Class of 1995
(Notes posted in the order they were received, with the newest posts on top.)
Sandra Wilkinson welcomed twins, Evelyn Gray and Lloyd Andrew, on February 23, 2009. She lives in Dallas, Texas, where she is an attorney with Hallett & Perrin. Posted 10-31-09
Tom Lee has founded BlairBlvd, a new firm that focuses on government relations and lobbying for business clients in Tennessee. Tom brings his 13 years of experience as a partner with Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis in Nashville and his experiences in statewide politics and media to the new firm, where he advises businesses and trade associations on public messaging, strategic planning, and policy implementation. Tom’s work in the 2009 General Assembly was recently featured in Tennessee Road Builder magazine, which praised his leadership of a multi-industry coalition that worked to pass landmark water quality legislation in Tennessee. Posted 10-31-09
Tammy King has been named the assistant dean for career development at Creighton University School of Law in Omaha, Nebraska. Before joining Creighton, she served as director of career services at Washington University School of Law and practiced in the area of commercial litigation in St. Louis, Missouri. Tammy can be reached at tammyking01@gmail.com and would love to get in touch with old friends. Posted 7-15-09
Dawne G. Westbrook was recently appointed to the Superior Court bench. Prior to her appointment, she was a solo practitioner in East Glastonbury, Connecticut. She currently sits in the criminal court in Hartford.Over the course of her career, Judge Westbrook has served on the Connecticut Statewide Grievance Panel (2008 - 2009), on Governor Rell’s CHRO Advisory Committee (2007 - 2009), and on the Glastonbury Democratic Town Committee (2007 - 2008). She as a facilitator for the Connecticut Commission on Children’s Parent Leadership Training Institute (2008). She has served on the board of the Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund (2007 - 2009); on the State Conference NAACP Legal Redress Counsel (2005 - 2009); and on the State of Connecticut Judicial Branch Public Service and Trust Commission, (2007 - present). She was elected a 2009 Fellow of the Connecticut Bar Foundation James W. Cooper Fellows Program. She has also served on the Middletown Democratic Town Committee (2003 - 2005), the Middletown Inland Wetlands Commissioner (2002 - 2004), the Middletown School Readiness Council (2003 - 2005); and on the board of the Middlesex American Red Cross (2004 - 2006). Judge Westbrook and her husband, Dr. Tory Westbrook, live in Glastonbury with their four children, Taylore, Tory, Dawna, and Zoe. Posted 6-17-09
Steven R. Kaufman is an Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) in Charlotte, North Carolina. After earning his law degree at Vanderbilt, he was an Air Force JAG, and he continues to serve in the Reserves. Steve then prosecuted securities fraud as Enforcement Counsel for NASD (now FINRA) and was an AUSA in Washington, D.C., before moving to Charlotte. Posted 4-3-09
Aubrey B. (Trey) Harwell, III, a partner in the law firm of Neal & Harwell, will serve as 2009 president of the Nashville Bar Association (NBA). Trey was elected to the NBA board of directors in 2006. “I am humbly honored to serve as the president of our bar association. We have a great team in place and are all very excited about this year,” said Trey. “Our theme for this year is ‘Running with the torch and making it brighter,’ and we have gotten off to a fast start, all of us working together to improve the practice of law through education, service and fellowship.” Trey graduated cum laude from Vanderbilt University with a BA degree in English. Upon graduation from law school, he served as a law clerk for Judge Thomas A. Wiseman, Jr. of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. Rising through the ranks of the NBA, he served as president of the Young Lawyers Division. Trey is also a member of the Tennessee Bar Association and the American Bar Association. In addition to his service to the legal profession, Trey has served as chairman of the Arthritis Foundation Board of Middle Tennessee and currently sits on the state board of that organization. Trey is an Eagle Scout and his principal area of practice is general civil litigation. Posted on web 2-21-09.
Alisa Everts Porter and her husband, Gary Porter, welcomed a second son, Nathaniel Gray, on January 7, 2009. Nathanial joins older brother Jude. The Porters live in Houston. Posted 2-5-2009
Katrina W. Mailloux has joined the Business Department of Steptoe & Johnson and will practice in the firm's Huntington office. Mailloux will focus her practice in the areas of contract and regulatory law pertaining to health care issues.
Lucy Dalglish was honered by St. Cloud State University's Department of Mass Communications with its Defense of the First Amendment Award. Dalglish, the executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in suburban Washington, will receive the award April 11. Dalglish is the keynote speaker that day at St. Cloud State's annual First Amendment Forum. Dalglish has spent more than 20 years as a journalist and lawyer working for openness in government. She began her career as a summer intern and part-time reporter at the Grand Forks Herald. She went on to work for the Pioneer Press and later became chairwoman of the Minnesota Freedom of Information Committee from 1998-2000.
Judge Brian Miller was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee to serve as U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas. If cleared by the full Senate, Miller would replace George Howard, the first black federal judge in Arkansas, who died last April.
Judge Brian Miller was introduced to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to serve as a federal judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas by Senator Mark Pryor from Arkansas. The Judiciary Committee will schedule a vote on his nomination and determine whether the nomination will move forward to a full Senate vote. Miller was nominated by President Bush to replace the late Judge George Howard, Jr. in October 2007. Below are Senator Pryor' prepared remarks:
"I am honored to sit before you today and recommend Judge Brian Miller for confirmation as a federal judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas. Throughout the confirmation process, I believe this Committee will come to understand why Judge Miller has earned a reputation in legal circles and around the state of Arkansas as a qualified and fair judge. He has big shoes to fill following the service of the late Judge George Howard, Jr. I am confident, however, these shoes will fit Judge Miller well. While this Committee has seen more than its share of polarizing nominees, you will find Judge Miller the exception. He brought integrity and impartiality to the bench while serving on the Arkansas Court of Appeals and earlier as a City Judge for both Holly Grove and Helena, Arkansas. His work as the Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for Phillips County has also been praised by the community."
Ken Cunningham is a partner and Associate General Counsel with Grant Thornton. Ken is also an adjunct professor at Loyola University School of Law where he teaches a seminar entitled "SEC Enforcement Procedures." He lives in Chicago with his wife, Ginger. Ginger and Ken welcomed their first child, Mira Isabel, in May 2007.
Zachary Walton has been elevated to the partnership of Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker. Zach works out of the San Francisco office where he practices environmental law.
Erik S. Bliss has been named partner at Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton. Erik is in the Business Trial practice group and based in San Diego. His practice focuses on complex business litigation, with an emphasis on consumer fraud and trade regulation, antitrust, commercial contract and business tort matters.
Brian S. Miller of Helena, Arkansas has been appointed by Gov. Mike Huckabee to fill a slot left open by Arkansas Court of Appeals Judge Andree Layton Roaf's retirement on Dec. 31, 2006.
Roger R. Martella Jr. has been nominated by President Bush as general counsel of the EPA, and his nomination has been approved by a Senate panel. Roger has worked as deputy general counsel at the EPA since the fall of 2005. Previously, Roger worked for almost seven years in the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Section defending government decisions, regulations and rules.
Jiyul Yoo has been named a partner (as a U.S.-licensed lawyer in South Korea, officially called a “Senior Foreign Legal Consultant”) of the law firm of Yoon Yang Kim Shin & Yu in Seoul, Korea. Yoon Yang is one of the major law firms in South Korea with about 170 attorneys. At the firm, Jiyul practices in the areas of corporate and international trade. After practicing in Washington, D.C. after graduation from law school, Jiyul returned to South Korea in 2002.
Steven R. Kaufman is an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C. After graduating from Vanderbilt Law School, he was an Air Force JAG and continues to serve in the reserve. Steve then prosecuted securities fraud as Enforcement Counsel for NASD. He lives in a nationally recognized "green home" he and his wife, JD Doliner, built in Arlington, Virginia, with their two children, Beana and Birdie. Steve welcomes e-mails from friends at SteveKman@aol.com.
Jay Crook is doing a cardiac fellowship at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Michael Stephen Gaw, who works in the real estate group of Georgia-Pacific Corporation in Atlanta, is currently featured in an ad for Counsel on Call. Mike trained for and competed in the Ford Ironman USA-Coeur d'Alene triathlon in June 2005.
David Weiss is a partner in the New York office of DLA Piper US. His practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions and capital markets transactions.
Lisa Marie Papp has changed careers after practicing law for 10 years. Lisa, who recently earned an M.A. in teaching, specializing in elementary education, will start work as a special education teacher with the Washington Township (Mercer County) Public School district. She and her husband, Thomas Stuart Walls, live in Robbinsville, New Jersey, her hometown, with their three children. She and her husband celebrated the birth of their third child and second daughter, Caroline Elizabeth Walls, on May 2, 2006.
Melanie Black Dubis is one of a team of lawyers at Charlotte-based Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein who have spent the past decade fighting for low-wealth school districts in the state, and their legal victories have forced the state to come up with more money to support education for schools in low-wealth county. Melanie and another partners in Parker Poe's Raleigh office, Robert Spearman, were lead attorneys for Hoke County and other low wealth school districts in the so-called Leandro litigation (Hoke County et. al. v. State of North Carolina and the State Board of Education), which confirmed the state's constitutional obligation to provide a sound basic education for all North Carolina schoolchildren.
Kendall Jones was listed as one of "40 Under 40" most influential young professionals on the Gulf Coast of Florida by the Gulf Coast Business Review. Jones owns DeliciousWords.com and is the co-creator and editor of The S2 Report.
Sandra G. Wilkinson is of counsel with Haynes and Boone in the firm's Real Estate Practice Group, based in Richardson, Texas.
Anna L. Spencer is a partner in the health care group of Sidley Austin, based in Washington, D.C. She counsels clients on numerous regulatory and transactional health care matters, including fraud and abuse compliance and investigations, administrative litigation, Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, privacy and security of health information, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, and telemedicine.
Abigail Turner has joined Bass Berry & Sims' Nashville office as an attorney in the litigation practice area. Prior to joining the firm, Abigail spent four years as a career law clerk to the Honorable Thomas A. Higgins. She also worked for six years as an assistant attorney general in the Office of the Tennessee Attorney General and Reporter, litigating civil rights and general tort cases in state and federal courts and the Tennessee Claims Commission.
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.
Please check the "Alumni MIA" list to see if you can help us find any of your "lost" classmates!
