Class of 1977
(Notes posted in the order they were received, with the newest posts on top.)
Ralph Z. Levy Jr. has joined Dickinson Wright's Nashville office, where he will specialize in the corporate, health care enterprises and estate planning areas. Ralph served for more than 10 years as General Counsel for Gambro Healthcare, a national provider of dialysis services, and is a frequent contributor to Dialysis & Transplantation, for which publication he serves as a member of the Editorial Advisory Board. Posted 7-22-09
Elise Givhan Spainhour has recently received the 2008 New Judge of the Year from CASA of Kentucky. CASA is a national child advocacy group which advocates for dependent, neglected, and abused children in the legal system. She also was recognized as Outstanding Judge in the 55th Circuit of Kentucky by the Bullitt County CASA. She took the bench in 2007. Posted 4-09
Scott Glasscock has been elected president of the New England Society (NES) of the City of New York. Founded in 1805, the NES is one of the country's oldest charitable membership organizations. The NES provides scholarships to academically qualified but financially challenged New York City students attending New England colleges and universities. Posted 1-12-09
Herman Morris has joined the Waddell & Reed firm as a financial advisor in the Memphis area. Herman was a 2007 candidate for mayor of Memphis and prior to that he served as president and CEO of MLGW for seven years and vice president and general counsel of MLGW for eight years. He has also served as general counsel for Pinnacle Airlines, a shareholder in the Baker Donelson law firm and a partner in the Ratner & Sugarmon law firm during his more than 30 years as a practicing attorney. As a personal financial advisor, Herman will help develop customized financial plans, recommend investment strategies and counsel clients throughout the area. Herman earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Rhodes College. He has an extensive history of community service with numerous organizations including the United Way, National Civil Rights Museum, American Heart Association, Community Foundation and the Memphis Chamber of Commerce. He’s also served on the Rhodes College Trustee Board and is a 2006 recipient of the prestigious United Way Alexis de Tocqueville Society Award, and the NCCJ 2002, Humanitarian of the Year Award.
Posted on web 10-1-08
Professor Jane E. Schukoske lives in New Delhi, India, where she serves as advisor for a foundation which is establishing a private, not-for-profit university, the O.P. Jindal Global University, in Sonipat, Haryana, outside Delhi. She is also a Visiting Professor at University of Baltimore School of Law consulting on its LL.M. Program for foreign lawyers in the Law of the United States. She served the United States Educational Foundation in India as its executive director from May, 2000 through April, 2008.
Posted on website 9-22-08
Richard H. Dinkins was named to the Tennessee Court of Appeals by Gov. Phil Bredesen. Dinkins had served as Part IV Chancellor since 2003. Earlier, he spent 18 years as an associate at the law firm of the prominent late civil rights advocate, litigator and State Sen. Avon M. Williams Jr. Dinkins was a member of Dodson, Parker, Dinkins and Behm from 1999 to 2003. In that role, he was counsel to the Nashville Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency and Fisk University.
Morris, a graduate of Vanderbilt University Law School and Rhodes College, chaired the National Bar Association's Judicial Evaluation Committee during this year's judicial elections. Morris stated, “We decided to pursue a judicial candidate evaluation process to better inform and to enlighten the community as they prepared to vote in this year's election on the qualifications and experience of the various candidates for judicial offices.” The lawyers on the committee he headed were diverse in terms of experiences, courts in which they practice, age, gender, race and plaintiff, prosecutor, defendant orientation. The committee spent many hours reviewing and interviewing the candidates running for judgeships. The fruit of the committees labors were presented to the Ben F. Jones Chapter of the National Bar Association membership in a specially called meeting and were overwhelmingly approved and accepted.
In addition, Morris was also awarded the Alexis de Tocqueville Society Award for Outstanding Service by the United Way of the Mid-South. The award was presented to Morris at the 2006 Alexis de Tocqueville Award Dinner on November 30, 2006. Morris chaired the United Way of the Mid-South Annual Campaign in 2002 and has been a member of the board of United Way for six years. The Alexis de Tocqueville Society is made up of the largest individual contributors to the United Way of the Mid-South campaign each year. Morris stated, “I am honored and delighted to be recognized by the Alexis de Tocqueville Society. They do so much to help the United Way address the needs of the truly needy in our community and they do it from their own pockets and with out regard to race, gender, religion, ethnicity. This comes at a very good time. It recognizes the hard work of the United Way. I accept it from them as testimony to my small contribution to their tremendous efforts making a positive difference for those in need in our community.”
Rep. David Simmons, a Republican who represents Altamonte Springs in the Florida State Legislature, was profiled in the Florida Bar News on May 15.
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