Alumni News - Classnotes 2000

By Ash Sawkar, Class of ’00 Secretary Greetings from the “LBC” as it is so affectionately called in television shows and music that I don’t listen to. I am currently knee-deep in a methamphetamine trafficking trial that I investigated this past winter. I’ll spare you the details unless you want to become an impeachment witness in a federal trial. Is there something in the water in Arizona and California? The next generation of Wildcat lawyers has reared their beautiful little heads since the last column. With my first child weeks away from making his/her LA “debut,” we as a class have the potential of creating a phenomenal Class of 2026. It seems as if many of our fellow alums have chosen this summer to begin their sleepless nights, midnight feedings and endless hours of staring at someone who speaks but makes no sense. It’s like a fourth year of law school! Congratulations to Jason Kelly and his wife, Amy, on the birth of Jason M. Kelly, II, born on September 18, 2003. Jason currently works at Lewin & Schneider in the field of construction and real estate commercial litigation. Amy Thorson deftly juggles being a stay-at-home mom with her part-time clerkship at the Court of Appeals, Division 2, in Tucson. Baby Benjamin will celebrate his second birthday in November. Camille Shadegg Catsaros, celebrated her third anniversary to husband Zach sans champagne. They are expecting their first child in August 2004. Between aches and pains, Camille practices personal injury/medical malpractice plaintiff’s work for a small firm in Tucson. Nicole Davis, who was expecting her first child in late June 2004, spends her days as Deputy General Counsel to Governor Janet Napolitano. While not with child, congratulations also go out to Gabe Galanda, who proposed to Miranda Dickson, an administrative assistant at his law firm, on Easter. Gabe did not want to hog the entire column with his vast and diverse accomplishments so, instead, he provided this link to his web profile: www.wkg.com/index.cfm/action/content/contentid/91/attorney/1.htm. The Fox Network will be airing the pilot of Gabe’s new sitcom, “Leave it to Galanda,” this fall. A line of toys and flip flops will follow this winter. No stranger to television (watching), Kris Harman felt “three years of law was enough” and is now enjoying his second career as residential land developer. Perhaps two years of sharing a Law Review office with me was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Michelle (Koval) Leonhart, on the other hand, can’t get enough of the law. Married in September 2000 (thus the “Leonhart”), Michelle is “loving” her work at Snell & Wilmer in Tucson, practicing real estate and commercial finance law. She is actively involved in the law college’s mentoring program and the Junior League of Tucson. Hmm . . . dedicated to the practice of law while serving the greater community . . . can anyone say Mayor Leonhart? Not to be outdone by Michelle’s service to others, Craig McPike recently received the Volunteer of the Year Award from UIDA Business Services, a tax-exempt supporting charitable organization of the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development, a tax-exempt public charity. It is my understanding that Craig still pays his own taxes. Steven Weeks, on the other hand, has dedicated himself to developing a solo practice. His firm, Weeks and Associates PLLC, has settled and won several large cases. Recently, Steven even pulled in fellow alum Brian Laird on a somewhat complicated case that went to trial in Spring 2004. No surprise, Steven and Brian’s client won. Best wishes to you all on a great summer and fall and keep those updates coming!

The Arizona Alumni Association presented ARMANDO DE LEON (’59) with its Public Service Award.

GEORGE ROUNTREE III (’60) received the Arizona Alumni Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

BURT KINERK (’62) and SELMA MARKS (’56) were awarded Emeritus status on the LCA Board of Directors.

JIM SAKRISON (’66) received the Arizona Alumni Association Sidney S. Woods Alumni Service Award from the LCA.

GEORGE B. NIELSEN (’69), a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge in Phoenix, received the James A. Walsh Distinguished Jurist Award at this year’s State Bar Convention.

EDWARD C. VOSS (’69) has been appointed as a United States Magistrate Judge in Phoenix. Judge Voss previously served as a Maricopa County Superior Court Judge and as a judge of the Arizona Court of Appeals.

WILLIAM McLEAN (’69) has been confirmed as a member of the Arizona Game and Fish Commission.

William RidEnour (’70), Quinn Williams (’74), Tim Hyland (’85), Greg Falls (’86), Dev Sethi (’97), and Bridget McMullen (’04) were named to the LCA’s Board of Directors in June.

MICHAEL DRAKE (’73) is president-elect of the Pima County Bar Association.

The Volunteer Lawyers Program inTucson named ROBERT LUNDQUIST (’73) Outstanding Pro Bono Attorney for
August for his work with clients in cases of debt collection, consumer rights, and housing issues.

NEIL MILLER (’74) is a Board Member at the Board of Immigration Appeals in Washington, D.C.

CHAS WIRKEN (’75) is the incoming president of the Arizona State Bar.

POLLY MILLER (’77) is a lawyer at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.

Judge Margaret Houghton (left) received the Alumnus of the Year Award from the Honors College in April.

The San Diego County Bar Association awarded JUDGE JOAN P. WEBER (’80), a Superior Court Judge in San Diego, CA, the 2004 Jurist of the Year Award. Judge Weber has been a Superior Court Judge for 14 years and is currently the Supervising Judge for the North County Court.

Pima County Juvenile Court Commissioner/Judge Pro Tempore TERRY L. CHANDLER (’80) has been appointed to the Pima County Superior Court.

JODI WEISBERG (’82) has been performing stand-up comedy for more than a year. She recently did a guest spot at the Acme Comedy Co. in Minneapolis, has performed at several Phoenix clubs, and has been on TV locally. Jodi is heading to Boston in the near future to perform.

JEFF SIMMONS (’86) and JO ELLEN McBRIDE (’90) are the proud parents of Harrison Cole Simmons, born in April.

SALLY SCHNEIDER DUNCAN (’89), a partner in the law firm of Bryan Cave, LLP, was named to the Maricopa County
Superior Court.

SCOTT WILKOV (’92) joined the firm of Tucker Ellis & West LLP in Cleveland, Ohio.

GORDON LEWIS (’93) of Jennings, Strouss & Salmon in Phoenix was quoted in The Arizona Republic in response to 84th Arizona Town Hall meeting on public education.

Congratulations to Paula Nailon (’94) who received the 2004 National Association of Law Placement’s President’s Award for Service. Paula will serve as the Chair of the 2005 Annual Education Conference and as Liasion to the ABA Young Lawyer’s Division.

MINA MENDEZ (’95) has been appointed Maricopa County Court Commissioner.

LISA THOMPSON (’95) has her own practice at the Thompson Law Group, which specializes in negotiation and alternative dispute resolution.

MICHAEL DANZIG (’95) was made partner at the San Diego law firm of Quinn Emanuel. He lives in San Diego with his wife, Denise, and their children Jeremy (9), Rachel (6), and Rebecca (1).

DARREN LEHRFELD (’96) was appointed general counsel for the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities.

DEV SETHI (’97) received the Outstanding Young Alumni Award from the LCA in April. He is the president of AMBA (Arizona Minority Bar Association) for 2004.

LAURA HUBBARD (’98) works for the Nature Conservancy’s Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana Chapters in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, a 27 million-acre system as big as the state of Tennessee.

Classnotes 2001

By Lindsay Jones, Class of ’01 Secretary Wow – Can it really be time again to draft another class newsletter? Amazing . . . good thing the Class of 2001 is keeping busy. Deb Hansen is busy working as a plaintiff’s attorney for Les Gilvertson, P.C. in Tucson. She represents plaintiffs in all types of employment matters, but her real love is representing students in public school discrimination cases. No doubt she is keeping TUSD busy. Erica Rocush is practicing Commercial Litigation and Labor and Employment for Snell & Wilmer in Tucson. Tami Hugo practices family law at Wilcox & Wilcox P.C. in Phoenix. She particularly enjoys adoption law. Tami, when are you going to open a restaurant so we can all enjoy your fabulous baking? Jim Marovich is still working for Jennings, Strouss & Salmon in Phoenix, and has volunteered for the past three years for the Phoenix Film Festival. He currently serves on the Executive Management team as Director of Partnership Development coordinating all of the sponsorship activities. This really means he gets to see lots of great free movies and hob nob with celebrities like Rick Schroeder and Peter Fonda. The festival is held the first weekend of April at the Harkins Cine Capri. Speak to Jim to get in on the action . . . Mike McCoy is still working for the SEC in DC but apparently his heart is still in Phoenix or at least will be this fall when he returns there to get married . . . After clerking for Judge Browning and Judge Jorgenson, Greg Sakall will finally become an active member of the Bar in the end of July when he will join Goldberg & Osborne’s Tucson litigation office. There he will primarily work on bad faith and personal injury cases. Eric Button is the Tax Manager – Research & Planning for ASARCO Incorporated in Tucson. In his spare time, Eric continues to be involved with the law school as much as possible, and volunteers for Campaign Arizona. Most importantly, his daughters Megan and Kelly are now 14 and 12 respectively and Eric is finding that “being the father of two girls who suddenly know everything, while I seem to know nothing is ‘fun’ and challenging.” Megan, perhaps a budding lawyer herself, attended a week-long “Law Camp” run by Kenney Hegland and Paul Bennett. Kelly continues to be a leader on and off the soccer field. Finally, Eric is the Co-Chair of a major fundraising event for Child & Family Resources. The “Lobster Landing” will take place October 16, 2004. Go to www.childfamilyresources.org for more info. The City of Phoenix has moved Heidi Gilbert “upstairs” and she now handles Appeals. After almost three years of pure trial work, Heidi says she is spending lots of time with Strunk & White. Shannon O’Laughlin may love Phoenix but she got married in Hawaii . . . Peter Culp has left big firm life to pursue his true love working as counsel to the environmental advocacy protection group The Sonoran Institute. The environment has no better defender (except maybe Peter’s wife Susan.)

Classnotes 2002

By Peter Ghishan, Class of ’02 Secretary STACY JOHNSON is currently living in northern Virginia, in the hometown of Patsy Cline, better known as Winchester, VA. Actually, it is kind of a strange place to be for a girl from the west who never was all that crazy about either the east-coast or country-western music to begin with, but its got a charm all its own that she appreciates just the same. Stacy is working as an assistant counsel for the Transatlantic Programs Center of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers trying to get basic utilities and other services operable for people in the Middle East, northern Africa, and eastern Europe. Basically, this means there’s lots of fun travel to exotic locals, learning to negotiate with people from vastly different cultures and circumstances, and learning random new skills like how to ride a camel as part of a regular day’s work. Overall, Stacy is definitely enjoying this rather unique job and was recently selected as one of the Corp’s 2004 Emerging Leaders. If you ever find yourself nearby in either DC or rural Virginia, drop her a line at stacy_j17@yahoo.com. LAURA (SCHOELER) SIXKILLER married Jason Sixkiller in May in Phoenix and is working in Phoenix for Roshka, Heyman, & DeWulf. She is co-chairing Volleypalooza 2004, a fundraising event to benefit the Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Anyone interested in putting together a team or sponsoring the October 16, 2004 event should contact Laura at lsixkiller@ rhd-law.com. JASON GASKILL and his wife Christina recently had their first child, Isabella Marie Gaskill, on June 5. Jason works for Modrall Sperling in Albuquerque, New Mexico, primarily doing transactions work including federal and state tax, intellectual property and estate planning. Jason is taking the Florida bar exam in July but does not have any current plans to leave New Mexico. TJ RYAN is a litigation associate at Bonnett, Fairbourn, Friedman & Balint, P.C. in Phoenix, Arizona. His practice centers on commercial litigation, health care collections and related litigation, and insurance defense. He is attempting to develop a niche practice in corporate ostrich farming representation, which will assist entrepreneurs in funding and growing their own ostrich farms in the Valley of the Sun. Did you know that one ostrich can produce as many as 100 ostrich feather dusters in one year, and, because the feathers grow back, they are a renewable resource? TJ has had significant assistance from his mentor and guide, CHRISTOPHER BORTZ (“Flightless Bird”) with setting up this practice.

VIRGINIA ALLEN (’99) joined the Paris office of the international arbitration practice group of Shearman & Sterling LLP, where she specializes in international arbitration and litigation, with a focus on Spain and Latin America. Virginia continues to live in Madrid and commutes to Paris on a weekly basis.

LEA STANDRIDGE (’99) and her husband Larry welcomed their son, Nicholas Michael, on April 20, 2004. The family, including Big Brother Jake, is doing well in the “Big Easy” where Lea is stationed as a Navy JAG officer serving both installations in New Orleans.

SHEFALI MILCZAREK-DESAI (’01) was selected Outstanding Pro Bono Attorney for March by the Volunteer Lawyers Program for her work in the Tucson community. She is an associate at DeConcini McDonald Yetwin & Lacy.

JAY MORSE (’01) recently visited with Assistant Deans Holpert and Fleischer who enjoyed hearing about his work as an Army defense attorney in Ft. Lewis, WA, where he is now stationed after having spent a year as a prosecutor in Korea. Jay occasionally faces CHRIS JENKS (’01) in the courtroom.

ROBERTA PARRISH (’03) won the ABA Student Health Law Writing Contest. Her paper, “Playing God: The TRIPS Agreement Waiver of August 2003,” will be published in an upcoming issue of Health Lawyer.

Reunion Central Update

If you are in the following graduating years you are having a reunion this fall:
Class of 1954 – 50-Year Golden Reunion Saturday, October 30, 2004 Rogers College of Law Homecoming BBQ
Class of 1959 – 45-Year Reunion Friday, October 29, 2004 Mountain Oyster Club
Class of 1964 – 40-Year Reunion Friday, October 29, 2004 Hacienda del Sol
Class of 1974 – 30-Year Reunion Friday, October 29, 2004 The Shanty
Class of 1979 – 25-Year Reunion October 9, 2004 Hacienda del Sol
Class of 1984 – 20-Year Reunion Saturday, October 16, 2004 Viscount Suites
Class of 1994 – 10-Year Reunion Friday, October 29, 2004 El Corral Restaurant
          Happy Graduates – Class of 2004

If you are in the graduating years of 1955, 1965, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1995 and you are interested in helping plan your reunion for next year, please contact Donna Ream in the Development and Alumni Relations Office at 520.626.2400. 

Classnotes 2003

By Kate Gottfredson, Class of ’03 Secretary Damon Circosta and Amy Dutton took a surfin’ safari to Michigan this month and rode the big kahuna on June 19th in Walloon Lake, MI. (translation . . . they got married – Best wishes!) promise no more surfing analogies. Monica Higuera married Anthony Coury in December 2003. The ceremony took place at St. Mary’s Basilica in Downtown Phoenix and was followed by a fantastic reception at the Heard Museum. Both Mr. and Mrs. Coury practice with the law firm of Gallagher and Kennedy. Anthony is a graduate of Notre Dame. He’s a good guy though so try not to hold it against him. In other wedding news, Abbie Susan Dickinson Broughton became engaged to Greg Marsh this spring. They live in Corona, California and she works at the Riverside County Attorney’s Office. Also announcing their engagement are Melissa Stuebner (class of 2004) and Adam Zabor. Adam works for the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office and will be joined by Melissa there this fall. This winter, J.L. Echeveria and his wife Dawn introduced a baby boy, Lane Echeveria, to the Arizona sunshine. Lane is their second child. Congratulations to our classmates receiving LLM degrees this year. Carlene Miller is receiving an LLM in tax from NYU and will be working at Snell & Wilmer in Phoenix. Kjersten DOCKERY also received an LLM in tax from the University of Washington and is practicing estate planning with Charles F. Myers, PA in Phoenix. Maina Tilton will be receiving her LLM in International Trade, also from NYU. I have had to rely on more creative sources for news gathering with this update . . . My own little brother is spending his 1st summer at the Pima County Attorney’s Office and from what I hear, several of you have been keeping him busy! Props to Malena Acosta and Nanette Morrow for keeping all those little summer law clerks on their toes and continuing to do the hard work of county prosecutors. The class of 2003 certainly has maintained an interest in lifelong learning. This is well evidenced by the strong presence of our class every Wednesday night at the George and Dragon Pub in Phoenix for Trivia night. Regulars include: Rich Denenny, Adam Zabor, Scott Schwartz, Jen Eugster and Jeff Beaver (and his beautiful fiancé Ixchel del Castillo – to be married in Cuernavaca, Mexico in Spetember 2004). This group has yet to receive first prize though, so consider this a recruitment posting – they need all the help they can get! Elizabeth Berenguer just ran her 1st marathon and only suffered one minor injury. She asked me to write that she “ran the marathon, lost a toenail, and ran next to a man dressed in a spandex batman costume the entire way! It was weird because [she] felt something rattling around in [her] shoe and it turned out to be [her] toenail! pretty gross, huh? Oh and a big dog chased after [her] and licked [her] leg.” Scott Schwartz completed the San Diego Mud Run this month too. Congrats to both of them! PLEASE write with any news in your life so I can include it in the next newsletter! Many thanks to everyone who helped contribute to this newsletter! I can be reached by e-mail at kategottfredson2003@hotmail.com

The Rogers College of Law Community notes with regret the
deaths of these alumni and expresses our heartfelt sympathy
to their loved ones.

FRANK C. BROPHY, JR.
Class of 1956

GARVEN WAYNE VIDEEN
Class of 1962

GEORGE LIM
Class of 1964

JON R. COOPER
Class of 1969

JUDGE JOHN STICHT
Class of 1969

RICHARD FORCIER
Class of 1971

DONALD WILLARD HART
Class of 1972

WILLIAM W. EDWARDS
Class of 1974

PAUL A. SMITH
Class of 1983

GUY C. FIMBRES
Class of 1984

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