Class notes
1970's
M. Lane Morrison 70L
T. Jackson Bedford 73L has been making sure Santa visits children at the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston for more than two decades.
Luther Battiste III 74L
Richard Kaufman 76L has been confirmed to serve on the Fort Lewis College Board of Trustees. He serves on the Academic Affairs Committee and was recently named chair of the Presidential Search Committee tasked with identifying candidates for the office of the president of the college.
Jerry Blanchard 78L has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2018 for his work in banking and finance law and financial services regulation law. He has also been named The Best Lawyers’ 2018 Atlanta Financial Services Regulation Law “Lawyer of the Year.” He is senior counsel at Bryan Cave in Atlanta in the Financial Institutions Group.
1980's
A. Diane Baker 80L
Justice Leah Ward Sears 80L was interviewed by the National Law Journal about her recently released biography, Justice Leah Ward Sears: Seizing Serendipity, written by Rebecca Shiver Davis.
Debra Schwartz 82L received the Advocacy Award from the Georgia affiliate of the National Employment Lawyers Association.
Harold B. Yellin 82L 82B was selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2018 for land use and zoning law and real estate law. He is an attorney at HunterMaclean.
Sara Anne Ford 84L was named the Birmingham “Lawyer of the Year” for litigation relating to mergers and acquisitions in The Best Lawyers in America 2018. She is a partner at Lightfoot, Franklin & White.
Diana J. P. McKenzie 84B 85L
Julie Fershtman 83C 86L, of Foster Swift Collins & Smith, was listed in The Best Lawyers in America 2018 and in Super Lawyers 2017. Fershtman was recognized for her work in commercial litigation, insurance law, and civil litigation (defense). For the fifth consecutive year, she has been listed in Michigan Super Lawyers for both the “Top 25 Women Business Lawyers” and the “Top 50 Women Lawyers.”
Suzanne Tucker Plybon 86L has been named “Lawyer of the Year” for trust and estates law in metro Atlanta.
Mark D. Wasserman 86L, managing partner and co-CEO of Eversheds Sutherland, has been selected as one of Atlanta Business Chronicle’s “Most Admired CEOs” for 2017. Wasserman is also chair of Emory Law’s Advisory Board.
Richard K. Hellerman 87L obtained a landmark victory from the Illinois Appellate Court regarding the succession of prior unions’ commercial debts.
Michael P. Saber 89L was included in The Best Lawyers in America 2018. He is a partner at Smith Anderson’s Raleigh, North Carolina, office. His focus areas are biotechnology law, corporate law, mergers and acquisitions law, securities/ capital markets law, and venture capital law.
James Trusty 89L, former chief of the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime Section, is now a partner at Ifrah Law in Washington, DC.
1990's
Shayna M. Steinfeld 86C 90L 90B published Her Story: Lessons in Success from Lawyers Who Live It earlier this year. Steinfeld is a coeditor and author of one of the book’s essays. The book was published by the American Bar Association, Litigation Section.
Sarah H. Lamar 91L was selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2018 for management-related employment law and management-related labor law. She is an attorney at HunterMaclean.
Pamela Pettus 91L is the chief executive officer and cofounder of The Gavel, a national legal network designed to streamline the claims-defense experience for claims professionals. Pettus brings decades of experience managing all lines of insured and self-insured claims.
Ross Ginsberg 93L
Liz Bard Lindley 93L leads public relations and marketing campaigns for law firms in her new position as senior vice president with the communications agency Jaffe PR.
Aaron Marks 93L has joined Kirkland & Ellis as a partner in the Litigation Practice Group in its New York office.
Lisa Branch 94L, nominated by President Trump, was confirmed to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
William J. Cooper 95L became a partner with the Houston office of Sidley Austin LLP.
G. Scott Rafshoon 96L has joined Hunton & Williams as a partner.
Matt Sours 96L
Shawn A. Kachmar 97L was selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2018 for management-related employment law. He is an attorney at HunterMaclean.
Jennifer Mencarini 97L is among 45 people in Leadership Greensboro’s Class of 2018, which represents business, education, government, nonprofit, and neighborhood organizations.
Chad I. Michaelson 99L was named a 2017 Pennsylvania Super Lawyer in the category of business litigation. Michaelson is a partner with Meyer, Unkovic & Scott and practices in the firm’s Pittsburgh office. His focus areas are litigation; construction, energy, utilities and mineral rights; and sustainable development.
2000's
Derek Bauer 00L, partner at Atlanta’s BakerHostetler, was quoted in the Daily Report on a story about the misdemeanor conviction of journalist Nydia Tisdale.
Michael D. Cross Jr. 00L, of Briskin, Cross & Sanford, has been named among Georgia’s “Legal Elite” by Georgia Trend magazine.
Matthew Skolnik 02L accepted a position as deputy attorney general with the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General, within the office’s civil litigation unit in Philadelphia.
Chintan Panchal 03L was interviewed by Forbes about the law firm he cofounded in 2010, RPCK Rastegar Panchal.
Anthony J. Ghiotto 05L accepted a tenure-track position at Campbell University School of Law in North Carolina as an assistant professor of law. He previously served as a judge advocate in the US Air Force.
Elizabeth B. Rose 07L is a founding partner on the all-woman legal team at Caiola & Rose. The firm will focus on serving franchisors. Rose joined Slotkin & Caiola two years ago after serving as a law clerk for US Bankruptcy Court Judge Mary Grace Diehl.
Justin Barry 08L
Peter Booth 08L has been elected shareholder at Polsinelli PC, where his practice focuses on all aspects of commercial real estate.
Britt-Marie K. Cole-Johnson 08L has been appointed to the advisory board of Teach for America–Connecticut.
Shalanda Miller 08L was appointed as an associate judge to the Fulton County Magistrate Court.
Courtney Devon Taylor 08L
J. Nathanael Watson 08L has joined Stoel Rives as an of counsel attorney in its Environment, Land Use, and Natural Resources Group in Seattle. He was previously employed as a trial attorney for the Environment & Natural Resources Division of the US Department of Justice.
Erica M. Jackson 09L recently joined K&L Gates as a partner in the firm’s Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, and Charleston, South Carolina, offices. She is a member of the firm’s FDA and Healthcare Practice Groups.
Danielle Curtis Parrington 09L has joined Yardi Systems Inc. as corporate counsel in Boston. Parrington was formerly a commercial litigation associate at Bryan Cave in Atlanta.
David Ross Werner 09L began his new job as director of state and local government relations for Delta Air Lines. Late last year, Werner had been named executive counsel for Gov. Nathan Deal.
2010's
Jason Esteves 10L, an assistant general counsel at Equifax, was inducted as a member of the latest Atlanta Business Chronicle “40 under 40” list. He was also recently reelected to At-Large Seat 9 on the Atlanta School Board.
Daniel Shulak 04C 10L, a senior associate at Hogan Lovells, was selected as a recommended practitioner for United States, Antitrust, Cartels in the Legal 500 for 2017. His practice is focused on domestic and international criminal cartel defense.
Alexandra "Sachi" Cole 11L
Benjamin Farley 11L has been appointed as a trial attorney and law-of-war counsel at the US Department of Defense, Military Commissions Defense Organization. Farley joins the Department of Defense following five years at the US Department of State.
Joseph Minock 11L
Louis Laverone 13L wrote an article critiquing the current US administration’s use of Section 311 of the USA Patriot Act in its financial pressure campaign against North Korea, which was published in Foreign Affairs, the magazine of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Emily Quan 13L was promoted to member at Weinberg Wheeler Hudgins Gunn & Dial’s Atlanta office.
Craig Samuel 14L
Katherine Maddox Davis 15L joined Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher as an associate in Washington, DC. Davis recently completed federal clerkships with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Eastern District of Virginia.
Farley H. Ezekiel 15L wrote in the Daily Report about helping domestic violence survivors in the aftermath of abuse.
Nicole Indelicato 17L has joined Cole Schotz as an associate in its Corporate Department.
Nora Xu 17L won the nationwide American Intellectual Property Law Association Robert C. Watson Award Competition with a paper written for Professor Margo Bagley’s International Patent Law and Policy seminar.
Xin "Mina" Zhan 17L
In Memoriam
Jack H. Higgins 50L on November 28, 2017.
Judge Wilbert N. Little 50L on June 16, 2017.
Harry G. Weissenberger 52L on May 30, 2017.
Charles Ackerman 60L on September 22, 2017.
Judge Robert E. McDuff 52C 54L 62L on May 12, 2017.
Theodore Smith 65L on September 16, 2017.
William F. Bartee Jr. 66L on July 15, 2017.
Julian “J. D.” Fleming Jr. 67L on July 29, 2017.
Judge Arthur W. Fudger 67L on May 14, 2017.
Elizabeth “Betsy” Evans Neely 67L on May 14, 2017.
Charles R. Holman Jr. 70L on June 18, 2017.
Laurence Christensen 76L on July 25, 2017.
Robert Henry Uehling 84L on May 15, 2017.
Stephen F. Mackie 81C 85L on December 11, 2017.
Michael C. Mauceri 89L on June 17, 2017.
Donahue Scott Silvis 89L on April 12, 2017.
Ali Forrest Morad 90L on May 26, 2017.
David Charles Ates 91L on October 10, 2017.
Michael Leonard DiTano 06L on October 2, 2017.
You did what? Send your updates to lawcommunications@emory.edu. Class notes are submitted by alumni and are not verified by the editor. Read more about Emory Law alumni at law.emory.edu/alumni.
