ADVOCATETHE SUMMER 2022 American University CollegeWashingtonofLaw Writing the Rules for Crypto p.16 Leveling the Playing Field p.20 Follow Your Passion p.24
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MARK YOUR CALENDAR! AUWCL has several fall events planned that are open to alumni. OCTOBER 20-23 ILSP 40th Anniversary Celebration OCTOBER 28-29 Clinic 50th Anniversary Event NOVEMBER 4 25th Anniversary of the IP Clinic NOVEMBER 16 IP Alumni & Student Reception at Microsoft
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2 / FROM THE DEAN’S DESK 4 / IN BRIEF 9 / STUDENT SPOTLIGHT 10 / ON CAMPUS 14 / ON LOCATION 26 / CHAMPION STORIES 30 / FACULTY NEWS 36 / CLASS NOTES 40 / IN MEMORIAM 41 / ALUMNI CORNER RWEDITORSJones Agency ASSOCIATE EDITOR Lori NancyARTDeborahNancyErikaJeffCONTRIBUTORSWoehrleFrantzHastingsKirschTaylorDIRECTIONMcDonald LeapfrogDESIGN Group Carrie ASSOCIATEJeffHilaryCarriMichaelRalphPHOTOGRAPHYHorchuckAlswangBonfigliConnorSchwabWattsDEAN FOR DEVELOPMENT AND ALUMNI RELATIONS Laura Herr CONTACT DevelopmentUS and Alumni Relations Washington College of Law 4300 Nebraska Ave., NW, Suite 305 Washington, DC 20016–2132 wcl.american.edu/advocateWEBSITEalumni@wcl.american.eduEMAIL202.274.4163 The Advocate is published twice a year by American University Washington College of Law. Change of address can be sent via email to alumni@wcl.american.edu or mailed to the address above. Leveling the Playing Field: The Dynamism of Sports Law and LegalPracticeSuperstar Advises, “Follow Your Passion!” Writing the Rules for Crypto Inside this issue 20 CONTENTS 24 16
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year! I am truly grateful to all of WCL’s constituencies— including students, staff, faculty, alumni, donors, and the larger university and legal communities—for your steadfast support over my first year as dean. Despite the challenges the pandemic has presented, we persevered and have become stronger as a law school community.
WWhatawhirlwind
FROM THE DEAN’S DESK THE ADVOCATE / SUMMER 20222ROGER
I came into this role last summer articulating a clear strategic vision for WCL’s bright future. This strategic vision rests on five key priorities: (1) Scholarship and Teaching; (2) Reputation and Impact; (3) Diversity, Community, Civility, and Respect; (4) World-Class Student and Alumni Experience; and (5) Financial Resources and Sustainability. I am thrilled to say that we have made tremendous progress across all of these strategic priorities in the past year.
A. FAIRFAX JR. Dean and Professor of Law
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Library also curated online resources for those who would like to join the fight against hate and intolerance.
As I often say, as extraordinary as AUWCL’s history is, our best days are ahead of us. Working together, we will ensure that AUWCL remains poised to lead from the front and will continue to shape and produce graduates who will provide much-needed leadership in our complicated world. Thank you for your support and your commitment; I cannot wait to see what we will do next!
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY WASHINGTON COLLEGE OF LAW 3
WCL also deepened its longstanding commitment to Diversity, Community, Civility, and Respect in many important ways. Our Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Affinity Relations sponsored a number of initiatives focused on enhancing inclusion and belonging among students in our diverse community. The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee held a series of community discussion events addressing the role that lawyers can play in combating hate in our society, including a panel featuring lawyers from various anti-hate organizations. The committee also hosted a fireside chat during which I had a conversation with Jonathan Greenblatt of the Anti-Defamation League. Our Pence Law
With gratitude,
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We made great strides in Reputation and Impact as well, with three of our specialty programs having been ranked in the Top 5, five in the Top 10, and seven in the Top 25 of the US News rankings. Also, our overall US News ranking moved up eight slots and back into the Top 75 for the first time in seven years, and our peer reputation ranking was in the Top 50. Our bar passage and job placement performance and our entering JD class admissions metrics were the strongest they have been in years. In addition, our impact was recognized far and wide. For example, WCL was honored at the White House for answering Attorney General Merrick Garland’s call to action through our work on behalf of those in the D.C. area affected by the eviction crisis, and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff participated in a roundtable discussion with our students, faculty, staff, and alumni about access to justice.
We also advanced our efforts to create a World-Class Student and Alumni Experience. Investments are being made in the areas of student wellness and mental health, career and professional development, academic support and excellence, and academic and professionalism training and preparation for a rapidly changing job market and world. We have increased engagement and enhanced communication with our alumni, and taken our message on the road—virtually and in-person—to alumni all over the world to listen, to share, and to re-engage in an effort to make WCL relevant to the lives and careers of our graduates from the time they cross the stage at Bender Arena to the time they retire and beyond.
Finally, WCL has recommitted itself to sound strategies to attract and promote the Financial Resources and Sustainability critical to our aspirations of continuing to thrive as a first-rate, top-tier law school. In addition to responsible stewardship of our financial resources, we are excited about new initiatives to attract the investments— through the generosity of new and existing donors— necessary to fuel our essential mission of preparing ethical, well-trained lawyers and professionals to lead with conviction and to “Champion What Matters” within the law and beyond.
Dean and Professor of Law American University Washington College of Law
On Scholarship and Teaching, we were thrilled to hire four new stellar tenure-line faculty members, all of whom will add to our strengths in teaching and scholarship. Our two lateral hires, Jamie Abrams and Maya Manian, are both accomplished scholars and teachers, and will lead and bring new energy to our Legal Rhetoric and Health Law and Policy Programs, respectively. Our two new entry-level hires, Angi Porter and Thomas Williams, come to us from fellowships at Georgetown University Law Center and Duke University, respectively, and will immediately have an impact on our first-year curriculum and will expand our faculty’s scholarly reach in new directions. Our faculty also was recognized this year as one of the top 50 law faculties for scholarly impact, moving up 18 slots from the previous survey, the largest improvement of any law school.
THE ADVOCATE / SUMMER 20224 IN BRIEF
In August, Fairfax and leaders from 98 other law schools signed an open letter pledging to help their communities through Emergency Rental Assistance application support, volunteering with legal aid providers, helping courts implement eviction diversion programs, among other initiatives aimed at increasing housing stability and access to justice.
WCL’s renowned Clinical Program is a key part of the WCL experience. Student attorneys participating in our Clinical Program have engaged in eviction defense and housing security work through our Civil Advocacy Clinic, Community Economic and Equity Development Law Clinic, Gender Justice Clinic, Intellectual Property Clinic, International Human Rights Law Clinic, Criminal Justice Clinic, and Rising for Justice Clinic.
White House, DOJ Recognize Dean Fairfax, AUWCL Efforts to Halt Evictions
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"The collective response of law schools to the housing security crisis was profoundly inspiring, and I was overwhelmed with pride in our WCL students, whose efforts were mentioned specifically during the White House event,” Fairfax said. “This is just the latest example of how the WCL community champions what matters."
Nationally, over 2,100 law students dedicated over 81,000 hours to serve over 10,000 households, based on a survey tracking the effort facilitated by Georgetown University Law Center Dean William Treanor and New York University School of Law Dean Trevor Morrison.
AUWCL students also have externed with organizations such as Bread for the City and the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, providing countless unpaid hours in support of local anti-eviction direct legal services.
“Five months ago, I asked the legal community to answer the call to help Americans facing eviction. Law students and lawyers from across the country stepped up to take on cases and assisted their clients and communities at a time when our country needed it the most,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland. “Today, our work is far from over, and making real the promise of equal justice under law remains our urgent and unfinished mission.”
On January 28, the White House and the U.S. Department of Justice recognized Dean Roger Fairfax and AUWCL students’ efforts to halt evictions in the greater Washington, D.C., area by providing legal assistance to local communities.
In five months, more than 40 WCL students dedicated nearly 3,000 hours to helping 50 clients facing potential eviction. Their work came as the expiration of the coronavirusrelated national eviction moratorium expired, putting many vulnerable people in jeopardy of losing their housing.
Across the country, law schools and other institutions are renewing their dedication to racial justice and diversity, equity and inclusion. Lisa Sonia Taylor, AUWCL’s assistant dean of diversity, inclusion and affinity relations, is helping to lead the conversation about how institutions can better support DEI professionals tasked with upholding those commitments.
Taylor recently co-authored a report with Belinda Dantley, assistant dean of diversity, equity and inclusion at St. Louis University School, “The Bottom Line: Law Schools Need to get Serious about the Work of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.”
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The report found that DEI professionals within law schools are dedicated, talented and making an impact, but that they generally benefit from additional resources and strategic, institution-wide planning to be more successful. Among some of the other findings:
“It is so incredibly humbling to receive an award created in honor of the amazing Myrna Raeder and my very dear friend, mentor and colleague, the late Professor Andrew ‘Taz’ Taslitz,” she said. Professor Taslitz, who joined AUWCL in 2012, was named one of the best 26 law professors in the nation in “What the Best Law Professors Do,” published in 2013 by Harvard University Press. Jones was nominated for the award by prior winners Professor Angela Davis and Professor Ellen Podgor. “I will forever be thankful for my work at the venerable Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia. The privilege of representing juveniles and adults facing a loss of liberty continues to influence all aspects of my work in academia. I will accept this award on behalf of my past, present and future students who continue to motivate and inspire me.”
AwardTaslitzRaeder-JonesCynthiaWins
Professor Jones said of the award, “I am incredibly proud to be the 2022 recipient of the Raeder-Taslitz award from the American Bar Association Criminal Justice Section. This award celebrates my professional passions: educating students in the study of criminal law and procedure; using legal scholarship to impact change in the criminal legal system; and working with organizations like The Sentencing Project to achieve systemic criminal and racial justice reform.
• Sixty-nine percent of survey respondents said they believed their position was the first of its kind at their law school, and 73% have been in their position less than three years.
• Respondents said the top three needs that would allow them to be effective in their work are: greater resources, staff support, and institutional buy-in.
“Promoting diversity and inclusion is vital to legal education, and we must make sure there are diverse voices in our classrooms so that our students are able to go on and provide competent and culturally sensitive representation to the people they will serve, lead and advocate for throughout their legal careers,” Taylor said. “Law schools have made a commitment to improve and embrace DEI initiatives, and this survey of the professionals who lead this work shows that they can do more to support DEI professionals and enact sustainable change.”
• Sixty-seven percent indicated that their duties and responsibilities expanded due to the impact of the global pandemic and in the aftermath of the 2020 protests for racial justice.
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY WASHINGTON COLLEGE OF LAW 5
AUWCL Collaborates to Support Law School DEI Professionals
The American Bar Association Criminal Justice Section recently honored Professor Cynthia Jones with the Raeder-Taslitz Award. This award recognizes Professor Jones’ significant contribution to promoting public understanding of criminal justice, justice, and fairness in the criminal justice system.
• Shogo Asaji, Partner
CROWELL & MORING
• Vanessa Burrows, Counsel
• Jerry Buckley, Partner
JONES DAY
KRAMER, DUNLEAVY & RATCHIK
• Cary Devorsetz, Member
JACOBSON BURTON KELLEY
BUCKLEY
• Scott Woldow, Managing Partner
IN BRIEF TOTAL GIVING RANKINGS PARTICIPATION RANKINGS (percent of firm alumni participating)
Interested in the final figures? Totals from FY22 and a full listing of participants will be shared in our annual donor report, which will be published in the fall.
• Margaret Caravelli, Partner
SIMPSON THACHER & BARTLETT
• J. Pasco Struhs, Associate
• Andrew Strelka, Counsel
WILEY REIN
• In-Kind Firm Donation
VENABLE
• Douglas Jacobson, Partner
• John Jacob, Partner
• John Goheen, Counsel
• Alexandros Aldous, General Counsel
3rd6
CADWALADER
• Waldemar Pflepsen, Partner (retired)
• In-Kind Firm Donation
BREX
CLARK HILL
• Mark Lerner, Principal
LATHAM & WATKINS
LEWIS BRISBOIS BISGAARD & SMITH
• Sara Razi, Partner
THE ADVOCATE / SUMMER 2022
• Jenifer Cromwell, Member
• Christopher Ekeocha, Principal
• Mark Haddox, Associate
AKIN GUMP
Beyond its fundraising goals, the challenge is a reminder that AUWCL, well known for its public interest law programs and alumni, also sees about a third of its graduates begin their careers in private practice. It lets AUWCL highlight firms where its alumni work and helps inform students about networking opportunities.
• Sean Shecter, Partner
The Law Firm Challenge is a friendly competition between firms to benefit our community. And three years in, it’s clear this is getting serious.
• Jason Schwartz, Partner
MARK LERNER LAW
• In-Kind Firm Donation
• Jarrad Wood, Senior Associate
FAEGRE DRINKER
• Cindy Garo, Associate
• Christopher White, Associate
These gifts support student and faculty scholarship and positively affect AUWCL’s national rankings.
REED SMITH
• Alisa Tschorke, Counsel
• Yeve Chitiga Sibanda, Senior Counsel
• Scott Johnson, Senior Counsel
• Benjamin Thomas Verney, Associate
LAW OFFICE OF CHRISTOPHER EKEOCHA
HUNTON ANDREWS KURTH
LAW FIRM PARTICIPANTS
• In-Kind Firm Donation
TANENHOLZ & ASSOCIATES
• Candace Beck, Counsel
The 2021 challenge resulted in a 20% increase in overall gifts and a 53% increase in institutional participants in the first two months of the challenge. Additionally, 26 firms made contributions to our cause over the same period.
BALCH & BINGHAM
• Emily Singley, Associate
SMITH, GAMBRELL & RUSSELL
BREDHOFF & KAISER
MCCAY LAW
• R. Scott McCay, Principal
• Jonathan Ratchik, Partner
CHEFS’ WAREHOUSE
ALDERMAN, DEVORSETZ & HORA
Annual Law Firm Challenge Reaches New Heights
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY WASHINGTON COLLEGE OF LAW 7 2023 U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT SPECIALTY RANKINGS AUWCL Specialty Programs Top USNWR Rankings; Overall Ranking Jumps Eight Spots # 3 CLINICAL LEGAL EDUCATION # 3 TRIAL ADVOCACY # 5 PART-TIME JD PROGRAM # 7 INTERNATIONAL LAW # 8 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY # 16 HEALTH CARE LAW # 24 CRIMINAL LAW
American University Washington College of Law is trending upward in U.S. News and World Report’s law school rankings.
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AUWCL’s overall ranking rose eight places to No. 73, a significant jump over last year and a return to the Top 75 for the first time in seven years. Importantly, key metrics used to determine the law school’s overall rank improved, including employment rates, peer assessment and lawyer and judge assessment of reputation, and student selectivity.
U.S. News rates many AUWCL programs among the best in the country, including three in the Top 5, and five in the Top 10—Clinical Law (No. 3), Trial Advocacy (No. 3), Part-Time Program (No. 5), International Law (No. 7), and Intellectual Property (No. 8). AUWCL is also highly ranked in other areas, including Health Care Law (No. 16) and Criminal Law (No. 24). Four other programs are ranked in the Top 50.
“While rankings may fluctuate with changes in methodologies and market conditions beyond our control, one thing will remain constant—WCL will be committed to excellence and leadership in legal education, with a studentcentered focus on teaching, scholarship, diversity, service, and the preparation of the next generation of well-trained, ethical lawyer-leaders who Champion What Matters,” said Dean Roger A. Fairfax Jr.
MANUJ BHARDWAJ
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living soils, biodiversity, regenerative viticulture, agroforestry, water management and terrestrial carbon cycle. Bhardwaj is the third student from India to receive the scholarship.
Bhardwaj is working on a proposal for a national policy framework based on his research that would help India, as a developing and rapidly growing country, embrace a more dynamic approach to addressing climate change through domestic policies and laws that elevate the science behind it.
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THE ADVOCATE / SUMMER 20228
Manuj Bhardwaj’s passion for sustainability and leveraging the power of law to promote climate action has guided his doctoral research into how his home country of India can be part of the global solution to climate change.
The scholarship, now in its 10th year, is awarded to doctoral students who are citizens of developing countries who are not studying in their country of origin. It recognizes students who are pursuing research in such fields as
IN BRIEF
UN Climate Change Panel Recognizes AUWCL SJD Student
His commitment to the work was recently recognized on the global stage when he became the first lawyer/law student to be awarded the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Scholarship. Bhardwaj, who is pursuing an SJD with a focus on international environmental and climate law under the supervision of Professor William Snape, was recently presented the award for 2021-23 by Prince Albert II of Monaco and IPCC Secretary Dr. Abdalah Mokssit in a ceremony in Monte Carlo.
“Environmental law jurisprudence defines the word sustainable,” said Bhardwaj, whose research centers on the confluence of economic growth and climate action in developing and underdeveloping countries. “As I understand it, sustainability focuses on intergenerational equity, or the idea of justice between generations. As we consume what’s around us, we have to be careful to ensure that future generations also have use of what we are using or enjoying.”
Salinas is a member of the Latin American Law Student Association and the International Law Review, as well as a leader of the Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and a dean’s fellow for the
“Throughout my entire life, I saw the lack of representation and resources for my parents and a lot of the Mexican American community, and it drove me to go into law.”
Immigrant Justice Clinic. She is an officer for the African Law and Policy Association, and she recently traveled to Athens, Greece, as a member of the Transactional Negotiation Team to compete in the finals of the international negotiation challenge competition.
Salinas graduated from California State University, Fullerton, where she majored in political science and minored in international relations. AUWCL was her logical choice, an institution located in the nation’s capital, renowned for its international law program and home to a “warm and diverse environment” in which she could be comfortable.
Growing up in California as the third child and only daughter of Mexican American blue-collar workers, Salinas became sensitized to labor injustice.
SARA SALINAS ’22
“My mom worked two part-time jobs and my parents would both tell me about things that happened to them, like working overtime without getting paid. As a kid, I didn’t know what exactly was wrong with that, I just knew it wasn’t
“I definitely had a moment when I asked myself, ‘Am I in the right place?’ and ‘Do I deserve to be here?’ I talked with a professor about it. He said, ‘Yes, you are good. You should be here.’ That was the confirmation I needed,” she said.
Sara Salinas ’22 has another accomplishment to celebrate this spring in addition to earning her law degree. She has been named as the 2022 winner of the distinguished Myers Law Scholarship at American University Washington College of Law.
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With a strong sense of confidence and purpose, Salinas intends to start her own law firm to help underserved communities.
The Myers Law Scholarship was created by John Sherman Myers, WCL dean from 1956 to 1967, and Alvina Reckman Myers to ease the financial strain on law students while ensuring excellence in education. WCL’s most prestigious scholarship, it funds up to 125% of one year of tuition for a fulltime JD student annually.
BY DEBORAH TAYLOR
“There is a large Latino population here and having friends made law school an awful lot easier. And it’s helped me a lot to see Latina representation in the professors. I have a really close connection with Professor Claudia Martin. Talking to someone who has had similar experiences and who looks a little bit like me is comforting,” she said.
A STEP CLOSER TO HER DREAM
Upon hearing of her win, she reacted by saying, “I was crying because this is going to put me in so much less debt. This scholarship means students like me don’t have to focus just on paying back their loans. They can focus on their dreams.”
She praises her WCL friendships with students and faculty for sustaining her during her most difficult days. She regrets not reaching out sooner for help.
right. My mom is now in dialysis, and the global retailer she works for doesn’t really like giving people time off for health reasons,” she explained.
Scholarship recipient to advocate for labor justice
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT AMERICAN UNIVERSITY WASHINGTON COLLEGE OF LAW 9
Dean Roger A. Fairfax Jr. hosted an end-of-year celebration for AUWCL students with food and games on the Quad to mark the last day of classes on April 25. Interested students heard a State of the School address in the Ceremonial Classroom.
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PHOTOGRAPHYSCHWABHILARYPHOTOS: THE ADVOCATE / SUMMER 202210 ON
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Faculty Breakfast
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OF LAW 11 PHOTOGRAPHYSCHWABHILARYPHOTOS:
AUWCL’s full-time faculty gathered over breakfast to celebrate the end of the academic year in the Faculty Lounge during Reading Period on April 26.
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AMERICAN UNIVERSITY WASHINGTON COLLEGE
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THE ADVOCATE / SUMMER 202212 PHOTOGRAPHYSCHWABHILARYPHOTOS:
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ON CAMPUS
ReceptionPre-Commencement
Graduates, family, friends, faculty, and staff mingled at a pre-commencement reception sponsored by the AUWCL Alumni Association on May 21.
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AMERICAN UNIVERSITY WASHINGTON COLLEGE OF LAW
13
Commencement
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American University Washington College of Law held its 143rd Commencement May 22 at Bender Arena on the grounds of the main University campus. Deputy U.S. Attorney General Lisa Monaco addressed the 340 graduates, as well as faculty, staff, family, and friends who attended. Monaco, a former federal prosecutor and national security official, was joined by student speaker Arielle Kafker.
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THE ADVOCATE / SUMMER 202214 ON LOCATION
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Change Can’t Wait The Campaign for American University
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ALSWANGRALPHPHOTOS:
Washington, DC
Dean Roger A. Fairfax Jr. updated alumni on the state of AUWCL during an inaugural tour this spring that included Washington, D.C.; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Los Angeles; and New York. Dean Fairfax spoke about the school’s Change Can’t Wait fundraising campaign, part of American University’s comprehensive campaign to raise $500 million to create transformative educational opportunities for students; advance research with impact; and build stronger communities locally, nationally, and globally.
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AMERICAN UNIVERSITY WASHINGTON COLLEGE
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OF LAW 15
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Los Angeles, CA
Fort Lauderdale, FL
BY JEFF FRANTZ
As digital currencies go mainstream, AUWCL experts, alumni explore the promise, perils of a financial revolution.
Writing THE RULES FOR Crypto
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fter more than a decade on the financial and cultural fringes, cryptocurrency went mainstream at this year’s Super Bowl.
about what the legal and regulatory framework should be for this new phase of finance. With their books, articles, and testimony before Congress, professors including Hilary Allen, Gerard Comizio, Walter Effross, and Heather Hughes have positioned the AUWCL Business Law program to be a key training ground for lawyers working on crypto issues—or as Ed Leaf, president of AUWCL’s Blockchain and Digital Asset Society, puts it—the next generation of lawyers.
“There is an inevitability that digital assets—NFTs as securities, cryptocurrencies in the context of wills and estates—are going to be everywhere,” Leaf said. “Even if you are not trying to be a crypto lawyer, if you graduate in the next couple of years, you will soon come into contact with some kind of digital asset. If you learn about this market while you are in school, you’ll have a competitive advantage.”
Workingregulator.”with
A Legal Evolution
As the market for digital assets continues to grow, so does the need for lawyers who understand how they function. A group of AUWCL scholars is leading the discussion
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The answer to the last question is most likely yes. Cryptocurrencies had a global market capitalization of almost $3 billion this spring and are becoming more embedded in routine finance by the day. Amidst debate about whether digital assets should be thought of as investment vehicles or currency alternatives and what sort of regulations should be applied to them, there is little doubt that crypto is here to stay.
For better or worse, the public face of crypto has been millennial men tweeting about the potential for digital assets to transform the economy, and maybe humanity.
In the years before his retirement from Fried Frank Shriver Harris and Jacobsen LLP, where he chaired the banking practice, something interesting started happening. The New York Department of Financial Services, one of the most important regulators in the country, had developed a new digital currency trading exchange charter.
Along with their ticket, attendees of the game received a digital asset known as an NFT—a non-fungible token—to commemorate the game. In commercials for cryptocurrency exchanges, celebrities like Matt Damon and Larry David urged viewers not to miss out on the future of money. And the strategy for a Bud Light ad was chosen after a vote by owners of a different NFT.
But as investments in crypto soar, many people are left wondering, “What is all this?” What’s the difference between a Bitcoin and a stablecoin, and what do they have to do with a blockchain? Most importantly, they wonder if it will really affect them.
HILARY ALLEN, GERARD COMIZIO, WALTER EFFROSS, AND HEATHER HUGHES
He began his career in government, serving among other roles as deputy general counsel of the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Thrift Supervision. In private practice, he represented a wide range of financial services companies, including both domestic and foreign banking organizations and non-bank financial institutions.
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banking and financial services lawyer by trade,” he said.
“Every week that went by I was becoming more involved with crypto and virtual currency law,” Comizio said. “My firm and I had done a lot of traditional banking practice in front of that regulator. Both crypto startups and bigger clients moving into the space were looking for someone who understood this traditional banking clients
oncurrencies—ComizioplatformsCoinbase—cryptocurrencyincludingexchangewhereusersbuyandselldigitalbecameanexpertvirtualcurrencies.Whatbeganas
Comizio, an adjunct professor of law and associate director of the Business Law Program, is not one of those men. “I’m a
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY WASHINGTON COLLEGE OF LAW 17
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At AUWCL, he started a virtual currency law class in response to student demand. In its most recent offering, it had a waiting list. He also helped bring in highprofile speakers, including Hester Peirce, an SEC commissioner who has been nicknamed “Cryptomom” because of her interest in the industry.
As crypto has crept into public consciousness in recent years—while values of virtual currencies like Bitcoin
Debating Assets’ Nature
Crypto is also promoted as opening access to banking and improving payment systems and transactions across borders. Those are very important goals, Allen said, but as lawyers, we understand that technology can't fix deep-seated structural problems on its own.
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“There is so much mystique about this,” Allen said. “People think it’s digital gold or whatever. But virtual assets are computer files stored on a database. Computer files don’t have any inherent value. They can't defy the laws of financial gravity.”
THE ADVOCATE | SUMMER 202218
Integrate or Isolate?
For Allen, the best way to deal with many elements of the virtual currency universe would be to wall it off from traditional finance. Where some see decentralized finance as a leap forward, Allen sees an attempt to recreate elements of traditional finance, in more complex ways, with fewer protections for users. She sees greater
oversight—and that the crypto ecosystem does depend heavily on intermediaries like exchanges and wallet providers who may have conflicts of interest.
potential for individuals to get hurt and the overall economy to suffer.
Backers often say the decentralized nature of crypto empowers users because they won't have to depend on banks anymore. In response, Allen says users should be aware that a relatively small number of crypto holders have an outsized influence on key decisions, with almost no disclosure obligations or
“Some of my students want to practice in crypto. Our Business Law Program has lots of offerings for them, and I want them to be prepared and understand the implications of what they are dealing with. But even those who won't practice in the area should understand the fundamentals,” Allen said. “For a school like ours that has a social justice mission, it’s important for students to understand how the financial system is constructed, and how it can create massive inequalities when things go wrong.”
client memos he wrote on the evolving law grew into his recent book, “Virtual Currency Law: The Emerging Legal and Regulatory Framework.”
Last fall, Allen made waves when she testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. She argued that many things that crypto companies tout as innovations could play a similar role to financial products like credit default swaps that led to the 2008 global financial crisis—only worse. It’s a theme she explored in her book, “Driverless Finance: Fintech’s Impact on Financial Stability,” and in her recent essay “DeFi: Shadow Banking 2.0?”
Together with Allen, Effross, and Hughes, the business law program has grown into a leading voice in the conversation about what should come next for crypto. “No matter what people say,” Comizio said, “crypto is here to stay and we are going to have to deal with it.”
Less than a month after the crypto commercials debuted at the Super Bowl, the conversation about virtual assets changed again.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration issued a long-anticipated executive order that required federal agencies to propose plans for regulating cryptocurrencies. The order was seen by many, including Comizio, as the government acknowledging that digital currencies will be a permanent part of our financial future and a matter of national security.
Effross, who started and advises WCL’s Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Legal Issues Group, agrees. blockchainforlawstudents.com,On a website he started to provide practical resources about blockchain and cryptocurrency,
Carol van Cleef, Chair of Blockchain and Digital Assets at Bradley
It’s an exciting area to study and potentially practice, said Leaf, who spent last summer with DLx Law, a firm that specializes in blockchain issues.
David Brill, Head of Commercial Counsel at Voyager
Kari Larsen, Co-Lead of Blockchain, Digital Asset and Custody at Perkins Coie Lee Schneider, General Counsel at Ava Labs, a blockchain software company
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY WASHINGTON COLLEGE OF LAW 19
Jason Schwartz, Tax Partner at Fried Frank
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Effross writes that this is a space where “students will see the law grow and change, even as they are learning it.”
AWUCL alumni are shaping the future of fintech law at leading firms and as in-house counsel for technology companies. Among those leading the conversation:
Some worry that excessive regulation will stifle innovation. Others say well-designed regulation would give more consumers the confidence to use cryptocurrencies and help integrate them into the mainstream economy. The executive order also furthers official conversations about creating a digital dollar.
have surged and collapsed—AUWCL’s Blockchain and Digital Asset Society has tried to unpack the hype.
“There is a fundamental tension in the legal world—is this something new that we need to regulate differently or does it fit in an existing framework?” Leaf said. Some NFTs, for example, pay owners a dividend for holding them. They can also rise and fall in value and be sold for a loss or a profit. Do those properties mean NFTs can fit into existing securities law, or do they need a new classification?
Leaf and students like him are preparing themselves to play those roles.
With faculty experts, students, and alumni working on the key philosophical and technical questions, AUWCL will help drive the conversation about what our financial future should look like.
Charting the course
Angela Angelovska-Wilson, co-founder DLx Law
Leaf, the self-described “crypto nerd” who leads the group, said many of the conversations center on the nature of virtual assets.
access in Russia beyond sanctions saying that would defeat the purpose and spirit of virtual assets. Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton called “leaky crypto trading exchanges” a potential weak point in the allied strategy.
In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. and its allies imposed an unprecedented series of sanctions on the Russian economy. But many asked if sanctions could still be a potent weapon in an age when oligarchs could stash assets in crypto. Several cryptocurrency exchanges, including ones based in the United States resisted calls to restrict
While coders and investors receive most of the attention, Effross notes that the young history of digital currency has shown that effective lawyers are often the creative problem solvers, the “intermediary among entrepreneurs, lenders, investors, coders, and regulators” who find ways for deals to move forward.
Regulation Considered
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From NFL sidelines to college locker rooms, N. Jeremi Duru is focused on expanding equity in sports and beyond.
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For nearly 20 years, Duru has been involved in the movement to bring equity to the NFL, where the majority of players are Black, but there are few Black coaches or executives.
“It was my close involvement with the FPA, and with the coaching and front office community of color, that provided the material to write ‘Advancing the Ball: Race, Reformation, and the Quest for Equal Coaching Opportunity in the NFL,’” said Duru. “It put me in a place where I can speak credibly and intelligently about the lawsuit, what led to it, and what it means going forward.”
In February, Brian Flores shocked the sports world when he sued the NFL for racial discrimination weeks after he was fired as coach of the Miami Dolphins. Flores jumped from the sports page to the front page as his story raised longstanding questions about who gets the opportunity to succeed in the American workplace.
When the Fritz Pollard Alliance (FPA) was created in 2003 to promote minority hiring within the NFL, Duru served “of counsel” for many years. This group’s advocacy ultimately led to the negotiations that created the Rooney Rule, which requires that every club with an open head coach position interview at least one minority candidate. Recently, it was expanded to stipulate two minority candidates for head coach and to encompass open positions for general manager, offensive, defensive and special teams coordinators, and top executives.
“Historically, speaking out against racial discrimination in sports means not working in sports anymore,” said Duru. “Flores is at the top of his game, so to risk his career by bringing suit is incredibly courageous. It makes this a watershed moment.”
The Dynamism of Sports Law and Practice
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LEVELING THE PLAYING FIELD
BY ERIKA HASTINGS
AMERICAN
American University Washington College of Law’s N. Jeremi Duru quickly became the go-to expert for explaining the issues in Flores’ suit, how they reflected a pattern in professional sports, and what the suit meant for the broader society. As one of the nation’s leading sports law authorities who has represented athletes and organizations, Duru was soon on ESPN, CNN, USA Today, and the BBC, among other outlets.
UNIVERSITY WASHINGTON COLLEGE OF LAW 21
N. Jeremi Duru
“Jeremi is a leader in an area of the law that touches the pulse of America today,” said colleague Lewis Grossman, professor of law and affiliate professor of history. “He takes a topic that interests so many of us on a daily basis—that is, sports—and reveals its connections to the most fundamental issues confronting our society, including racial justice, gender equity, labor rights, and public health.”
The Rooney Rule is now under fire, but Duru stressed that has less to do with the concept and efficacy of the rule than with how certain clubs are improperly implementing it. “The Rooney Rule has spilled the bounds of the NFL and now is being implemented in the private sector—on Wall Street and in the Silicon Valley,” said Duru. “It is impacting the world outside sports.” How these analogous rules are effectively applied elsewhere reflects back on the NFL and its clubs as they struggle to enforce equal opportunity hiring practices. “That’s meaningful,” said Duru. “Those of us who work in sports have an obligation to make sure sports benefit rather than harm society.”
Duru sees sports as a microcosm of society, “a powerful tool that can serve as a benefit or a detriment to society.” He has seen it work in both directions, and the Flores lawsuit is the most recent example.
Another significant aspect of the case, according to Duru, is that Flores did not merely seek specified damages. He also requested specific programmatic relief that would instigate more diversity among the NFL’s top brass and put systems into place to promote more diverse club ownership. “If Flores is successful at trial, or if a settlement includes some of the programmatic relief that he seeks,” stated Duru, “it would be a tremendous development in the attempt to increase equal opportunity.”
The NFL is not the only place where the landscape is changing. At the collegiate level, this year student-athletes were able to profit off their name, image, and likeness (NIL) for the first time. While the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) still does not allow colleges to directly pay athletes, NIL money has already changed thousands of lives.
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CHANGING THE GAME
Flores, who led the Dolphins in two straight winning seasons for the first time in 20 years, was a contender for Head Coach of the Year a month before he was terminated. “These double standards for coaches of color have been around for decades, but Flores being willing to marshal these stats and make his allegations publicly in a lawsuit is what sets this case apart.” Flores also cited sham interviews with the Denver Broncos in 2019 and the New York Giants in 2022 and alleged that he was offered bribes to tank Dolphins games for a higher draft pick.
THE ADVOCATE | SUMMER 202222
“Student-athletes have been pushing to receive some sort of compensation for decades, and these developments provide a route forward,” said Duru.
For decades, the NCAA decided what benefits athletes could receive, down to how much cream cheese teams could offer with a spread of bagels. If their rules were not followed, athletes could lose their eligibility and their teams could be sanctioned.
The NCAA did not start the NIL revolution. Courts and state legislatures did. While the patchwork of state laws has had a positive impact for many athletes, their lack of uniformity can create problems, Duru said. He believes federal legislation is required. “There could soon be a shift in the dynamic between the college athletic infrastructure and Thatstudent-athletes.”isthenatureof
law—it can change. “It’s important to know what the law is, and in my exploration of law, I am really interested in what currents underlie the law and propel where it could go from here,” reflected Duru.
“The Washington College of Law has been a great fit,” shared Duru, who grew up in Takoma Park, MD, and was excited to return to the Washington, D.C., area when he joined the WCL faculty in 2013. He appreciates that he has the freedom to explore his field, as none of his colleagues share his specialty, yet he is not isolated. He is currently working on a treatise with Timothy Davis
Years later, Burum and Duru reconnected through a pro bono project. “It developed from a professor-student relationship into a professional one, and I am so proud of Sam and what he’s accomplished,” said Duru. When Duru heard of an opening with the parent corporation for the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils, he recommended Burum, who now serves as associate counsel. “Prof. Duru is very well connected in the sports world, and he is the reason I have the job I have right now,” said Burum.
“The sports world is competitive,” Burum said. “I tell law students that it’s all about finding their own way and networking early, which will pay off in the long run.”
“People always say you want a career that you would happily do on a Saturday,” Duru said, “and that’s the way I feel.”
As for his media renown, Duru said, “I hope to add value to the national conversation. I believe that the faculty, students, and alumni at the Washington College of Law are a vibrant and intelligent community. If I am able to signal that through my work, I am thrilled to do it. If it attracts more student interest, that’s even more exciting, because I love the opportunity to work, teach, and mentor students interested in sports and its impact on society.”
–N. Jeremi Duru
A CONNECTION BEYOND THE CLASSROOM
These meaningful connections that extend into alumni’s professional careers benefit all involved. “Sam has been very gracious and generous with his time and giving back to the students and institution,” said Duru.
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“Those of us who work in sports have an obligation to make sure sports benefit rather than harm society.”
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from Wake Forest Law, a fellow co-author of “Sports Law and Regulation” and “The Business of Sports Agents.”
This mentorship does not always end with graduation. Sam Burum (WCL 2015) was Duru’s first research assistant when he came from Temple University to build WCL’s sports law program. Burum vividly recalls sitting in his professor’s office, pondering his 1L summer and future plans, when Duru asked him, “Why are you here? Where do you want to be one day? Do you want to practice sports law?” Their conversation confirmed that he was on the right path.
It shows. Duru’s commitment was recognized when he was awarded the 2017 WCL Award for Excellence in Teaching and the 2018 AU Faculty Award for Outstanding Teaching. “I put a lot into my teaching,” he said, “and it is deeply meaningful to know it is appreciated.” He wants students to enjoy their education, which is key to learning and putting knowledge into practice. “I hope my students come out of my classes with an understanding and respect for how dynamic the law is and a desire to think about where the law could be pushed—where it’s going.”
“Follow Your Passion!”
W
THE ADVOCATE / SUMMER 202224
BY DEBORAH TAYLOR
“I went into the entertainment business to get free tickets and records. I knew what I wanted, and I was good at it,” he laughs.
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Deadhead, music aficionado, legal luminary, and alumnus Eric R. Greenspan exemplifies how to build a fulfilling career anchored in personal truth.
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Legal Superstar Advises,
Greenspan founded the music department at the renowned Los-Angeles-based entertainment firm of Myman, Greenspan, Fox, Rosenberg, Mobasser, Younger & Light LLP in 1987. His clients are among the best musicians and bands in the world, including Jewel, Bad Religion, Slash, Dead & Company, and
ashington College of Law students who ask entertainment attorney Eric R. Greenspan (WCL ’75) for career advice will get disarmingly simple, yet powerful, guidance: Do what you love. He combined his lifelong passion for music with supreme tenacity, a fair amount of risk-taking, and excellent legal training to become one of the country’s most powerful attorneys in the music business.
“BeforeStadium.me,Duke
“I took opportunities as they came and kept trying,” he says. “I moved to L.A. because it was far enough away from my home in New York City that I would be forced to work hard to stay in the entertainment field.”
Greenspan spent his first year at AUWCL attending classes and working part-time as a D.C. concert promoter.
“WCL was a great place with great professors. Unfortunately, I wasn’t really engaged during my first year,” he says. “I spent over 20 hours per week at that job when I should have focused on school.”
“I see everything in gray. I’m able to see nuances and think outside the box. My education has definitely benefited me,” he says.
“We had 750,000 people at the event, and that was the last show I had a part of promoting. Thereafter, I focused more on law school in my second and third years, and it was a wise decision,” he says.
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY WASHINGTON COLLEGE OF LAW 25
Greenspan lined up over a dozen bands that are now in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, including the Allman Brothers Band, Ten Years After (with Yes as the opening act), Traffic, Leon Russell, Mountain, and The Guess Who. He was able to bring the Grateful Dead to Duke for their first performance in the South after the band’s New Orleans arrest in 1970 by pairing them with the Beach Boys.
the Red Hot Chili Peppers, whom he has represented since the start of their career.
He also co-promoted the Summer Jam at Watkins Glen, a 1973 rock festival featuring the Allman Brothers Band, the Grateful Dead, and The Band.
had shows by Bob Hope and Dionne Warwick. I booked the Moody Blues at a time when no one knew about them, and I sold out the show. I proved I knew more about music than the administration did, and they gave me the keys to the kingdom. That was a big moment because they trusted my instincts and let me take the lead in booking major bands while I was a student,” he explains.
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Greenspan created his opportunity to enter the music industry as a first-year undergraduate at Duke University in 1968. He had failed as a broadcaster at the university’s radio station (“I didn’t have a radio voice.”), so he joined the Concert Committee and persuaded its leadership to let him set up shows at Duke’s indoor
athletic venue, known today as Cameron Indoor
Six months after graduating and relocating to Los Angeles to pursue his goal of practicing entertainment law, Greenspan was hired for his first job, as a litigator. In 1978, he met a notable lawyer in the entertainment business and worked for him for three years to gain experience. Next, a chance meeting with a Motown executive on a golf course led him to a position at a multinational firm. In 1984, Greenspan joined his current firm and helped to transform what was then a small film and television enterprise into an entertainment industry authority.
Greenspan values the ability to think transactionally which AUWCL taught him.
After graduation, he decided to earn his law degree to use as a foundational tool for furthering his music business career. American University Washington College of Law especially appealed to him because of its location in the District of Columbia.
THE ADVOCATE / SUMMER 202226 CHAMPION STORIES
L to R: Michael Carroll (Faculty Director), Matthew Bowers (Senior Finance & Grant Manager), Tumelo Mashabela (LLM student), Michael Palmedo (Post-Doctoral Research Fellow), Tahniat Saulat (Senior Program Coordinator), Christine Haight Farley (Faculty Director), Sean Flynn (Director, PIJIP), Meredith Jacob (WCL rep from Creative Commons)
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‘RIGHTADVANCINGTORESEARCH’
The internet’s promise of global access to information has fallen short in crucial areas. American University Washington College of Law’s pioneering Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property (PIJIP) is determined to correct that.
A three-year, $3.8 million grant from Arcadia, a high-profile U.K. philanthropic fund, is entrenching AUWCL as a leading voice in the global push for the right to research.
Copyright laws in many countries block researchers, academics, or libraries from remotely accessing, using, or sharing materials. The laws may also limit the type of “text and data mining” research of copyrighted materials that helped flag the spreading coronavirus and contributed to the creation of the first vaccines.
Izquierdo said it is not possible to overestimate the importance of open access. “The digital world has become the world,” he said. “We’re advocating for changes that are going to improve the quality of life for billions of people around the world.”
With the Arcadia grant, PIJIP set up the International Right to Research in Copyright Law initiative. Funding in the grant’s first year is allowing PIJIP to review the copyright laws of 190 countries, solicit research proposals, and launch the Arcadia Fellowship in International Copyright, which provides a fulltuition WCL scholarship for an LLM in Intellectual Property and “OurTechnology.big,hairy,audacious
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY WASHINGTON COLLEGE OF LAW 27
PIJIP envisions an international right to cross-border research that could allow a scholar in Europe to send a database to a colleague in the United States without worrying whether copyright law in either country expressly allows the exchange. Research freedom like that would open the way for broadcasts to be data-mined to create speech translation tools and for scholars to track hate speech on social media platforms around the globe.
goal is that every country in the world would have an open, flexible research exception [to copyright restrictions] and there would be an international law that allows cross-border use of research material, no matter what domestic laws say,” said PIJIP Associate Director Sean Flynn, the principal investigator on the project.
Flynn teaches courses on the intersection of intellectual property, trade law, and human rights. He said existing copyright law has not kept pace with consumer needs, digital media, or the global technology platforms through which information is accessed. Even more, there is no worldwide
The urgent need to harmonize copyright law around the world intensified during the pandemic as countries scrambled for online classroom materials, access to virtual medical care systems, and even the ability to track COVID-19.
“COVID has revealed the inequity of access,” said Andrés Izquierdo LLM ’19, a PIJIP senior research analyst whose work is funded through the Arcadia grant. “Let’s say you have developing countries in Latin America or Africa or Asia. They have huge debt because of the COVID emergency. These governments then face an additional toll because they are charged full prices to access online educational materials or technology for schoolchildren.”
rule or universal standard that governs researchers’ access to information stored or distributed via the internet.
PIJIP, a prominent voice in debate before the World Trade Organization, the main forum for negotiation on global e-commerce issues, is working to strengthen a worldwide openresearch network of researchers, libraries, museums, archives, and digital rights activists. With the Arcadia funding, it will host two international training academies, one in Washington, D.C., and the other in Amsterdam, in 2022 and 2023.
Arcadia calls access to knowledge “a fundamental human right” that is “vital to achieving greater equality and justice.” The fund created by historians Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin partnered with PIJIP to ensure materials that “should legally and morally be free for anyone to access” are not constrained by paywalls and restrictive regulations.
“What we’re doing at PIJIP is future-proofing copyright,” Flynn said. “Copyright is a barrier to doing the kind of research that people want to do. PIJIP is advancing the human right to research … and to have access to information.”
Edna Ruth Vincent, left, and the Honorable Gerald Bruce Lee, participate in the Tenley groundbreaking.Campus
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“I think that each of us as alumni have an opportunity to seed the ground for the next generation,” said Judge Lee, who sees incremental online giving as the key to impactful philanthropy. “We give so that the next generation may have the opportunities we did not—scholarships, competitions, clerkships.”
Forging a shared legacy to fight for justice
For more than three decades, they have shared this commitment. In addition to their sustained philanthropy to AUWCL, they host reunions with former law clerks and interns. In 25 years, Judge Lee estimates that he trained 150 interns, with a one-third becoming judicial law clerks. He credits the “power of presence,” saying the time and effort spent mentoring young lawyers to succeed will pay off as they collectively change the world for the better.
CHAMPION STORIES
came to appreciate how the law is applicable to every aspect of life—and how a new set of facts may allow for a more malleable approach to it. She was in the courtroom until retiring in 2017.
Vincent co-founded a boutique firm in 2002 and was featured in Washingtonian Magazine’s Top Lawyers. A family attorney, she
During his time at AUWCL, Judge Lee interned at area law firms. His first job was clerking for Gwendolyn Jo Carlberg ’66 in Alexandria, Virginia. He went on to be a trial lawyer for 15 years before being elected on his third try as a state judge for the Fairfax Circuit Court in 1992. In 1998 he was unanimously confirmed as a U.S. District Court Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia, where he served for two decades.
THE POWER OF PRESENCE
In 2010, Judge Lee became a trustee, helping to oversee academic affairs, campus life, and the stewardship of AU’s funds. For 23 years, he served on the WCL Dean’s Advisory Council. He remains involved with the AUWCL Black Alumni Association and AU’s Black Alumni Alliance.
When the Honorable Gerald Bruce Lee ’76 graduated from American University in 1973 he planned to be a journalist. He changed course when learned about law school’s potential to “impact society and make a difference in the lives of others.” After several years of teaching high school, Edna Ruth Vincent ’89 made a similar decision, putting her on a path that ultimately brought her together with Judge Lee.
“My time at AUWCL opened so many doors, and its lasting impact spans three generations, including our son and grandson,” he reflected. “I have a real desire to give back, empower others, and shape the next generation to work for justice and social responsibility.”
BY ERIKA HARTINGS
“American University changed my life,” affirmed Judge Lee. Notably, it is where he and Vincent began dating during her final semester at AUWCL. Knowing his dedication to uplifting others might be a marital burden, he asked her, “Can you go the distance?” Drawn to his “heart for people, commitment to service and fight for justice,” Vincent readily said “yes.”
“The Washington College of Law faculty taught us to be concerned about justice and social responsibility and how to be impactful through the law,” said Judge Lee.
Truly a citizen of the world—she has lived in seven countries on four continents—Nabila Aguele ’05, née Isa-Odidi, was attracted to American University Washington College of Law because the institution shares her belief in the importance and power of “When“community.”Istarted
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“So many of the faculty who taught me and with whom I’ve had the pleasure of teaching—including those in the clinical program and the Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property (PIJIP)—are still friends to this day. And that experience is not unique to me. A lot of my classmates felt that sense of family.”
at AUWCL, there was a lot of discourse around human rights, constitutionality, immigrant identity, and a strong focus on humanity and using law as a tool for good. I felt encouraged to be conscious of my own humanity. I felt a sense of social justice,” she said.
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY WASHINGTON COLLEGE OF LAW 29
Aguele has worked in positions of increasing responsibility for Nigeria’s national government since she left the AUWCL community to earn her MBA at INSEAD and return to her native country in 2016. Currently she serves as special adviser to Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, where her work focuses on financing for sustainable development, and she provides support on international development cooperation as well as performance monitoring and evaluation. A strong advocate for women’s rights and gender equality, she supports the ministry and its agencies on interventions to make public financial management
These teachers-turned-friends have celebrated each of Aguele’s impressive accomplishments that have marked success in her unique career trajectory.
systems more gender responsive. She is also a member of the INSEAD Board of Directors.
“Wherever I am, I seek connection to other people to give back and add value. It drives me both personally and professionally,” she said.
As a student at AUWCL, Aguele received the Elizabeth F. Reed and Earnest E. Salisbury Endowed Scholarship, served as a teaching fellow in the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project. She was also a leader in the Black Law Students Association and accepted two student government appointments. After practicing law in two firms following graduation, she returned to the school as a practitioner-in-residence in the Glushko Samuelson Intellectual Property Law Clinic. During that time, she served as a member of the PIJIP faculty and introduced the school’s first patent litigation elective.
Aguele acknowledges that, in legal circles, she falls into the “alternate careers” category, but she urges AUWCL students to embrace disciplinary intersectionality, which she defines as the convergence of multiple disciplines, and to use that frame to craft solutions that impact the world.
“You don’t have to give up who you are as an attorney,” she said. “Research and writing skills, negotiation skills, speaking, public speaking, being able to quickly ramp up on an unfamiliar area—so much of what I did when I transitioned to this new career built on my foundation as a lawyer, first and foremost. I use my legal training every day.”
BY DEBORAH TAYLOR
GLOBAL ADVOCATECOMMUNITY
Alumna Nabila Aguele draws strength, inspiration from AUWCL ties
Institute for Public Policy on May 3. Hilary J. Allen authored “Driverless Finance: Fintech’s Impact on Financial Stability” University(OxfordPress, 2022). She was a panelist at several events, including “The Case for Precaution,” Fourth Conference on Law and Macroeconomics, “Crypto’s Rapid Rise: The Future of Finance or Cause for Concern?” at the Consumer Federation of America Virtual Financial Services Conference, “Being Responsible for the Future: ESG and the Financial Services Sector” at the American Bar Association’s Banking Law Committee Meeting, and “Web3, Crypto, and Responsible Digital Development,” the keynote at the Global Digital Development Forum. She presented at “DeFi: Shadow Banking 2.0?” at the National Economic Club, and “Operational Risk and Business Continuity Planning” at the Women in Law & Finance Conference, University of Pennsylvania. She presented “Regulatory Innovation and Permission to Fail” at the Wharton Financial Regulation Conference, Seton Hall Faculty Workshop, and Regulatory Law and Policy Workshop at the University of Pennsylvania’s Carey Law School. She was a guest lecturer on “Sandbox Boundaries” at Georgetown University Law Center. She gave several interviews on driverless finance, including “Takeaway” with Melissa Harris Perry, “The Buzz” with ACT-IAC, New Money Review Podcast, The Hill, Marketplace Tech, ABA Journal: Modern Law
Professors recognized for teaching,scholarship,andservice
Library Podcast, The FinReg Pod, and Wisconsin Public Radio. She was quoted in numerous outlets, appeared on Al-Jazeera evening news, and her forthcoming article, “DeFi: Shadow Banking 2.0?” was profiled in Bloomberg News and The Atlantic. Professor Allen gave testimony in May on stablecoins before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee.
Adjunct Teaching Award, established to recognize an adjunct faculty member for outstanding teaching, thoughtful pedagogy, student mentoring, or exceptional creativity and innovation: Professor Richard Pollak.
Edwin A. Mooers Scholars, established to recognize a faculty member in any area of law: Professors Jonas Anderson and Christine Farley.
FACULTY NEWS THE ADVOCATE / SUMMER 2022A30
merican University Washington College of Law faculty are active in their respective fields through scholarly writing and presentations. As renowned experts, members of our faculty are frequently called on for their knowledge and understanding of today’s pressing legal and policy issues.
Excellence in Teaching Award, established to recognize outstanding teaching, as reflected by thoughtful pedagogy, student mentoring and advising, institutional leadership focused on improving teaching: Professors Lia Epperson and David Spratt.
Innovation in Pedagogy Award, established to recognize exceptional creativity and innovation in instruction: Professor Rebecca Hamilton.
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Padideh Ala’i presented “Global Trade Governance and a University’sWTO”RestructuredatRiceBaker
Stanford Law & Policy Review, and “Explaining Florida Man,” forthcoming in volume 46 of the Florida State University Law Review. He presented “Faculty Presentation at GWU Law—Federal Judge Seeks Patent Cases” and “Federalist Society Debate with Judge Ryan Holte of the Court of Federal Claims.”
Priya Baskaran was appointed co-chair of the ofSchoolsAssociationAmericanofLawCliniciansColor.Shewasa
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Outstanding Service Award, established to recognize a faculty member’s outstanding service: Professors Brenda Smith and Stephen Wermiel
Jonathan Baker published “Antitrust Law in Perspective: Cases, Concepts and Problems in Competition Policy,” a casebook co-authored with Andrew I. Gavil, William E. Kovacic, and Joshua D. Wright, (West Academic Publishing, 4th ed. 2022). He was recognized by Baron Public Affairs as one of 10 academic and policy expert Super Influencers who shape the thinking of antitrustdecision-makersgovernmentintoday’spolicydebate.
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panelist for several events including “Critical Race Theory: Truth, Lies,
AUWCL recognized nine professors for their outstanding work in scholarship, teaching, and service.
Jonas Anderson authored an article, “The Obsolescence of Blue Laws in the 21st forthcomingCentury,”inthe
Pauline Ruyle Moore Scholars, established to recognize an outstanding scholar in the area of public law: Professors Fernanda Nicola and Brenda Smith
which appears in the Gregory S. Parks and Frank Rudy Cooper edited “Fight the Power: Law and Policy Through Hip Hop Songs” (Cambridge University Press, 2022), at a book launch convening sponsored by Wake Forest University Law School. He wrote “Interrogating the Non-Incorporation of the Grand Jury Clause,” 43 Cardozo L. Rev. 855 (2022), and “Prosecutors, Ethics, and the Pursuit of Racial Justice,” 19 Ohio St. J. Crim. L. 25 (2022). He was a guest on the Law in Black and White podcast to discuss challenges facing American law schools. He also testified before the District of Columbia City Council regarding legislation overhauling the D.C. Criminal Code. He gave scholarly commentary on “Private
Andrew FergusonGuthrie L.Test,”and“SurveillancewrotetheTyrant110GEO.J.205(2021).
a panelist on “The Role of the Attorney in Representing a Client Subject to Guardianship,” for the webinar, “Guardianship Replace or Reform: Where Do We Go From Here?”, sponsored by ABA Senior Lawyers Division. He presented “Overview of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act,” Children’s National Hospital, The Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Other Related Disabilities.
He was interviewed by Katie Barlow, Fox 5 DC News, on the U.S. Department of Justice complaint against Uber Technologies challenging the company’s assessment of wait fees as discrimination against people with disabilities.
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League with CNN “News Day,” MSNBC “American Voices,” NBC News, ESPN, BBC radio, NPR “On Point,” USA Today, Business Insider, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and Minneapolis Star-Tribune. (See story “Leveling the Playing Field,” page 20.) He wrote “It’s Not Child’s Play: A Regulatory Approach to Reforming American Youth Sports,” published in 20 Virginia Sports & Entertainment L. J. 25 (2021) and “3 Minutes on the Rooney Rule,” published in American, the AU magazine.
Jerry Comizio published the casebook “Virtual Currency Law: The Emerging Legal and Regulatory Framework” (Wolters Kluwer, 2022). He was a panelist on “Blockchain Arbitration and the Resolution of Cryptocurrency Disputes” at the annual Paris Arbitration Week and appeared on a webcast hosted by the Buckley law firm entitled “Innovation Meets Regulation: The Biden Cryptocurrency Executive Order and the Emerging Legal and Regulatory Framework.” He published an op-ed in Bloomberg Law entitled “Cryptocurrency: Ukraine Crisis Shows Urgency for Federal Reform.”
Christine Farley presented “IP as InternationalEmpowerment—Change,Protest,and IP and Social Justice” at the Seventh Annual IP Mosaic Conference, and on the Trademark Modernization Act at the Advanced Trademark Seminar sponsored by Kilpatrick Townsend. She presented her paper
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He had three articles accepted for publication: “Digital Habit
AssociationofDebate”AnnualShethe‘Bullying’andMarchofLectureatTrademarks“ReevaluatinginaDigitalWorld”theFacultyWorks-in-ProgressSeriesattheUniversityMinnesotaLawSchoolinandwasquotedin“AppsOranges:BehindApple’sonTrademarks”inNewYorkTimesinMarch.presentedatthe“INTAPractitionervs.ProfessorattheAnnualMeetingtheInternationalTrademarkinMay.
Prosecution in America,” authored by John Bessler, at a symposium, and gave a presentation on the harmless constitutional error rule at the annual conference of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. He spoke on issues confronting legal education at a convening of American law school deans sponsored by the Law School Admissions Council, and at the Association of American Law Schools Faculty Focus Series. His op-ed on the historic nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was published in Newsweek.
and The Law: A Symposium,” and “Critically Interrogating the Twin Promises of American Democracy: Politics, Economics, and the Struggle for Full Equality.” Her article, “Teaching Theranos,” is forthcoming in Tennessee L. Rev. (Spring 2023).
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY WASHINGTON COLLEGE OF LAW 31
Angela Davis has a book “Transformingchapter, ChallengesandCulture—InternaltheExternalto
a New Vision of Prosecution” in “Progressive Prosecution: Race and Reform in Criminal Justice” (Anthony C. Thompson and Kim Taylor-Thompson eds., forthcoming in 2022, NYU Press). She presented “Elected Black Women Prosecutors” at New York University Law School’s Ken Thompson Lecture on Race and Criminal Justice Reform and gave the keynote address at Seattle University’s Virtual Symposium on Policing the Black Man entitled “Policing the Black Man: Arrest, Prosecution and Imprisonment in 2022.”
Robert Dinerstein was on the National Law Panel.ExperientialConsortium’sAdmissionsLawHewas
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Roger A. Fairfax Jr. presented his chapter, “Illegal Search: andPersonhood,Race,Policing,”
N. Jeremi Duru discussed the Brian Flores NationallawsuitdiscriminationracialagainsttheFootball
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He gave testimony on civil commitment and communitybased supports for people with mental health disorders during a Joint Informational Hearing— California Legislature Assembly Health and Judiciary Committees: “The Lanterman-Petris-Short Act: How Can It Be Improved?” Dinerstein was quoted regarding the need for employer flexibility in accommodating workers with anxiety disorders in a Law360 article and, in the ABA Journal, he was quoted about a ban on student use of laptops in the classroom and disability accommodations.
Walter Effross Practices,Principles,Governance:“Corporateauthoredand Provisions” (Aspen Publishing, 3d. ed. 2022).
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GrossmanClaudio presented to the OrganizationCouncilPermanentoftheof
Professor Amanda Frost’s You Are Not American: Citizenship Stripping from Dred Scott to the Dreamers, was shortlisted for the Mark Lynton History Prize, awarded by the Columbia School of Journalism and the Neiman Foundation. Frost’s book examines what it means to be American and the issues surrounding membership, identity, belonging, and exclusion that still occupy and divide the nation in the 21st century.
Amanda Frost was a witness at the Senate
alumnus Chip Rosenberg. The two organized and moderated an event hosted by WCL for the institute that was written up in the Global Arbitration Review. She drafted a paper titled “Heterogenity in International Arbitration” that was presented at the University of Virginia School of Law, Law and Social Science Colloquium. She wrote “The Once and Future ICSID,” for “ICSID Arbitration Rules” (Richard Happ & Stephen Wilske eds., forthcoming August 2022). She presented at the Hong Kong Ministry of Justice and United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, Forum for Further Preparatory Work on Investment Mediation, and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), UNCITRAL Working Group III on ISDS Reform: Academic Forum on “Comparative Cost and Financing of International Dispute Settlement.”
forTransparencyEthicalhearing,Committee’sJudiciary“AnJudiciary:andAccountabilitythe21stCenturyCourts.”
Llezlie Green was a panelist on “Poverty Law: Casebooks, Clinics, and the Law School Curriculum” at the 2022 Association of American Law Schools Annual Meeting.
Center for State Courts, The National Legal Aid and Defender Association to the Legal Aid and Advisory Authority of Trinidad and Tobago Public Defenders’ Department (PDD).
Paul Figley wrote an op-ed about the Judgment Fund in Law360. He was selected to serve on Law360’s 2022 Personal Injury and Medical Malpractice Editorial Board.
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Sean Flynn chaired a workshop in Switzerland,Geneva, on the right to research in international copyright, and presented the IVIR Lecture at the University of Amsterdam on “The Right to Research in International Copyright.” He was quoted in Law 360 on TRIPS Waiver.
THE ADVOCATE / SUMMER 202232
Susan D. Franck was Washington,ofCharteredco-chairappointedoftheInstituteArbitrator’sD.C.,
chapter, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, North American Branch, along with AUWCL
FACULTY NEWS
inTherapeuticFreedomMedicine:ofChoiceAmerica”at
Evidence,” Duke L. J., “Courts without Court,” Vanderbilt L. Rev., and Surveillance,”“PersistentAlabama L. Rev.
Amanda Frost shortlisted for history prize
the John F. Anderson Memorial Lecture, at the inaugural workshop of the University of Virginia Miller Center’s Health Policy Initiative and at BioLawLapalooza Conference 4.2, Stanford Law School. He co-authored “Building Resilience into the Nation’s Medical Product Supply Chain” by the National Academies Committee on the Security of America’s Medical Product Supply. He published a book review of Daniel Navon’s “Mobilizing Mutations: Human Genetics in the Age of Patient Advocacy,” in 95 Bulletin of the History of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University Press, 429 (2021). Selected podcasts and articles focusing on his book “Choose Your Medicine” included New Books Network, ABA Journal, The Takeaway, and Slate. He moderated a panel at the Administrative Law Review's Spring Symposium on NFIB v. OSHA’s impact on the U.S. government efforts to address health crises.
American States on sea level rise, which addressed the consequences for the states of the hemisphere of the existential threats that rising sea levels pose to people in Latin America and the Caribbean. He gave a lecture on the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law and on “Reparations to Individuals for Violations of International Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law.” He was interviewed for a webinar, “Current Human Rights Developments and Challenges in the World: A Conversation with Michelle Bachelet for United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.” He was reelected as president of the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights for four years (2022-2026). He wrote “Epidemics and International Law: The Need for International
Regulation” for Miami L. Rev. (forthcoming 2022). He was a panelist on “Unpacking Ukraine” in March and presented to the International Law Commission of the United Nations in Geneva Switzerland. He has an article forthcoming in 2022 titled “The Invasion of Ukraine: A Flagrant Violation of International Law” in Human Rights Brief. He was interviewed by CNN en Español and presented on sea level rise and its relevance for the Americas for the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States.
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Lewis Grossman presented “Choose Your
Cynthia GoodeWorks provided plea theconjunctiontrainingagreementinwithNational
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which takes stock of the ongoing “methodological turn” in the field of European Union law scholarship. She presented “Legal Diplomacy in an Age of Authoritarianism” to the University of Pennsylvania Law and Governance program in April. She participated in a book discussion of Professor Günter
and Policy” (West Academic, 6th ed. 2022) with co-authors James Salzman and Durwood Zaelke. He presented on a panel for the American Association of Law Schools on approaches to teaching international climate change law.
Fernanda G. Nicola was a panelist on law and “ThediscussionsgovernanceonFutureof
and federal judges at the 12th Annual Virgin Islands District Court Conference. She gave two lectures on the rules of evidence at the National Conference of United States District Court Judges held in the District of Columbia. The fifth edition of her co-authored textbook, “Criminal Law Concepts and Practice,” was published by Carolina Academic Press in February.
Jeffrey Lubbers was quoted by ABC News about the case U.S.overturnedthattheCentersfor
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AMERICAN UNIVERSITY WASHINGTON COLLEGE OF LAW 33
Disease Control mask mandate for travelers.
Juan Mendez gave an expert opinion on tolegallawinternationalregardingobligationsinvestigate,
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the European Legal Order.” She wrote “Researching the European Court of Justice” (Cambridge University Press)
Less than three weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine and began bombarding Ukrainian cities, Professor Rebecca Hamilton published a model criminal indictment of Russian President Vladimir Putin for the international crime of aggression. Hamilton said she hopes the model indictment provides a demonstration of what is possible in other forums, representing that kind of document that prosecutors could file before a special international tribunal or national court. “Today Putin may feel he is invincible, but the evidentiary record is being built against him.”
Constitutional“Authoritarianism—Frankenberg’sPerspectives,” cosponsored by the Hauser Global Law School Program, the Jean Monnet Center for International and Regional Economic Law & Justice, and the JSD program at New York University.
Diane Orentlicher wrote MisinformationandInformationAccess“EnsuringtoAccurateCombatting
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KleimanKathryn wrote “Proving the2022),(forthcomingGround”abookaboutuntoldWWII-
prosecute, and punish perpetrators of torture and exclude evidence obtained under torture. He wrote a report for the special prosecutor appointed by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office of Mexico to investigate the disappearance of 43 students in Ayotzinapa, Mexico, in 2014 and the subsequent inquiries that had led to a claim that the “historic truth” had been revealed. The report will accompany a submission by the special prosecutor to federal courts in 2022.
era story of the six women who programmed the world’s first modern computer as part of a secret U.S. Army project.
Benjamin Leff presented “Using Predictive Software in Taxation”Teachingon a panel. He also was a panelist on cannabis taxation registration in January.
David Hunter wrote the sixth edition of his Environmental“Internationalcasebook Law
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Cynthia Jones presented lawyersEvidence”inDevelopments“RecenttheLawofto300andlocal
Rebecca Hamilton lays out case against Putin
about Pandemics,” 36 AM. U. INT’L L. REV. 1067 (2021). She presented “Renewing and Improving the United States’ Relationship with the International Criminal Court,” at the Annual Meeting of
HamiltonRebecca wrote “After the Coup in Sudan: Key (ShortTerm) Indicators for Democratic Survival” for Just Security. She was a panelist on “Democracy Support in Hard Places: Can We Do Better?” a discussion hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace that included U.S. Under Secretary of State Uzra Zeya. Professor Hamilton wrote “PlatformEnabled Crimes,” forthcoming in the Boston College Law Review; “Model Indictment Charging President Putin with the Crime of Aggression,” in Just Security; an op-ed, “Prosecuting Putin for Going to War,” in The Washington Post; and a blog post titled “Focus on Accountability Risks Overshadowing Ukraine’s Reconstruction Needs” for Just Security. She was interviewed by YAHOO!FINANCE, NBC News, The Washington Post, Reuters, Newsweek, and Newshub on war crimes in Ukraine. She was quoted in The New York Times and on NPR on war crimes in Darfur. In March she presented “Advocacy, Technology, and Atrocity Prevention” for “The Ukraine Conflict: Expert Roundtable on Transitional Justice and International Criminal Law Issues” at the American Society of International Law, and the Olga Lengyel Institute for Holocaust Studies and Human Rights: Atrocities in Ukraine. She has been invited to be a visiting fellow at Yale Law School’s Information Society Project.
examines the phenomenon of U.S. citizens who have applied for asylum overseas.
Ezra Rosser wrote “The Euclid Proviso,” Washington96 L. Rev. 811 (2021) and a review of Hanoch Dagan’s book “A Liberal Theory of Property,” 72 Univ. Toronto L. J. 245. He presented “A Nation Within: Navajo Land and Economic Development” at a faculty workshop at Suffolk University Law School in April. He also presented at AALS Pop Up Poverty Law Conference in March, Wosdee Podcast, WISE Spotlight Series, and Law and Political Economy and Property Law for Case Western Reserve Law in April.
Anita Sinha theforthcomingDeterrence,”Migration“TransnationalwroteinBostonCollege
Ann Shalleck and the Women and the Law teach-in,rapidspearheadedProgramaresponsein
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Russian forces in Ukraine. He was invited to participate as keynote speaker at the 49th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council regarding Grave Violations of Human Rights and Reparations in Bolivia and invited to speak at the William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies, National Defense University (NDU), to a group of about 45 representatives of 13 Latin American nations on the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States (OAS), their work, and some of the most important legal aspects of their case law.
Susana SáCouto submitted two amicus curiae briefs in the
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Criminal Conviction: Law, Policy and Practice” (Thomson West, 4th ed. forthcoming 2022).
Diego PinzonRodriguezappeared on discussingTelemundothe war in Ukraine and the application of international humanitarian law. He was a lead panelist in a March virtual event of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva regarding the implementation of the crime of torture in Pakistan. He was interviewed on CNN regarding the role of the International Criminal Court in confronting the atrocities perpetrated by
Jenny Roberts, with ConsequenceswroteWayneColgateMargaretLoveandLogan,“Collateralof
25 Cornell J. L. & Pub. Pol’y 557 (2016), has been cited in the Commentary to the Restatement (Third) of
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Torts (Am. L. Inst. 2021). His article “Explaining the Florida Man” was the lead article in the Florida State University Law Review (2022) and his article written with John B. Corr “Interjurisdictional Certification and Choice of Law,” 41 VAND. L. REV. 426 (1988), was cited and quoted by the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine in Franchini v. Investor’s Bus. Daily, 2022 WL 401988, 2022 Me. LEXIS 11 (Feb. 10, 2022). He was interviewed by numerous media outlets on the Ahmaud Arbery trial in Georgia, including the Chicago Sun-Times, The New York Times, and The Independent. He was the winner of a major photography competition—the 2022 AAA World Photography Contest—taking First Place in the Transportation Photography category and Second RunnerUp overall (of more than 4,000 photos in the competition).
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Ira P. Robbins’ article, “Vilifying the Vigilante: A Narrowed Scope of Citizen’s Arrest,”
caseCriminalInternationalCourtofThe
conjunction with the Law and Government Program and the Health Law and Policy Program, on the leaked Supreme Court opinion overruling Roe and Casey.
the American Branch of the International Law Association and was a discussant on a webinar on Transitional Justice for Roma in Europe. She completed “A Framework Approach to Prevention: Making Prevention a Reality.” She was a panelist on a webinar titled Crimes of Aggression, Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes in Ukraine, sponsored by the War Crimes Research Office and WCL International and Comparative Law Studies programs. She published a blog post in Just Security on exploring legal foundations for prosecuting atrocities being committed in Ukraine. She was interviewed on NPR’s “1A” about accountability for atrocities in Ukraine.
Law Review. She presented at the International Human Rights Clinicians’ Conference, hosted by the University of Miami School of Law. She presented a work-in-progress at Tulane Law School in March, was interviewed for the Journal of the American Bar Association on the class action lawsuits over labor practices against private companies running
FACULTY NEWS
Prosecutor v. Dominic Ongwen. These briefs (dated Nov. 15, 2021, and Dec. 22, 2021) were on various issues, including the definition of forced pregnancy, evidentiary standards for
Adeen Postar was appointed by the ABA Section on Legal Education to serve on the site team accreditation visit to the Ave Maria School of Law in October. She was also appointed by the American Association of Law Libraries to serve on the Conference of Newer Law Librarians.
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Jayesh Rathod wrote “Fleeing the Land of the Review),Columbia(forthcoming,Free”Lawwhich
crimes of sexual and genderbased violence, and cumulative convictions. She presented on her chapter, “Feminist Approaches to Witnesses and Participants in Atrocity Crime Trials: Lessons Learned from Domestic Prosecutions,” at a Feb. 10 gathering of contributors to the forthcoming “Oxford Handbook of Women and International Law.” She was interviewed by CBS Mornings, Politico, and the History Channel on war crimes in the Ukraine. She served on a panel entitled “The Importance of Feminist Judgments” at the American Society of International Law’s Annual Meeting and moderated a panel on “Crimes of Aggression, Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes in Ukraine.”
Species Act: Law, Policy, and Perspectives” (Donald Baur & Ya-Wei Li eds., 3d. ed. 2021). He wrote a petition to the General Services Administration, which was largely researched and written by WCL students, to garner media coverage of President Biden’s procurement and climate initiative.
Paul Williams submitted an amicus curiae brief before CriminalInternationaltheCourt
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Society chapter the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University. He was interviewed on the Supreme Court nomination process and hearings for Judge Jackson for Newsy; Hearst TV; iHeart Media Miami Radio WIOD; and New Arab News. He was interviewed on Hearst television on two pending Supreme Court cases. He was interviewed on the Supreme Court leak by KCBS Radio; Fuller Project (nonprofit news organization); the Economist; and Kristeligt Dagblad, a Danish newspaper. He was quoted in Politico on the Supreme Court leaks and the papers of justices. He lectured on Zoom to Live and Learn Bethesda on the Supreme Court agenda. He moderated the ABA Law Day panel discussion entitled “Toward a More Perfect Union: The Constitution in Times of Change.”
Caroline Wick and Bob Dinerstein gave a guest lecture for a new program of Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C. The lecture addressed laws that impact children with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental disorders.
Ciara SpelliscyTorres-spoke at the Widener Law Review Symposium on Voting MertzinforisAlabama’sandfreedomsconstitutionalDecisions,BioethicsNetwork’sMiami/FloridaUniversityRights;ofBioethics30thAnnualFloridaConference:Debates,Solutionsaboutreproductiveandprivacyrights;SCOTUSblogpodcastaboutredistrictingcase.SheaboardmemberonCitizensResponsibilityandEthicsWashington(CREW)andtheGilmoreFoundation.
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Steve Wermiel delivered the keynote address on the judicial career of Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge James Wynn for a symposium at University of North Carolina Law Review in March. He lectured on the Supreme Court’s Shadow Docket to 25 law student members of the American Constitution
Brenda Smith was the keynote speaker inWomen’s“StrugglesforUnseen:RightstheCriminal
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AMERICAN UNIVERSITY WASHINGTON COLLEGE OF LAW 35
in The Prosecutor v. Dominic Ongwen. He presented “The Future of the Peace Process in Ukraine” and was interviewed by The Power Vertical Podcast on “The Case Against Vladimir Putin.”
Justice System” at the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Law & Public Affairs.
Bill Snape co-authored a chapter entitled “State
immigration detention centers, and spoke on a panel hosted by the South Asian Bar Association of North America.
In Lawyering Peace, published by Cambridge University Press, Professor Paul Williams aims to help future negotiators build better and more durable peace agreements. Williams offers a rigorous, yet accessible, examination of more than 20 peace processes. From that, he draws lessons designed to help parties, practitioners, and academics work their way through the multitude of decision points they face in a negotiation, and then to draft legal text that encapsulates that agreement in a way that will promote the durability of the agreement or constitution.
David Snyder presented his paper “Contracting for Process” at the Duke symposium on Contract in Crisis, hosted by Law & Contemporary Problems and also at the European University Institute (Florence). He wrote “Balancing Buyer and Supplier Responsibilities: Model Contract Clauses to Protect Workers in International Supply Chains, Version 2.0” published in 77 Bus. Law. 115 (2021-2022). He was the principal drafter for a working group of the ABA Business Law Section and he wrote “Bridges,” 71 Am. U. L. Rev. 832 (2022) and “Contracting for Process,” 85 Duke J. of L. & Contemporary Problems 255 (2022).
Paul agreementsbookpublishesWilliamsonpeace
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inSpeciesEndangeredActs”“Endangered
David H. Spratt wrote “Debunking the Efficacy of Standard PartBoilerplate—ContractIII,”Va.B.
Assn. News J., Fall 2021, 10. He presented “Summer Writing had me a Blast” at the Legal Writing Strategy Refresher and wrote “Debunking the Efficacy of Standard Contract Boilerplate— Part IV” in VBA News Journal (Spring 2022).
Fordham Urb. L.J. 1067 (2021).
Brandon Weiss wrote Housing,”inPurchaseNonprofit“ClarifyingRightsAffordable49
Scott W. Bermack ’89, a partner with Weber Gallagher in the firm’s New York office, was named co-chair of Weber Gallagher’s General Liability Practice group.
John Marshall Cook ’93 has joined Fox Rothschild LLP in Washington, D.C., as a partner in the Construction Department.
Erin Palmer ’07 is running for chairwoman of the D.C. City Council. Palmer is a former assistant general counsel for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts and staff counsel to the Judicial Conduct and Disability Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. The primary election will take place on June 21.
Meagan Bainbridge ’05, a shareholder and member of the Labor and Employment and Litigation groups at Weintraub Tobin, earned a certificate in workplace investigations from the Association of Workplace Investigators and is certified to perform impartial workplace investigations. She also was selected to participate in the Leadership Sacramento Class of 2022. Leadership Sacramento, a program of the Sacramento Metro Chamber Foundation, develops community-minded business and civic leaders.
’77 was appointed vice chairman of the U.S. Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, an independent federal agency whose mission is to promote the preservation, enhancement, and sustainable use of the nation’s diverse historic resources and to advise the president and Congress on national historic preservation policy.
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Gunnar Rosenquist ’05 founded and serves as chair of the Panel Appellate Working Group, a statewide coalition of attorneys on California’s 58 county misdemeanor appellate panels and appointment referral lists.
Myron Brilliant ’89 was recognized in Washingtonian Magazine’s 500 Most Influential People.
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Benderson ’82 received an honorable mention for Spirit of My Lost Brothers in the 2021 Friendship Heights Village Center art show, which also included her work entitled Hope.
Mari Ferguson Cheney ’07 was promoted to associate director of research and instruction at Boley Law Library, Lewis and Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon.
CLASS NOTES
’92 negotiated
THE ADVOCATE / SUMMER 202236
Marisa Cianciarulo ’98 has been named interim dean of Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law. She is the law school’s first female dean.
an arrangement with the Chinese government that supports aircraft safety. His client, the Aviation Suppliers Association, is the first party outside of China that is recognized to perform CAAC-recognized safety audits for aircraft parts distribution (under the international standard, ASA-100).
Candace Beck ’99 has been elected president of the Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia.
20 Fatima00s(Mohyuddin) Khan ’01 joined Thompson Coburn as an immigration partner in the firm’s St. Louis, Missouri, office.
Thomas J. Conte ’93, a partner at Mirick O'Connell, has been selected to the 2021 Massachusetts Super Lawyers list. Each year, no more than five percent of the lawyers in the state receive this honor. Conte has tried over 30 jury and bench trials. His expertise is in the areas of business, real estate, construction and tort-defense litigation.
Keith Costa ’83 has joined Barclay Damon’s Restructuring, Bankruptcy and Creditors’ Rights Practice Area in the firm’s New York City office. He is also a member of the firm’s White Collar and Government Investigations Practice Area and Health and Human Service Providers Team. Costa has over three decades of experience as a bankruptcy and corporate restructuring lawyer. Additionally, he is a court-certified mediator for the U.S. bankruptcy courts in the Southern District of New York and Delaware. He has served as a mediator and arbitrator for high-profile bankruptcy cases, including the Madoff and Lehman Brothers bankruptcy cases.
Susan Mann ’86 is retiring from Microsoft September 30.
Elisabeth Myers ’93 (shown above second from left) spoke at the inauguration of the International Center on the Prevention of Child Soldiers in Dakhla, Western Sahara, Morocco, on March 31. She highlighted the need to make international humanitarian and human rights law universal and more robust to prevent the exploitation of children as “child soldiers” and to hold state and non-state parties accountable for this extreme form of child abuse and child labor.
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Richard Verma ’93, a former ambassador to India and an Indian American, was appointed to a White House body that advises the president on the effectiveness of the country’s intelligence community.
Eric J. Ascalon ’96 was named director of community relations for TerraCycle Inc. where he will lead its strategic partnership team to build relationships with communities and organizations. TerraCycle was recognized as one of Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential Companies” in 2022 and is the recipient of the United Nations’ Momentum for Change award for its work towards cleaning up ocean plastics.
Magda Theodate ’97 was appointed global head, procurement and contracts management, for INTERPOL, based in France.
The Honorable Melinda L. VanLowe ’02 was named a judge of the Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court.
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Lynn Gefen ’96 has joined cannabis company TerrAscend Corp. as chief legal officer and corporate secretary.
In the Jewish tradition, at someone’s death, we say, “May their memory be for a blessing.” While I know that Isaiah Baker was not Jewish, I offer that prayer for his family.
I don’t recall ever not stuttering as a kid, I remember being mocked and teased whenever I was expected to speak. For reasons still unknown to me, my late father frequently hid a tape recorder nearby and forced me to listen to my dinnertime stuttering. After leaving home for college (where I only took lecture classes, so I could avoid attention) my stuttering eased, but I still dreaded meeting new people, speaking in public, and making work phone calls.
Remembering Isaiah Baker FIRST ENCOUNTER CHANGED ALUMNA’S LIFE
President Joe Biden, singer/songwriter Carly Simon, and England’s late King George VI, among others, managed their stuttering; I was fortunate to have found Isaiah Baker!
Thomas Millar ’09 joined Winston & Strawn LLP as a partner in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office and as a member of the Corporate practice with a focus in the firm’s Energy and Infrastructure industry group.
As good litigators know, memories don’t represent absolute truths; recollections fade, fragment, and fray. I don’t remember whether law school began in August or September, nor do I remember the names of many colleagues or the name of that initial case. Nevertheless, I do remember—with absolute clarity—how my life changed. After Professor Isaiah Baker briefly addressed logistics and expectations, he asked for a volunteer to present the first case. One of a few people who raised their hands, I was chosen. Inquiring minds might wonder: “Why was that one encounter life-changing, and why did I volunteer?”
III ’07 was named partner at Buckley LLP where he provides enforcement and litigation counsel to financial services companies and individuals navigating internal discovery.financewithandgovernmentinvestigations,investigations,complexcivillitigation,anemphasisonconsumermattersandelectronic
’10 was named partner at Holland & Hart LLP.
Once Professor Baker called on me, I foolishly assumed that he’d ask me for the facts before moving on to another student. That was not to be. At one point, he responded to my vague explanations: “Well, Weinberg, I’m confused.” I answered, “Well, Professor Baker, so am I.” I had only the
I remember Professor Baker’s booming voice, froth of white hair, and remarkable intellect. But, after reading his recent obituary, which revealed the extraordinary life and careers he’d had, I only wish I’d known him better. But with a full-time career, law school, and a baking gig, I spent little discretionary time on campus. I once visited his office to explain the impact of that first night; I’d like to believe that my memory of his appreciation is accurate.
Christopher Lee ’10 joined Maynard Cooper & Gale as of
Now, 40 years later, I am “stutterfree.” Before law school, I regularly dodged the limelight. Post-law school, I’ve had many opportunities to be front-and-center and relished nearly all of them.
Nancy Kirsch, nee Weinberg, earned her J.D. from AUWCL in 1985. Since graduation, she has worked as a law firm associate, general counsel to a Rhode Island-based diversified textile company, a journalist and freelance writer.
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NANCY KIRSCH ’85
slightest understanding of the case and no appreciation for the Socratic method. The good news? I never once stuttered. After class, several classmates congratulated me; none knew either my history or my reason for volunteering. The fear of and the act of stuttering were gone. Clearly, that evening did change my life.
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY WASHINGTON COLLEGE OF LAW 37
I didn’t want to dread being called on four nights a week for four years, so I vowed to face my fear of stuttering that first night. And, that fear of stuttering was far from random; I’d lived with stuttering my entire life. I think it was Professor Baker’s commanding presence that made me realize—better now than later!
Haven’t we all heard: “This [diet or skincare product….] will change your life?” While none of those products changed my life, my first Contracts class, with Professor Isaiah Baker, did change my life irrevocably.
John B. “Jay” Williams
20 Shaun10sKennedy
Cohen volunteers as an alumni mentor for AUWCL students and graduates by sharing her perspectives on career advancement, work-life balance, and navigating professional transitions.
Beka Feathers ’13 published “Re: Constitutions: Connecting Citizens with the Rules of the Game,” a nonfiction graphic novel that explores what it means to be a citizen of a constitutional society. The book uses constitutions from around the world to illustrate how having a fundamental law impacts daily life.
“It was a fun environment to work in, and I became a sports fan, but an interest in sports is not what makes for a successful career in this demanding industry. Rather, having a solid legal foundation and a keen work ethic, as well as an ability to deal with different types of people and personalities, will be what propels you. In my case, that foundation involved contracts and licensing and intellectual property, corporate, employment, real estate, and financing law,” she said.
counsel in the firm’s Correctional Litigation practice in Huntsville, Alabama. He represents clients in federal and state courts in civil and criminal matters, as well as administrative law matters, probate matters, political law, and government relations.
Vassilis Paliouras ’11 is a bank resolution expert at the Single Resolution Board (SRB) in Brussels. The SRB is an independent agency of the European Union, performing the role of the resolution authority for the major banks within the European banking union. Like the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in the United States, the SRB is tasked with promoting financial stability and protecting the taxpayer in the event of bank failures.
CLASS NOTES
Amy Cohen ’91 SEASONED COUNSELOR MENTORS GRADUATES
She did not initially intend to pursue law. An international relations major, she worked in the international hotel industry until her growing interest in combining business and law propelled a switch. To prepare for law school, she became a paralegal in Skadden Arps’ New York office while studying for the LSAT, and more than three years after college graduation, she was a first-year student at American University Washington College of Law.
AUWCL alumni mentors share their professional and educational experiences to help guide the school’s lawyers-in-training. If you are interested in volunteering as a mentor, please contact Matthew Pascocello at mpasco@wcl.american.edu.
THE ADVOCATE / SUMMER 202238
Mary Gardner ’12 was named partner at Venable LLP.
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Cohen’s education confirmed she was most attracted to business law, and private practice was the best way to deepen her knowledge. For five years, she practiced corporate and intellectual property law at Stradley Ronon’s Philadelphia’s office. But in 1996, a compelling call shifted her career trajectory: She was hired as associate general counsel by Comcast Spectacor, then-owner of the Philadelphia Flyers and Philadelphia Sixers, which was ready to launch a new regional sports network through a joint venture with the Philadelphia Phillies. For the next 20 years, as Comcast’s sports entertainment and sports media empire grew, her responsibilities increased until, after Comcast’s acquisition of NBCUniversal, she was named senior vice president, business and legal affairs, NBC Sports Group and senior vice president, strategic partnerships, NBC Sports Regional Networks. Cohen had achieved the NBC Sports Group’s then-most senior female executive position.
Amy Cohen’s (’91) career is challenging, fulfilling, nontraditional, and filled with changes.
Benjamin Horowitz ’12 was named partner at Venable LLP.
Her life transitioned unexpectedly in 2017 when personal and family needs obliged her to resign her position and return with her family to Philadelphia from Stamford, Connecticut. Now that those pressures and the COVID-19 pandemic have eased, she is ready to transition to her next chapter.
Kate Kovarovic JD ’11/MA ’12 provides legal advice and communications for Operation Sacred Promise, a nonprofit assisting with the evacuation and resettlement of Afghans following the country’s August 2021 withdrawal. The group, which had evacuated about 1,000 people by early January 2022, has 10,000 remaining on their waitlist.
“My path has not been one that I foresaw when I started at WCL or even my first legal job. Ultimately the legal foundation you get from WCL, along with hard work, dedication, and professionalism, will create opportunities and pay off,” she said.
Chauna Abner ’17 joined the Baltimore office of McGuireWoods as an associate. Her spouse, Castell Abner III ’17, joined Venable LLP in December 2021.
“AU does an amazing job with Washington, D.C.,-based and regional events. Even if you’re not attending, you can still monitor what’s going on.”
John Nadolenco ’95 REFLECTION AND RE-ENGAGEMENT
Matthew Hansel ’14 was named partner at Hanzen LaPorte LLP.
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY WASHINGTON COLLEGE OF LAW 39
Nadolenco is managing partner of Mayer Brown’s Los Angeles office and a renowned civil litigator specializing in class action defense, including technology and privacy cases. He chose to study at AUWCL because of its excellence in clinical programs.
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Nadolenco is still learning from AUWCL professors and credits them with expanding his knowledge base.
Eric A. Love ’16, an associate in the Private Funds group at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, was selected to participate in the Council of Urban Professionals (CUP) 2022 New York Fellows Program. CUP’s mission is to inspire, elevate, and empower the next generation of diverse business and civic leaders.
Meredith Renegar ’14 was named partner at Wilcox & Savage PC.
He urges WCL graduates to stay connected with the University and the law school.
“When I was getting involved with the Alumni Board, I started paying attention to the website to see what WCL was doing in my practice area and reaching out to professors. One professor in particular recommended two expert witnesses that we retained for a cyber security case we tried in summer 2021. The WCL professors’ research and social media postings are invaluable sources of information for me,” he said.
Makia Weaver ’16 joined Lerch Early Brewer as an associate in the firm’s Family Law practice.
Lauren Ingram ’21 joined Aronberg Goldgehn Davis & Garmisa as an associate in the firm's Business Law and Transactions practice group.
“I strongly suspected I wanted to do litigation when I went to law school. I got into the appellate advocacy program and worked very closely with Professor Ira Mickenberg. It
When American University asked for Alumni Board applicants in 2018, John Nadolenco ’95 knew it was time to answer that call and re-engage with the school.
Ifeanyi O. Ezeigbo ’14 has joined Goodell DeVries as an associate in the firm's Medical Malpractice group, where he represents health care providers and health care institutions in malpractice litigation. Ifeanyi is an active member of the Bar Association of Baltimore City, where he has served on the Communications and News Journal Committee. He is also a member of the Monumental City Bar Association. Ifeanyi was named to the Top 40 Under 40 by the National Black Lawyers Top 100 for 2020 and 2021.
“I got to a certain point where I was able to reflect on the things that helped me along in my career. This was an opportunity for me to get involved with the school,” he said.
Alex Apollonio ’20 was admitted to the District of Columbia Bar.
“I really appreciate the foundation that I got at Washington College of Law.”
Taylor Sweet ’19 joined Cranfill Sumner LLP as an associate based in the firm’s Charlotte, North Carolina, office. She will focus her practice on civil litigation.
confirmed that litigation was what I wanted to do,” he said.
20 20s
Today, his volunteer portfolio includes advisory board chair of the Technology, Law and Security program and creator of a diversity initiative that is now part of a larger program allowing summer interns to work in Silicon Valleybased technology companies including eBay and Google and at major law firms.
IN MEMORIAM THE ADVOCATE / SUMMER 202240
Sarah P. Kenney ’05 died May 12 in Frisco, Texas. Sarah had a distinguished career in litigation. She started as a litigation associate at K&L Gates LLP in New York. In 2015 she became a partner in the firm’s Commercial Litigation and Government Enforcement section, where she represented individuals and corporations and managed a caseload of complex business litigation in state and federal courts. She
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Professor Emeritus Robert B. Lubic died Sept. 16, 2021, at the age of 91. Professor of Law Emeritus David Aaronson shared these memories: “Bob taught in the areas of business and international law. He played a major role in creating three law student summer study abroad programs in Jerusalem, Israel, Korea, and China. He co-taught in each of them. He was a well-recognized mediator, both in the United States and abroad. He created an internet program for use in resolving international disputes. In addition to his publications, he wrote and published a novel. Bob was an avid chess player and, after retirement, became a member of the Cosmos Club competition chess team and played in chess tournaments in the United States, London, and Paris.”
Prominent D.C. attorney David Osnos, a longstanding supporter of the AUWCL hospitality and tourism program, died January 9 at 89. Osnos’ scholarships focused on students in the intensive two-week hospitality and tourism program, which covers legal issues related to hotels, insurance, intellectual property, reservation systems, labor, architecture and design, casinos, and sports betting. As an attorney with Arent Fox for more than six decades, he was the respected dealmaker for iconic D.C. names, among them Marriott Hotels, Clark Construction Group, property developer Conrad Cafritz, and sports team owner Abe Pollin. “His connection, his care, his continued engagement were a far greater gift than the scholarship money,” said Jacob Bedingfield ’14, a scholarship recipient. “As a law student, you have contacts with people who say they are happy to help. People like David went farther than that. I never doubted his generosity, his desire to be supportive.” Osnos is survived by his wife of 65 years, Glenna Osnos, a son Matthew, a daughter Alison Doxey, and three grandchildren.
Georgiana Grozescu, an LL.M. student specializing in gender, international and comparative law, died in January after a battle with cancer. Georgiana was sharp and passionate about her work and study, and she had a remarkable sense of humor and energy. Prior to coming to WCL, Georgiana was an assistant magistrate in the High Court of Cassation and Justice in Romania. She previously served as program manager, then senior expert, at the Center for Legal Resources, an NGO acting at the time as national focal point for FRALEX/ FRANET, the European Union agency for fundamental rights. As a lawyer, Georgiana specialized in children’s rights, domestic violence, and civil rights violations. She served on working groups to amend legal aid law and domestic violence law. Her experience as a human rights lawyer and NGO advocate informed her commitment to upholding international standards of human rights through her work in the High Court. Georgiana received an MA in child studies from King’s College School of Law in London, as well as an LL.B. from the University of Bucharest. Grozescu is survived by two sons, Gabriel and Ion-Andrei.
Pamela Borland Forbes ’76, née Dulles, died March 3, after a brief illness. She was 79. Following graduation, she practiced domestic relations law in the District of Columbia and Maryland for more than 25 years and was a fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. She had lived in Annapolis since 1979. She leaves behind her husband, Steven Bookshester ’76, three children, three grandchildren, and numerous other relations.
later became in-house counsel at JCPenney in Plano, Texas, where she was promoted to assistant general counsel and oversaw JCPenney’s litigation, intellectual property, and marketing groups. She was an avid runner and completed the 2021 Dallas Marathon. She is survived by her husband Ryan, children Alexander and Eleanor, her parents Pat and Dave, and her brother Matt. Sarah will be remembered for her big heart, endearing laugh, and magnetic personality. Her memory will live on in those whose lives she helped save with her last act of kindness as an organ donor.
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY WASHINGTON COLLEGE OF LAW 41 ALUMNI CORNER
Yours in Partnership, LAURA K. FAJARDO HERR ’03 Associate Dean, Development and Alumni Relations
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This year, the WCL community will soon celebrate yet another milestone: the one-year anniversary of our new dean, Roger A. Fairfax, Jr. With a pioneering five-part plan, this new dean has charted an ambitious course for WCL over the next several years. For those of you who had the pleasure of meeting him at our virtual or in-person events since he joined our community in July of 2021, you know that he is dynamic, gracious, strategic, and quite determined in what he’s set to achieve for WCL.
The 2022 school year was an incredible one, but what’s on the horizon is just as exciting in terms of the changes that are in store. Thank you for being part of this journey. I can imagine no better group of alumni to make our future bright!
And with that, this new group of lawyers will certainly have their work cut out for them, but also have a lot to look forward to. As fellow graduates of the Washington College of Law, I know you will support these young alumni in whatever ways you can, and I encourage you to join me now in celebrating their future success.
celebrated the Class of 2022 at their law school commencement ceremony in American University’s Bender Arena. In front of a crowd of adoring family and friends, these graduates finally reached the summit of the mountain known as law school.
No doubt, the Class of 2022 is entering the legal profession at a critical time, and the need for well-trained lawyers both at home and abroad, across all sectors and societal divides, is more than apparent. Guided by our incredible faculty, today’s graduates were reminded that there are real ways in which their work can truly make a difference in the world today.
While the first year of the Dean Fairfax’s tenure was primarily dedicated to introducing him to the community and sharing his strategic plan, the dean’s second year will involve a concerted effort to bring more of you into the fold as active, engaged, philanthropic supporters and advocates of our shared mission.
Our ever-expanding alumni community—now joined by our recent 2022 graduates—is a considerable force. I have no doubt that we can be successful in bringing in the financial support needed to provide opportunities and access to legal education for students, research funding for our renowned
faculty, and support for programs that make it possible to bring legal services to our communities, and train top-notch legal professionals.
OOnMay22,we
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LOOK FOR AN E-INVITATION IN FALL 2022! We are excited to launch a new resource for WCL alumni! WCL Connect is an online platform designed to suppor t our graduates in career networking. • Alumni Directory • Job Postings • Alumni Communities • Events • Career Suppor t NET WORK. LEARN. GROW. Washington College of Law 4300 Nebraska Ave., NW, Suite 305 Washington, DC 20016–2132 EO/AA UNIVERSITY AND EMPLOYER 202.274.4163 | alumni@wcl.american.edu | wcl.american.edu/alumni
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