Record Column – June 19, 2000

Marsha J. Ferziger University of Chicago Law School 1111 E. 60th Street Chicago, IL 60637 [email protected] 773.834.5958

Another year, another column. I have to start by saying how wonderful it was to see so many of you at Reunion. Elizabeth and I were thrilled with the turnout and although we’re pleased to have some time to breathe before coordinating another one, we can’t wait to attend our tenth! We all had a great time hanging out at Wine Mess, visiting old haunts, meeting everybody’s new spouses and kids and watching Chris Heisen’s movie! I think it’s fair to say a good time was had by all. Those of you who couldn’t make it, you were missed, and we’ll look forward to seeing you next time!

Now, on to the news……

Babies: Just a few years ago, the weddings part of this column was overflowing. Now, it’s the babies….Jim Benison’s wife Julie gave birth on March 27, 2000, at 4:25 pm, to their daughter, Anneke Joy Benison. Anneke weighed 6 lbs. 14 oz. (exactly the same as her brother) and measured 18 1/2 inches long. Jim says “Mom and daughter are doing well, and Jonathan likes to help his sister in the bouncy seat by bouncing it so hard she can catapult to the other side of the room.” Lara and Brogan Sullivan have welcomed another child into the world! Baby #3, George Owen Sullivan was born on December 14, 1999. He joins big sister Madeline and big brother Henry Brogan (born on August 30, 1997)…. I had to forgive Carolyn Shapiro for missing reuinion – as she said, she had a great excuse. Her son, Jonah Alexander Karsh, arrived early -- April 26. He weighed 6 pounds, 2 ounces, was 19-1/2 inches long Carolyn said, “He is beautiful, alert, and sweet- tempered. Josh and I are both smitten.”…. Ann and George Lin welcomed Leslie Jewels Lin into the world on March 1 at 12:28pm. She was 7 lbs, 13 oz, and 19.5 inches. George and Ann are disgustingly excited…Brad Denton has another baby, who he describes as “cute as all get-out.” Her name is Lily Jane and she was born on April 4, 2000…By now, John Fee has likely added a new baby that was due in June 2000. …. The following couples are will have new additions by the time you read this: Kristin and Rob Mahnke (October), Julie and Chris Kemnitz (September), Jesse Ruiz and Michele Slobod Ruiz ’94 (July), Spencer and Dan Baker (summer), Lindsey and Scott Toban (summer), Seth Green and Susannah Baruch (soon?). Aliza and Jon Lerner are expecting baby #2. Jon wanted me to tell you all that the new arrival is due on Labor Day! Isn’t that a hoot! ….Finally, I have an unconfirmed report of a baby for Tom Savage on April 21 – can anyone confirm or deny? Tom, maybe?

Engagements and Weddings: It looks like we’re slowing down a little in this department. Eric Rutkoske proposed to his longtime girlfriend Cindy while vacationing. They will be getting married Aug. 27 in Palos Verdes, CA….. On April 11, 1999, Adam Goodman married Rebecca Anne Levin in Chicago. Adam says, “Becky & I met in the summer of 1996; she was (now) Senator Durbin's volunteer coordinator for his campaign and I was a volunteer. We took two weeks off and went to Tahiti and Hawaii for our honeymoon.”….. George Fan (now at DLJ) married Rachelle Reinhardt at the New York Botanical Gardens on October 23, 1999. ….And on May 27, 2000, in New Orleans, Roy Austin married Traci Mitchell, a news reporter for KTVU/FOX Channel 2 in San Francisco. They were introduced to each other by Marcy Mistrett, a '95 U of C Social Work graduate who was very active with the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic. James Cole, Jeffrey Miller, and Joel Wiginton all served as groomsmen. Also in attendance from the law school were: Marcus Hurt, Randy Lewis, and Maria Pellegrino Rivera and Sal Rivera.

New Jobs: As a class, we continue to be very busy in this department. Catherine Fitzpatrick is leaving Kirkland & Ellis at the end of the summer to begin a clerkship with Judge Ann Williams of the 7th Circuit…. Karl Huish reports that he still lives in the Phoenix area. By the time this is published, his three daughters will be 8, 6 and 1. Karl says, “I am practicing tax law at my small firm of Huish Campbell, P.C. We have also started an escrow company and an financial planning company, Tribeca Strategic Advisors, LLC. For any of you that have hit it big with the tech/internet boom, our focus is advanced tax and asset protection strategies (domestic and offshore) for these people”…Brad Denton has taken on a partner and is now working at Gunderson & Denton. He’s discovering the joys of managing employees and paying for overhead costs!…Roy Austin reported that after almost five years with the DOJ, he moved to Keker & Van Nest, a San Francisco boutique litigation firm of about 40 attorneys. Of course, his marriage to Traci may have had something to do with the move…. Susannah Baruch has returned to the organization she worked for as a Skadden Fellow after law school, now called the National Partnership for Women & Families. She’s working on health policy issues, including genetic discrimination, medical records privacy, and managed care reform…. Tom Hiscott has moved to Heckscher, Teillon, Terrill & Sager, a T&E boutique in Philadelphia.

Speaking of Phladephia, Salil Kumar Mehra and Sarah Haiby Mehra have moved to Philadelphia and both have new jobs. Salil has accepted a job teaching at Temple University Law School, where he will teach, among other things, antitrust. Too bad it’s not a hot area right now…. Sarah is now a lawyer for a private equity fund called Safeguard International, which specifically deals with process industries located mainly in Western Europe and the United States. Between jobs, Sarah and Salil took a long vacation in Asia!…. Ian Edvalson dropped a note recently that he is now the VP of Corporate Strategy at Third Wave Technologies in San Jose….. John Fee has been hired for Fall 2000 as a law professor at J. Reuben Clark Law School (BYU’s law school). His wife says (and I believe her…) that he is very excited!…. John and Julie Cox have settled into their new house in Columbus, Ohio. Julie reports “I ended up staying with McDermott. (I think I kind of pulled a Noller.) They decided to let me telecommute from my home in Ohio.” She reports that John is enjoying his new job and that are doing lots of yard work due to their decision to buy a house in an area with lots of trees.

Greg Coules finished up his MBA at Harvard and is working on the high yield debt (junk bond) desk at Morgan Stanley in NYC…Andy Rotenberg has completed his London stint and is now back in the States – Boston, MA to be exact. His work concentrates on international business law / cross-border work and financial restructurings…Yuval Tal has moved back to New York after a couple of years at Israel. He’s now at Proskauer and has a new fiance! He wrote: “in September 96 I returned to UC and did a JSD, graduated June 97. During that year I met Isabelle, an LLM at UC that year and the rest is history. After two years of a jet-set relationship and after we ran out of European capitals to meet in we decided that the natural compromise between Paris (Isabelle's home town) and Tel-Aviv is NY, so here we are.”…Adam Goodman left Edelman & Combs in mid-1998, where he had been representing plaintiffs in class actions, and joined Peterson & Ross in its Chicago office where he mostly represents insurance carriers in coverage litigation…In the gossip arena, last I heard, Barry McDonald had left the practice of law and was considering running for the Masachusetts State Senate… After four years in London, David Carthy is back in Dublin working at the firm of William Fry…Carolyn Shapiro is now an associate at Miner, Barnhill & Galland, a small civil rights firm in Chicago (It's the firm that Barack Obama is associated with.) She is loving it.

Corporate America, here we come…Steve Lichtman moved over to Time Warner, Atlantic's parent. He’s "Digital Media Counsel" for Time Warner, working on internet strategy and investments in general, and the AOL merger in particular…..In February, Mark Anderson loves his new job as a Litigation Attorney for Caterpillar Inc. He says, “It's a great company, there's time for family (and some golf), and of course it's good to be the client!” Amir Alavi left his firm to become general counsel of Comsys, a company in Houston with 4500 employees….. Stan Pierre-Louis wrote to say that he is Associate Counsel of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). His duties range from civil enforcement against piracy to providing advice to the recording industry on new media/Internet issues….. Chris Heisen has joined Paramount Pictures as Director of Business Affairs for their International Television Division. In his own words, this means “I negotiate Paramount's international television co-productions. I also help cut distribution deals for all of Paramount's product (movies and television) with television broadcasters around the world.” He mentioned something about tours of the lot.... Allison Hoffman is now Assistant General Counsel for American Lawyer Media, which publishes things like American Lawyer, the National Law Journal, New York Law Journal, etc. She also has a beagle puppy, Bruno!…… Joe Mullin has moved back to Omaha, Nebraska where he grew up. He will be working as an in-house attorney at First Data Corporation and will continue to practice in M&A.

Jeff Shapiro moved to Guidance.com. The company does ebusiness development and takes equity in the companies that it incubates…George Lin has moved out of firm life into an in-house spot at Homestore.com. According to a recent article in the LA Times, they have such items at the headquarters as “an Austin Powers love shack and a tiki hut, where blended daiquiris are served in a tropical paradise, complete with bamboo curtains and a rubber replica of Bill Gates' head on a stake.”….. Mike Frankel has joined Network Solutions as Vice President of Business Development. He'll be living in Arlington Virginia and commuting out to work in Herndon.

In the “fighting crime” category…Elizabeth Klein Frumkin has moved to Boston to work at the Attorney General’s office. She says she likes it very much…Jim Benison has been promoted to head Kent County's domestic assault prosecution unit. Jim also sent along some sadder news - his wife Julie has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Jim says, “While we are not thrilled by the news, we are grateful the symptoms are as minimal as they are right now and pray that it will continue to stay closer to a background annoyance while the researchers continue their work.”…Lisa Noller began work as an assistant US Attorney in Chicago in June. She’s very excited about it, especially because she will be joined there by Sam Miller!

New Homes: Someone in this class should have gone into real estate with all the relocating we’ve been doing! Susan Epstein will soon be moving to Santa Barbara. She’ll be continuing her work with OSOM, but from her new locale…..Julie and Chris Kemnitz bought a three bedroom Georgian with a huge yard house in Edgebrook, a neighborhood in NW Chicago...Kristin and Rob Mahnke bought a new house and Rob says, “well, let's just say that it needs a lot of work but will have enough room for two dogs, a cat, and the baby.”…Aliza and Jon Lerner have bought a new house in Kensington, MD, to house their growing brood….By now, Catherine Fitzpatrick, husband Michael and their three little ones have moved to Oak Park. Catherine says, “My oldest, Monica (born during our second year at the Law School), just "graduated" from kindergarten; my second child, Michael, will be 5 in August; and the youngest, Tommy, is 2 1/2.”…..Susannah Baruch and her husband, Seth Green, bought a house in Washington, right near the National Zoo (they can hear monkeys screeching in the morning)…..Dianne Kueck has finally settled down in Colorado. She says, “My new house is a small ranch in Lakewood, CO. It backs up to a park, which is nice. The previous owners let it really run down, so I have lots of house projects.” ….. Vicki and Jeff Shapiro are happily enjoying California and are now the proud owners of a house! After months of renovation, they were finally able to move in…Jim Ross reports that the kids are doing great and he, Jennifer and the ever- expanding brood moved into a new house the Vienna/Great Falls area of Fairfax county….Brad Denton bought a house with bigger yard so he “can carry out plans to install big garden with shade screens for the inferno season (June-Sept) when [his] tomatoes otherwise wither.”…Carol and Brian Bussey, now firmly ensconced in DC have purchased a house in Alexandria. Brian is settled in at the SEC and Carol has begun teaching…Finally, In order to keep my promise, I have to tell you that Carolyn Shapiro and Josh Karsh did NOT sell out and move to the suburbs. In fact, they own a house IN THE CITY OF CHICAGO. I hope I have now done proper penance for saying otherwise…

Random Other Stuff and People Checking In: Well, this stuff doesn’t fit in anywhere else. Jennipher Martinez is currently employed at Legal Aid of Central Michigan doing direct representation of low income-clients in a five county area, outreach in homeless shelters, and working with elementary school children in a conflict managers program. She is also working on her justice/sociology PhD in criminal focusing on juveniles…Doug Glick is in Tokyo, happily buried in work at MoFo’s office. He’s enjoying life there a great deal, getting involved in a synagogue and taking improv classes (a continuation of his Second City training!)…Salil Mehra was a panelist at the Legal Forum symposium on “Antitrust in the Information Age.” He is the first Legal Forum alum to serve as a symposium panelist…Jesse Ruiz was elected President of the Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois. His term began in May… Scott Gaille is still a fifth year associate at V&E in Houston in the “Energy Section.” He also took a federal pro bono criminal case last year that he says led to a great oral argument at the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans. The Gaille family is also doing well – Anneysa is almost three, and Morgan is 15 months…Leland Hansen is still at McAndrews, Held & Malloy and spends most of his time on patent litigation matters. He says he has enjoyed it thoroughly so far. His office is next to Jim Hafertepe's so they see plenty of each other. Gayle and Leland’s three kids are now 9, 6, and 4 years old….. Roger Donley has been busy as usual, heading off to Ghana on a family trip, trying cases (he’s joined Baker & Botts’ IP group) and working on the state board of the ACLU. He also reports that he worked with several lawyers at Baker & Botts on an amicus brief in the case where the Court of Appeals recently found Texas’ Homosexual Conduct Statue unconstitutional. ….. Adam Gross is healthy, happy and proud to announce that he has NOT in fact dropped off the face of the earth. In fact he’s still at BPI and having a grand old time…..Susan Epstein wrote the following: “My 9-month old daughter Chloe is thriving. She enjoys eating Cheerios and banging objects together. She now says "Bob" and "Mama". Steve is feeling a bit left out. Unfortunately, she calls our dog "Mama" and me "Bob" and merely waves at our friend Bob.”…John Eastman, along with Ed Meese, filed an amicus brief in the Boy Scout case. He was interviewed on the Michael Reagan radio show and was also on CSPAN's morning call in show…Kortney Kloppe- Orton has left the practice of law and is going to grad school! She is teaching freshman English Composition this summer at the University of Texas. She also reports that Ashley Hall is spending some time in Israel this summer and that Tom LaWer recently visited Texas…. Matt Schantz is in his 6th year at Woodard, Emhardt, Naughton, Moriarty, and McNett. He's doing some intellectual property litigation but is concentrating mainly on patent prosecution now. Matt and wife Jeri are greatly enjoying time with their 1 year old son, Eli Garrett. In his free time Matt is refereeing kid's soccer and riding his bike.

Well, that’s about it. Time for my usual “correspondent’s prerogative” section. As some of you may have heard, I have a new job. I finished up Bigelowing and teaching my E- Commerce Law seminar in June and immediately moved over the administrative side of the Law School. I am now the Director of Special Projects, and will be working on, well, special projects! Seriously, my job is still being defined, but it will deal, at least in part, with working with alums, so you may all be hearing from me even more than usual. In any case, I’m staying in Chicago for the duration, and staying at the Law School as long as that makes me and them happy. Until next column, stay well, stay happy, and stay in touch!