Four Honored at Alumni Gala At its Celebration of Achievement in April, the Santa Clara Law community gathered at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose to celebrate the 2014 Honorees.
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From left, Dean Lisa Kloppenberg, The Honorable James C. Emerson, Howard Charney, Karin Cogbill, Joseph Cotchett, and SCU President Michael Engh, S.J.
The Alumni Special Achievement Award Howard Charney J.D. ’77, MBA ’73, is a senior vice president at Cisco. He joined Cisco after it acquired Grand Junction Networks, which he founded in 1992. In 1980, Charney co-founded 3Com, the progenitor of Ethernet and local area networking. He is a licensed patent attorney, and sits on the boards of several technology companies. The Santa Clara Amicus Award Joseph Cotchett is considered one of the foremost trial lawyers in the country. His firm, Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, is based in Burlingame. In recent years, he has been involved in litigation resulting from every major corporate scandal, including Enron, Global Crossing, and Worldcom, on behalf of private investors and public pensions.
The Edwin J. Owens Lawyer of the Year Award The Honorable James C. Emerson J.D. ’73 served for 20 years on the Santa Clara County Superior Courts and was supervising criminal judge from 2005-06. He was recognized as Judge of the Year by the Trial Lawyers in 2010. He has been a fulltime neutral since 2010, conducting mediations and arbitrations on a wide range of subjects, ranging from foreclosure to personal injury law. Young Alumni Rising Star Award Karin Frenza Cogbill J.D. ’06 is a shareholder at the San Jose office of Littler. She represents employers against claims of harassment, employment discrimination, retaliation, and on wage issues. She is a member of the Santa Clara Law Alumni Board of Directors. She has served as vice president and on the board of directors for Christmas in the Park in downtown San Jose. For more information on the history of each award, and photos from the event, see: law.scu.edu/alumni.
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