SLU LAW Brief Volume 21, Issue 1

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Volume 21 Issue 1


Message from the Dean

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lack Lives Matter. My faith tradition tells me that this is so. My own sense of right and wrong does as well. My deep commitment to the ideal of justice for all demands that it be so. And yet, history, both long-past and very recent, ripples with evidence that shows our society simply does not value Black lives in the same way that it values mine. In recent weeks and months, we have collectively watched example after example of violence against Black lives. The killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer with the participation of three additional police officers was particularly difficult to watch because of the utter disregard for human life and the apparent sense of impunity with which the men given a badge and a gun by the state acted on that day. But that was only the latest act of violence against someone simply for having been born Black. Not even three weeks passed, and we saw yet another example of a Black man, Rayshard Brooks, tragically and senselessly killed by law enforcement. These are not isolated incidents. In this age of smartphones and security cameras, we have seen so many examples of brutality against Black lives, whether perpetrated by the state through its

agents, as in the horrifying case of Breonna Taylor, or by private actors, as in the deeply chilling case of Ahmaud Arbery. By now it should be clear that the story of racial injustice in America is not a story of a few bad apples; racial injustice in America is a horror story that began to be written 400 years ago. It is a horror story that includes the enslavement of Black bodies, a civil war fought to preserve the right to enslave Black bodies, the lynching by angry, racist mobs of thousands of Black bodies, Jim Crow laws and legally enforced segregation, Dred Scott, Plessy v. Ferguson, redlining, mass incarceration and the school-to-prison pipeline. For too long, white America has simply taken for granted aspirational notions of equality and of justice for all, while not paying heed to the Black voices that have been trying to tell us all along about the brutal reality of the Black experience in America. We have been too quick to ignore it or to explain it away. “There must be more to the story.” “He must have done something to deserve this.” “He could have avoided this.” How many of us, when we first saw the news reports concerning the tragic killing of Rayshard Brooks, rationalized it in our minds by focusing on the struggle or on his f light from police, discounting or ignoring the violent conduct of the police officer and the denial of due process? This

young man feared for his life. Tragically, we know he had good reason to be afraid. Instead of focusing on the struggle or his f light to excuse the continuing violence against Black lives, we should be asking ourselves other questions. How can this happen, over and over? How can it possibly be normalized for a police officer to shoot a man as he f lees for his life? Why did Rayshard’s daughter have to spend her eighth birthday without her dad? How did we, as a society, fail this young man? He was a husband. He was a father. He was a man. And we failed him. As members of the legal profession, the burden to wrestle with these questions and to struggle against the injustices experienced by Black folks in America every day falls squarely on our shoulders. As lawyers, judges, legal educators, and members of the bar, we have a shared obligation to ensure access to justice and to pursue the equitable administration of justice. The incidence of violence against Black lives makes it clear to me that we have failed, as a profession and as a society. I confess that I, for one, have not done nearly enough. I am deeply sorry. It is true that our colleagues in the profession who serve as public defenders, legal aid lawyers, and civil *This message was emailed to alumni on June 23, 2020.


rights lawyers are doing the hard work of seeking justice on behalf of the most vulnerable among us. I’m proud of that work and am grateful for it. In fact, I am proud to be a lawyer and to be part of the profession that is called to protect and uphold the rule of law. The aspirations and the ideals of the legal profession are noble.

ful of my own privilege. I know that I have been given numerous opportunities and the benefit of the doubt on many occasions. I have never feared that I would be hunted down while going for a run. I do not experience sleepless nights when my 22-year-old son is away, fearing that he might be pulled over and not survive the encounter.

But racism in America is institutionalized. The legal profession is overwhelmingly white. The legal academy is overwhelmingly white. SLU LAW, a Jesuit law school located within the city of St. Louis, is overwhelmingly white, and that is not acceptable. We should have significantly more Black faculty members than we do. I will offer no explanations, justifications, or excuses. To date, we have failed in that regard. We must admit it, we must own it, and we must do better.

It is critically important to me to pay forward all the gifts of grace that I have received throughout my life, and to do so mindful of my own privilege. Part of that is to speak out – to not be silent – even while acknowledging that words are not enough. Thoughts and prayers, while so important and valuable, are also not nearly enough. I will never give up on the power of prayer, but it is also time to act. It is past time.

Similarly, positions of inf luence within the legal profession, including law school leadership roles, continue to be dominated by white folks. Is this because only white people can lead law schools? We all know that that is not the case. We therefore must wrestle with the actual causes for it. The causes that make it impossible for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) folks to have the same opportunities that I have had are the same set of underlying causes that have led to violence against Black lives; anti-Blackness permeates policing, the criminal justice system and the systems that make up the legal profession and the legal academy. If we are ever to make meaningful progress, we must first be honest with ourselves about that. Because we are participants in a f lawed system, every member of the legal profession now has a choice to make: to be an intentional architect of a more just society, or to allow, through our inaction, racial injustice to endure. In my view, as members of a Jesuit law school community, it’s not just a choice; it’s a calling. We are called to insert ourselves in the world on behalf of the marginalized and those who seek justice. We are called to action. And if not now, then when? If not you and I, then who? If we don’t seize this opportunity at this moment, I fear racial justice will never be a reality. None of this is to suggest that there isn’t also white struggle. Of course, there is. As some of you know, I grew up in economic poverty on a family farm in a poor rural township in Minnesota – the kind of poverty that includes no health insurance, no reliable vehicle, no clothes that weren’t first someone else’s, and even no running water in the first house in which I lived. To be clear, I was immeasurably blessed in so many ways, but I also watched my parents work their fingers to the bone to try to make ends meet. I recall vividly the sound of my mother crying at the kitchen table for fear of losing the farm when she believed the kids were all asleep. I can still remember my father handing me two single dollar bills – the only money he had left, until he sold more livestock or did another farm-related job to generate revenue – so that I could have lunch at a school event on a Saturday, knowing that he wouldn’t that day. Recognition of that struggle is not in any way at odds with also recognizing systemic racism, oppression, a long history of anti-Blackness, and the racial injustice that infects our institutions, including our legal institutions. Having experienced firsthand that struggle also doesn’t preclude me from being mind-

So, what can we do? I confess to you that I have felt helpless at times. And I do not pretend to have the answers. As a white man, too often I have been given a platform to speak that I had not earned and did not deserve. Too often I have failed to step aside, be quiet, listen, and learn. I don’t want this to be one of those times. For that reason and others, I have attempted to focus on listening to, learning from, and amplifying Black voices, especially over the past three weeks, and I’m going to continue to do that. But I also know that there are things each of us can do, and I feel in a visceral way the fierce urgency of now. There are things white folks ought to do to understand better what our BIPOC colleagues, friends and neighbors experience every day. There are things all of us can do to fight institutionalized racism. And there are things that SLU LAW as an institution simply must do. Today, I therefore also write to offer some concrete actions that we will undertake – actions that I communicated to the students, faculty and staff earlier this month. Among other things, I have pledged the following to the SLU LAW community:  We will finalize a more comprehensive faculty diversity hiring plan, which we will implement. We will more aggressively pursue opportunities to hire adjunct faculty members who will enhance the diversity of the law school, and we will then work to make sure they feel supported and included. We will enhance existing and develop new diversity pipeline programs, including programs that reach younger audiences – in high school and even earlier.  We will prioritize fundraising for scholarships that will support diversity and equity in the student body. We will strengthen the School of Law’s connections with the African American Studies program and with the Office of Diversity and Community Engagement on the main campus to identify additional opportunities, events and resources likely to be of interest to our community. We will establish this summer a Diversity and Equity Council, made up primarily of BIPOC alumni, but also including students

and members of the faculty and staff. I will consult the Council regularly, will listen to the Council, and will heed the advice of the Council. We will work to establish and support a better-connected network of Black alumni, and we will create opportunities for students to engage with that network. We will review our curriculum and find ways that we can enhance the diversity and equity aspects of the curriculum we offer. We will offer an educational speaker series that includes but is not limited to lawyers, including speakers who are likely to be of interest to the non-legal community, to bring the community into Scott Hall. And that is not all that we will do. I made this pledge to my students; I make it to you today. I promise that I will work hard to fulfill it. Please hold me accountable. And please let us know if you would like to be part of these actions. I would also like to extend some invitations to each of you. As the national narrative shifts, let us never lose sight of the fact that another person was killed simply for having been born Black. We must remain focused on that. It is critically important that we remember George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and now Rayshard Brooks, as well as so many others, and that we remain committed to the hard work. Listen to Black voices. Read the work of Black scholars and commentators. Read Black history. Listen to your Black colleagues and clients and friends. Believe their stories. It isn’t their responsibility to educate us, but we should hear what they have to say and ref lect on what we hear. Let’s then be intentional about acting on it. And please, let’s actively and intentionally work together to be anti-racist, to end oppression and racial injustice, and to achieve that as-yet-unrealized dream of liberty and justice for all. As lawyers, we have a duty to try. As members of the SLU LAW family, we are called to do so and to advocate for a world where, despite what history has shown us, Black Lives Matter.

In solidarity,

William P. Johnson Dean and Professor of Law


saint louis university school of law alumni magazine

ON THE COVER RESPONDING TO THE CALL Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the SLU LAW community responds to the call to serve. Photo by Justin Barr DEAN WILLIAM P. JOHNSON DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS JESSICA CICCONE EDITOR MARIA TSIKAL AS GRAPHIC DESIGNER ADAM WESTRICH PHOTOGRAPHY JUSTIN BARR, STL FROM ABOVE STEVE DOL AN ADAM WESTRICH SPECIAL THANKS JON BARIS L AUREN E. BARTLETT ONALEE CHAPPEAU (’20) MIRIAM CHERRY MAYSA DAOUD (’20) COURTNEY FEDERICO MALLORY GREEN LEWIS HANNAH MEEHAN JULIE ORR CHRISTINE ROLLINS (’96) MICHAEL RUIZ ANY SANDERS (’03) KAREN SANNER ANA SANTOS RUTSCHMAN PAIGE SEGGEBRUCH (’18) REID SIMPSON KRISTEN SPINA MARK TIMMERMAN (’17) CORA FAITH WALKER (’09) HON. MICHAEL WOLFF HON. LISA VAN AMBURG (’75)

VOLUME 21 ISSUE 1 COPYRIGHT ©2020 SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS SCOTT HALL SUITE 872 100 N. TUCKER BLVD. ST. LOUIS, MO 63101-1930 EMAIL: BRIEF@LAW.SLU.EDU The paper used in this magazine was produced from timber sourced from responsibly managed forests.

FEATURES

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Alumni Spotlight

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Special Feature

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Special Feature

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Alumni Spotlight

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Special Feature

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Faculty View

What No One Could’ve Predicted Cora Faith Walker (’09) leads the policy response for St. Louis County.

Legal Education in a Pandemic Students find the bright spot in learning to make virtual appellate arguments.

The Community You Have Cultivated Alumni assist medical residents on the frontlines fighting COVID-19 with pro bono estate planning.

Seeing the Justice System through the Crisis Hon. Lisa Van Amburg (’75) co-chairs the Missouri Bar’s COVID-19 Task Force.

Legal Education in a Pandemic II Students serve clients facing desperate circumstances in the new Human Rights at Home Litigation Clinic.

The Race for a COVID-19 Vaccine: Legal Issues at Play Prof. Ana Santos Rutschman weighs in.

Hall of Fame Faculty Scholarship Donor Honor Roll


Alumni Spotlight

Alumni Spotlight

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Special Feature

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Faculty View

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DEPARTMENTS

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For The Record In Brief Class Notes In Memoriam Focus on Giving Back: A Student’s Perspective

EDITOR’S NOTE The COVID-19 pandemic has changed our world. In its wake, members of the SLU LAW community have engaged in advocacy, service and thought leadership by drawing on their knowledge and expertise to make a meaningful difference in the national conversation, in local decision-making and in people’s lives. You will see this highlighted in the pages of this issue of the SLU LAW Brief. All attempts were made to ensure this content was as up-to-date as possible at the time of publication. However, the status of certain initiatives may have changed by the time the magazine arrives in readers’ homes. Please enjoy this issue and stay well.


FOR THE RECORD “Justices are not only producers of opinions; they’re consumers of information. The justices are not unique in this regard — they’re like all of us.” RICHARD L. HASEN

the Chancellor’s Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of California, Irvine, keynote speaker at the Childress Lecture on Oct. 11, 2019, discussing the dangers of misinformation in a ‘post-truth’ world

“You’ve made my three years at SLU something I will always cherish. Thank you for letting down your walls, thank you for letting me into your lives, and congratulations. I’m looking forward to seeing what y’all accomplish during these crazy times. Stay safe and good luck.” SEAN CONNELLY

Third-year law student and SBA president, addressing the Class of 2020 during its Zoom graduation celebration

‘FOR THE

RECORD’ “One of the presumptions of First Amendment doctrine is that we’ll actually be talking to each other. … When partisan divisions have become so bilious that political adversaries are seen as enemies, then democracy is very much in jeopardy.” DANIEL P. TOKAJI

the Charles W. Ebersold and Florence Whitcomb Ebersold Professor of Constitutional Law at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, speaking at the Childress Lecture on Oct. 11, 2019 4

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“‘You’re inheriting this system. You should assume that it has not always been the way that it is today, that 20 years before that it looked different, and 20 years before that it looked different, and that it’s now your turn to do something to it.’” PROF. BRENDAN ROEDIGER

sharing the advice he gives his students in the Legal Clinics, speaking in a SLU LAW Summations podcast episode about municipal court reform


“Vice President Pence spends a lot of time acting as the salesperson for President Trump, as he did in Munich giving speeches celebrating Trump’s leadership. And I think he really has done that to a greater extent than any other vice president in history.” PROF. JOEL K. GOLDSTEIN

the Vincent C. Immel Professor of Law, speaking in an interview with New York Public Radio about the history of the vice presidency

“In all the [previous] Spanish courses I have taken, I did not learn fundamental law and business terms. Working and translating documents improved my grasp of the Spanish language and increased my vocabulary overall. … This experience reaffirmed my passion for international law.” CODI COX

Second-year law student, on her international internship in Lima, Peru, following her time in the Summer Law Program in Madrid

“As a 3L, I can say I definitely made the right decision to come to SLU LAW. I’ve met the most amazing people, I have had so many great opportunities, the city is so much fun, and it’s been just an overall great experience for such a hard time in life. Law school’s not easy, but SLU LAW definitely helps make it a little bit easier.”

“What used to be a few Irish immigrants sending a few bucks back to Ireland is now 700 big American corporations resident in Ireland creating 100,000 jobs in Ireland, creating lots of wealth in the U.S. and in Ireland. We use Ireland as our stepping-off point for the world’s biggest market, the European Union. We want their understanding of Europe combined with their affection and understanding of America to run our businesses in that country.” FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRELAND KEVIN F. O’MALLEY (’73)

speaking in a SLU LAW Summations podcast episode about the economic relationship between the U.S. and the Republic of Ireland

“I’d always associated slanted eyes with shame. I thought, ‘What if we changed it from embarrassment to empowerment? Reappropriate this obscure racial slur?’ … We crowd-funded our way to the Supreme Court.” SIMON TAM

founder of Asian American rock band The Slants, speaking at SLU LAW on Oct. 7, 2019, about his years-long legal battle with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to register his band’s name

KITTY EBRAHEIM

Third-year law student, taking over SLU LAW’s Instagram account VOLUME 21 ISSUE 1

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IN BRIEF NEWS & NOTES New ABA Data Lists SLU LAW Grads in Top 15 for Bar Passage

In February 2020, the American Bar Association Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar released a comprehensive set of data on “ultimate” bar passage outcomes for ABA-approved law schools. The new data measures the number of 2017 law graduates who sat for a bar exam and passed it within two years of graduation. Saint Louis University School of Law had a passage rate of 97.96%, while the national average was 89.5%. This puts SLU LAW at 14 out of the 198 U.S. law schools, coming in just behind Harvard and New York Law and just above Cornell University.

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Center for Health Law Studies Ranked Top Program for 2021

The health law program at Saint Louis University School of Law was 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, named the best in the nation for 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, the 16th year in the 2021 U.S. News 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005 & World Report Best Graduate School rankings. The Center for Health Law Studies has been listed as a top program since the rankings were first published.

16 OUT OF THE LAST 17 YEARS

Kevin F. O’Malley (’73) Joins SLU LAW as Ambassador in Residence

In fall 2019, the former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland and longtime litigator joined the faculty to serve as a professor of practice and Ambassador in Residence of the School of Law, affiliated with the Center for International and Comparative Law (CICL). In this role, O’Malley will counsel students and serve as a resource for CICL. Legal Clinics’ Effort Results in Precedent-Setting Agreement to Benefit Children in Foster Care

In December 2019, a federal judge approved a groundbreaking settlement designed to ensure that children in Missouri foster care are administered psychotropic medications only when safe and 6

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necessary. Following two years of litigation, the settlement resolved the civil rights lawsuit M.B. v. Corsi, the first federal class-action lawsuit in the country to focus singularly on the widespread and often dangerous use of psychotropic medications among youth in foster care. The lawsuit was filed by the Legal Clinics along with two national nonprofits, Children’s Rights and the National Center for Youth Law, and the law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, against the MO Department of Social Services and Children’s Division on behalf of all minor children and youth who are or will be placed in Missouri foster care. The agreement calls for overhauling the state’s practices around the use of psychotropic medications in foster care through several reforms, including the establishment of a state Psychotropic Medication Advisory Committee. The agreement will benefit the more than 13,000 children in the state’s foster care system and sets a strong legal precedent that may lead to greater safety in the use of psychotropics among youth in foster care nationwide. Law School Launches New Legal Clinic

In January 2020, the Legal Clinics launched the Human Rights at Home Litigation Clinic. Directed by new assistant professor Lauren E. Bartlett, the clinic provides free legal services to immigrants living in poverty in the St. Louis region. While other regional nonprofits offer immigration-related pro bono services, the clinic specifically focuses on legal needs that are not within the practice of immigration law. Bartlett also plans for the clinic to get involved in international human rights advocacy, such as advocating for the right to water and sanitation in East St. Louis. Partnership with AccessLex Institute Offers Emergency Grant Funding for Law Students Affected by Pandemic

Through the generosity of AccessLex Institute, SLU LAW established an emergency grant fund of $25,000 to provide financial assistance to enrolled law students unable to meet immediate, essential expenses. Twenty-three students received assistance.


IN BRIEF Law Library Partnership Awarded Grant to Complete Historic Digitizing Project

In January 2020, the Law Library Microform Consortium was awarded a grant of $244,537 by the Council on Library and Information Resources for the digitization of the microfilm set titled Early State Records. As part of the project, the Vincent C. Immel Law Library is providing metadata for this compilation of nearly 2,000 microfilm reels. The grant will facilitate the completion of the final 500 reels. Leading the effort at the law library is Professor Emeritus Richard Amelung, who says this project will transform the study of American history, broadening the researcher’s view of the social and economic times of the early American founders. First compiled by the Library of Congress in the 1940s, the collection includes materials from 48 states, covering colonial and territorial times through the Civil War. It includes debates of constitutional conventions, journals and debates of legislative bodies of early territories and states, records of North American Indian nations, and newspapers, among other records.

Belinda Dantley (’13) formerly a SLU LAW adjunct professor teaching Child Advocacy and the Law as well as the assistant director of Voices for Children for the St. Louis City office, joined the full-time faculty as the director of the Office of Inclusion and Diversity Education. Michael Ruiz joined the staff as the director of development. He previously served as a development officer in SLU’s Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations. Heather Stout joined the staff as the accessibility and wellness program coordinator. She previously served as assistant director at Washington University in St. Louis’ Cornerstone: The Learning Center and as the program director of disability services at SLU’s north campus. Tina Benigno (‘17) joined the Academic Resource Center as the assistant director of academic support and bar examination preparation. She previously worked in litigation and as an adjunct professor of Advanced Legal Analysis and Strategies at the law school.

Prof. Pendo Awarded Greenwall Foundation Grant as Part of Collaborative Team

Elizabeth Pendo, the Joseph J. Simeone Professor of Law, is part of a team with the Bioethics Research Center of Washington University in St. Louis that is working with state medical boards (SMBs) in protecting the public from physicians who have committed serious ethical violations. The team received a grant that aims to identify promising practices for SMBs to remove physicians from practice in a timely manner when necessary and also proposes to generate resources for legislators and SMBs to improve their operations. Faculty Members of the Year

The Class of 2020 selected Prof. Marcia L. McCormick, who also serves as the associate dean for academic affairs, as Prof. Mary Marcia Pat L. Mary Pat Faculty Member of the Year. McCormick McInnis (’87) McInnis (’87) The students chose Mary Pat McInnis (’87), dean of Career Services, as Adjunct Faculty Member of the Year. New Additions to Faculty and Staff

In 2019-20, several talented individuals joined the law school’s faculty and staff.

Lauren E. Bartlett

Belinda Dantley (’13)

Michael Ruiz

Heather Stout

Tina Benigno (‘17)

New Faculty Appointments

Prof. Miriam A. Cherry, co-director of the William C. Wefel Center for Employment Law, joined the administration as associate dean for research and engagement. Sidney D. Watson, the Jane and Bruce Robert Professor of Law, was named director of the Center for Health Law Studies, after Prof. Rob Gatter stepped down following two years as director and seven years as co-director, to devote more time to teaching and scholarship. Alumni and Friends Enjoy Successful Trip to Ireland

From Oct. 16-19, 2019, a group of 30 SLU LAW alumni, faculty, staff and friends traveled to Dublin, Ireland, to explore the legal and cultural institutions of the city. They were hosted by Dean William P. Johnson; the Hon. Kevin F. O’Malley (’73), former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland; and the Hon. Mr. Justice John MacMenamin of the Supreme Court of Ireland. This was SLU LAW’s third institutional visit to the country in what’s become a flourishing partnership.

Lauren E. Bartlett joined the Legal Clinics as an assistant professor and director of the Human Rights at Home Litigation Clinic. She previously served as director of Legal Clinics and associate professor at Ohio Northern University College of Law. She also taught at the law schools of American University and Loyola University New Orleans. VOLUME 21 ISSUE 1

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IN BRIEF

EVENTS Childress Lecture Explores American Election Law

Scholars from across the country discussed “American Election Law in a Post-Truth World” during the annual Richard J. Childress Memorial Lecture, held Oct. 11, 2019, hosted by the Law Journal and organized by Prof. Chad Flanders and 3L Dan Blair. Richard L. Hasen, Chancellor’s Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of California, Irvine, was the keynote speaker. The panelists explored “deepfakes” (AI-created fake audio or video recordings that seem realistic) and other forms of misinformation, campaign finance disclosure laws, redistricting, gerrymandering, electoral legitimacy and more. ‘Slanted: How an Asian American Troublemaker Took on the Supreme Court’

In an especially collaborative event, the Student Intellectual Property Law Association (SIPLA) and six other SLU LAW organizations and offices co-sponsored a visit from Asian American rock star Simon Tam, founder and bass player of The Slants. Tam had founded the band to change people’s assumptions about Asians and offer a new type of popular representation. After the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected its attempt to register the band’s name on the grounds that it was disparaging to Asians, Tam began a yearslong legal battle that ended with a unanimous Supreme Court ruling that the “disparagement clause” violates the First Amendment’s free speech clause. He discussed that experience and more before doing a book-signing at the Vincent C. Immel Law Library. Health Law Distinguished Speakers and Scholars

The Center for Health Law Studies hosted its annual Scholars Workshop Sept. 24-26, 2019, in which faculty new to health law and bioethics scholarship presented works-in-progress and received advice from experienced scholars. In October, the Center welcomed Phillip Terrell (’11), practice leader for the 100 Top Hospitals program at IBM Watson Health, as a weeklong practitioner-in-residence. The Center additionally hosted a distinguished speaker series featuring Seema Mohapatra of Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law, Cynthia Ho of Loyola University Chicago School of Law, Michelle Oberman of Santa Clara University School of Law, and Matthew Penn of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office of Public Health Law Services. 8

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PILG Online Auction, Fund-a-Student Initiative

While the SLU LAW Public Interest Law Group (PILG) was unable to host an in-person auction this spring, the group transitioned to the next best thing: an online auction, accompanied by a fundraising initiative called “PILG Fund-a-Student.” Led by assistant dean Shannon Morse and the PILG Committee comprised of Erin Busse, Marisa Gerwitz, Amber Lange, Piper Salvator, Kayla Solomon and Ashley Westbrook, the endeavor raised just as much money as last year’s auction for the Irvin and Margaret W. Dagen Fund, which gives law students summer stipends allowing them to provide much needed legal services at nonprofits and government entities locally, nationally or internationally. Thank you to all our alumni who participated in making this effort a success.

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT A Top Placement for National Moot Court Team

After winning the regional competition in fall 2019, Saint Louis University School of Law’s National Moot Court Team placed second in the New York Bar’s 70th National Moot Court Competition in February 2020. 3Ls Ashton Dietrich, Maysa Daoud and Aaron Freeman outranked 158 teams from more than 100 law schools. The four-day national round was comprised of the top 28 schools from the regional competitions, with two teams from each of the 14 regions. The SLU LAW team was coached by Prof. Paige Canfield (’86), director of the appellate advocacy program. In addition to the team win, Daoud was named second-place oralist in the nation. Law Student Named Third-Place Oralist in National Moot Court Competition

SLU LAW Moot Court Teams (Brendan Bement, Gus Hayes, Paul Vysotsky, Marisa Gerwitz and Alex Parker) participated in the Billings, Exum & Frye National Moot Court Competition in Greensboro, North Carolina, on Oct. 11-12, 2019. Congratulations to fourth-year part-time student Gus Hayes, who was the third top oralist out of 40 teams consisting of more than 80 participants.


With Help of SLU LAW Students, Innocent Man Walks Free after 28 Years in Prison

In 2019, 2L Kristen Spina and 3Ls Jackie Coffman and Angela Torblaa worked in field placements at nonprofit law firm Phillips Black under the guidance of alumna Kristin Swain (’15) on the case of a Philadelphia man who was falsely imprisoned for nearly three decades. The students helped identify key evidence that, in January 2020, led a judge to overturn his life sentence. Learn more at slu.edu/law/news. Clinic Student’s Fast Actions Keep Client Housed

When Prof. Brendan Roediger approached Legal Clinics student Gage Barrows on a Thursday afternoon with a case set for trial the upcoming Monday, Barrows did not hesitate to accept it. The case involved a woman who, as a result of a domestic violence incident in which she was the victim, was being evicted. If the eviction proceeded, she would not only lose her apartment but would also lose her HUD benefits permanently. Barrows set to work preparing for the trial. One tool he had at his disposal was a new statute (MO 441.920) worked on years ago by the clinic but only recently passed, which states that no tenant or lessee shall be evicted from the premises as a direct result of the fact that the lessee is, has been, or is in imminent danger of becoming a victim of domestic violence. This case would be one of the first to apply the statute. After meeting with his client the next day and alerting opposing counsel of her new representation, Barrows received notice the case was being dismissed: the client would keep her home. The clinic’s mere presence on the case changed the outcome for the client. SLU LAW Excellence Awards

While there was no awards ceremony this year, law students continued to excel and were recognized in school-wide commendation from Dean of Students Jon Baris. Among those recognized for their work beyond the classroom: Michael Scott, SBA Student of the Year Award; Marisa Gerwitz, Award for Leadership; Teresa Flores, Award for Diversity and Cultural Competency; Angela Torblaa, Award for Pro Bono Legal Service; and Fawn Pettet, Award for Community Service.

Thank You,

PROFESSOR GOLDSTEIN

The nation’s foremost expert on the office of the vice president and longtime SLU LAW professor is taking a welldeserved retirement.

After 25 years, Joel K. Goldstein, the Vincent C. Immel Professor of Law Emeritus, is stepping down, but with the 2020 presidential election looming, he has no plans of actually slowing down. Every four years Goldstein becomes one of the most quoted professors in the media. He has been profiled in The New York Times, dined with Vice President Joe Biden, appeared on national news and been quoted in at least four different languages. This year is poised to be no different, especially since a former vice president is the Democratic Party presumptive nominee. Goldstein joined the law school in 1994, served as associate dean of faculty from 2001 to 2004 and was awarded the Immel professorship in 2005. He has written countless law journal articles and op-eds and has written two books on the office of the vice president, The Modern American Vice Presidency: The Transformation of a Political Institution (1982) and The White House Vice Presidency: The Path to Significance, Mondale to Biden (2016).

Professor of Law Emeritus and longtime colleague of Goldstein. “He’s a triple threat: scholar, great human being, legacy of his writings and books and articles. They’re going to make a lasting contribution to literature, not just here but nationally. And for all the students that he’s taught, he’s a great role model.” “He changed the nature of the conversation about the vice president,” said Dean William P. Johnson. “He brings a historical, keen legal mind and deep understanding of the role.” Goldstein may be retiring from the full-time faculty, but he will remain an emeritus professor teaching Constitutional Law on occasion and continuing to share his expertise about U.S. vice presidents. The School of Law will be forever grateful for his generous leadership, his scholastic legacy and his kindness to all.

He also has authored books and numerous book chapters and articles about the executive branch, constitutional law and admiralty law and is currently working on a book on the national political career of U.S. Senator Edmund S. Muskie. “He’s definitely holding the record for the most quotes in the media probably by any professor,” said Roger L. Goldman, the Callis Family VOLUME 21 ISSUE 1

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SOCIAL SCENE: INSTAGRAM & TWITTER St. Louis

slulaw A few more shots of our 10th annual Service Day on Wednesday, where the new class of 1Ls along with other student leaders, staff and faculty volunteered at 17 different nonprofit organizations around St. Louis.

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slulaw Service is an important part of the SLU LAW mission. A special shout out to Dean of Students Jon Baris and these students who joined up with the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis for STL World Food Day, an annual foodpackaging event to help feed the hungry. This year the St. Louis region packaged 440,370 meals.

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Gateway Arch National Park

gatewayarchpark DYK? Thanks to the renovation of @gatewayarchnps, you can now host private events inside the Museum at the Gateway Arch. We had a blast hosting the @slulaw Barrister’s Ball last month!

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@tovino_stacey · Oct 11, 2019 Professor Matt Bodie giving a great talk regarding employees as data subjects at the 14th Annual Colloquium on Scholarship in Employment and Labor Law @UNLVLaw @sluworklaw @SLU_HealthLaw @SLULAW @AmyEAtty · Jan 31, 2020 What an inspiring day! Thx to all the amazing folks who made the #JuvenileParole training a success. Was esp. great to hear from returning citizens Jason Carr & Eddie Anderson, & celebrate their release! Thanks also to @SLULAW & @HuschBlackwell for cosponsoring w @MacArthrJustice @mikemorton89 · Feb 7, 2020 What an honor to see @ThompsonCoburn’s Janette Lohman be inducted into the @SLULAW Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame! Wouldn’t be where I am today without @SLU_Official or Professor Lohman. @Greensfelder · Feb 20, 2020 Greensfelder Diversity and Inclusion Manager Carmen White will be honored by @SLULAW’s Black Law Students Association for her dedication to helping diverse law school students prepare for careers in the legal profession. Congrats, Carmen! @SLULAW · Feb 28, 2020 “When you lock up a primary caregiver, you lock up a whole family.” 2L Haley Thomas and 3L Rachel Clark wrote @semissourian about proposed MO legislation that would allow judges to consider primary caregiver status when sentencing nonviolent offenders.

St. Louis

slulaw Social distancing can’t keep this community apart! Students, your faculty g and staff are thinking about you and missin your presence during this difficult time. Sending you greetings from our homes across St. Louis! Share a photo of your workspace on your IG and tag us @slulaw to represent this virtual community! likess 303 80 like SLU LAW

slulaw A beautiful reminder that rainbows come after the storm. @alli_mowrer, thank you for sharing.

@brianearll · Mar 14, 2020 Safe to say my public health class with @robgatter at @SLULAW this semester is far from an academic exercise at this point. @SLU_HealthLaw · Jun 04, 2020 Our @SLULAW #healthlaw colleague Prof @ruqaiijah Yearby co-authored this article with @IUMcKinney @profmohapatra, “Law, Structural Racism, and the COVID-19 Pandemic” @OxfordJournals. Take action: Read and share. #healthequity #COVID19 @SLULAW · Jun 16, 2020 Prof. Roger Goldman does it again: He was on a panel that helped Massachusetts create a Peace Officer Standards & Training (POST) system. MA is one of a handful of states without a police de-certification process. That’s poised to change. @BostonGlobe

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@SLULAW


Midyear

COMMENCEMENT DECEMBER 18, 2019

Congratulations Thirteen students received their Juris Doctors during the 2019 midyear commencement. Five of them were dual-degree students who also earned a graduate degree in a health discipline. They were honored at a special reception on Dec. 18, attended by their families and friends along with faculty, staff members, fellow students and alumni. The graduating students gave brief remarks thanking those who had supported them and were heartily congratulated by Dean William P. Johnson and Dean of Students Jon Baris. VOLUME 21 ISSUE 1

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CLASS OF 2020 The SLU LAW Class of 2020 was unable to have its Hooding Ceremony and University Commencement as planned, but that didn’t stop the community from honoring its members’ accomplishments.

respective careers, I am filled with pride and with a sense of hope.” Johnson noted that when it is safe and appropriate to do so, the class will gather again to celebrate in person.

On Thursday, May 14, nearly 170 students, faculty and staff members “Zoomed” together for a virtual celebration.

The Office of Communications then played a tribute video comprised of remarks and photos submitted by members of the graduating class. Prof. Marcia McCormick, who was voted by the class as Faculty Member of the Year, also gave a short speech in the video.

“Today, you should have donned your cap and gown, made your way to Chaifetz Arena and crossed the stage before your family members and loved ones and other people you care about and who care about you,” said Dean William P. Johnson during the video ceremony. “The fact that that rite of passage did not happen today weighs heavily on me. And I know it is disappointing to you, and understandably so. Yet, none of that changes your extraordinary achievements. It certainly does not change the pride we feel in you, because, at the end of the day, you did it. “As a Jesuit institution, we are called to be the architects of a more just society, and so many of you have already answered that call,” Johnson continued. “When I consider all the powerful work you will do in your 12

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At the end of the ceremony, Johnson led the Zoom participants in a toast. Other virtual celebrations for the Class of 2020 included the University’s “Honor the Day” observance online and on social media, as well as the SLU LAW Legal Clinics’ virtual David Grant Ceremony, which recognized the work of its graduating clinic students. To view a recording of the Zoom celebration as well as the special faculty and staff congratulatory video, visit slu.edu/law/news.


2020 GRADUATION

Carla Sofia Tole De Meneses Gonçalves (LL.M.) Omobolanle Afinimononioluwa Adeniran Adam James Agostini Ashley Elizabeth Baker Gage D. Barrows Ryan Matthew Beavers Brendan M. Bement Brad P. Bilyeu Brooke Monet Bishop Daniel Ryan Blair Kenneth W. Bohannan Nicholas Charles Borella Thomas Jonathan Bottchen Daniel Patrick Brenner Ryan Hiler Butler Angela Rachelle Byrd Patrick J. Carosello Jack Thomas Carrera Darrian Samuel Castro Onalee Rose Yousey Chappeau Courtney Chen Hannah Marie Clark Rachel Elizabeth Clark Aaron Nathaniel Clite Jacqueline Kiley Coffman Sean Peter Connelly Michael Todd Crawford

Jaime Lynn Curry (D) Maysa Hassan Daoud Valerie Margriet De Wandel Melissa Lauren DeClue Ashton Kathleen Dietrich Erica Jean Dolan Emily Victoria Donaldson Clayton L. Dowd Michael P. Dowd Nieto Teona Sha’Ron Rosalind Drake (D) Michael Rene Durham Brian Thomas Earll Katherine Marie Ebraheim Francine C. Eichhorn Andrea N. Ellis (D) Neil Eoloff (D) Sam Robert Falcon Ashley Nicole Farris Eva J. Ferrario Teresa Christine Flores Brendan B. Foley Jacqueline P. Foley Aaron William Freeman Caroline French (D) Benjamin A. Gamble Colleen E. Garvey Alexander William Gass Alyssa Geders Marisa Carmen Gerwitz Lindsay K. Gilmore Luvell Leigh Glanton, Jr. (D) Jessica A. Gottsacker Riley P. Hamilton Augustus T. Hayes Justin Michael Hicks Gabrielle S. Hill Mary E. Hirsch Richard A. Hoffman Virginia M. Hogan Omari’ Rashad Holt Katherine Lynne Hubbard Ayesha Maryam Khawaja Husain Jack William James Shonte A. Jamison Anthony A. Jimenez Jared Evans Jones Justin Joseph Ryan J. Jurgiel Alicia R. Kapolis Kevin Joseph Keefe Erin Kathleen Kennedy Erica Lynn Kentch-Herbek James Wyatt Kernell Javairia R. Khan Ryan James Kime Tanner Addison Kirksey Brandon J. Klar Chereka Shantae Kluttz Theodore L. Knocke Anthony Christopher Kramer Kyle P. Krause Jennifer Marie Kusmer Jason Robert Kusnerick Zachary W. Langrehr Richard Lee Melina Lisa Loggia (A)

Fabian G. Lucero Lindsey Renee Luehrsen Nicholas Guy Luisetti Corri R. Mader-Twillmann Tariq Mahmood (D) McKenna Layne McAreavy Rondalyn McDonald (A) Adrian Sam Mehdirad Michelle Anneliese Meloche (D) Madeline S. Moeller (D) Darius Montrell Mosely Joseph C. Moulton Selma Mujanovic Joel Sherwyn Ocampo Justin Ray Onken Rachael Elyse Palmer Alexander S.K. Parker Bhumi Patel Fawn Lindsey Pettet Ava Pfeiffer Heidee Kristine Prosser Nathaniel R. Quast Alyssa Marie Reinhardt Shannon Katherine Rempe Taylor Rae Resnik Brent Michael Ricketts Natalie A. Rizzo Joshua John Rockers Lyndee Jordan Rodamaker (D) Tanner C. Rolfes Reed Jordan Rosenblum Anna Alexandra Rudoi Piper M. Salvator Matthew S. Scheidker Daniel M. Schmittgens Megan Elizabeth Schranck Michael R. Scott Alexandra S. Sievers John M. Sinovic Kaylee Elyzabeth Sloan Ricky J. Snyder Kayla I. Solomon Katie Elizabeth St. John Nicole Adele Strombom (D) Ariah Mackenzie Linnea Suek (D) Evan J. Sullivan Aaron Lynn Swinger Paul J. Tahan Jordan Scott Taylor Lauren M. Taylor Ellen Antonia Thomas Kylie Alissa Thompson Kathryn Elizabeth Tomey Angela Torblaa Paul Vysotsky Derek Charles Walton Joshua Michael Watts (D) Matthew Garth Wayman Brett A. Weber Katherine J. Weinstock Shawn Dante Williamson William J. Willis Alyssa Marie Wolffis Lauren Rose Youngblood Le Zhang December graduate (D) / August graduate (A) VOLUME 21 ISSUE 1

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IN BRIEF SPOTLIGHT ON THE CENTER FOR HEALTH L AW STUDIES

The School of Law’s health law faculty has risen to the challenge to help craft the public health response to COVID-19.

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he Center for Health Law Studies’ reputation has been long established among the academy and practitioners alike. Formed in 1982, the Center was one of the first law school programs to focus on the intersection of the health care system and the legal system. Unbeknownst to its founders at the time, the Center would help define the budding field of health care law. Now in its fourth decade, it was recently recognized for the 16th year by U.S. News & World Report as the top program of its kind in the nation. Approximately a quarter of SLU LAW’s incoming students choose the school because of this national reputation as they seek to pursue niche expertise in an increasingly relevant area of practice. Over the years, health law scholars have been asked to weigh in on everything from the implementation of Medicare and Medicaid, the concentration of health care markets, the effects of the Affordable Care Act, the opioid crisis response and more.

But perhaps never has the field been more relevant than during this pandemic, the likes of which have not been seen in more than a century.

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Since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, the faculty of the Center for Health Law Studies has been stepping out as leaders in the field, serving as consultants for national media and local government on disaster-related legal issues and contributing to scholarly publications and conferences. Their output has been immense, and especially impressive as it has been taking place right alongside their crash course in moving legal education entirely online. Prof. Rob Gatter, an expert on pandemic preparedness and quarantine policy, was immediately named to St. Louis County Health Department’s COVID-19 Response Team, where he has been a valuable asset for the region. His additional scholarly work for academic publications and his contribution to local media publications have been substantial. Prof. Ana Santos Rutschman, an expert on emerging health care innovations and patent law who has previously served as a consultant to the World Health Organization, has been presenting widely about coronavirus vaccine development and misinformation, including as a panelist for the World Trade Institute (Bern, Switzerland), for the R Street Institute and for the Science Squad nonprofit, among many others. Prof. Ruqaiijah Yearby, who has devoted much of her scholarship to racial equity in health care access and outcomes, has provided commentary on the virus’ higher death rates in communities of color, particularly Black communities. Prof. Elizabeth Pendo has been researching and writing on how the COVID-19 pandemic is adversely affecting the allocation of scarce resources for Americans with disabilities, and Prof. Sidney D. Watson has been addressing the roles that Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act play in the public health response. These are just a few of the ways in which our health law faculty members have been using their expertise to further public health knowledge during this crisis. For more information, visit slu.edu/law/health/faculty-view-pandemic.php.


Ana Santos Rutschman

“This [timeline] compression is good; it solves a classic intellectual property problem in the field of vaccines, which is the incentives problem. It is almost perverse that the pandemic cures the incentives problems we have in the vaccines space, but that’s what we’ve seen before. We saw this with Ebola and Zika … the same happened, not to this extent, but we temporarily cured the IP-related incentives problem and the underinvestment.” “Pandemic and the Global Economy: IP Protection and Access to Medical Technology in Health Emergencies,” Panel hosted by the World Trade Institute, May 1, 2020

Elizabeth Pendo

“COVID-19 presents a host of disability equity issues, but we want to focus today on decisions to allocate scarce healthcare resources, also sometimes called triage policies. Ventilators are one example but not the only example – hospital beds and the time and attention of health care workers are also scarce healthcare resources, among others. In the absence of a federal policy on how scarce resources should be allocated, states and institutions are creating their own allocation policies, and in some cases these are created through an open, transparent process with community participation, but in other cases, not. And some health care institutions do not have a formalized policy, which is very concerning because some of these [informal] policies appear to discriminate against people with disabilities.”

Sidney D. Watson

“Medicaid non-expansion states are entering this pandemic with one hand tied behind their back. By not expanding Medicaid, they cannot cover low-income adults who are not parents under Medicaid. We know that that is about 2 million adults in this country as we started this process whom states could make eligible for Medicaid and they haven’t. These are states like Missouri and Alabama and Georgia and Mississippi that are poor states.” “Medicaid and the ACA” COVID-19 Law Briefing, Panel hosted by the Public Health Law Watch, an initiative of the George Consortium, April 16, 2020

Rob Gatter

“What is the appropriate constitutional standard of review on quarantine orders, isolation orders, orders closing schools and businesses, and orders requiring us to shelter at home? … Today it would be possible for litigants to introduce effectiveness data to really assess whether or not a measure is effective and how effective in comparison to other actions that could be taken. ‘Never let a good crisis go to waste.’ This is the moment when orders are being challenged in court. This is the time, then, to be pushing for this idea of focused scrutiny. … These are the factual findings that need to be made in order to inform whether or not the public health official or governor was acting in a rational and non-arbitrary measure. It’s hard to imagine that this is a ‘good crisis,’ but there’s certainly plenty to be done and plenty to be learned from this so that we’re better prepared for the next time.”

In Their Own Words

“Allocation of Scarce Healthcare Resources in the Time of COVID 19: Perspectives from Disability Law and Ethics,” Panel hosted by the SLU LAW Center for Health Law Studies, April 8, 2020

Ruqaiijah Yearby

“There are three main causes to me why we see these higher cases and higher death rates [in communities of color]. One is because of a continuation of higher chronic diseases and people of color. Also poverty and the relegation to low-wage jobs, and then also housing. We already know about the racial inequalities — particularly in terms of housing-related health disparities — and those connect to some of the major risk factors for COVID-19. Data is always great, but you can’t point to data to actually lead to change, so the key is that we need to use the data to make some kind of change … whether that is structurally to ensure that people don’t get kicked out of their houses and have access to clean water. But also, it means that they are going to need mental health support right now, because living through this tragedy is affecting people.”

“Are Coronavirus Restrictions Constitutional?” Presentation, ‘Isolated by the Law’ Online Symposium, hosted by Wake Forest Law, April 15, 2020

Sandra Johnson (Emerita)

“It’s become commonplace to hear leaders and celebrities and all good-hearted people say that they are so grateful to the people putting themselves at risk to keep essential services going, to take care of ‘us.’ The grocery workers, hospital housekeeping, warehouse and meat plant workers, home care, nursing home aides, bus drivers, and so on are rightly included in this list. Real gratitude, however, should lead us to provide a living wage and benefits for all these workers after the crisis has dissipated. They will be the veterans of this ‘war’ against the virus. They will bear physical, psychological and financial wounds. Don’t forget them after this is over.” Letter to the Editor, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 6, 2020

“Beyond COVID-19 Data: What Can St. Louis Do to Bring About Health Care Equity?” Interview with St. Louis Public Radio, April 27, 2020

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What No One Could’ve Predicted Cora Faith Walker (’09) speaks at the School of Law during the Symposium on Elected Public Service on March 21, 2018.

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ora Faith Walker (’09), former state representative for Missouri’s 74th District, joined St. Louis County Executive Sam Page’s cabinet as director of policy less than a year ago.

Elected to the House General Assembly in 2016, Walker sat on the Health and Mental Health Policy Committee and on the Children and Families Committee. Prior to that, she worked as an attorney in health law and policy. A graduate of SLU LAW’s health law program, Walker served as the Health Law and Policy Fellow for the Center for Health Law Studies in 2014-15 and also has an M.P.H. from Washington University in St. Louis. Walker joined the County cabinet hoping to use her extensive health policy expertise and legislative experience to improve the lives of residents through local government, but found herself as green as everyone else in addressing the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. One of the actions she took right away was recommending Prof. Rob Gatter to be named to the County Health Department’s COVID-19 Response Team, where he has been consulting on the legality of quarantine policies and the constitutionality of stay-at-home orders. 16

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In this Q&A, Walker discusses what it has been like directing County policy through this crisis. WHEN DID YOUR TEAM REALIZE THE SCOPE OF THE COVID-19 THREAT, AND HOW DID YOU BEGIN PREPARATIONS?

Maybe two weeks before the first case in Missouri was confirmed – and that was in St. Louis County – I sent a note to the senior leadership team in Dr. Page’s administration asking, do we want to sit down and meet with our public health department about the coronavirus, what our plans are, etc. Our Department of Public Health had been in communication with other folks and other departments of public health a little before that point in time, but that was when we as an administration all sat down, and we ended up activating our Office of Emergency Management’s emergency operating center two days before the first case was confirmed. So we certainly tried to be as proactive as possible and were also kind of ahead of the game and didn’t wait.


ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT HOW DID YOUR HEALTH LAW EDUCATION INFLUENCE YOUR DECISION-MAKING PROCESS DURING THIS CRISIS?

My health law background has been critical in all this because many of the policies that we are making, the public health orders being issued, are all law or some sort of law or regulation in some fashion. So having that background and that perspective has been really helpful throughout, even just as a way of thinking about the policies we’re making. My training in administrative law and that class was certainly something that has continued to prove incredibly valuable in all of this – working to be sure that the regulations we’re developing are legally sound. And we’ve got a wonderful and talented group of folks in the County Counselor’s Office, but this is the first sort of public health crisis like this that we’ve seen since 1918. It really put us in a place as a local jurisdiction to one – develop a lot of policies and procedures on our own, but two – we also kind of had to do it in the absence of clear guidelines from the federal government. Having my health law background was and continues to be invaluable. WHAT HAS SURPRISED YOU DURING THIS PANDEMIC? WHAT WOULD ALUMNI BE SURPRISED TO LEARN?

The inconsistency or lack of clear and consistent guidelines from either or both the federal and state government. The idea ‘We’ll leave it up to the local jurisdictions’ has been both surprising and really brand new when it comes to things like communicable diseases that aren’t necessarily restricted by people who draw maps and our jurisdictional boundaries. I’m just the policy director from St. Louis County, and being on the phone with medical suppliers in Switzerland is something one wouldn’t necessarily have expected or could’ve predicted. I don’t think anything could’ve prepared me for this, but having conversations with the National Guard or U.S. Army Corps of Engineers about temporary medical facilities, planning for hospital surge fatality facilities, all those sorts of things – quite frankly nothing was expected, and most everything was certainly a surprise. But when I think about the way in which local government and even state government have been placed in a position where we are having to compete with other states and countries for supplies and equipment, I don’t think anyone could’ve predicted that. I also was pleasantly surprised by our response, the region’s response and our community’s response in adhering to the orders and making some very difficult but very responsible decisions to follow those orders to stay home so that we could get to a place where our hospital system wasn’t overwhelmed.

BEYOND POLICIES LIKE QUARANTINE, SOCIAL DISTANCING AND MASKS, WHAT POLICIES HAVE YOU HAD TO WORK ON?

The way we’ve approached the response in St. Louis County has been looking at the public health part but then also keeping a focus on and being very deliberate about supporting the humanitarian response, or social support and services, and then economic response. So things like utilities and evictions and even how court proceedings occur – early on we did a lot of work with the 21st Circuit about how they had continued to operate.

One other thing that makes this whole pandemic even more unique is the fact that this is an election year, so trying to figure out how people are going to be able to vote during a pandemic is happening right now. We’ve got a municipal election in June, a primary election in August and then depending on the second wave that is predicted, elections in November. Trying to plan around all that – it’s not in my ‘program planning and implementation for public health,’ I gotta tell you. WHAT ARE YOU PROUD OF IN THE COUNTY’S POLICY RESPONSE?

I’ve been incredibly proud at the ways in which the folks in St. Louis County led the effort in coming up with these solutions and these approaches, and doing so in a way that was at the forefront of how the region and then the state approached the recovery. Just building a lot of the infrastructure – and the policies and laws around the infrastructure – that became models for the region and the state is something I’m pretty proud of. I think the very aggressive and proactive measures that we took early on helped flatten the curve and helped us beat some really dire predictions and projections that were shared by epidemiologists and other folks early on. We avoided that worst case scenario. We didn’t even get to the somewhat worst case scenario that we developed ourselves. The early projections and models were very close to that. ANY POINTS OF OPTIMISM OR BRIGHT SPOTS?

One thing that has been really encouraging is the level of coordination that has occurred between hospital systems, local public health departments, federally qualified health centers, health providers and the region as a whole. Pretty early on, folks understood that we can’t have a situation where one hospital is competing against another to have the most tests. There has to be collaboration; there has to be cooperation across all systems. That has been really promising and encouraging, and quite frankly we wouldn’t have had the outcomes we’ve seen so far without that collaboration. Hospitals are absolutely better prepared now. There’s no question. That’s the thing about dealing with a pandemic, you can hope for the best, but you have to be prepared for the worst. There’s not a question in my mind that those aggressive policies that we put into place early on avoided the real worst case scenario where we had an overburdening of our hospital system. I would also add how grateful I am for Rob [Gatter] and his expertise. That’s one of the things that we were incredibly fortunate to have in St. Louis and in the region – the number one health law program in the country. Being able to pick up the phone and reach out to experts in the area has just been critical to our response, and I want to express my gratitude for that. SLB

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Legal Education in a Pandemic: Students Find the Bright Spot in Learning to Make Virtual Appellate Arguments

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n a typical SLU LAW academic year a handful of top students compete in an internal Moot Court II competition, conducted before actual judges in a courtroom full of onlookers. Judges hammer the students with questions compelling them to expound on their arguments, and at the end of the day, one team and one oralist emerge victorious. This year, students had to adapt. “Along with 11 of our dedicated alums, these students ‘Zoomed’ into our mock courtrooms, represented their clients and argued issues that are currently before the highest courts of the land 18

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(immigration and the Second Amendment),” said Professor Chris Rollins (’96), director of the Legal Research and Writing program. Mastering written and oral advocacy skills is a key part of the SLU LAW education. Each year students in the school’s appellate advocacy program along with first-year law students, as part of their legal research and writing (LRW) course, participate in oral arguments as the culminating activity of the program. Throughout the semester they research and draft arguments on both sides of a topic chosen by their faculty member. “The key aspect of the program is that the students have learned to be persuasive advocates for each side,” Rollins said. “They learn that to be the best advocate, they need to understand what each side’s strengths and weaknesses are before jumping into litigation.”

“In appellate courts, oral arguments can be decisive, especially in close cases,” said dean emeritus Michael Wolff, former Missouri Supreme Court Chief Justice. “Properly framed, a good appellate argument is a discussion among judges on the bench and the lawyers representing the parties. The conversation-argument on video is not the same as in-person arguments, but it is the next best thing – what an advocate wants is the opportunity for judges to follow up their reading of briefs with questions and discussions that go beyond the written materials.” While not ideal, this year’s unique circumstances due to the COVID-19 pandemic presented an opportunity for law students to learn these skills in a


SPECIAL FEATURE new way, right alongside Supreme Court justices across the country who are doing the same thing for the first time in history. “While nothing can replace the exciting atmosphere of a traditional, in-person oral argument, I found virtual arguments functional and productive,” said 2L Kristen Spina, one of this year’s competition winners. “The challenges of converting to the virtual arguments were met with faculty support and collaboration. We experimented through the Zoom

“It hasn’t been that long since I was a student in their position, and I remember how terrified I was, wondering ‘Who are these actual attorneys who are going to be there judging me?’ Now I’m on the other end of it: ‘Did my questions sound okay? Was I able to help them feel more comfortable in their presentation?’ It’s really rewarding to be able to provide feedback and see their development.” The students’ successful transition garnered high praise from their professors and from the volunteer judges alike.

“After the initial awkwardness, maintaining passion and cohesiveness during the argument felt as natural as it would have been in person.” Hannah Meehan, second-year law student

platform prior to arguments. I practiced in front of the camera just as I would have at a podium for the traditional setting.” “After the initial awkwardness and continued practice with other students, maintaining passion and cohesiveness during the argument felt as natural as it would have been in person,” said 2L Hannah Meehan, this year’s other competition winner. “The flow of questions and answers was essentially unimpeded by the use of a screen, and if anything, presenting from home took away some of the nerves that precede an oral argument.” “As an alum, it is really eye-opening,” said Paige Seggebruch (’18), counsel at Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated, who began volunteering as a moot court judge last year and continued this year as a judge for the LRW students.

“Our students have shown a remarkable ability to adapt to this new learning environment. We are still teaching the art and skill of formal oral arguments in a courtroom and adding instructional material that teaches them to persuade in a virtual setting,” said Professor Karen Sanner. “I watched my students meet and exceed expectations in their arguments, and I am grateful that we were able to modify our instruction and keep this important part of their law school experience.”

“I work in a company where we’re starting to do more and more video conferences with each other – we didn’t do any of them when I started and now they’re everywhere. Even counterparties that I would’ve never seen in person are now requesting video negotiation. With technology it’s going to be more slowly integrated in the legal field, but more and more integrated over time.” Wolff agrees with that assessment. “After COVID time is over, some appellate courts may make use of what they learned and schedule relatively uncomplicated arguments [virtually], especially where the lawyers and judges would otherwise have to travel to a distant city for the arguments,” Wolff said. “Law students who have grown up with video technology of all sorts will get valuable experience with these virtual arguments in law school. They will adapt to this new way of doing business far better than older lawyers and judges. Today’s students will graduate into a different world than the legal world they entered when they started law school.” SLB

“Having to adjust on the fly to something you may not have anticipated but is thrown your way will definitely serve them well,” Seggebruch added.

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THE COMMUNITY

YOU HAVE CULTIVATED When local medical residents on the frontlines fighting COVID-19 needed help preparing estate plans for their families, SLU LAW alumni responded to the call.

all it takes is a single email to change an untold S ometimes, number of lives. On March 25, 2020, a week after classes commenced remotely, second-year law student Reid Simpson reached out to a few people, including Dean William P. Johnson and Dean of Students Jon Baris, with “a particularly unusual request.” “My wife is a surgery resident at Barnes. ... One of the main concerns residents have right now is less the inevitability they feel around getting COVID, but most do not have appropriate estate planning and directive documents written. As the mortality rate for frontline doctors has been unusually high, the concern for getting their affairs in order is quite pressing for many. [They] are seeking resources from volunteers who would be willing to help draft wills and directives. … Any help you can provide in finding the best avenue to get our doctors peace of mind as they tackle this pandemic would be much appreciated.” Simpson was advised to get in touch with ArchCity Defenders, who then forwarded the request to the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis (BAMSL)’s Pro Bono Committee, chaired by Mark Timmerman (’17) and Jim Guest (’97). The two alumni sprang into action. With a few more emails to BAMSL leadership, they were put in touch with Rixey Ruffin, chair of the organization’s Probate and Trust Law Section at the time, who immediately helped launch the COVID-19 Emergency Pro Bono Estate Planning Task Force. “This task force was quickly formed over email, just like ‘here’s 10 of us on this email chain, BAMSL leadership, probate leadership, pro bono leadership – let’s brainstorm what we can do,’” Timmerman said. “My role was facilitating with Reid and a hospital. Barnes [Jewish Hospital] is where we were really focusing our effort. I started contacting health professionals there.”

“It’s beautiful the way the world works – when there is an outstanding emergency you do see a new spirit from volunteers.” Mark Timmerman (’17)

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Timmerman connected with Dr. Paul Wise, director of surgery residency at Barnes where Simpson’s wife worked, and they came up with a plan. Wise would email about 120 residents working on the frontlines fighting COVID-19 to let them know that the task force was going to host a Zoom informational session about how health care professionals could get basic estate planning needs met. The second part of the effort was to reach out to St. Louis-area probate attorneys to recruit volunteers willing to stand by to assist those in need of more personalized legal assistance. Attorneys would be paired with a health care professional and prepare an estate plan – including a will, durable powers of


SPECIAL FEATURE attorney, and a health care declaration/living will – for that person and her or his spouse, free of charge. The task force created a webpage where people who could not attend live could view the recording afterwards. Then the initial Zoom training was held on April 2, starting with ER and critical care fellows. “We set it up in a very short period of time, and still 20 to 25 of those 120 residents who got the information logged on and were in scrubs, watching from the hospital or their home where they’d just gotten off a shift,” Timmerman said. “It was emotional to see them: they just have spent 10- or 12-hour shifts working, and then learning about estate planning to try to help their families while they’re trying to help their community – it’s just a very human moment, and I’m thankful to be a part of helping people in the medical community right now.” “The response was very, very successful,” Simpson said. “From our side, my wife and I watched the Zoom meeting, and they established an email address so any resident who had questions could send an email and would be paired with a lawyer. My wife did this – within 24 hours she had a response from a lawyer, who within 48 hours had a two-hour call with her.” Simpson said they formed a client relationship with this volunteer, established their powers of attorney and had a great experience. It gave them, parents of 18-month-old twins, some relief in the midst of the chaos.

As of mid-June, approximately 50 health care professionals and their spouses had received personal assistance from a volunteer. Beyond that, it’s difficult to track how many others have watched the Zoom session and filled out the documents themselves. “It was a very organic, messy process, but it was really cool to see people who had not worked together spend so much time emailing every day,” Timmerman said. “It took many weeks and is still unfolding.” Timmerman, who is a Missouri public defender, noted that the process taught him more about the pro bono need in different types of communities. “It became clear really quickly that residents don’t make a lot of money while they’re in training; they really do need pro bono work. They have families and when you mix in coronavirus, it’s another level of stress and need. Tons of people need pro bono – we just need humans helping humans for free, no costs.” While attorneys generally understand the importance of pro bono work, Timmerman says, the need for those who step up and do it is great. “This is the pandemic emergency, but there are societal emergencies that have always been happening that need pro bono,” he said. “The recent murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis reminded us of this country’s bedrock societal emergencies of racism, systemic inequity and police brutality. We always need lawyers dedicating their time, paid and pro bono, to these emergencies, too. “It’s beautiful the way the world works, that when there is an outstanding emergency you do see a new spirit from volunteers. The more people who experience and enjoy pro bono work during a novel time like coronavirus, it’s only going to help when it comes to asking lawyers to volunteer for other societal issues that are always happening and always pressing.”

“IT WAS PRETTY IMPRESSIVE TO SEE THE POWER OF TWO OR THREE EMAILS. THIS HUGE RALLYING CALL WAS REALLY IMPRESSIVE.” – Reid Simpson, second-year law student “It was pretty impressive to see the power of two or three emails, and to see this materialize from what was a concern at a meeting of a bunch of residents,” he said. “This huge rallying call was really impressive.” After the initial call, the task force decided to expand the offer to all residents in the hospital, totaling more than 1,000 residents. “In no way were we trying to favor Barnes over other hospitals, or residents over other health care workers, but Reid’s wife worked there, so we just started with them and tried to work it out,” Timmerman said. “We thought if we could just help some people, we’ve done something worthwhile.” Participants who watched the Zoom recording would be equipped with the knowledge of how to do basic estate planning themselves, but for those who would want a personal consultation, the appeal for volunteers expanded. In a call to action to BAMSL members on April 7, Ruffin wrote: “Our neighbors and friends in the health care industry are putting themselves at great personal risk in the fight against coronavirus. We, as estate planners, are uniquely positioned to help them and to give them one less thing to worry about.” More than 75 probate attorneys signed up in the first week. Timmerman was initially worried they’d be barraged with requests right away and would not have enough volunteers, but it ended up being “slow and steady.”

In this instance, he noted the uplifting nature of the effort – everyone at every level dropped everything to deal with the coronavirus. “We’re doing it because it’s just important; there’s no other choice. For lawyers, it’s a unique opportunity when you can do something that feels like you’re helping in an emergency situation where people’s lives are at stake. It’s nice to feel like you’re helping in some way during this worldwide crisis.” The work has not gone unnoticed. Representatives from other bar associations in Kansas City, Missouri, and Charlotte, North Carolina, are among those who have reached out to the task force to inquire about how this service could be replicated elsewhere. 2L Simpson is just one person who’s deeply grateful for the effort. In a follow-up email to the deans, he wrote: “I email to let you know in the slush of bad news emails you must get, there are amazing people doing amazing things, and I am honored to be part of the SLU LAW community you have cultivated. I look forward to being an active member of this alumni association next year and to returning this outpour of support I have seen.”

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ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT

Seeing the Justice Syste The Hon. Lisa Van Amburg (’75) helps guide the Missouri Bar’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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oming out of retirement less than two years after it began to co-chair the Missouri Bar’s COVID-19 Task Force hadn’t exactly been what Hon. Lisa Van Amburg (’75) had in mind when she stepped down from the bench in 2018. The former appellate judge for the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Eastern District enjoys being of service nonetheless. Van Amburg along with fellow alumnus Hon. James Welsh (’75), former appellate judge for the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Western District, received the phone call from bar president Tom Bender in early March. Both judges were equipped with not only past judicial experience but past practice experience, enabling them to understand the enormity of the situation at hand. “Mostly I think it’s because we’re retired and have the time to work on it,” Van Amburg said. “It’s been 22

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a pleasure for me to work with Judge Welsh and with the wonderful attorneys and practitioners on this task force.”

The Task Force’s Charge

The COVID-19 Task Force was formed with the purpose of making recommendations to the members of the state bar, to the Missouri Supreme Court and to Governor Parson about how to adjust and help the justice system survive this crisis. It is comprised of about 25 people divided into three working groups: civil litigation, criminal law, and a more general group that encompasses issues like estate planning and problems unique to the elderly. The task force already has addressed the challenge of in-person notarization requirements, consulting on legislation that would allow people signing wills, for example, to notarize their wills remotely. It is also working


on formalizing guidelines for judges conducting proceedings virtually, as well as on making recommendations to the court about how jury trial operations can be safely phased back in.

so many predictions that the virus is going to come back in the fall, so I’m thinking it’s a long-term project.”

“Many people who walk into the courthouse are summoned there, so it’s extremely important that they feel before they walk in that there’s protection, and it’s very important that we provide those protections,” Van Amburg said. “There are many rural courthouses in Missouri that I just don’t think have the facilities to conduct jury trials during this crisis. You couldn’t think about putting people in a jury box. Some courthouses don’t even have janitors.”

There is some good news on the horizon.

These courthouses may have to move jury trials to high school gymnasiums or college facilities that have larger spaces, she said.

Bright Lights Van Amburg said she is heartened by seeing the commitment of the Missouri Bar and the Missouri Supreme Court to not only its members but to those who access the justice system, in making sure that resuming ‘normal’ operations does not risk their health and safety. “The other bright light is that some of these changes in terms of operations are going to be improvements to access to justice,” she continued. “We’ve seen the U.S. Supreme Court go remote and look what happened — a lot of people tuned in to the proceedings for the first time. Much of the video

“Many people who walk into the courthouse are summoned there, so it’s extremely important that they feel before they walk in that there’s protection, and it’s very important that we provide those protections.” “We’re just going to have to make adjustments, such as questioning people in small groups in criminal matters,” Van Amburg continued. “You can’t shackle prisoners together in guilty pleas. A lot of new paradigms need to be put into place.”

A Diverse Court System

The task force isn’t left to come up with these solutions on its own; its members have been consulting best practices elsewhere through the National Center for State Courts, a nonprofit that seeks to improve judicial administration in the U.S. and throughout the world, as well as learning from states on the East and West Coasts that have had to develop similar plans earlier.

hearings going on now actually have been going on for a couple years; in probate court in the City of St. Louis, the probate commissioners have been conducting hearings with, for example, people in mental institutions to determine guardianship issues. But now it’s becoming the new normal. “There’s also more consideration now for self-represented litigants who have no access to the courthouse and for people incarcerated, as well,” she said. “They shouldn’t lose their civil rights when they go to prison or cannot access the courthouse for other reasons; many do not have computers. The courts are now thinking about how we need to have a place where they can access computers and be present for these hearings. There’s thinking going on about people who have traditionally not had equal access.”

em through the Crisis The task force also must consider the diverse needs and resources of the various circuits within Missouri’s court system; Van Amburg noted that resources are great in the metropolitan areas compared to the rural areas, so the solutions are not going to be one-size-fits-all. An example: one of the task force’s recommendations is that when the courthouses are reopened, there will be security at the doors to screen people for possible infection. In the metropolitan areas, the municipal governments can help fund tools like thermometers, masks and hand sanitizer, but in the rural areas, there is not money readily available, nor is there the likelihood of being able to social distance. “So members [of the bar] need to keep in touch, and the task force would love to hear from them about some of the unique problems in their courthouses,” Van Amburg said. “We’re hoping for the best, but I don’t know that our task force will be dissolving anytime in the summer, at least while there are

The new coronavirus, while illuminating these longstanding problems, is simultaneously serving as an equalizer of sorts. “Everyone’s thinking about access to justice and what it means, and they don’t think it’s just a problem for disadvantaged people,” Van Amburg said. “We’re all in the same boat of understanding that inequality of wealth and access to justice is a threat to all. “And it’s a problem we could all have – just like the disease, it doesn’t see economic boundaries, and access-to-justice issues now are everyone’s challenge. The justice system is the one system in our democracy in which the doors need to be literally and figuratively open to everyone, or else the democracy fails. This COVID-19 has raised our awareness of that, and that’s a good thing.” SLB

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Legal Education in a Pandemic II: Serving Clients in the Human Rights at Home Litigation Clinic

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n mid-March, the entire student body along with the professors had to rapidly adapt to legal education taking on an entirely new format. But the students and professors in the Legal Clinics had an additional challenge – how to help their clients. The new Human Rights at Home Litigation Clinic had just launched in January, and now its students and director Prof. Lauren Bartlett were thrown further into unfamiliar territory. “We had very little ‘normal’ times,” Bartlett said. Her clinic primarily serves immigrant clients on issues that are ancillary to their immigration status, such as workers’ issues, housing issues, domestic violence and more. While there are a few local places that provide legal resources specific to immigration law – Catholic Legal Assistance Ministry (CLAM) located in Scott Hall being one of them – there are not nonprofit legal organizations that address other needs of immigrant clients specifically. Second-year clinic student Courtney Federico said she has focused on immigration in her legal studies for that reason. “A lot of people don’t realize the impact other issues can have on immigration – just pleading wrong to something can impact your status, and immigrants’ cases need to be handled differently because of the impact it can have overall,” Federico said. “For my clients, there’s this whole other discrimination level,” Bartlett said. 24

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“We had clients who are asylees, hold green cards and are in the process of becoming U.S. citizens who wanted guardianship of their adult son, and the first attorney they went to said ‘You have to be a citizen or the court won’t let you.’ And that’s wrong information. “Some of it is systemic, some of it is just [lack of] knowledge,” she continued. “Some of it is really people who are being discriminatory purposefully, like employers and landlords.”

“Even in the middle of all this, there are small wins and successes.” These issues have been exacerbated in light of COVID-19. “Since the coronavirus, things have gotten a lot worse for our clients in terms of discrimination and in terms of fear,” Bartlett said. “Most or all of them are out of work right now. Most work in hotels, grocery stores, restaurants, construction. Even those who have green cards are really worried about getting diagnosed with the virus and having to seek out health care and being unemployed. They don’t want to become a public charge. Some have applied for unemployment, but there are lots of concerns about what that means for their ability to stay in the country, what that means for their kids. “My students did a great job of working on their cases [at the beginning of the semester], doing what they’re supposed to do, and then suddenly there was this flood

of all these other things they are experiencing,” Bartlett continued. “It’s been hard because we can’t meet the demand.” She and the students try to do so by fielding as many inquiries as they can. They also created an information sheet in multiple languages that they have been distributing, which contains details about food banks, health clinics, COVID-19 testing, stimulus payment information and the moratorium on evictions. “Every one of them recognized there was this huge need and they have special skills to respond,” she said. “The clinic was an outlet for that because they’re helping individuals in a tangible way. Even in the middle of all this, there are small wins and successes.”

Remote Challenges

Continuing to work with clients from the students’ various locations at home created its own challenges. Confidentiality and communication became complicated: because Federico and her clinic partner were both living with others, they had to make sure they never said their clients’ names aloud. Some clients had language barriers and could only communicate through translators. One judge had heard about “Zoom-bombing,” so had Bartlett figure out a landline-based conference call service for a hearing instead. They learned how to conduct remote notarizations. Hearings were pushed back repeatedly. And then there were the cases themselves. The clinic immediately saw a huge spike in unpaid wages claims. “We had a client come to us who was working for three months alongside five other men and never got paid; they were told they were going to be fired and


immigration was going to be called on them,” Federico said. “They just had to leave and couldn’t fight for their payment.” The client had been brought to the U.S. by that company with the promise of a job, and now it threatened him with deportation. She says this points to a bigger systemic issue of a lack of protection for immigrants. “We have this idea in our heads of what trafficking is, but we forget that it is also people who are trying to get a better life for their family and are being convinced by employers to come to America, take this job,” she said. “So many people come without doing it through ‘legal means,’ and once you’re here it’s hard to fix that and do it through the legal means; you really don’t have a pathway. So they’re trapped in this situation.” Perhaps even more jarring than the increase in certain types of cases is the decrease of others. “I was getting calls every week about protection orders, and I haven’t gotten one since this happened,” Bartlett said. “I think it’s because the person is with their abuser, wherever they are. We have several clients who are survivors of domestic violence who have temporary protection orders and are trying to make them longer term, and their hearings are being pushed back. There are lots of questions about whether the respondent is getting the information, and if the respondent is in jail, is he going to be released because of coronavirus.” One of the protection order requests that came in before everything shut down was fielded by Onalee Chappeau, a 3L who had done clinic during the fall 2019 semester and had worked closely with a client on another issue. That client contacted her directly after a domestic

violence incident early in the spring semester, and even though Chappeau was no longer a clinic student, she agreed to take the case under Bartlett’s guidance. “[The client and I] went to the courthouse together on a very cold and windy day, and she filled out the paperwork,” Chappeau said. “At that time, we didn’t know it would be months before the order of protection would be final. When the court[houses] first closed back in March, I made sure to update her regularly. The biggest hurdle was coordinating the [virtual] hearing time and the technology with the client. From my perspective, it was my first time doing any kind of questioning in front of a judge, and it felt a little weird to be sitting in my home office wearing a suit, instead of standing up in court. In the end, I think having the hearing over video made it more comfortable for her, since she was able to give her testimony and know that it was confidential.” In mid-June, in the midst of studying for the bar exam, Chappeau completed the final hearing and successfully got the protection order for her client.

Some Constants Remain

Both Federico and Chappeau noted that one of the hardest parts about doing clinic work away from the clinic was missing out on the collegial atmosphere in Scott Hall. “It was a safer environment being in clinic,” Federico said. “You have Prof. Bartlett right down the hall. I had 3Ls in the room and could look over and say ‘Hey, are you guys familiar with this kind of law?’ When you’re in your own home, it makes you more hesitant to ask.” “The clinic is such a great, open, collaborative community,” Chappeau agreed. “During the pandemic, Prof. Bartlett and I tried to maintain this style of communication using email, phone and text.” “Prof. Bartlett was very understanding and very much in control of the situation at all times,” Federico said. “She transitioned seamlessly, which helped us transition. And she emphasized that our health was also a priority.” She even offered to have Ted Drewes frozen custard delivered to her students living in town in lieu of the end-of-semester banquet they would have had.

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Bartlett is just as complimentary of her students as they are of her.

“My students finished their hours, put in extra hours; they were diligent working on their cases,” she said. “I’ve heard from lots of other law schools, and half of their students are just ‘missing.’ My students definitely care about their clients.”

“Working with my client reminded me that sometimes a critical part of a lawyer’s job is to show up and stay the course.” And at the end of the day, that commitment to the clients was what the students took away from the experience more than anything else. “Working with my client reminded me that sometimes a critical part of a lawyer’s job is to show up and stay the course,” Chappeau said. “[It] was about doing little things throughout a six-month period – taking her to the courthouse to apply for the order, having hard conversations about the events leading up to needing the order, checking in throughout the pandemic, and being willing to ask the right questions during the hearing.” After the hearing was over, Chappeau said her client told her, “I’m so proud of you! I’m so glad I was your first client.” “And I said the same thing to her – I am so proud of how she advocated for her own safety, for the safety of her children and for their future. Being her lawyer was all about partnering with her.” SLB VOLUME 21 ISSUE 1

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The Race for a T COVID-19 Vaccine: Legal Issues at Play

he COVID-19 pandemic will almost certainly be the event 2020 will be remembered by. In my work for both the Center for Health Law Studies and the Center for International and Comparative Law, I have been monitoring the COVID-19 vaccine race since January.

Faculty View: Ana Santos Rutschman

I specialize in issues at the intersection of health law and intellectual property, and for years now I have been working on analysis related to vaccine development, approval and commercialization. In this piece, I will outline some of these issues that have particular legal and policy salience for our collective approach to both short-term and long-term preparedness for future outbreaks of infectious diseases. First, there is the sheer speed at which vaccine research and development is occurring — and for that matter, the development of drugs and treatments for COVID-19. This compression of research and development (R&D) timelines for vaccines is very unusual. Throughout the outbreak, I have been advising producers at Netflix and Showtime on documentaries about the ongoing vaccine race. The number one question I get is how quickly can we get a vaccine to those who need it, and what is the role of the law in this process? Questions about the timeline of a COVID-19 vaccine have been notoriously tricky to address. From a scientific perspective, vaccine development, testing and manufacturing normally occur over the arc of many years, sometimes even decades. Dr. Fauci has repeatedly pointed out that even with the unusual number of resources focused on COVID-19 research, it will take more than a few months for a vaccine to come to market. But there are already legal mechanisms at play to pave the way for that day.

Regulatory Questions On the regulatory side of things, the Food and Drug Administration has been issuing emergency use authorizations (EUAs), which allow for unapproved medical products (or unapproved uses of approved medical products) to occur during a public health crisis. The standard for EUAs is significantly lower than the usual standards for regulatory review. And this is where we begin treading into uncharted waters: there has been enormous pressure for regulators to streamline approval processes where COVID-19 technology is concerned, but the FDA normally does not issue EUAs for vaccines. The only exception occurred with an anthrax vaccine in the mid-2000s, but it was an authorization for expanded use of an already approved vaccine. The FDA has never granted an EUA for an unapproved vaccine because this is a particular form of technology: vaccines are administered to healthy people, 26

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FACULTY VIEW so it is very hard to extract any information about efficacy of a vaccine candidate unless it is administered to high-risk populations. While normally an EUA is a mechanism to expedite drug R&D, in the case of COVID-19 vaccines it might actually be counterproductive for one to be issued, at least during the early stages of clinical trials: scientists would be unable to pinpoint exactly how well or how poorly a given vaccine would be working. In other words, an EUA here would lead to pointless data, and if a vaccine was subsequently approved by the FDA, it might not actually protect people who need it. The solution? Consider a vaccine EUA only after vaccine candidates are tested on first-responders or other healthcare workers, while making sure that science-informed policy continues to be upheld at the FDA.

Intellectual Property Law Bringing vaccines to market also has an intellectual property dimension to it. Vaccines consist of an amalgamation of different technologies, from viral matter to stabilizers, adjuvants, delivery devices and methods, to name a few. Many of these components are patented. The good news here is that, unlike in other areas, we do not expect a patent war surrounding COVID-19 vaccine technology: in this sense, the law is unlikely to constitute a barrier to expedited technology transfer among companies and vaccine licensure. Nevertheless, patents do give rightsholders the ability to charge supra-competitive prices for their products. Given the United States’ lack of price controls for biopharmaceutical products, the affordability of drugs needed by large swaths of the population – even in the context of public health crises – has long posed problems to our healthcare system. Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar, stated that there is no way to guarantee that COVID-19 vaccines will be priced affordably. Yet, this is not necessarily true. First, patent law has built-in mechanisms that allow the government to intervene. In the case of federally funded inventions, the BayhDole Act has given funding agencies marchin rights – the ability to grant non-exclusive licenses to non-patentees if rightsholders are not able to meet health needs. Second, the Defense Production Act allows the government to compel production of different medical technologies, including vaccines. And third, international laws the United States is subject to (the TRIPS Agreement as amended in 2017) allow for compulsory licensing of biopharmaceutical products, including patented vaccines. Early on in the pandemic, many countries – from Canada to France, Germany and Israel – changed their laws to make compulsory licensing procedurally less cumbersome (and therefore faster) than under international standards.

Emerging Health Technologies: Innovation, Law and Policy This seminar explores the ways in which law and policy shape innovation in biomedical technologies. Students first examine the role of tools including patents, market exclusivity, grants and prizes in spurring the production, transfer and dissemination of new technologies. Then they look at roles of institutions supporting basic scientific research, such as the NIH, the Gates Foundation, Google and NASA. Finally, the seminar turns to discrete topics in biomedical innovation: the landscape surrounding the development of oncology drugs, gene therapies, precision medicine, and wearable medical devices, among others. Students also gain in-depth knowledge of evolving controversies in emerging areas such as drug price gouging, the development of cancer vaccines, regulation of medical 3D printing and alternative systems for fighting antibiotic resistance. The seminar always features a guest speaker; past speakers have included the leading U.S. scholar on gene editing (CRISPR) technology and a practitioner specializing in artificial intelligence in health care. Prof. Ana Santos Rutschman’s vision for this seminar is simple: “studying the technologies of tomorrow, today.” The course enhances the health law curriculum by connecting core health law themes, such as access to medicines, to different areas in technology and policy, from intellectual property to data protection and antitrust. The fall 2020 semester will be the third time Santos Rutschman teaches this seminar at SLU LAW.

Next Steps While the U.S. legal and regulatory structure poses challenges in bringing COVID-19 vaccines to market, in the coming months we have a limited window of opportunity to get the licensure of emerging vaccines right. This entails expediting FDA approval without compromising the efficacy of these vaccines, as well as pricing them affordably. Ultimately, however, we will also need to spend time considering how to improve our FDA and intellectual property laws before the next outbreak of an infectious disease occurs. This fall, SLU LAW students will be spending a lot of time pondering these issues in Emerging Health Technologies: Innovation, Law and Policy, a seminar I teach that is part of the health law concentration curriculum. And it is my hope that one day they will be helping our legal system respond better to the many challenges posed by pandemics and epidemics. SLB VOLUME 21 ISSUE 1

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SCHOOL OF LAW CELEBRATES FIFTH

Order of the Fleur de Lis Class

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aint Louis University School of Law celebrated 10 alumni at the fifth annual Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Feb. 7, 2020. The Order of the Fleur de Lis is the school’s highest honor.

These individuals were recognized for not only excellence in the profession but for their lifelong dedication to service to others in the Jesuit tradition. The Rev. David J. Suwalsky, S.J., Ph.D., chair of the Department of Theological Studies, gave the invocation. Law development director Michael Ruiz (Chaifetz ’12, Grad ’20), University President Fred P. Pestello, Ph.D., and School of Law Dean William P. Johnson gave brief remarks.

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“These inductees have pursued paths that have made them guardians of the rule of law and the architects of a more just society, and that gives me a great deal of pride in this profession,” Dean Johnson said. “It makes me mindful of the role that SLU LAW plays in it. I hope each of you shares a deep sense of pride in being lawyers who do good and who seek justice.” Congratulations to all of the following individuals who have brought honor to Saint Louis University and whose legacy will inspire generations of SLU LAW students to come. Learn more about the 2020 class of inductees by watching this year’s Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame video tribute. Visit slu.edu/law/news.


ORDER OF THE FLEUR DE LIS

John J. Ammann

Class of 1984 John J. Ammann served for 25 years as a teacher and supervising lawyer in the Legal Clinics at Saint Louis University School of Law, as he and his students provided free legal services to the poor, to those with disabilities, to veterans, to children in foster care, and to men and women in prison. Ammann was selected as Faculty Member of the Year by the graduating class four times. He served as the McDonnell Professor of Justice in American Society until his retirement in 2018. Ammann was the director of the Legal Clinics for 17 years, having joined the law school in 1994 after serving as an attorney at Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance in Illinois. Ammann and his students, working alongside many others, represented thousands of indigent clients in individual cases and class actions involving civil rights, public benefits, employment, municipal court abuses and domestic violence.

Dana J. Boente

Class of 1982 Dana J. Boente was named general counsel to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in January 2018. He previously served as Acting Assistant Attorney General of the National Security Division (April 2017 to February 2018) and as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia in the U.S. Department of Justice (December 2015 to January 2018; acting: September 2013 to December 2015), a position to which he was nominated by former President Barack Obama. Boente was appointed by President Donald Trump and served as Acting Attorney General of the U.S. from Jan. 30 to Feb. 9, 2017, and as Acting Deputy Attorney General of the U.S. from Feb. 9 to April 26, 2017. He is a 35-year veteran of the Department of Justice and has spent his entire professional career in public service. In December 2012, he was appointed by Attorney General Eric Holder to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, a position he held until September 2013. Boente earned his B.S. in business administration, his MBA and his J.D. from Saint Louis University.

The Hon. Joan M. Burger

Class of 1976 Judge Joan Burger was a circuit judge for the 22nd Judicial Circuit for 13 years (1995 to 2008). During her tenure, she was the St. Louis Drug Court judge for its first two years and ran an informal truancy court in St. Louis City schools for four years. She was chairman of the St. Louis Board of Election Commissioners from 2011 to 2016. She is currently a mediator with USA&M. Before becoming a judge, Burger practiced law for 19 years. In 1976, she was a staff attorney for the St. Louis Juvenile Court, then an Assistant Circuit Attorney in St. Louis, one of two females out of 45 prosecutors. She also was a hearing officer for the St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners. She was one of the founding members and a past president of the Women Lawyers’ Association of Greater St. Louis and has served on many bar committees and community boards.

Lance Callis*

Class of 1959 Lance Callis graduated from Saint Louis University School of Law in 1959 and began a long and successful career as a trial lawyer in Granite City, Illinois. He received numerous awards during his nearly 60 years as a distinguished attorney in the area. He was named by the Illinois Bar Association as a Laureate of the Academy of Illinois Lawyers for his expertise of over 50 years. Callis was involved in multiple philanthropic and charitable causes over the years, with particular emphasis on the Jesuits and SLU LAW, establishing an endowed chair and full scholarships for exemplary students for their outstanding academic achievements, known as “Callis Scholars.” He was preceded in death by his wife, Joan M. Callis, née Wegrzyn. He is survived by his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Donald J. Gunn, Jr.

Class of 1960 Donald Gunn, Jr. received his J.D. from Saint Louis University School of Law after first receiving a SLU undergraduate degree. A partner in the law firm Gunn and Gunn, P.C., he has served as president of the Lawyers Association of St. Louis and president of the Board of Governors of Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital. He was appointed by the governor of Missouri as chairman of the St. Louis County Board of Election Commissioners and served two separate terms as municipal judge for Richmond Heights, for a total of 25 years. Gunn previously served as general chairman of the Archdiocesan Development Appeal (now ACA) and as president of the Missouri Athletic Club. He was a founding board member of Boys Hope/Girls Hope of St. Louis and a member of the organization’s national board of directors. He is a recipient of SLUH’s Backer Award, SLU’s Alumni Merit Award and the Award of Honor from the Lawyers Association of St. Louis. He served in the U.S. Air Force and was stationed at Toul-Rosières Air Base in France.

Malcolm J. Harkins III

Class of 1976 Malcolm “Mal” J. Harkins III serves as professor of practice in the SLU LAW Center for Health Law Studies. Harkins also has taught in the schools of public health and of nursing of The George Washington University. Prior to teaching, Harkins practiced health care law in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, California, for 38 years. Most recently, he was a senior partner in the Health Care Department of Proskauer Rose LLP and prior to that was a founding partner of Casson & Harkins. As a practitioner, Harkins’ clients were publicly and privately held entities involved in almost all aspects of health care delivery, including hospitals, institutional pharmacies and manufacturers of medical equipment. Harkins handled matters involving payment for health care, licensure, Medicare and Medicaid certification, compliance, fraud and abuse, quality of care, federal and state False Claims Acts, unfair and deceptive acts and practices, antitrust, RICO, corporate governance, administrative law and the Federal Arbitration Act. VOLUME 21 ISSUE 1

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ORDER OF THE FLEUR DE LIS

Janette M. Lohman

Class of 1981 Janette M. Lohman earned her J.D. from SLU LAW and her MBA from Chaifetz School of Business in 1981. A certified CPA, Lohman earned her LL.M. in taxation in 1985 from Washington University School of Law. In 1987, Lohman joined McDonnell Douglas Corporation, where she advanced from a senior corporate attorney to corporate counsel to director of tax planning and assistant general counsel. In 1993, Lohman was appointed by the late Gov. Mel Carnahan as director of the Missouri Department of Revenue, where she was responsible for overseeing the Department’s operations. In 1998, Lohman joined the Kansas City office of Blackwell Sanders Matheny Weary & Lombardi LLP as a partner. She also began teaching a seminar in SALT at SLU LAW, where she was chosen to receive the Universitywide Faculty Excellence Award in 2006. In 2003, Lohman joined Thompson Coburn LLP as a partner and has remained there ever since.

The Hon. Leslie Miller

Class of 1976 Judge Leslie Miller has been a judge with the Pima County Superior Court since 1985. She has served as associate presiding judge and criminal presiding judge and initiated the adult Drug Court in Pima County. Miller received her law degree from SLU LAW in 1976 and worked in both the private and public sectors before being appointed a Tucson City magistrate in 1982. She has served on the board of governors of the American Bar Association (ABA) and the State Bar of Arizona. She was elected chair of the ABA Judicial Division and the National Conference of State Trial Judges and president of the Pima County Bar Association, the Arizona Judges Association, the Morris K. Udall Inn of Court and the Arizona Association of Drug Court Professionals. She is a delegate to the ABA House of Delegates. Miller has been actively involved in many community organizations, serving as president of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Tucson, La Frontera and Susan G. Komen Southern Arizona. Miller also has served on the boards of the YMCA and the Tucson International Mariachi Conference and chaired women’s leadership programs for the YMCA. In 2001, Miller was named Tucson Woman of the Year.

The Hon. Lawrence E. Mooney

Class of 1974 Judge Lawrence E. Mooney served on the Eastern District of the Missouri Court of Appeals from 1998 until his retirement in 2019. Prior to that appointment, Mooney served as assistant prosecuting attorney from 1975 to 1977 and as first assistant prosecuting attorney from 1979 to 1990 in St. Louis County. From 1991 to 1998, Mooney held the position of executive assistant to the county executive of St. Louis County. While on the bench, Mooney was a member of the Drug Courts Coordinating Commission and chair of the Missouri Judicial Finance Commission. Mooney is a member of the Missouri Bar, BAMSL, the St. Louis County Bar Association, the Lawyers Association of St. Louis, and Lawyers for Equality. Mooney also serves as a member and secretary for the board of trustees of Laumeier Sculpture Park. He received his law degree from Saint Louis University School of Law in 1974. He has been honored by the Midwest LGBTQ Law Conference with the President’s Award and the Warren Welliver Award from Missouri Lawyers Assistance Program, among others.

The Hon. Donald G. Wilkerson

Class of 1993 Judge Donald G. Wilkerson was appointed U.S. magistrate judge on Jan. 4, 2005. Wilkerson, a native of East St. Louis, was the first AfricanAmerican appointed to the bench in the Southern District of Illinois. He received his B.S. from Illinois State University in 1973 and a master’s degree in education from SIUE in 1978. He attended the evening program of SLU LAW, where he received his J.D. (cum laude) in 1993. Wilkerson began his legal career at the Thompson Mitchell (now Thompson Coburn) law firm in St. Louis in 1993 and later worked at the Stolar Partnership. In 1995, he joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office in St. Louis, where he served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney until his appointment to the bench. Wilkerson has been an adjunct professor at Washington University School of Law teaching in its trial clinic for more than 20 years. Prior to his legal career, Wilkerson taught and coached in the East St. Louis, Illinois Public Schools for 17 years. Wilkerson retired in January of 2019, but continues to serve the citizens of Southern Illinois as a recalled magistrate judge.

Call for Nominations Do you know a worthy individual whose professional and personal contributions have brought honor to the legal community and to SLU LAW? Nominate them for the 2021 Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame Class. Nominations should be submitted by Sept. 30, 2020. Please visit slu.edu/law/alumni/order-f leur-de-lis.php.

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VOLUME 21 ISSUE 1

31


FACULTY SCHOLARSHIP

SLU LAW faculty continue to produce excellent scholarship, read and recognized at national and international levels. The following is a sampling of our faculty’s scholarship successes in 2019. MATTHEW T. BODIE

CHAD W. FLANDERS

Callis Family Professor of Law

Professor

Labor Interests and Corporate Power, 99 B.U. L. Rev. 1123 (2019) (Symposium, Institutional Investor Activism in the 21st Century: Responses to a Changing Landscape).

What Makes the Death Penalty Arbitrary (and Does It Matter If It Is)?, 2019 Wis. L. Rev. 55.

Organizational Power for Workers Within the Firm, in Cambridge Handbook of U.S. L abor L aw, Reviving A merican L abor for a 21 st Century Economy (Charlotte Garden & Richard A. Bales eds., Cambridge U. Press 2019). Worker Participation, Sustainability, and the Puzzle of the Volkswagen Emissions Scandal, in Cambridge Handbook of Corporate L aw, Corporate Governance and Sustainability (Cambridge U. Press 2019). Editors’ Page, 34 ABA L ab. & Emp. L. J. 1 (2019) (with Miriam A. Cherry & Marcia McCormick).

LYNN S. BRANHAM

Actual and Constructive Possession in Alaska: Clarifying the Doctrine, 36 A laska L. Rev. 1 (2019). Dangerous Instruments: A Case Study in Overcriminalization (with Desiree Austin-Holliday), 83 Mo. l. Rev. 259 (2018). Political Philosophy and Punishment, in The Palgrave Handbook of A pplied & The Criminal L aw (Larry Alexander & Kim Ferzan, eds., 2019). An Incomplete Masterpiece, 66 UCLA L. Rev. Discourse 154 (2019) (with Sean J. Oliveira). Review of Elinor Mason, Ways to be Blameworthy: Rightness, Wrongness, and Responsibility, Notre Dame Phil. Rev. (July 1, 2019).

JOEL K. GOLDSTEIN

Visiting Professor of Law

Vincent C. Immel Professor of Law Emeritus

Eradicating the Label ‘Offender’ From the Lexicon of Restorative Practices and Criminal Justice, 9 Wake Forest L. Rev. Online 53 (2019).

Celebrating the Presidential Inability Provisions of the Twenty-fifth Amendment, 10 ConLawNOW 119-152 (2019). Judicial Supremacy in a Federalism Context Through the Lens of Cooper, 41 U. A rk. At Little Rock L. Rev. 161 (2019). Resolved the Vice Presidency Should Be Abolished? Con, in Debating The Presidency: Conflicting Perspectives On The A merican E xecutive (Richard J. Ellis and Michael Nelson eds., 5th ed. 2019).

MIRIAM A. CHERRY

Professor

Crowdwork, Conflicts of Law, and Global Supply Chains (U.N.-ILO Working Paper, 2019). Age Discrimination in the On-Demand Economy, 40 Berkeley J. L ab. & Emp. L. 29 (2019). “Contemplating New Categories of Workers: Technology and the Fissured Workplace, Cambridge Handbook of U.S. L abor L aw, Reviving A merican L abor for a 21 st Century Economy (2019). (Charlotte Garden & Richard A. Bales eds., Cambridge U. Press 2019). Editors’ Page, 34 ABA L ab. & Emp. L. J. 1 (2019) (with Matthew T. Bodie & Marcia McCormick).

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WILLIAM P. JOHNSON

Professor

Continuing Relevance in the United States of the U.N. Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, in International Contracts, 53 The Year in Review 61 (2019).


SAMUEL P. JORDAN

KAREN PETROSKI

Professor

Professor

Hybrid Removal, 104 Iowa L. Rev. 793 (2019).

The Elusive Public, Then and Now, 6:2 Critical Analysis of Law 1 (2019) (contribution to symposium on Trevor Ross, Writing in Public: Literature and the Liberty of the Press in Eighteenth-Century Britain (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018)).

YVETTE JOY LIEBESMAN

ANA SANTOS RUTSCHMAN

Professor

Assistant Professor

Litigating Against the Artificially Intelligent Infringer (with Julie Cromer Young), ___ Florida International University L. Rev. ___ (2019).

At A Post-Gottlieb FDA, What Does The Future Hold For Public Health?, Health Affairs Blog (Mar. 22, 2019). On the Judicialization of Health, 18 Wash. U. Global Stud. L. Rev. 559 (2019). The Vaccine Race in the 21st Century, 61 A rizona L. Rev. 729 (2019).

MARCIA L. MCCORMICK

Professor Employment L aw (Mark A. Rothstein at al. eds., 6th ed. 2019) (2-vol. treatise). Employment L aw (Mark A. Rothstein at al. eds., 6th ed. 2019) (1 vol. hornbook). United Auto Workers v. Johnson Controls, in Feminist Judgments: Employment Discrimination Opinions Rewritten (Ann McGinley & Nicole Buonocore Porter eds., Cambridge U. Press 2019). Editors’ Page, 34 ABA Lab. & Emp. L. J. 1 (2019) (with Matthew T. Bodie & Miriam A. Cherry). The World Turned Upside Down: Employment Discrimination, Race, and Authenticity in Hamilton, in Hamilton A nd The L aw A nthology (2019).

HENRY M. ORDOWER

Professor

Abandoning Realization and the Transition Tax: Toward a Comprehensive Tax Base, 67 Buffalo L. Rev. 1371 (2019). Exploring the Impact of Taxation on Immigration in Michael Sachs, Theodor Baums, Hermann Remsperger, and Volker Wieland, eds., Staat und GELD. RECHTLICHE UND ÖKONOMISCHE PERSPEKTIVEN: FESTSCHRIFT ZU EHREN Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. Helmut Siekmann (2019).

ELIZABETH PENDO

From Venetian Glass to Contemporary Intellectual Property: Revisiting Tailored Patent Regimes, JOTWELL (2019).

CONSTANCE Z. WAGNER

Professor

International Human Rights (co-author and editor), 53 The Year in Review 401 (2019). Evolving Norms of Corporate Social Responsibility: Lessons Learned from the European Union Directive on Non-Financial Reporting, 19 Tenn. J. Bus. L 619 (2018). Change from Within: Using Task Forces and Best Practices to Achieve Gender Equity for University Faculty, 47 J. L. & Educ. 295 (2018). International Human Rights (editor), Year in Review, 52 The International L awyer 437 (2018) (Official Publication of American Bar Association, Section of International Law).

SIDNEY D. WATSON

Jane and Bruce Robert Professor of Law

Giving Voice to Medicaid: Waivers, Public Comment and Kentucky’s Secret Sauce, 45 A m. J. L. Medicine & Ethics 194 (with Cara Stewart) (2019).

RUQAIIJAH YEARBY

Joseph J. Simeone Professor of Law

Professor

The Costs of Uncertainty: The DOJ’s Stalled Progress on Accessible Medical Equipment under the Americans with Disabilities Act, 12 St. Louis Univ. J. Health L. & Pol’y 351 (2019).

Internalized Oppression: The Impact of Gender and Racial Bias in Employment on the Health Status of Women of Color, 49 Seton Hall L. Rev. 1037 (2019).

Knowledge of Practicing Physicians about their Legal Obligations When Caring for Patients with Disability, 38(4) Health A ffairs 545 (2019) (with Nicole Agaronnik, et al.).

Medicaid’s EPSDT Benefit: An Opportunity to Improve Pediatric Screening for Social Determinants of Health, Med. Care Res. & Rev. 1 (Sept. 2019) (with Nisha Malhorta et al).

Permitted Incentives for Workplace Wellness Plans under the ADA and GINA: The Regulatory Gap, 31(4) The Health L awyer 1 (2019) (with Brandon Hall).

When Equal Pay is Not Enough: The Continuation of Institutional Bias in Employment and its Influence on Gender and Racial Disparities in Health, 49 Seton Hall L. Rev. (July/August 2019). Medicare for All: How to Reduce Inequality in the Long-Term Care Market, Yale Law School, Law & Political Economy Blog, October 9, 2019.

VOLUME 21 ISSUE 1

33


THE IMMEL SOCIETY

HONOR ROLL

The Vincent C. Immel Society honors donors who support SLU LAW through annual leadership giving of $1,000 or more to any law school fund. Contributions made by our Immel Society donors provide support to meet the most immediate challenges facing SLU LAW. Through their generosity, this select group of leaders sets the pace for graduating practice-ready attorneys and advancing SLU LAW’s mission to pursue excellence in teaching, research and service to the community.

On the following pages, we acknowledge with sincerest gratitude our annual leadership donors who have generously supported SLU LAW during the past fiscal year. These reflect gifts received from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019.

If you would like to learn more about how you can support our efforts in educating the next generation of SLU LAW attorneys, please contact Michael Ruiz, director of development, at michael.ruiz@slu.edu or 314-977-2818.

$50,000-$99,999

> Arthur (A&S ’69, Law ’73) and Maria de Graffenried > William C. Wefel (A&S ’66, Law ’68)

> Rose N. Perotti (Law ’57)

> Bruce (A&S ’70, Law ’73) and Jane Robert

> Gary (Law ’83) and Catherine (Law ’83) Rutledge > Albert (A&S ’61, Law ’64) and Susan Schlueter > Vernon (A&S ’82, Law ’85) and Sue Singer

$25,000-$49,999

> Joseph (Chaifetz ’80, Law ’84, Grad Chaifetz ‘85) and Claudia Bartholomew

> Stephen (Law ’88) and Angela Strum

> Jane M. and Bruce P. Robert Charitable Foundation > Schlueter Trust

> The Hon. Anna C. Forder (A&S ’61, Law ’74)

> Jon (Law ’70) and Lea Theobold

> Schwab Charitable Fund

> Thompson Coburn LLP

$10,000-$24,999

$2,500-$4,999

> Steven (Chaifetz ’70, Law ’73) and Mary (A&S ’73) Frank

> Howard (Law ’77) and Patricia (Law ’78) Adelman

> Larry (Law ’86) and Therese Miller

> Mildred Bahle*

> Mark Schulte (A&S ’75, Law ’78) and Mary Holcomb

> T. Jack (Law ’72) and Victorian Challis

> John (A&S ’60, Law ’62) and Joan Bray

> Anonymous Donor

> David (A&S ’65, Law ’67) and Margaret Hensler

> Christelle M. Adelman-Adler (A&S ’69, Law ’72)

> Mary Beth Ortbals (A&S ’64, Law ’68)

> Carpenter Family Children’s Foundation, Inc. > Darlene D. Warnick (Law ’97)

> Thomas (Law ’73) and Nancy Connelly

$5,000-$9,999

> A.J. Bitker Charitable Foundation > Ameren Corporation

> Mark (Law ’84) and Paula Bobak

> Gerard (Law ’75) and Suzanne Carmody

> Dennis Donnelly (A&S ’63, Law ’66) and Rebecca McDermott > Anita (Law ’78) and Stephen Esslinger

> Thomas (Law ’79) and Barbara (A&S ’71) Feiner

> The Hon. Terry (Law ’81) and Mary Ellen Gould > Robert and Cathleen Haar > Nancy M. Hawes (Law ’04) > Jackson Lewis P.C.

> John (A&S ’67, Law ’71) and Susan Kilo > Marcia L. McCormick (Faculty)>

> The Hon. Michael (Law ’75) and Brenda McCuskey

> Michael (A&S ‘59, Law ‘61) and Bonnie (SOE ‘62)* O’Keefe

> The Hon. Kathianne (Law ’71) and David (Law ’78) Crane > Steven (Law ’74) and Barbara Davis > Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund

> Richard (A&S ’53, Law ’55) and Virginia (A&S ’54) Fister > Joseph (Chaifetz ’61, Law ’64) and Nancy Giljum > Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale P.C.

> Raymond (Law ’59) and Joanne (A&S ’59) Hirsch > Richard (Law ’60) and Patricia Hughes > Husch Blackwell LLP

> Samuel P. Jordan (Faculty) > Keefe, Keefe & Unsell P.C.

> Erika (Law ‘00) and Kristofer (Grad Chaifetz ’04) Knapstein > Mimi (Law ’73) and Kevin (Grad PH ’78) Leahy > Thomas (Law ’87) and Ann Lewis > Yvette J. Liebesman (Faculty)

> Mark (Law ’87) and Mildred McLaughlin Great care was taken to ensure the accuracy of this listing. Should there be any discrepancies, please contact Michael Ruiz at michael.ruiz@slu.edu.

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SLU LAW BRIEF


HONOR ROLL > The Hon. Mary Ann L. Medler (Law ’87)

> Joseph (Law ’52) and Francine Leritz

> G. Keith Phoenix (Law ’74)

> Lewis Rice LLC

> John (Faculty Emeritus) and Barbara O’Brien > Emil L. Poertner (Chaifetz ’48, Law ’52) > Joseph (Law ’79) and Florine Porter

> Sandberg Phoenix & von Gontard P.C.

> Christopher Schmidt (Law ’02) and Silvia Ledesma-Ortiz (A&S ’14) > Terry (Law ’80) and Sally Schnuck

> The Hon. Michael B. Calvin Memorial Foundation

$1,000-$2,499

> Jeffrey (Faculty) and Leslie Lewis > Joseph A. Longo (Law ’83)

> Henry (Law ’60)* and Judith Luepke

> Kilby (Law ’07) and William MacFadden > Madison County Bar Association

> Douglass (Grad PH ’80, Law ’82) and Carol Marshall > Mary Pat McInnis (SW, Ed. ’82, Law ’87, Faculty)

> The Hon. James (Law ’65) and Conception (A&S ’61) Michel > Kevin Mickelsen and Elena Andresen > Monaghan Foundation

> John (Law ’84, Faculty) and Elizabeth Ammann

> James (Law ’84) and Mary Moog

> John (Law ’70) and Suzanne (A&S ’68) Bernardi

> Joseph (Law ’59) and Nancy Mueller

> Grant C. Boyd (A&S ’11, Law ’14)

> Sean J. Murphy (Law ’08)

> Robert (Law ’82) and Wendy (A&S ’82) Brummond

> Timothy (Law ’78) and Deirdre (A&S ’80) Noelker

> Katherine (Law ’87) and David Butler

> Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart PC

> Dennis (A&S ’82, Law ’85) and Margaret Capriglione

> Pecha Family Foundation

> Dean (Law ’86) and Margaret Cobble

> The Hon. Clifford (Law ’82)* and Miriam Proud

> Jesse Goldner (Faculty Emeritus) and Judy Cromwell (Law ’74)

> Mark (Law ’91) and Christine Robbins

> Thomas C. Deline (Law ’83)

> Thomas (Law ’75) and Jane Schmidt

> Frederick (Law ’75) and Mary (Valentine SON ’75) Drakesmith

> The Hon. Karen Schreier (A&S ’78, Law ’81) and Timothy Dougherty

> The Hon. Jimmie (A&S ’78, Law ’81) and Stacy Edwards

> Mary Anne (Law ’75) and Joseph (A&S ’91) Sedey

> Lars Etzkorn (Law ’90) and Gregory Hoss

> Jonathon (Law ’09) and Allison Slabaugh

> Fischer, Bauer, Knirps Foundation

> The Simon Law Firm, P.C.

> Patrick (Chaifetz ’66, Law ’69) and Thiem Flynn

> Dennis (Faculty Emeritus) and Adele Tuchler

> Joel (Faculty) and Maxine Goldstein

> The Hon. Lisa S. Van Amburg (Law ’75, Faculty)

> James (Law ’72) and Dudley Grove

> The Hon. Robert (A&S ’70, Law ’73) and Maxine Weis

> Hoffman Law Firm, P.C.

> The Hon. Michael (Faculty Emeritus) and Dr. Patricia Wolff

> Peter R. Jarosewycz (Law ’76)

*Indicates deceased

> Julie (Law ’86) and Kevin Beattie

> Jean (Law ’80) and Stephen Moore

> Suzanne (Law ’73) and Michael (Grad A&S ’75) Bocchini

> Neal Murphy (A&S ’70)*

> Richard (Law ’72) and Kathryn (A&S ’68) Brandt

> Dane C. Nelson (Law ’19)

> Ann E. Buckley (A&S ’75, Law ’78)

> Dennis (Law ’69) and Sheryl O’Connell

> Judson (Law ’75) and Pilar Calkins

> Roger (Chaifetz ’89, Grad Chaifetz ’93, Law ’93) and Dianne Pecha

> John C. Carve (Law ’74)

> The Hon. Catherine D. Perry

> Erika (Faculty) and Dan Cohn

> John (Chaifetz ’78, Law ’82) and Dr. Maureen Riffle

> Dayton Foundation

> Stanley Schechter (Law ’61) and Elizabeth Van Uum

> Michael Diehl and Alice Benga

> Suzanne J. Schmitz (Law ’81)

> James (Law ’87) and Patricia (A&S ’80, Law ’87) Duft

> Robert (Parks ’64, Law ’68) and Donna Scoular

> Marion (Law ’74) and Dr. Seth Eisen

> Alan Siefel (Law ’75) and Karen Satterlee

> The Hon. Edward (A&S ’51, Law ’57) and Dorothy Filippine

> Mary Ann Stohr

> Susan “Tonie” FitzGibbon (Law ’84, Faculty Emerita)

> Eric (Law ’87) and Therese (Law ‘87) Trelz

> Janice (Grad PH ’79, Law ’79) and William Forsyth

> USDC Eastern District of Missouri

> Beth (Law ’99) and Randy (A&S ’95, Law ’98)* Gori

> Nathaniel (Law ’86) and Stacy (A&S ’92) Walsh

> Rep. Jay (Law ’86) and Laurie Hoffman

> Robert (Law ’55) and Rosalee Welling

> Eric (Law ’91) and Amy Holland > Sandra (A&S ’73, Faculty Emerita) and Robert (A&S ’73) Johnson > William (Faculty) and Kathleen Johnson

VOLUME 21 ISSUE 1

35


CLASS NOTES THROUGH MARCH 13, 2020

Due to space constraints, The Brief can no longer publish St. Louis Magazine’s Best Lawyers listings.

1960

1979

Donald J. Gunn, Jr. was inducted into the SLU LAW Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame.

Michael J. Keating, who recently retired as vice president of litigation and arbitration at Emerson, received a 2019 Corporate Counsel AwardLitigation Leader from St. Louis Business Journal. He also received a 2019 In-House Counsel-Public Company Award from Missouri Lawyers Media.

1962 Jack Bray, senior counsel at King & Spalding, authored a new book Alone Against Hitler: Kurt Von Schuschnigg’s Fight to Save Austria from the Nazis, published by Prometheus Books. Von Schuschnigg was the chancellor of Austria when it fell to Nazi invasion. After World War II, he emigrated to the U.S., where he worked as a professor of political science at Saint Louis University from 1948 to 1967.

1974 Hon. Lawrence E. Mooney was inducted into the SLU LAW Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame. He retired as a judge of the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, in September 2019. Francis O’Connor received the annual St. Thomas More Award at the Red Mass for the Diocese of Scranton in October 2019.

1975 Robert Stewart of Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. was named the 2019 St. Louis Lawyer of the Year - Employment Law-Management by Best Lawyers in America.

1976 Hon. Joan M. Burger was inducted into the SLU LAW Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame. Malcolm J. Harkins III was inducted into the SLU LAW Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame.

Kenneth A. Slavens, partner at Husch Blackwell LLP in St. Louis, joined the Senior Arbitrator Panel of United States Arbitration & Mediation (USA&M).

1980 Mike Bilbrey joined SWMW Law as of counsel. Hon. Rex M. Burlison was elected presiding judge of the 22nd Judicial Circuit, City of St. Louis in January 2019. Hon. Francis G. Slay, attorney with Spencer Fane LLP and former mayor of the City of St. Louis, joined the Mediator and Senior Arbitrator Panels of United States Arbitration & Mediation (USA&M).

1981 Bruce E. Friedman, principal at Paule, Camazine & Blumenthal, P.C., was named 2020 St. Louis Lawyer of the Year - Family Law by Best Lawyers in America. Janette Lohman of Thompson Coburn LLP was named 2020 St. Louis Lawyer of the Year Litigation-Tax by Best Lawyers in America. She also was inducted into the SLU LAW Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame. Maria (Vitale) Perron of the Perron Law Firm, P.C. was elected to serve as board president of Legal Services of Eastern Missouri.

Hon. Leslie Miller was inducted into the SLU LAW Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame.

1977 George Lange became a partner at Seed Funders LLC in Tampa Bay, Florida, where he mentors nonprofit executives concerning building and developing social enterprises. He also was recently appointed to the board of directors of Florida Humanities.

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SLU LAW BRIEF

William G. Buchholz II, solo practitioner in Hazelwood, Missouri, was appointed to the state Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors. Gerard V. Mantese was awarded the Champion of Justice Award by the State Bar of Michigan, the state’s highest award for service to the disadvantaged, for his work in successfully prosecuting a class action lawsuit in favor of autistic children and their parents. He is CEO and senior principal at Mantese Honigman PC. Marvin Nodiff received the 2019 Author of the Year award from the Community Associations Institute (CAI) for two pieces: a history of community association law and the creation of the field of community association management, to be published by CAI. Nodiff’s law practice concentrated in representing condos and HOAs in the metro area and outstate for more than 30 years. He also has served as an adjunct professor at SLU LAW and has published six novels, his most recent work titled The Pinball Lawyer.

1983 Lloyd “Jack” Vasquez, Jr. was named district director of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)’s St. Louis District Office in 2019.

1984 John J. Ammann was inducted into the SLU LAW Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame.

1985 Hon. David A. Hylla retired as the chief judge of the Third Judicial Circuit in Madison County, Illinois. He joined SWMW Law as partner in April 2020. He also received the 2019 Circle of Care Award from Riverbend Head Start & Family Services.

1986 1982 Dana Boente was inducted into the SLU LAW Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame.

Marie Kenyon received an honorary Doctor of Public Service from Saint Louis University in 2019 and was a recipient of the 2019 Dudley C. Dunlop Distinguished Service Award from the St. Louis County Bar Association.


Hon. Elaine L. LeChien was named associate judge for the 20th Judicial Circuit, St. Clair County, Illinois.

1990 S. Todd Hamby, principal at Carmody MacDonald P.C., received a 2020 Influential Appellate Advocate Award from Missouri Lawyers Media.

1991 Hon. Stephen R. Clark was nominated as judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in May 2019. Mary Frontczak joined Compass Minerals International Inc., a global company that operates Earth’s largest underground salt mine, as chief legal and administrative officer and corporate secretary. She leads the legal and human resources departments for operations in the U.S., U.K., Canada and Brazil. James F. Monafo, partner with Husch Blackwell LLP, was named a 2019 Local Litigation Star by Benchmark Litigation. Frank Murphy was promoted to chief compliance officer of Cordell & Cordell, a domestic litigation firm focusing on representing men in family law cases.

1992 Jackie Dimmitt of Thompson Coburn LLP was named St. Louis Lawyer of the Year-Nonprofit / Charities Law in the 2020 edition of Best Lawyers in America. Anne Geraghty-Rathert, professor at Webster University in St. Louis and attorney in private practice, received the 2019 Kemper Award for teaching excellence at Webster and a 2019 Emerson Excellence in Teaching Award for being named one of the top professors in the metropolitan area. Jeffrey Kopis joined law firm Jerome, Salmi & Kopis, LLC as partner. He focuses his practice on personal injury cases in Illinois and Missouri.

1993 Patrick Mehan started his own law firm, the Law Office of Patrick N. Mehan LLC, focusing his practice on estate planning, personal injury, and business law and litigation. Hon. Donald Wilkerson was inducted into the SLU LAW Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame.

1994

1999

Hon. Michael Colona, former state representative, was appointed associate circuit judge for the 22nd Judicial Circuit by Gov. Mike Parson.

Erin Bognar was named assistant general counsel of training and support for the Indiana Department of Child Services.

Winthrop B. “Win” Reed, III, attorney and management committee member at Lewis Rice LLC, was elected to the Midwest BankCentre legal board of directors. He also was named 2019 Trustee of the Year by the Missouri Hospital Association. Reed’s primary practice areas include health care, information technology, technology licensing, cybersecurity and data privacy, antitrust, class action and commercial litigation.

Michael J. Hussey was named interim dean at Widener University Commonwealth School of Law (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania). Previously the associate dean for academic affairs, Hussey is also an associate professor of law and co-director of the school’s Business Advising Program.

1995 Michael J. Thomas, principal at Harness, Dickey & Pierce, P.L.C., was recognized as one of the nation’s top attorneys — and one of only 23 intellectual property attorneys — in the BTI Client Service All-Stars 2019 Report. All-Stars are nominated exclusively by clients for their superior service, innovative thought leadership and unparalleled legal skills.

1996 Anne Garr joined Hilco Global as general counsel for Hilco Redevelopment Partners based in Northbrook, Illinois. Tamara Kenny, director of advocacy and community engagement for Catholic Charities of St. Louis, was named the 2019 Saint Louis Counseling Mental Health Ambassador of the Year.

1997 Hon. Veronica Armouti was appointed associate judge in the Third Judicial Circuit, Madison County, Illinois. Hon. Sara L. Darrow became chief judge for the federal U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois, the first woman to hold the position. David B. Jennings joined Stinson LLP as partner.

1998 Jarrod Henshaw joined Prime Therapeutics LLC as senior vice president, chief supply chain and industry relations officer. Mark LaVigne was appointed president and chief operating officer at Energizer Holdings, Inc. Lisa Moore of Paule, Camazine & Blumenthal, P.C. received a 2020 Legal Champion Award from Missouri Lawyers Media.

2000 Rachelle Crowe, a Democratic member of the Illinois Senate for the 56th District, was selected to head the Illinois Senate Judiciary Committee, taking over from her previous position as vice-chair. She is the first woman to lead the committee.

2001 Derrick Good, partner at the Thurman Law Firm, received the 2020 Spirit of Service Award from Missouri Southern State University. Jennifer R. Piper founded a new law firm in St. Louis, Family Ally, specializing in domestic law. Piper was awarded a Women’s Justice Award from Missouri Lawyers Media in 2019. She is a past president of the St. Louis County Bar Association and remains an active member and volunteer. Christopher Wittenauer, vice president and general counsel, Americas and state government relations of Peabody Energy Corp., received a 2019 Corporate Counsel Award - Energy from St. Louis Business Journal.

2004 Nancy M. Hawes, shareholder at Polsinelli, was named a 2019 Most Influential Business Woman by St. Louis Business Journal. Dana M. Malkus, professor and director of SLU LAW’s Entrepreneurship and Community Development Clinic, received a 2019 For the Common Good Award from Legal Services of Eastern Missouri for her work addressing vacancy in St. Louis. Hon. Michael Noble, circuit judge in the 22nd Judicial Circuit, received the 2019 Judicial Excellence Award – Circuit, presented by Missouri Supreme Court Chief Justice George W. Draper III. Hon. Emily (Jones) Sutton was appointed circuit judge in the Ninth Judicial Circuit in Illinois. Her father, retired Judge Mark Schuering of the Eighth Judicial Circuit of Illinois (’78) gave remarks at the ceremony. Sutton is the second woman to serve as a VOLUME 21 ISSUE 1

37


CLASS NOTES circuit court judge in the Ninth Judicial Circuit. She and her husband, Dr. Christopher Sutton, live in Macomb, Illinois, with their five children.

from participating in federal health care programs, in the interest of protecting taxpayer-funded programs and beneficiaries from abuse.

Rebecca Frigy Romine, shareholder at Polsinelli PC, received a 2019 Up & Coming Award from Missouri Lawyers Media.

2005

Kevin J. McManus, after being reelected in 2019 to the City Council in Kansas City, Missouri, was appointed mayor pro tem, which requires him to perform certain mayoral duties in the absence of the mayor. He is a member of the Finance, Governance and Public Safety Committee and chair of the Special Committee for Legal Review.

Sara Salger was appointed managing partner of The Gori Law Firm.

Luke Dalton of SWMW Law was named partner of the firm. Ryan Dickherber joined SWMW Law as partner. Sara Gillette of Kutak Rock LLP was part of a team representing Arkansas-based Harvest Cannabis Dispensary that secured a preliminary injunction in a trademark dispute that prohibits use of the name “Harvest” in connection with other cannabis facilities in the state. The firm understands this outcome to be the first of its kind, in which a local cannabis dispensary prevailed under state trademark law against a multi-state operator for which federal trademark protection is unavailable. Matthew Noce, partner at HeplerBroom LLC in St. Louis, joined the International Association of Defense Counsel, an invitation-only global legal organization for attorneys who represent corporate and insurance interests. His practice involves general litigation with an emphasis on commercial trucking, premises liability and employment law matters, as well as defending schools and public utilities in litigation matters. Hon. Brittney R. Smith was appointed associate circuit judge for the 11th Judicial Circuit by Gov. Mike Parson. Lauren L. Wood joined Danna McKitrick, P.C. as an associate in the litigation practice. Wood primarily focuses on civil litigation and insurance-related litigation for her clients.

2006 Dennis Harms, shareholder at Sandberg Phoenix & von Gontard P.C., received a 2019 Up & Coming Award from Missouri Lawyers Media. Stephanie R. Harris, CEO and principal of Arrow Senior Living Management, LLC, was named to the St. Louis Business Journal 2019 “40 Under 40” list. Taylor Kerns, shareholder at Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC, received a 2019 Up & Coming Award from Missouri Lawyers Media. Kenneth Kraft of the Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, was part of a team that received a 2019 Gears of Government Award for its work to prevent health care providers convicted of certain serious crimes 38

SLU LAW BRIEF

2007 Lauren Bruning, associate general counsel litigation, environmental, regulatory, employment and benefits at Energizer Holdings, was named to St. Louis Business Journal’s 2019 “40 Under 40” list. Amanda Goldsmith joined the Gateway Arch Park Foundation as its director of development. She also was appointed chair for the 2020-21 Illinois State Bar Association Standing Committee on Legal Education Admission & Competence. Brent Ibata, system director of accreditation and quality assurance for Lee Health, received the 2019 Alumni Merit Award from Saint Louis University’s College for Public Health and Social Justice. Sarah Jagger joined Atròmitos LLC, a management services and consulting firm based in Wilmington, North Carolina, as vice president of operations. In this role, she guides the firm’s business practices, providing support and resources for its partners. Christopher R. LaRose was named an equity partner at Armstrong Teasdale LLP.

2008 Mike Brockland of SWMW Law was named partner of the firm. David Deterding joined Thompson Coburn LLP as a partner in the Labor & Employment practice. He advises domestic and international employers on a wide range of human resource and corporate risk matters. Sarah J. Klebolt, principal with Carmody MacDonald P.C., received a 2019 Up & Coming Award from Missouri Lawyers Media. Erin Luke, partner with Thompson Hine in Cleveland, Ohio, was an honoree in Crain’s Cleveland Business “40 Under 40” 2019 list. Matthew Mahaffey was hired to lead the St. Louis Trial Office of public defenders after five years as an assistant public defender.

Andrew Whitehead joined Armstrong Teasdale LLP as partner. He was previously senior intellectual property counsel and chief privacy officer at Energizer Holdings.

2009 Matthew D. Knepper, partner at Husch Blackwell LLP, received a 2020 Legal Champion Award from Missouri Lawyers Media. Luke Maher was promoted to partner at Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP. He focuses his practice on front end construction, project development and dispute resolution and also has represented clients in industries such as telecommunications, health care, finance, real estate and transportation. Richard T. Middleton IV, adjunct professor at SLU LAW, co-authored his third book Unmastering the Script: Education, Critical Race Theory, and the Struggle to Reconcile the Haitian Other in Dominican Identity, published by the University of Alabama Press. Lauren Wacker received a 2019 Up & Coming Pro Bono Award from Missouri Lawyers Media. Megan Williams, assistant regional director for the Anti-Defamation League Heartland in St. Louis, was named a 2019 Woman of Distinction by Alton YWCA.

2010 Erin Brooks was named partner at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP. She focuses her practice on real estate development and renewable energy. Emily Cantwell was named a 2019 Most Influential Business Woman by St. Louis Business Journal. Stephen Angelette, an associate at Polsinelli based in Dallas, received the Texas Board of Legal Specialization board certification in health law. There are only 73 boardcertified health law lawyers in Texas.


2011

2013

Phillip Terrell, practice leader for the 100 Top Hospitals program at IBM Watson Health, was the SLU LAW Center for Health Law Studies 2019 Practitioner-in-Residence Oct. 7-10.

Patrick J. Eckelkamp, associate at Husch Blackwell LLP, received a 2019 Up & Coming Award from Missouri Lawyers Media. He represents lenders and developers in complex real estate transactions.

Ira H. Trako, assistant director of SLU LAW’s Center for International and Comparative Law, was named a recipient of the Atlas Week Lorenzini Compass Award. The award recognizes the significant efforts of SLU students, student organizations and faculty/ staff in promoting awareness of global issues and global injustices.

2014

2012 Jacqueline K. Graves joined Lewis Rice LLC as a member. She has experience prosecuting complex suits to recover from borrowers and guarantors on multi-million dollar loans and also prosecutes and defends trust and will contests, trust reformations, and actions against trustees. She additionally advises cities and agencies in her municipal law practice. Sarah A Milunski joined Lewis Rice LLC as a member. She handles cases involving Missouri’s Franchise Act, consumer protection statutes, contract and property disputes, municipal litigation, and personal injury in both federal and state courts in Missouri and Illinois. Jerina D. Phillips joined Lewis Rice LLC as a member, representing individuals and companies in a variety of disputes, including complex commercial litigation, employment litigation, media and communications law, and consumer litigation. Karla (Hutton) Pinkerton was named a 2019 Up & Coming Lawyer by the Wisconsin Law Journal. Pinkerton’s practice focuses on hospice and palliative care.

Grant Boyd of the O’Brien Law Firm, P.C. received a 2020 Legal Champion Award from Missouri Lawyers Media.

Kaitlyn A. Parker, associate at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP, received a 2019 Up & Coming Award from Missouri Lawyers Media. As the firm’s second Concordance fellow, she works with Concordance Academy to address the legal needs of previously justice-involved individuals in order to ease reentry and reduce recidivism.

2018 Amy L. Bailey joined Sivia Law as an associate.

2015

Samantha B. Jones, associate at Paule, Camazine & Blumenthal, P.C., received a 2019 Up & Coming Award from Missouri Lawyers Media. She focuses her practice on complex domestic relations cases, including high-conflict custody matters, high-asset divorce, adoption and gender transition matters.

Paul L. Brusati, associate at Armstrong Teasdale LLP, received the Roy F. Essen Memorial Award for Outstanding Work as a Young Lawyer from the St. Louis County Bar Association. The award recognizes an attorney licensed for less than 10 years who has shown excellent work as a lawyer, distinguished service to the organized bar and unselfish service to the community. In his practice, Brusati focuses on contract and commercial litigation defense and appellate law in both state and federal court.

Alex J. Lindley, associate at McCarthy, Leonard & Kaemmerer, L.C., was featured in St. Louis Magazine about his years-long effort through his nonprofit Project Wake Up to produce a documentary covering mental health and suicide prevention. The documentary, “Wake Up: Stories from the Frontlines of Suicide Prevention,” premiered June 4, 2020, at We Are One: A Global Film Festival, launched by YouTube in coordination with Tribeca, Cannes, Sundance and other prestigious film festivals.

Daniel Zdrodowski, attorney at Hais, Hais & Goldberger, P.C. received a 2019 Up & Coming Award from Missouri Lawyers Media.

2016 Allison M. Scime, associate at Lashly & Baer, P.C., received a 2019 Up & Coming Award from Missouri Lawyers Media. She concentrates her practice on representing governmental and public institutions, with a particular emphasis on contractual matters and education law.

2017 Darnell Cage, associate at Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, was named co-chair of the Emerging Leaders Group of Twin Cities Diversity in Practice, a nonprofit whose mission is to strengthen the efforts of member organizations to attract, recruit, advance and retain attorneys of color.

Katie M. Miles joined Quinn Estate & Elder Law, LLC, as an associate. She focuses her practice area on estate planning, special needs planning, Medicaid benefits and VA benefits.

2019 Laura Beckering joined Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C. as an associate and member of the Business Services Group. Brianna Lockridge joined Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C. as an associate and member of the Litigation practice group.

Amina Musa, associate at Thompson Coburn, was named to the 2019 St. Louis Business Journal “30 Under 30” list. She concentrates her practice on representing financial institutions and borrowers in a variety of commercial financing transactions.

Caroline N. Renner joined Foster Swift Collins & Smith, PC in Grand Rapids, Michigan, as an associate and is a member of the health care and business and tax practice groups.

STAY IN TOUCH!

To update your contact information, visit slu.edu/alumni. To submit a class note, email brief@law.slu.edu. VOLUME 21 ISSUE 1

39


IN MEMORIAM Mr. Thomas M. Richards, Sr. 1949

Mr. Louis J. Garr, Jr. 1964

Ms. Karen Choate 1979

Mr. Edward W. Hurley 1951

Mr. James Gunn, Sr. 1965

Mr. Gerald Brady 1981

Mr. Albert H. Feldt 1952

Mr. David Evans 1967

Mr. John Cichelero 1986

Mr. Michael Gibbons 1954

Mr. James Metcalfe 1967

Mr. Michael Mannion 1986

Mr. Lawrence Sumner 1954

Mr. John “Jack” W. Alsup, Jr. 1968

Mr. Gregory Tobin 1986

Mr. Stuart Carothers 1955

Mr. Richard R. Cain 1970

Mr. Steven Bublitz 1988

Mr. Thomas Keating 1955

Mr. John Brown, Sr. 1971

Mr. Elbert Luh 1988

Mr. David Dempsey 1956

Mr. Dennis Kay 1971

Mr. William Boiston 1989

Mr. Edward G. Wiegers 1957

Mr. Donald Toohill 1972

Mr. Timothy O’Leary 1996

Mr. Felix “Lance” Callis 1959

Mr. Joseph Warzycki 1972

Mr. Randy Gori 1998

Mr. Charles Werner 1959

Mr. Roger W. Collins 1974

Ms. Misti Richards 1998

Mr. Henry F. Luepke, Jr. 1960

Mr. Peter Lumaghi 1974

Ms. Cathy Schainblatt 2001

Mr. Raymond Howard 1961

Mr. William Wallace 1975

Mr. Matthew Hatfield 2004

Mr. William Kenney 1961

Mr. David Whalen 1975

Ms. Stacie Beagle-Fraley 2005

Hon. Jack Koehr 1961

Mr. Larry Hale 1978

Mr. Francis Barkofske 1963

Mr. William Waechter 1978

RANDY GORI 1972-2020 R

andy Lee Gori, age 47, of Edwardsville, Illinois, died Jan. 4, 2020. He is survived by his wife Beth Suchanek, his two children, his sister and her family. He was the owner of The Gori Law Firm; Gori, Realtors®;

40

SLU LAW BRIEF

Gori Property Management; MedServe Record Retrieval and Madison County Title Company. Gori graduated from Saint Louis University in 1995 and Saint Louis University School of Law in 1998. He was a true philanthropist at heart, lending his time and resources to more than 300 organizations throughout the region. He was a major contributor to Land of Lincoln Legal Aid and was dedicated to helping raise funds for it and other organizations such as the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation, the American Cancer Society and Saint Louis

University School of Law, where, after a generous gift in 2013, the lobby of Scott Hall now bears the name of his firm. Not only generous of treasure, Gori was a thoughtful and kind mentor to many SLU LAW students and alumni who have worked with, and alongside, him. He will be greatly missed.


F

K C A B G N I V I O C US O N G ERSPECTIVE A STUDENT

'S P

3L Maysa Daoud is a double Billiken who graduated from SLU’s College of Arts and Sciences in 2017 with a degree in research intensive English and legal studies. She entered SLU LAW as a recipient of a Dean’s Scholar Scholarship, awarded to incoming students based on the merit of their application. During law school, she has served as a Law Journal editor, member of the Asian American Law Student Association, member of the trial team and coach of SLU’s undergraduate mock trial team. Most significantly, she was a member of the school’s National Moot Court Team, which made SLU LAW history by taking second place at the New York Bar’s 70th National Moot Court Competition in February 2020, with Daoud being named the second-place oralist in the nation. Upon graduating, Daoud will join Husch Blackwell as a commercial litigation associate. In this installment of Focus on Giving Back: A Student’s Perspective, Daoud discusses her SLU LAW experience.

MAYSA DAOUD

3L, SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE LAW CLASS? WHO WAS YOUR FAVORITE PROFESSOR? My favorite class was trial advocacy with Judge George Draper. The class was from 8 to 10 p.m. on Thursday nights, and Judge Draper’s energy kept us up and excited!

My favorite professor is Paige Canfield. Prof. Canfield coached our moot court team to a national championship in New York City and a second-place finish, which was one of the most memorable moments of my SLU LAW experience. Her attitude from the beginning in Moot Court I made a big difference to me. She always pushes students to improve and doesn’t settle. HOW DID YOU SEE SLU LAW RISE TO THE CHALLENGE DURING THE PANDEMIC? Although the faculty and administration were also trying to adapt and navigate the uncertainty, they didn’t miss a beat with doing whatever they could to support students. Professors changed their teaching methods. Offices like Career Services quickly began holding online meetings to help us navigate this time. The law school really rallied around us to lessen our burdens however they could. WHAT IS SOMETHING YOU LEARNED HERE THAT WILL STAY WITH YOU? Law school is also a time to learn so much from classmates. Some of my classmates were previously teachers, accountants, and studied everything from chemistry to public health. Then in law school everyone shapes their own experience, focusing on criminal defense, immigration, civil rights, etc. This meant that everyone approached each situation with a unique perspective, and there was so much to learn from those around me.

WHY WOULD YOU ENCOURAGE ALUMNI TO SUPPORT SLU LAW OR GIVE BACK IN THEIR OWN WAYS? Receiving the Dean’s Scholar award absolutely made a difference for me. Having to take a step back from work once I started 1L year was offset by the scholarship and made my transition to law school easier.

Giving back in any way can significantly alter someone’s education for the better. Whether it be financial support that makes it easier for a student to balance school and work, or lending time through mentorship, giving back can be the difference that keeps someone pushing forward. SLB

To learn more about how you can continue the legacy and support the School of Law, please contact: MICHAEL RUIZ Director of Development (314) 977-2818 | michael.ruiz@slu.edu SCHOOL OF LAW OFFICE OF DEVELOPMENT AND ALUMNI RELATIONS 100 N. Tucker Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63101 (314) 977-3300 alumni@law.slu.edu slu.edu/law/alumni


100 N. TUCKER BLVD. ST. LOUIS, MO 63101-1930

FOLLOW SLU LAW SLU LAW @SLULAW #SLULAW SLULAW

SUPPORT OUR OFFICE OF INCLUSION AND DIVERSITY EDUCATION SLU LAW and Dean Johnson are committed to creating allies and better supporting and preparing students from communities that have been historically underrepresented in the legal profession. Please consider joining us in these efforts by making a gift to the newly established Office of Inclusion and Diversity Education's Programming Fund. Visit giving.slu.edu/SLULAWdiversity to learn more. Find more information on this publication at: slu.edu/law

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