Class Notes
Robert Bettacchi, a former senior vice
office of Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell,
president of Grace and the president of
where he focuses his practice in the area of
the construction products division, was
commercial law counseling.
charged with conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act, knowing endangerment
Jeffrey Levinger is
under the Clean Air Act, and conspiracy
included in D
to defraud the United States. He faced
Magazine’s listing of
a maximum prison sentence of up to
the “Best Business
15 years. The indictment alleged that
Lawyers in Dallas.” He
Bettacchi, several other Grace executives,
is a co-founder of
and the company had endangered
Hankinson Levinger,
the citizens of Lincoln County due to UVA ties abound. From left: Neal McCarthy, Dana Leff Niedzielska, Lukasz Niedzielski, Cecilia Vidaeus Gleason, and Bob Webb.
an appellate boutique
the release of asbestos from Grace’s
firm, and has been recognized among
former vermiculite mining operation
Texas’s top lawyers every year since the
near Libby, Mont. The Department of
Texas Super Lawyers list was first published
McIntire alumnus Neal McCarthy, both of
Justice characterized the case as the
in 2003. Levinger has also been named
investment banking boutique, Fairmont
most significant criminal environmental
repeatedly to lists of the top 100 attorneys
Partners, served as financial advisors to
case ever prosecuted by the federal
in both the Dallas-Fort Worth area and
AbCRO, while Webb of the Tysons Corner,
Government.
throughout the state of Texas.
Va., office of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey
The Weil Gotshal trial team, headed
served as legal counsel to AbCRO and its
by Frongillo, conducted the cross-
Will Lindsey recently closed his office in
shareholders.
examination of the Government’s key
Salem, Va., after 27 years of private practice
witness that exposed the Government’s
and joined the Capital Public Defender’s
Pharmaceutical Product Development
suppression of exculpatory evidence.
Office as a senior assistant capital defender.
turned to Mark Allebach ’98 of the
As a result, the district court imposed
The office, based in Christiansburg, is one
Wilmington, N.C., offices of Murchison,
sanctions against the Government during
of four regional offices in the state, and
Taylor & Gibson for its outside legal counsel.
the trial and struck all testimony of the
represents indigent defendants who face
witness against Bettacchi. The jury’s verdict
the death penalty throughout southwest
exonerated him on all charges. Frongillo
Virginia.
Not to be left “un-Wahooed,” however,
1982
leads Weil Gotshal & Manges’ litigation practice in the firm’s Boston, Mass., office.
Jay M. Tannon has helped create a new transatlantic clean energy fund called
Joe Dischinger is vice president of the Colorado Bar Association. Dischinger is
Michael Houghton
Novus Energy Partners, with offices in
with Fairfield and Woods in Denver, Colo.,
has been elected chair
Alexandria, Va., and Oslo, Norway. He
where he focuses his practice on water
of the executive
is a founder and outside counsel for the
rights and environmental law.
committee of the
fund. Tannon is a partner with DLA Piper
National Conference
in the Washington, D.C., office, where he
Wendell Fleming has started a new
of Commissioners on
counsels private equity funds and other
job as executive director of the LARRK
Uniform State Laws
businesses on acquisitions and other
(Uniform Law
strategic transactions.
Foundation in Denver, Colo., which focuses on helping at-risk kids. “I have
Commission). The ULC oversees the
never enjoyed a job this much,” he says. “It
drafting and promotion of uniform state
is especially gratifying to be giving away
laws, including the Uniform Commercial
money during these tough times.”
Code, Uniform Probate Code, and Uniform Securities Act.
Thomas C. Frongillo was the lead attorney
Since first appointed to the ULC from
1983 James P. Cox III has been selected for
in United States v. W.R. Grace, et al., an
Delaware in 1995, Houghton has served
inclusion in Virginia
11-week federal criminal jury trial in
on drafting committees, as chair of two
Super Lawyers and Best
Missoula, Mont., that resulted in acquittal
committees, and as ULC vice president.
on all counts and was the subject of
He is a partner in the Wilmington, Del.,
newspaper articles throughout the country.
64 | UVA Lawyer • FAll • 2009