1990s Class Notes
1990
John A. Coleman Jr. is counsel for 31 purchasers in CRP/Extell Parcel I v. Andrew Cuomo, et al. The case “involved the failure of the sponsor of the Rushmore Condominium on Riverside Boulevard on the west side of Manhattan to return approximately $16 million of purchasers’ down payments for failing to meet a deadline in the sponsor’s offering plan,” he writes, adding that Justice Anil Singh of the New York Supreme Court ordered the purchasers’ down payments returned to them. “On December 11, the Appellate Division, First Department, affirmed Justice Singh’s decision.”
Darrell D. Miller, chair of Fox Rothschild’s national entertainment department, has been named to the list of “Angelenos to Know in Intellectual Property Law” by the Los Angeles Business Journal. Miller was chosen for his outstanding achievements in intellectual property transactions and/or litigation.
Bradley M. Risinger, an attorney in Smith Moore Leatherwood’s Raleigh, N.C., office, was included in the 2013 edition of Best Lawyers in America in the field of product liability litigation (defendants).
Beth White received a “Champion of Diversity” award from Indiana Minority Business Magazine.
1991
Aimee Imundo, senior counsel for competition law and compliance at General Electric, accepted the 2012 Children’s Pro Bono Champion Award on behalf of the company from the Children’s Law Center. The award recognized a pro bono partnership formed with Arnold & Porter to represent children in D.C. public schools in need of special education services.
Bruce Leshine has joined Robinson & Cole’s intellectual property and technology practice group. Leshine brings 20 years of tech lawyer experience to the practice, in addition to previous experience in engineering and business in the information technology industry.
1992
Monica Fennell has joined Faegre Baker Daniels as pro bono manager. She is responsible for developing and managing pro bono initiatives for firm lawyers to volunteer their unique professional skills, focusing on addressing the unmet legal needs of poor and disadvantaged persons. She most recently served as executive director of the Indiana Supreme Court Pro Bono Commission.
Mary Ann Mancini (LL.M.) has joined the Washington, D.C., office of Loeb & Loeb as a partner. She leads the firm’s trusts and estates department, focusing on estate planning with an emphasis on planning for real estate ownership, closely held businesses and life insurance.
Joan Roediger (LL.M.) recently presented several lectures to medical residents in North Carolina. Roediger is a nationally recognized speaker and lectures around the country on practice management issues as well as managed care and financial and legal issues to medical societies, universities and staffs. She is a partner and member of Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel’s Business and Finance Department and Health Care Practice Group.
John D. Singer, a partner with and co-founder of Singer Deutsch, a securities and employment law firm with offices in New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco, and Jennifer Zeller, a 1994 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and a vice president at Interscope Geffen Records, announce the birth of their daughter, Maya Jolie, on July 9, 2012. John, Jennifer and Maya reside in New York City. John, who was recently named a 2011 “Super Lawyer” for the New York City Metro Area, provides legal commentary on CNBC and Bloomberg Television concerning Wall Street employment issues. John can be reached at jds@singerdeutsch.com.
1993
Anna Karina Jiménez (LL.M.) has been named partner in Arias & Munoz’s Costa Rica office. She heads the labor and employment practice group.
Simone Ross has been promoted to partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Covington & Burling. Ross is a litigator who specializes in white collar criminal defense, corporate internal investigations and complex civil litigation.
Stuart Weichsel has joined the tax practice group at Farrell Fritz as counsel. Weichsel is a corporate tax and estate planning attorney with extensive experience in corporate, partnership and international tax issues, as well as estate and trust planning, drafting, administration and litigation.
1994
Richard J. Erickson (LL.M.), a national board member of the Florida State University Alumni Association, has been appointed chair of its scholarship committee for 2012-13.
Nigel A. Greene, a partner in the Philadelphia office of Rawle & Henderson, has been appointed vice-chair of the ABA Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section’s (TIPS) Commercial Transportation Litigation General Committee for the 2012-2013 fiscal year.
Joseph Zillo is the new chief financial officer and deputy executive director of finance and administration for NAFSA: Association of International Educators. He most recently served as chief financial officer and member of the senior executive team at the Center for Public Integrity.
The American Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section boasts two Georgetown Law alums: Chair William Shepherd (C’91, L’94) and Chair-elect Mathias “Mat” Heck (L’72). Shepherd is a partner at Holland & Knight in West Palm Beach, Fla., and Heck serves as the prosecuting attorney in Montgomery County, Ohio.
1995
Dianne Chipps Bailey, an attorney with Robinson Bradshaw & Hinson, has been honored by North Carolina Lawyers Weekly with a 2012 “Women of Justice Award.” Bailey received the legal publication’s Public Service Practitioner Award and was also a finalist for the periodical’s “Woman of the Year” honor. Bailey leads the firm’s Nonprofit Organizations and Foundations practice group.
1996
Gary J. Nelson reached the summit of Mount Everest on May 19, 2011. “The climb was a lot more difficult and certainly more dangerous than I could ever have imagined,” he wrote – noting that getting to the top was not as difficult as getting back down. “Steep, icy slopes made the descent particularly dangerous ... however, and as with most of my other mountains, I was blessed with an almost picture-perfect weather summit day. I have now climbed five of the seven summits. Antarctica and the Australian continent remain.” When he’s not climbing mountains, Nelson is a partner at Christie, Parker and Hale in Glendale, Calif.
Mark Hetfield (F’88) was named president and CEO of HIAS, the global migration agency of the American Jewish community. He began his career as a Russian-speaking caseworker with HIAS in Rome and has subsequently served in six positions over four nonconsecutive periods in three cities. During his time at HIAS, he rose from caseworker to senior vice president for programs and policy. On June 1, 2012, he was named interim president and CEO.
Mila Kofman, a research professor with the Georgetown Public Policy Institute, has been named executive director of the District of Columbia Health Benefit Exchange.
Laurie H. Van Löben Sels was promoted to the partnership of Duane Morris. She is a member of the intellectual property practice group in the firm’s San Francisco office.
1997
Matt Haltom was named senior vice president, general counsel and secretary of Sally Beauty Holdings, an international specialty retailer and distributor of professional beauty supplies.
Kenzo Kawanabe, a partner at Davis Graham & Stubbs, has been named to the 2013 Japanese American Leadership Delegation, sponsored by Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Members of the delegation are top Japanese-American leaders in the nation, and the delegation will meet individuals at the highest levels of Japanese government, business and civil society.
In May 2012, the Alaska state legislature appointed Taylor Winston executive director of the Alaska Office of Victims’ Rights. The agency provides representation for crime victims to ensure that their constitutional and statutory rights are being upheld and to assist them through the criminal justice process. “I had served as an assistant district attorney for the Alaska Department of Law for 13 years, during which time I prosecuted rape, sexual abuse of children, domestic violence and murder cases as well as supervised the sexual offense unit for six years,” Winston writes. “This new opportunity allows me to serve victims more directly and utilize my years of experience.”
1998
Colleagues, classmates, friends and family of Matthew Stephen O’Connell, who died January 7, 2013, of leukemia, have started the Matthew S. O’Connell Memorial Scholarship to benefit a Georgetown Law evening student. “While there have been some ongoing discussions about the need to help evening students, this is the first (and only) scholarship specifically targeted for them,” writes Ashley Merryman (L’98). “This was the consensus for how to best honor Matt, his love of the law and learning, and his care and compassion for others. And I truly hope this will become a lasting legacy that will help students and keep Matt’s memory alive for many years to come.” Donations may be made online or sent by mail to Nora Kantwill, Executive Director of Development, Georgetown Law, 600 New Jersey Avenue N.W., Washington, D.C., 20001. (If mailing a check, please write on the memo line that the donation is for the Matthew S. O’Connell Memorial Scholarship.) Direct questions to Nora at nak40@law.georgetown.edu.
1999
Sylvia Arostegui (B’96) has joined the Sacramento office of Nossaman as a partner, working in the firm’s real estate practice group. Her practice involves representing clients in a variety of complex commercial real estate development and loan transactions.
Rafic H. Barrage (LL.M.) has joined Baker & McKenzie’s Washington, D.C., office as a partner. He has significant experience advising multinational companies and individuals operating and investing in the United States on a wide range of international tax issues.
Matt Casey, founding partner of Ross Feller Casey in Philadelphia, is leading a legal team representing multiple victims of Jerry Sandusky. He is a leading legal voice on the case among plaintiffs’ lawyers.
Kira Kimhi was elected partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., Kimhi specializes in representing technology companies in business transactions driven by the development, use, acquisition, or divestiture of intellectual property.
Lester A. Myers (G’91, G’98) has been selected as president of the Center of Concern, a Washington, D.C.-based social justice institute rooted in the Catholic social tradition and working for greater economic, social and ecological justice globally.
