Impeachment, the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, and the Final Days of President Trump, The Insurrection at the Capitol and Its Legal Implications, Professor Weisburd’s Article Recognized by AALS, and more news and updates from GW Law ·

GW Law Updates January 2021

President Biden Adopts Professor Bearer-Friend's Tax Proposal Professor Jeremy Bearer-Friend's proposal to disaggregate tax data by race and ethnicity has been included in President Joe Biden’s Executive Order on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities, issued on the first day of his presidency. Learn more about the proposal →

Impeachment, the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, and the Final Days of President Trump Professor Peter J. Smith led a discussion with Professor Brian Kalt, Michigan State University College of Law, on the constitutional law of the presidency, impeachment, succession, and the 25th Amendment. Watch the discussion →

The Insurrection at the Capitol and Its Legal Implications GW Law experts discussed whether the Senate can hold an impeachment trial after Trump leaves office, the legality of Trump’s ban from social media platforms, and more. Read more and watch the discussion →

SBA Resolution on January 6, 2021 After the destructive events at the Capitol on January 6, GW Law’s SBA created a resolution to express their “consternation, grave concern, and fullest condemnation.” Read the full resolution →

Assistant Dean Tillipman Takes on New Role Jessica Tillipman, JD ’03, is appointed as the Assistant Dean for Government Procurement Law Studies and Government Contracts Advisory Council Professorial Lecturer in Government Contracts Law, Practice & Policy, effective January 2021. Read more about Dean Tillipman’s role →

3L Selected for Skadden Foundation Fellowship Farah Khan, 3L, is awarded a Skadden Foundation Fellowship for 2021. She is the fourth student in the history of GW Law to be selected for the prestigious honor, which is presented to law students who wish to pursue public interest work. Learn more about Ms. Khan →

Faculty News

Professor Yukins Leads Study Commissioned by ACUS Professor Christopher Yukins, along with Ben Smith, JD ‘20, and Madison Plummer, Class of ‘21, prepared an extensive report exploring potential reforms to agency- level bid protests that was cited in the National Defense Authorization Act. Learn about the report →

Professor Weisburd’s Article Recognized by AALS Professor Kate Weisburd receives honorable mention for her forthcoming law review article, “Punitive Surveillance,” in the Association of American Law Schools Section on Criminal Justice Junior Scholars Paper Competition for 2021. Read about the article →

Professor Overton Explains How to Increase Top Staff of Color Professor Spencer Overton discussed with Rev. Al Sharpton on MSNBC’s PoliticsNation the lack of congressional staff diversity and what can be done to fix it. Watch the discussion →

Professor Solove Publishes New Children’s Book and Completes ALI Project on Privacy Professor Daniel J. Solove has published The Eyemonger, a new children’s book that discusses privacy in a way children can understand. In addition, he served as Co- Reporter on ALI’s Principles of the Law, Data Privacy, the organization’s first deep dive into information privacy law. Learn about Professor Solove’s work →

Professor Saltzburg Honored by American Bar Foundation In recognition of his longstanding advocacy for civil rights, civil liberties, human rights, and criminal justice reform, Professor Stephen A. Saltzburg is the recipient of the 2021 American Bar Foundation Fellows Outstanding Service Award. Read about Professor Saltzburg’s service →

Professor Kovacic’s Research Chosen for Further Study and Evaluation Professor William E. Kovacic’s project on gender consideration as a factor in prioritizing antitrust enforcement has been selected by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to help inform the debate and develop guidance on a more gender inclusive competition policy. Read about the research →

In Memoriam: John Andrew Spanogle, Jr. John Andrew Spanogle, Jr., the William Wallace Kirkpatrick Research Professor Emeritus of Law, passed away on Friday, December 18, 2020, on his 86th birthday. A staunch advocate and leader in consumer protection law, he served on the GW Law faculty for 24 years. Learn about Professor Emeritus Spanogle’s impact →

Faculty in the News

Jeffrey Rosen is interviewed on MSNBC’s “This Week with Joshua Johnson” on how impeachment affects legal actions against a president. January 21, 2021

Catherine J. Ross writes in Slate about the legal definition of the term ” incitement.“ January 16, 2021

Dmitry Karshtedt is quoted in Bloomberg Law about how companies often lose in the Federal Circuit when they sue on genus claims. January 15, 2021

Steven L. Schooner is quoted by NBC News about how the government could end its business relationships with the Trump Organization. January 13, 2021

Paul Schiff Berman is quoted in VOA about whether an impeachment trial and conviction could happen after Trump leaves office. January 9, 2021

Donald C. Clarke discussed on NPR’s “All Things Considered” the arrest of more than 50 pro-democracy activists and politicians in Hong Kong. January 6, 2021

Peter H. Meyers is quoted in The Chronicle of Higher Education about whether colleges must adhere to exemption requests for the vaccine. January 4, 2021

Jessica K. Steinberg is quoted in The Washington Post about how COVID-19 sparked compassionate release programs for prisoners. December 30, 2020

Jessica Tillipman is quoted in The Washington Post about how a delayed contract may bring new scrutiny to a common procurement loophole. December 30, 2020

Upcoming Events

IP Speaker Series: Sarah Rajec Online Friday, January 29 3 – 4:30pm ET

Cybersecurity: Adapting Legal Online Solutions to New Threats and Tuesday, February 2 Old Adversaries 9am ET

The EU and the New US Online Administration Wednesday, February 3 12 – 1pm ET

GW’s Bicentennial Opening Online Ceremony Tuesday, February 9 4 – 5pm ET

Trademark Practice Series: Online Alesha Dominique, JD ‘08 Wednesday, February 10 12:15 – 1pm ET

Fruit of America's Poisonous Online Tree: The Political Determinants Wednesday, February 17 of Health and Opportunities to 6pm ET Optimize Health

Trademark Practice Series: Online Lauren Shinn, JD ’15 Wednesday, February 24 12:15 – 1pm ET

IP Speaker Series: Online Andrew Gilden Friday, February 26 3 – 4:30pm ET

Class Notes

Bruce A. Singal, JD ‘73 Hinckley Allen announced that eight trial lawyers from Barrett & Singal have joined the firm, including Bruce A. Singal. He joined Barrett & Singal in 1997 and established its Litigation group. He served as co-chair of the Litigation group and co-chair of the Research Misconduct group. He represents executives, corporations, and professionals who are under investigation or indictment for a variety of white-collar crimes. Mr. Singal also handles complex commercial litigation involving major business disputes, including between businesses and their employees, and between family members over family businesses and assets. He is widely regarded as one of the top white-collar criminal defense lawyers in the Northeast, having been selected as one of the top 10 lawyers in Massachusetts numerous times. In 2003, he was selected as a Fellow of the prestigious American College of Trial Lawyers. In 2018, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly recognized Mr. Singal as a Lawyer of the Year for his work on a nationally-covered case.

David H. Jacobson, JD ‘94 David H. Jacobson has moved to Warshaw Burstein where he is a partner. Mr. Jacobson practices in the field of business immigration, with a particular focus on assisting corporate clients.

Donell Hicks, JD ‘00 Donell Andre Hicks has joined Stearns Weaver Miller’s Miami office as a shareholder. Mr. Hicks is board certified by the Florida bar in construction law and will work with the Litigation, Land Development, Zoning & Environmental, Real Estate, and Insurance groups on all construction-related matters. He is highly experienced in handling a range of disputes in all types of construction cases, including residential, commercial, condominium, and homeowner association (HOA) claims. Mr. Hicks represents various construction industry professionals, including developers, property owners, contractors, subcontractors, architects, and engineers in transactional, litigation, mediation, and arbitration matters.

Gregory E. Tomczak, JD ‘02 Rose Law Group, the largest woman-led law firm in Arizona’s history, added attorney Gregory E. Tomczak as Senior Litigation Counsel. Mr. Tomczak, who will be part of Rose Law Group’s litigation practice concentrates his practice in complex commercial litigation, real estate litigation, employment litigation, major felony criminal defense, white- collar criminal defense, internal investigations, and responding to subpoenas and/or requests for information from government agencies. He has had a long, successful, and impressive career. He has served as lead counsel in over 20 jury trials and 40 non-jury trials. His former clients include former state governors, the former General Partner of the New York Yankees, a multi-national hotel conglomerate, and many other multi-million dollar businesses and enterprises. He has also represented individuals and business organizations engaged in health care, automobile sales and service, real estate development, government contracting, hotels, education, and much more. In addition, Mr. Tomczak has litigation experience at the state and federal level. The longtime litigator has represented individuals and business organizations in complex commercial litigation. He has litigated in a vast array of areas including partnership disputes, contract disputes, employment disputes concerning unfair business competition and restrictive covenants, and construction disputes. He has won and successfully defended numerous multi-million-dollar cases.

Jade Laye, LLM ‘06 Haynes and Boone announced the promotion of 12 lawyers across the firm’s Austin, Dallas, Dallas-North, Houston, New York, and Orange County offices to its partnership ranks. Jade Laye is a member of the Patent Prosecution Practice Group in Haynes and Boone’s Houston office. A registered patent attorney, he focuses his practice on intellectual property law, with an emphasis on patent prosecution and counseling, as well as the acquisition, licensing, and divestiture of patent rights. Mr. Laye has experience with a range of technologies, including electrical and mechanical oil field devices, automotive vehicles, optical computing devices, electromagnetic logging tools, software, semiconductors, fracturing methods, e-commerce, and telecommunications.

Mike Hurst, JD ‘08 Mike Hurst, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi, announced Thursday that he has submitted his resignation to President Donald J. Trump and Acting Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen and will leave the Department of Justice on January 19, 2021. Mr. Hurst, a native of Hickory, was appointed by Trump in June 2017. Prior to serving as a U.S, attorney, he served as director of the Mississippi Justice Institute, a division of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy. He served as Assistant U.S. Attorney in Jackson from 2006 to 2015, working the criminal division. In 2015, he narrowly lost to incumbent Attorney General Jim Hood. Prior to his first stint with the U.S. Attorney’s office, Mr. Hurst was legislative director and counsel to U.S. Rep. Chip Pickering, as well as counsel to the Constitution Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee.

Joshua Weiss, JD ‘11 Brownstein’s Joshua Weiss was promoted to shareholder in the firm’s Denver office. Mr. Weiss, a member of the firm’s Litigation Department, has built a unique practice pairing litigation with high-level government relations work along with a broad appellate practice. He represents a broad range of clients in federal and state courts across the country, administrative and regulatory enforcement proceedings, and informal dispute resolution processes. Mr. Weiss also advises on business strategy, regulatory compliance, licensing, internal investigations, and corporate governance in heavily regulated industries, including cannabis and hemp, banking, finance, gaming, and construction.

Jeremy Schneider, JD ‘12 Jeremy S. Schneider was recently elevated to principal at national workplace law firm Jackson Lewis. Mr. Schneider is a member of the firm’s Washington, DC, Region office. He focuses his practice on helping employers reduce workplace risk and manage legal costs by preventing and resolving disputes with their employees.

Matthew Baker, JD ‘13 Matthew Baker, an associate at the Genova Burns law firm, has been elected to serve as the chair of Lead New Jersey (LNJ), a statewide non- profit organization that offers an annual program of public policy education and leadership development for professionals from all sectors through seminars with leading experts, real-world leadership training, and civic engagement opportunities. Mr. Baker was a member of Lead New Jersey’s 2016 class of Fellows, and has served on the Board of Trustees since 2017, including service on LNJ’s Selection Committee, as co-chair of its Strategic Planning Committee, and as chair of its Governance Committee. As chair of the organization, Mr. Baker will preside over all meetings of LNJ’s Board, and will be a member of the Board’s Executive Committee, Governance Committee, and Finance and Audit Committee. He will also work hand-in-hand with LNJ President Mark Murphy and Vice President Jen Bredehoft to bring the very best experience possible to LNJ’s Fellows and alumni.

At Genova Burns, Mr. Baker practices in the Complex Commercial Litigation, Criminal Defense, Investigations & Compliance, and Class Action Defense Practice Groups. He represents clients in a wide range of commercial litigation matters. He has extensive experience in all phases of litigation in state and federal courts, and his practice focuses on litigating complex civil actions; including federal and state RICO actions; constitutional and civil rights matters; insurance and health care fraud cases; professional malpractice matters; employment and wrongful termination cases; federal and state election law cases; construction disputes; public contract bids and awards; and various business torts. Mr. Baker also has significant experience advising corporate, nonprofit, and public entities regarding corporate governance matters and, as a result, has developed expertise in litigating disputes relating to the Open Public Records Act and the Open Public Meetings Act.

Yao Wang, JD ‘13 Dr. Yao Wang focuses on post-grant proceedings, patent prosecution, client counseling, and portfolio development. He received a BS in electrical engineering from Nanjing University; an MS in imaging physics from the University of Toronto; an MS in computer science and engineering from the University of Michigan; a PhD in biomedical engineering from the University of Michigan; and a JD from George Washington University Law School.

Karthik Kumar, JD ‘14 Karthik Kumar, co-leader of the firm’s augmented/virtual reality industry practice, focuses on complex patent litigation and strategic counseling in emerging technologies. He represents clients in both offensive and defensive patent litigation, with a focus on competitor disputes before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), the U.S. district courts, and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He has worked on more than 60 ITC investigations, district court cases, and inter partes review (IPR) proceedings. In his strategic counseling practice, Mr. Kumar manages teams of attorneys and technical specialists to develop global patent portfolios for several multi- billion-dollar technology companies. His counseling practice emphasizes emerging technologies including augmented/virtual reality, artificial intelligence and machine learning, blockchain, Internet-of-Things, and 5G technologies.

Matthew DeGioia, JD ‘20 The Montgomery County-based law firm of Andalman & Flynn is pleased to announce the addition of a new associate attorney, further expanding its footprint throughout the greater Washington, DC area. Mr. DeGioia has joined the firm’s growing disability benefits law practice group and also assists the family law practice group in estate planning matters, probate and estate administration, guardianships, and other areas of civil litigation. Prior to assuming his new role, Mr. DeGioia was employed with the firm as a clerk while attending law school. Mr. DeGioia takes a client-centric approach to the practice of law. A zealous client advocate, his measured and efficient representation style maximizes available time and resources. In his position with Andalman & Flynn, Mr. DeGioia will primarily specialize in Social Security disability benefits, FERS disability retirement benefits, short-term and long-term disability insurance claims, including ERISA litigation, and disability retirement claims through the State of Maryland.

Magdalena Gonzalez, JD ‘20 The Schaumburg, Illinois-based law firm Gardi & Haught announced the recent hiring of Magdalena Gonzalez. Her areas of concentration at Gardi & Haught are workers’ compensation, personal injury, mass torts and commercial litigation. Ms. Gonzalez’s experience includes working as a law clerk at the Department of Justice. During her third year, she was a student attorney at the Public Justice Advocacy Clinic, where she represented indigent clients in name change, unemployment, and wage and hour litigation. She also did pro bono work with the Chicago Legal Clinic, National Immigration Forum, International Refugee Assistance Project and Innocence Project.

In Memoriam

Robert W. Wise, JD ‘61 Robert W. “Bob” Wise, age 86, passed away Wednesday, January 6, at KU Medical Center, Kansas City. He received his law degree, with honors, from George Washington University in 1961. While in law school, he worked as a Special Agent for the Office of Naval Intelligence and was a member of the board of editors of the George Washington University Law Review. Mr. Wise loved the practice of law and his partners and was proud of his firm’s 135-year history. He was an active member of the McPherson law firm Wise & Reber at his death. He practiced for 60 years in the areas of litigation, business, banking, trusts and estates, arbitration, and mediation and never considered retirement. He was past president of the Kansas Bar Association, past chair of the KBA Ethics Grievance Panel, and was a recipient of the KBA’s Professionalism Award, its Outstanding Service Award, and the Kansas Bar Foundation Robert K. Weary Award. He was also a past member of the State Board of Law Examiners, Kansas Annual Survey Committee, and was a fellow of the Kansas Bar Foundation. Mr. Wise was universally respected by Kansas lawyers and represented thousands of clients.

Lawrence Johnson, JD ‘75 Lawrence Johnson, an attorney and civil rights leader who served for a decade on the Waco City Council, died Friday after battling COVID-19. He served from 1990 to 2000 on the Waco City Council, where he represented District 1, including East Waco, Timbercrest, far South Waco, and his own neighborhood near McLennan Community College. He served as president of the Waco NAACP in the 1990s, and at various times served as a board member for MCC, the Waco Plan Commission, Waco Housing Authority and various community nonprofits. As a city council representative in the early 1990s, Mr. Johnson fought to make Martin Luther King Jr. Day a city holiday and to rename Lake Brazos Parkway as Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Mr. Johnson recalled in a 2014 interview with the Tribune-Herald that it took him several years to get the political support for the name change, and he rejected counteroffers to rename Elm Avenue for the civil rights hero. He also made waves in May 1998, when at a council meeting he unexpectedly read a graphic historical narrative of “Waco Horror.” Mr. Johnson had grown up in Waco but never heard of the lynching until seeing a photograph of it at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis in 1996. Mr. Johnson left the council after losing a bruising election battle with Mae Jackson in 2000, but the council in 2006 passed a resolution condemning the city’s complicity in the lynching. A local effort to erect a historical marker about the Waco Horror in downtown is in its final stages with the Texas Historical Commission, and the marker could see a dedication in May 2021, said Toni Herbert, a former council member involved in the effort.

Dianne Strassner, JD ‘85 Dianne Strassner died at her home in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on January 2nd, 2021, surrounded by love and family. She worked for NASA, a refugee nonprofit, and the House of Representatives; appeared on two TV game shows; put herself through law school; and raised two children. Ms. Strassner attended George Washington University Law School, where she graduated with honors. In her third year at GW, she met Peter Strassner, whose proposal she accepted one year later, and with whom she had twins in 1992. They raised a family in St. Louis, Missouri, and returned to DC in 2018. In lieu of flowers, please donate to Refugees International at refugeesinternational.org.

Michael Thomas, JD ‘04 Michael Thomas passed away on December 1, 2020 at the age of 42. Born and raised in Bethesda, Maryland, he was a graduate of the University of Michigan (BA), the George Washington School of Law (JD with Honors), and the NYU School of Law (LLM) and was a partner and office practice leader in the Tax Transactions group at Mayer Brown. Beloved by his many friends, colleagues, and extended family, he had a smile that lit up every room he entered.

Amalia “Lilly” Haliasos, JD ‘06 Alex A. Haliasos passed away on December 24, 2020. He grew up on Long Island and attended Chaminade High School. He went on to receive his Bachelor of Science degree in Molecular and Cell Biology from Cornell University, a Masters of Science Degree in Bioinformatics from Northwestern University, and a JD from George Washington University. Apart from his formal degrees, Mr. Haliasos had an insatiable thirst for knowledge and passed his Patent Bar exam prior to attending law school. He became a Quantitative Analyst with R, ARM Accredited Engineer and Microcontroller Engineer, completed coursework in Artificial Intelligence for Trading, obtained an FCC Wireless license as well as a Deep Learning Nanodegree on his own independent study. He practiced patent law in NYC prior to his employment as an attorney- advisor at the IPR Branch at Customs and Border Protection.

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