All Rise Spring

ALLRISESpring 2011

OSJDR Celebrates 25 Years • Reunion 2010 Pictures • Leadership Program Thrives

The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law

to

Challenges

AllEqual Educationin Providing

Kathy Seward Northern, the College’s associate dean for admissions and an associate professor of law, was awarded the University’s Distinguished Diversity Enhancement Award in 2010 in recognition of her service to the diverse student community. Northern has held hundreds of student counseling and tutoring sessions and provided a sounding board for students dealing with diversity-based issues.

She is the coordinator of the Law and Leadership Institute, a pipeline program for middle and high school students. She also has been faculty advisor to many diverse student groups at the law school. Northern was recognized for her award in October 2010 during half-time at an OSU football game in Ohio Stadium.

Nancy’s Message

of the College’s values statement – excellence and innovation – have been a driving force behind much of our advancement in the past few months. The College, thanks to the help of alumni and friends, has recently announced the introduction of two terrific new programs. The College’s seventh legal clinic, the Entrepreneurial Business Law Clinic, will match student legal assistance with Ohio’s emerging businesses in need of transactional assistance. In addition, the Moritz Corporate Fellowship Program was launched to help place recent graduates in general counsel offices of leading corporations. Both initiatives advance the College’s mission and would not have been possible without the help of Moritz friends and supporters.

The creation of the Entrepreneurial Business Law Clinic has been a long-term goal of the College, and its start – slated for January 2012 – has ties to alumni, faculty, and students. For many years the Moritz administration and faculty have sought to expand our renowned clinical program to include an opportunity to teach business transaction skills. As part of that process, Moritz faculty have dedicated countless hours researching best practices and clinic structures to develop the approach that would most benefit our school and community. The clinic, as you can learn in detail on page 6, will allow students to represent entrepreneurs and their start-up and emerging businesses. These businesses – not yet ready to hire paid legal counsel – will benefit from students’ pro bono assistance, and students will benefit from the hands-on experience. In addition, the program will help support new and growing businesses located throughout Central Ohio and other parts of the state. Finally, the generosity of a handful of alumni and friends transformed the idea into reality. Those include Ed Cooperman ’67, James J. Johnson ’72, Alec Wightman ’75, John T. Mills ’73, Clay P. Graham ’80, Michael Segal ’83, David Jamieson ’69, Robert L. Grossman ’78, Brian A. Basil ’95, Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing, and John J. Chester, Sr. I do not believe there is a better example of a community-wide collaboration, and we are all eager for the start of this clinic.

You are likely well aware of our ongoing efforts to expand career opportunities for our students and recent graduates who are seeking employment in a particularly challenging job market. In January, we launched the Moritz Corporate Fellowship Program. The program places recent Moritz graduates in the general counsel offices of leading national corporations. You can read more on page 4, but the paid fellowships, much like judicial clerkships, provide recent graduates with an opportunity to gain invaluable legal experience while working alongside experienced attorneys. The College has welcomed six corporate partners: The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, Nationwide Insurance, American Electric Power, Broad Street Capital Partners, DSW, Inc., and the National Retail Federation, and more are likely coming soon. Many of these partnerships have emerged thanks to alumni who have realized the benefits of the program in their offices and were eager to partner with us. We have high expectations for this first-of-its-kind fellowship program and believe it will offer another opportunity for Moritz students to get a head start on great careers.

Sincerely,

Alan C. MichaelsDean and Edwin M. Cooperman

Professor of Law

From the Dean’s Desk

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ExECUTIvE EDITOR

Barbara PeckChief Communications Officer [email protected]

EDITOR

Rob PhillipsCommunications [email protected]

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Lauren Coker Communications Intern

Molly Gray Communications Intern

Thomas Sneed Reference Librarian, Moritz Law Library

DESIGN AND PHOTOGRAPHY

Andrea ReinakerGraphic [email protected]

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Getty Images gettyimages.com

Todd Callentine Callentine Photography [email protected]

WEB DESIGN

JD BarlowWeb Communications [email protected]

All Rise is published by:The Ohio State UniversityMoritz College of Law55 W. 12th. Ave.Columbus, OH 43210 Phone: (614) 292-2631 moritzlaw.osu.edu

Do you want to share your thoughts on a topic covered in All Rise? Send a letter to the editor by e-mailing Barbara Peck at [email protected]. Or mail a letter to The Ohio State University, Moritz College of Law, c/o Barbara Peck, 55 W. 12th Ave., Columbus, OH 43210. Letters should be kept to fewer than 400 words and may be edited. We can not guarantee that all letters received will be printed in the next edition of All Rise.

Diverse viewpoints are presented in this publication, and they do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the law school.

ALLRISEM A g A z I N E

ALLRISESpring 2011

M A g A z I N E


Columns:Five-minute Classroom:Tips from the Moritz Librarians on Regulation Research

Faculty Q&A What has the Obama presidency meant for the growth of presidential power?

Career PathsEllen Sheffield ’81 Book Artist

Alumni FocusWilliam Isaac ’69 Chairman of the Board at Fifth Third Bancorp

Alumni FocusDan Elliott ’89 Chairman, Surface Transportation Board

Alumni FocusThe Bazlers Gift Supports Moritz, Agriculture

The Legacy of William B. Saxbe ’48 (1916-2010)Moritz alumni, faculty, and friends remember the former attorney general.

Professor Swire Returns from White House Professor Peter Swire is back at Moritz after serving as special assistant to President Obama.

Challenges in Providing an Equal Education to All Are America’s schools failing, and what role will the law have in evening (or raising) the playing field?

Teach For America Leaves Lasting Impact on Moritz StudentsCurrent Moritz students share their experiences with TFA.

Program on Law and Leadership Workshops Provide Hands-On Leadership Training In its fourth year, PLL continues to implement education historically absent from law schools.

OSJDR Celebrates 25th AnniversaryFormer editors reminisce about publishing this journal on alternative dispute resolution.

In Brief

Authors’ Corner

Alumni News

Reunion Photos

Tailgate Photos

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4 | MORITz COLLEGE OF LAW

In BrIef Around the Law School

The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law continues to grow its Moritz Corporate Fellowship Program, which was announced in January. The innovative initiative places

new Moritz graduates within the general counsel offices of leading national corporations. The fellowships, which follow the judicial clerkship model, will match the specific needs of each corporate partner while putting recent graduates’ top-flight training and ability to immediate use inside the legal departments of major companies.

“At the Moritz College of Law, we continue to introduce new programs that expand the opportunities for our students and graduates,” said Alan Michaels, dean of the Moritz College of Law. “This initiative will not only give our graduates a terrific career-building experience, but it will also allow Moritz and partner corporations to strengthen our relationships and benefit one another.”

The program’s inaugural partners were American Electric Power, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, and Scotts Miracle-Gro. Since the program’s launch, DSW, the National Retail Federation, and BroadStreet Capital Partners have also agreed to participate.

Corporate participants will deploy fellows in a manner that best fits their needs while uniformly providing fellows expansive exposure to the corporation, its legal needs, and the workings of in-house counsel, including the corporation’s interaction with lawyers outside the corporation. Like judicial clerkships, these paid

Moritz Launches Innovative Corporate Fellowship Program

fellowships typically will last between nine and twelve months.

“I immediately recognized that the program was a win-win for both the law school and Scotts,” said Vince Brockman ’88, executive vice president & general counsel, corporate secretary, and chief ethics and compliance officer at Scotts. “Students and graduates get to add strong work experience to their resumes, and Scotts gets top notch talent at very competitive rates.”

Each Moritz Corporate Fellowship has a number of common elements that ensure the value of the experience. A corporate fellow will have a designated mentor within the general counsel’s office of their corporation. By attending group and client meetings, fellows will benefit by experiencing first-hand the issues and discussions within the partner corporation’s legal team. Fellows will also have the opportunity to meet with corporate leaders outside of the legal department. These interactions are intended to deepen the fellow’s understanding of the internal working of a corporation and the relationship between its business and its legal services.

“Historically, law firms have provided most of the legal profession’s post-graduate training opportunities,” said Patricia R. Hatler, executive vice president, chief legal and

“As corporations become an increasing share of the legal employment universe, it is important for in-house legal departments to participate in more formal, post-graduate educational opportunities.”

Patricia R. Hatler executive vice president, chief legal and

governance officer at Nationwide

SPRING 2011 | 5

governance officer at Nationwide. “As corporations become an increasing share of the legal employment universe, it is important for in-house legal departments to participate in more formal, post-graduate educational opportunities. We think the Fellowship Program is both a great training opportunity for graduates, as well as a significant chance for corporate employers to educate attorneys about the exciting possibilities of in-house practice.”

Mike Miller ’75, AEP’s senior vice president, general counsel, and secretary, reiterated that investing in the development of professional talent benefits AEP, the community at large, and Moritz graduates. “The

“When Dean Michaels discussed the fellowship program with me, I immediately recognized that it was a win-win for both the law school and Scotts. Students and graduates get to add strong work experience to their resumes, and Scotts gets top notch talent at very competitive rates.”

Vince Brockman ’88Executive Vice President & General Counsel,

Corporate Secretary, and Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer, The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company

“Nationwide plans to design a customized Fellowship Program for each participant. We will expose each fellow to less familiar aspects of in-house legal practice, while tailoring the experience to the individual interests of the fellow. We will expect fellows to practice law in our legal department -- giving advice, learning about the client’s business operations, and gaining experience with real legal issues in various legal specialties.”

Patricia R. HatlerExecutive Vice President, Chief Legal and Governance Officer

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company

Around the Law School In BrIef

“The Moritz Corporate Fellowship Program

fits perfectly with AEP’s long-standing

support for academic institutions in the

communities we serve and provides an

innovative program that aligns with our

Legal Department’s mission to provide the

highest quality legal services in the most

cost-effective way. This program offers us the

opportunity to nurture emerging legal talent

through direct exposure to the cutting-edge

legal issues that our lawyers and staff face

every day and to do so in a way that makes

sound economic sense to us.”Mike Miller ’75

Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and SecretaryAmerican Electric Power

“Participation in this program will allow us to

get quality legal talent at a good value. It’s a

way to help BroadStreet, while giving back to

the profession by mentoring a new lawyer – a

true ‘win-win’ situation.”Jenny Marks

Vice President, Secretary & General CounselBroadStreet Capital Partners

Moritz Corporate Fellowship Program fits perfectly with AEP’s long-standing support for academic institutions in the communities we serve and provides an innovative program that aligns with our Legal Department’s mission to provide the highest quality legal services in the most cost-effective way,” Miller said. “This program offers us the opportunity to nurture emerging legal talent through direct exposure to the cutting-edge legal issues that our lawyers and staff face every day and to do so in a way that makes sound economic sense to us.”To learn more about the program, visit moritzlaw.osu.edu/mcfp.

Corporate Testimonies



The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law will launch a new clinical program to serve start-up and emerging businesses that need transactional legal

assistance. The clinic will begin operation in January 2012. The College’s seventh clinic, the Entrepreneurial Business Law Clinic will benefit students by providing them the opportunity to represent entrepreneurs and their businesses while simultaneously supporting and furthering Ohio’s mission of sustained economic growth.

Students enrolled in the Entrepreneurial Business Law Clinic will assist young companies – not ready or able to hire attorneys – on a pro bono basis and will offer legal service on matters such as business structure and formation, taxation, employment contracts, and intellectual property issues.

“Lawyers play an essential role in the creation and advancement of any business,” Moritz Dean Alan Michaels said. “The theory driving this clinic is to provide students with first-hand, real-world experiences involving business transactions. As an added benefit, our students will assist the cultivation of new businesses that need legal assistance, but are not yet able afford it. I am particularly excited that this clinic allows Moritz to make a significant contribution to Ohio’s efforts to strengthen business development.”

Work is currently underway for the implementation of the clinic, which is being funded almost entirely through donations made by the following Moritz alumni and friends: Ed Cooperman ’67, James J. Johnson ’72, Alec Wightman ’75, John T. Mills ’73, Clay P. Graham ’80, Michael Segal ’83, David Jamieson ’69, Robert L. Grossman ’78, Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing, and John J. Chester, Sr.

Moritz to Add Entrepreneurial Business Law Clinic in 2012

Current Moritz Clinical ProgramsCivil Clinic, Criminal Defense Clinic, Justice for Children Clinic, Legislation Clinic, Mediation Clinic, and Prosecution Clinic.

Third-year Moritz students will enroll in the class beginning in January 2012. The Entrepreneurial Business Law Clinic will join the College’s other comprehensive clinical programs: Civil Clinic, Criminal Defense Clinic, Justice for Children Clinic, Legislation Clinic, Mediation Clinic, and Prosecution Clinic.

The addition of the Entrepreneurial Business Law Clinic is the next step in the continued strengthening of Moritz’s business law offerings. In recent years, the College has welcomed several new faculty members whose research is focused specifically on topics in business law; added the Schottenstein zox & Dunn’s Distinguished Practitioners in Residence Program in Business Law, which welcomes leading practitioners from around the world to Moritz to teach one-credit courses; created the vibrant Ohio State Entrepreneurial Business Law Journal; and recently launched the Moritz Corporate Fellowship Program, which places new Moritz graduates within the general counsel offices of leading national corporations.

Students will represent entrepreneurs and their businesses while supporting Ohio’s economic growth.

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Professor Peter M. Shane, the Jacob E. Davis and Jacob E. Davis II Chair in Law, was named a 2011 University Distinguished Scholar by The Ohio State University. The award, established in 1978, recognizes

exceptional scholarly accomplishments by senior professors who have compiled a substantial body of research. Distinguished Scholars receive a research grant of $20,000 and an honorarium. Just six professors out of the more than 2200 full-time faculty across campus receive the award annually.

Professor Shane is a public law scholar of national and international repute. He stands at the top of two different fields within public law and policy – separation of powers and the role of media and digital technology in sustaining democracy. As a separation of powers authority, Shane’s recent book –Madison’s Nightmare: How Executive Power Threatens American Democracy (University of Chicago Press, 2009) – attracted the attention of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Constitution Subcommittee, which asked him to provide official testimony on the topic. Professor Shane’s many other writings have led him to providing Congressional and executive branch guidance on topics including war powers, executive privilege, judicial appointments, presidential signing statements, pardon power, national security, balanced budget amendments, and impeachment.

Professor Shane also pioneered work and scholarship on the topic of “cyberdemocracy,” which is the use of digital media and technology to enhance the democratic process. He has been awarded multiple research grants to further develop and improve this new field. In addition, Professor Shane is a co-founder and faculty editor of I/S: A Journal of Law and Policy for the Information Age, one of five scholarly journals at Moritz.

In 29 years as a law professor, Professor Shane has published six books, 41 law review articles, seven book chapters, and 12 encyclopedia entries. His work has been cited more than 725 times by authors in legal journals alone.

Professor Shane Receives University Distinguished Scholar Award

Professor Shane is the fifth Moritz

faculty member to be honored with

the University Distinguished Scholar

honor. The following professors

were previously recognized: Gregory

Caldeira, Distinguished University

Professor, Ann and Darrell Dreher

Chair in Political Communication

and Policy Thinking, Professor

of Law (1993); John B. Quigley,

President’s Club Professor of Law

(1995); Deborah Jones Merritt,

John Deaver Drinko-Baker &

Hostetler Chair in Law (2002); Ruth

Colker, Distinguished University

Professor, Heck Faust Memorial

Chair in Constitutional Law (2003);

and Joshua Dressler, Frank R.

Strong Chair in Law (2007).

Peter Shane (second left) celebrates his award with Professor Martha Chamallas, President E. Gordon Gee, Professor Camille Hébert, and Associate Dean Kathy Northern (left to right).



Moritz Alumni Celebrate Election Success

In November, several Moritz alumni secured key positions in various elections across the country.

Brian Sandoval ’89 was elected governor of Nevada with 54 percent of the vote. Before entering the campaign, Sandoval was a U.S. District judge for the District of Nevada. Sandoval was Nevada’s first Hispanic federal judge.

Prior to his judgeship, Sandoval (R) was Nevada’s attorney general. As attorney general, Sandoval is credited with creating the state’s first public integrity unit to investigate and prosecute officials who violated the public trust, leading the state’s legal fight against the storage of high level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, and sponsoring important legislation that strengthened Nevada’s laws against domestic violence, drug abuse and human trafficking.

Five Moritz alumni won seats in the Ohio House of Representatives. They are: William Batchelder ’67 (R-Medina County); John P. Carney ’01 (D-Franklin County); Kathleen Clyde ’08 (D-Portage County); Peter Stautberg ’93 (R-Hamilton County); and Michael Stinziano ’07 (D-Franklin County).

Clarence Mingo ’98 (R) was elected as Franklin County auditor. Mingo was originally appointed to the position in August 2009.

Several alumni were successful in their runs for judicial seats throughout Ohio. Paul Pfeifer ’66 was reelected to his seat on the Supreme Court of Ohio. Julia Dorrian ’96, Julia A. Edwards ’78, Judith French ’88,

and Carla D. Moore ’77 were elected to seats in Ohio Courts of Appeals.

Four alumni were elected to Franklin County Court of Common Pleas judgeships; they are John F. Bender ’71, Kim Browne ’93, Kimberly Cocroft ’00, Richard Frye ’73, and Mark Serrott ’79.

Other alumni elected to Courts of Common Pleas throughout Ohio included: Michael Ward ’71, Athens County; Robert Batchelor ’92, Coshocton County;

David Fuhry ’77, Geauga County; Denise Herman McColley ’81, Henry County; Robert Rinfret ’72, Holmes County; Otho Eyster ’75, Knox County; Mark Stanton

O’Connor ’69, Logan County; Robert Nichols ’67, Madison County; Randy Deering ’74, Pike County; James D. Henson ’69, Richland County; Jeffrey Simmons ’79, vinton County; and Timothy Oliver ’74, Warren County.

Some Moritz graduates did not fare as well. Both Mary Jo Kilroy ’80 (D-Ohio) and Zachary Space ’86 (D-Ohio) lost their seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Yvette McGee Brown ’85 (D) lost her run for Ohio’s lieutenant governor. Mark Schneider ’00 (D-Lake County) fell short in his run for the Ohio House of Representatives.

To see a full list of alumni who ran in November 2010 elections, visit go.osu.edu/alumnielect.

Five Moritz alumni won seats in the Ohio House of Representatives.

Clarence Mingo ’98 (left) was elected as Franklin County auditor. Brian Sandoval ’89 (right) was elected governor of Nevada with 54 percent of the vote.

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Two Moritz alumni taught courses this fall as part of the Schottenstein zox &

Dunn Distinguished Practitioners in Residence Program in Business Law. Launched in 2005, the Distinguished Practitioners Program brings judges and practitioners as adjunct professors to Moritz to teach one-credit, concentrated courses in advanced aspects of business law.

Dan D. Sandman ’73, former general counsel and corporate secretary of U.S. Steel, taught a course on corporate governance law. The course emphasized the role of in-house counsel in major U.S. corporations. Sandman was joined at two class sessions by fellow alumnus James Johnson ’72, who served as chief legal officer at Procter & Gamble from 1991-08.

James K.L. Lawrence ’65, taught negotiation and mediation. Lawrence, a member at Frost Brown Todd LLC in Cincinnati, has focused his practice on labor and employment, alternative dispute resolution, and real estate and commercial development.

Also returning to Moritz as a Distinguished Practitioner in Residence was Scott v. Simpson, a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, based in London. Simpson’s course was entitled Introduction to International Mergers & Acquisitions and Strategic Investments. Simpson is co-head of the Global Transactions Practice and a member of the Policy Committee at Skadden.

This spring, Gail Block Harris, who is of counsel at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP in New York City, taught Introduction to

Two Alumni Teach Distinguished Practitioner Courses

Issues Associated with International Joint ventures. The course gives students a first-hand look at such international ventures and the government issues, choice of law, investment protection, and other issues associated with them.

Finally, the Hon. William B. Chandler returned to Moritz to teach Fiduciary Responsibility in March 2011. Chandler has been chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery since 1997.

Tokaji Assumes Leadership of Election Law Journal

Starting in January, Professor Dan Tokaji began as co-editor of the prestigious Election Law Journal. The journal launched shortly after the 2000 Florida election debacle and

the unprecedented public and academic attention paid to election administration that followed. In the nine years that ELJ has been in print, it has published

articles addressing campaign finance, redistricting, election administration, the initiative process, the Electoral College, political parties, and everything from papal elections to terrorist attacks. The journal has

provided a civil and balanced forum for expression of viewpoints across the political spectrum.

Tokaji was also recently appointed to the Board of Directors for the American Constitution Society.

Tokaji is a professor of law at Moritz and the associate director of the College’s Election Law @ Moritz program. Prof. Tokaji’s areas of expertise include election law, civil rights, and federal courts. His scholarship addresses questions of political equality, racial justice, and the role of the judiciary in democracy.

Prior to arriving at the Moritz College of Law, Prof. Tokaji was an attorney with the ACLU Foundation of Southern California from 1995 to 2003.

Also returning to Moritz to teach a Distinguished Practitioners course was Scott V. Simpson, a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.

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After 20 years of service at Moritz, Pam Lombardi retired from her positions as assistant dean for career services and external affairs and director of alumni affairs in the fall. Lombardi came to the Moritz

College of Law in 1990 to work in career services, and in her tenure at the College she has captained both that ship and alumni affairs. Her extraordinary creativity, professionalism, and care for the College allowed her to be a valued advisor to nearly everyone she encountered at the law school.

“Pam has served as a trusted mentor and invaluable source for innumerable members of the Moritz community,” Dean Michaels said. “We have benefited from her special contributions in more ways than we can count.”

Lombardi’s many responsibilities in career services and alumni affairs were split amongst two people. Kathy zets has come on board as director of alumni affairs and donor relations. zets brings years of experience in stewardship, donor relations, and volunteer board management to the school. She has served as the associate director of stewardship and donor relations at OSU’s James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, and most recently as board liaison for the James Cancer Hospital’s Foundation Board.

Linda Jones, who has shared leadership of the Career Services Department for the past two years with Lombardi, will take on the leadership of that critical unit as senior director of career services. Jones joined career services with over 15 years of experience in the recruitment and professional development of law students and attorneys. Before moving to Ohio, she was the director of legal personnel for the New York law firms Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy and Lord Day & Lord, Barrett Smith.

Lloyd Joins Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation

Angela Lloyd, an associate clinical professor law at Moritz, recently left the College to assume the position of executive director of the Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation (OLAF).

“Angie has done a great job with the Justice for Children Practicum, both teaching in the classroom

and mentoring in the courtroom,” said Moritz Dean Alan Michaels. “So many students have benefitted from her instruction and, as a result, many clients have benefitted as well. We will

miss her.”Lloyd joined Moritz in 2003.

She played an integral part in the College’s Justice for Children Clinic, which provides students with the opportunity to represent children in a variety of legal proceedings.

The Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation is committed to equal access to justice and works to assure that resources, programs, and services exist statewide to serve the unmet civil legal needs of Ohio’s poor.

Lombardi Retires, zets and Jones Assume New Responsibilities

Linda Jones (center), who shared leadership of Career Services for the past two years with Pam Lombardi, took on the leadership of that critical unit as senior director of career services.

Kathy Zets

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For the first time last April, work by students in the Moritz Civil Law Clinic was heard before the Supreme Court of Ohio. Although Professor

Elizabeth Ilgen Cooke made the oral arguments, students played an integral part in preparing the case.

Not only was it the clinic’s first time proceeding to oral arguments in the Ohio Supreme Court, but it will also go down as its first victory.

The case dealt with a conflict between the Ohio 2nd and 9th District Courts on the application of a statute

to a pending adoption. The court asked the student clinic to represent the birth mother in the proceedings.

The Court ruled that the pre-adoption placement procedures set forth in the state must be followed,

even if the child has been living with the prospective adoptive parents after they have obtained legal custody by a juvenile court.

The children in question had been living away from their mother, who retained residual parental rights, for two years when their legal custodians pursued adoption. The couple was seeking that the court waive requirement that the children’s parents consent to their adoption placement.

In support of the biological mother, the Court ruled unanimously that the procedural requirements could only be waived if the potential adoptive parents were biologically related to the parents of the child or if they were legal guardians rather than custodians.

Stephen Maurice White ’10 was originally slated to argue the case but the Court denied the motion to have a student make oral arguments, which led Cooke, who oversees the clinic, to take his place. Despite the denied motion to argue, White and fellow classmate Jon Franz ’10 were intimately involved in almost every stage of the case.

Civil Clinic victorious at Supreme Court of Ohio


Student Article Cited in U.S. Supreme Court Brief

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce cited a law review article written by Elizabeth M. Williamson ’11 in its amicus brief for the case Smith et al. v. Bayer Corporation, which was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 18. Williamson’s

article is titled; “When Talk Isn’t Cheap: The Hidden Costs of Communication with Putative Class Members for Class Action Defense Counsel in a Post-Financial Recession World”, 5 Entrepreneurial Bus. L. J. 453 (2010). It was cited on page 17 of the brief in support of the notion that “Permitting relitigation of certification questions would increase

these costs even further. Businesses incur prohibitive costs throughout the life of a class action suit, but particularly at the early stages.” The question presented in the case is whether a federal court has the authority to prohibit a state class action suit when it has already denied federal class status.

Despite the denied motion to argue, White and fellow classmate Jon Franz were intimately involved in almost every stage of the case.

(left to right) Professor Elizabeth Ilgen Cooke, Stephen Maurice White ’10, and Jon Franz ’10



Each year Moritz welcomes a number of visiting faculty from around the country and sometimes from around the world. These faculty bring

diverse perspectives, research foci, and legal experiences. In the 2010-11 school year, the College welcomed several visiting professors, each of whom made lasting contributions to the Moritz community.

Vincent Cardi ’67, the Bowles, Rice, McDavid, Graff & Love professor at the West virginia University College of Law, joined the College for both fall and winter semesters. Cardi, a Moritz alumnus who also holds an LL.M. degree from Harvard Law School, taught Contracts, Secured Transactions, and Topics in Commercial and Business Law at Moritz. Cardi has also been a visiting professor at Mercer University Law School, St. Thomas University School of Law, and St. John’s University School of Law.

Miriam Bitton taught Patent Law and an International Intellectual Property Seminar while on leave from Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel. Bitton earned a S.J.D. and LL.M. from the University of Michigan Law School.

Edwin T. Hood temporarily left the University of Missouri-Kansas City Law School to teach two taxation

visiting Faculty Welcomed in 2010-11

(Top, left to right) Nancy Kim, Edwin T. Hood, Saul Zipkin, E. Stewart Moritz; (Bottom) Vincent Cardi ’67, Miriam Bitton, Kenneth M. Murchison

courses in the winter semester.

Nancy Kim, who regularly teaches at California Western School of Law in San Diego, taught Contracts, Licensing, and Cyberlaw in 2011-12 at Moritz.

E. Stewart Moritz is an associate professor of law at The University of Akron School of Law. In the winter semester, he taught Firearms Regulation and Legislation.

Kenneth M. Murchison joined Moritz from the Louisiana State University Law Center to teach Climate Change and Environmental Law in the winter semester.

Another Moritz alumnus, Gray Thayne ’80, a former prosecutor in both Clinton County and Delaware County, graciously agreed to temporarily work as a visiting clinical professor in the College’s Justice for Children Clinic.

Saul zipkin is a visiting assistant professor during the 2010-12 school years. At Moritz, he teaches Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, and Legislation.

SPRING 2011 | 13

Thomas sneed is a reference librarian at the Moritz

College of Law. His responsibilities include providing

reference services to faculty, staff, students, and the

public, and teaching first-year and advanced legal research

courses. Prior to becoming a librarian, Sneed practiced law

in Kentucky and worked as a real estate specialist with the

Ohio Department of Transportation in Columbus.

in the rule making process. This site allows the user to examine and track proposed and final regulations through e-mail alerts, and also provides the capability to submit comments online. Another helpful resource is Tomorrow’s Federal Register provided by the National Archives (archives.gov/federal-register/public-inspection). This feature includes information on what rules will be included in the Federal Register on future dates.

State RegulationsIf you need to research regulations on the state level, there are also resources available to freely access these materials. Many states provide access to both their codified and proposed regulations online, and can often be found on a secretary of state’s web site. A central repository for the links to codified regulations and registers for all 50 states can be found at the web site for the Administrative Codes and Registers Section of the National Association of Secretaries of State (administrativerules.org). Another option for state regulation research is Casemaker, which is a partnership with state bar associations to provide basic legal research to members of the bar. Casemaker is currently available from 28 state bar associations, including Ohio, and can be accessed through your bar association’s web site.

You probably have encountered a situation where a particular statute does not completely answer your legal issues, and you have needed to turn to administrative regulations promulgated by

a governmental agency to complete the research. With space considerations being a reality in many law offices,

these regulations can be a large addition to a library collection. However, on both the federal and state levels, there are numerous freely available online options that provide codified regulations and proposed rules to assist with your research needs

Federal RegulationsThe Government Printing Office provides a web site called GPO Access

(www.gpoaccess.gov) that provides access to several government publications, including the United States Code, the Congressional Record, and administrative regulations. For regulations, GPO Access includes the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) from 1996 and the Federal Register from 1994. Keep in mind that these are the official versions, and the CFR in particular is only updated yearly when the new editions are published. For those that want an updated version of the CFR, GPO Access also includes a feature called e-CFR, which is a currently updated, unofficial version of the Code.

The Government Printing Office is working on a new database for its collection known as FDsys (www.gpo.gov/fdsys). This new database provides more user-friendly search capabilities for the documents published by the government, but is still in its early stages as more documents are being included. Currently on FDsys you can find the Code of Federal Regulations from 2000 and the Federal Register from 1994.

There are several other governmental web sites that provide useful tools for accessing regulations. Regulations.gov (regulations.gov) is a partnership between 25 agencies to increase access and participation

Tips for Administrative Regulation Research: Online Resources

By Thomas Sneed

Web Simplifies Search for Regulations, Proposed Rules

Tips from Moritz Librarians 5-MInute ClassrooM


In The Measure of Injury: Race, Gender, and Tort Law, Ohio State University Moritz College of Law Professor Martha Chamallas and Jennifer Wriggins, a University

of Maine School of Law professor, put tort law under a critical magnifying glass and reveal with extraordinary clarity the pervasive effects of race and gender in the law of torts, effects often not visible upon a cursory glance because of the facial neutrality of many contemporary legal rules. The book gives the reader a full and compelling picture that indelibly alters the traditional understanding of torts.

Chamallas and her co-author, drawing on an in-depth analysis of case law ranging from the Jim Crow South to the 9/11 victim Compensation Fund, demonstrate that women and minorities have been under-compensated in tort law and that traditional biases have resurfaced in updated forms to perpetuate patterns of disparate recovery based on race and gender. Grappling with tort theory, the intricacies of legal doctrine and the practical effects of legal rules, The Measure of Injury is a unique treatise on torts that uncovers the public and cultural dimensions of this always-controversial domain of private law.

Tort law “is built around the dual premises that accidental injury lies at the core of tort law and that physical injury, rather than emotional harm or injuries to relationships, is of paramount concern.” The coauthors demonstrate how this paradigm has disabled tort

The Measure of Injury: Race, Gender and Tort Law

law from stemming domestic violence and sexual exploitation; they also expose the approach’s normative underpinnings to demonstrate that the result is more than an unfortunate coincidence.

Chamallas, the Robert J. Lynn Chair in Law at Moritz, teaches Torts, Employment Discrimination, and Gender and the Law. Prior to joining Moritz College of Law in 2002, Chamallas served on the faculties of the University of

Pittsburgh School of Law, the Louisiana State University Law Center, and the University of Iowa College of Law.

(New York University Press, 2010)

auThors’ Corner Current Releases

Martha Chamallas and Jennifer B. Wriggins

“What kind of harms matter, and

why? Steeped in the history of

American tort law, Chamallas

and Wriggins demonstrate how

attitudes about race and gender

run through the harms

recognized — and not recognized

— by American law. This book is

brimming with insights about how

societies do and should express

what matters in assigning liability

for human pain and loss.”

Martha Minow

Dean, Harvard Law School

SPRING 2011 | 15

A s the United States celebrates the nation’s “triumph over race” with the election of Barack Obama, the majority of young black men in major American cities are locked

behind bars or have been labeled felons for life. Ohio State University Moritz College of Law Professor Michelle Alexander argues in her new book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, that although Jim Crow laws have been wiped off the books, an astounding percentage of the African American community remains trapped in a subordinate status — much like their grandparents before them.

In this incisive critique, former litigator-turned-legal-scholar Alexander provocatively argues that we have not ended the racial caste in America: we have simply redesigned it. Alexander shows that, by targeting black men and decimating communities of color, the U.S. criminal justice system functions as a contemporary system of racial control, even as it formally adheres to the principle of color blindness. The New Jim Crow challenges the civil rights community — and all of us — to place mass incarceration at the forefront of a new movement for racial justice in America.

Alexander says that this system of mass incarceration “operates as a tightly networked system of laws, policies, customs, and institutions that operate collectively to ensure the subordinate status of a group defined largely by race.”

A civil rights advocate in her own right, Alexander was formerly the director of the Racial Justice Project at the ACLU of Northern California before coming to the Moritz College of Law in 2005 where she holds a joint appointment with the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity. Prior to joining OSU, Alexander was a member of the Stanford Law School faculty, where she was director of the Civil Rights Clinic.

Alexander is teaching a course on race, class and criminal justice during the 2010-11 school year.

Current Releases authors’ Corner

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

Michelle Alexander

(The New Press, 2010)

Prof. Alexander Continues to Garner Praise for BookAlexander was included in “The Root 100,” a list of “young African-American pace setters and game changers” compiled by The Root, a prominent daily online magazine devoted to providing commentary from black perspectives. She was honored for The New Jim Crow.

According to The Root, the annual list includes 100 honorees who are “impactful, creative, iconoclastic, innovative, committed to community and, in many instances, defiant of any restrictive definitions of what it means to be black in America in 2010.”


SPRING 2011 | 17

Saxbe Made Impact at Moritz, in Ohio, across Nation

William B. Saxbe ’48 passed away on Aug. 24, 2010 at the age of 94. He was a former U.S. senator and served as U.S. attorney general under Presidents Nixon and Ford. It is impossible to quantify the value of the contributions made by Saxbe to his

country, state, and The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.

Saxbe’s career in public service dates back to his law school days when he was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives in 1946 while still a student. He served four terms in the Ohio House, including a time when he was speaker of the House. He was also elected to three terms as Ohio attorney general. He served as a U.S. senator before being appointed U.S. attorney general. He was appointed ambassador to India in 1975 and served until 1977. In private practice, he was a principal in the firm of Chester Willcox & Saxbe in Columbus.

“William Saxbe’s extraordinary life exemplified the highest ideals of public service,” said Alan C. Michaels, dean of the Moritz College of Law. “The scope of his accomplishment in

his legal career remains a source of unending pride for his alma mater. He was a true giant in the field, and he leaves a remarkable and inspiring legacy. We at the law school are among the many that benefited from his leadership and generosity.”

In 2002, the Moritz College of Law named its auditorium after Saxbe and established a designated professorship in his honor. Over the past eight years, senators, U.S. Supreme Court justices, judges, and countless thought and policy leaders from around the nation have visited the College’s Saxbe Auditorium. All of the College’s main events – from orientation to lectures and a final farewell to graduates – are held in the space named for Saxbe.

Saxbe, originally from Mechanicsburg, Ohio, holds a bachelor’s degree (1940) and an honorary doctorate (1975) from Ohio State and is a longtime supporter of the University. His son, Charles “Rocky” Saxbe, is a 1975 graduate of the College and his grandson, Jake, is a 2005 Moritz graduate. In addition, he is also survived by wife Ardath “Dolly” Saxbe, daughter Juli Spitzer, son William B. Saxbe Jr., and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

William B.

SAxBETribute: Members of the Moritz community write about the Saxbe legacy. Left to right: Charles “Rocky” Saxbe ’75, Robert M. Duncan ’52, Professor Peter M. Shane, and John J. Chester.

1916 — 2010


I n his book, I’ve Seen the Elephant, my father briefly recalls his time at the Ohio State College of Law, sheepishly confessing: “It wasn’t easy, but I managed to get by.” I can say the same for my three years.

While neither Dad nor I were leading scholars in law school, we accumulated many friendships which rewarded us personally and professionally over many years. This element of law school,

friendships and r e l a t i o n s h i p building, seems at the time a secondary concern to a student absorbed in learning the law. But on reflection, for my father and me, it was the most valuable part of our law school experience.

For Bill Saxbe, classmates Robert

Minor ’48, Stan Darling ’48, and Tom Connor ’48 became lifelong political supporters whose own success as accomplished attorneys proved invaluable to him as he advanced in his public service career. It has been the same for me. Many of my law school colleagues have also achieved remarkable success and remain close to me socially and professionally. The respect and trust we developed in each other over 35 years ago have grown and today we still enjoy each other’s company and are able to accomplish professional objectives which would have been much more difficult without our Ohio State connection.

So for all the Saxbes, Bill, Rocky and now my son, Jake ’05, we appreciate the education afforded to us by the College of Law. But we also recognize that the friendships which we began here can not be underestimated as we reflect on our lives and careers.

LAW SCHOOL FRIENDSHIPS WERE INVALuABLE

Charles “Rocky” Saxbe ’75 is the son of William Saxbe. Rocky is a partner at Chester Willcox & Saxbe in Columbus.

The Honorable William B. Saxbe of Mechanicsburg, Ohio, and I are natives of Champaign County, and it was my good fortune to have known him all of my adult life. He was my mentor and good friend.

For many years he performed outstanding public service for his country, state, county, hometown, the legal profession, and many people. Bill loved people – people from all social strata and walks of life. He seemed to know everyone. His commonality and engaging personality, in my life’s experience, were without match. He enjoyed life and was comfortable with who he was.

I take license to speak for a large number of lawyers who plentifully benefited from his intelligence, leadership style, honesty, wisdom, courage, common sense, character, and professional skills. He was a masterful lawyer in a most disarming manner. He has a wide breadth of experience having represented clients at tribunals ranging from Justice of the Peace courts to the Supreme Court of the United States. He was a small town lawyer and a big town lawyer. He had a gift for fact synthesis, issue identification, and the evaluation of the social outcome of a proposed legal opinion or court decision.

Most Americans will remember William B. Saxbe for his public service as attorney general of the United States. More specifically, for his role in the 1974 antitrust litigation involving the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, which resulted in a corporate separation into a number of smaller companies. In the “Watergate Matter” in the wake of the so-called “Saturday Night Massacre,” he successfully addressed challenges that were among the most perplexing ever confronted by any attorney general of the United States. The Washington Post correctly commented that he was “a blunt spoken and independent senator from Ohio who helped shield the Watergate investigation from political meddling.”

He was straightforward, and became well known as a public official who has no reluctance to clearly state what was on his mind. It is hard to imagine that he was ever fearful of anything. I never knew him to back off from his convictions for the sake of just “getting along” or political expediency.

On occasion I discussed racial matters with Bill. I remember seeing him in the basement of the Statehouse in August 1965 – the day after the Watts, California riots began. During our conversation, in essence he said that people have got to obey the law, and when they don’t they should be prosecuted. He said that this country is undergoing needed changes, and we need to get on with them as soon as humanly possible. He said that all people in this country should have equal opportunities for a good life. Those were concise, accurate, and truthful expressions of his view of civil justice, which in my view, is righteous. Dr. Martin Luther King dreamed of the time when men and women would be judged on the content of their character. Bill Saxbe so judged people all of his life.

I must confess to hero worship. Bill Saxbe was my hero.

‘HONESTY, WISDOM, COuRAGE’

Robert M. Duncan ’52 has served on the bench of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, U.S. Court of Military Appeals, the Supreme Court of Ohio, and the Franklin County Municipal Court. He was vice president and general counsel of Ohio State and served on the University’s Board of Trustees.

by Robert Duncan ’52

by Rocky Saxbe ’75

SPRING 2011 | 19

W illiam Saxbe served as U.S. attorney general for a brief, but pivotal time in the history of the Justice Department. He took over in the wake of events that had demolished the Department’s morale and reputation for professionalism. John Mitchell’s involvement in the Watergate debacle and the departures of Elliot Richardson, William Ruckelshaus, and

Archibald Cox were devastating. President Richard Nixon had little credibility left to choose any new attorney general. It probably seemed imperative to turn not only to a sitting senator, but to a Republican who had been outspokenly critical of the White House – and thus firmly marked as an independent thinker. William Saxbe fit the bill.

In accepting his new assignment, Attorney General Saxbe undertook the delicate task of representing “the United States of America,” even as the U.S. House of Representatives was investigating “the president” for possible impeachment. A likely signal of his approach came in February 1974, barely two months into Mr. Saxbe’s tenure. The Department made public a five-part report by the Office of Legal Counsel reviewing key legal aspects of the impeachment process. The report conspicuously declined to proffer definitive resolutions to key legal questions that history showed to be highly ambiguous – for example, did the phrase “high crimes and misdemeanors” embrace only criminal offenses? But the very tone of the report – analytic, detached, academic – seemed to signal a new determination to show the Department rising above partisanship.

Fortunately, one assumes, for both Mr. Saxbe and for the country, Richard Nixon’s resignation cut short the need of government lawyers to focus on impeachment issues. As a transitional attorney general, however, heading into the Ford administration, Mr. Saxbe had other important issues to deal with, such as the management of records and papers that

Nixon had left behind in the White House. His primary legacy, however, probably lay in stopping the Department’s reputational slide and laying the groundwork for a new era of professionalism and independence. His immediate successors, Edward Levi and Griffin Bell, were able to build on that legacy, which was a precious gift not only to the Department, but to the country as a whole.

SAxBE TuRNED u.S. JuSTICE DEPARTMENT IN RIGHT DIRECTION

Peter Shane is the Jacob E. Davis and Jacob E. Davis II Chair in Law. He served in the U.S. Department of Justice from 1978 to 1981.

B ILL SAxBE WAS A DEDICATED FAMILY MAN. He was dedicated soldier, politician, and public servant. He was a dedicated Republican. He

opposed hypocrisy and corruption in any form. He was a straight shooter who spoke the truth as he saw it. You always knew where you stood with Bill Saxbe.

I first met Bill Saxbe in 1952 when we both ran s u c c e s s f u l l y for the Ohio House of Representatives. He was running for his fourth term as speaker of the House, and I was running for my first term. He immediately struck me as the type of man with whom I wanted to be associated not only as a friend but in Ohio politics. Following our tenure as state representatives, Bill ran successfully for Ohio Attorney General four times and then was elected to the United States Senate in 1958. I am honored to have been a part of all of his election campaigns. What made Bill a successful politician was that ordinary people and business leaders liked him for being the affable man that he was. He was free-speaking, honest, direct, and intelligent yet unpretentious and unassuming. Moreover, Bill was fun and sociable. As such, he was well liked by everyone.

He will always be remembered as man of his word. We spent innumerable hours together in Washington during Watergate while he was attorney general and I served on the Nixon defense team. During that time, I saw first-hand that Bill would not compromise the independence and integrity of the Justice Department as he had promised the Senate. He did not yield to pressure from the White House to violate the law or his principles. His integrity was steadfast and unwavering.

We had a good run together. I am proud to have been his partner and friend.

‘INTEGRITY WAS STEADFAST AND uNWAVERING’

John J. Chester is a partner at Chester Willcox & Saxbe in Columbus. He is a former special counsel to President Richard Nixon and a former member of the Ohio House of Representatives.

SAxBE A STRAIGHT SHOOTER

by Peter Shane

by John J. Chester


L ike many owners of a smartphone, when Professor Peter Swire awoke in the wee hours of the morning last winter, his message box was full of e-mails. But, unlike most

people who awake to discount offers, blast e-mails and news alerts, Swire was reading confidential policy briefings and give-and-take comments from top experts on the housing crisis. ‘Tis the life of a special assistant to the president.

“The physical pace is noticeably different than 10 years ago,” Swire said. “The last time I worked for the president, on a normal day at 10 p.m., if someone wanted me they would have to page me or call. But, today, with smartphones, the work never stops. It is common to send a document out at 10 p.m. and have comments by 7 a.m. the next morning.”

Every morning, White House and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) briefing e-mails arrived by 6 a.m. and staffers were expected to report to the office bright and early, ready to discuss and offer insight and expertise.

“At every staff meeting, Larry Summers would go around the room, asking questions, sort of like a pop quiz, or law school,”

Professor Swire Returns to Moritz After Stint in White House

Swire said.Swire, the C. William O’Neill Professor

in Law and Judicial Administration, returned to Moritz this fall after a leave of absence from the faculty that he spent working for the White House as a special assistant to the president for economic policy. Swire worked in the National Economic Council under Director Larry Summers and was the White House coordinator for the administration’s interagency housing policy.

“When the administration took office, housing prices had dropped for 30 straight months and a quarter of all mortgages were underwater,” Swire said. “The heart of the problem was subprime mortgages, especially so-called NINJA loans – no income, no job, or assets. Every part of the system failed and there were no checks and balances. Traditionally, lenders were very concerned about whether the applicants could make their payments because the debt was on their books, but during the bubble, banks were

Peter Swire returned to Moritz this fall after a one-year leave from law teaching that he spent working for the White House as a special assistant to the president for economic policy.

“The economic situation is so difficult that there is a very serious sense of purpose and focus.”

Professor Peter Swire, C. William O’Neill Professor in

Law and Judicial Administration

by Barbara Peck

SPRING 2011 | 21

packaging and passing on mortgages like never before.”

Over the course of a normal week, Swire would work directly with the Treasury Department, HUD, Office of Management and Budget, the Domestic Policy Council, the Council of Economic Advisors, Office of vice President, Department of Agriculture, and the veteran’s Administration to create solutions.

Swire focused the majority of his efforts on reforming the Federal Housing Authority, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac as well as developing loan modification programs and other programs targeting foreclosures. In many ways, Swire said he was acting more as an economist than a lawyer.

“I argued more about numbers than the rhetorical nature of the words,” he said.

In part, Swire relied on the experience he gained while working on similar issues as an attorney during the savings and loan crisis in the 1990s.

“This crisis is much bigger than the savings and loan crisis,” he said. “In the savings and loan crisis, small and medium size institutions were in trouble and closing. In 2008, some of the biggest investment banks and lenders in the world were crashing, closing, or sold. Obviously, this is going to have huge systemic effects.”

Swire previously served in the White House as the chief counselor for privacy in the Office of Management and Budget under President Clinton. Having worked directly with two presidents, Swire could not help but observe some differences.

“Both Clinton and Obama are incredibly smart. President Clinton is more gregarious, naturally charismatic, and just dominates a room when he walks in,” Swire said. “President Obama is very disciplined. He comes to meetings on time, absorbs the written material in a detailed way, and reaches decisions in the allocated time. He is calm and relaxed even when the situation is difficult. He listens very carefully, but does not show stress.”

Perhaps as a reflection of the leader’s style, the atmosphere among White House staff also changed.

“The economic situation was so difficult in 2009 that there was a very serious sense of purpose and focus,” Swire said.

During the period immediately following the election, Swire worked on a transition team focusing on Federal Trade Commission. He also helped the administration transition its very well-known and dynamic social and digital media structure to whitehouse.gov.

“The rapid response required by new media is a challenge when governing because many parts of government want to weigh in on what is said,” Swire said. “During the transition and the start of the administration, people were still being selected to positions, computers did not work or have the necessary software, and the Senate confirmation process was slow.”

Keeping true to his ability to wear many hats, Swire also assisted in the early days of the administration with issues relating to wireless broadband and technology. His efforts led to more than $7 billion being allocated toward increased wireless broadband access in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. In total, Swire played a significant role in many of the administration’s most challenging issues.

“The president had to make some very tough choices,” Swire said. “If the only goal was to have the best midterm elections ever, then there would not have been a healthcare reform bill or a financial regulation bill, but instead we would have just done a jobs bill every six weeks. The president took this time to make some historic changes and he got some big legislation passed – and got hammered for it in the midterms.”

Professor Peter Swire received a signed copy of an executive order that he helped develop from President Barack Obama.


“The federal government is an

equalizing force in education,” says

Julie Miceli ’04, chief of staff

and special counsel to the general

counsel at the U.S. Department of

Education.

SPRING 2011 | 23

The statistics are dismal. More black males drop out of high

school than actually graduate. When comparing the United

States to other industrialized nations on standardized tests,

the U.S. ranks mediocre at best. And, for the first time in

the nation’s history, the current school-age generation is on

track to be less educated as a whole than their parents.

to

Challenges in Providing

AllEqual Education

by Barbara Peck


In education, like many other social and economic issues facing the country, the path to improvement and equality may very well entail changes in the law. As more laws and regulations are passed, the field continues to grow but has

yet to become an official American Bar Association section, division, or forum.

What Does the Law Guarantee?The U.S. Constitution has 4,400 words, and not a single one of them is education.

“The role of the federal government is something that lawyers need to grapple with,” said Julie Miceli ’04, chief of staff and special counsel to the general counsel at the U.S. Department of Education. “Education is not a fundamental right, it is not guaranteed, and it is not in the Constitution. Historically, education has been provided by the states based on local control principles. The federal government has spending power to support schools and encourage reforms in education, but the vast majority of the funding and decision-making comes from state and local governments.”

The U.S. Supreme Court has decided, however, that when states and localities do provide education, the 14th Amendment prohibits states from discriminating against students. In Brown v. Board of Education, Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote “Education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments … where the state has undertaken to provide it, it is a right which must be made available on equal terms.” The Supreme Court held separate education facilities for blacks and whites are inherently unequal, but in the long string of cases that followed the Court has still not opined on how exactly an “equal education” is defined.

“To me, an equal education would be allocating resources so that each child is able to meet his or her academic potential,” said Ruth Colker, Distinguished University Professor and Heck Faust Memorial Chair in Constitutional Law at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.

Many advocates and school districts have charged that relying on property taxes to fund K-12 education creates unequal revenue that disenfranchises poorer, and often minority, districts. The Supreme Court, however, in the early 1970s determined unequal spending among districts

in a state is not a violation of the federal constitution. This decision left advocates looking to state constitutions for relief. As of 2010, 45 states have endured state constitutional challenges to their school funding systems. About half of these 45 states have accepted state equal protection arguments and called for more equal funding among districts while the other half have found local control over education a compelling state interest.

In the next round of litigation, rather than simply asking for fiscal equity, advocates argued spending on education must be adequate to provide all students with an education guaranteed by their state’s constitution. State courts have been fairly receptive to this argument – with plaintiff ’s winning almost two-thirds of the time. In New York, a state court in 2005 found that the state must increase spending in New York City schools by more than $4 billion a year – or $5,000 per student - in addition to billions in need capital improvements to bring schools up to an “adequate” level. To date, that has yet to happen.

Recognizing disparities in education levels nationwide, as part of the war on poverty in 1965, Congress enacted the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in an effort to direct funds to key areas. Title I of the ESEA distributes federal funds to school districts with a high percentage of students from low-income families. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) passed in 2001 is a reauthorization of Title I of ESEA.

“The federal government is an equalizing force in education,” Miceli said. “Whether it is special education, poverty, English language learners or first- generation college students, that is the federal government’s primary focus. These populations all need to be served equally and fairly so all students have an opportunity to learn.”

“A child’s education should not depend on their

parents to seek out and put them in good schools –

all schools should be good.”

Professor Charles E. Wilson

SPRING 2011 | 25

Are We Meeting Those Guarantees?While few can agree on what an equal education looks like, and even less on how to achieve it, the statistics themselves do not paint a picture of equality or adequacy.

Across the country, the national average number of white male students reading at or above grade level was 33 percent and the average for black male students was 9 percent. Not a single state crossed the 50 percent threshold (with Maryland taking the top spot with 45 percent of 8th grade white males reading at or above grade level). In Columbus, the 2008 graduation rate for black males was 35 percent, compared to 44 percent for white males. The data of younger students hints at a possible reason – in the state of Ohio in 2009, 39 percent of white male students and 8 percent of black male students read at or above grade level.

“There is such uneven education across the country with such extremes and inequities that it is difficult to really give an overall grade,” Colker said.

Rundown facilities, lack of text books, untrained teachers, and overcrowding often plague inner city or poverty-stricken districts.

“At the school I taught at, just placing students in the correct classes at the beginning of the year was a challenge,” said Megan Wintermantel ’12, who taught 7th grade English to classes of 35 students in the Los Angeles Unified School District as a member of Teach For America. “Students were constantly being moved from class to class, coming in and out of my class, and missing huge parts of the curriculum.”

A month into her second school year, Wintermantel herself was “displaced” as a teacher at the school when it was determined there were too many teachers. “My kids were split up among other seventh grade English classes and had to start over. It was heartbreaking. Determining which teachers are displaced from a school is just a formula based largely on seniority – it has little to do with which teachers have been effective.”

According to the Urban Institute Education Policy Center, fewer than 38 percent of students in the Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton,

Special Education: Shining Example or Work in Progress?

One area of education law and policy that has seen tremendous change is the area of special education.

In the 1960s, courts concluded denying children access to public education because of a disability was a violation of due process. In 1975, Congress passed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which provides federal support to states that

follow specific criteria for educating disabled students. Prior to the passage of IDEA, more than one million children with disabilities were being turned away from schools.

“The law requires that children with disabilities receive a free and appropriate public education,” said Ruth Colker, Distinguished University Professor and Heck Faust Memorial Chair in Constitutional Law

at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. “Of course, reasonable minds differ on what is appropriate.”

Today, 95 percent of children with disabilities attend neighborhood schools and 60 percent spend at least 80 percent of their day in regular classrooms. In 2007, 60 percent of students with disabilities graduated with a regular high school diploma and almost half enroll in post-secondary education.

“We have made tremendous progress in educating all children with disabilities. There have been enormous advances in meeting the requirement of getting all children in the classroom and educating every child,” Colker said. “The harder question is: what progress have we made in the last decade? Unfortunately, after huge gains, the same socioeconomic disparities that plague the rest of the education system are now affecting disability education.”

Specifically, significant disparities have risen between the number of middle class children classified as special needs and receiving Individualized Education Plans or private schooling at taxpayer expense and the numbers of poor children receiving similar benefits.

“Children from middle-class families have resources to advocate for their children, while poor children often do not. Unfortunately, the statute requires that parents advocate for their children with disabilities,” Colker said. “As a result, middle class children make up a huge proportion of children who are labeled as autistic and are sent to highly specialized and focused private schools on taxpayer funds. Poor children, on the other hand, are much more likely to be labeled as a behavior problem or mentally retarded and segregated in a separate classroom in a public school.”

Professor Ruth Colker


and Toledo public school districts graduate on time. It is not just the students who are failing, but the schools themselves. In Ohio’s six largest counties, 2.2 percent of schools in non-high poverty schools (fewer than 60 percent of students eligible for free or discounted lunch) are on academic emergency, compared to 37.7 percent of high poverty schools (60-80 percent of students eligible for free or discounted lunch) and 42.7 percent of extreme high poverty (more than 80 percent of students eligible for free or discounted lunch).

Ohio ranks 45th in the nation for its graduation rate of black males, which stands at 41 percent, 37 percent lower than the graduation rate for Ohio white males.

“A child’s education should not depend on his or her zip code and that is where we are at in Ohio right now. A child’s education should not depend on their parents’ ability to seek out and put them in good schools – all schools should be good,” said Charles E. Wilson, associate professor of law and member of the Worthington City School District Board of Education.

Every three years the Program on International Student Assessment (PISA) evaluates the reading, mathematics, and scientific literacy of 15-year-old students in more than 60 countries. The only area where American students placed well was in a measurement of their self-confidence in their academic skills. The 2009 results showed the skills themselves, however, to be stagnant and average at best. In reading, American students showed no improvement since 2000 and placed 14th among nations. Math abilities measured the same as in 2003 (but up from 2006) and place America 25th overall. Science scores in 2009 improved the United States from below average to average, placing 17th overall.

One issue in determining “success” is that NCLB allowed states to set their own standards, and, therefore, proficiency in Ohio was not measured the same as proficiency in California. The Obama administration has attempted to encourage states to adopt voluntary, common standards and currently just over three-fourths of all U.S. public school students reside in states with the new higher common, college-ready standards.

“That is an absolute game-changer in a system which, until now, set 50 different goalposts for success--and actually encouraged states to dummy-down their academic standards,” Miceli said. “For the first time, children in Mississippi and children in Massachusetts

will be held to the same standard. We will stop lying to children and their parents — telling them they are ready when they are not.”

Challenges in Finding SolutionsAsk any administrator or policymaker why schools are failing and they will provide a laundry list of reasons. The problems themselves are not new.

“We are providing incentives to schools for making improvements. This administration wants to be looser on the means and tighter on the goals,” Miceli said. “We are focusing on low performing schools and drop-out factories. And we are working toward the President’s 2020 Goal, which is to have a higher proportion of college graduates than anywhere else.”

SegregationWhile dreams of integrated schools filled the air after the Brown decision and decades of civil rights victories, the reality is still one of black and white students attending separate schools in most states. According to a 2003 study, black students were more segregated from their white peers in 2001 than in any time since the late 1960s. According to The Ohio State University Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, the number of nearly all-minority schools (defined as a school where fewer than 5 percent of students are white) doubled from 1993 to 2006.

The Supreme Court has slowly chipped away at plans of integration and busing and in 2007 determined race itself could not be the determining factor in school assignment.

“The statistics show that socioeconomic status has a

huge impact on academic success and that children

from poor backgrounds do better when placed with

middle class children.”


SPRING 2011 | 27


Networking, Passion Pay Off for Julie Miceli ’04JPovertyLow-performing schools often have a much higher rate of high-poverty students. A study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education analyzing the 2009 PISA results showed that socioeconomically disadvantaged American students were at much higher risk for poor academic achievement than socioeconomically disadvantaged students in other countries.

Analysis conducted by the Kirwan Institute shows that a schools’ socioeconomic makeup has an even greater impact on student performance than does the student family’s socioeconomic or racial status.

“The research does show that it is not just purely resources that improve outcomes,” Colker said. “It is also who is in the classroom as fellow students. If all the students are poor, there are lower results. If there is a mix of socioeconomic backgrounds, there is more success for everyone. In Boulder, Colo., they recently implemented a system where each school must have 20 percent of children enrolled eligible for free or reduced cost lunch, which is the district average. I think this is a great approach and would replicate it if possible.”

In response to the Supreme Court’s decision in 2007, the Kirwan Institute has also been supportive of assigning students to schools based on socioeconomic status instead of race as a method for achieving integration and improving schools as a whole.

“The statistics show that socioeconomic status has a huge impact on academic success and that children from poor backgrounds do better when placed with middle-class children,” Colker said. “It doesn’t mean that classes of poor children cannot be successful, it means it just is not as likely. In some of the cases of success, the resources being used are extraordinary and cannot be replicated on a large scale. It seems like it would be less costly to integrate schools than to start spending $20,000 per pupil each year.”

Others, however, are less enthusiastic about complex student assignment plans.

“Poverty is not a reason for low achieving results,” Miceli said. “A lot of factors go into making high performing students: engaged parents, quality teachers and leaders, putting kids’ needs first. The biggest challenge is often getting the adults – teachers, leaders, and parents – working together.”

Moritz TFA alumni echoed the same sentiment.“What TFA really instills in its teachers is a mindset

that we will not make excuses as to why these children are not learning, regardless of what they are facing in their lives,” Wintermantel said. “All children should have the opportunity to receive an excellent education no matter what. The education community is limited in how it can influence a child’s environment outside of school, but we cannot use poverty as an excuse. We need to do whatever it takes to educate all children, whether it’s extending the school day, staying after school and providing one-on-one tutoring, or overhauling the system. The mindset is simple, but many people do not have it. Kids can succeed no matter where they come from; education is the great equalizer.”

TeachersThere is often a dramatic difference in qualifications between teachers in successful schools and teachers in low performing schools. Strict union contracts often dictate terms for hiring and firing of teachers, and teacher pay and benefits. According to the Education Trust, in high minority schools, almost one in three classes is taught by a teacher trained in a different subject area, compared to one in five classes in low-minority schools.

“The lack of great teachers in low-income schools is a big part of the problem. In order to change that, we need to increase teacher salaries, elevate the prestige of the profession, and revolutionize teacher training. A great teacher will drive academic achievement while developing a culture of excellence, determination, and teamwork,” said Nikki Baszynski ’13, who taught in New York City for Teach For America and in a Columbus charter school prior to attending Moritz.

According to the federal government, by 2015 50 percent of current teachers will retire and need to be replaced. However, almost 50 percent of new teachers leave the profession within the first five years. In 1964, 50 percent of college-educated women became teachers. Today that number is less than 15 percent.

“Teachers in Finland almost all come from the top

“The research does show that it is not just purely

resources that improve outcomes. It is also who is in

the classroom as fellow students.”


SPRING 2011 | 29

Networking, Passion Pay Off for Julie Miceli ’04

I was excited about that position,” Miceli said. “At the time, everyone was focused on big law summer jobs, but I was focused on education law. During the school year, I worked for the Ohio attorney general and Ohio Department of Education. Most lawyers at the time just fell into education law, they did not set out to practice it. Now it is an emerging field and people are focusing on it.”

Miceli became first interested in education law when a textbook controversy found its way into her Hudson, Ohio, classroom.

“Our previous AP American History textbook did not focus on social history, but the AP exam went beyond our founding fathers, it wanted to know what we learned about the contribution of women, minorities, and immigrants – what they did to help make this country what it is,” Miceli said. “I was a student in the class, so the school’s controversy over which textbook to use directly affected me so I got involved and went to school board meetings. What I saw was that it was the school’s lawyers who stepped in and helped the school reach a solution.”

Miceli majored in math education at Ohio University and was the College of Education senator to student government. She completed her student teaching in Appalachia.

“There was such a big contrast between the education I received at Hudson and what I was experiencing in Appalachia. This solidified my decision to go right to law school,” she said.

Her favorite class at Moritz was Constitutional Law with Professor David Goldberger. She also took Torts with Professor Morgan Shipman, who was her favorite professor. “Professor Shipman found out what I was interested in and sent me every article and news item on education law he came across,” Miceli said.

After graduating from Moritz, her first job after law school was with the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.

“I was extremely happy. I focused on higher education policy, K-12 policy, and prosecuted misconduct cases involving teachers and school staff,” Miceli said. “The most exciting part of my work was representing fiscal emergency commissions for schools. We worked with school boards that were in the red and labeled in fiscal emergency. I drove to meetings all over the state to help schools fix some really big problems.”

And, then there was that fateful legal conference that led to the new job in Chicago that led to Washington, DC.

“It is very rewarding to be a political appointee with this Administration,” Miceli said. “I receive hundreds of e-mails a week that need to be addressed, so on a day-to-day basis, it is often about getting a lot of work done in a short amount of time. The hours are absolutely grueling. But every once and a while I find myself in a meeting with the Secretary or the solicitor general about something that could really improve education for kids in this country, and I think, ‘how did I get here?!’ These moments make it all worth it.”

Julie Miceli ’04 knows one thing for sure: play your networking cards right and you just may end up working for the president of the United States.

Early in her career, Miceli, whose dream was to work in education law since high school, found

herself at a legal conference. At the time, she was working for the Ohio Attorney General’s Office Education Section, and she was happy with her job.

“At the conference, I meet Darcy Kriha, a partner from a Chicago boutique education law firm, Franczek Radelet. She was exciting, dynamic and passionate – everything I wanted to be,” Miceli said. “The firm represented schools from all over the Chicago area – rural, urban, wealthy, poor – on everything from employment issues to contracts, special education, and student discipline.”

Miceli and Kriha stayed in contact and eventually what seemed like a minor networking experience turned into a job.

“Working at Franczek Radelet was incredible,” Miceli said. “Not a day went by that I felt like I didn’t get a win for a kid.”

In the midst of working on major labor negotiations for the city of Chicago, Miceli worked with one of the firm’s founding partners, Charlie Rose. “I just started talking to Charlie and got to know him,” she said. “He was incredibly devoted to the issues facing public schools in Illinois. While handling some of the largest assignments for CPS he simultaneously led some of the most exciting pro bono education reform projects the state had ever seen.” At the same time, she was excited about the upcoming 2008 presidential election. “I supported Obama and the campaign headquarters was down the street so it was easy to do some volunteer work. Eventually, I ended up knocking on doors in Iowa and then on Election Day I volunteered to work in Akron on voter protection.”

After the election, it became known that Arne Duncan was the candidate for secretary of education and Charlie Rose for general counsel of the department. Rose was confirmed in May and Miceli left Chicago on a Friday, drove to Ohio, arrived in D.C. on Sunday, slept on an air mattress and started work Monday as the chief of staff and special counsel to the general counsel, a political appointment.

“People think the goal of networking is to collect as many business cards as you can, but it is not. It is about making a connection,” Miceli said. “When I met Darcy at the conference, we connected over a shared passion for education law. The key is to do it honestly and make a real connection, not just get a business card.”

In her current position, Miceli handles just about every education law issue imaginable.

“I am a jack of all trades in this position. I have my hands in everything – as they say – I’m spread a mile wide,” Miceli said. “My job is to understand and know what is going on across the entire department, be able to identify key policy and legal issues wherever they arise, assign work where appropriate, manage staff, and sometimes I get to immerse myself in some of my own projects.”

This job is not Miceli’s first with the U.S. Department of Education. In her second year of law school, she interned with the department in the summer.

“I never thought the career services office quite understood why


10 percent of their graduating class,” Wilson said. “In America, it is often the bottom third. Being a K-12 teacher is low status in America and we need to change this to attract more qualified teachers. It may sound odd, but Title vII has really had a huge impact on the quality of teachers. Before, many of the best and brightest women became K-12 teachers. Now these women go on to other opportunities. We need to be attracting the best and brightest, emotionally intelligent, and empathetic to teach and administer our children.”

SpendingThe silver bullet on top of many lists for fixing problems in education is, of course, more money.

“The biggest challenge is that all of our challenges – the variance in student preparation, hiring, and retaining teachers – require additional resources, and in today’s economy that is a big hurdle,” Wilson said.

In 2004-05, taxpayers spent $536 billion on K-12 education and another $373 billion on higher education. According to the U.S. Department of Education, 83 cents of every dollar spent on K-12 education comes from the state or local level (45.6 percent from state funds, 37.1 percent from local funds). The federal government’s share is approximately 8.3 percent, up from 5.7 percent in 1990-91.

“Resources are important for every organization,” Miceli said. “But we have to work to improve efficiency. There is not a blank check at the federal, state, or local level. High performing schools are often the most efficient and cost-effective, and we are trying to study the methods that are most effective.”

While districts in the United States often appeal for more resources when troubling results are released, according to PISA, the United States currently spends

In 2000, the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights estimated that there are 2.4 million national-origin minority students with limited English language skills that affect their ability to participate effectively in education programs and achieve high academic standards. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 has been interpreted to prohibit denial of equal access to education because of a student’s limited proficiency in English. In 1970, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Department of Education memorandum stating school districts are violating Title VI if they are not taking affirmative steps to rectify the language problem. The Supreme Court held “there is no equality of treatment merely by providing students with the same facilities, textbooks, teachers, and curriculum; for students who do not understand English are effectively foreclosed from any meaningful education.” Further guidance in 1985 and 1991 stated districts must provide effective alternative language service programs to meet the educational needs of language-minority students. This does not mean, however, that districts must provide instruction in a student’s native language.

more money per student than any other country except Luxembourg. As many states, including Ohio, struggle with tight budgets over the next several years, education is likely to see more cuts than increases.

“The funding is not as big of a problem as the management of the funding,” Baszynski said. “We need administrators with strong management skills who understand how to allocate resources effectively to maximize student achievement.”

Is Success Possible?The vast array of challenges and the longevity of many of these problems leave many wondering if nationwide high-performing schools is an obtainable goal. Across the nation, only 47 percent of black males graduate from high school. However, there are multiple districts that have recently demonstrated success in teaching

Education: English-Language Learners

“We need administrators with strong

management skills who understand how to

allocate resources effectively to maximize

student achievement.”

Nikki Baszynski ’13

SPRING 2011 | 31

high-poverty, often minority students including: Newark Public Schools, New Jersey; New York City’s Harlem Children’s zone; Montgomery County Maryland Public Schools; Baltimore County Public Schools; and Fort Bend, Texas schools.

New Jersey is the only state to graduate more than 65 percent of black males - a feat many credit to extensive litigation in the state. The Supreme Court of New Jersey has issued more than 20 opinions since 1973

focused on school funding. After the case Abbott v. Burke redistributed resources in New Jersey, the notoriously poor-performing Newark School District has shown vast improvements. In 2002, the average graduation rate for white males in the United States was 70 percent, while the rate for Newark black males stood at 47 percent. After several years of substantial increases, by 2008, the graduation rate for Newark black males climbed to 75 percent, just three percentile points lower than the then-

average for white males across the country.“My kids were absolutely fantastic and had so much

academic potential, despite the huge challenges they faced in life,” Wintermantel said. “I had a little girl get beaten up by a gang, and she came to class ready to learn. If kids have the opportunity to get a good education, they will take that opportunity. All kids have goals and dreams and they want to reach them. Teachers need to show them the way and put them in the right setting.”

The Obama administration has taken a focused approach to infusing more money and reforms into the education system with programs like Race to the Top, School Improvement Grants, Investing in Innovation, and the Teacher Incentive Fund.

Charter SchoolsIn isolated pockets in many districts, charter schools have sprung up in an effort to improve academic success for some students. But, that leaves many wondering about the students left behind in traditional schools.

“The administration supports high quality schools, and that includes high quality charters – but they are not a silver bullet for reform. High quality charters can help support a complete system, but low performing charters need to turnaround or close,” Miceli said. “There are three keys to a great charter school: strong

“All kids have goals and dreams and they

want to reach them. Teachers need to show

them the way and put them in the right

setting.”

Megan Wintermantel ’12

In February 2011, Professor Ruth Colker (left) and Susan G. Tobin ’81 discussed the legal duties of schools in providing special education students a quality education and learning environment. The event, titled Special Education and Discrimination, was sponsored by the newly formed Moritz Education Law Society.


accountability, strong leadership, and strong teachers. We know the complaints around charters – that they don’t serve diverse populations, English learners, students with disabilities, and kids with discipline issues. And we’ve heard that some charters try to skim the best students. But we have seen remarkable results with charters that do take on the most challenging populations and the toughest problems. Some charters across the country are setting the bar in these areas, making more progress than traditional public schools. Other charters are missing the mark. The secretary (of education) is continually challenging the charter school community to get better, to take on the tough issues, and be a part of the solution.”

Currently 41 states allow charter schools and there are more than 5,000 charter schools nationwide.

“The difference between the traditional school and charter school was night and day,” said Wintermantel, who spent one year teaching in both types of schools. “In the charter school, the principal knew each child and had a huge presence in the school. The principal support, and the school’s emphasis on preparing every student for college, made a huge difference. The culture of the school, the smaller class sizes, and even just having students placed in the right classes allowed for students to achieve. I would advocate for charter schools because they have more freedom to use innovative strategies that put students’ needs first. Highly successful charter school systems such as KIPP Schools have developed strategies that allow low-income students to achieve at high levels.”

There are more than 1 million students attending charter schools nationwide and more than 350,000 more students are on waiting lists. Charter schools are often funded by transferring money from the school’s home district to the charter school. On average, charter schools spend less money per pupil, but also offer fewer services in the areas of disability learning, English language learning, and social services.

“Charter schools draw resources away from public schools,” Colker said. “They do not necessarily have to take everyone who applies and can therefore have a somewhat less challenging student population to educate. That then makes the task of the regular public schools even harder because they have fewer resources to educate the most challenging students.”

In 2005, the law firm Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP celebrated its 100th anniversary by donating $1 million to start the Legacy Charter School in Chicago.

“I view charter schools the same way I view public schools. If they have good teachers and a good administration, they are often good schools,” Baszynski said. “I do not think you can dismiss a school simply because of a label. You have to look at the school and see if it is successfully educating children. Charter

schools are public schools; they are just operating with fewer restraints and often with more accountability.”

According to a 2009 report by Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University, 17 percent of charter schools reported academic gains that were significantly better than traditional public schools; 46 percent showed no difference from public schools; and 37 percent were significantly worse than their traditional public school counterparts.

The FutureAs new laws, regulations, and programs are developed, the promise of more litigation seems inevitable. The president’s 2012 federal budget called for the expansion of education spending through key administrative programs like Race to the Top, but changes the way other programs, including Teach For America, an independent nonprofit organization, receive government funding.

“Educational inequity is our generation’s civil rights issue,” Baszynski said. “We work within a system that allows disparities in education based on wealth and race. We have known for a long time it isn’t fair, but we have yet to see large-scale substantive change.”

“Charter schools are public schools; they are just

operating with fewer restraints and often with

more accountability.”

Nikki Baszynski ’13

SPRING 2011 | 33

Teach Leaves Lasting Impact on Moritz Students

There are currently 16 Moritz students who are alumni

of Teach For America (TFA). Ask for a volunteer to talk

about their experience and 16 hands shoot up. Ask for a

volunteer to opine about education in America, 16 hands

shoot up. Ask whether TFA was a life-changing experience,

you guessed it, 16 hands in the air.

AmericaFor

by Barbara Peck


SPRING 2011 | 35

“

Pictured Moritz teach for america alumni:

(Left to right) Nicole Chamas ’13, Adam Schira ’11, Nikki Baszynski ’13, Christine Frankart ’13, Tony Subketkaew ’13, Ryan Jolley ’13, Megan Wintermantel ’12, Jenna Linder ’11, Alison McKay ’11, Scott Bent ’12, Gretchen Cataline-Walsh ’13, and Ryan Suskey ’13. Not pictured: Alexandra Wolfe ’11, Tegan Kahner ’11, Courter Shimeall ’13, and Kevin Snell ’13.


It is the most significant experience I have had in my life by a long shot, and it probably always will be,” said Adam Schira ’11, who taught 9th grade English at Overbrook High School in Philadelphia as part of TFA. “I will always be involved and be passionate about

underserved children as a result. After three years, I needed to step back, but whether it is on a philanthropic level, volunteer level, or whether I go back to teaching full-time at some point, I will always focus on those who need it most.”

Like most TFA members, Schira’s experience growing up in Toledo was vastly different than most of his students. He attended private high school and then went on to xavier University in Cincinnati.

“I saw the TFA recruiting materials and I was sure it was not for me. But, I was clerking in a law office and an attorney encouraged it,” Schira said. “I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do after undergrad – maybe law, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to go to law school right away. I wanted to do something significant in the world – for myself and for people who really needed it.”

TFA, an independent nonprofit organization, was created in 1991 to target college students just like Schira – overachieving, highly motivated, and ready to make a difference in the world. The program is designed to be extremely competitive and prestigious – and it is with only 12 percent of its 46,000 applicants accepted.

Once accepted, students are assigned positions based on a ranking of choices. Training occurs over the summer institute, or “teacher boot camp.”

“Training was pretty overwhelming. There were structured events from six in the morning until nine at night and then I needed to work on my lesson planning,” Schira said. “It was hard. If you did not come in with a sense of humility, you certainly left with one.”

As part of the institute, TFA members often teach summer school. They are often observed and coached by district teachers, team-teach with other TFA members, and constantly review how the day and lesson plans worked.

“My first experience teaching was summer school – 33 students who did not want to be there in a non-air-conditioned building in Philly,” Schira said.

TFA has received criticism from mainstream teachers on its intense, but brief, training program.

“A friend of mine was a ‘traditional’ teacher in the Bronx,” said Nikki Baszynski ’13, who taught 6th grade

English. “He told me he thought the training TFA corps members received made them better prepared to teach than him. Our training was tailored toward our mission to significantly raise student achievement in a low-income community with a class that is, on average, multiple grade levels behind. The ongoing support and professional development TFA provides is also instrumental to our success. We are assigned program directors (PD) who visit our classes frequently, and we are offered multiple opportunities to expand content knowledge. If you are having trouble, your PD will visit your class, assess

the situation, and provide advice on how to resolve the problem. My friend had nothing like this to help him through his first year.”

In order to teach in TFA, most states require students to obtain certification for the grade levels they will be teaching. Other states or districts require TFA members to be working toward a master’s degree while teaching as part of TFA.

After the five-week summer institute is complete, TFA members head to the classroom.

“For a first assignment, and partly so I could gauge where they were academically, I had my students write a basic personal statement to get into college,” Schira said. “One of my students wrote about being poor and how his mother died at the hands of his father, who was now in jail. It was a reality check for me. It is hard to discuss grammar when someone is telling you such a powerful story, but we ended up connecting. By the end of the year, this student was one of my best students and I got him tested into the gifted program despite his emotional issues.

“It started out very rough. But once you show the kids that you care and that you are genuine, the kids come around,” Schira said.

Other TFA members also found the first days in the classroom overwhelming.

“My first year, I worked at a huge, overcrowded, traditional public school. It was chaotic with little structure, which made classroom management very difficult,” said Megan Wintermantel ’12 who taught 7th grade English

“It started out very rough. But once you show

the kids that you care and that you are genuine,

the kids come around.”

Adam Schira ’11

SPRING 2011 | 37

in the Los Angeles Unified School District. “There was not a lot of support from administration when it came to discipline problems or getting children the assistance they needed. I just really had to focus on creating the right culture in my classroom. TFA instills in you that these are your students and you will do whatever you need to in order to ensure they make significant academic gains and are on the right path.”

The first year of teaching can be difficult for anyone as new teachers test and modify lesson plans and classroom management strategies. A low performing school with little administrative help and children with social and emotional needs makes the challenge even more difficult.

“The first year was incredibly hard. I have never done anything so difficult, even compared to law school,” said Alexandra Wolfe ’11, who taught 8th grade math and algebra in the Rio Grande valley in Texas.

Classroom challenges often called for creativity.“My classroom only had one set of books, and

that wasn’t even a complete set,” Schira said. “It made homework and assignments challenging, but I just had to be creative and focus on shorter works like poetry, or copy pages to send home.”

The rural area surrounding Wolfe’s district in Texas, located about four miles from the Mexican border, brought its own set of problems.

“I had students with no electricity who were living in a trailer with 12 relatives, but I did not have lower standards for them,” she said. “In a rural area, it seemed like few students knew much about life outside of the valley, and certainly couldn’t imagine themselves leaving. When I flew home to Ohio to visit my parents, they were just fascinated. After that, I was visiting law schools and made it a point to take lots of pictures, get out the maps, and show the students ‘this is where I was this weekend. I might go to school here’ just to expose them to the outside world.”

Other TFA members also found that using personal stories and connecting with students during extracurricular activities were key.

“I volunteered to coach a start-up girl’s soccer team. On the first day, 50 girls showed up, which is more than showed up to the first day of football practice, and they were so excited and determined,” Schira said. “But, then I looked around and realized they are wearing jeans and flip-flops and had never touched a soccer ball in their lives. But, three years later, they were city league champions. These girls were driven and ready to play and many of them ended up in my honors English class.”

After starting Moritz, Baszynski noticed that many of her same fellow students kept showing up to the same events and causes. After talking with them and connecting the dots, she realized there were a lot of TFA alums at Moritz, all of whom brought the TFA mindset and passion with them. In the fall of 2010, Baszynski and her fellow TFA alumni started the Education Law Society as a way to channel that energy for current and future Moritz students. So far the group has hosted events covering vast education law topics ranging from student privacy to special education advocacy. The group also has set up a volunteer program that works at the Columbus Collegiate Academy charter school in Columbus.

While the Moritz TFA alumni are busy planning a variety of careers, most intend on having some hand in education law and policy in the future.

Wintermantel is working at the Children’s Law Center of Los Angeles this summer. She hopes to work in education law upon graduation. “There are so few lawyers who represent students,” she said. “Many lawyers work in special education or represent teachers unions or school districts, but not many actually represent the traditional student.”

Schira is currently clerking in the Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office and he, like other TFA alums, previously taught for the Law and Leadership Institute.

Wolfe has accepted a position at Dykema in the Detroit area for the fall of 2011. She is currently conducting phone interviews on behalf of TFA, and hopes to have some involvement with the newly created Detroit Public Schools TFA program.

“There is no silver bullet, no one answer to fixing the education system, but teachers can make a difference,” Wolfe said. “It is great if there are great parents and the kids have food to eat, but the biggest difference is often the teachers. We need quality teachers with the skills and ability to teach, who care about the students and are willing to push them.”

“TFA instills in you that these are your students

and you will do whatever you need in order to

ensure they make significant academic gains and

are on the right path.”

Megan Wintermantel ’12


JORDAN CARR ’10

“In leadership, creativity is vital. Creativity gives

you that little something extra, that spark, a

vision that inspires other people to follow your

lead. This workshop gave me the opportunity to

put aside the rules and the analytical thinking for

a few hours and tap into that creative side

I had ignored for so long.”

SPRING 2011 | 39

PROgRAM ON LAW AND LEADERShIP WORKShOPS PROvIDE

hANDS-ON LEADERShIP TRAININg

In Fourth Year, PLL Continues to Implement Leadership Education Historically Absent from Law Schools

Law schools have long trained students to be great lawyers. Those graduates, however, oftentimes enter

society and become more than lawyers.

They are leaders in their professions, organizations, clubs, and communities. Moritz graduates are leading in law firms, governments, businesses, and community

groups across the country.

by Rob Phillips


While business schools started implementing leadership training and education decades ago, law schools have historically failed to focus on the cultivation of such leadership skills. The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law emerged on the cutting edge of leadership education in 2006 when it introduced a leadership course in the curriculum and in 2007 when it launched the Program on Law and Leadership. The program combines a variety of courses, activities, and workshops designed to provide Moritz students with the theoretical knowledge, practice, and applied skills necessary to lead effectively. The program also seeks to serve as a catalyst for students and

others to use their legal education to serve in leadership positions.

“Law schools traditionally have been very good at teaching – in our view – the importance of character and ethics,” said Professor Garry Jenkins, a co-director of the Program on Law and Leadership. “However, leadership, organizational awareness, and judgment are just as important to professional success.”

The Program on Law and Leadership teaches this training through its speaker series, courses, and mentorship opportunities, but one particularly unusual opportunity offered through the program is the Leadership Skills Workshops. These half- and

Students participate in an interactive workshop to hone

leadership skills.

Raphael Davis-Williams ’10 asks a question to Bill Ruckelshaus, former Director of EPA and

Deputy U.S. Attorney General.

full-day sessions are designed to assist Moritz students in developing their leadership skills outside the traditional curriculum, and they give students the opportunity to test leadership techniques in low-risk, non-judgmental environments.

Over the past three years, the program has hosted two to three workshops annually that are open to all Moritz students. Leadership training experts from across the country have traveled to the College to provide opportunities typically offered to senior and up-and-coming corporate executives.

“We have brought in world-class consultants,” Jenkins said. “These are

SPRING 2011 | 41

firms that normally work with clients that include General Electric, Pfizer, Nationwide Insurance, the World Bank, the federal government, and others. The fact that they are coming and providing the same training to our students is a terrific and unique opportunity. Moritz students are benefiting from the same programming for which companies are paying several thousands of dollars.”

For instance, Isis Associates, a Washington, D.C.-based firm specializing in executive training and coaching, has presented a day-long session at Moritz since 2006. The workshop is a part of Jenkins’ Lawyers as Leaders course.

Muriel Maignan Wilkins and Amy

Jen Su, both managing partners and co-founders of the firm, designed a program in consultation with Professor Jenkins specifically for Moritz students. Students engage in interactive simulations designed to expose good and bad leadership techniques as well

as display the benefits of an effective network.

“At Moritz, we understand that the majority of the students are relatively early in their careers and may not have had the feedback that they will have received if they were later in their careers,” Maignan Wilkins said. “They have not had the opportunity to practice what they have learned in class in real-life situations. This allows them to practice in a laboratory, if you will.”

The success of the Isis Associates program has shown. Each year, students are surveyed following the session and responses are overwhelmingly positive.

“We spend an enormous amount of time talking about that first year

Moritz students listen to a presenter at one of the program’s

several Speakers Series events.

Dennis Perkins, an international leadership consultant and former

Yale University professor, interacts with students at the Barrister Club.

“While these students may not be leading the firm in that first year, there are plenty of opportunities to exhibit some of that leadership behavior.” — Muriel Maignan Wilkins


“Each of the program’s events allows students to

learn from leaders in the community and learn about

themselves. The role of a law student becomes

overwhelming and repetitive at times; it is refreshing

to remember that at the end of the day our goal is

not only to be competent lawyers, but leaders in the

community and to continue to work toward positive

change. The Program on Law and Leadership helps

remind students of this ultimate goal and inspires us

to keep improving our leadership abilities.”

ALExANDRA WOLFE ’11

SPRING 2011 | 43

out of law school,” Maignan Wilkins said. “While these students may not be leading the firm in that first year, there are plenty of opportunities to exhibit some of that leadership behavior. You don’t have to wait to be a leader in title to begin demonstrating that leadership potential.”

Other experts have included Sharon A. Clifford, a private management consultant, who presented a half-day session on leadership and self-knowledge. Barbara Braham, a certified executive coach and organizational development consultant, facilitated a program entitled “Leading Up: How to Lead When You’re Not in Charge.”

“I developed the Leading Up workshop recognizing that students need practical, concrete ideas to prepare them for beginning their professional careers, regardless of whether they choose to work in a law firm or the public or private sector,” Braham said.

Jordan Carr ’10, who was a fixture

Workshop Series

Communicating with Impact; facilitated by Muriel Maignan Wilkins and Amy Jen Su, Isis AssociatesStudents at this highly engaging and interactive workshop learned how to develop their “signature voice,” often described as the ability to be both authentic and powerfully connect with others.

Cultivating Creativity: A Leadership Workshop; facilitated by Beth Flynn, The Ohio State university Leadership CenterThis interactive workshop provided students with hands-on activities designed to: rediscover their creative abilities; identify what “climate” is best for their creativity; discover their creative strengths; and expand their creative capacities.

Effective Communication: How to Ensure Your Message is Heard; facilitated by Devora Zack, Only Connect ConsultingThis interactive program focused on skills that all great leaders need: effective communication to best present yourself to others, and the ability to develop connections.

EQ: Tapping into your Greater Leadership Potential; facilitated by The Ohio State university Leadership CenterStudents at this workshop received an in-depth understanding of emotional intelligence (EQ), which is concerned with understanding oneself and others, relating to people, and adapting to and coping with the immediate surroundings to be more successful in dealing with environmental demands.

at nearly all the program’s events, particularly enjoyed a workshop focusing on the connection between leadership and creativity. “In leadership, creativity is vital,” Carr said. “Creativity gives you that little something extra, that spark, a vision that inspires other people to follow your lead. This workshop gave me the opportunity to put aside the rules and the analytical thinking for a few hours and tap into that creative side I had ignored for so long.”

Several of the events are also networking opportunities. The program has jointly hosted a few of the workshops with Ohio State’s John Glenn School of Public Affairs, which allow Moritz students to meet Ohio State students outside of the law school.

Jenkins said that he and other program administrators are continually searching for fresh programming for the Leadership Skills Workshops. He has consulted with leading business schools across the country.

“Recruiters are telling law schools that they need lawyers with analytical firepower along with superior leadership skills and professional judgment to serve their clients at the highest level,” Jenkins said. “These programs are part of the distinctive education available at Moritz. With the Program on Law and Leadership, we are focused on providing resources to support students’ lifelong success as principled leaders in law, business, public service, and society.”

“Recruiters are telling law schools that they need lawyers with analytical firepower along with superior leadership skills and professional judgment to serve their clients at the highest level.”

— Professor Garry Jenkins

Facilitating Group Decision-Making; facilitated by Professor Sarah Rudolph Cole, Squire, Sanders & Dempsey Designated Professor of Law; Director, Program on Dispute ResolutionThis workshop focused on facilitating group decision-making and running an effective meeting. Facilitation is a process by which a person acceptable to all members of a group, who is neutral and has no decision-making authority, intervenes to help a group improve the way it identifies and solves problems, and makes decisions.

Leadership and Self-Knowledge: Know Thyself; facilitated by Sharon Clifford, PhD.Students learned that self-knowledge is strongly related to success in life and work. In one study, the best predictor of a high-performance appraisal was seeing yourself as others see you; the best predictor of a low one was overrating your skills.

Leadership Capacities for the 21st Century; facilitated by Jeff King, The Ohio State university Leadership CenterThis workshop provided opportunities to explore the capacities needed for emerging age leaders. Emerging age leadership focuses on strengthening organizations and communities through the personal transformation of leaders, which is key as today’s organizations and communities are struggling to address new societal changes that require new modes of leadership.

Leading Up: How to Lead When You’re Not in Charge; facilitated by Barbara Braham, Ph.D., executive coach This workshop helped address a struggle most new lawyers face: as a new employee who may not be at the top of the ladder, how do you influence change and institute new projects? How do you engage people and lead a team? Using interactive activities and team exercises, this workshop prepared students for real-world situations.

B y r o b P h i l l i p s

When Marcia Egbert ’85 and James Demetry ’85 began tip-toeing through

the steps necessary to create a second academic journal at The Ohio

State University Moritz College of Law in 1984, they knew it would be a

considerable amount of work.

In hindsight, both admitted they could not have fathomed how much work

it actually took to launch the Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution.

The most cited journal in the field of alternative dispute resolution

Celebrates 25th Anniversary

The Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution

As the journal was taking shape, Egbert and Demetry simply wished it would become a viable and successful academic publication.

This school year, the journal’s 25th anniversary, neither Egbert nor Demetry could have fathomed the publication’s incredible success.

In its first 25 years, OSJDR has expanded from two issues to four, nearly tripled its staff, become the official journal of the American Bar Association Section on Dispute Resolution, garnered numerous awards, helped catapult the College’s dispute resolution program to prestige, and taught countless lessons to countless Moritz graduates.

“We all had a great respect for the law review, but we really felt that the school would benefit from having more than one journal,” said Egbert, who along with Demetry were the two founding editors-in-chief of the OSJDR. “We had a very activist class and there was a group of us who decided to try and make it happen.”

During the 1983-84 school year, a group of students began researching what it would take to start a second journal at the College. Since the Ohio State Law Journal was founded in 1935, it had remained the College’s sole journal.

“It was a very good experience,” said Demetry, now chief of staff of Manheim, the world’s largest vehicle auction company. “It was people coming together saying they wanted to accomplish something and then all of us coming together and making it happen. Going through something like that allowed me to learn many lessons that have served me well in my career.”

SPRING 2011 | 45

Celebrates 25th Anniversary

“It was people coming together saying they wanted

to accomplish something and then all of us coming together

and making it happen.”

JAMES DEMETRY ’85


“I told them that I thought it was a fantastic idea,” Rogers said. “There were many interesting legal questions related to the field at that time.”

The journal’s founding editors said that the decision to pursue dispute resolution was paramount to the journal’s success. “It became such a great journal topic because it allowed Ohio State to carve out that space that wasn’t already occupied by anyone else,” Demetry said. “We were able to make a name for the journal.”

Dean Meeks also – in an effort to gauge the students’ commitment to the endeavor – required that the staff raise at least a portion of the money necessary to print the journal in its first year. Potential staff members began soliciting professionals around Columbus and the state for funds to cover the cost of printing the first journal. They looked for organizations and foundations that they felt would benefit from research in alternative dispute resolution. The College’s faculty helped put students in contact with people and groups from around the country

Both Egbert and Demetry said they vividly remember that then-Dean James E. Meeks, now an emeritus professor of law at the College, was both supportive and demanding when they approached him about starting a new journal. “I don’t know if he thought that we were crazy, but he was so respectful and so open,” said Egbert, who is the senior program officer for human services at the George Gund Foundation in Cleveland. “He put up some very understandable hurdles for us to clear. He and the other administrators had to know that we were serious. I remember coming out of the first conversation with him and thinking ‘wow, he had really taken us seriously. He really treated us like grown ups.’”

Egbert, Demetry, and a growing group of classmates began exploring the seemingly endless topics on which the journal could focus. The journal organizers were primarily interested in finding a niche journal that would specialize in a particular area of law.

“We started looking around to other law schools to see what their secondary law journals were doing,” Demetry said. “We wanted to find a topic that would be a little different, one in which we could fairly quickly carve out a space for ourselves.”

Dispute resolution, which was a legal area that was in its infancy on many levels at the time, arose in discussions thanks in part to the College’s professors who were focusing their legal research in the area. Professor Nancy Rogers, one of the original advisors to the journal and again an advisor today, said that she remembered students approaching Professor Charles Wilson and her about starting a journal covering the emerging area of dispute resolution.

“We wanted to find a topic that would be a little different, one in which we could fairly quickly carve out a space for ourselves.”

JAMES DEMETRY ’85

SPRING 2011 | 47

that also assisted. In all, students raised more than $10,000. But the solicitations didn’t stop with raising funds. The

organizers also needed a staff, scholarly article submissions, and a printer.

Eventually a core group of editors were selected, and the group chose to host a summer writing competition similar to that of the Ohio State Law Journal.

“We had to pitch to students just as much as we had to pitch to administration,” Egbert said. “I remember some students who wanted us to prove that it was serious. They didn’t want to be part of something that wasn’t going to be high quality. We seemed to show them that we were serious.”

The College’s newest journal received more applications than the editors expected, and they were forced to turn some students away. The journal’s 1984-85 staff was comprised of 28 students. The 2010-11 staff includes about 70.

The first issue published submissions from a U.S. District Court judge, a director of the American Bar Association’s Special Committee on Dispute Resolution, the president for the Center of Public Resources, and partners focusing on alternative dispute resolution from law firms across the country. As a testament to the versatility of a journal focused on alternative dispute resolution, articles and commentaries focused – as they continued to for the next 25 years – on how the dispute resolution techniques could be applied across differing legal fields. In the first issue, submissions covered everything from environmental disputes to mediation in special education.

“Students and faculty not only had to sell authors on writing for the journal, but also had to supply the bait – how they could focus on an innovative topic that brought together ADR and their fields,” Rogers said.

With each passing publication, the journal gained increased respect. Before long, article submissions began to arrive unsolicited

JDr editors-in-Chief1985 - 2012

1985-86 -- James A. Demetry and Marcia A. Egbert

1986-87 -- Anastasia N. Markakis

1987-88 -- Jeffrey J. Helmick

1988-89 -- Perry Sekus

1989-90 -- John W. Hopper

1990-91 -- Thomas F. Bedsole

1991-92 -- Brian A. Billett

1992-93 -- Lisa Wright

1993-94 -- Yvonne S. Schlosberg

1994-95 -- Babak Samini

1995-96 -- Karen E. (Frees) Race

1996-97 -- Matt A. Mayer

1997-98 -- Joshua J. Morrow

1998-99 -- Sharon L. Flower

1999-00 -- Colleen A. Libbey

2000-01 -- Karyn A. Doi

2001-02 -- Melissa H. Shirey

2002-03 -- Julie M. (Folger) Woolley

2003-04 -- Michael M. Beckwith

2004-05 -- Brandon J. Lester

2005-06 -- Amber L. Merl

2006-07 -- Larysa Simms

2007-08 -- Erik Stock

2008-09 -- Kevin Mahoney

2009-10 -- Kevin D. Oles

2010-11 -- Rachel F. Wenning

2011-12 -- Maureen Fulton

(left) Original editorial staff of the OSJDR journal; (below) James Demetry and Marcia Egbert, first editors-in- chief; (right) 2010-11 OSJDR editorial staff


Rachel Wenning ’11, the 2010-11 editor-in-chief of the Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution,

respects and appreciates the 25 years worth of work that made the journal the high caliber publication it is today. However, don’t tell her there’s no room for improvement.

“It’s not perfect. There’s definitely still ways that we can make the journal better,” Wenning said. “There is a sense of responsibility that we have to uphold as a part of this journal. Staffs over the past 25 years have really set the bar high for us. We would like to achieve as much as they achieved as well as make our own impact.”

A Dayton, Ohio, native, Wenning has a handful of specific improvements she set forth during her yearlong tenure. One such goal was to improve the Mayhew-Hite Report on Dispute Resolution and the Courts, which is the journal’s quarterly newsletter designed to update its readers on alternative dispute resolution developments across the nation.

“The Mayhew-Hite Report is a good gateway between the journal and practitioners,” she said. “It puts the journal out there in another way that displays what we do and provide for the practice.”

A spring symposium was just held regarding the intersection of alternative dispute resolution and election law. The choice was a good one because of Moritz’s strong programs in both disciplines, she said.

Wenning received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from The Ohio State University and then worked for three years before heading to Moritz. “I’ve been thinking about going to law school since I was about 14,” she said. “I wanted to come to law school because I knew that it would be very challenging, and I haven’t been disappointed. My journal experience so far has been similarly challenging but also very rewarding.”

She has externed for Judge John D. Holschuh of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. Wenning plans to pursue a career specializing in tax law upon graduation.

Wenning Leads Journal on Dispute

Resolution in 2010-11

SPRING 2011 | 49

to the journal office. “My volume was probably the first to actually

receive some unsolicited submissions without a whole lot of effort on our part,” said John W. Hopper ’90, 1989-90 editor-in-chief. The journal now receives about 500 annually unsolicited submissions from experts around the world.

Hopper, now a partner at Silverstone Advisors in Cincinnati, recalled sharing a work space with the Ohio State Law Journal that was between the two journals’ offices. Whichever journal was busier at the time would have access to the middle space. The shared work area still has a special meaning to Hopper.

“That was actually the place where I ended up spending and getting to know my future wife, who was working on the law journal at the time,” he said. “That’s where I asked her out on our first date.” Hopper and Diane Boniface Hopper ’90 are still happily married and living in Cincinnati.

The OSJDR was one of two journals nationally dedicated to the field at its inception. There currently are about half a dozen journals following the topic. However, in 1994, OSJDR became the official journal of the American Bar Association’s Section on Dispute Resolution and for a time each issue was distributed to the section’s members.

“The really big thing for me is the camaraderie that you experience with other students working in those close quarters,” said Karen (Frees) Race ’96, who was the 1995-96 editor-in-chief, and is now semi-retired from The Ohio State University. “The fastidiousness of the editing process is very trying and very uniting. We all formed a camaraderie that we wouldn’t have had if we weren’t involved.”

Just as the journal has grown, so has the College’s Program on Alternative Dispute

Resolution. The journal advanced when the College began offering a certificate

in alternative dispute resolution, and students on the journal

also have the opportunity to

host the annual Schwartz Lecture in Dispute Resolution.Julie (Folger) Woolley ’03 was the first editor-in-

chief of OSJDR to graduate with a certificate in dispute resolution. Woolley complimented how supportive the faculty were to the journal. “Professors Cole and Stulberg were the two advisors at the time and they were great about offering insight on the articles. They would stop by the office and make sure everything was all right. I can’t forget how much of an advocate then-Dean Rogers was.”

That teamwork has paid off. Over the past 25 years, OSJDR has garnered 20 awards for student or professional articles printed in the journal from the prestigious International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution. Amber Lea Merl ’06 said that the journal’s success could also be attributed to its work environment.

“When we would get to the end of the work phase and almost to the reward … people were really having a lot of fun,” said Merl, who is now an associate at Jones Day in Columbus. “We worked hard and were excited and passionate about what we were doing. People thought that what they contributed to the journal made a difference and that made it a really great place to work.”

Rogers said that each of the journal’s past staff members should find pleasure in what has become of the journal.

“If not for the Journal on Dispute Resolution, would this field of law have developed as well as it has? I don’t think it would have. This journal has brought some of the best thinkers and scholars together to discuss what should be the direction of this new field. Each of the journal’s past members and the College should be immensely proud of that success.”

“The fastidiousness of the editing

process is very trying and very uniting.

We all formed a camaraderie that we

wouldn’t have had if we weren’t

involved.”KAREN (FREES) RACE ’96

Did you know?The inaugural OSJDR staff loathed the color of the first edition’s cover. Thanks to a printing error, what was intended to be gradient red was actually gradient pink. Hence, the second issue featured a blue cover.


“ ”The American people deserve to know what happened and to have an informed

public debate over what should be our surveillance policy going forward.

In Madison’s Nightmare: Executive Power and the Threat to American Democracy (University of Chicago Press 2009), Professor Peter M. Shane wrote about what he describes as an accelerating trend since 1981 towards “presidentialism.” He observed a steady increase in presidential power since at least the New Deal. But Professor Shane believes that more recent decades have witnessed an exponential growth in executive branch claims of unilateral authority. He says that the administration of George W. Bush seemed to epitomize the trend, making aggressive claims of unilateral authority regarding warrantless wiretapping, the detention and trial of enemy combatants, the capacity to disregard statutory law based on constitutional disagreement, and, in general, the president’s supposed authority to dictate the policies of every office and officer within the federal executive branch. We asked Professor Shane if the Obama administration has continued to accelerate the trajectory of presidential power that he observed in the Reagan through Bush 43 administrations.

since 2008, Congress has enacted a number of significant programs substantially expanding the involvement of the federal

government in various aspects of the private economy – whether to save the car industry, maintain the viability of the banking sector, or reform health insurance. Is this worrisome for americans who are anxious about the scope of executive power?

Statutory programs like TARP, which started under the Bush administration, or the stimulus activities authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, do expand the powers of the executive branch. These additional powers, however, go no further than the terms of the statutes that grant them. Congress may amend those powers or repeal them, and keep executive branch implementation of the relevant statutes under systematic oversight. Courts have authority to review how the executive branch fulfills its statutory functions. So, although I know that many Americans worry about the scope of government in general, the focus of my own concerns is different. I am anxious not so much about what Congress legally allows the president to do, but more about what presidents claim they may do without (or even in spite of) the laws that Congress enacts.

are there obvious differences between the Bush and obama administrations in terms of claiming unilateral executive power?

The Obama administration has staked out two marked differences with its predecessor in terms of general separation of powers philosophy. First, in asserting powers of presidential initiative, the Obama administration strongly prefers legal justifications that rest on statutory authority, rather than on claims of implicit constitutional power. The administration is thus slower to stake out claims that presidential action is beyond the scope of congressional regulation or judicial review. Second, unlike the Bush administration, the Obama administration most often treats the rule of law not as an impediment to defeating terrorism, but rather as a critical tool of American policy. These philosophical differences sometimes do and sometimes do not produce actual operational differences between the two administrations. An obvious difference is that the Obama administration has all but abandoned the practice of writing presidential signing statements that assert power to ignore or reshape statutory provisions at odds with the president’s constitutional theories.

On what the Obama presidency means for the growth of presidential powerQ&A

Q

faCulty foCus Professor Peter Shane

Q

SPRING 2011 | 51

Professor shane came to Ohio State in 2003 from Carnegie Mellon University’s H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management. He is an internationally recognized scholar in administrative law, with a specialty in separation of powers law, and has co-authored leading casebooks on each subject. He has served on the faculty at the University of Iowa College of Law and was dean at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. At Ohio State, he holds the Jacob E. Davis and Jacob E. Davis II Chair in Law.

are there similarities between the Bush and obama administrations that you find surprising?

The Obama pattern on separation of powers issues has two sides. On one hand, he or his cabinet officers have issued a number of memoranda that purport to put some principled difference between the separation of powers practices of the Obama administration and the practices of his predecessor. On the other hand, he rarely repudiates the Bush administration’s formal legal arguments. The picture that emerges is generally one of somewhat greater presidential restraint, while maintaining the possibility of asserting unilateral presidential power when it would serve what the president regards as an essential practical purpose.

Within that framework, I have been most surprised by the Obama administration’s apparently limited interest in creating accountability and a clear public record on abuses under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act between 2001 and 2009. I understand, of course, that the U.S. faces determined adversaries and that we do not want to compromise the lawful acquisition of communications intelligence that is essential to public safety and security. On the other hand, the Bush administration advanced dangerous and, in my view, legally baseless claims of inherent surveillance authority that quite likely undergirded some significant illegal activity. The American people deserve to know what happened and to have an informed public debate over what should be our surveillance policy going forward.

If the obama administration so frequently operates in ways that resemble the Bush administration with respect to presidential

power, what difference does it make that President obama articulates a different philosophy of presidential power?

As I wrote in my book, “presidentialism is a form of institutional ambition that feeds on itself.” It undermines the rule of law and creates a decision

making atmosphere that quite foreseeably produces ill-conceived and even unlawful executive branch initiatives. What government officials want us to believe – what they should want us to believe – is that they are attentive to the legal limits on their authority even when those restraints are vague and they could probably get away with ignoring the law. What we saw between 2001 and 2009 was a relentless campaign within the executive branch to expand presidential power for its own sake. The result was an organizational ethos of entitlement that nurtured abuses from the so-called “torture memos” to the possibly unlawful surveillance of millions of American citizens.

Is the trend towards an ever-more-powerful presidency likely ever to recede?

I doubt the curve will ever head downward. I would be happy, however, and our democracy would be safer, if the trajectory at least slowed down. Amid profound national problems, when the public expects the president to do everything from creating new jobs to stopping leaking oil wells, presidents will be reluctant to concede that they lack whatever powers they think they need to serve the public interest. Keeping the president accountable, however, is itself a first-order public need – and one that everyone needs to worry about, even when a president we like is in office.

Q

Q

Q


Sheffield ’81 Integrates Law, Language Alumna Focuses Work on ‘Book Art’

been purchased by libraries across the country, including the Yale University Library.

“The book in this society is an iconic object,” Sheffield said. “Everybody wants to write a book, be in a book, or publish a book. It is an object of value, and when an artist gets a hold of it and plays with it and uses it to express her own aesthetic personal history it becomes something totally unexpected.”

Although she always maintained an art studio, Sheffield began work after graduating from Moritz at the Ohio Attorney General’s office doing anti-trust and civil rights work. In 1984 she opened a solo practice to focus on art groups’ needs, such as nonprofit legalities, intellectual property, copyright and trademark. Sheffield provided legal services to artists through the Ohio Arts Council, which would later fund several of her projects after she closed her practice in 1989.

After leaving her days of litigation behind, Sheffield began her career at Kenyon College by operating the college’s art gallery. Sheffield was a curator for the gallery’s exhibits and shows and managed educational programs for grade-school children.

The gallery job was “a really good combination of the practical work I had been doing as a lawyer … and the artistic side,” Sheffield said.

After eight years of running the gallery, Sheffield worked on the Kenyon Review, a literary journal, and for several creative writing programs before becoming an instructor at Kenyon in 2007. As an instructor, she said she has an even better avenue to combine her law degree with her artistic education.

Though the main focus of her classes is teaching students about book art, Sheffield tries to integrate legal issues into all of her courses. She talks to her students about anything from copyright and how to run an art business.

“Artists in most programs and art schools are not given basic business or legal training,” Sheffield said. “I have a different take on it because of my legal background.”

Career Paths Ellen Sheffield ’81

As an artist, Ellen Sheffield ’81 deals mostly with abstract shapes. However, with her law degree she seems to have gone a full -- geometrical --

circle. Sheffield entered the Moritz College of Law as

an art education graduate of Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Institute of Art and as a working artist. She graduated law school in 1981 as a lawyer practicing mainly intellectual property. In 1990, she returned to the arts. She now instructs art courses at Kenyon College and maintains her own personal studio.

“The whole intellectual property and arts-and-law movement was really just beginning in 1978,” Sheffield said, “which is why I went to law school in the first place. My interests overlapped the two fields.”

Sheffield grew up in Mount vernon, Ohio, but has lived most of her adult life in Gambier, Ohio, where Kenyon College is located. She is married with three children, all of whom have graduated or are currently attending college. She does occasionally return to Columbus to volunteer with the Wexner Center for the Arts at The Ohio State University, most recently attending the Remix/Mashup Conference 2009. The conference was co-sponsored by Moritz’s I/S: A Journal of Law and Policy for the Information Society.

Sheffield practices a form of art called “book art,” or artist books, which is a way of integrating images and language to create a form of tangible art that is meant to be explored, Sheffield said.

“An artist book is simply a book created by an artist that incorporates all of the visual art elements as well as some aspects of the book,” Sheffield said. “So these can be very sculptural. They can be very traditional looking on the outside, but when you open them the inside is something very different than what you would think of as a book with text and illustrations.”

Sheffield is often commissioned by people who want books for specials occasions or by poets who want to bring a visual aspect to their poetry. Her work has also

By Mo l l y G ray

SPRING 2011 | 53

”Sheffield said. “I find the combination of disparate things leads to some interesting outcomes; there is a synergy there. If you take a scientist and she works with an artist you are going to get a very different product, same as if you were to combine the approaches of a lawyer and a poet.”

Sheffield also said that the problem-solving practices and attention to detail that she picked up during law school has aided her in her effort to make art.

“I learned to approach things from a new perspective,” Sheffield said. “As an artist you rely on your intuition … on visual signals. But I learned as a lawyer your first impression and how you felt about something didn’t matter, just the facts. You have to be able to cut through the emotional static and analyze situations.”

She said that while artists present a visual argument and lawyers present a vocal or written argument, it is the same concept, just using different parts of the brain.

Sheffield plans to continue teaching and creating art. Her next project goal is to create a service project that will allow at-risk children to use their imagination and creativity to simultaneously better their communities.

Sheffield can be contacted at [email protected].

“ Artists in most programs and art schools are not given basic business or legal training.

I have a different take on it because of my legal background.

Sheffield’s classes include students from many different disciplines, ranging from art and photography to creative writing and math. But this isn’t the first time that she has reached across programs in a scholastic environment. While at Moritz, Sheffield helped start the Art Law Association, which consisted of students from different disciplines throughout Ohio State.

“I had several classmates who wanted to maintain their previous lives as artists and writers like I did,” Sheffield said. “So we formed this group and put on a one-day conference in our last year of law school.”

Discussing legal principles in her classes is not the only way that Sheffield continues to use her legal training. Book art requires an understanding and mastery of language and words, and while scouring case studies might have seemed like the last thing an artist would want to do, Sheffield explained that learning the language of law helped her to hone in on her language abilities.

“I found a lot of inspiration in property law, particularly the infamous black acre-white acre examples that were always used in property law,”


children and they keep me active. I can’t see any need to sit back in a rocking chair and maybe play two or three games of tennis a week. That’s just not me.”

Isaac had done consulting work for Fifth Third Bank several times over the past eight years. When the company

decided to separate its chief executive and chairman roles, it contacted Isaac to provide a list of people who he felt could fill the board chairman role. After a few months of searching, Fifth Third returned to Isaac and asked if he would consider the role.

“I told them I would be happy to talk about it,” Isaac

If there was a memo explaining to William Isaac ’69 that he could start to slow down a bit at this stage in his career, he never received it.

Isaac, who chaired the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation during the volatile years of 1981 through 1985, was recently named the new chairman of Fifth Third Bancorp’s Board of Directors, published his first book this summer, and continues to chair the global financial services group of a leading financial consulting firm. In addition to being a regular columnist for The American Banker, Forbes and CNBC, Isaac serves on boards of several other businesses and nonprofit organizations. In addition, he has two grown children and two younger ones: ages 9 and 7.

“I’m at a stage in my life when I wouldn’t do anything that I didn’t enjoy,” he said. “I want to have a full and active life as long as I can. I have young

Isaac ’69 Named Board Chairman of Fifth Third Bancorp

By Rob Ph i l l i ps

Alumnus Also Publishes First Book

“I wasn’t writing it for

someone who has

spent their entire life in

the banking industry.

The person I had in

mind when I was writing

was a typical member

of Congress.”

William Isaac ’69

aluMnI foCus William Isaac ’69

William Isaac speaks to a packed Saxbe Auditorium in September. Isaac discussed his new book, Senseless Panic, with Moritz students, faculty, staff, and alumni. He also presented a lunchtime discussion with the College’s Mentoring and More @ Moritz program and guest taught an afternoon course.

SPRING 2011 | 55

said. “It ended up working for them and it worked for me. They are a good group of people and they know me.”

The Cincinnati-based bank operates in 12 states and includes more than 1,309 full-service locations. Isaac will chair the 14-person board and he said that he will travel to Ohio from his Sarasota, Fla., home six or seven times a year for work specific to the new position.

Isaac’s knowledge of banking regulations will obviously pay dividends in the Fifth Third chairmanship, and it certainly allowed him to publish his first book, Senseless Panic: How Washington Failed America. In the book, Isaac details the federal policies and governmental actions that he says almost led to the shutdown of the world’s financial systems.

“I was so upset by the way that the government mishandled the situation,” Isaac said. “I was upset enough that it inspired me to sit down and write this book.”

Isaac said that, by comparison, the banking and savings and loan crises of the 1980s were far more tumultuous than the recent situation. “We handled over 3,000 bank and thrift failures in the 1980s, including many of the largest in the country,” Isaac explained, “without the public losing confidence in the system and panicking.” Despite less severe conditions this time around, the volatility and turmoil in the financial markets was much more severe, he said.

“How do we account for how this got so far out of control? That’s the question that I answer in the book,” he said.

The hundreds of articles he has written over the years on the banking industry allowed him to pen a book that was not highly technical. “I wasn’t writing it for someone who has spent their entire life in the banking industry,” he said. “The person I had in mind when I was writing was a typical member of Congress.”

Isaac was called upon by members of Congress, the national media, and others, to dissect the 2008 financial crisis. And through his work with a global consulting firm, Isaac has continued help financial services organizations with his insight.

In 1986, Isaac founded the Secura Group, which was acquired by LECG, LLC in 2007. The company consults financial institutions on a variety of issues, including financial advisory, strategic planning,

regulatory counseling, and risk management. Isaac is currently the chairman of global financial services of LECG.

In addition to his work at LECG, Isaac also is also chairman of his family’s various real estate development companies. He is also busy with a number of other boards, organizations, and nonprofits. He is a founding member of the American Bankers Council. He is on the Board of Directors for the BankCap Investment Fund, which is equity firm that invests in the financial services sector. Until early 2010, when the company was sold, he was lead director of the MPS Group, a leading provider of staffing, consulting, and solutions in a variety of fields. He is on the Board of Directors for The Ohio State University Foundation, Ringling

“ How do we account for how this

got so far out of control?

That’s the question that

I answer in the book. ”College of Art in Sarasota, the Out-of-Door Academy in Sarasota, and he served for a number of years on the board of the Miami University Foundation (his undergraduate alma mater).

Isaac continues to extend his generosity to the Moritz College of Law as well. He has made a substantial planned gift that will be presented to the Moritz College of Law in the future. He said that gift is intended to help “worthy students with financial needs” make their way through law school.

That gift and several others that Isaac has made since he graduated from the law school were easy decisions for many reasons, he said. “I had a great education there,” he explained. “And after my first year, I was given scholarships and had a free ride the next two years. I just felt a real strong need and desire to repay the school in some way.”

— WILLIAM ISAAC


While growing up in Shaker Heights, Ohio, Dan Elliott ’89 admittedly didn’t pay much attention to the vast system

of trains and railroads that surround the greater Cleveland area. Today, Elliott can’t stop thinking about those rails – in Cleveland and around the country.

After harvesting a career in the field of labor law as associate general council for the United Transportation Union (UTU), Elliott was appointed in 2009 as chairman of the Surface Transportation Board (STB) in Washington, D.C. Both deal extensively with freight railroads.

“I was definitely hoping for a spot on the board,” Elliott said. “You try and present your name in front of the White House and, hopefully, if you are chosen you are nominated and go through the confirmation process.”

Elliott was nominated on June 20, 2009 by President Barack Obama to not only hold a spot on the board but to be chairman as well. Elliott was confirmed by the U.S. Senate later that summer and was sworn in Aug. 13, 2009. His term as chairman expires in December 2013.

The STB is an economic regulatory agency that is charged with resolving freight railroad disputes, proposed mergers, line purchases, constructions and abandonments. The majority of its work deals with Amtrak, the nation’s intercity rail operator.

Elliott, a native of Shaker Heights, Ohio, received his law degree from the Moritz College of Law after receiving an undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan, where he studied political science. Elliott had made a career in labor law representing the UTU, which is one of the unions that the STB works with frequently.

Elliott will be eligible for reappointment for a second term of up to five years. His current term is restricted to four years because he was appointed midway through the previous term. Chairman W.

Elliott ’89 Shifts From Labor Union to Federal Board

By Mo l l y G ray

Alumnus Leads Surface Transportation Initiatives

“I think the biggest challenge and achievement have been inter-related. We’ve tried to allow the shippers to be more comfortable before the board and we’ve done that by reaching out to them and

meeting with them.”

Dan Elliott ’89

Douglas Buttrey stepped down from the board in March 2009.Elliott said that he has two current goals for the STB. First,

make the board as transparent as possible; and second, create more harmony between shippers and railroads throughout the United States.

“We have started oral arguments here so that parties can come and argue their case in front of the board,” Elliott said, which is one step toward a more open agenda. “We are also re-doing the web site … which will hopefully make the board more accessible.”

Elliott’s second goal requires effort from parties on both sides of the ball as he tries to “make more opportunities for shippers and railroads to come together and talk, whether it’s over cases or otherwise,” he said. “We really want the shippers to feel more comfortable in front of the board, like this is a

place where they can come and talk to the chairman of the agency.”

Finding that delicate harmony between shippers and railroads has proven to be Elliott’s greatest challenge thus far, he said, but it has proved to be the most rewarding.

“I think the biggest challenge and achievement have been inter-related,”

Elliott said. “We’ve tried to allow the shippers to be more comfortable before the board and we’ve done that by reaching out to them and meeting with them. I’ve really tried to be more engaged with the shippers.”

The board is also trying to rejuvenate the arbitration system and mediation groups that are in place to facilitate the relationship between shipping and transportation companies, such as the Rail Customer and Public Assistance program, which Elliott says has been successful.

Elliott’s day-to-day routine includes hearing briefings on cases and issues that are facing the transportation industry, presenting speeches to stakeholders and transportation

aluMnI foCus Dan Elliott ’89

SPRING 2011 | 57

groups, and visiting rail yards and large shippers in order to better understand who the agency services and their needs.

Elliott’s interest in labor law first started at Moritz when he took a class from Professor Charlie Wilson.

“I enjoyed labor law, and Professor Wilson put a little fire in me, a little inspiration,” Elliott said. “So when I saw the union job open up I leapt at it and it led to a career for me.” Prior to joining the union, Elliott worked at firms in both D.C., and Cleveland.

Wilson, who is an associate professor at Moritz, remembers Elliott as a “very conscientious and hard working student,” he said. “I am not one bit surprised that he has been highly successful.”

Elliott said that his work with the UTU, based in North Olmsted, Ohio, prepared him for the types of cases and work that he sees as chairman on a daily basis. He said that the knowledge base he gained makes him comfortable with the matters that are brought to the agency.

“I had quite a bit of experience before the board in matters that affected the union,” Elliott said. “But it’s a totally different world. There I was an attorney advocate for the union, more of a litigator, and here I am more of a judge.”

Despite staying busy with the UTU and moving back and forth between northern Ohio and D.C., Elliott has managed to keep in touch with his law school roommates.

“ I was definitely hoping for a

spot on the board. You try and

present your name in front of

the White house and, hopefully,

if you are chosen you are

nominated and go through the

confirmation process. ”

Elliott ’89 Shifts From Labor Union to Federal Board


The Annual herman Competition tested Moritz students appellate advocacy skills during February. The issue in this year’s case, Alford v. Greene, was: Under what circumstances must police obtain a warrant before interviewing a child about abuse allegations without parental permission?

Pictured (top) is 2L Alejandro Abreu receiving the Outstanding Oral Advocate award from Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul E. Pfeifer ’66.

The oral advocacy finalists included 2Ls Jaci Wilkening, Olivia Bumb, Abreu, and John Kalis (pictured bottom left). In addition to Justice Pfeifer, the judging panel also included Justice Yvette Mcgee Brown ’85, also of the Ohio Supreme Court (pictured bottom right).

SPRING 2011 | 59

Frederick M. Luper ’65 was named in the 2011 edition of Best Lawyers. Luper is a founding member of Luper Neidenthal & Logan in Columbus. His practice focuses on alternative dispute resolution, bankruptcy and reorganization, business litigation, creditors’ rights, collections, and medical malpractice.

John Wm. Hoppers ’68 has been named Ohio chair of the Employer Support of the Guard & Reserve (ESGR), an agency of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). ESGR is chartered by DOD to promote good will and resolve issues between employers and employees who are members of Reserve or National Guard units.

Charles J. Kegler ’68 was named in the 2011 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers. He also was named in the 2011 edition of Best Lawyers in the area of tax law and trusts and estates. Kegler is a director at Kegler, Brown, Hill & Ritter and practices primarily in the areas of business and tax, mergers and acquisitions, and estate planning.

Geoffrey Stern ’68 was named in the 2011 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers. He also was named in the 2011 edition of Best Lawyers in the area of ethics and professional responsibility law, appellate law, legal malpractice law, and professional malpractice law. Stern is a director at Kegler, Brown, Hill & Ritter and serves as the chair of the firm’s professional responsibility practice area.

John B. Rohyans ’69 was named as a top real estate lawyer in Columbus in the 2011 edition of Best Lawyers. Rohyans is a partner in the Columbus office of Porter Wright Morris & Arthur.

1970sClifford E. Haines ’70, president of the Philadelphia law firm of Haines & Associates, became immediate past president of the Pennsylvania Bar Association at the conclusion of the organization’s Annual Meeting in May 2010 in Hershey.

Jack Palumbo ’70 was elected partner in the Cleveland office of Tucker Ellis & West. Palumbo’s practice primarily focuses on business, insurance, directors’ and officers’ liability, mass tort litigation, and products liability.

Jay R. Dingledy ’71 was named in the 2011 edition of Best Lawyers in the area of corporate law. Dingledy is a partner at Schottenstein, zox, & Dunn Co., LPA.

James M. Schottenstein ’71 was proud to welcome his daughter, Irene A. Schottenstein ’10, as an alumna

1950sPaul D. Ritter ’56 was named in the 2011 edition of Best Lawyers in the area of corporate law and employee benefits law. Ritter is a director at Kegler, Brown, Hill and Ritter.

Lawrence Stotter ’58 is the first recipient of the “Legal Legend” Award established by the Family Law Section of the American Bar Association (ABA). Stotter was presented the award at the ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco. Stotter, who is now retired, lives in Tiburon, Calif.

1960sJohn C. McDonald ’61 was named in the 2011 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers. He was also named in the 2011 edition of Best Lawyers in the area of bankruptcy and creditor-debtor rights law. McDonald is a partner in the Columbus office of Schottenstein zox & Dunn. He leads the firm’s mediation services and serves as co-coordinator of the firm’s Products Liability Practice Area.

E. James Hopple ’63 was named in the 2011 edition of Best Lawyers in the area of bankruptcy and creditor-debtor rights law. Hopple is a partner at Schottenstein, zox, & Dunn Co., LPA.

S. Michael Miller ’63 was named in the 2011 edition of Best Lawyers in the area of non-white-collar criminal defense and white-collar criminal defense. Miller is of counsel at Kegler, Brown, Hill and Ritter.

Robert P. Bartlett, Jr. ’63 was named in the 2011 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers. Bartlett is a trial lawyer and chief First Amendment counsel for the Dayton Daily News. He has represented the Springfield News-Sun and WHIO Tv-7. Bartlett is also a frequent lecturer and panelist for seminars conducted by the Ohio State Bar Association Media Law Committee, the Ohio State Bar Association Local Government Affairs Committee, and other organizations.

of The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law at the 2010 Hooding Ceremony in May. “It is hard to fathom that 38 years have passed since I received my own hood,” James Schottenstein said, “and as I sat in the audience I had a strong sense of déjà vu.”

Stephen J. Smith, Sr. ’71 was named in the 2011 edition of Best Lawyers in the area of bankruptcy and creditor-debtor rights law. Smith is a partner at Schottenstein, zox, & Dunn Co., LPA.

Bruce E. Cryder ’72 was named the Lexington, Ky., National Resources Lawyer of the Year for 2011 by Best Lawyers. Cryder is a member in the Lexington office of Greenebaum Doll & McDonald PLLC, and is a member of the firm’s Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Practice Group. His practice focuses on mineral, energy and natural resources law, with a particular emphasis on the coal industry.

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CLASS NOTES:

Submit news items to: Barbara Peck, Chief Communications Officer, Moritz College of Law,

55 West 12th Ave., Columbus, OH 43210.

E-mail notes to [email protected] or fill out an online form at

moritzlaw.osu.edu/alumni/notes.

Charles C. Warner ’70 was awarded the 2010 Columbus Bar Service Medal in recognition of his long history of distinguished service to the Columbus Bar Association. Warner, a partner with Porter Wright, has been committed to the Columbus Bar for 40 years, and has served as president of both the Bar and the Bar Foundation. The Bar Service Medal is the highest honor bestowed by the organization.


Michael E. Zatezalo ’75 was named in the 2011 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers. He also was named in the 2011 edition of Best Lawyers in the area of gaming law and real estate law. zatezalo is the managing director of Kegler, Brown, Hill & Ritter.

Ronald McCracken ’76 was inducted into the Environmental Industries Association (EIA) Hall of Fame and honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award. EIA is the nonprofit trade association that represents for-profit companies in the waste service and equipment industry throughout the United States. McCracken is president and founder of RJM Associates in Easley, S.C.

Allen J. Reis ’76 was recently named as an Ohio Super Lawyer in the bankruptcy and creditor/debtor rights practice area in the June/July Super Lawyers – Corporate Counsel Edition. Reis is the managing partner of the Columbus offices of Weltman, Weinberg and Reis Co., LPA, based in their Grove City office. This is the third year that Reis has been named a top lawyer.

Andrew J. Sonderman ’76 recently joined the firm Kegler, Brown, Hill & Ritter as of counsel. Sonderman brings to the firm nearly 30 years of experience representing public utility companies in civil litigation and in state public utility commission proceedings.

Roger T. Whitaker ’76 was named in the 2011 edition of Best Lawyers. Whitaker is a shareholder of the Columbus firm of Luper Neidenthal & Logan. His practice includes business organization, estate planning, probate and taxation.

Kevin McDermott ’77 was named in the 2011 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers. He was also named in the 2011 edition of Best Lawyers in the area of bankruptcy and creditor-debtor rights law. McDermott is a partner in the Columbus office of Schottenstein zox

focus on business litigation, was one of the founders of Faruki Ireland & Cox in Dayton, Ohio, in 1989 and a past president of the Dayton Bar Association. Faruki is also the new chair of the Supreme Court of Ohio’s Commission on Continuing Legal Education. He is the immediate past chair of the Ohio State Bar Association’s Federal Courts and Practice Committee, and serves as chair of the governing council of its Antitrust Law Section.

Stephen C. Fitch ’73 was named chair of the American College of Trial Lawyers Legal Ethics and Professionalism Committee. Fitch is a partner in the Columbus office of Chester, Willcox & Saxbe, where he concentrates his practice in all aspects of civil trial and appellate litigation, alternative dispute resolution, and professional responsibility.

Frank A. Ray ’73 was named the Columbus, Ohio, Professional Malpractice Lawyer of the Year for 2011 by Best Lawyers. Ray was also named in the 2011 edition of Best Lawyers in the areas of bet-the-company litigation, commercial litigation, personal injury litigation, and professional malpractice law. Ray, a partner at Chester Willcox & Saxbe LLP, concentrates his practice in civil trial and appellate litigation and mediator of civil disputes. He also has been an adjunct professor at Moritz since 2003.

James D. Sillery ’73 was elected to serve a three-year term as District 17 representative on the Board of Governors of the Ohio State Bar Association. Sillery is a partner in the Athens firm of Mollica, Gall, Sloan & Sillery Co., LPA. His area of practice is civil litigation and mediation. He and his wife, Debby, reside in Athens.

William B. Logan, Jr. ’74 was named in the 2011 edition of Best Lawyers in America. Logan is a shareholder of the Columbus firm of Luper Neidenthal & Logan. His practice focuses on alternative dispute resolution, bankruptcy and reorganization, business litigation, creditors’ rights, collections, and medical malpractice.

Frederick S. (“Fritz”) Coombs III ’75 was named in the 2011 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers in the field of bankruptcy/creditors’ rights, as well as being named a Leading Lawyer in the November/December 2010 edition of Inside Business magazine. He chairs the creditors’ rights practice of Harrington Hoppe & Mitchell, Ltd. in Youngstown.

D. Michael Miller ’75 was named senior vice president, general counsel, and secretary at American Electric Power effective July 1. Miller will have responsibility for all corporate legal affairs and supervision of AEP’s Legal Department.

David A. Gradwohl ’72 co-authored a law review article titled “Equity Receiverships for Ponzi Schemes,” which was published in the Seton Hall Legislative Journal. The article explains the complicated steps that victims of Ponzi schemes must take in order to maximize recovery of their investments. Gradwohl is a partner in the Blue Bell, Penn., office of Fox Rothschild.

William M. Owens ’72 was elected to serve a three-year term as District 9 representative on the Board of Governors of the Ohio State Bar Association. Owens is a partner in the Coshocton, Ohio, law firm of Owens & Manning. He practices mainly domestic, criminal, real estate, and probate law matters. Owens and his wife, Carol, reside in West Lafayette, Ohio.

Charles J. Faruki ’74 was named in the 2011 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers. Faruki, a trial lawyer with a

TELL US WHAT YOU ARE DOING — moritzlaw.osu.edu/alumni/notes

ALUMNI NEWS

2011 reunion Weekend

sept. 9-10, 2011

for classes of 1961, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1981,

1986, 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006

Learn more at

moritzlaw.osu.edu/reunions

Stephen E. Chappelear ’77, partner-in-charge of the Columbus office of Hahn Loeser & Parks LLP, was recently named chair of the Trial Techniques Committee of the American Bar Association Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section. Chappelear focuses his practice in the areas of business and complex litigation, construction law, patent and trademark litigation, employment litigation, probate litigation, dispute resolution and appeals. He and his wife, Sharon, live in Pataskala, Ohio.

SPRING 2011 | 61

& Dunn. He serves as co-coordinator of the firm’s Private Securities Litigation Practice Area.

Richard A. Barnhart ’78 was named in the 2011 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers. He also was named in the 2011 edition of Best Lawyers in the area of banking law and corporate law. Barnhart is a partner in the Columbus office of

ALUMNI NEWS

Schottenstein zox & Dunn. He is the firm’s co-leader of the Corporate Practice Group and is a member of the firm’s Management Committee.

K. Stuart Goldberg ’78 was certified as a residential mortgage foreclosure mediator for the state of Florida. He is a shareholder with Boyd and Jenerette in Ft. Lauderdale.

Larry R. Rothenberg ’78 was named in the 2011 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers. Rothenberg is a partner at Weltman, Weinberg & Reis in Cleveland. Rothenberg is partner in charge of the firm’s Real Estate Default Unit.

Steve Schumaker ’78 was appointed Ohio’s deputy attorney general for law enforcement. Schumaker was previously the Clark County, Ohio, prosecutor.

Thomas J. Sigmund ’78 was named in the 2011 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers. He was also named in the 2011 edition of Best Lawyers in the area of employee benefits law and trusts and estates. Sigmund is a director at Kegler, Brown, Hill & Ritter and currently serves as chair of the firm’s employee benefits and ERISA area.

Michael E. Flowers ’79 has been appointed Columbus city executive of Keith B. Key (KBK) Enterprises, a real estate development firm with work in several cities in Ohio, Pittsburgh, New Orleans, New York City, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. Flowers will lead and manage the growth of KBK Enterprises in Columbus and surrounding communities. Flowers will also retain his title of chief legal officer and the responsibility for the nationwide legal matters of KBK Enterprises.

Judge Peter J. Kontos ’79 was named to the Warren G. Harding High School’s Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame in May. Kontos, who has been a Trumbull County common pleas court judge since 1997, practiced in the Trumbull County prosecutor’s office from 1979 to 1997.

Thomas Stickrath ’79 was appointed to head of Ohio’s Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation’s crime lab. Stickrath had previously been Ohio’s public safety director.

1980sLuis M. Alcalde ’80 recently joined the firm Kegler, Brown, Hill & Ritter as of counsel. Alcalde brings to the firm more than 30 years of expertise in business, litigation, and international law. Alcalde previously served several years in supervisory and litigation roles for the Ohio Attorney General’s Office as well as 20 years with Crabbe Brown & James LLP, where he was a partner.


Tom Sykes ’79 recently joined Greenberg Traurig, LLP, as a shareholder in its Chicago office. He has a nationwide practice that is focused upon federal tax controversies, including litigation in all forums. In recent years, Sykes has been especially active litigating tax-refund cases addressing whether FICA tax is due upon stipends paid to medical residents — an issue upon which the IRS recently surrendered for taxable periods before April 1, 2005. In 2010, he was again listed as an Illinois Super Lawyer; he was previously recognized in the Legal500 and Who’s Who in American Law. He and Debbie, his spouse of 25 years, reside in Lake Forest, Ill., with their daughter, Caroline, who left the nest last fall.

James Davidson ’80 was named in the 2011 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers. He also was named in the 2011 edition of Best Lawyers in the area of commercial litigation and labor and employment law. Davidson is partner and president at Schottenstein zox & Dunn in Columbus. He also is coordinator of the firm’s Employment Litigation Practice Area.

Joseph Pappalardo ’80 was re-elected to the Board of Directors of the Trucking Industry Defense Association (TIDA). A member of TIDA’s Board of Directors since 2004, Pappalardo also serves as general counsel and attends to contractual, insurance, liability, and other legal issues which may be encountered by TIDA. Founded in 1993, TIDA has become the organization of choice for more than 1,700 motor carriers, trucking insurers, defense attorneys, and claims servicing companies. Pappalardo is a partner of Gallagher Sharp in Cleveland.

Roger K. Quillen ’80 has been re-elected chairman and managing partner of Fisher & Phillips LLP. Quillen has served in the position since 1999 at the Atlanta-based labor and employment law firm. Quillen’s practice involves litigation covering a wide range of employment discrimination issues, employee welfare benefit plans, the Railway Labor Act, and issues arising before the National Labor Relations Board and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Quillen was also named in the 2011 edition of Best Lawyers.

David Borer ’81 was recently appointed as the new general counsel for The American Federation of Government Employees, the country’s largest federal employee union. As general counsel, Borer will head the union’s legal programs, providing strategic and policy advice to the elected leaders of the union.

James P. Botti ’82 has been recognized by Chambers USA 2010 as one of the leading lawyers in Ohio in the area of bankruptcy/restructuring. He was also named a top banking lawyer in Columbus in the 2011 edition of Best Lawyers. Botti has spent nearly his entire 28-year career representing banks and other financial institutions in negotiating and documenting complex commercial loan transactions and in handling troubled loan or “workout” situations both inside and outside of bankruptcy. Botti is a partner in the Columbus office of Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP.


member of the Senior Faculty at Keller Graduate School of Management at Devry University. During 2009-10, Weiss served as president of the board of directors of the Jazz Arts Group.

David Alan Scott ’87 was elected vice president of the national Sierra Club in May after completing his first year on the board of directors. His responsibilities include taking positions on national legislation, guiding the organization’s Climate Recovery Campaigns and policy development. The Sierra Club has over 1.3 million members and supporters and a noted environmental lobbying and litigation program.

Matt Shay ’87 was named president and chief executive officer of the National Retail Federation (NRF). Shay joins NRF from the International Franchise Association where he served as president and CEO. The International Franchise Association represents more than 1,300 franchise companies around the world, including a number of retail firms.

Robert G. Cohen ’88 was named in the 2011 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers. He also was named in the 2011 edition of Best Lawyers in the area of antitrust law. Cohen is a director at Kegler, Brown, Hill & Ritter and is currently a member of the firm’s trial practice group.

Sarah Mugel ’89 was named vice president and general counsel of the National Fuel Gas Distribution Corporation. She will continue oversight of the legal affairs of the company’s Utility Segment, Corporate Human Resources, and the Utility’s Risk Management departments. Mugel lives in suburban Buffalo, N.Y.

Timothy T. Tullis ’89 was named in the 2011 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers. He also was named in the 2011 edition of Best Lawyers in the area of commercial litigation. Tullis is a director at Kegler, Brown, Hill & Ritter focuses his practice on litigation.

Douglas Morgan ’82 in June received the Columbus Bar Association’s Community Service Award. The award was presented in recognition of his contribution of time and effort in service to the Central Ohio community and to the legal profession. Morgan is a partner in Hahn Loeser’s Columbus office.

S. Martijn Steger ’83 was named in the 2011 edition of Best Lawyers in the area of corporate law. He also was named in the 2011 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers. Steger is a director at Kegler, Brown, Hill and Ritter.

Mitchell A. Weisman ’83 was recently named in the 2011 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers. He serves on the International Academy of Trial Lawyers. Weisman works at Weisman, Kennedy and Berris in Cleveland.

Brent Titus ’84 was named in the 2011 edition of Best Lawyers in the area of real estate law. Titus is a shareholder at Foster, Swift, Collins & Smith, P.C.

Steven Goldfarb ’85 was recently elected as a trustee of the Shaker Schools Foundation in Shaker Heights, Ohio. He and his wife have three children, who all are graduates of the Shaker Heights School District. Goldfarb is a partner in the Cleveland office of Hahn Loeser & Parks LLP, where he is co-chair of the firm’s litigation practice.

Kevin Hardman ’85 was named in the 2011 edition of Best Lawyers in America in the fields of personal injury litigation and medical malpractice litigation. He was also included in the 2011 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers. His three-lawyer law firm in Akron, Ohio, was selected by U.S. News & World Report as a Tier 1 firm in the fields of personal injury litigation and medical malpractice law in the recently announced “Best Law Firms” issue.

Richard Holz ’85 was named in the 2011 edition of Best Lawyers in the area of tax law. Holz is a partner at Schottenstein, zox, & Dunn Co., LPA.

Kevin P. Murphy ’85 was elected to serve a three-year term as District 18 representative on the Board of Governors of the Ohio State Bar Association. He is currently a litigation attorney who practices in the Warren, Ohio, office of Harrington, Hoppe & Mitchell, Ltd. Murphy and his wife, Karen, reside in Warren. They have two children: Caitlin, 22, and Patrick, 20.

Dan Weiss ’85 has served as the executive director and chief investment officer of the Ohio Highway Patrol Retirement System, a $700 million pension plan, since the beginning of 2010. He continues to teach accounting, finance, and business law as an adjunct

Donald W. Gregory ’82 was named in the 2011 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers. He was named in the 2011 edition of Best Lawyers in the area of construction law. He also was named as “Band 2” by Chambers. Gregory is a director at Kegler, Brown, Hill & Ritter and is currently the chair of the firm’s construction, litigation, and mediation services practice areas.


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Martha J. Sweterlitsch ’83 was presented the 2010 Outstanding Lawyer Award by the American Bar Association’s Nonprofit Organizations Committee. The award is presented annually for distinguished service by an attorney practicing nonprofit law. Sweterlitsch is currently of counsel at Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff in Columbus, where her practice is focused on nonprofit, administrative, health, state tax, and federal and state tax exemption law and lobbying. She is currently chair of the Ohio Association of Nonprofit Organizations, and also serves as a trustee for the Ohio United Way and as legislative counsel for the Ohio Alliance of YMCA’s, the Ohio Association of Child Care Providers, and the Association of Ohio Philanthropic Homes and Housing for Aging.

SPRING 2011 | 63

the commission in 1995 as an investigative counsel. The Ohio Ethics Commission is an independent agency that oversees the Ohio Ethics Law for most state and local public officials and employees throughout Ohio.

Robert Cochran ’91 was named in the 2011 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers. Cochran is of counsel in the Columbus office of Schottenstein zox & Dunn. Cochran focuses his practice on white-collar criminal defense, corporate internal investigations, and health care litigation.

Lark Mallory ’91 was recently re-appointed to the Columbus/Franklin County Affordable Housing Trust Corporation Board of Trustees by the Franklin County Board of Commissioners and the Columbus mayor. Her three-year term will end June 19, 2013. Mallory is an attorney at Chester, Willcox & Saxbe, where she specializes in representing tax exempt organizations and closely held businesses in all taxation and business transactions.

Kimberly Mayhew ’91 was recently named vice president and trust officer at First Financial Wealth Resource. Mayhew joins First Financial’s downtown Hamilton, Ohio, office.

John C. Norling ’91, a member in the Phoenix, Ariz., office of Clark Hill, was named member-in-charge of Clark Hill’s Arizona Office. Norling was recently named a “Top Person to Know in Arizona Commercial Real Estate” by AzRE magazine. His practice focuses on corporate, commercial, and real estate transactional matters with a particular emphasis on matters related to automobile dealerships.

Patrick J. Schmitz ’91 was named a partner of the firm Scott, Scriven & Wahoff LLP in Columbus. He practices in the firm’s education law and labor and employment practices. Schmitz has represented school boards and other public sector and nonprofit entities for more than 15 years.

David M. McCarty ’92 was named in the 2011 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers. He also was named in the 2011 edition of Best Lawyers in the area of workers’ compensation law. McCarty is a director at Kegler, Brown, Hill & Ritter and serves as the chair of the firm’s workers’ compensation practice area.

Paul Bittner ’93 was named in the 2011 edition of Best Lawyers in the area of labor and employment law. Bittner is a partner at Schottenstein, zox, & Dunn Co., LPA.

1990sMaryanne Becka Haller ’90 received a full tuition scholarship toward a master’s degree at Kent State University’s School of Library and Information Science. She received one of five Laura Bush 21st Century “Youth Services, Librarians, and Museums—A New vision of Learning” scholarships funded by funded by the federal Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) in Washington, D.C.

Frank Janik ’90 was recently elected to city council at large in Amherst, Ohio, and has opened a new law office in the city’s downtown. Janik previously worked for the Lorain County, Ohio, Prosecutor’s Office.

Paul M. Nick ’90 was named interim executive director of the Ohio Ethics Commission. Prior to being named to the position, Nick was the commission’s chief investigative attorney. He joined


Kathleen Johnson Schnipke ’93 was elected chair of the Delaware-Morrow Mental Health and Recovery Services Board for the 2011 fiscal year. Schnipke resides with her family in the Galena, Ohio, area.

Daniel T. Downey ’94 joined the Columbus office of Weston Hurd LLP as a partner. Downey focuses his practice on civil litigation, with an emphasis on insurance defense, political subdivision immunity, and civil rights defense.

Erika L. Haupt ’94 was recently elected partner-in-charge of the Columbus office of Roetzel & Andress. Haupt has been a partner at Roetzel since joining the firm in 2004, and she focuses on wealth transfer and estate planning matters.

T. Earl LeVere ’94 was named in the 2011 edition of Best Lawyers in the area of bankruptcy and creditor-debtor rights law. Levere is a partner at Schottenstein, zox, & Dunn Co., LPA.

Patrick Pauken ’94 has been named vice provost for governance and faculty relations at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. Pauken also holds the rank of associate professor in Educational Administration and Leadership Studies. In this role, he works with the university’s academic leaders and governance groups on policy and contract matters, and continues as secretary to university’s Board of Trustees.

Stephen Kleinman ’95 was named in the 2011 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers. Kleinman is a partner in the Columbus office of Schottenstein zox & Dunn. He primarily represents health care providers and suppliers.

David Groshoff ’96 graduated from Harvard University Graduate School of Education in 2009 and has spent the last year as a non-tenure track finance professor at Providence College, and recently began an appointment as a tenure-track assistant professor of law at the Western State University College of Law in greater Los Angeles. Groshoff will teach courses in corporate law and finance. His most recent scholarship, regarding entrepreneurial sex-segregated urban charter schools, is scheduled to be published in the upcoming BYU Education & Law Journal.

Lieutenant Colonel Monica Gfoeller ’87 concluded her tour of duty as the Garrison Command Judge Advocate of victory Base Complex Garrison in Baghdad, Iraq. Gfoeller is assigned to the 561st Regional Support Group from Omaha, Neb., as the unit’s senior legal counsel. The unit was mobilized for active duty in July 2009 to manage the base, which is one of the largest in Iraq.


Bill R. Hedrick ’96 was named chief of staff of the Columbus City Attorney’s Office by City Attorney Richard C. Pfeiffer Jr.

Shawna L. L’Italien ’96 was named a 40-under-40 Shining Star for community service and professional accomplishments in November 2009 by the Mahoning valley Professional 20/30 Club and Community Foundation of the Mahoning valley. Of those 40 recipients, L’Italien also was named one of five MvPs. In May 2010, L’Italien received the Athena Award, sponsored by the Youngstown Warren Regional Chamber and the Youngstown Vindicator, which is awarded to a woman for professional accomplishments, community service, and mentorship. L’Italien is a member/attorney at Harrington, Hoppe & Mitchell, Ltd in Salem, Ohio.

Brian E. Shinn ’96 was appointed general counsel by Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner on May 9, 2010. Previously, Shinn served as Brunner’s assistant general counsel and chief elections counsel from January 2007 until May 2010.

Brian E. Burns ’97 accepted partnership with Bricker & Eckler. He is a member of the firm’s Business Law Group and will work in the firm’s Columbus office. His practice primarily focuses on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, and private equity.

Gregg Eisenberg ’97 was chosen as part of an inaugural group of “40-under-40” award winners from the M&A Advisor. Eisenberg is a partner with Benesch in Cleveland. He is a part of the Corporate & Securities Practice Group and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. Eisenberg focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions as well as public and private debt and equity financings.

Loriann E. Fuhrer ’97 was named in the 2011 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers. Fuhrer is a director at Kegler, Brown, Hill & Ritter and focuses her practice primarily on employment litigation, complex business litigation, and appeals, as well as public housing authorities and federally assisted housing law.

Darrick Mix ’97, a corporate partner at Duane Morris, was the lead attorney in his firm’s representation of investment company Cohen &


ALUMNI NEWS

Company in its acquisition of JvB Financial, a Boca Raton-based broker-dealer, for total consideration of approximately $22 million. Mix practices in Duane Morris’ Philadelphia office.

Sara Sampson ’97 was elected vice-president/president-elect of the Law Librarians Society of Washington, D.C. (LLSDC). LLSDC is a chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries and serves librarians in the D.C. area. Sampson is the Head of Reference at the law library and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center.

Betsy Luper Schuster ’97 was named Ohio’s chief elections counsel by Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted in December. Prior to the appointment, Schuster was the commissioner at the Ohio Court of Claims, Crime victims Appeals, and a hearing officer for various state departments and agencies. Schuster has also served as chief legal counsel to the Ohio governor and deputy chief legal counsel. Schuster has taught legislation and appellate advocacy at Moritz and Capital University Law School.

Roland W. Baggott III ’98 was recognized by the Mid-South Super Lawyers as a “Rising Star” for the second consecutive year. He also has been appointed to the Steering Committee for the ABA Forum on Franchising’s Litigation and Dispute Resolution Division. The committee is responsible for addressing issues concerning litigation and ADR affecting franchise relationships and developing continuing education programs.

Gregory S. Baker ’98 was named senior counsel of Limited Stores, LLC in Columbus. Baker was previously with the law firm of Schottenstein, zox & Dunn, where he started as an associate in 1998 and became a partner in 2006.

Christopher E. Hogan ’98 was named a fellow of the Ohio State Bar Foundation in June. Hogan, of Upper Arlington, Ohio, is an attorney for Newhouse, Prophater, Letcher & Moots, where his practice centers on labor and employment issues. Over the course of 18 months, fellows volunteer their time to a project that promotes the foundation’s mission of improving the justice system and enhancing public understanding of the law.

Brad Johnston ’98 recently departed Holland & Hart to become the chief strategy officer and general counsel of Peri & Sons Farms, Inc., a leading agricultural company with farming operations in Mason valley, Nev., and Firebaugh, Calif. Peri & Sons’ main crops are white, yellow, red, and sweet onions. Prior to joining Peri & Sons, Johnston was a partner at Holland & Hart, where he practiced commercial litigation.

Erik H. Monson ’98 has been elected shareholder at Coyne, Schultz, Becker & Bauer, S.C., in Madison, Wisc., where he practices civil litigation with a focus on insurance defense and professional liability defense. He joined the firm in 2005, having previously served as an assistant district attorney in Kenosha County, Wisc.

Rebecca Woods ’98 was selected to serve on the Board of Directors for the Washington, D.C., Rape Crisis Center, the nation’s oldest sexual assault education/counseling/support center serving women, men, and children in the D.C. metropolitan region. Woods is currently a partner in the D.C. office of Seyfarth Shaw LLP.

Tyson Crist ’99 was named a “Rising Star” in the areas of bankruptcy and creditor/debtor rights in the 2011 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers. Crist is a partner in the Creditors’ Rights and Corporate Trust and Business Restructuring and Reorganization Practice areas of Schottenstein zox & Dunn in Columbus.

Stephen A. Silver ’98 and his wife, Shoshana, welcomed their first child, Samuel Jared Silver, on Jan. 3, 2010.

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Michael B. Kass ’99 was named chair of the Employment & Labor Practice Group at Armstrong Teasdale LLP in St. Louis, Mo. Kass and his wife, Stacy, happily welcomed their fifth child, Chaya Leah, on Feb. 3, 2010.

Meredith K. Knueve ’99 recently joined the firm of Chester, Willcox & Saxbe LLP as senior counsel. Knueve concentrates her practice in the area of business, tax, and estate law. She was named in Business First’s 2010 “40-Under-40” and listed as a 2009 “Ohio Rising Star” by Ohio Super Lawyers.

Priya Lakhi ’99 completed a four-month assignment in Kathmandu, Nepal, where she worked for The International Legal Foundation. Lakhi helped to train Nepali lawyers on the art of criminal defense for the poor. For more information, visit www.theilf.org.

Traci A. McGuire ’99 was named an Ohio “Rising Star” in the 2011 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers. McGuire is a director at Kegler, Brown, Hill & Ritter and practices in the firm’s litigation, labor, and employee relations and health care areas.

Lexy Payne Font ’99 was recently named a partner at Pattishall McAuliffe Newbury Hilliard & Geraldson in Chicago. Font leads Pattishall’s advertising, promotional marketing, and media practice and is a part of the firm’s litigation practice.

Jeremy Sharp ’99 has recently joined the Cleveland law firm of Walter & Haverfield LLP. Sharp will serve as a partner in the firm’s Labor and Employment, Tax, Health Care, and Business Services sections. His focus is primarily in the areas of employee benefits and executive compensation, with extensive experience in areas involving taxation, labor and employment, and health care regulatory compliance matters.

Eric Sommers ’99 was awarded the Pro Bono Service Award for his work with the Domestic violence Emergency Project by the New Hampshire Bar Association. Sommers has represented nearly a dozen domestic violence clients, offering dependable, emergency services to low-income victims of domestic violence in the greater Manchester, N.H., area. In April 2010, Sommers started his own firm, Sommers Law, PLLC, in

Andrew R. Kruppa ’00 was elected as a partner in the Miami office of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey LLP. He is a member of the firm’s litigation practice and focuses on commercial litigation and defense of tort, product liability, and serious injury cases. He has represented clients at trials in California, Florida, Indiana, New York, and South Carolina.


Portsmouth, N.H. The core of his practice is business and intellectual property litigation.

2000sCraig Bryson ’00 has accepted a position as senior counsel, global projects at Abbott Laboratories. Abbott Laboratories is a global health care company. He has been with the company since 2007. Bryson and his family are relocated to Basel, Switzerland in August.

Ann K. Gramza ’00 was promoted to supervising attorney of the Child Protection Unit of Montgomery County, Ohio. Gramza joined the prosecutor’s office in April 2005. She previously worked in the Juvenile Delinquency Division, the Intake and Grand Jury Division, and she most recently was a criminal docket attorney.

Jeremy Grayem ’00 was named a “Rising Star” in the area of business litigation in the 2011 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers. Grayem is a partner in the Litigation Practice Group at Schottenstein zox & Dunn in Columbus. He is also a member of the firm’s Products Liability and Public Sector Litigation Practice areas.

Jason A. Hill ’00 recently accepted an appointed position as assistant court administrator of the Ohio Sixth District Court of Appeals. Prior to joining the court, Hill served as a partner with the law firm of Connelly, Jackson & Collier LLP, where he maintained a litigation practice. Hill also recently completed the inaugural session of the Ohio State Bar Association’s Leadership Academy.

Karyn Justice ’00 was named a fellow of the Ohio State Bar Foundation in June. Justice is a solo practitioner in Portsmouth, Ohio. Over the course of 18 months, fellows volunteer their time to a project that promotes the foundation’s mission of improving the justice system and enhancing public understanding of the law.

Garrett Smith ’00 married Charity Haines. Smith is vice president & corporate counsel for Professional Service Industries, Inc. (PSI). Haines is the director of membership for WTTW Television (PBS) Chicago. The couple reside in Chicago.

Mike Zandpour ’00 was named senior vice president and senior counsel of City National Bank in Los Angeles.

John W. Barron ’01 was honored by The Ohio State University Alumni Association for his distinguished career in public service in June. Barron has spent

his entire career in the public sector, including active military duty and state and county government service. The New Albany, Ohio, resident is chief counsel for the Ohio Senate Majority Caucus, representing its members and staff on all legal matters, including those relating to legislation, employment, ethics, public records, and litigation.

P. R. Casey ’01 left his job in May as the Ohio Senate democratic legal counsel to start as the chief legal counsel at the Ohio Department of Education. Casey also welcomed the birth of his third child, Delaney Joyce Casey, in May.

Dawn Hays ’01 has joined Beggs Caudill LLC as a partner. She will represent employees in employment claims and litigation. Previously Hays practiced labor and employment law at Hahn Loeser and Parks LLP.

Suzana Krstevski Koch ’01 has joined the Akron office of Brouse McDowell. Koch focuses her practice on commercial law and business reorganizations, helping businesses grow through mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and other transactions.


David J. Lindner ’01 rejoined the Cleveland office of Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs, LLP, as an associate. Prior to joining Buckingham, Lindner was an associate at Ulmer & Berne LLP in Cleveland. Lindner’s practice is focused on residential and commercial real estate development, leasing, sales and acquisitions, land use and zoning, and tax valuation.

Stephanie Ramjohn Moore ’01 and her husband, Kerry, welcomed their first child, Jackson Kerry Moore, on May 1. Moore is an attorney advisor in the civil rights litigation division in the Office of General Counsel for the United States Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C.

Rebecca R. Price ’01 was named an Ohio “Rising Star” in the 2011 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers. Price is an associate at Kegler, Brown, Hill & Ritter where she focuses her practice in the firm’s litigation area.


ALUMNI NEWS

Kevin T. Shook ’01 has been elected partner in the Columbus office of Frost Brown Todd. Shook concentrates his practice in the areas of property litigation, financial institutions, media law, and advertising law. Shook serves on the Board of Directors for the American Red Cross of Greater Columbus and he is the pro bono coordinator for Frost Brown Todd’s Columbus office. He also was recently named a “Rising Star” in the 2011 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers.

Adria M. Tippins-Owens ’01 was married Oct. 9, 2010 in Key West, Fla., on Smathers Beach to Jerard Owens, I. The wedding was attended by many former Ohio State Black Law Students Association members; Arleesia L. McDonald ’02 sang at the nuptials and Sarbeth J. Fleming ’00 and Taneesha D. Marshall ’02 were bridesmaids.

Shama Ahmed ’02 and her husband, Aheed Siddiqi, welcomed their third child, Eesa, on June 25, 2010. They have two older children, Mohsin and Sakeena. The family currently resides in Glen Ellyn, Ill.

Stephen C. Barsotti ’02 was named an Ohio “Rising Star” in the 2011 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers. Barsotti is a director at Kegler, Brown, Hill & Ritter working in the firm’s business, intellectual property, and international business practice areas.

April Bucknell ’02 and her husband, John Bucknell, are pleased to announce the June 17 birth of their son, Emory xavier. Emory joins brothers Isaac and Eamon. April is an attorney at Alexsy Law Group in Detroit, Mich. John is an advanced research engineer for General Motors.

Tiffany Freeman ’02 and George H. Hendricks were married September 2010. The couple reside in Greenville, S.C. Freeman is currently an assistant solicitor with the Seventh Judicial Circuit for the state of South Carolina. Hendricks is a budget analyst for the U.S. Army.

Margaret (Meg) Johnson ’02 and her husband, Andrew, welcomed a daughter, Eleanor (Nora) Elizabeth, on Dec. 13, 2009. Meg and her family currently reside in Natick, Mass.

Jennifer McDaniel ’02 was named a “Rising Star” in the area of workers’ compensation in the 2011 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers. McDaniel is an associate in the Columbus office of Schottenstein zox & Dunn.

Mary C. Mertz ’02 was named top legal deputy for new Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine. Mertz was an aide to DeWine when he was lieutenant governor.

Toshi Miyamoto ’02 was elected as special counsel in the Tokyo and Hong Kong offices of Baker & McKenzie. Miyamoto focuses his practice on capital markets, project work, and debt equity markets. Previously, he was a senior associate at the firm.

Tracy Schwotzer ’02 was named an Ohio “Rising Star” in the 2011 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers. Schwotzer is an associate at Weltman, Weinberg & Reis in Cleveland, where she focuses her practice in consumer collections.

Anthony M. Sharett ’02 has been appointed as a District 7 representative on the Ohio State Bar Association’s Council of Delegates for a two-year term beginning July 1, 2010. The Council of Delegates is one of the two major governing bodies of the OSBA. Sharett is an associate at Bricker & Eckler in Columbus.

Kate Tournoux ’02 was recently promoted by International Paper Company to senior counsel-environmental litigation. She lives in Germantown, Tenn.

Allan Townsend ’02 is now a trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division Employment Litigation Section in Washington, D.C.

Janica Pierce Tucker ’02 was appointed as a District 7 representative on the Ohio State Bar Association’s Council of Delegates for a two-year term beginning in July. The Council of Delegates is one of two major governing bodies of the statewide organization. She is an associate at Chester Willcox & Saxbe in Columbus.

Stephanie Bayer ’03 was promoted to chief privacy officer for Universal American, a Fortune 500 health insurance company offering healthcare products and programs, including traditional health insurance, Medicare managed care plans, and

Rasheeda Z. Khan ’02 has been selected as a firm director in the Columbus office of Kegler, Brown, Hill & Ritter, where she has worked since 2002 in the professional responsibility, litigation, and criminal defense practices. She is also listed as an “Ohio Rising Star” by Law & Politics magazine.

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SPRING 2011 | 67

Medicare prescription drug benefits. Additionally, she also was invited to speak at the World Congress Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C., on HIPAA and HITECH regulatory issues.

James Graley ’03, who was elected as a partner with Campbell Woods, PLLC in January, has been recognized by Chambers and Partners as among the top corporate/commercial attorneys in West virginia. Graley was also recently recognized by Super Lawyers as a rising star for the second consecutive year. He and his wife, Jessica, reside in Proctorville, Ohio with their son, Garrett.

Jeffry Harris ’03 was named economic development director for the city of Worthington, Ohio. Prior to being hired to his current position, Harris worked

Adam C. Sturdivant ’05 and his law partner, Stephen R. Drew, of the law firm Drew, Cooper & Anding in Grand Rapids, Mich., won a sexual harassment/hostile work environment jury trial against Consumers Energy, a utility company, in the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan. Following a two-week trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff, who Sturdivant’s firm represented, in the amount of $7.9 million in a 7-1 decision.


as the assistant chief financial officer at the Ohio Department of Development.

Jeff James ’03 and his wife, Ellen, welcomed their first child, Audrey, on Aug. 29, 2010. James and family live in Tampa, Fla., where James is a shareholder at Banker Lopez Gassler, P.A.

Peter E. Krebs ’03 joined the Toledo, Ohio, office of Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick as an associate in the firm’s Corporate Practice Group. Krebs has extensive experience representing buyers and sellers of both public and private businesses and business units and has substantial experience in representing clients in complex business reorganizations, debt restructurings, and insolvency matters.

Paul Kuzmickas ’03 was recently hired to the Cleveland office of Luftman, Heck & Associates, a Columbus-based firm. Kuzmickas focuses on consumer bankruptcy and foreclosure cases covering all of northern Ohio and will manage the bankruptcy practice at the Cleveland office. He and his wife, Jennifer, and two sons, Andrew and Grayson, reside in a suburb of Cleveland.

Robert Morwood ’03 was recently elected a partner of the firm Baker & Hostetler. As a partner in the firm’s Business Group, Morwood will focus his practice in the area of mergers and acquisitions.

Kristen Blankley ’04 will begin teaching this fall as an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska College of Law. Blankley’s courses are in the area of alternative dispute resolution.

Carlos Garritano ’04 recently formed Grillo & Garritano, LLC in Cleveland in order to provide intellectual property legal services. His practice area currently concentrates on patent, trademark, and copyright.

Lindsay Marsico Johnson ’04 was recently named a “Rising Star” in the 2010 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers. She and her husband, Dr. Benjamin Johnson, were recently voted by the Dayton Art Institute Associate Board of Directors to chair the 2011 Oktoberfest, the museum’s largest fundraiser. Marsico Johnson is a member of the Dayton and Ohio Bar Associations, Generation Dayton, the Dayton History Fundraising and Development Council, the Dayton Art Institute Associate Board of Directors, and the Goodwill-Easter Seals youth mentoring program and Associate Board. She is an associate in Freund Freeze & Arnold’s Dayton

office and focuses her practice on business litigation and medical and legal malpractice defense. Marsico Johnson and her husband welcomed their first child, Noah, in January 2009. They live in Springboro, Ohio.

Erika Chouinard Schoenberger ’04 and Josh Schoenberger ’04 were honored by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society with the Taubman Community Award for their dedication to the success of several National Multiple Sclerosis Society events. The couple have served on the society’s Columbus Walk Advisory and Columbus Dinner of Champions committees. Josh is a senior associate at Williams & Petro Co. and his wife, Erika, is a senior associate at Frost Brown Todd in Columbus.

Rita DeCaria ’05 has been promoted to business development director of Reed Smith LLP, one of the 15 largest law firms in the world. DeCaria is currently on a six-month secondment in Reed Smith’s London office where she is acting as European and Middle Eastern business development director. DeCaria is otherwise based in the firm’s New York office. She has been with Reed Smith since May 2007.

Brendan P. Feheley ’05 was named an Ohio “Rising Star” in the 2011 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers. Feheley is an associate at Kegler, Brown, Hill & Ritter and primarily practices employment law.

Whitney Hadanek ’05 and her husband, Brian Sauer, welcomed their son, Aiden Lee, on June 4 at 10:33 p.m. Aiden was 7 pounds, 15 ounces, and 21.5 inches long.

Kimberly (Blackwell) Lawler ’05 and husband, Mike, welcomed their second son, Malcolm James, on Aug. 4. He joined older brother Michael Timothy III, who turned 2 on Nov. 12, 2010. After spending five years with Jones Day in Washington, D.C., and Dallas, Lawler recently joined Higier Allen & Lautin, P.C. in Dallas.

Marybeth Sundstrom ’05 and Daniel Westmeyer ’05 were married in Las vegas, Nev., on May 15, 2010. Sundstrom is an associate at Gerrard Cox Larsen in Henderson, Nev., and Westmeyer is a deputy district attorney in the Clark County District Attorney’s Office.Kellie Swift ’05 and Ben Wright ’05 were married in April 2008 and welcomed daughter, Anna Kathleen, on Oct. 21, 2010. Kellie, Ben, and Anna live in Chicago where Ben is a tax attorney with Ernst & Young LLP, and Kellie practices commercial real estate finance law with Riemer & Braunstein LLP.

Julia Tosi ’05 and Nathaniel Tosi ’06 welcomed a new daughter, Mia Elizabeth, on March 25, 2010.


Eric D. Duffee ’06 was named an Ohio “Rising Star” in the 2011 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers. Duffee is an associate at Kegler, Brown, Hill & Ritter and focuses his practice primarily in the areas of business, intellectual property, estate planning, and employee benefits.

Ronald Petroff ’06 and his wife, Natasha, welcomed their first child, Samantha Erin Petroff, on Dec. 10.

Steve Roach ’06 was featured in the April 2010 Texas Bar Journal regarding his work as a Dallas attorney, art appraiser, licensed auctioneer, and editor of Coin World.

Lindsey Williams ’06 was recently elected to the Board of Directors for Regional Housing Legal Services (RHLS) in Pennsylvania. RHLS is a nonprofit law firm with unique expertise in affordable, sustainable housing and its related components — community and economic development, utility matters, and preservation of home ownership. RHLS provides innovative


ALUMNI NEWS

project and policy solutions that help create sustainable communities offering decent, safe, and affordable housing for lower-income Pennsylvanians.

ursula Barrera-Richards ’07 is the new policy director for the Ohio Commission on Hispanic and Latino Affairs. The 33-year-old commission advises the legislature, governor, and state agencies on issues and policies pertinent to the Ohio Latino community. Barrera-Richards was also recently married to Jimmy R. Richards in Toledo, Ohio.

Sarah A. Cherry ’07 was named legal counsel to the Ohio House of Representatives Minority Caucus.

Matthew Horwitz ’07 was named a senior associate at Frost Brown Todd in Cincinnati. He represents and advises clients in a wide range of litigation areas, with a focus on complex business and commercial litigation.

Lisa Jones ’07 joined the U.S. Department for Education in July 2007 as an attorney in the Office for Civil Rights in Cleveland, Ohio.

Brandon Middleton ’07 recently wrote a law review article, “Restoring Tradition: The Inapplicability of TvA v. Hill’s Endangered Species Act Injunctive Relief Standard to Preliminary Injunctive Relief of Non-Federal Actors,” which was published in the Spring 2010 edition of the Missouri Environmental Law and Policy Review. Middleton is a staff attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation in Sacramento, Calif., practicing in the foundation’s environmental section.

Justin Moses ’07 has accepted a position as associate dean of students and director of student conduct at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga in Chattanooga, Tenn. Moses will oversee all aspects of student conduct and the university’s honor court.

Samuel Hamilton ’08 was named a 2010 Up and Coming Lawyer by the Wisconsin Law Journal. Hamilton is an associate with Reinhart Boerner van Deuren SC in Milwaukee. His practice is focused on mergers and acquisitions and general business representation, as well as securities matters.

Mario A. Medina ’09 joined the Chatham County, Ga., District Attorney’s office as an assistant prosecutor.

Ryan Shrout ’09, 1st lieutenant, completed a four-month tour working in the Military Law Branch, Headquarters Marine Corps, at the Pentagon. He was expected to complete a six-month basic training course with the United States Marine Corps before being assigned a permanent duty station.

Tiffany T. Smith ’09 was the filing attorney for

a pro bono lawsuit on behalf of constitutional law professor Abukar Hassan Ahmed, who was reportedly imprisoned and tortured in Somalia during the brutal regime of Siad Barre. Smith’s firm, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, joined with the Center for Justice and Accountability to file the suit. Smith was also elected on behalf of the firm’s first-year associates to serve as one of two representatives on the firm’s Associate Committee.

Jesse Thomas ’09 has joined the Cleveland office of Tucker Ellis & West LLP as an associate in the firm’s Trial Department. Thomas will focus his practice on business litigation.

2010sDavid M. Dirr ’10 joined Dressman Benzinger Lavelle as an associate in the firm’s Crestview Hills, Ky., office. Dirr’s practice will focus in the areas of health care and civil litigation.

Douglas Hattaway ’10 has joined Weltman, Weinberg & Reis Co., in the firm’s Consumer Collections group in its Grove City, Ohio, office.

Jeremiah Thomas ’10 has joined Kegler, Brown, Hill & Ritter in Columbus as an associate. He is focusing his practice on corporate and intellectual property law.

Drew B. LaFramboise ’10 joined the Columbus office of Clark, Perdue & List Co. LaFramboise will provide support in the area of whistleblower protection litigation, in addition to the firm’s other practice areas.

A story in the spring 2010 All Rise regarding the 75th anniversary of the Ohio State Law Journal omitted the name of Thomas J. Shumard ’69 as a former editor-in-chief of the journal. Shumard led the 1968-69 staff along with Frank Black ’68. Shumard, of Phoenix, Ariz., has successfully practiced law in the city for the past 40 years. The All Rise staff deeply regrets the error.

CORRECTION

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William L. Stewart ’43, of Aptos, Calif., passed away April 16, 2010. Stewart, 92, graduated with a bachelor’s degree from The Ohio State University and went on to earn his law degree from the Moritz College of Law. After serving the Army Field Artillery and Judge Advocate General Department in World War II, he settled in California. Stewart served as an attorney for 28 years and, later, as a judge of Municipal and Superior Courts of Monterey County. He was co-founder of Salinas valley Memorial Hospital, St. Mary’s Church in Salinas, Steinbeck City Library, and Alisal Chamber of Commerce. He is survived by his four children, four grandchildren, and one great grandchild.

Donald J. Lett ’49, of Loudonville, Ohio, passed away Dec. 5, 2010. After serving in the Army during WWII as a bombardier and later earning a Silver Star, Lett graduated with a bachelor’s degree from The Ohio State University in 1946 and the law school in 1949. He practiced as a solo attorney in Mansfield, Ohio, until the 1970s, when he retired and moved to a 400-acre farm near Loudonville. Lett loved his new life as a gentleman farmer. He worked the land growing corn, hay, soy, and wheat and also raised just about any farm animal. An avid skier, Lett was a member of the Mansfield Ski Club. He loved traveling; the only state not visited was Oregon. He took trips to Australia and Rome and made it a point to revisit those countries in Europe (England, Scotland, and France) that changed his life as a young man during WWII. He is survived by his children and their spouses Elizabeth and Jeff Force of Charleston, S.C.; Nancy Young of San Antonio, Texas; Nicole and Darren Docherty of Mansfield; and Whitney Superstar of Loudonville; and four grandchildren.

Thomas G. Roderick ’49, of Lancaster, Ohio, and former resident of Alexandria, va., passed away Feb. 17, 2010. In 1947, Roderick received his bachelor’s degree from The Ohio State University in art and, in 1949, a law degree. After graduation he returned to Canton and joined the law firm of Miller, Roderick & Kuhn and became the assistant city solicitor and police prosecutor. In 1954, Roderick served as the general counsel and congressional liaison for the U.S. Information Agency under the Eisenhower administration, then in 1960 he became special counsel to the Consolidated Natural Gas Company and in 1963 transferred to Cleveland where he was secretary and general counsel for the East Ohio Gas Company. In 1972, he transferred back to Washington,

The Moritz College of Law has received word of the death of the following graduates, former faculty, and friends. We express our sympathy to relatives and loved ones.

IN MEMORIAM

D.C., to become special counsel and lobbyist for Consolidated until his retirement in 1983. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army, 3rd Div., 7th Infantry in France and Germany where he received the Bronze Star, Silver Star, and the Purple Heart with a cluster and the Croix de Guerre. Roderick was preceded in death by his wife Juanita. He is survived by his son, Thomas Gough Roderick II; daughter, Linda G. Roderick; and granddaughter, Mary J. Roderick.

John T. Shanks ’49, of Columbus, Ind., formerly of Bonita Springs, Fla. and Dayton, Ohio, passed away April 18, 2010. He attended Kent State University, interrupting his education to join the Army Air Corps in 1943. He earned his wings and became a pilot serving as a flight instructor at Greenville, Miss. He later attended bomber pilot training in the B-24 and was stationed at Mt. Home Air Force Base in Boise, Idaho. He received orders to the Pacific theater when the war ended in 1945. He then attended The Ohio State University and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business and a law degree from the Moritz College of Law. He moved his family to Dayton, Ohio, and opened his private practice in 1949 until his retirement in 1994. He was an avid general aviation pilot and a member of the Quiet Birdmen. Phillips is survived by his wife of 65 years, Frances Shanks; daughter Donna S. Hilker and son-in-law Samuel R. Hilker; and grandchildren Todd W. Hilker and Holly A. Bonetti.

Arthur I. Vorys ’49 passed away Feb. 5, 2011 in Naples, Fla. Following graduation from high school, vorys served his country as a lieutenant in the Marines’ Fifth Regiment in WWII, and fought in and was wounded in the Battle of Okinawa. Upon returning from the war, he received his bachelor’s degree from Williams College and his law degree from The Ohio State University. In 1949, vorys began a 44-year law practice at vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP in Columbus, where he rose to senior partner, retiring in 1993. From 1957 to 1959, vorys was appointed by the governor to serve as Ohio’s superintendent of insurance. During his career, he served as a director on numerous corporate boards, including Wendy’s International, Inc., Ohio Casualty Corporation, Willis Corroon plc, and vorys Brothers, Inc. vorys believed strongly in giving back to the community and he served on the boards of Nationwide Children’s Hospital, The Ohio State University Hospitals, Capital University, Capital University Law School, The Griffith Foundation for Insurance Education, and Green Lawn Cemetery, among others. He was also one of the founders and helped finance

the Jefferson Center for Learning and the Arts. vorys is survived by his wife of 30 years, Ann; children, Caroline vorys of Paonia, Colo.; Adeline (Greg) Cranson of Paonia, Colo.; Lucy Noll of Montrose, Colo.; Webb (Liz) vorys of Gahanna; Chuck (Michele) Haubiel of Gahanna; and Alisa (Paco) Morera of Pickerington; 14 grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

William L. Johncox ’50, of Potomac, Md., passed away on Nov. 23, 2010. Johncox, 87, began his federal career in Washington with the Justice Department in 1954, and he later worked for the old Federal Power Commission. From 1964 to 1967, he was in privative practice, first in Columbus, Ohio, and later in Washington. He joined the Federal Aviation Administration in 1967 and then worked at the Department of Housing and Urban Development from 1971 until his retirement in 1989. Johncox was born on a farm near Ontario, N.Y., and served in the Army Air Forces during World War II. He received both his bachelor’s and law degrees from Ohio State. He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Esther Mally Johncox of Potomac; two sons, William L. Johncox II of Bethesda and Douglas P. Johncox of Damascus; and four grandchildren. He is preceded in death by a daughter, Sarah Anne Johncox.

Thomas W. L. “Lud” Ashley ’51, of Leland, Mich., passed away June 15, 2010. Ashley was a former congressman for Ohio’s ninth district and served in the U.S. House for 26 years, from 1955 to 1981, representing Toledo and surrounding areas of northwestern Ohio. A private memorial was held June 25 in Washington, D. C., and included a eulogy delivered by former President George H.W. Bush, who was among Ashley’s closest friends. Ashley was chairman of the Merchant Marine and Fisheries committee in addition to membership on the House banking, finance, and urban affairs committees, the House Budget Committee, and numerous subcommittees. Within the Democratic Party he was assistant majority whip in the late 1970s. From 1988-93, Ashley was president of the Association of Bank Holding Companies, representing the nation’s largest banking institutions. Ashley was a member of the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation and previously served on the boards of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Ashley was preceded in death by his wife, Kathleen. Ashley is survived by two sons and a daughter.

William Erwin Rance ’51, of Upper Arlington, Ohio, passed away on June 17, 2010. Rance, 85, received an undergraduate degree from virginia Military Institute in 1946, with his college days


IN MEMORIAM

James F. “Jim” Graham ’52, of zanesville, Ohio, passed away at his home on Aug. 10, 2010. He graduated from zanesville High School, received his bachelor’s degree from The Ohio State University in 1950, and earned his law degree from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. He was the senior partner in the Graham & Graham Law Firm and chairman of several family businesses, including Shelly & Sands of zanesville, Dutro Ford of zanesville, Graham Auto Mall of Mansfield, and Buckingham Coal Company of Corning.

In 2006, Graham co-founded an initiative called the Graham-Reese Challenge at Moritz. Graham, along with his co-founder and classmate, Gib Reese ’52, agreed to match all new and increased gifts to the Law Annual Fund for up to $5,000 per person. The challenge proved successful and was a catalyst for

increased philanthropic support of the College. Graham and Reese re-launched an identical campaign in 2007.

Graham was also an avid golfer and member of, and past president of, the zanesville Country Club. He was also a member at Moundbuilders, Harbor Hills, and The Golf Club in Ohio, and the Royal Poinciana Club in Naples, Fla. He was a member of the Columbus Club, the Columbus Athletic Club, the Buckeye Lake Yacht Club, and the Port Royal Club in Naples. Graham was also a member of the Elks of zanesville and Honor Masonic Lodge F.A.M.

Graham is survived by his sons, Clay ’80, Bryan, and Harvey; and five grandchildren, Cole, Courtney, Adam, Brady, and Amy. He was preceded in death by the mother of his children, Mary Powelson Graham.

interrupted by the World War II. During the war, he served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps. After the war, he enrolled in and graduated from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. Rance entered private practice and appeared regularly before the Interstate Commerce Commission. After working as corporate counsel for Eastern Motor, he joined Theodore Boehm to found a firm which ultimately became Rance Pritchett Brantner Keller & Ely. Like many Columbus residents, Rance was an avid Ohio State fan. He attended every home OSU football game from 1948 through the end of the 2009 season. He is survived by his wife, Rosemary, to whom he was married for 52 years; his son, Brian D. Rance; his two daughters, Susan L. Gliatis and Carol R. Ryan; and five grandchildren.

Ralph (R.A.) Henderson ’53, of Fairfield, Ohio, passed away on Aug. 10, 2010. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree from The Ohio State University in 1951. Henderson, 81, received his law degree from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. Henderson was a U.S. Army veteran. He practiced law in Butler County for over 50 years and was very active with Butler County Law Library, Butler County Ethics Committee, Hamilton Kiwanis, and Aquarius Club, and he coached the Legal Eagles in the Hamilton Businessmen’s Softball League. Henderson is survived by his wife, Jean Henderson; two children, Thomas A. Henderson and Beth A. Galbraith; two granddaughters; three stepchildren; eight step-grandchildren; and nine step-great-grandchildren.

Judge Alba L. Whiteside ’54, formerly of Bexley, Ohio, passed away Oct. 14, 2010. After serving in the U.S. Army, he attended The Ohio State University and obtained his bachelor’s and law degrees. He graduated first in his law school class. He served as counsel for the Ohio Turnpike Commission and as chief counsel for the Columbus city attorney before being elected judge of the Franklin County Common Pleas Court. In 1971, he was elected to the Tenth District Court of Appeals, where he served until his retirement in 1995. During his career, he also served as chief judge of the Ohio Courts of Appeals and chairman of the Ohio Judicial Conference. Judge Whiteside also was actively involved in his community and church, having served as governor of Ohio District of Civitan International, president of the Central Columbus Civitan Club (of which he was a Charter member), lay member of the Annual Conference for the West Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church, president of the United Methodist Men for the Ohio West Conference, president of the Board of Trustees of Bexley United Methodist Church (of which he had been a member for more than 50 years), member of the Board of Wesley Glen (where he was residing at the time of his death), and as chairman of the Boards of Methodist Eldercare Services and


SPRING 2011 | 71

IN MEMORIAM

to Ohio to attend law school. Tucker was a passionate outdoorsman who made time to teach rock climbing at the Cleveland Rock Gym, and to climb at sites around North America. He is survived by his parents, Christy Cole, and Bob and Karen Tucker; his sisters, Emily, Kelly Elliott, and Ann Elliott; and grandparents, John and Mary Cole.

James Edgar Phillips, of White Plains, N.Y. and Columbus, Ohio, passed away Aug. 11, 2010. An adjunct professor at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, Phillips, 60, was a partner at vorys, Sater, Seymour & Pease in Columbus, where he practiced since 1979. He practiced primarily as a criminal defense attorney and was founder and head of the firm’s white collar defense group. Previously, he tried over 100 jury trials as senior assistant prosecuting attorney for Franklin County from 1975 to 1979. Phillips graduated from Boston University with a bachelor’s degree in 1971 and graduated from Case Western Reserve University School of Law in 1975. He served as general counsel and national legal advisor to the National Fraternal Order of Police from 1987 through 1996, and was tapped as special prosecutor for the state of Ohio in the largest securities fraud case in the state’s history. In addition to numerous professional awards and acknowledgments, Phillips founded the Ohio Center for Law Related Education and its Mock Trial program, and was appointed to the Columbus Bar Association’s Board of Governors. He is survived by his sons, zachary and Mark Phillips; his daughter-in-law, victoria Mango; and his devoted companion, Lynda Schiff.

Elizabeth G. Drinko, of Lyndhurst, Ohio, originally of Pittsburgh, Pa., passed away Aug. 22, 2010. Drinko, 88, was the widow of Moritz alumnus John Deaver Drinko ’44, the namesake of the Moritz’s Drinko Hall. Elizabeth Drinko has long been an outstanding supporter of academic programs at Moritz as well as at Marshall University. She earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1944 from Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pa. Elizabeth Drinko holds three honorary doctoral degrees from Marshall University, Westminster College, and Keystone College. John Deaver Drinko passed away on Jan. 30, 2008. She is also preceded in death by her son, Jay Deaver Drinko. She is survived by three children, Elizabeth Lee Sullivan, Dr. Diana Lynn Drinko, and John Randall Drinko; 11 grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

Wesley Ridge (where he resided from 2006-10). He was predeceased by his wife, N. virginia (Ayres). He is survived by his daughter, Elizabeth Ayres (Dr. Peter) Whitman of Potomac, Md., and grandson, Alan Benjamin Whitman.

James “Jim” Clinton Fitch ’55, of Portsmouth, Ohio, passed away Oct. 27, 2010. Fitch, 80, graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan before attending law school at Ohio State. Fitch proudly served in the U.S. Navy on the USS Canberra and provided numerous stories, one of which was the selection of the soldier buried in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetery. He was a Portsmouth attorney for more 50 years. After law school, Fitch join his father’s law firm of Miller, Searl and Fitch. He practiced nearly until his death. He is survived by his wife, Lois “Libby” Fitch; children, Karen Fitch Schiltz, Linda (Chris) Bendinelli, David Fitch, and Barb Fitch; and three grandchildren.

Lee C. Mittman ’58, of Worthington, Ohio, passed away on Aug. 25, 2010. Following his service in the U.S. Army, Mittman graduated from Kent State University and The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. He was hired at his graduation by the Honorable Mell G. Underwood to serve as his clerk to the U.S. District Court, Southern District. At the conclusion of that tenure, he started what would remain until his death, a fully active legal practice. Lee is survived by his wife, Paula Mittman; daughter and son-in-law, Julie and T.G. Glazer, and Max and Nathan; son and daughter-in-law, Scott and Janet Mittman, and Allison and Jacob.

Stanley S. Phillips ’60, of Dayton, Ohio, passed away July 27, 2010. Phillips graduated with a bachelor’s degree from The Ohio State University in 1957 and went on to receive a law degree from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. He was a special agent in the FBI, assistant prosecutor for the city of Dayton, and a judge of the Montgomery County Area 2 Court, the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas, and the 2nd District Court of Appeals. Phillips is survived by his wife of 39 years, Sue D. Phillips; sons Douglas G. Phillips, Daniel J. Phillips, R. Stephen Jenkins, Scott A. Jenkins; and five grandchildren.

Thomas Edward Boyle ’72, of Columbus, passed away Jan. 19, 2011. Boyle, 63, earned a bachelor’s degree from The Ohio State University in 1969 and was a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity. He then graduated from The Ohio State University College of Law in

1972. Practicing law ever since, Tommy was a devoted trial attorney. He loved the law, and will be remembered as hard-working, honest and diligent. He was the current Secretary of the American Board of Trial Advocates, Ohio Chapter; OACTA; IADC, DRI; Lawyers Club of Columbus and recognized as an Ohio Super Lawyer. Boyle was a huge Ohio State football fan, as well as a voracious reader and perpetual student. He is survived by his devoted wife of 41 years, Susie (Dobbs) Boyle; beloved children, Kerry (Miranda), Trevor, Cory, and Patrick Boyle; and three granddaughters.

Bernard Floetker ’78, of Columbus, passed away on Nov. 27, 2010. Floetker, 57, graduated from University of Cincinnati in 1975 and the Ohio State College of Law in 1978. He was in the private practice of law for 32 years. Floetker’s passion for sports enabled him to play, coach, and referee for 40 years. He played and sponsored many softball and baseball teams, winning numerous championships. Floetker is survived by his daughter, Nicole, and her mother, Kate Floetker.

Brent Bentley Nicholson ’79, of Bowling Green, Ohio, passed away Dec. 4, 2010. Nicholson, 56, earned his bachelor’s degree from Bowling Green State University in 1976 and went on to receive his law degree from Ohio State. Nicholson spent ten years working in accounting and law practices and earned his CPA certificate. His true passion was teaching, and he began his full-time teaching career at Bowling Green State University (BGSU) in 1989 and continued there until his death. In 2004, Nicholson was named founding director of the Entrepreneurship Academic Program, and he continued as a key player in its ongoing success. He was also chairman of BGSU’s Legal Studies Department for several years. He was honored with Undergraduate Teaching Award and twice with the Undergraduate Student Government Faculty Excellence Award. Nicholson is survived by his children, Bradley (Michelle) Nicholson and Lindsay (Jameson) Czech, and his parents.

Michael R. Tucker ’09, of Cleveland, Ohio, passed away on April 24, 2010. He had recently returned to Cleveland to serve as the staff attorney for the Hon. Richard McMonagle, overseeing the newly created commercial docket of the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court deciding business disputes. Tucker received his undergraduate degree from The University of Colorado in 2004. After spending two years rock climbing around the world and guiding other climbers at Hueco Tanks in Texas, he returned



We will all have legacies: those personality traits or significant acts that will be remembered for years in the future. The legacies of Frank Bazler ’53 and his wife,

Ginni, will undoubtedly include the couple’s unwavering generosity to The Ohio State University.

The couple recently designated $5 million of their estate to Ohio State: $2.5 million will be presented to the Moritz College of Law to fund a faculty chair in the Bazlers’ names, and the other $2.5 million will be used to create a similar faculty position in Ohio State’s College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Ginni graduated in 1954 from the School of Home Economics in the College of Agriculture, today known as the College of Food,

Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.

“Chairs are the highest level of recognition that the University can bestow upon a person,” Frank said. “I would like to be a part of that. I think with chairs you can attract and keep your better professors longer, which will help continue improving the College. I already know that

Bazlers $5 Million Gift to Benefit Moritz, OSU’s Agricultural College

By Rob Ph i l l i ps

Couple Have Long History of Supporting Ohio State

“I already know that we

have a great College of

Law, and I’m confident

that we do compete

with some of the best

colleges in the

country.”

Frank Bazler ’53

we have a great College of Law, and I’m confident that we do compete with some of the best colleges in the country.”

The most recent gift is just the latest in a lengthy list of ways that the Bazlers have crafted their legacy at Ohio State. The couple have spread their kindness across the University, including gifts to Moritz, the College of Human Ecology, the Alumni Association, 4-H, the Thompson Library, the Miami County Alumni Club, and University Development. In addition to two endowed funds named in their honor, the Bazlers have also established scholarships in Ginni’s name and in honor of Ginni’s father, who retired as associate dean of the College of Agriculture. One of Frank’s contributions was to the Moritz Law Library in memory of his sister.

In 2008 the Bazlers donated $200,000 to Moritz to create the Frank E. and virginia H. Bazler Designated Professorship in Business Law. Professor Donald B. Tobin currently holds that position. As usual, the gift came simultaneously with an identical one to the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. Frank said that he and his wife were moved to designate funds in their estate to the University after realizing how much Ohio State has meant to them.

“Once I got out of the College of Law I found that what I learned there was very beneficial in getting me through the rest of my career,” Frank said. “Having served for a number of years on the Moritz National Council, I have watched the College grow and become stronger and better. Anything

we can do to help the College continue to

aluMnI foCus The Bazlers

Dean Alan C. Michaels with the Bazlers at a Moritz tailgate.

SPRING 2011 | 73

improve is a good thing.”Ginni echoed similar thoughts regarding the gift to her

alma mater, which will help the college explore food safety initiatives. “I think the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Services, just as the College of Law, is really deserving. Both have wonderful faculty and administration. Great professors really make them what they are today.”

Both Frank and Ginni were raised in the Columbus area. Frank graduated from the old North High School in Columbus, and Ginni graduated from Thomas Worthington High School in Worthington.

At Moritz, Frank started showing signs of being active outside the classroom, which would translate into out-of-the-office leadership roles following graduation. He was president of his graduating law class, and later went on to be president of the Ohio State Bar Association in 1984-85. He also was a 16-year member of the American Bar Association’s House of Delegates.

Shortly after finishing his law degree and ROTC training, he received orders to report to Barksdale Air Force Base near Shreveport, La. After two years of active duty as a JAG officer, Frank returned to Ohio and started searching for a town to begin the practice of law. After examining a number of cities, Frank found Troy, Ohio, where he interviewed with a future partner. He practiced law in Troy at the firm of Miller, Bazler, McAdow, and Schlemmer and its predecessor and successor firms for 16 years; while also serving as Troy city solicitor for six years. In l971 Frank accepted an in-house position with Hobart Corporation in Troy. He stayed there more than 23 years and, when he retired he was the corporation’s corporate attorney and assistant secretary. Even after retiring, Frank

The Bazlers pause for a photo with The Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee.

retained an office at Hobart Corporation for another 7.5 years, while also serving “of counsel” with Dungan & LeFevre, a Troy firm.

Ginni used her degree to serve as a Home Economist Extension agent for Shelby County, Ohio.

Both Frank and Ginni remain quite active in endeavors throughout their community and the state. Ginni has served for years as chairperson of the Troy Board of zoning Appeals, and also served as secretary of the Miami County Facilities Review Board for many years. Both Frank and Ginni served on the Board of the Dorothy Love Retirement Community in Sidney, Ohio; and Frank served on the Board of the Ohio Presbyterian Homes. Frank just finished 31 years of service as treasurer of the Endowment Fund of the First Presbyterian Church of Troy. During that time the Endowment Fund increased from $67,000 to $672,000. This summer Frank was inducted into the Columbus North High School Hall of Fame. The Bazlers each received in 2004 The Ohio State University Distinguished Service Award from the Board of Trustees and last year received the 2010 Ralph Davenport Mershon Award from The Ohio State University Alumni Association.

But despite the countless boards, groups, and organizations that Frank and Ginni have impacted, the couple admitted that they are most proud of what they will be able to do for Ohio State.

“(Moritz) is a better College than it is being ranked nationally,” Frank said. “I really think that we should be recognized above that and I think the addition of even more outstanding professors will certainly help bring about the recognition that it really deserves. I hope that we are able to help that effort in some way.”

Bazlers $5 Million Gift to Benefit Moritz, OSU’s Agricultural College


10 Moritz Classes Celebrate

Reunions: Sept. 10-11, 2010

A bout 300 Moritz alumni and guests visited campus on Sept. 10-11 to celebrate Reunion Weekend. Attendees said they had a fantastic weekend reminiscing, reuniting, and

cheering on the Buckeyes’ victory over the University of Miami.The weekend started at New Albany Links on Friday morning

when alumni, and Moritz faculty and students competed in the 5th Annual Barton Memorial Tournament. Four Moritz students: Marc Glumac, Austin Irving, Scott Lundregan, and Drew Romig were victorious.

Hundreds of alumni from nearly all of the classes celebrating a reunion (1960, 1965, 1970, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, and 2005) gathered at class dinners around Columbus on Friday night. Many of the class dinners this year were at the new Ohio Union.

Saturday started with a Clinic Alumni Event for alumni who participated in the College’s Clinical Programs while in law school.

Everyone then gathered on the lawn of Drinko Hall for the annual pre-game Reunion Tailgate. visitors had a chance to catch up with their fellow alumni and enjoy a great lunch before the game.

Pictured at the 2010 Reunion Weekend are (left to right) Erin Chatham-Applegate ’00, Emily Smith ’00, Hollie Foust ’00, Judy Marsh ’00, and Wendy Swary ’00.

Save the Date: 2011 Moritz College of Law Reunion Weekend

September 9-10, 2011

Celebrating the classes of 1961,

1966, 1971, 1976, 1981, 1986,

1991, 1996, 2001, and 2006

Activities will include:

All-Class Cocktail Reception and

Alumni Awards at the Renaissance

Columbus Downtown Hotel; OSU

Campus Tours; Outstanding Tailgate

Party and OSU vs. Toledo Football

Game; and the Class of 1961 Brunch

hosted by President E. Gordon Gee.

SPRING 2011 | 75

2,570 – Roughly the number of air miles traveled (one-way) to get to Reunion 2010

by the weekend’s farthest guest: Jane Steiner Sebens ’90, who visited from

Juneau, Alaska.

Numbers:

2005

THE MORITZ

CLASS WITH THE

MOST ALUMNI

REPRESENTED.

250 The number

of people who attended

class dinners on Friday evening.

300 The numBer of guesTs Who aTTended The saTurday Pre-game TaILgaTe.

1. Front row: Melissa Hagen ’90, Honorable Edward Casias ’90, Jane Steiner Sebens ’90, Elizabeth Watters ’90, and Brenda Bowers ’90; Back row: Bret Limage ’90, Patrick Dukes ’90, Ken Webb ’90, Tracy Webb ’90; 2. Richard Jacobs ’80, Tim James ’80, and Thomas Opferman ’80 3. Aneca Lasley ’00, OSU President E. Gordon Gee, and Erin Chatham-Applegate ’00 4. Charlie Kurtz ’65, Stan Purdy ’65, and David Rupp ’65.

1.

2.

3.

4.

Reunions ’10 aluMnI foCus

65 – Number of people who traveled from outside Ohio to

attend Reunion Weekend

12 – NUMBER

OF ALUMNI WHO

TRAVELED FROM THE

WASHINGTON, D.C.,

AREA, THE MOST

FROM ANY ONE AREA

OUTSIDE OF OHIO

1960 – The CLass WITh The hIghesT PerCenTage of graduaTes Who

made a gIfT To The CoLLege


aluMnI foCus Barton Tournament ’10

Annual Event Hosted During Reunion Weekend

Barton Tournament: Sept. 10, 2010

A lumni, students, and faculty teed up at New Albany Links in New Albany, Ohio, for the 5th Annual Barton Memorial Cup. All proceeds from the golf tournament benefit the

Robert K. Barton Memorial Scholarship Fund. The winning foursome included members of the Moritz Class of 2011: Austin

Irving, Scott Lundregren, Mark Glumac, and Drew Romig. The best-ball format led the men to finish with a 17-under-par 55.

Left: Pictured is the winning foursome (from left to right): Austin Irving ’11, Scott Lundregren ’11, Mark Glumac ’11, and Drew Romig ’11.

SPRING 2011 | 77

Fall Events Attract Graduates in Three Cities

Moritz Alumni Gather in Cincinnati, Akron, Cleveland

M oritz College of Law alumni in the Akron area gathered at Roetzel & Andress in Akron in 2010. The event was hosted by Ron Kopp ’79, The Hon. Carla Moore ’72,

The Hon. Ted Schneiderman ’56, Sean Vollman ’99, and Katy Wiles ’07. W. Craig Bashein ’86 hosted a gathering of Cleveland-area alumni at a Cleveland Indians vs. Boston Red Sox baseball game. Moritz graduates living in Cincinnati met at Nicholson’s Tavern & Pub for an event hosted by Bob Watkins ’53, Jim Lawrence ’65, Dr. Frank C. Woodside III ’69, Steve Jemison ’75, David Olson ’78, Steve Miller ’84, Dan Hendy ’04, Patrick Woodside ’05, and Leigh Anne Williams Benedic ’07.

Akron Alumni Event aluMnI foCus

1. Dean Alan Michaels, David Olson ’78, Steve Jemison ’75, and Steve Miller ’84; 2. The Hon. Ted Schneiderman ’56, The Hon. Judge Carla Moore ’77, Ron Kopp ’79, Katy Wiles ’07, and Sean Vollman ’99; 3. Scott Goldberg ’85 and Florence Murray ’05. 4. Eric Hoffman ’77 and Debbie Hoffman; 5. Julie Chernitski ’09 and Judge Janet Burnside ’77

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.


aluMnI foCus Tailgates

2010 Moritz Outstanding Recent AlumnusBrandon Lester ’05 was presented the 2010 Moritz Outstanding Moritz Alumnus award. He was joined by his wife, Jennifer, and daughter, Amelia, at the tailgate before the OSU vs. Penn State game.

SPRING 2011 | 79

College Community Reconnects on Football Saturdays

Moritz Pre-Game Tailgates Again Successful

T hroughout the 2010 football season, Moritz alumni, faculty, staff, and students continued to meet at the College’s Barrister Club before

Ohio State football games. The tailgates allow Moritz alumni an opportunity to catch up with former classmates and meet new ones. Thanks to everyone who stopped by during the 2010 season and we look forward to the tailgates in just a few months!

Tailgates aluMnI foCus

1. Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval ’89 and family with Dean Alan Michaels; 2. Anne Frayne ’79 and Martha Rose ’79; 3. Charles Tyburski ’64, and his wife, Nancy; 4. David Orensten ’02, John Marsh, and Charles Kurtz ’65; 5. Anthony Sharett ’02 and Miranda Stephani ’06.

Fall 2010Tailgates

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

sue Case ’65duane Isham ’53 erin moriarty ’77 dan shaban ’82 Peter ellis ’98 Jayme smoot ’03 alan michaels

2010 football picksmoritzlaw.osu.edu/alumni/faceoff10.php for results online

retired Counsel, roetzel & andress akron, ohio

retired senior asst. City attorney, Palo alto, Calif. Tucson, ariz.

Correspondent, CBs’ 48 hours new york

Judge, Connecticut superior Court middlebury, Conn.

Partner, dLa Piper Chicago

associate, Littler mendelson Columbus

dean, moritz College of Law Columbus

Congratulations to Judge dan shaban ’82 for emerging from a three-way tie (with sue Williams Case ’68 and dean alan michaels) and winning the 2nd annual alumni face-off college football picks. shaban, a Connecticut superior Court judge in middlebury, Conn., chose ohio state in the sugar Bowl with a combined score of 51 points (just six points off the actual total of 57).

university of miami at osu sept. 11

Penn state at alabama sept. 11

Bowling green at michigan sept. 25

florida at alabama oct. 2

michigan at osu nov. 27

osu at Iowa nov. 20

Lsu at florida oct. 9

ohio at miami university oct. 23

Penn state at osu nov. 13

Boise state at Virginia Tech sept. 6

To celebrate Black history Month, the Black Law Students Association sponsored its annual Soul Food Potluck Luncheon. Moritz students, faculty, and staff filled Saxbe Auditorium to try an eclectic mix of dishes. Money raised by the event funds a college scholarship for a Columbus City School student.

Pictured in the photo are (left to right) Shenelle Fabio ’12, Associate Dean Kathy Seward Northern, and (far right) Assistant Dean Robert L. Solomon II.

Moritz College of LawDrinko Hall 55 West 12th AvenueColumbus, OH 43210-1391moritzlaw.osu.edu

Nonprofit Org.U.S. Postage

PAIDColumbus, OhioPermit No. 711

The Ohio State UniversityMoritz College of Law

THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY MORITZ COLLEGE OF LAW

Reunion WeekendSEPTEMBER 9-10, 2011

1961 1966 1971 1976 1981 1986 1991 1996 2001 2006

THE COLLEGE IS PLEASED TO INVITE THE CLASSES OF:

REUNITE • REMINISCE • CELEBRATE

Documents

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