Class Notes – Fall 2020
Below are the Class Notes as they appeared in the Fall 2020 print edition of The Advocate. If you would like to submit a class note for the next magazine, please email editor@wcl.american.edu.
1960s
Michael E. Don ’69, retired president of the Securities Investor Protection Corp., died in March 2019 as the result ofcomplications from multiple sclerosis. He is survived by his wife Beth ’70 and son Ethan ’06.
1970s
Eric Greenspan ’75, managing partner of Myman Greenspan Fox Rosenberg Mobasser Younger & Light in Los Angeles, was named one of Billboard’s Top 2020 Music Lawyers.
Marian Mlay ’77 died in Silver Spring, Maryland, on May 4. She had a distinguished career in government in the Public Health Service of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (now the Department of Health and Human Services) and in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where she served in senior leadership from 1977 until her retirement in 1997. At the EPA, Mlay held numerous positions including director of the Office of Groundwater Protection, where she developed groundwater protection strategy and established a national program to support state and local efforts; director of Oceans and Coastal Protections; and senior research associate the National Academy of Public Administration.
Tom Morante ’77 joined the law firm Carlton Fields. Based in Miami and DC, Morante is a member of the firm’s Financial Services Regulatory Practice Group and its Life, Annuity, and Retirement Solutions Industry Group. He also serves as a member of the AUWCL Dean’s Advisory Council.
1980s
Michael D. Jankowski ’88 was selected to BestLawyers.com’s list of Best Lawyers in America 2021. He was also recognized by the outlet as a “Lawyer of the Year.” A shareholder in Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren’s Corporate Law, Business Reorganization, and Banking and Finance practices, Jankowski specializes in complex corporate bankruptcies, creditors’ rights, workouts, restructurings, troubled transactions, receivership, and commercial transactions.
Laurie Martinelli ’89 began her tenure as executive director of Project Citizenship June 15. The nonprofit organization provides free, high-quality legal services to permanent residents to help them become U.S citizens.
Erin Sweeney ’89 has joined DLA Piper’s Employment Practice in Washington, D.C. Sweeney, an expert in employee benefits related to healthcare, previously served as a senior benefit law specialist for the Department of Labor’s Division of Fiduciary Interpretations.
1990s
Charles S. Baldwin ’93 was among the 21 Brooks Pierce attorneys recognized by their peers for inclusion in the 2020 edition of Business North Carolina’s 2020 Legal Elite, a listing of the state’s top lawyers. He was also named to Business North Carolina’s Hall of Fame for his work in business.
Elisabeth R. Myers ’93 returned to Morocco in February after more than two decades in private practice, serving as founding editor-in- chief of Inside Arabia magazine until December 2019 and as an adjunct associate professor of law at AUWCL. Myers is now an international consultant focusing on the rule of law and international human rights in the MENA region.
Scott Zebrak ’95, founding partner of Oppenheim + Zebrak LLP in Washington, D.C., has been named one of Billboard’s Top 2020 Music Lawyers.
Dan Cullen ’97 was appointed Chicago Tax Practice Group Chair at Baker & McKenzie LLP and is the current co-author of the Taxation of Securities Transactions – a comprehensive explanation of the income taxation of securities published by Matthew Bender.
Gina K. Janeiro ’99 was featured in the Chambers USA 2020 Guide, a publication ranking the leading lawyers and law firms across the United States. She is a principal in the Minneapolis, Minnesota, office of Jackson Lewis PC, where she practices employment law.
2000s
Vaishali Udupa ’00, vice president AGC litigation at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, is one of the five recipients of the National Bar Association’s 2020 Diversity in Tech and IP Awards. Udupa was recognized during the National Bar Association Annual Convention, held virtually in July.
Sean M. Sullivan ’01 has joined Robinson Bradshaw’s Research Triangle, North Carolina, office. Sullivan advises clients on federal environmental programs, with an emphasis on hazardous waste, brownfields redevelopment, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, and emerging contaminants.
Danielle Garbien ’02 has joined Bracewell as a partner in the firm’s New York office to address the renewable energy market. Garbien was previously with Sidley Austin LLP.
Natalie M. Koss ’03 was elected to the D.C. Bar Board of Governors. Koss, a member of the D.C. Bar for over 15 years, is managing partner of Potomac Legal Group PLLC, a firm representing employees in public and private sector employment matters.
Melissa Davis ’05, a public defender with the New Hampshire Public Defender, has been appointed director of the Criminal Practice Clinic at the University of New Hampshire, Franklin Pierce School of Law.
Julia Rose Kraut ’06 authored Threat of Dissent: A History of Ideological Exclusion and Deportation in the United States, published by Harvard University Press in July. The first social, political, and legal history of ideological exclusion and deportation in the United States, the book delves into the intricacies of major court decisions and legislation while remembering the people involved.
Subhashini Bollini ’07 joined Washington, D.C., employment law firm Correia and Puth as partner effective July 1.
Christian De Vos ’07 authored Complementarity, Catalysts, Compliance: The International Criminal Court in Uganda, Kenya, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, published by Cambridge University Press. The book examines how the ICC’s principle of complementarity came to be framed as a “catalyst for compliance” and its unexpected effects on the domestic legal frameworks, institutions, and criminal prosecutions in three of the ICC’s early situation countries. De Vos is a senior advocacy officer with the Open Society Justice Initiative, a program of the Open Society Foundations.
Suzanne Kane ’07 was promoted to partner of Akin Gump’s Washington, D.C., office Jan. 1. Kane advises on customs and import control laws. Her experience covers a range of commercial and enforcement laws administered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, where she previously worked for more than six years as a senior attorney-advisor.
Jim Craig LL.M. ’08 was promoted to general counsel at the University of Idaho in July. He previously was the university’s deputy general counsel. From 2008-2016 Craig worked for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In 2015, he received the Department of Homeland Security Secretary’s Silver Medal Award for his work on a high-profile human rights case.
Kelly Robreno Koster ’09 rejoined Eckert Seamans’ White Plains, N.Y., office, where she concentrates her practice in complex commercial litigation. Prior to rejoining Eckert Seamans, she served as general counsel of an international temporary staffing company in New York.
2010s
Adrian Alvarez ’10, who served as practitioner-in-residence with the AUWCL Disability Rights Law Clinic from 2018- 2020, has been appointed assistant professor of law at St. John’s University School of Law. He teaches Disability Law, Lawyering Skills, and Professional Responsibility, among other courses.
Jabeen Adawi (Reza) ’10, a former clinical teaching fellow at Georgetown Law, has been appointed clinical assistant professor of law and director of the Family Law Clinic at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.
Mary C. Huff ’10, counsel with Blankingship & Keith in Fairfax, Virginia, has been named to the 2020 Super Lawyers Virginia Rising Stars list and the 2020 Super Lawyers Washington, D.C., Rising Stars list.
William Rappolt ’10 has been promoted to partner at Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP’s Washington, D.C., office. There, Rappolt is a member of the Energy, Infrastructure and Project Finance industry team and the Real Estate, Land Use and Environmental practice group.
Cori Alonso-Yoder ’11, former practitioner-in-residence with the AUWCL Immigrant Justice Clinic, has been appointed visiting professor of law and director of the Federal Legislation Clinic at Georgetown University Law Center.
Bhanvani Raveendran ’12, senior associate at Chicago based personal injury firm Romanucci & Blandin, has been honored by the American Association for Justice (AAJ) with a Certificate of Recognition, which recognizes AAJ members who have made contributions through membership, education, or fundraising to sustain and strengthen the organization.
David W.A. Chee ’13 was selected to participate in the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association’s Leadership Advancement Program, a yearlong leadership training for rising Asian Pacific American attorneys. As an attorney at Carlton Fields in Miami, Chee focuses his practice on complex criminal and civil litigation in federal and state court, including the handling of appeals.
Lauren Khouri ’13 joined Washington, D.C., employment law firm Correia and Puth as partner effective July 1.
Sunitha Malepati ’13, supervising attorney and clinical teaching fellow with the Social Enterprise & Nonprofit Law Clinic at Georgetown University Law Center, has been appointed deputy director of that clinic for the upcoming school year.
Ellen Ostrow ’13, associate at Stoel Rives, was named the 2018 Pro Bono Attorney of the Year by the Utah State Bar Pro Bono Bankruptcy Project. The bar announced the recipient and honorable mentions in its September/October 2019 issue of the Utah Bar Journal. The award is presented to an attorney or law firm that has made an exemplary contribution of uncompensated time and effort in providing legal assistance to people who could not otherwise afford the assistance of an attorney.
Alex Zerden ’14 was selected as a member of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, where he serves as counsel covering financial integrity and oversight issues. He joins the Select Subcommittee from the Treasury Department, where he worked in several roles to promote financial integrity at home and abroad, managed complex financial investigations, and served in the White House National Economic Council.
Eric A. Love ’16 was elected to serve on the board of directors of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association (MBBA) for the 2020-2023 term. The MBBA is one of the largest organizations of Black attorneys in New York. Love is an associate in Jones Day's New York office and a member of the Financial Markets Practice, where he focuses on the formation and regulation of private investment funds and on the regulation of private fund managers, investment advisers, and broker-dealers.