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Emory Law well-represented in 2016 Daily Report awards

Emory University School of Law |

When the Daily Report announced the award winners in its annual “Lifetime Achievement” and “On the Rise categories,” more than a few Emory Law graduates were on the list. Congratulations to all our alumni for their continued success, dedication and service. Read the Daily Report story here.

A list of Emory Law winners follows, and their name is linked to their individual profiles.

Lifetime Achievement

Dorothy Toth Beasley 08L
"Stuck in a low-level U.S. State Department job where promotions for women were rare, Dorothy Toth one day walked to the closest law school one day, hoping to take one course to see if she liked law. The dean told her she'd have to enroll as a student, even if only part-time. She did and in 1964 emerged with a degree from American University's Washington College of Law.”

Thomas Carlock 66L
“Fifty years ago this month, Tom Carlock took his Emory Law degree and joined the State Bar of Georgia, launching a career that would eventually see him atop one of the state's premier litigation firms. Now known as Carlock, Copeland & Stair, the firm Carlock and four colleagues formed in 1970 is renowned as a defense-heavy powerhouse with about 80 lawyers.”

Clarence Cooper 67L
“When U.S. District Senior Judge Clarence Cooper was a newly-minted attorney, quietly making history as the first black lawyer at the Atlanta Legal Aid Society, he had an extraordinary chance encounter. Cooper was walking in Downtown Atlanta on his way to try his very first case. ‘I was wearing my best three-piece suit. I was sharp," he recalls. As the traffic light turned, Cooper says he "felt a person's eyes on me.’ It was the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., uncharacteristically driving alone. ‘Young man, who are you?" King called cheerily out the window. ‘What do you do?’”

Orinda Evans 68L
“In the 37 years since Orinda D. Evans first donned judicial robes, she has presided over hundreds of cases, including the highly-publicized trial of former prosecutor Fredric Tokars, sentenced to life in prison for racketeering, money laundering and the 1992 murder-for-hire of his wife. Nominated by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 to the U.S. District Court's Northern District, Evans was the first woman in Georgia appointed to the federal bench and, at 36, one of the youngest. Today, the 72-year-old Evans takes her pioneer legacy in stride. ‘I don't think about it much,’ she says.”

Elliott Levitas 52C 56L
“Emory University undergraduate Elliott Levitas chose law over medicine because lawyers can do more good on a wider scale than doctors can with one patient at a time. He studied jurisprudence during a Rhodes scholarship at Oxford and eventually finished law school at Emory. Admitted to the bar in 1955, Levitas spent two years in the Air Force as a judge advocate general officer before joining Arnall Golden Gregory.”


On the Rise

Jason Beach 03L
Jason Beach loves a good story. “He was encouraged by a speech and debate coach to seek a career where he could use his storytelling gifts. Today, the Hunton & Williams litigator breaks down complex stories for judges and juries, often at the intersection of internal investigations and litigation stemming from financial concerns after a data breach.”

Alison Elko Franklin 03L
“Who says you can't have it all? Alison Elko Franklin views her diverse bankruptcy litigation practice as "the last of the general practices," touching commercial litigation, labor and employment, real estate and other disciplines. On one day, she may be counseling a debtor, the next a trustee, creditor or creditor's committee.”

Nicole Marchand Golden 03L
"’I can't see myself stopping anytime soon, unless they kick me out.’" Nicole Marchand Golden isn't talking about her position as chief assistant to the DeKalb district attorney. Nor is she discussing her mentorship work as co-founder of a girl's empowerment program … Here, she's talking about coordinating mock trial competitions for DeKalb high-schoolers, yet another of her many community engagement projects.”

Julie Adams Jacobs 03L
“Julie Adams Jacobs never saw herself working in criminal law, so she was skeptical after landing her first job out of law school—in the criminal division of the Office of the Attorney General. ‘It was fate taking over and putting me where I needed to be. I wanted to be a courtroom lawyer, and I never would have had that experience’ without the criminal division post, Adams Jacobs says.

Hannah Palmquist 12L
“Growing up in rural Becker, Minnesota, Hannah Palmquist always knew she wanted to be a prosecutor: ‘The idea of advocating for crime victims fit my personality, and when I studied law I found meaning in prosecution.’ Joining the Cobb County district attorney's office in 2013, Palmquist quickly moved up from line prosecutor to the special victims' unit, where she concentrates on crimes against children.”


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