Georgetown Law Reunion 2025: Celebrating Connections Old and New

Attendees reunited with classmates, forged new bonds and gained insights from current students and faculty on recent campus developments and broader legal trends — including updates on the growing downtown Capitol Campus and reflections on the latest United States Supreme Court term.

The convening proved particularly poignant for members of the Class of 2020, who graduated during the coronavirus pandemic and missed out on their commencement ceremony. While some alumni returned to the nation’s capital in 2022 for a “celebration weekend,” others hadn’t spent meaningful time on campus since COVID-19 brought in-person instruction to a halt during spring break in 2020.

L-R: Grace Manning, L’20; Charlie Thau, L’20; Jessie Gerson, L’20; Anna Squitieri, L’20; Abbe Ben-David, L’20. Now married, Thau and Gerson met as Section 4 classmates their 1L year.

“It’s really exciting to be back here,” said Grace Manning, L’20, who attended Saturday’s Hoya Lawya reunion picnic with her best friends and fellow Class of 2020 graduates Jessie Gerson, L’20, and Charlie Thau, L’20. Held on the Eleanor Holmes Norton Green, the picnic offered seasonal activities for all ages — including a petting zoo, face-painting and pumpkin decorating — for alumni and their loved ones.

“I learned the value in community and friendships when things are hard,” Manning said of her Georgetown Law experience. “I still reach out to Jessie and Charlie for support when things in practice get challenging.”

For Gerson and Thau, the family-favorite event held special significance this year. Having met as Section 4 classmates during their 1L year, the couple is now celebrating their two-year wedding anniversary and expecting their first child.

“We’re excited to be back where it all began,” Gerson said. “We were good friends and eventually our friendship blossomed into something more.”

“It’s a little surreal because we didn’t really graduate in that traditional way. We actually graduated in Jessie’s parents’ backyard,” Thau noted. “It’s great to be back here and have that kind of moment.”

Learning ‘how to live’

Alumni from the Class of 1975 and preceding years shared stories from their time as law students at the Founders’ Circle Luncheon.

At Friday’s Founders’ Circle Luncheon, alumni who graduated 50 or more years ago gathered for a celebratory meal and shared their recollections of Georgetown Law, including the founding of the Barristers’ Council, which organizes student mock trial and moot court competitions, in 1964 and its precursor, the appellate argument program.

As one alumnus recalled, the appellate argument program brought such legal luminaries as then-U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thomas Clark, Justice Stanley Reed (then retired) and Warren E. Burger, who went on to serve as Chief Justice of the United States to campus as guest judges.

After lunch, Founders’ Circle alumni shared stories from their time on campus — including run-ins with Supreme Court Justices and politicians, among others.

“The best and the brightest came to Washington at that time,” reflected Neal Gillen, L’64, who underscored the excitement of attending law school during the Kennedy administration. Politics were not the only thing to have changed since his time as a law student. “In those days we wore a coat and tie to class,” he noted.

Other attendees reminisced about the earliest days of the Georgetown Gilbert and Sullivan Society (GG&SS), the student-led theater organization which recently celebrated its “50ish” anniversary reunion.

“Law school taught me how to make a living; Gilbert and Sullivan taught me how to live,” said founding member Paul Kamenar, L’75, quoting another member’s description of the organization’s impact, which continues to offer a creative outlet for students and Georgetown Law community members.

(Like the appellate argument program, GG&SS had its own run-in with a Supreme Court Justice when William Rehnquist attended what founding member Jack Marshall, L’75, affectionately called “a mess” of a dress rehearsal in which “everything went completely wrong.” The Justice, Marshall recalled, stayed until 2:30 a.m. — and even praised the production.)

“It was a delightful thing to be able to do,” recalled Jan Luymes, L’75, of her GG&SS experience. “You got to meet people in an easy environment.”

Competition and connection

Members of the Class of 1990 and Class of 1995 faced off during Friday’s “Class v. Class Reunion Feud.”

On Friday afternoon, teams representing the Class of 1990 and Class of 1995 went head-to-head in a “Family Feud”-style survey game in Hart Auditorium. Members from each class competed to guess the top responses given by some 100 of their fellow alumni, who were polled for their answers to questions such as “What is a law student’s favorite study accessory?” (The most popular answer: “Other people’s outlines.”)

L-R: Survey game champions Eric Berger, L’90; Suzanne Blum, L’90; Tom Urban, L’90; Laurie Farber, L’90.

“It was wonderful,” said Laurie Farber, L’90, who had traveled to reunion weekend from California, following her team’s decisive 4-0 victory. “First of all, to see all my buddies from law school, but secondly, just to come together to have a blast.”

Another reunion highlight, Farber noted, was the chance to get to know current Georgetown Law students — as well as see the campus’s growth and development firsthand.

Her teammate Eric Berger, L’90, noted that the game had a cross-generational twist: his son, current 3L student Jake Berger, L’26, was cheering him on in the audience. “It was a lot of fun to be here with my friends and also with my son,” he said.

Suzanne Blum, L’90, wasn’t thrilled by the fact that her practice area (intellectual property) was among the answers to “What type of lawyer would you least like to be trapped in an elevator with?” — but, victory, she said, was ultimately sweet.

“Winning was very important because we’re going to have our Class of 1990 dinner tonight, and we will be able to say we won,” she said after the game.

In addition to Friday night class parties, at which classmates reconnected over drinks and hors d’oeuvres, other popular gatherings included a networking hour for current students and alumni and the “Preview of the U.S. Supreme Court’s October Term 2025,” a panel hosted by the Supreme Court Institute at which faculty offered an in-depth look at the current cases before the nation’s highest court.

An illuminated evening

Alumni and guests gathered for the 2025 reunion gala at the National Building Museum.

On Saturday night, alumni and guests gathered for the aurora borealis-themed reunion gala at the National Building Museum. Interim Dean Joshua C. Teitelbaum reflected on the Law Center’s mission and presented the 2025 Alumni Awards to four alumni whose careers and contributions have demonstrated excellence and leadership across the legal field.

Recipients of the Georgetown Law 2025 Alumni Awards (L-R): John F. Hartigan, L’75; Monique Y. Fortenberry, L’95; Mary E. McClymont, L’75; Allen M. Lo, L’95.

“It means so much to be with you tonight at this pivotal juncture in Georgetown Law’s trajectory,” said Teitelbaum in his remarks, noting the Law Center’s role in the growth and development of the interdisciplinary Capitol Campus. “This expanded campus … [offers] our community exceptional opportunities to work, learn and serve in a city that shapes the world.”

Teitelbaum then presented the Robert F. Drinan, S.J. Public Service Award to Mary E. McClymont, L’75, in recognition of her work to advance social justice, human rights and access to justice through leadership roles in government, philanthropy and the nonprofit sector.

Formerly president and CEO of the Public Welfare Foundation, executive director of Global Rights, CEO of InterAction and vice president at the Ford Foundation, McClymont is now a senior fellow at the Georgetown Justice Lab, where she researches access to justice innovations.

Three alumni received the Paul R. Dean Alumni Award:

• Monique Y. Fortenberry, L’95, has guided major government agencies through transformation while championing lawyer well-being and service to the legal community. Previously deputy general counsel at the Small Business Administration, Fortenberry served for nearly a decade as deputy chief operating officer of the Federal Trade Commission. Fortenberry is an emeritus member of the Law Alumni Board.
• John F. Hartigan, L’75, is a securities law expert whose career reflects a deep commitment to legal education. Hartigan spent most of his career as a partner at Morgan Lewis in Los Angeles, where he served as managing partner. Formerly assistant director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement, he also chaired the annual SEC Securities Regulation Seminar, the west coast’s leading forum on securities law. Hartigan is an emeritus member of the Georgetown Law Board of Visitors.
• Allen M. Lo, L’95, is a pioneering tech leader with a career spanning government, private practice and senior roles at some of the world’s most influential companies. Allen began his legal career at the U.S. Patent Office while attending Georgetown Law’s Evening Program. A member of the Board of Visitors, he has led legal teams at Juniper Networks and Google. Lo is now a senior executive at Meta, where he focuses on copyright issues related to generative AI.

The Class of 2015 won the Reunion Cup for highest reunion attendance.

Before concluding the night with dessert and dancing, Law Alumni Board Chair Jelani Roper, L’01, and Georgetown University Alumni Association Executive Director Gail Gillis-Louis, C’75, announced the winners of the 2025 Reunion Cups:

• Class of 1975 for participation (highest percentage of classmates who made a gift of any size, with 21% supporting the Law Center); loyalty (highest percentage of Loyalty Society members); legacy (highest percentage of classmates who have included a gift to Georgetown Law in their estate plans); and generosity (most funds raised during the reunion year, with $1.46 million)
• Class of 2015 for attendance (with 122 classmates returning for the weekend)

Next year’s Reunion Weekend, celebrating graduates whose class years end in 1 and 6, will take place Oct. 2 – 4, 2026.