranucci won a Rising Star Award from the National Consumer Law Center, given to attorneys in practice for 15 years or fewer who have made major contributions to consumer law within the past two years by trying or settling a case of great success and significance. Ranucci is a supervising attorney in the New York Legal Assistance Group’s Special Litigation Unit, which focuses on federal court class actions benefiting low-income consumers. In addition to successfully litigating cases related to student loans, predatory for-profit schools, and debt collection with multimillion-dollar judgments, she has served on three U.S. Department of Education negotiated rulemaking committees as a representative of consumer advocates and legal aid organizations representing student loan borrowers.

Samuel H. Datlof has joined the labor law practice group of Willig, Williams & Davidson in Philadelphia as an associate. Previously, he advocated for immigrant workers as the lead employment attorney at Justice at Work Pennsylvania, representing clients in employment disputes, immigration services fraud matters, and a range of immigration applications.

Sam Garcia was named to 2024’s Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the venture capital group. He is currently a partner at Amplo, a venture capital fund, where he leads the seed/Series A practice. Garcia has sourced and led investments in 13 companies, including Lightyear, Aryeo (acquired by Zillow), Flume, ReMatter, and Focal Point. A member of seven boards of directors, he is also the vice president of SomosVC (formerly LatinxVC), an organization that aims to increase the representation and influence of Latinx investors in the industry. This spring semester he taught the course Applying Legal Skills to VC Business Diligence at HLS.

Erin Formby has joined Reynolds Frizzell in Houston as an associate. A trial attorney, she represents clients in a variety of industries in complex business litigation matters and disputes.