Georgetown Law Alumni Magazine - Res Ipsa Loquitur
Fall/Winter 2009 - Online Volume 2
Alumni
Newsmakers: Alumni Make Their Mark on the New Administration
Georgetown Law alumni have been tapped for a wide variety of jobs in the new administration and elsewhere:
Elizabeth Bagley (L’87), who was a senior adviser during the term of former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and a former ambassador to Portugal, was sworn in as the special representative for global partnerships in the office of the Secretary of State on June 18. Bagley was asked by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to lead the department’s global partnership initiative, an effort to increase the department’s engagement with the private sector and with civil society organizations. The announcement was made by Clinton during her April 22 remarks at the Global Philanthropy Forum Conference in Washington, D.C.
Laurie S. Fulton (L’89) was nominated by President Obama as U.S. Ambassador to Denmark on June 4 and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on July 10.
Mark Gitenstein (L’71) was nominated by President Obama as U.S. Ambassador to Romania on June 11 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in July.
David C. Jacobson (L’76), special assistant to the president in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, has been nominated as ambassador to Canada.
Other nominations and appointments:
In June, President Obama nominated Ernie DuBester (LL.M. ’79) to be a member of the Federal Labor Relations Authority.
Susan Tsui Grundmann (L’86) was nominated by President Obama to be chairman of the Merit Systems Protection Board.
Bonnie D. Jenkins (LL.M. ’94) was nominated and confirmed as coordinator for threat reduction programs at the Department of State.
Neal Kemkar (L’06) was appointed special assistant to the counselor to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.
Frank Kendall III (L’03) was nominated in July to the post of deputy undersecretary of defense for acquisition and technology at the Department of Defense.
Elizabeth King (L’93) is the new assistant secretary for legislative affairs at the Department of Defense. She was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in May.
Mercedes Marquez (L’85, LL.M.’87) was confirmed in June to be assistant secretary for community planning and development at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Rahul “Richard” Verma (LL.M.’98), a former partner with Steptoe & Johnson, is now assistant secretary for legislative affairs at the State Department. The Senate confirmed him on April 3.
More in Government:
Georgetown Law noted in the Spring/Summer 2009 issue that Jane Holl Lute (L’99) was nominated deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security in January. Lute was confirmed by the Senate April 3. Christine Varney (L’86), nominated for the post of antitrust chief in the Department of Justice in February, was confirmed by the Senate April 20.
Larry Brown (L’98) is serving a fiveyear term at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, having been appointed in October 2006. He was previously with the Department of Energy, most recently serving as the deputy assistant secretary for corporate business operations in the Office of Nuclear Energy.
Louisville, Ky., mayor Jerry Abramson (L’73) will run for lieutenant governor of Kentucky in 2011, the Lexington, Ky., Herald-Leader reported July 30. Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear announced that Abramson would be his running mate in the next election after current Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo announced earlier this year that he is running for the U.S. Senate and will not be on the ballot with Beshear in 2011.
Other Newsmakers:
“The Intersection of Islam, America and Identity,” an article in the New York Times on June 4, featured Negar Ahkami (L’96).
“Testimony by ABA Official from Dallas Counters Sotomayor’s Critics,” an article in the Dallas Morning News on July 20, featured Kim Askew (L’83), head of the American Bar Association’s Committee on the Federal Judiciary. She testified at the confirmation hearings for then Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.
Doug Band (G’97, L’01) and John Podesta (L’76) accompanied former President Bill Clinton on his historic trip to North Korea to obtain the freedom of two American journalists, as reported by the Associated Press and the New York Times on August 5.
The Newark Star-Ledger reported on April 17 that former New Jersey Attorney General John Farmer Jr. (C’79, L’86) has been named dean of the Rutgers School of Law in Newark.
“Franken’s Victory in Minnesota Election Is Win for Perkins Coie,” a post in the AmLaw Daily on June 30 featured Ben Ginsberg (L’82), lead counsel for Norm Coleman in the Minnesota Senate election case, and Kevin Hamilton (L’85), lead co-counsel for Al Franken.
The Catholic Sentinel reported on March 5 that William M. Keller (L’51), a pro-tem circuit court judge and member of St. Agatha Parish in Portland, Ore., was honored for his commitment and service to seniors in Clackamas County. The county’s Senior Citizens Council gave Keller its first “Citizen for Seniors” Award at an awards dinner in March. Keller, who practices at Keller and Keller with his son and grandson, lives in Milwaukie with his wife Frances; they have seven children, 16 grandchildren and one greatgrandson.
Kira Koch Kimhi (L’99) was featured in “Silicon Scene,” an article in the Recorder (California) about a $7.38 billion deal to sell Sun Microsystems to Oracle Corp. Kimhi is an intellectual property associate at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, working in its Palo Alto office. The Daily Monitor reported on July 30 that Esther Mayambala Kisaakye (LL.M.’94) has been named to the Supreme Court of Uganda.
The Associated Press reported July 9 that Gov. John Lynch (L’83), DN. H., has nominated former Deputy Attorney General Michael Delaney (L’94), as New Hampshire’s attorney general. Delaney is currently the governor’s legal counsel.
The Associated Press reported on June 16 that then-Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) appointed Daniel S. Sullivan (L’93, G’93), as Alaska’s new attorney general.
“Soccer Mom,” a profile of Vicki S. Veenker (L’88), general counsel of Women’s Professional Soccer, appeared in the National Law Journal on May 4.
Student Study Makes News
A study of Supreme Court cases carried out by Sarah Shullman (L’04) while she was a law student at Georgetown was the subject of a May 25 New York Times article, “When the Justices Ask Questions, Be Prepared to Lose the Case.” The article, by Adam Liptak, reported that Shullman’s study — concluding that the party who gets the most questions from the justices during a Supreme Court oral argument is likely to lose — has recently been backed up by four political scientists who studied 2000 arguments and over 200,000 questions from the judges. (According to the article, the study, which was originally published in the Journal of Appellate Practice and Process in Fall 2004, was once tested by none other than Chief Justice John Roberts, before he became a member of the Court.) “It turns out Ms. Shullman was right,” Liptak reported. “The relative number of questions asked is a powerful predictor of who will win.”
Shullman, now an associate at Squire, Sanders & Dempsey in West Palm Beach, Fla., said it was an honor to have her study — the brainchild of Georgetown Law Professor Richard Lazarus — replicated by these scholars as well as Roberts.
“As evidenced by the New York Times article, people find the subject fascinating and the results can have a myriad of implications, not only at the highest level of our court system but in local courts as well,” she said. “I learned a tremendous amount from observing the finest of our profession argue before the justices of the Supreme Court.”
For more information see “Alumni in the News” at www. law.georgetown.edu/news/ain and for up-to-date administration appointments, see www.law. georgetown.edu/news/ appointees.html.
