Georgetown Law Magazine: Spring 2025

GEORGETOWN LAW

“THE PRIVILEGE OF A LIFETIME”

DEAN TREANOR REFLECTS ON 15 YEARS AT THE LAW CENTER

GEORGETOWN LAW

Spring 2025

ELIZABETH TERRY

Editor

BRENT FUTRELL

Director of Design

INES HILDE

Associate Director of Design

CONTRIBUTORS

Sarah Adler, Jaclyn Diaz, Sara Piccini

PHOTOGRAPHY

Michelle Frankfurter, Brent Futrell, Ines Hilde, Sam Hollenshead, Phil Humnicky, Bill Petros, Melissa Ryan

MATTHEW F. CALISE

Assistant Vice President of Alumni Engagement

JUNE SHIH

Associate Vice President for Strategic Communications

GENE FINN

Assistant Dean of Development and Alumni Affairs

WILLIAM M. TREANOR

Dean and Executive Vice President Paul Regis Dean Leadership Chair

CONTACT

Editor, Georgetown Law

Georgetown University Law Center 600 New Jersey Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20001 editor@law.georgetown.edu

Address changes/additions/ deletions:

202-687-1994 or e-mail addup@georgetown.edu

Georgetown Law magazine is on the Law Center’s website at www.law.georgetown.edu

Copyright © 2025, Georgetown University Law Center. All rights reserved.

Law Is But the Means…

Itis with a great deal of gratitude that I draft my final “Thoughts from the Dean” letter. I am profoundly thankful to have had the opportunity to lead this extraordinary community over the past 15 years.

The last few months of my tenure have been challenging, but they presented an opportunity for me to reaffirm – and defend – our values as a school and as a community, and they were a time in which I was gratified by our community’s support of those values when they were attacked.

In February, the Interim United States Attorney for the District of Columbia wrote to me, saying that the inclusion of “DEI” in our curriculum is “unacceptable” and that if we were to continue “to teach and utilize DEI,” our students and alumni would be ineligible for internships and jobs in his office.

The letter was a threat to our academic freedom and our ability to carry out our mission as a Catholic and Jesuit law school. As the dean of Georgetown

Law, it was imperative that I defend the Constitution and our mission.

In a free society, that mission could not be more compelling. I responded to the Interim U.S. Attorney:

As a Catholic and Jesuit institution, Georgetown University was founded on the principle that serious and sustained discourse among people of different faiths, cultures, and beliefs promotes intellectual, ethical, and spiritual understanding. For us at Georgetown, this principle is a moral and educational imperative. It is a principle that defines our mission as a Catholic and Jesuit institution.

The First Amendment guarantees Georgetown’s right as a university to determine what we teach and how to teach it. I wrote:

Your letter informs me that your office will deny our students and graduates government employment opportunities until you, as Interim United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, approve of our curriculum. Given the First Amendment’s protection of a university’s freedom to determine its own curriculum and how to deliver it, the constitutional violation behind this threat is clear, as is the attack on the University’s mission as a Jesuit and Catholic institution.

I have been moved by the response to my letter from members of this community and beyond. I have received hundreds of letters, emails, and calls from alumni, faculty, students, and staff about my letter. Remarkably, they have all been supportive. Every single one. At a time in which there is so much division in our society, this kind of universal support shows very powerfully that we at Georgetown Law share common values.

The average tenure of a law school dean is less than four years. Having served three five-year terms, I have been in office longer than almost any other dean. Stepping down now is a bittersweet experience. It has been a joy to lead this community, and I will miss that work immeasurably. But I am looking forward to the next chapter in my career. As a constitutional lawyer

and scholar, I feel called to contribute to the important legal debates now taking place.

Part of my focus will be on my scholarship. Immediately after stepping down from the deanship this summer, I will be on sabbatical, writing a book, Fathers of the Constitution: Triumph, Tragedy, and the Creation of the American Republic. It will offer a new vision of the original understanding of the Constitution. It will highlight two men who are now forgotten – James Wilson and Gouverneur Morris – who I argue were the primary architects of the Constitution. I have long been fascinated by Morris, in particular. He was an unforgettable figure –the convention’s principal opponent of slavery, a genius who was irreverent, witty, and eloquent, and whose personal life scandalized his contemporaries. Morris and Wilson were Hamiltonians before Alexander Hamilton, and they sought to create a much stronger national government and a more powerful judiciary than Madison – who has come to be regarded as the “Father of the Constitution” – wanted. Particularly at a time in which the power of the judiciary to interpret the law is under attack, it is an important and relevant story. Because the characters involved are so vivid and the stakes so high, it is also a great tale to tell.

I also hope to contribute to important constitutional debates as a lawyer. While I have had very limited opportunity to write amicus briefs as dean because of the demands on my time, I was able to submit such a brief in Moore v Harper. Moore was a 2023 Supreme Court case involving the power of state courts to review state election laws, and my brief drew on my scholarship about the history of judicial review. I was gratified that Chief Justice Roberts’ majority opinion cited my work in support of the Court’s conclusion that the United States Constitution permits state courts to determine whether state election laws violate the state constitution. I look forward to having more opportunity to weigh in on significant constitutional questions.

And, I am looking forward to returning to teaching fulltime. After my sabbatical, I will be back in the classroom at Georgetown. We have extraordinary students – bril-

liant, thoughtful people who come to Georgetown Law eager to learn how to make a difference in society. I am excited about contributing to their education as a faculty member.

I am leaving the Law Center in the best of hands. Professor Josh Teitelbaum takes over as interim dean. He is a gifted scholar and teacher and was a superb Associate Dean when he served in that capacity. The search for my successor is already underway, with a search committee headed by Professor Eloise Pasachoff. The committee is seeking input from all members of the community –alumni, students, faculty, and staff.

This is a time of change at the Law Center, but I am confident that in the years ahead the educational philosophy of our school – a philosophy that has guided us since we opened more than 150 years ago – will remain constant. The core principle of Jesuit education is the principle that we educate people for others. At Georgetown Law, that commitment is beautifully expressed in our motto: Law is but the means, justice is the end.

As Dean, it has truly been a privilege to work to advance Georgetown Law’s mission – to help educate our nation’s next generation of leaders, to champion academic freedom and excellence, and to expand access to the tremendous opportunity of a Georgetown education. I want to thank you so much for your support, and I look forward to teaching, writing, and participating in our nation’s critically important constitutional debates in the years to come.

Warmly,

William M. Treanor Dean and Executive Vice President Paul Regis Dean Leadership Chair

NEWS

ABEQUEST FROM GAY REDDIG MAYL (L’59), BRINGS BUILDING CAMPAIGN TO $100M MILESTONE

t the end of 2024, Georgetown Law announced that fundraising for Daniel Tsai Hall, a new flagship academic building, had surpassed the $100 million mark. A bequest of more than $20 million from the estate of alumna Gay Reddig Mayl (L’59) enabled the campaign to reach this critical milestone. As of publication time, construction is expected to begin in the summer of 2026.

“Our new academic building reflects the Law Center’s innovative approach to teaching,” said Dean William M. Treanor. “We have had a tremendous response from our alumni, and Gay’s generosity, combined with Daniel Tsai’s initial gift and additional commitments from over 300 others, is a testament to the loyalty and strength of the Georgetown Law community.”

Mayl, who died in May, 2024, was the widow of Jack Mayl (L’58), who died in May, 2023. Both Mayls hailed from Ohio — he from Dayton, she from Gates Mills, a Cleveland suburb. Jack Mayl came to Georgetown Law in 1956 after serving in the U.S. Navy, and Gay Reddig

matriculated in the same year, becoming a member of the sixth J.D. class that included female students.

In a 2023 interview, Mrs. Mayl said that she and her future husband were just acquaintances while students. After graduating, they joined their respective family businesses: he at the firm Murphy and Mayl, founded by his father, and she at White Consolidated Industries, a multinational appliance manufacturer where her father was chairman and chief executive. Several years later, they reconnected, marrying in 1972. After Mr. Mayl’s retirement in the 1990s, they lived first in Bal Harbour, Florida and then in Miami.

“Gay and Jack Mayl were remarkable people — full of energy, intellectual curiosity, good humor and accomplishment. They loved Georgetown Law and Washington, and I am deeply grateful to them,” said Treanor. “They joined Daniel Tsai and other fellow alumni who have come together to make a transformational gift to Georgetown Law and to legal education. It’s an extraordinary legacy that will benefit Georgetown Law students for generations to come.”

Top: Architect’s rendering of the interior of Tsai Hall. Bottom: The Mayls on their wedding day.

Professor Joshua C. Teitelbaum Named Interim Georgetown Law Dean

RECORD NUMBERS APPLY TO GEORGETOWN LAW

Professor Joshua C. Teitelbaum, the David Belding Professor of Law and Professor of Economics (by courtesy), will serve as interim dean of Georgetown Law after Dean William M. Treanor steps down at the end of June. Said Treanor of the appointment, “Josh is a gifted academic leader, a brilliant scholar and a wonderful teacher. Georgetown Law will be in the best of hands!”

Teitelbaum is a prolific scholar whose work focuses on decision theory and the interplay between microeconomics and the law. He joined the Georgetown Law faculty in 2009 and has served the Law Center as Associate Dean for Research and Academic Programs. He holds a B.A. from Williams College, a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a Ph.D. in Economics from Cornell University.

“Georgetown Law is my professional home. I love Georgetown, its people and our mission,” said Teitelbaum. “I am dedicated to working with President Groves and the University leadership to navigate the current headwinds facing universities and to advance Georgetown’s values and strategic ambition.”

Georgetown Law received some 14,000 applications for the J.D. class entering in fall 2025 — that’s an increase of 25% over last year, and not only the most applications in Law Center history, but the most applications any U.S. law school has ever received. The Office of Admissions hired extra staff to help review applications, and some students who might have been admitted outright in the past found themselves spending time on a wait list. Why so much competition for Georgetown Law’s 650 1L spots this year? The current political and economic climate may have driven applications up — and then there’s Georgetown’s location in the nation’s capital. “There’s a perception that this is where the action is,” said longtime Dean of Admissions Andrew Cornblatt.

ITwo in Class of 2025 Named Skadden Public Interest Fellows

n December, Riley Dankovich (L’25) and Madeline Sachs (L’25) were named 2025 Skadden Fellows, joining a 28-person fellowship class selected from hundreds of applicants across the country. Since 1989, more than 30 Law Center alumni have been awarded this prestigious two-year fellowship, which supports recent graduates pursuing full-time careers in public interest law.

Dankovich will advocate on behalf of students with intellectual and developmental disabilities at Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit The Arc of the United States, while Sachs will represent immigrant detainees at the

Legal Aid Justice Center in Falls Church, Va. While at Georgetown Law, both had the opportunity to develop expertise in their chosen areas of interest through clinics: Dankovich in the Health Justice Alliance Clinic and Sachs in the Center for Applied Legal Studies asylum clinic and the Appellate Litigation Clinic.

“Riley and Madeline came to the Law Center to attain the tools to make meaningful change, and we are thrilled to know they’ll be able to launch their careers doing just that,” said Assistant Dean for Public Interest Programs Morgan Lynn-Alesker (L’07).

RETURNING CITIZENS EARN PARALEGAL CERTIFICATES

In September, CNN anchor Jake Tapper (right) addressed the graduation ceremony for the latest cohort in the Mayor’s Office on Returning Citizen Affairs (MORCA)-Georgetown Paralegal Program, a partnership between the D.C. Government and the Georgetown Prisons and Justice Initiative (PJI) that trains formerly incarcerated individuals in Paralegal Studies. One of the 13 graduates, CJ Rice (center), had a special connection to Tapper’s father, Dr. Theodore Tapper (left), who was Rice’s childhood pediatrician. Rice served 12 years in prison, convicted at age 17 of involvement in a Philadelphia shooting. Years of advocacy by the senior Tapper, who believed that Rice would have been physically unable to have participated in the crime, and then a 2022 Atlantic magazine story by the younger Tapper, helped lead to Rice’s exoneration in 2024. Marc Morjé Howard (L’11), PJI’s founder and director, also spoke, telling the graduates, “You deserve the new futures that you are creating for yourselves.”

Sachs

Dankovich

JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR SPEAKS ON JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE

United States Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor joined Dean William M. Treanor on March 28 for a wide-ranging conversation on pressing issues facing the judiciary, including the role of courts in safeguarding the rule of law.

“More than ever, we have to get up and explain and repeat and explain again why judicial independence is critical to everyone’s freedom,” the Justice said in response to a question about the role of courts in addressing growing challenges to the rule of law. (The topic, said Treanor, was the most frequently asked about in the questions he collected from students ahead of the event.)

Judges and citizens alike, she said, should “ensure that the courts are fearlessly independent, that we understand that our obligation is to protect the rights given to us under the Constitution.”

“These are not just made-up rights,” she continued. “The Constitution is the structure of the norms that bind us as a society.”

For the students in the audience, the Justice’s advice proved both timely and meaningful. “I deeply appreciated her emphasis on grounding legal education in moral reasoning and interpersonal understanding,” said Skylar Wu (L’27).

For Allie Finio (L’26), getting to meet the Justice was, she said, “surreal.” Finio asked about Justice Sotomayor’s writing process, and said of the answer she received, “I loved hearing how intentional she is to avoid legalese and ensure that her opinions remain accessible and easy to follow. I will definitely try to implement her approach in my future legal practice.”

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, left, with Georgetown Law Dean William M. Treanor

TWO ALUMNI LEAD EXONERATION EFFORTS FOR WWII BLACK SAILORS

They were known as the “Port Chicago 50” - fifty enlisted sailors, all Black, who were convicted of mutiny for refusing to return to work after a massive 1944 ordnance explosion at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine in California killed 320 men. After decades of hard work by the sailors and their descendants, civil rights advocates and more, two Georgetown Law alumni helped achieve their exoneration last year.

Jonathan Lee (L’90) chairs a Port Chicago task force at the Contra Costa County Bar Association that had held letter-writing campaigns to petition the Navy for exoneration. The person receiving those letters was then-General Counsel of the Navy Sean Coffey (L’87), who was carrying out his own review of the trials and identifying multiple problems with how they had been conducted. On July 17, 2024, the 80th anniversary of the disaster, Coffey called Lee to inform him that the Secretary of the Navy had just signed orders vacating the sailors’ convictions. During their conversation, they realized they shared an alma mater. “I told Sean that because of his work on this issue, I’ve never been so proud to be associated with the law school,” Lee said.

Both Lee and Coffey view their involvement with the Port Chicago exonerations as life-changing. “I’ve been fortunate to have an interesting career,” Coffey said, noting the media attention he received as plaintiff’s lawyer in the WorldCom case, a major securities litigation of the early 2000s. “In WorldCom, we just ended up moving money from one bank account to another. But here, we delivered long-delayed justice.”

“These sailors at Port Chicago answered the call to serve at a time of great peril to our nation, and now their honor has been restored,” Lee added. “There’s no way that mere words can express the value of that to their families, to their communities, to all of us.”

“I think what we did is consistent with the Jesuit mission and what Georgetown expects of its graduates.” — Former General Counsel of the Navy Sean Coffey (L’87).

Left: Sailors with munitions at Port Chicago Naval Magazine (undated National Park Service photo).

Below: Coffey and Lee at the 80th anniversary commemoration held at the Port Chicago National Memorial; Lee presenting Carol Cherry and Deborah Sheppard a posthumous award for their father, Cyril Sheppard, one of the Port Chicago 50.

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT JOHN J. DEGIOIA STEPS DOWN AFTER 23 YEARS

Several months after surviving a stroke, Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia (C’79, G’95) announced in November that he was stepping down from his leadership role in order to focus on his ongoing health recovery and then continue on the faculty as a professor of philosophy. Robert M. Groves, provost and executive vice president, is serving as interim president.

Having served for 23 years in the role, DeGioia is the longest-serving president in Georgetown’s history. In a statement announcing his decision, he said, “I look forward to continuing to advance and support Georgetown’s mission and the University community that means so much to all of us. I remain deeply proud of the work we have done together.”

“Georgetown today has been shaped by his commitment to academic excellence and the Jesuit mission. His legacy is profound,” said Georgetown Law Dean William M. Treanor. “I thank President Emeritus DeGioia for hiring me and for his support and guidance through my tenure.”

SeenonCampus

1. Anita McBride (center), former chief of staff to First Lady Laura Bush, joined Dean Treanor (left) and Lauren Van Wazer (L’90) (right), Vice President of Global Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs at Akamai Technologies, for an October discussion of her book Remember the First Ladies: The Legacies of America’s History-Making Women. 2. The Hon. Andrew Oldham of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit spoke at the Georgetown Center for the Constitution’s 2024 Thomas M. Cooley Gala, held in October at the National Archives. 3. The 2024 Ryan Lecture was delivered by the Hon. Ann Claire Williams, now retired from the bench, whose pioneering judicial career included serving on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District

of Illinois and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. 4. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi spoke at “Nuclear Safety and Security in an Insecure World,” a three-day workshop co-hosted in October by Georgetown Law, The George Washington University Law School and American University Washington College of Law in partnership with the IAEA. His address was titled “Fulfilling Atoms for Peace from War Zones.” 5. In November, the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law hosted five high court judges from Latin America and the Caribbean for a discussion of the judiciary’s critical role in safeguarding health rights.

JUDGE DAVID S. TATEL REFLECTS ON PURSUIT OF JUSTICE, EMBRACING VISION LOSS

The Hon. David S. Tatel, who retired from the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit last year after nearly 30 years on the bench, visited Georgetown Law in November to discuss his book Vision: A Memoir of Blindness and Justice. In the book, he reflects not only on his distinguished legal career, but also on his decades-long struggle to accept and publicly acknowledge his progressive visual disability, caused by a genetic condition.

“I wanted to be known not as a blind judge, but as a judge who happened to be blind,” he said.

In conversation with Professor from Practice Cliff Sloan, and with his faithful guide dog, Vixen, by his side, Tatel talked about everything from his early years

as a civil rights lawyer to his concerns about what he sees as a troubling move away from principles of judicial restraint on the U.S. Supreme Court. He also took questions from students in the audience — several of them there with service dogs of their own.

“When I started practicing law, this was pre-[Americans with Disabilities Act],” he told the audience, referencing the landmark 1990 antidiscrimination law as he explained why he had downplayed his blindness earlier in life. “Fortunately, the world has changed.”

“I hope that my book and my own career on the D.C. Circuit will signal to young lawyers [with] disabilities that it’s okay to talk about it, it’s okay if people know about it and it’s okay to ask for help,” he said.

RESULTS ARE IN: JUDICIAL INNOVATION FELLOWSHIP COMPLETES PILOT ROUND

The Georgetown Law Judicial Innovation Fellowship (JIF), an initiative of the Institute for Technology Law and Policy, completed its pilot round last fall, having funded three different projects that aim to use technology to improve systems and expand access to justice in state, local, territorial and tribal courts. In a report available on their website, they describe the work of the three pilot projects: two related to developing tools for self-represented litigants in the Utah State Courts and Kansas State Courts, and one focused on data storage and sharing in the Hamilton County, Tennessee General Sessions Court. “This idea was just a white paper a couple of years ago, and now we can say with certainty that tech fellowships not only work in courts, they thrive,” said JIF director Jason Tashea. The JIF team is currently reviewing lessons learned and considering possible next steps — suggestions, inquiries and feedback are welcome via judicialinnovation@georgetown.edu.

(L-R) Prof. Lilian Faulhaber, Judge Tatel with guide dog Vixen, Prof. Cliff Sloan

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW & JUSTICE CLINIC GOES TO THE UNITED NATIONS

Under the leadership of director Professor Sara Colangelo (L’07), representatives from the Environmental Law & Justice Clinic accompanied their client, RISE St. James Louisiana, to a December session of the United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent. RISE St. James is a grassroots organization based in an area known as “Cancer Alley” for its elevated rates of cancers, and clinic students

Alyssa-Dean Huie (L’25) and Philip Vachon (L’25) and teaching fellow Sarah Dorman collaborated with them on their written submission to the working group about the need for reparatory justice to address climate and environmental harms in Southern Louisiana.

“RISE St. James continues to fight tirelessly for environmental justice for communities in Cancer Alley. It is such a privilege to work with them to highlight the importance of considering these complex and interconnected climate and environmental harms as part of reparatory justice at this U.N. session.”

MAYORKAS CALLS FOR ‘PRAGMATISM’ IN IMMIGRATION POLICY

On Sept. 30, then-Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas spoke at the 21st Annual Immigration Law & Policy Conference, organized by the Migration Policy Institute, Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. and Georgetown Law. Advocating for a pragmatic and orderly approach to immigration policy, he said, “Pragmatism is an extraordinarily important element of advocacy and policy making, and we have to understand the fact that the American public does want, does expect and does demand the delivery of order [at the borders]... “If we do not deliver that order, then some of the dreams that we want to achieve in the arenas of family reunification, humanitarian relief, economic prosperity will not be realized. There will not be any oxygen for them.”

— Alyssa-Dean Huie (L’25)

KATZMANN REMEMBERED AT ‘JUDGING AND LEGITIMACY’ CONFERENCE

In September, Georgetown Law hosted a conference honoring the legacy of the Hon. Robert A. Katzmann,who sat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and before becoming a judge taught for more than a decade at Georgetown Law and Georgetown University. United States Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor delivered remarks at the opening session of “Judging and Legitimacy: A Deep Dive into the Judicial Career of Judge Robert A. Katzmann,” sharing personal reminiscences of her longtime colleague.

“This conference comes at an excellent time. It presents an opportunity for the public to gain renewed trust in public institutions and public servants,” said the justice. “There is no better way to help do that than studying Bob’s work and examining why and how he gathered respect from so many who hold different views and come from different disciplines.”

In his keynote remarks, Dean William M. Treanor, a longtime friend of Katzmann’s, explained that he and the other organizers designed the event “so that we can learn from him now, so we can learn from him together, and so we can see his vision of the law as a whole.” Treanor planned the event with Katzmann’s wife, Jennifer Callahan, and twin brother, the Hon. Gary Katzmann.

During the event, five panels of jurists — many of whom served with Katzmann on the Second Circuit — and academics discussed a broad range of issues, from the role of judges to approaches to statutory interpretation, through the lens of Katzmann’s career and achievements. Alumni and faculty participants included journalist Joan Biskupic (L’93, H’14), Distinguished Lecturer in Law Paul Clement (F’88), Tony Arend (F’80), Prof. Anita Krishnakumar, Prof. Eloise Pasachoff (who clerked for Katzmann), Jim Duff (L’84), The Hon. Joseph Bianco (C’88) and Prof. Brian Galle (L’06).

Above, L-R: Prof. Brian Galle, Prof. Eloise Pasachoff, Prof. Lilian Faulhaber, Dean William Treanor, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Judge Gary Katzmann, Jennifer Callahan, Allison Treanor and Tony Arend (F’80).Below, L-R: Judges Richard Sullivan, John Walker and Alison Nathan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, moderator Emily Gold Waldman, journalist Joan Biskupic (L’93, H’14), Distinguished Lecturer Paul Clement (F’88).

THE PRIVILEGE OF A LIFETIME " "

Dean William M. Treanor on 15 Years of Georgetown Law Leadership, Scholarship … and Selfies

Fifteen years after becoming dean of Georgetown Law, William M. Treanor, Executive Vice President, Dean of the Law Center and Paul Regis Dean Leadership Chair, is culling his personal library as he prepares to move into a smaller faculty office. (You can imagine how full the bookshelves are for a constitutional scholar with a doctorate in history as well as a B.A. and J.D.) He’s looking forward to getting back to the classroom and to taking a long trip with his wife, Allison (Australia and New Zealand have been on his wish list for years). But before he steps down from the deanship this summer, he took the time to reminisce about his tenure as one of the Law Center’s longest-serving deans.

Looking back to just over 15 years ago — what got you interested in the job at Georgetown Law?

I'd been at Fordham for 19 years – eight as dean – when Georgetown’s outgoing dean, Alex Aleinikoff, called me and suggested I apply. The idea appealed to me because it would continue my academic career in Jesuit law schools. The Jesuit mission really speaks to me. Jesuit schools are dedicated to educating the whole person, to educating people with a commitment to justice, to education that combines both theory and practice. Georgetown was also attractive to me because it was in Washington, D.C. — and New York is a great city, but it's about entertainment and finance. Washington is about law and policy.

And you already knew Washington a bit.

This is actually my f ifth stint in Washington. Right after college, I worked in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, as a special assistant to the deputy commissioner, and then I went to the Department of Education when it was getting started, as a speechwriter for Secretary Shirley Hufstedler. I came back as a law firm summer associate when I was in law school. Later, I was an associate Independent Counsel in the Office of the Iran/Contra Special Counsel and a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney. And then at the end of the Clinton administration, I was a deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice.

Why did you decide to go to law school in the first place — and did you always think you were heading to academia?

My year at the Department of Education made me decide to go into legal education. First, because Secretary Hufstedler was a remarkable judge and public servant. If Jimmy Carter had been reelected in 1980, she would've been the first woman on the Supreme Court. All the people around her were lawyers, and I could see the benefit of getting a law degree. And then, also during that year, I had lunch with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., who's now an iconic figure at Harvard University and on public television, but he was early in his academic career then, and he’d been my senior thesis advisor when I was an undergraduate. We were discussing life choices, and I talked about the value that I thought that my work in the government provided. And he said, “You're doing what one person could do, but when you're an academic, you shape a generation, and there's nothing more powerful or meaningful than that.”

As dean of Georgetown Law, you have the opportunity to meet a lot of VIPs in the worlds of law and politics and beyond. Who stands out as someone you would only have had the chance to know because of being here?

[ Gesturing to a collection of photos from various campus events ] That's what these pictures are! But something that I was only able to get to do because I was dean of Georgetown Law was to interact with so many Supreme Court Justices. And the one who always stands out is “RBG,” Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I think the first time I met her was after her husband, Marty [Professor Martin D. Ginsburg], who was on the faculty here, died and she came to empty out his office, which was incredibly moving. It was clear that they just loved each other so much. She was a very tiny, very small person. She was very low key, but also had a surprisingly good sense of humor. Going to Hart Auditorium

"Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg loved Georgetown Law, where her husband was a professor and where she came to speak at least two dozen times. I’m sure some of my counterparts at other schools are envious of the access we have to Supreme Court Justices, just by virtue of being nearby — but her generosity toward our students, to return again and again in settings large and small, was extraordinary."

“The Georgetown Law campus really feels like a community. Catching up with faculty and staff colleagues in the hallways, chatting with students at various events, distributing candy to trickor-treaters from the Early Learning Center, — all in a day’s work.”

with her multiple times, and seeing it packed with students, so many women in “Notorious RBG” T-shirts, and then walking on the stage and just seeing the crowd light up — those are moments that I will never forget. Really, that was magical.

One of the themes of your deanship has been expanding access to the education here: founding RISE and the admissions office’s early outreach program, increasing fundraising for scholarships. Why has that been a priority for you?

My father was a doctor, but his father had only a fourth grade education and was a fireman. My dad was able to become a doctor because he received financial aid, and he was the product of a Jesuit medical school, Marquette. I was always very well aware as I was growing up that I had great opportunities because my father had received the kind of education that he'd received. And so that made me very aware of the importance of education, of opening doors. This is really in the DNA of Georgetown. We started as an evening school because the people who deserved a great legal education were not just those from families of wealth, but the people of merit. So we’ve doubled the level of financial aid during my tenure. We doubled our Opportunity Scholarships, which are for people with high merit and high need. We started RISE, an orientation and networking program for incoming students with less exposure to the legal profession. And the early outreach program goes to inner-city high schools around the country and talks about law school to people who may not hear about it around the dinner table, the way I did when I was growing up.

Georgetown Law has always attracted students interested in public interest careers – what are some of the ways you’ve helped support them?

In the government and nonprofit sectors, the hardest job to get is the first one. To help graduates enter the public interest field, I’ve worked with our career services offices, alumni, government agencies and nonprofits to develop a broad range of entry-level fellowships. I am very proud of the fact that, over the years, we have been able to offer these fellowships to more than 500 graduates. Different fellowship programs launch people on different career paths. For example, the DC Affordable Law Firm gives recent law graduates from Georgetown and elsewhere fifteen months of hands-on experience representing low-income clients while earning LL.M. degrees. The Capitol Hill Fellowship provides stipends that make it possible for graduates to get a foot in the door by starting their Congressional careers with otherwise unpaid internships. The Ruff Fellowships allow graduates to work in the DC Attorney General's Office for a year. I don't know of any school that comes close to providing so many fellowships. They have made it possible for many graduates to pursue the public interest career they desire.

A few years ago you and Professor Hillary Sale developed a course called “Lawyers as Leaders” — it was taught online during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it became the most popular course in Georgetown Law history, with over 300 students enrolled. What did you identify as key leadership characteristics for lawyers, and how did you get those across?

I interviewed a range of faculty members about the journey that had led them to where they were today. And I have to say, I was struck by how candid and vulnerable people were about the struggles that they had. I hope it helped students see that everybody, including their professors, experiences challenges along the way.

People's life stories have twists and turns, and there are very few people who at the end of their career reflect and say, “I predicted it all when I was 25.” Some of the most important leadership skills that kept coming up were resilience, hard work and empathy. Intelligence doesn't get you where you need to be if there’s no empathy or resilience, or if you lack a commitment to hard work. [Note: recordings of these faculty interviews are all available as a playlist on the Georgetown Law YouTube account. ]

What are some other ways you stay connected to current students?

One of the reasons I went into legal education is because lawyers play a major role in our society, and who they become is shaped in significant part by what they see in law school. When I was a first-year law student – not at Georgetown – I found it an incredibly cold place. That coldness communicates that law is a profession in which you're not concerned for people. And so that concern has really been a focus of my time as dean, and as a professor before then. Every day when I arrive, I walk through the McDonough atrium and talk to students. And I often get a cup of coffee in the cafeteria and talk to students. I take selfies with them to kind of establish a personal connection. More and more, when I walk around I get a very strong sense of how global the community is. Today, I met a table of students from Mexico planning a weekend to explore Virginia. It's so much a part of who we are, and it's incredibly profound.

“None of what I’ve accomplished here at Georgetown Law would have been possible without my family – my wife, Allison, and our kids, Liam and Katherine. I couldn’t be more grateful.”

LOOKING BACK

“Daniel Tsai spent only a year in the LL.M. program at Georgetown Law, but it was such an important experience that he became the lead donor for our new academic building. It’s been a delight to get to know him.”

“Eleanor Holmes Norton, who represents Washington, D.C. as a delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives, was a longtime and beloved member of the Georgetown Law faculty. This was taken at a dedication ceremony where we honored this great public servant by naming one of our campus greens after her.” (L-R: Mayor Muriel Bowser, Treanor, Norton, U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, Georgetown President John J. DeGioia.)

“For me, there is nothing more important than making Georgetown Law more accessible to a wider range of students, through scholarships and other initiatives. We’ve doubled the number of Opportunity Scholarships in my time here, and launched RISE, which is a wonderful program with mentoring and peer networking for incoming students with less exposure to the legal profession.”

"Thanks to generous alumni and other supporters, we’ve created 54 new named professorships and chairs during my tenure." (L-R: Professors Robin Lenhardt, Anna Gelpern, Dorothy Brown, Hope Babcock, Eloise Pasachoff and Treanor)

“Leading during the COVID-19 pandemic was one of the biggest challenges of my deanship. Fortunately, colleagues like Dean of Students Mitch Bailin and Professor Paul Ohm were by my side throughout. Paul was one of the unsung heroes of that time — he made it possible for our faculty and students to pivot to online learning, even writing code himself to help simplify programs.”

“I’ve taken hundreds of selfies in the last few years, with alumni, with students, even with distinguished judges and politicians who come to speak. It’s a fun way to connect with people, and sometimes I share them on my LinkedIn page.”

I haven’t had as much classroom time as I would have liked. In addition to “Lawyers as Leaders,” I've co-taught some upper-level seminars in constitutional law and business leadership, and I have taught the first-year Legal Justice seminar in Section Three. I'm very much looking forward to being back in the classroom, because it's just a joy for me. I love teaching first-year property. It's so tangible. You can walk around a city and see the way in which the legal rules shape your physical world, and that's fun.

Not all administrators love fundraising, but you seem to have a knack for it — raising money for scholarships, for faculty chairs, for campus improvements like the Tsai Hall coming soon — what are some of the secrets of your success?

When I first became dean at Fordham, I thought that the part of the job I would enjoy the least is the fundraising and development. And I have to say, it turns out that for me fundraising is enjoyable, because you're talking to people who know that Georgetown Law opened doors for them and made their career possible. And like all Georgetown lawyers, they want to make a difference, and they can do so by supporting things that matter to them, whether it's a new building or scholarships or an academic program or one of the centers or institutes. And we have a very strong development team and alumni relations team.

I always enjoy talking with alumni, in any context. Georgetown Law has really wonderful, community-oriented alumni. Earlier in my time here when we were doing some strategic planning, we brought alumni in to discuss what was valuable in legal education and what we should be focused on now. Their participation really shaped how the curriculum evolved. For example, our alumni urged us to create more hands-on learning opportunities. After receiving that input, we increased the number of experiential opportunities threefold, with new clinics and a broader range of practica and externships. Other people we talked to focused on the need to study subjects in depth and to emerge from law school with something like an undergraduate major. This idea led to the Blume Public Interest Fellowships and our Business Law Scholars and Tech Scholars programs.

A big part of your legacy will be Tsai Hall, the new academic building, with construction planned to begin next summer. How will this new building reflect what you’ve learned and achieved during your deanship?

When McDonough was built, it was very much the “Paper Chase” era, with its classic large lecture halls. Tsai Hall reflects the way we teach now. It has smaller classrooms, most of them with flat floors, so the faculty member is more present with the students. It's got great clinical space. We have the best clinical program in the country and probably the worst clinical space. We have room for students to hang out. In the wake of COVID, all of us realize the importance of face-to-face conversations and community. And architecturally, it's designed to embrace Washington, D.C., with amazing views of the city.

Speaking of the neighborhood around us, it’s changed dramatically during your years here, with a lot of new commercial construction in the surrounding areas, and now some Georgetown departments moving from the Hilltop to what we now call the Capitol Campus. How have these changes benefited the Law Center?

It used to be that law firms and other businesses congregated along K Street. And I think what we're seeing now is that the future is really in NOMA and Penn Quarter, and we're in the heart of that. And now that 395, to our west, is in a tunnel, there is a whole different feel, not having to cross a bridge over a highway late at night to get to the apartment buildings and restaurants on Massachusetts Avenue.

As for the Capitol Campus, one of the challenges that we've had is that, while legal education is becoming more interdisciplinary, we are miles apart from the rest of the university. Many of our competitors have 30 percent of their students earning J.D./ MBAs, but in some years we don't have any because the Hilltop is so far away. Location really is everything. Many aligned disciplines will be down here – the McCourt School of Public Policy is here now, there will eventually be a school of the environment, there may be part of the business school, there are already some tech and health centers. And I think that's great for the faculty as they do interdisciplinary research and it's going to be great for the students in terms of being able to take classes in all of these different areas.

You’re taking a sabbatical year before returning to the classroom — and I hear you have a book project to keep you busy. What are you working on?

Above: Selfie snap with alumnae Yvette BaduNimako (C'10, L'13), Lisa Collins (F'01, L'04) and Law Alumni Board chair Monique Fortenberry (L'95). Below: With friend and mentor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Justice Elena Kagan, 2014

Justice Samuel Alito, 2016

Sen. George Mitchell, 2014

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 2019

Justice John Paul Stevens, 2014

"During my time as dean, I introduced the tradition of bringing in distinguished speakers to give advice to our students as they began law school and as they prepared to launch their new legal careers. Here are some of the guests who shared their wisdom."

GIANTS OF THE BENCH & BAR

Sen. Mazie Hirono (L'78), 2023

Justice Antonin Scalia, 2012

Former Attorney General Eric Holder, 2022

Chief Justice of India Dhananjanaya Yeshwant Chandrachud and former Justice Stephen Breyer, 2023

“The annual Home Court basketball fundraiser for the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless has been one of my favorite events of the year, whether I’ve been on the court myself or cheering from the sidelines. Students, alumni, support for a great legal nonprofit led by members of our community — it just says Georgetown.”

A bobblehead figurine of Gouverneur Morris, one of the main subjects of Treanor's forthcoming book.

It's about how two people with a very different conception of the Constitution than we’re familiar with, James Wilson and Gouverneur Morris, won the battle over what the Constitution's text is. They were the most important figures at the Constitutional Convention. The book will then talk about how James Madison won the battle over what that text means in the 50 years that followed.

Morris and Wilson had visions of the Constitution that were similar to the one that Alexander Hamilton, who was a minor figure at the convention, would later champion. They were Hamiltonians before Hamilton. They fought for – and at the convention largely achieved – a powerful national government and a strong judiciary. They also envisioned states with limited power. They won at the convention, and Morris would accompany George Washington as he left Philadelphia, with cheering crowds lining the streets. In contrast, Madison, who has come to be thought of as the father of the Constitution, left the convention distraught, because he had lost on central parts of his constitutional vision.

That's the first part of the book. And then the second part is how Madison, having lost the battle at the convention, won the battle over what the text means and why we have forgotten Wilson and Morris. Courts and scholars today rely on Madison’s notes of the convention. They are treated almost as accurate transcripts. But there is good evidence, uncovered by Professor Mary Sarah Bilder of Boston College Law School, that Madison altered his notes in critical ways, largely to bring his statements at the convention closer to Jefferson’s thinking. And so the account of the convention that we have come to rely on has fundamental flaws.

These are all great stories. Madison went bankrupt. He and his wife only had one asset, which was his notes. He never acknowledged that he had altered them. He didn’t publish them in his lifetime, and he didn't want to destroy them, because that was all they had. So he left it to his wife to decide whether to publish them or not. And she did – it was what she needed to survive.

And then Morris was very colorful, he was very funny. He's the most anti-slavery delegate at the convention. And he's really the most graceful writer. But also, he was a serial philanderer, and he had a peg leg and he encouraged the story that it was because he was evading a jealous husband and jumped out of a second-story window. Then he married a woman who was plausibly accused of two murders.

And James Wilson, who was a Supreme Court justice, married a teenager and went bankrupt, and while he was on the Court fled his creditors so he wouldn't be thrown in the debtor's prison. One caught him in North Carolina, and he was placed in a kind of house arrest in a tavern, where he died in disgrace.

So, these are not Pantheon stories.

You're looking at these stories of the Founding Fathers through two lenses, as a lawyer and a historian. What difference do you think it makes to have both those perspectives?

It’s very striking to me that people now think of originalism as a conservative approach to jurisprudence. When I was in law school, the leading originalists, or textualists, were actually people who were on the left. The champion of originalism on the Supreme Court was Hugo Black, who was an FDR appointee and a leader of the liberal wing of the Court.

While we've come to think of originalism as inherently conservative, it's not. But it’s not always liberal either. I mean, if you're going to take it seriously, it's not always going to align with what you want. It is what it is. And all these different personalities played roles and had very different approaches and goals. So it's not like there was one template that everybody followed.

Do you have any advice for your successor?

This is an extraordinary place. It's the privilege of a lifetime to be dean. Think about what our mission is and what you can do to advance it. I would also emphasize the importance of treating everybody with respect: treating students with respect, treating staff with respect, treating faculty with respect. I think that's really in our DNA and I hope that continues. First of all, that's just the right thing to do, but also when you treat people with respect, students see that as their model of what it means to be a professional. And that conveys very powerfully what it means to be a Georgetown lawyer.

Treanor at the outset of his deanship, at a 2010 welcome reception.

CAMPUS

GEORGETOWN FACES:

OPICS' Lauren Dubin on Careers, Community and 'Magic'

Public Service Careers Director Lauren Dubin joined Georgetown Law’s Office of Career Strategy in 1988, then became part of the founding trio behind the Office of Public Interest and Community Service (OPICS), which now boasts a staff of 13 and has helped nearly 10,000 students and alumni build public interest careers. Recently, she reflected on 30+ years at the Law Center.

On launching OPICS: There was no architecture, no blueprint. We made it up as we went along. I knew for sure that I could be an enthusiastic and supportive partner with students in the journey toward meaningful and fulfilling work.

On staying in touch with alumni: They come back for career advising. They become employers. Or they just sort of stay in my life via social media. I’ll say, ‘Hey, I saw on LinkedIn you got a new job!” Then I invite them to speak or to mentor.

On building community: Part of the magic of OPICS is our commitment to fostering community. I love seeing students on our couch, laughing, resting, talking about TV or sports, not professors or exams. Sending students out into the world to be changemakers still compels me.

1,000+ New ‘Hoya Lawyas’ Begin Their Journey

Last August, Georgetown Law welcomed its largest entering class ever, with 658 J.D. students and nearly 500 LL.M. and graduate students. They hailed from 47 states and 73 countries and had a record-high median college GPA of 3.92.

Orientation week offered city tours, a faculty moot and many other opportunities for fun and learning – all with an emphasis on adopting a new, lawyerly mindset and engaging in constructive dialogue. Considering alternate viewpoints is “the core of lawyering,” said Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Urska Velikonja during a welcome session. “Call it empathy, or call it legal skill, but you need to be able to understand the argument on the other side.”

Clinic students ‘sworn in’ at inaugural oath ceremony

For some 300 students enrolled in our 17 legal clinics, the 20245 school year began with a ceremony – Georgetown Law’s first of its kind – in which they raised their right hands and recited a pledge to uphold the highest levels of honesty, integrity and professional conduct and to advocate “competently, zealously and diligently” on behalf of their clients.

The text they read, based on medicine’s Hippocratic Oath, was developed by clinic staff and faculty.

“This is the moment where you go from being a student to being a student lawyer,” said Dean William M. Treanor in his welcoming remarks. Associate Dean for Clinics and Experiential Learning Professor Alicia Plerhoples, director of the Social Enterprise & Nonprofit Law Clinic, added, “This promises to be one of the most challenging — but rewarding — experiences in law school.”

The Hon. Anita Josey-Herring (L’87), then-chief judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, returned to campus to preside over the ceremony and share her own words of wisdom. These lawyers-in-training, she noted, would gain valuable insight into many aspects of practice, from developing client relationships to drafting legal arguments.

“This year, you will represent real clients facing real challenges and real issues… While you may not win each case, you should savor the small victories,” she advised. “As student attorneys and future members of the bar, you play a very special role in promoting justice and equality in our society.”

Jesuit Law Students Reflect on Calling to a ‘Faith That Does Justice’

For the Rev. Mike Lamanna, S.J. (L'25) and the Rev. Rodrigue Ntungu, S.J.(LL.M.'22, S.J.D.'27), the Catholic priesthood is a calling — and so is the practice of law.

As a college student at Syracuse University, Lamanna was torn as to whether to become a lawyer or a priest, but ultimately decided to take a leap of faith and enter the Jesuit order first. His Jesuit formation took him to Micronesia, where he taught high school, and to the Arizona-Mexico border, where he provided humanitarian aid to migrants. With approval from his Jesuit superiors, he was able to pursue legal training as well. He continued a focus on serving immigrants during his time at Georgetown, representing an asylum applicant in the Center for Applied Legal Studies clinic and completing an externship at a Maryland immigration court.

“Jesuits have a commitment to a faith that does justice,” he says. “If justice is done without faith, something is missing. And if faith is done, and there’s no justice, then something is missing.”

Ntungu, who grew up in the Democratic Republic of Congo, was first attracted to the Jesuit order when he realized how many of his textbooks’ authors had the initials S.J. after their

names. He set out to combine religion and education in his vocation, then became interested in studying law in order to advocate for a robust justice system and inclusive economic development in his home country. After completing his LL.M. and S.J.D. in international business and economic law at Georgetown, he will return to the Université Loyola du Congo, where he has taught since 2011.

Ntungu points to the Jesuit spiritual practice of attentiveness as central to his work as both lawyer and priest. “The legal profession is about discerning issues related to people’s lives,” he says. “Discernment plays a big role in the process of trying to understand people.”

“The Jesuit tradition — including its call for interreligious collaboration — is at the heart of the spiritual life of Georgetown Law,” says Georgetown Law Director for Mission & Ministry Amy Uelmen (C’90, L’93, S.J.D.’16). “Our Jesuit faculty and students past and present embody these values, helping our whole community to better see how to be ‘people for others.’”

ADMISSIONS TEAM’S EARLY OUTREACH INITIATIVE INSPIRES

THE NEXT GENERATION OF LAWYERS

Aidan Davis (B’24, F’24, M.P.P./L’28) originally considered joining the military and becoming an engineer. But a visit to his New Jersey high school from Andy Cornblatt, Georgetown Law’s longtime dean of admissions, changed his mind. The visit was part of the Law Center’s Early Outreach Initiative. Since its inception in 2018, the program has reached more than 3,500 teenagers in underserved high schools.

In Davis’s case, the program led him to Georgetown, where he graduated with a dual undergraduate degree in business and global affairs last May. He is currently enrolled in the dual Master in Public Policy and J.D. program offered by the Law Center and McCourt School of Public Policy.

“What I heard in the conversations with Dean Andy struck a chord with me,” said Davis.

According to a 2017 survey from the American Association of Law Schools, more than half of law students first considered law school before reaching college. But many potential applicants may not have met lawyers in their communities, or might lack the resources to navigate the application process. “I’m hoping this program will bring in highly qualified people who otherwise wouldn’t come. We’re interested in expanding the circle,” said Cornblatt. The initiative goes beyond the initial encounters to offer follow-up presentations from Law Center alumni, opportunities to visit the Georgetown Law campus and pairings with attorney mentors who continue to provide guidance on preparing to apply to law school.

Bryant High student Valeria Lucero with Prof. Kristin Henning; Dean of Admissions Andrew Cornblatt speaking at Bryant High in Queens.

One longtime supporter is TV journalist Mika Brzezinski (C’89). “Georgetown Law has remained on the cutting edge by attracting the most dynamic community of graduates year in and year out, thanks to Dean Andy and the Early Outreach program,” said Brzezinski.

Last February, student volunteers Heaven Johnson-Branch (L’24) and Warren Geary (L’24) joined Cornblatt at William Cullen Bryant High School in Queens, New York. They led a mock oral argument activity and answered student questions on topics ranging from careers to extracurriculars to stress. “Don’t be discouraged by comparing yourself to others. You have your own path, and that’s what should propel you forward,” Johnson-Branch advised.

Two months later, a busful of Bryant students arrived at the Georgetown Law campus, joining more than a hundred others from high schools in New York, Delaware and the D.C. area for a campus tour, presentations from faculty and current students and a lunch of pizza and brownies.

“It really opens your eyes up,” said Andrew Cheung, who, along with several classmates, peppered Professor Kristin Henning (LL.M.'97) and Associate Professor Eduardo Ferrer (B'02, L'05) with questions about their work with the Juvenile Justice Clinic and Initiative.

Aspiring political science major Darien Contreras said it was his first-ever trip to the nation’s capital. “There’s not many schools that get this opportunity,” he said.

“The hope is that the more we do this and the more present we are, the more of these kids will come join the law profession,” Cornblatt says. “Not just at Georgetown, but everywhere.”

“The Early Outreach Initiative powerfully embodies Georgetown Law’s missions of service and access,” says Dean William M. Treanor. “We are proud to be at the leading edge of efforts to open the door to law school and the legal profession for students from underserved communities.”

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CAMPUS SHORTS

1) Georgetown Law staff took part in the DC Bar Foundation's inaugural DC Walk for Justice 5K; 2) Campus Ministry hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for students who stayed in town for the holiday; 3) The Office of Alumni Affairs held a study break with cuddly dogs to help students calm pre-finals jitters; 4) The Intellectual Property and Information Policy Clinic filmed a video on how to avoid copyright infringement with your Halloween costumes.

Heaven Johnson-Branch (L'24)

New Faculty

Five scholars joined the Georgetown Law community last summer: two as full professors and three in earlier stages of their teaching careers. In addition, two alumni-turnedclinic leaders have joined the official tenure track – find their stories on page 43.

Stephanie Barclay, Professor of Law

After undergraduate studies at Brigham Young University–Idaho and a J.D. from BYU Law, Stephanie Barclay was an associate at Covington before litigating First Amendment cases at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. She also clerked for Judge N. Randy Smith of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and Justice Neil Gorsuch of the U.S. Supreme Court. Barclay then taught at BYU Law and was faculty director of the Religious Liberty Initiative at the University of Notre Dame Law School. She is now faculty co-director of the Georgetown Center for the Constitution.

Barclay looks forward to helping foster an inclusive community where all law students feel welcome — and learn to put their legal training to practical use. “Georgetown Law is a community of people who are thinking about important, deep theoretical ideas and then thinking about the next step: How do we leverage those ideas to have an impact?” she said. “I’m excited to be a part of that.”

Stephen Vladeck, Agnes Williams Sesquicentennial Professor of Federal Courts

Stephen Vladeck came from the University of Texas School of Law, and previously taught at the University of Miami School of Law and American University Washington College of Law. He arrived already having a close friend on the faculty: his uncle, Professor David Vladeck.

Alongside his academic career, Vladeck has enthusiastically dived into multiple forms of popular media, from blogging and social media to podcasting and punditry. “I’ve always been interested in how the academic and real worlds inform each other,” he said. An example of how he’s translated a piece of legal scholarship for a popular audience is his 2023 bestseller, The Shadow Docket: How the Supreme Court Uses Stealth Rulings to Amass Power and Undermine the Republic. Its arguments began as Tweets, then were further refined in a Harvard Law Review article before being adapted and expanded in book form. “It’s been really fun to bounce back and forth between the two worlds and try to take the best from each.”

Emily Chertoff, Associate Professor of Law

After a B.A. from Harvard University and time as a journalist, Emily Chertoff attended Yale Law School, where a class on immigration law captured her interest. She went on to work at Immigrant Defenders Law Center in Los Angeles and as the first executive director of the New Jersey Consortium for Immigrant Children. “I’m fascinated by areas of the law where there’s tension between our ideals and norms and the reality of how things work,” she said. “Mentoring students who are thinking about how to turn their ideals into reality is going to be really exciting.”

Filippo Lancieri, Associate Professor of Law

Filippo Lancieri earned a law degree and master’s in economics in his native Brazil, then continued with an LL.M. and S.J.D. at the University of Chicago Law School. He worked as an antitrust and technology regulation lawyer before becoming a law professor. “Academia provides the independence to think about important questions and the privilege of publishing your findings as common knowledge,” he said of his pivot from private practice to the academy.

Sarah Sloan, Associate Professor of Law, Legal Practice

Sarah Sloan brings experience from three judicial clerkships to her new position teaching legal writing. After a J.D. from Columbia Law School, she clerked for Judge Alison Nathan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York; for Judge Michelle Friedland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; and on the U.S. Supreme Court, where she worked with both Justice Elena Kagan and retired Justice John Paul Stevens. Sloan has also been a litigator at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP and at the Policing Project at NYU Law School. “A clerkship is a wonderful way to see lots of different kinds of lawyering. You get a sense for different strategies in brief writing, different organizational structures, what’s persuasive,” she said. “My role is helping my students find their voice.”

Center on Privacy & Technology Explores Surveillance Through Scholarship, Experience and Art

The sixth in the “Color of Surveillance” conference series hosted by Georgetown Law's Center on Privacy & Technology took place in November, bringing together hundreds of scholars, advocates and artists under the theme “Surveillance/Resistance” to discuss artificial intelligence and other emergent technologies in contexts ranging from international conflict to public education. One plenary, “Data Workers’ Inquiry,” provided firsthand accounts from speakers who’d worked in content moderation and AI model training for social media companies and other platforms. Krystal Kauffman, now the lead organizer of Turkopticon, a nonprofit that advocates on behalf of data workers, recounted being tasked with identifying non-traditional border crossings, such as tire tracks and footpaths, in aerial photographs taken in an unknown location. “Were people coming to help? Or were people coming to detain these people?,” she said. “I still wonder today… Did I bring harm to somebody?”

The daylong event featured not only expert panels and question-and-answer sessions, but also more creative offerings, like a participatory poetry wall and the premiere of an experimental opera. “We Shall Not Inherit the Earth,” by local D.C. artist Stephanie Mercedes, combined a cello composition and operatic vocal improvisation with contemporary dance and other dramatic elements, including a hand-operated drone that hovered among the performers.

Faculty Focus

Professor Dorothy Brown (L’83), Tax Notes’ Person of the Year

Calling her a “Champion for Change,” the nonprofit publication Tax Notes named Professor Dorothy Brown (L’83) its 2024 Person of the Year. In 2022, Brown, the Martin D. Ginsburg Chair in Taxation at Georgetown Law, was appointed to the Treasury Advisory Committee on Racial Equity (TACRE), a body created by the Biden administration to address racial economic inequality. She spent her time on the committee advocating strongly for greater sharing of data on tax and race between the U.S. Treasury Department and the U.S. Census Bureau.

Professor Randy Barnett on His ‘Life for Liberty’

Last summer, Professor Randy Barnett, the Patrick Hotung Professor of Constitutional Law and co-faculty director of the Georgetown Center for the Constitution, released a memoir, A Life for Liberty: The Making of an American Originalist, which chronicles such events as trying felony cases as a Cook County prosecutor, arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court and even playing an attorney in a science fiction film. We asked about some of the key influences on his life.

Throughout the book, you grapple with outsider status, whether personally — growing up as a Jewish kid in a predominantly Catholic community — or in terms of your ideological commitment to originalism and libertarianism. How have those experiences shaped you?

One of my mentors, [the economist and political philosopher] Murray Rothbard, once told me that the most successful intellectuals are people who are not completely of the culture in which they exist. They can observe the culture in a way that people who are completely immersed in it can’t. That’s part of what makes someone a successful intellectual: noticing things that others don’t and writing and publishing ideas that are somewhat novel or new or different from the mainstream. In my case, I have no shortage of things that nobody else will say besides me.

You’ve said that a commitment to justice has been the guiding principle of your career. What role do legal scholars play in that?

Like many at Georgetown Law, I believe in making the world a better place. For me, writing is the process of discovery and publishing is the process of adding to the store of human knowledge and thereby making the world a better place.

Students Honored as Best Negotiating Team at The Hague Academy of International Law

A team from Georgetown Law’s Barristers’ Council’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Advocacy Division traveled to the Netherlands last May and emerged victorious at The Hague Academy of International Law - Académie de droit international de La Haye’s 2024 Day of Crisis Competition.

After over 24 continuous hours of negotiating and drafting legal memoranda on diverse issues including international humanitarian law, trade and investment law, human rights and environmental law, the Georgetown team – the only representatives from the United States – prevailed as the best negotiators. Congratulations to James Corra (L’24), Sophia Fossali (L’24), Fatou Jallow (L’24), Connor Jobes (L’24), and Bruce Thomas (L’24).

On October 18th, a group of Georgetown Law students and alumnae joined Professor Hillary Sale, the Agnes Williams Sesquicentennial Professor of Leadership and Corporate Governance and chair of the DirectWomen Board Institute, to celebrate DirectWomen's milestone of helping place 200 women attorneys on corporate boards by ringing the famous New York Stock Exchange closing bell. L-R: Megan Fitchen (L’25), Sophia Li (L’25), Sale, Suzanne Rich Folsom (L’93), Carson Goos (L’26), Michele Colucchi (C’87, L’90), Dorea Marshall (L’25), Susan Pascocello (L'90).

ALUMNI

Reunion 2024

More than 1,600 Georgetown Law alumni and guests gathered for reunion last October, celebrating class years ending in 4 and 9 at more than 30 events. Reunion Cups went to the Class of 1974 for participation (with 22% supporting the Law Center), loyalty (highest percentage of Loyalty Society members), and legacy (highest percentage who have included Georgetown Law in their estate plans); the Class of 1979 for generosity ($8.5 million raised during the reunion year); and the Class of 2004 for attendance (106 classmates). This year’s Reunion Weekend, for class years ending in 0 and 5, is October 3-5.

Reunion 2024

Congratulations to the 2024 Alumni Award winners!

At Reunion each year, Georgetown Law presents outstanding graduates with two awards. The Robert F. Drinan S.J. Law Alumni Public Service Award, named for the Jesuit priest, Member of Congress and Law Center professor, honors a graduate whose career, like Fr. Drinan’s, enhances human dignity and advances justice. The Paul R. Dean Alumni Awards, named for a fellow alumnus (L’46, LL.M.’52, H’69) who served as a transformational dean of the Law Center (1954-69), are given annually to graduates who have exhibited leadership to their alma mater and to the legal profession.

The Robert F. Drinan, S.J. Public Service Award was presented to Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D-Calif.) (L’94). As vice chair of the Democratic Caucus, Lieu is the highest-ranking Asian American to have served in House leadership. He retired from the U.S. Air Force in 2021 with the rank of colonel.

Four alumni received Paul R. Dean Awards. They are: Lisa N. Collins (F’01, L’04), who leads BakerHostetler’s intellectual property team in Atlanta and its firmwide IP trade secrets and indemnification teams. She is a member of Georgetown University’s Board of Governors and the Law Alumni Board.

Louis T. Mazawey (L’74), who has practiced for nearly five decades at the Groom Law Group. He has taught a seminar on employee benefits law as an adjunct professor at the Law Center and supports current law students through an endowed scholarship fund.

The Hon. Celeste Pinto McLain (L’74), whose career has focused on transportation, energy and infrastructure, including her 1994 appointment to the National Passenger Railroad Board. She has served on the Women’s Forum Steering Committee and the Law Alumni Board and established a Law Center scholarship.

Damien R. Zoubek (L’99), co-head of the U.S. corporate and mergers and acquisitions practice at Freshfields. He instructs on mergers and acquisitions as an adjunct professor at the Law Center, where he sits on the Board of Visitors.

(L-R): Rep. Ted W. Lieu

Dean

(L’94),

William M. Treanor, Lisa N. Collins (F’01, L’04), The Hon. Celeste Pinto McLain (L’74), Louis T. Mazawey (L’74,) Damien R. Zoubek (L’99).

Alumnus Celebrates 40 Years as Georgetown’s High Holy Days Cantor

In the fall of 1984, international law student Jonathan Strum (LL.M.’85), was interested in connecting with Jewish life at his new university, so he reached out to the Jewish chaplain at the time to see how he might get involved. Ever since, he’s served as the cantor for the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services held in Georgetown’s historic Gaston Hall, leading the congregational singing, playing his guitar and blowing the shofar, an instrument made from a ram’s horn. He has no formal cantorial training –his previous musical experience includes his high school rock band – but he loves to sing and loves being part of this annual offering.

“It’s one of the world’s greatest gigs,” says Strum, who in everyday life works as a lawyer and international businessman and previously taught as an adjunct at the Law Center. While many synagogues’ High Holy Days services are available only to their own membership, Georgetown’s services are open not just to those with a university affiliation, but to the general public. “I consider this to be a major service of mine to the Jewish community,” he says, “I stay because it’s important to me. There needed to be a place where Jews were welcome without planning and without tickets – and Georgetown has allowed us to do that.”

Using a Hebrew word meaning “emotive,” Strum describes his cantorial experience as “miragesh… When you hear a hundred people, or a thousand people singing together, it’s moving.”

Navy JAG Crandall (L'92) Addresses Student Veterans

Vice Admiral (Ret.) Darse Crandall (L’92), 45th Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Navy, returned to campus in November for a Veterans Day event co-hosted by the Military Law Society and Georgetown Law Alumni Affairs. His remarks highlighted many connections between Georgetown and the military, including the fact that at that time, Hoyas made up 6% of the Navy JAG Corps.

Reflecting on his 40 years of service, Crandall praised the resilience and commitment of young veterans, saying, “My biggest takeaway is that our nation is in good hands and will continue to meet every challenge ahead of us with honor, courage and commitment.”

Alumni Return to Campus to Teach Week One Courses

In a Georgetown Law tradition, just before the second semester begins, students have the opportunity to earn experiential learning credits in special weeklong courses. With their brief time commitment and focus on real-life lawyering, Week One classes offer great opportunities for alumni to share their professional wisdom with current students.

Among the courses with alumni instructors this January were “Cybersecurity Incident Response: Legal Leadership During Cyber Crisis” and “Introduction to Sports Television: Drafting & Negotiating Talent Agreements.”

Adam Smith (L’18), a cybersecurity regulatory advisor for Southwest Airlines, and co-teacher Laurie Lai, senior counsel at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, led groups of students through exercises where they roleplayed lawyers and hotel chain corporate staff navigating cyber threats like data breaches and demands for payments. The scenarios they designed were intended to represent “the good, the bad and the completely absurd” aspects of real-life cybersecurity incident response, said Smith.

Meanwhile, Raquel Braun (L’10), founder of GEMALaw, the Law Center’s society for students interested in sports, entertainment and media law, shared some of the lessons she’s learned at Mulier Fortis, her strategic consulting business, and in previous roles at FOX Sports, EA SPORTS and the Women’s Sports Network. Her students faced off in mock contract negotiations between a broadcaster’s representative and a television network’s in-house counsel. “I hope the students got a feel for how fun and creative this area of law can be,” she said.

“It is incredible that our school has successful professionals willing to travel from across the country to impart their real-world experience to us.” - Katie Kovarik (L'25) on her Week One experience

Sara Colangelo (L’07), Associate Professor of Law and Director of the Environmental Law & Justice Clinic

A highlight of Sara Colangelo’s time as a Georgetown Law student was the clinic led by pioneering environmental lawyer Hope Babcock. She also studied with other faculty experts in environmental law and policy, worked on the Georgetown Environmental Law Review and had several internships. All this led her to her “dream job,” joining the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division through the prestigious Attorney General’s Honors Program.

Several years into her DOJ career, Colangelo caught up with Babcock over coffee and suggested that the Law Center offer a course on environmental practice and advocacy. Babcock invited Colangelo to teach it herself as an adjunct. This led to her being hired as director of the Environmental Law & Policy Program in 2015, teaching several more courses (and winning a teaching award in 2020), then taking a visiting professorship to lead the clinic she’d taken herself. Now, she’s officially part of the faculty and director of what’s now known as the Environmental Law & Justice Clinic. “I’m about 20 years from taking my first steps on the Georgetown campus, and still believe in the power of the law to do good things for people,” she says.

Eduardo Ferrer (B’02, L’05), Associate Professor of Law and Policy Director of the Juvenile Justice Initiative

Even after graduating, Eduardo Ferrer stayed in the orbit of the Juvenile Justice Clinic (JJC). He joined a law firm, but on the side partnered with several law school classmates to launch a nonprofit focused on juvenile justice policy. He also helped out with JJC's ongoing cases during school vacations. Eventually, JJC’s leaders, Professors Kristin Henning (LL.M.’97) and Wally Mlyniec (L’70), invited him to teach as a visiting professor, then brought him on as policy director of the Clinic and its related Initiative. Last summer, he was promoted to Associate Professor of Law.

“One of the joys of my job is how multifaceted it is,” Ferrer says. “I get to work directly with young people and families. I get to teach students. I get to continue to learn from Kris and Wally and I get to be embedded in the D.C. community and represent Georgetown.” Another joy? The network of JJC alumni who have become colleagues in the cause of youth justice reform. “I have former students representing other organizations in our coalitions. I go up to the D.C. Council building and see former students who are now staff. I see JJC alumni doing incredible pro bono work and serving on nonprofit boards,” he says. “It’s very inspiring.”

HOYA LAWYA FACULTY

This year, two Georgetown Law alumni who’d returned to the Law Center to teach both joined the tenure track. We asked them about the full-circle journeys that led them to leadership roles in the clinics they’d taken in their student days.

Alumni In Brief

Several Georgetown Law community members took part in an unusual November event at the E. Barrett Prettyman (L’1915) Federal Courthouse: a debate between D.C. Jail inmates and undergraduate students from James Madison University on the topic of whether to abolish prison sentences of life without parole. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui (C’01, L’04) founded the debate class last year as an educational opportunity for prisoners, and Victoria Sheber (L’23), a current judicial law clerk at the court, helped coach the D.C. Jail’s debaters.

The inmate team won over the judges with their firsthand descriptions of what it actually feels like to face a sentence that eliminates the possibility of ever living outside of prison walls. Said Maura DeMouy, Assistant Dean for Experiential Education, who served on the judging panel, “When Harold Cunningham – a current inmate serving life without parole – spoke, everyone in the room was visibly moved. It was an unforgettable afternoon.” Sheber added, “Teaching these students the tools of advocacy has been one of the most meaningful uses of my Georgetown Law degree.”

As part of the Human Rights Institute (HRI)’s Storytelling for Social Change series, last fall Raphael (“Rafi”) Prober (F’00, L’03) visited campus to discuss the Tablet Media podcast “Covering Their Tracks.” The documentary series recounts a Holocaust survivor’s escape from a French national railway (SNCF) train bound for Auschwitz, then explores SNCF’s complicity in transporting Jews toward concentration camps and the decades-long legal and advocacy battle that eventually succeeded in securing reparations for survivors.

Prober, a partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP and co-head of the firm’s Congressional investigations practice, was the lead pro bono lawyer for hundreds of Holocaust survivors and their family members in their pursuit of justice from SNCF, and was interviewed for the podcast. HRI’s executive director, Elisa Massimino, moderated a discussion between Prober and co-panelists Steven H. Schulman, pro bono partner at Akin Gump, adjunct professor at Georgetown Law and one of Prober’s colleagues in the reparations effort; and Samuel I. “Sandy” Rosenberg, a member of the Maryland House of Delegates who spearheaded legislation requiring SNCF to disclose the role it played in the Holocaust.

In Memoriam

Naoyuki Agawa (F'77, L'84)

Naoyuki Agawa (F'77, L'84), a lawyer, diplomat and professor who dedicated his life to U.S.-Japan relations, died in November at the age of 73. His career included teaching American constitutional law and history at Keio University and Doshisha University, both in Japan, and serving as Minister for Public Affairs at the Embassy of Japan in Washington. He was a founding member of the Board of Councilors of the U.S.Japan Council, which said of him, “He understood that our two nations had overlapping strategic interests, and that our common values would make the world a safer, more secure, prosperous, and a better place to live.”

Elizabeth Keys (L’20)

Elizabeth “Liz” Keys (L’20), an associate at Wilkinson Stekloff, died January 29 in a collision between a passenger airplane and an Army helicopter near Reagan National Airport. As a student, Keys was managing editor of the Georgetown Food and Drug Law Journal, and after graduating she clerked for Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Her partner, classmate David Seidman (L’20), said of her, “She pushed everyone, including me, to be the best version of themselves and take risks.”

Bernard S. Gewirz (L’53)

Bernard S. “Bernie” Gewirz (L’53) died in March at the age of 98. A Washington, D.C. native, he built a successful real estate development career after law school, earning the moniker "The King of K Street" for his portfolio of some five million square feet of downtown office space. He was a dedicated supporter of Georgetown throughout his life, including chairing the Law Center Affairs Committee for the University Board of Regents. He and his wife, Sarah, championed numerous philanthropic causes, especially in the areas of education, medical research and historic landmarks. The Bernard and Sarah Gewirz Family Foundation contributed towards the 1991 construction of the Bernard and Sarah Gewirz Student Center, which provides student living accommodations and has hosted countless community events. “We will always be grateful for Bernard’s transformative gift and his generosity and commitment to the Law Center,” said Dean William M. Treanor.

Floyd W. Anderson Sr. (L'64)

Andrew C. Brown (L'77)

Nicole B. Carroll (C'14, L'20)

Carl A. Catauro (C'85, L'90)

James J. Collins, M.D. (M'60, R'61, L'66)

Terence G. Connor (C'64, LL.M.'75)

Edward C. Cosgrove (L'59)

The Hon. Michael F. Di Mario (L'71)

Michael D. Flemming (L'74)

The Hon. Anthony J. Falanga (C'57, L'60)

Bennett Feigenbaum (L'58)

Darlene M. Freeman (L'77)

George C. Furkiotis (L'58)

Lawrence H. Gesner (L'83)

Andrew H. Gorey, Jr. (LL.M.'77)

Bobby C. Graves (L'17)

Joseph D. Harbaugh (LL.M.'67)

Tom William Odom (L'82)

H. Paul Herman (C'58, L'61)

Charles D. Hickey (C'64, L'68)

Fred Israel (L'63)

Vernon T. Lankford, Jr. (LL.M.'78)

Ian D. Lanoff (LL.M.'69)

Charles Warren Lockyer, Jr. (L'96)

Joseph F. Ludford (L'74)

Leo M. McCormack (L'55)

Thomas P. Meehan (LL.M.'66)

Stephen D. Miller (L'63)

Emil O. Muhs Jr. (LL.M.'66)

Richard T. Mulcahey (C'51, L'54)

Michael J. Mullen (L'68)

Alan Jude Murley (L'94)

Carol A. Mutter (L'75)

John B. Nolan (L'68)

Terry Marie Marchlewski (L'78)

Sverre M. Olsen (LL.M.'88)

Patricia A. Patterson L'73)

Joseph C. Ruddy, Jr. (B'66, L'72)

Timothy P. Ruth (L'77)

John G. Ryan, Jr. (B'65, L'68)

John Thomas Sahlberg (L'81)

David G. Radlauer (L'78)

John T. Schwierling (L'57)

The Hon. Louis Scolnik (L'52)

Susan Hoffstein Senter (L'82)

Bruce Seymour (LL.M.'79)

Gerald P. Shannon (C'54, L'59)

John L. Shoemaker (L'74)

Richard E. Stoddard (L'76)

William J. Sullivan (L'59)

Robert Lee Thomas (L'71, LL.M.'73)

James T. Vaughn, Jr. (L'76)

James E. Vlach (F'60, L'63)

Francis E. Vogl (L'68)

Thomas E. Wilson (C'64, L'67)

Richard N. Winfield (L'61)

Richard L. Wirthlin (L'86)

Ellen Toal Wry (L'67)

The Hon. Robert Yeargin (L'81)

H. Alfred Yonce (L'56)

CLASS NOTES

1969

At 80 years of age, F. Paul Kurmay, who served as an elected judge on the Stratford, Connecticut Probate Court from 1978 until 2014, continues to share his expertise on the probate system as Of Counsel to his son Charles Kurmay’s law firm, which specializes in estate planning.

1975

Carol McCabe Booker published her third volume of historical nonfiction. The Farmer’s Wife (New Bay Books) chronicles the tumultuous year of 1877 in Southern Maryland, where events included the aftermath of a contested presidential election, an infamous murder trial and the day the U.S. Senate recessed so lawmakers could attend a high-stakes horse race at Pimlico.

M. Margaret McKeown (H’05), senior judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, received the 2024 American Inns of Court Lewis F. Powell Jr. Award for Professionalism and Ethics. McKeown has held multiple leadership roles on behalf of judicial ethics, including as president of the Federal Judges Association, U.S. delegate to the International Association of Judges and chair of the Codes of Conduct Committee of the Judicial Conference of the U.S.

1977

Barbara Savage was a finalist in the 2024 Museum of African American History Stone Book Awards, presented in Boston in October. She was honored for her latest book, Merze Tate: The Global Odyssey of a Black Woman Scholar (Yale University Press), a biography of a pioneering 20th century Howard University professor and world traveler. Savage is the Geraldine R. Segal Professor Emerita of American Social Thought and Professor Emerita of Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

Jim Thunder writes that he has nearly 300 publications to his credit, from his student paper on the jurisprudence of conscription written under the supervision of Prof. Charles Abernathy, to a piece published last year in New Oxford Review on the bicentennial of Lafayette’s national tour. Thunder and his wife, Ann, live in Charlottesville, with children and grandchildren nearby. His civic and volunteer activities include nearly 30 years as a Knight of Columbus, 12 years leading a reading group dedicated to St. Augustine, and eight years as secretary of his college class, Notre Dame ‘72.

1979

Paul Wright Jameson, a retired international trade litigation attorney, was elected president of the First Flight Society, an organization whose mission is to preserve the legacy of aviation pioneers Orville and Wilbur Wright. Jameson is the Wright brothers’ great-grand-nephew.

1982

John Oller has authored his eighth book, Gangster Hunters: How Hoover's G-Men Vanquished America's Deadliest Public Enemies (Dutton), which is about about the birth of the modern FBI, aided by a group of unsung young lawyers who traded in their briefcases for machine guns.

1983

Dennis M. Kennedy received the Lifetime Achievement award at the 2024 American Legal Technology Awards. He is currently the Director of the Michigan State University Center for Law, Technology & Innovation, where he teaches AI and the Law courses. He also teaches "Legal Technology and Leadership" as an adjunct professor at the University of Michigan Law School, hosts the podcast “The Kennedy-Mighell Report,” and notes that his long-running blog is ”now over the legal drinking age.”

1984

Shirley Ann Higuchi, chair of the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation, partnered with politicians Norman Mineta and Alan Simpson on a graphic memoir, From Behind Barbed Wire to Washington: The Remarkable Friendship of Norman Mineta and Alan Simpson. Mineta and Simpson first met in 1943 as Boy Scouts at the Heart Mountain incarceration site for Japanese Americans, where Mineta and his family were incarcerated and which Simpson visited several times with his troop to connect with scouts in the internment camp. The book was released last summer at the opening of the foundation’s Mineta-Simpson Institute, created to promote cooperation, empathy and bipartisanship.

1986

Inspired by our Fall 2024 cover story on “Hoyas on the Bench,” Steven D. Irwin, a partner at Leech Tishman in Pittsburgh, wrote in with an update: “Governor Josh Shapiro (L’02) named me to the Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline approximately two years ago. The CJD adjudicate[s] complaints involving every state court. Although I am precluded from appearing in state court, I can continue the federal aspects of my practice, which is focused on securities and employment matters. Admittedly, one of the things I appreciate most is the ethics code, which precludes me from participating in politics. After a run for Congress in 2022, in which 400 votes the other way out of 110,000 would have had me back down the street from the Law Center, I was more than ready for a break from that realm.”

1988

Ferlanda Fox Nixon became president and CEO of the Newark Regional Business Partnership. Nixon’s career to date includes positions as a corporate attorney, independent business consultant and nonprofit leader. Most recently, she was chief of policy and external affairs at the African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey.

1989

After more than 30 years of federal service, mostly as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, as well as three years as a legal aid lawyer, Jim Moore opened his own law office in Bangor and is defending low-income Mainers in criminal cases.

1991

Steven D. Heller is celebrating 16 years as a solo immigration law practitioner, with offices in New York and the U.K. He currently serves as the chair of the American Immigration Lawyers Association DOS Liaison Committee, which meets with the Department of State to discuss issues related to consular processing.

1992

Gregory S. Lisi, a partner and chair of Forchelli Deegan Terrana LLP’s Employment & Labor practice group, was appointed chair of the Nassau County Bar Association’s Lawyer Referral Committee.

Celebration

In October, then-U.S. Ambassador to Brazil Elizabeth Frawley Bagley (L’87) celebrated 200 years of diplomatic relations and friendship between the United States and Brazil at the Sao Paulo opening of “Ancestral: Afro-Americas – United States and Brazil,” an exhibition of artworks by American and Brazilian artists. Among the artists in attendance was LeRoi Johnson (L’74), whose painting “The Crucifixion” appeared in the exhibition.

Katy Motiey (C’89) published her first novel, Imperfect: A Story About Loss, Courage, and Perseverance, based on her own family’s experiences of immigrating to the United States during the Iranian Revolution, and especially inspired by her mother’s strength as a single parent. Motiey, a former Law Alumni Board chair, currently serves as Administrative Officer and General Counsel of Extreme Networks in San Diego.

1993

Christine Zebrowski (C’88) joined Potomac Law Group’s Labor & Employment group as a partner in the D.C. office. She has extensive experience in private practice and as in-house counsel, most recently as senior in-house counsel for The Nature Conservancy.

1995

Lucien Dhooge (LL.M.) retired from full-time academia at the Georgia Institute of Technology and moved to Gig Harbor, Washington in 2023. In addition to enjoying the beauty that is the Pacific Northwest, Dhooge continues to write business law textbooks and teaches part time at the University of Washington.

1996

Marilynn Schuyler recently returned to federal service as Associate Counsel for the Department of Defense, Defense Logistics Agency, in Tracy, California.

Achievement

Sam Feist (L’99) became CEO of C-SPAN, only the fourth person to hold that position in the network's 45-year history. Feist joined C-SPAN after 30+ years at CNN, where he most recently served as Washington bureau chief and senior vice president. He serves on the boards of the National Press Club Journalism Institute, the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs and the Georgetown University Institute of Politics & Public Service.

1997

Paul J. Gitnik (LL.M.), General Counsel at Jefferson Memorial Park Inc. in Pittsburgh, was renominated by Governor Josh Shapiro (L’02), and unanimously confirmed by the Pennsylvania Senate, as a member of the Pennsylvania Board of Finance and Revenue, an independent administrative tax tribunal.

1998

Classmates Joshua Armstrong and Dalton Sprinkle both joined the Los Angeles-based firm Brownstein as shareholders in the Corporate & Business Department. Both were previously at Breakwater Law Group, LLP.

Lisa Bertrand was named by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Westchester & Putnam as director of the Big Futures program, a pioneering mentoring initiative serving high school-age mentees. Bertrand, a resident of Scarsdale, NY, has worked in human resources for law firms and bar associations and has taught continuing education courses. She is also a member of Actors’ Equity and performs in musical theater productions in her spare time.

Karren Pope-Onwukwe, elder law attorney and community activist with her own practice in Glenn Dale, Md., was elected chair of the American Bar Association’s Senior Lawyer Division. She also published a book, Life Is Filled with Swift Transitions: A Guide to Helping Your Clients Manage Catastrophic Health Incidents (ABA Book Publishing),

a comprehensive guide for attorneys advising clients and their families about elder health care.

1999

Grant Dawson, based in the Netherlands as senior legal counsel and managing director at the Wildlife Justice Commission and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Groningen, published a novel, The Lost Trident of Poseidon, in which a brilliant cryptanalyst is summoned to try to prevent the destruction of the planet Ennea. “This book was inspired by my work on forcible and environmental displacement, international environmental law and the remediation of sea-dumped chemical weapons,” writes Dawson. “I have attempted to infuse it with hope in order to motivate us to keep trying.”

Vanessa Hew (C’96), formerly a partner at Womble Bond Dickinson, joined Potomac Law’s New York office as a partner in the Intellectual Property practice.

2000

Chadi Salloum was named head of Greenberg Traurig, LLP’s United Arab Emirates (UAE) Corporate Practice. He practices in the firm’s UAE and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia locations. Salloum is a longstanding leader in the region’s corporate legal community, including as Managing Partner of Akin Gump’s Abu Dhabi office. He also has a strong commitment to pro bono work throughout the Middle East.

2001

Chris Curtin was appointed to the board of directors of Jesuit Refugee Service/USA. Curtin is managing director and senior vice president at Bank of America, where he is responsible for

enterprise social media strategy and marketing. He is part of the investor group behind the National Women's Soccer League team the Washington Spirit and serves on the Law Center’s Law Alumni Board.

Leila Bham, senior special counsel at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, was awarded the D.C. Bar’s 2024 Lawyer of the Year Award for the Corporation, Finance and Securities Law Community. Bham was also elected to the D.C. Bar Board of Governors, which oversees one of the largest unified Bars in the U.S.

2002

Stephen Albrecht’s novel Futureproof won a silver medal in the website “Readers’ Favorite” 2024 awards in the “Fiction - Dystopia” category. Albrecht is currently based in London, where he is general counsel to the chief operating officer and chair of the AI Review Committee at HSBC.

David Suchar has been elected a Fellow of the American College of Construction Lawyers. He is a partner at Maslon LLP in Minneapolis, where he negotiates and litigates construction disputes throughout the Midwest.

Brian A. Turetsky joined Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP as a partner in the firm's Consumer Financial Services practice group in the New York office. Before beginning his law practice,

Turetsky was a presidential appointee in the Clinton Administration, where he served as a policy aide to the secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development and liaison to the White House.

2003

Deborah Andrews joined Fox Rothschild as Counsel in the Employee Benefits & Compensation Department. She will maintain offices in both Raleigh, N.C. and Washington, D.C. She is also a certified public accountant in the state of North Carolina.

2004

Adam Cashman joined BraunHagey & Borden as a litigation partner and first-chair trial lawyer in the firm's San Francisco office. His practice focuses on complex commercial and intellectual property disputes.

2005

Kellie L. Howard was elected Chief Executive Officer at Collins Einhorn Farrell in Southfield, Michigan. Howard has been with CE since 2011 and has represented Fortune 500 companies in the public utility, automotive and health care sectors.

2006

Andrew C. Maher (C’02) joined Stevens & Lee’s Tax-Exempt Finance Department in Valley Forge, Pa. Maher is a public and project finance attorney and has worked on a broad range of projects related to public-private partnerships (PPP), housing projects and economic development initiatives.

Tom Coale, a partner with the Maryland lobbying firm of Perry Jacobson, received the 2024 Housing Person of the Year Award from the Maryland Affordable Housing Coalition. He said of the honor, “Maryland has a vibrant ecosystem of individuals and businesses innovating to make this state a better place to live, work and play. I’m thankful to have the ability and network to match up thinkers, planners and doers to maximize their ability to get things done.”

2007

Channah Norman was named senior counsel and co-chair of the Art Law Practice at Shook, Hardy & Bacon. She was previously Chief Counsel for the U.S. Army Center of Military History, and advises clients nationally from Shook’s Washington, D.C. and New York locations.

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Recognition

Niloufar Khonsari (L’09), executive director of the leadership consulting and coaching firm Bala Rising, received the Innovative Leader in Struggles for Justice Award from the Squire Patton Boggs Foundation, marking 15 years since their legal career began with a summer fellowship at Timap for Justice in Sierra Leone, supported by the Foundation and Georgetown Law. Khonsari is also co-founder of Pangea Legal Services and author of the forthcoming book The Future is Collective (Penguin Random House). Photo: Niloufar Khonsari, center, with daughter and Michael Kelly, partner at Squire Patton Boggs

2008

David Broderdorf, partner in the Labor and Employment Group at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, and his colleague Gregory Nelson received a Cornerstone Award from the Lawyers Alliance for New York for their pro bono work negotiating a collective bargaining agreement for Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York.

Bethany Li was named Executive Director of Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), one of the nation’s oldest Asian American civil rights organizations. Li started her legal career at AALDEF as a student intern and then continued after graduation as an Equal Justice Works Fellow and staff attorney. She went on to serve as director of the Asian Outreach Unit at Greater Boston Legal Services and was the Robert M. Cover Fellow in the Veterans Legal Services Clinic at Yale Law School. In 2022, she returned to AALDEF as legal director.

2009

Dean Roy was promoted to partner at ArentFox Schiff. He is with the firm’s Real Estate group in Washington, D.C., where his practice touches multiple aspects of commercial real estate.

2011

Kamal Jafarnia was appointed chief legal officer and general counsel at Vise, a technologydriven investment management platform. Most recently, Jafarnia served as co-founder and general counsel at Opto Investments, Inc., a fintech platform for private market investment.

David A. Wolber is now a partner at Gibson Dunn in Hong Kong, where his practice focuses on international trade and financial crime regulatory matters.

2013

Andrew S. Rusniak (LL.M.) joined Stevens & Lee as a shareholder. He is based in Lancaster, Pa. and is with the firm’s Wealth Planning, Trusts and Estates department. Rusniak is also an adjunct professor at Penn State Dickinson Law.

2014

Marie Greenman was promoted to counsel at Latham & Watkins LLP in Washington, D.C., where she is a member of the Private Equity Finance Practice and Finance Department.

Justin S. Rowinsky was promoted to partner at Yetter Coleman LLP in Houston, where he represents clients in complex commercial litigation matters. He serves on the advisory board of the Institute for Energy Law and was selected for its sixth leadership class.

Lamiya N. Rahman (C’08) was elevated to partner at Blank Rome LLP. She is in the firm’s Energy, Environment and Mass Torts practice in Washington, D.C.

2015

Classmates Gina Hancock and Stephen D. Silverman were both promoted to partnership at Gibson Dunn. Hancock, based in Dallas, is in the firm’s Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits practice. Silverman is with the Business Restructuring and Reorganization practice in New York.

Mikella (Mikey) M. Hurley was promoted to partner at Perkins Coie. Based in Washington, D.C., Hurley is a member of the firm’s Privacy & Security practice.

Tristan VanDeventer is now a partner in the New York office of Ropes & Gray, where he advises public and private companies, investment banks and private equity funds on complex capital markets transactions.

Hanyu (Iris) Xie was elected a partner at Latham & Watkins LLP in New York. She is a member of the White Collar Defense & Investigations Practice and Litigation & Trial Department.

David Zucker has been promoted to counsel at Latham & Watkins LLP in Washington, D.C., in the firm’s Intellectual Property Litigation Practice and Litigation & Trial Department.

2016

Curt Wimberly is now counsel at Vinson & Elkins in Washington, D.C., where he focuses on the U.S. federal income tax aspects of domestic and international transactions.

Yi Yu was elevated to partner at Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP. Based in the firm’s Reston, Va. office, she practices all aspects of patent law.

2017

Annick Banoun has been elected to the partnership at HWG LLP in Washington, D.C. A former attorney advisor in the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau, she provides strategic legal and policy advice to companies and organizations in the telecommunications and technology industries.

Jaclyn Goldberg (LL.M.) was promoted to partner at Morrison Foerster, where she is in the tax practice in the Washington, D.C. office. She represents clients on the U.S. federal income taxation of private equity, venture capital and hedge funds.

2019

Justin R. Braga joined the Manchester, N.H. office of Hinckley Allen as an associate in the Litigation group. After law school, Braga clerked for the Hon. Eliot Prescott of the Connecticut Appellate Court, the Hon. Drew Tipton, District Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas and the Hon. Edith H. Jones of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He also practiced at a litigation boutique in Houston, Texas.

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For one weekend only, from September 12-14 in Washington, D.C., the Gilbert and Sullivan Society will be celebrating a half century of delivering musical theater to Georgetown audiences. A musical revue, gala reception, brunch sing-a-long and more are in the works.Visit www.ggss50th.org for the latest.

(1,2) Ruddigore, 2009; (3) Pirates of Penzance, 2002; (4) Fiddler on the Roof, 2001.

2021

Ian Deitz has joined Goodell DeVries in Baltimore as an associate in the firm's Appellate practice group. He was previously a judicial law clerk for the Hon. Laurel Beeler of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Joseph Nelson joined Weil, Gotshal & Manges as an associate in the Dallas office. Prior to joining Weil, he clerked for the Hon. Brantley Starr on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas and the Hon. Stuart Kyle Duncan on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He also served as an E.D. White Fellow in the Louisiana Solicitor General’s office.

2022

Matthew Beckerman joined the Washington, D.C. office of Caplin & Drysdale as an associate in the Complex Litigation and Bankruptcy practice groups. Prior to joining the firm, he clerked at the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland and worked as a litigator for a prominent national nonprofit.

2024

Jacob G. Morton is now an associate in Robinson Bradshaw’s Charlotte, N.C. office. Before law school, Morton served on active duty as a U.S. Navy intelligence officer and was a high school social studies teacher.

Emma Skowron joined Delaware law firm Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell LLP as an associate in the Corporate Counseling group.

Friday, October 3 - Sunday, October 5

For class years ending in 0 and 5

• See old friends, meet fellow alumni

• Reconnect on campus for a family picnic, faculty panels and more

• Celebrate at the festive Saturday night gala at the National Building Museum

Full details at law.georgetown.edu/reunion See you there!

TREASURE FROM THE LIBRARY

THE FEDERALIST PAPERS, 1817 EDITION

Since this is the last issue of Georgetown Law during the William M. Treanor deanship, we invited the dean to select a Library Treasure. Always the constitutional historian, he chose this 1817 edition of the Federalist Papers, our library’s oldest edition of these landmark essays by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison urging ratification of the new Constitution.

Originally published in 1788 under a single pseudonym, “Publius,” this 1817 edition attributes each of the papers to an author, using a list provided by Madison. Madison’s list of who wrote each essay differs from the list provided by Hamilton used in the 1810 edition. It’s a conflict that remains unresolved to this day.

This volume is particularly significant to the Law Library because of its provenance. This copy belonged to the grandfather of Professor Hugh Fegan, a quadruple Hoya (A.B. in 1901, LL.B in 1907, Ph.D. in 1916, LL.D. in 1943), who served as Georgetown Law’s dean from 1943 until 1954 and who donated the book to our library in 1925.

A letter from Fegan inside the volume recounts his grandfather’s story of seeing General Lafayette in 1825 in Washington, D.C., and notes that “the subject matter of the book, and its personal associations as well, recall the beginnings of constitutional government in our country, and point to the fact that the soldiers, the fighting men, as well as the lawyers and statesmen, prepared the way for the Constitution. Perhaps it is only by struggle, as well as by wise, legal interpretation that we shall keep our Constitution.” Timely words indeed.

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