Class of 1973
(Notes posted in the order they were received, with the newest posts on top.)
Nathaniel L. Doliner is chair of the American Bar Association Business Law Section, which has over 60,000 members. His term began at the close of the ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago on August 4. Read the full story. Posted 10-31-09
Brian K. Burke of Baker & Daniels has been named to Lex Mundi's Board of Directors. During the international group's annual meeting in Madrid, he was elected to a four-year term through 2013. Baker & Daniels is the exclusive Indiana member of Lex Mundi, the world's leading association of more than 160 independent law firms. With its membership, the firm has access to more than 21,000 lawyers to provide ready access to expertise and market knowledge in 100 countries covering practically any jurisdiction in the world. Baker & Daniels has been a member of Lex Mundi since 1989, the year it was established. There is one exclusive Lex Mundi member per country, state or Canadian province. For 15 years from 1993 through 2007, Brian served as Baker & Daniels' Chair and CEO, leading the firm's expansion geographically across Indiana and around the globe. In that time, Baker & Daniels doubled the number of lawyers and consultants practicing from offices in Indiana, Washington, D.C. and China. Brian returned to his law practice in 2008 as a civil litigator and mediator, and he currently serves as Baker & Daniels' General Counsel. In 2008, he helped develop an innovative national program — Leadership Advisory Board — that provides new law firm managing partners with access to advice. Posted 10-31-09
William V. Corr has been selected by President-elect Barack Obama to be the No. 2 official at the Department of Health and Human Services. Bill is currently executive director of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a nonprofit group that seeks to reduce tobacco use among children and adults. As a member of the Obama transition team, Bill led efforts to review and evaluate the work of the Department of Health and Human Services. Mr. Obama selected Tom Daschle, a former Senate Democratic leader, to be secretary of health and human services. If confirmed by the Senate, Bill would be the deputy secretary. From 1998 to 2000, Bill worked as chief counsel and policy director for Mr. Daschle, when Mr. Daschle was minority leader. In the Clinton administration, Bill was chief of staff at the Department of Health and Human Services, where he worked for Secretary Donna E. Shalala. Before joining Mr. Daschle’s staff, Bill worked for two Democrats known as tenacious investigators and consumer advocates: Senator Howard M. Metzenbaum of Ohio, who was chairman of the antitrust subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee, and Representative Henry A. Waxman of California, who was chairman of the health subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee. Before coming to Washington, Mr. Corr worked at several community-run primary health care centers in Appalachia. He earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Virginia. Posted 1-13-09
Mark R. von Sternberg is a co-chair of the immigration and naturalization committee of the American Bar Association's international division and senior attorney at Catholic Charities Community Services/Archdiocese of New York, where he concentrates on litigation before the immigration courts and the board of immigration appeals. Since 1999 Mark has served as an adjunct faculty member at Pace University School of Law, where he teaches general immigration and comparative refugee law. From 2003 Mark also has been an adjunct professor at St. John's University Law School where he co-teaches an immigration rights clinic. Mark earned an LL.M. degree in international legal studies from New York University School of Law in 1984. He has lectured in law schools and at professional associations regarding immigration matters and has written extensively, particularly in the areas of refugee law, international humanitarian law, and human rights. In 2002 he received the American Immigration Lawyers Association Pro Bono Award. Posted 9-12-08
Gordon O. Tanner has been named the deputy general counsel of environment and installations for the U.S. Air Force, officials announced. Tanner will be responsible for providing legal advice to the secretary of the Air Force and others "on all environmental, real estate and installation management matters worldwide," according to an Air Force news release.
William J. Chadwick has been elected to serve on the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Commission. He was also appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to the Exposition Park and California Science Center Board of Directors for a four-year term, from 2007 to 2011. He resides in Malibu, California.
Richard G. Murphy has been appointed the Partner-in-Charge of the Washington D.C. office of Sutherland Asbill & Brennan. A member of the Litigation Practice Group, Rick has represented organizations in various industries, including banking, factoring, telecommunications and nuclear energy in court and in various forms of alternative dispute resolution. As the senior litigator in the firm’s Business Restructuring and Bankruptcy Group, his particular emphasis is on disputes involving creditors’ rights and bankruptcy-related issues.
Charles "Charlie" Ray of Nashville, TN passed away suddenly after suffering a heart attack while traveling to Kentucky. He was 65. A graduate of Vanderbilt University Law School, which he entered after working for several years as a baggage handler for American Airlines, Ray began his career in criminal law but also established a reputation as a civil litigator in employment law cases. According to Chip Frensley, his partner in the firm of Ray & Frensley downtown, Ray won one of the first age discrimination cases -- if not the very first -- in Middle Tennessee.
He often represented plaintiffs in such cases, but having been a law school classmate of Corrections Corp. of America co-founder Tom Beasley, Ray took on a number of labor-relations cases for the Nashville-based private-prison operator. In the highest-profile engagement, he represented CCA in Richardson v. McKnight, a case involving the legal immunity of the company's prison guards that reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 1997. Ray argued the company's case before the high court, which eventually handed down a 5-4 decision in favor of CCA's opponents.
Ray was lead attorney in a 2000 lawsuit against Vanderbilt University involving nine members of the Vandy women's track, field, and cross country team who charged the university with Title IX discrimination. Title IX, a component of the Education Amendments of 1972, prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any educational program receiving federal funding. The case was eventually settled. Local attorneys polled by NashvillePost.com for a 2003 feature on the city's "best lawyers" cited Ray as one of the best criminal defense attorneys in town. One colleague called him a defender of "crimes in the streets, as opposed to crimes in the suites," while another termed Ray an "excellent defense lawyer."
Perhaps a higher distinction was what the late Federal Judge L. Clure Morton told a young colleague shortly before he died in 1998. Morton was a famously crusty curmudgeon; attorneys tended to approach his courtroom with some trepidation. But he called Ray the best lawyer who had ever practiced before him, and he said if he ever needed an attorney himself, Ray is the man he would call.
Ray took a sabbatical and moved to Ireland for a year and a half in the late 1990s. He retired from full-time practice at the end of 2004. Ray is survived by his wife Sandra, daughters Shannon Lumpkin and Lauren Arrigo, and three grandchildren.
Shelley Stiles passed away on April 4, 2006. He practiced law in the Nashville area for over 30 years.
Richard Murphy was quoted in a March 3, 2006, Washington Post article regarding his representation of Mohammed Bawazir, a Yemeni national held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, since May 2002.
Philip C. Wolf is vice president and general counsel of Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL). He has more than 30 years of legal experience, with 20 years of experience in the mining industry. Philip will provide legal counsel for Hecla's business activities and also be responsible for the land and environmental departments. Prior to joining Hecla, he served as senior vice president, general counsel and secretary at Cyprus Amax Minerals and General Attorney for Amoco Minerals Company. In addition to his experience as general counsel and corporate secretary, Philip has been instrumental in facilitating joint ventures and acquisitions, and has managed government affairs, environmental and human resources departments.
Robert Watson is vice president of legal affairs and government relations for the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority. Bob has been with the U.S. Attorney's Middle Tennessee division for 20 years, serving as the division's civil chief and first assistant.
Do you have news you would like to share or just want to let everyone know what you are up to these days? Submit your class note online, e-mail Grace Renshaw or call 615-322-2606.
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