Class Notes

• Class Notes 2010 - 2019
  • Robert J. Ellison ’10 was named partner at Latham & Watkins LLP. He is a member of the Litigation & Trial Department who concentrates his practice on complex commercial litigation, with an emphasis on entertainment, sports, and media litigation.
  • Jenna Glassock '10 joined Lido Advisors LLC to expand the firm's wealth planning services. Jenna is the founding attorney of Glassock Law APC and has expertise in estate planning and trust administration.
  • Emily Haan '10 has joined UC Hastings College of the Law as Director of Student Services.
  • Patrick W. Kelly ’10 is among Snell & Wilmer's 2019 newly elected California partners. His practice is concentrated in business and commercial litigation, with an emphasis in contract disputes and claims relating to corporate, franchise, and partnership disputes, commercial lease disputes, and uniform commercial code issues.
  • Tina Koonse ’10 was quoted in November in a front-page Los Angeles Times article on wage theft in the garment industry. A graduate of the David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest Law and Policy and Critical Race Studies program, Koonse is the legal and policy research manager at the UCLA Downtown Labor Center.
  • Dana Lee ’10 has joined UC Irvine as a tenure-track faculty member.
  • Mary Prendergast ’10 has been promoted to partner at Morrison & Foerster's Washington D.C. office. She is a member of the Litigation Department and part of the firm’s Patent Litigation, Trade Secrets, and ITC Litigation Groups. Mary is a trial lawyer with extensive experience litigating patent and trade secrets cases in district courts across the country and at the ITC.
  • Dominic Quiller ’10 was mentioned in the Daily Journal concerning a case against the Torrance school district. Quiller is a partner at the firm McCune & Harber LLP.
  • Michael J. Reiss ’10 was made partner at Latham & Watkins LLP. He is a member of the Litigation & Trial Department whose practice encompasses a range of complex commercial litigation, including consumer class actions, financial institution litigation, insolvency litigation, sports and entertainment litigation, and intellectual property litigation.
  • Lidiana Rios ’10 has joined Ireland Stapleton as an associate. She is a commercial litigator who has represented small, mid-sized and large public and private companies, as well as individuals. She is based in Denver, CO.
  • James Behrens ’11 practices bankruptcy and restructuring law in Los Angeles at Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger LLP. His recent article, “Don’t Fear the 363 Sale, Fear the Delay that Follows It,” was published in the March 2014 issue of the American Bankruptcy Institute Journal and was recently selected to be included in Best of ABI 2014: The Year in Business Bankruptcy.
  • Drew Capurro ’11 was named partner at Latham & Watkins LLP. He is a member of the Corporate Department who focuses his practice on corporate representation, with an emphasis on capital markets and corporate governance matters.
  • Andrew Cosgrove ’11 joins LendingUSA as general counsel and chief compliance officer. He leads LendingUSA’s legal, compliance and regulatory management functions and reports directly to the company’s founder and CEO, Camilo Concha.
  • Helen Hwang ’11 was promoted to partner at Covington & Burling LLP in Shanghai. Her practice focuses on counseling clients, particularly in China and other jurisdictions in Asia, through complex and sensitive internal investigations, investigations by U.S. federal and state enforcement authorities, such as the DOJ and SEC, and related litigation involving alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other anti-corruption laws.
  • Vandana Kapur '11 was elected Co-President of the South Asian Bar Association of Southern California. Vandana is an associate in the Employment Services Group at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP in Los Angeles.
  • Krysta Kauble Pachman '11 has been named a partner with Susman Godfrey LLP, effective January 1, 2020.
  • Nick Kennedy '11 made partner at Baker McKenzie, where he sits in the Dallas office and focuses on international arbitration and commercial litigation throughout the United States and worldwide.
  • Christopher S. Lindsay ’11 was promoted to partner at Jenner & Block's Los Angeles office. He focuses his practice primarily on media and entertainment litigation at the trial and appellate levels, including disputes raising copyright, trade secret, defamation, privacy and publicity right, contract and business tort issues.
  • Molly K. Madden ’11 has joined Skylar Kirsch LLP as an Associate in the Litigation Department. Prior to joining the firm, Molly was an associate at Goodwin Procter, where she specialized in complex commercial and consumer cases, with a focus on financial services litigation and the defense of class actions and government enforcement actions.
  • Darcy Meals '11 has been appointed to a two-year term on the Equal Justice Works National Advisory Committee. Meals, a graduate of the UCLA Epstein Public Interest Program, was selected because of her commitment to expanding public interest opportunities on law campuses across the country.
  • Mary Tanagho Ross '11 led a class action lawsuit which overturned a government policy affecting the rights of unaccompanied immigrant children.
  • Michael Seiden '11 joined Greenberg Traurig, LLP as a Shareholder in their Real Estate Practice.
  • Jessamyn Vedro ’11 is an associate in the litigation group at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP. Vedro is also an accomplished ballerina who has performed in notable show such as The Nutcracker and Cinderella.
  • Jennifer Wang ’11 elevated to Member at TroyGould. Her practice focuses on helping clients achieve successful results in complex business disputes. This includes handling unfair competition, securities fraud, and real estate litigation, as well as advising clients about their employment and trade secret concerns. Before joining TroyGould, Wang defended real estate professionals and attorneys in professional liability actions at Thompson Coe's Los Angeles office.
  • Lauren Woodland ’11 reprised her role as Brittany Hodges on The Young and the Restless during the show's 45th anniversary week. Woodland is an Associate at Miller Barondess LLP. She is a civil litigator specializing in business and entertainment litigation.
  • Cara Dessert '12 is celebrating two years at the San Diego LGBT Center.
  • Joshua Escovedo '12 was named a 2020 Northern California Rising Star. Joshua is a trial attorney and a member of Weintraub Tobin's litigation, intellectual property, and real estate practice groups.
  • Lulu Chiu Gomez ’12 was elected as the Young Lawyer Division (YLD) Liaison to the Governing Committee of the American Bar Association, Forum on Franchising. She is an associate at Snell & Wilmer's Los Angeles office.
  • Francis Guzman ’12 has been announced as the recipient of the Juvenile Law Center’s 2018 Leadership Prize. Guzman currently directs the California Youth Justice Initiative (CYJI) at the National Center for Youth Law (NCYL).
  • Rachel Landy '12 joined YouTube's government affairs and public policy team (at Google) in April to be the global lead for music policy.
  • Yoojin Lee ’12 was selected as a representative member of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity 2019 Pathfinder Program, which fosters professional development of lawyers early in their careers. Lee represents banks and institutional lenders in domestic and cross-border financing transactions, and has advised clients in multibillion-dollar acquisitions. Before joining the firm’s downtown Los Angeles office, she practiced law in Seoul, South Korea, and represented international companies with operations in Asia, Europe and the United States.
  • Jonathan Tobin ’12 was featured in an article on The Eastsider website about his firm Counsel for Creators. Tobin's practice is focused on the needs of creative businesses and individuals. He deals with matters involving copyrights, trademarks, software, design, licensing, business, art law and contracts.
  • Amalia Beckner '14 won the ABA Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants Centennial Access to Justice Award. Ms. Buckner is a felony trial attorney with the Harris County Public Defender in Houston, TX.  She began bringing reading materials for her clients in jail because of the limited educational programming available to them.  She started a crowdfunding program for more books and started a book club for female inmates in a maximum security unit.
  • Marshall Hunt ’13 was confirmed as a new member of the Tempe Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. Hunt is an attorney at Davis Miles McGuire Gardner, PLLC in Tempe, Arizona.
  • Robert Pepple ’13 joined Epstein Becker Green as an Associate in the Employment, Labor & Workforce Management practice in Los Angeles.
  • Christina Snider ’13 was appointed Governor's Tribal Advisor and executive secretary to the Native American Heritage Commission.
  • Jyoti Wescott ’13 Jyoti Westcott (née Avila) and Brent Westcott were married in April 2018 at Talega Golf Club in San Clemente, CA. They recently relocated to Sacramento, where Brent works as Deputy Legislative Counsel for the California Office of Legislative Counsel, and Jyoti works as Associate General Counsel for Health Net Federal Services, LLC.
  • Adam Ackerman ’14 joined the American Red Cross Santa Monica Bay Chapter. Ackerman is an associate in Mergers & Acquisitions at O’Melveny & Myers.
  • Hammad Alam ’14 was selected by Equal Justice Works for its 2018 Equal Justice Works Fellowship. Alam will advocate for Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian students and families who are victims of school bullying in San Bernardino County.
  • Jordan Cunnings ’14 won a victory for a client through her work at Public Counsel. This is a major victory for the immigrant rights movement in Los Angeles.
  • Jamie Friedland ’14 was named one of the Chicagoans of the Year by Chicago Magazine. Friedland was recognized for his volunteer work with other lawyers to give free assistance to travelers affected by the travel bans set forth by President Donald Trump. Friedland is an associate at Latham & Watkins. Prior to joining Latham, he served as a law clerk to Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
  • Natasha Gandhi ’14 was named to the 2018 “Pathfinders Program” class for the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD). Gandhi is an associate at the firm of Bell Nunnally & Martin LLP in Dallas, Texas.
  • William Marshall ’14 joined the firm of Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP in Denver, Colorado as an Associate in the Environmental Group and Natural Resources Department.
  • John Scheerer ’14 joined Sacks, Glazier, Franklin & Lodise as an Associate. Prior to joining Sacks, Glazier, Franklin & Lodise, Scheerer was a litigation associate at Hueston Hennigan LLP, and previously at Irell and Manella LLP.
  • Cody Weiss ’14 , previously at Proskauer Rose LLP, is now practicing in house at Fandango.
  • Courtney Corbello ’15 accepted a new position as State of Texas Assistant Attorney General - Law Enforcement Defense in Austin, Texas. Previously she served as a briefing attorney for Judge David Newell, and a law clerk for the State of Texas Criminal Court of Appeals.
  • Peter A. Griffin '15 was awarded the California Minority Counsel Program's (CMCP) Marci Rubin Emerging Diversity Leader Award, which is given to those who have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion. Peter is one of only two recipients of this award this year.
  • Sara McDermott ’15 was mentioned in the Daily Journal for her work in authoring a letter prompting a review of the federal judiciary’s workplace policies. McDermott is a litigation associate in the Los Angeles office of Munger, Tolles & Olson.
  • Ariane Nevin ’15 wrote an article on The Blog on the Huffpost entitled "South African Judges Should Visit A Prison Once A Year." Nevin is the National Prisons Specialist at Sonke’s Policy Development and Advocacy Unit, where she was the UCLA – Sonke Health and Human Rights Fellow in 2015. She now leads the policy and advocacy work in Sonke’s national prisons project.
  • Kelly Orians ’15 founded two nonprofit organizations, First 72 and Rising Foundations, which help create avenues for those released from prison to avoid returning to a criminal life. Orians was featured in the Forbes article "Not Going Back to Prison: A Rising Foundation in New Orleans."
  • Christina Behrman '16 joined the board of the Sanctuary Centers of Santa Barbara. Sanctuary Centers of Santa Barbara is a local nonprofit providing comprehensive mental health care to thousands of patients since 1976.
  • Sonia Singh ’16 was mentioned in the Los Angeles Daily Journal article entitled "Resolving Insolvency", concerning multi-million dollar reorganizations and her firm Danning, Gill, Diamond & Kollitz, LLP. Singh recently joined the firm as an associate.
  • Jeffrey Elkrief ’17 became an associate at Fisher Phillips, LLP. He joins the firm from Thompson Coe, Cousins & Irons LLP in Los Angeles. Elkrief defends clients against various employment law claims, including discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination and wage-and-hour violations.
  • Brian Fink '17 wrote a legal guidebook for farm businesses on complying with federal food-safety and labeling laws, which has been published by the National Farmers Union under a grant from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration.
  • Erika Georgiou Cumbee ’17 , an Associate Attorney at Quinn Emanual Urquhart & Sullivan LLP (Complex Commercial Litigation), was featured in the Daily Journal.
  • Brady Granger ’17 was selected by Equal Justice Works for its 2018 Equal Justice Works Fellowship. Granger will design and implement a robust and cohesive program of legal clinics, legal representation, outreach, and community education sessions serving the community of veterans in West Texas.
  • Sabine Jean ’17 joined Outten & Golden's New York office as an Associate. Jean, the Public Interest Fellow at the firm, will be a member of the firm's Individual Practice Area, Class Practice Area, and co-chairs the Firm's Public Interest Committee.
  • Nabeelah Mia ’17 wrote an article on The Blog on the Huffpost entitled "South African Judges Should Visit A Prison Once A Year." Mia was a 2016-2017 UCLA-Sonke Health and Human Rights fellow.
  • Ira Catherine Perez ’17 was added as an associate at Bell Nunnally. Perez is a member of the Corporate and Securities, Mergers and Acquisitions and Tax practice areas. She joined the firm after working on trust and estate administration, investment analysis and energy leases (including wind and oil and gas) at one of the largest Texas-based banks.
  • Michelle Cooper Cuozzo '18 has joined Sheppard Mullin LLP as an Associate in the firms Business Trial practice group in their New York office.
  • Nathan Goncalves ’18 was selected by Equal Justice Works for its 2018 Equal Justice Works Fellowship. Goncalves will aid low-income disabled veterans in their rehabilitation, by addressing family law problems through direct assistance, counsel and advise, and legal education to promote family reintegration.
  • Natalie J. Mackary ’18 has joined the law firm of Ajalat, Polley, Ayoob & Matarese as an associate. Ajalat, Polley, Ayoob & Matarese is a law firm that specializes solely in California State & Local Taxes.
  • Larken Yackulic ’18 was named a member of the 2018 class of Skadden Fellows, a group of 29 graduating law students and judicial clerks who are devoting the next two years of their professional careers to public interest work.
  • Beth Abramson ’19 joined Hecht Solberg Robinson Goldberg & Bagley LLP as an associate.
  • Jack Fernandes ’19 is the founder and CEO of Regenica Biosciences, a pharmaceutical company predicated on developing advanced measures to counter bio-terrorism. The company is currently in the pre-clinical stage.
  • Cody McDavis '19 has joined Jennings, Strouss & Salmon, P.L.C. in their Business Transactions practice group. Cody holds the position of Law Clerk while he studies for the Arizona Bar Exam.

   

   

• Class Notes 2000 - 2009
  • Phillip K. Cha ’00 is pursuing a new career as a full-time mediator, after 16 years in employment law.
  • Jeff B. Cohen ’00 , partner at Cohen Gardner LLP and former star of The Goonies has published a book titled The Dealmaker's Ten Commandments: Ten Essential Tools for Business Forged in the Trenches of Hollywood.
  • Melissa Dagodag '00 has had her own law firm in Beverly Hills for 14 years. She handles transactional matters related to intellectual property, as well as music, film, and fashion contracts
  • David Grossman ’00 was honored as one of the Top Intellectual Property Lawyers in California by the Daily Journal. Grossman is a partner at Loeb & Loeb in Los Angeles.
  • Jennifer Hartman King ’00 is the founder and president of the downtown Sacramento firm Hartman King PC, where she focuses on environmental issues, litigation and enforcement defense, contaminated real property matters and regulatory compliance. Among her many professional accolades, she has received the Sacramento Business Journal's "Best of the Bar" award for the past seven years.
  • Jill Kastner ’00 will be the next bar president of the Wisconsin State Bar. Kastner, a public interest lawyer of Legal Action of Wisconsin, will be the first female bar president in ten years.
  • Jonathan Levine ’00 has joined Arnold & Porter as a partner in the Bankruptcy and Restructuring practice. He will be resident in the firm's New York office. An experienced bankruptcy and restructuring attorney, Levine represents asset managers and private funds in their investments in distressed situations.
  • Thuy Thi Nguyen ’00 was honored by the Carnegie Corp. as part of its annual Great Immigrants tribute. Nguyen is the President of Foothill College. At age 3, Nguyen and her family joined the wave of “boat people” who fled Vietnam after the end of Vietnam War. They drifted in the Pacific Ocean on a boat for more than 20 days before a commercial ship rescued them and took them to a refugee camp in Japan.
  • Alexandra Roje ’00 joined the Los Angeles office of Lathrop Gage as a Partner in the Insurance Recovery & Counseling practice. Previously Roje was at Latham & Watkins.
  • Chris Kwok ’00 joined JAMS in New York. Kwok joined the JAMS Resolution Center as an arbitrator, mediator and special master in a variety of disputes including business/commercial and employment matters. Kwok joined JAMS after 15 years at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in New York, where he mediated hundreds of employment disputes.
  • Jennifer McGrath ’00 , Senior Attorney at Johnson & Johnson LLP, was featured in the Daily Journal.
  • Courtney Powers ’00 served as the President of the UCLA Law Alumni Association Board of Directors for the 2017-2018 year.
  • Peter Ballance '01 has joined the Los Angeles office of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP as a partner in the national Real Estate Group.
  • Jeff Diener ’01 has joined DLA Piper as the firm's Real Estate Partner in San Francisco. He represents clients in the acquisition, finance, sale, development, management, restructuring and bankruptcy of hospitality, life science, technology and other real estate assets and businesses throughout the world.
  • Michelle K. Sugihara ’01 is the Executive Director of CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment), the pioneering non-profit professional organization creating systemic change in Hollywood from the writers’ room to the boardroom to the living room. She is a fourth generation Japanese American born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. She graduated with honors from Claremont McKenna College with a dual major in Economics and Psychology and a minor in Asian American Studies, followed by a law degree from UCLA. Prior to joining CAPE, she was an entertainment attorney, film producer, and adjunct professor for the Claremont Colleges’ Intercollegiate Department of Asian American Studies.
  • Betsy Smegal Andersen ’01 , chair of the Recreation Commission and active civic volunteer, was named to the Piedmont City Council in October 2017.
  • Blye Faust ’01 , award-winning film and television producer, addressed the Morning Forum of Los Altos, championing the power of storytelling in her presentation “Truth in Storytelling: Bringing Real Events to Life Onscreen.”
  • Cara Horowitz ’01 served as co-chair of the 2017 UCLA Law Women LEAD Inaugural Summit.
  • Ross Kutash ’01 runs the Plaintiffs department at BASTA - an eviction defense law firm with three locations in Los Angeles County.
  • Celeste Drake ’02 has joined the DGA as Executive in Charge of Government Affairs. Drake is responsible for the Guild's federal legislative and governmental work, serving as an advocate for the DGA. Previously, she was the trade and globalization policy specialist at the AFL-CIO. In that role, she advocated for reforms to U.S. trade policy to create shared gains from trade on behalf of working families.
  • Natalie Fields '02 celebrated a decade of Accountability Counsel, the non-profit legal organization she founded and directs that has supported 2 million people in 50 countries to have their voices heard when their rights are violated.
  • Alex Fisch ’02 was sworn in as a member of the Culver City Council, a position he won in the April 10 election with the highest # of votes among the four candidates in a race to fill two open seats.
  • Johanna Schiavoni ’02 has been appointed to the Board of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority. A certified appellate specialist with her own law firm, Law Office of Johanna S. Schiavoni, she also has been named for the fourth year running to San Diego’s Super Lawyers List for Appellate Litigation, and in 2018, she was named one of Super Lawyers' Top 50 Attorneys in San Diego. Schiavoni will receive the Community Service Award at the Lawyers Club of San Diego annual dinner.
  • Laura Godfrey Zagar ’02 , partner in Perkins Coie’s San Diego office, has been selected by the Burton Awards as a recipient of the 2017 Law360 Distinguished Writing Award for her participation in writing the article "Environmental Streamlining Measures in Title 41 of the FAST Act: What Will They Mean for Infrastructure Project Developers?"
  • Hailyn Chen ’03 was elected as Co-Managing Partner at Munger Tolles & Olson LLP. She also co-chairs the American Bar Association Section of Litigation’s Woman Advocate Committee and serves as a state Supreme Court-appointed member of the state bar’s Board of Trustees.
  • Calvin Z. Cheng ’03 elevated to Member at TroyGould. Cheng, who is bilingual, advises investors and acquirers on cross-border transactions, having completed deals in the U.S., China and the EU. Before joining the firm, he practiced in the Global Mergers & Acquisitions Practice of White & Case LLP and as an associate at Morrison & Foerster's Beijing and Los Angeles' offices.
  • Michelle Decasas '03 has been appointed to serve as a Judge in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. DeCasas has served as a Deputy City Attorney in the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office since 2007.
  • Songhai Miguda-Armstead '03 has been selected to lead a "Cares First, Jails Last" initiative to implement a broad set of alternatives to incarceration. Armstead is scheduled to retire from the Superior Court bench this month.
  • Brett Oppenheim ’03 is the Senior Vice President of The Oppenheim Group. He manages a group of elite real estate agents who sell more than $250 million in luxury properties annually. He and his brother Jason Oppenheim are featured in the Netflix series Selling Sunset.
  • Phuong Phillips ’03 was appointed Chief Legal Officer at Zynga Inc. - a leading social game developer. Previously, Phillips served as Associate General Counsel for Tesla, Inc., where she managed the post-acquisition integrations of SolarCity Corp. and Grohmann Engineering.
  • Todd Piro ’03 currently serves as a general assignment reporter, as part of the FOX & Friends team. In this role, Piro serves as a breaking news reporter and occasional guest host across both FOX & Friends and FOX & Friends Weekend. Before embarking on a career in television, he practiced law for five years in Los Angeles at Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP.
  • Anne Swoboda Cruz ’03 received the 2017 Outstanding Leader award from the Defense Research Institute's (DRI) Women in the Law (WITL) Committee. Cruz is a partner at the Los Angeles office of Tucker Ellis LLP.
  • Abigail Zelenski '03 was appointed by Mayor Eric Garcetti, and confirmed by the City Council, to serve as a Commissioner on the inaugural Los Angeles Civil and Human Rights Commission.
  • Phillip E. Carter ’04 was selected to lead a new Personnel and Resources research program for the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center, a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) operated by the RAND Corporation for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In this role, he will oversee a portfolio of studies including manpower analysis, diversity and inclusion, occupational safety, and other topics.
  • Jeffrey Goldman ’04 was named by California Superior Lawyers to the Southern California Rising Stars list for 2019. Mr. Goldman is a Partner, resident in Pepper Hamilton LLP's Orange County and Los Angeles Offices.
  • Michael Y. Kao ’04 has joined Cox, Castle & Nicholson LLP as general counsel. Prior to joining Cox, Castle & Nicholson, Kao served as assistant general counsel at a leading global strategic advisory and expert consulting firm, where among his responsibilities, he managed the conflicts department and provided strategic advice to senior professionals on a wide range of legal matters, including contractual risk management and regulatory compliance issues.
  • Matthew Nesburn ’04 was named a partner at Akin Gump in Los Angeles. Nesburn is a member of the firm’s global project finance practice.
  • Kelly Pope ’04 has been distinguished among Downey Brand's top 49 attorneys by Sacramento Magazine. Her areas of practice include Bankruptcy and Creditor/Debtor, Eminent Domain, and Family Law.
  • Ireneo Reus ’04 is serving as the President of the UCLA Law Alumni Association Board of Directors for the 2018-2019 year.
  • Dylan Ruga ’04 was mentioned in the Los Angeles Daily Journal for starting Stalwart Law Group.
  • Dominik Sklenar ’04 was promoted from counsel to partner at Latham & Watkins in March 2019. He is qualified in California and Hong Kong, and advises on corporate finance and other corporate matters, with a focus on cross-border transactions.
  • Angela Mooney D'Arcy ’04 was featured in Indian Country Today as a featured activist for Native Americans. D'Arcy founded Sacred Places Institute for Indigenous Peoples, a Native rights group, and continues to serve as its Executive Director. D’Arcy was also a recipient of the New Voices Fellowship, a national Ford Foundation-funded program dedicated to cultivating the next generation of social justice leaders; the Earthjustice Sutherland Fellowship, awarded each year to a young lawyer to continue their work in environmental public-interest law; and is a member of the 2012 Circle of Leadership Academy sponsored by Native Americans in Philanthropy and the Center for Leadership Innovation.
  • Gabriel F. Brakin ’05 has been elevated to Chief Operating Officer at Participant Media. Brakin previously served as General Counsel and Executive Vice President of Business Affairs, and in his new role will oversee company-wide business operations, deal-making, as well as corporate and legal affairs for Participant’s overall long-term strategic plan. He will also be responsible for driving the overall integration and functionality of Participant’s mandate to create commercial content that empowers positive social action.
  • Michael Brown ’05 to lead as partner of Fenwick & West, which has expanded to Southern California, opening an office in Santa Monica to accommodate the growing needs of its technology, life sciences and investor clients in the area. The new office reflects Los Angeles’ growing power in the tech and investor landscape.
  • Pallavi Dhawan ’05 is now the Director of Domestic Violence Policy and Prevention for the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office.
  • Shana Elson '05 launched the world's first customizable-on-the-spot chocolate store in Ventura, California. At the store customers can choose premium milk, white or dark chocolate, select their toppings from various nuts, dried fruit, candy, cookies and salty snacks and decide whether they want their creation handmade into a bar, squares or hearts.
  • Eric Fisher ’05 has been elected to the Board of Directors for the Georgia Appleseed Center for Law and Justice. Prior to being named a board member, Fisher served as president of the Georgia Appleseed Young Professional Council (YPC.) Fisher is a partner at Taylor English Duma LLP in Atlanta.
  • Bradley A. Lebow ’05 was promoted to partner of the law firm Dunn DeSantis Walt & Kendrick.
  • Audrey Lustgarten ’05 spoke at the North Central Michigan College's Luncheon Lecture about global employment-based immigration in a restrictionist era, both in the U.S. and abroad, and what it means for companies and their employees. Lustgarten currently serves as the co-chair of the American Bar Association Section of International Law’s Immigration and Naturalization Committee.
  • Rory Miller ’05 has been selected by Benchmark Litigation for its 2017 “Under 40 Hot List.” Miller is a partner in Glaser Weil’s Litigation Department.
  • Joshua Schneiderman ’05 has been selected for inclusion in the 2018 Southern California Rising Stars list. Schneiderman is a Partner at Snell & Wilmer in the firm’s corporate and securities group.
  • William DeClercq ’05 announced partner in litigation at Taylor English Duma LLP. In the 15 years that DeClercq has practiced law, he has represented a wide range of large and small businesses, individuals and Fortune 500 companies. In 2019, he was selected as a California Super Lawyer and was previously selected as a Rising Star for four years. He will serve as a remote partner based in Los Angeles.
  • David Guess '05 joined the Orange County office of Greenberg Traurig, LLC as a Shareholder. Although as a member of the firm's sizable Restructuring & Bankruptcy Group David will be involved in bankruptcy cases across the country, he will play a leading role in West Coast bankruptcy cases.
  • Isabel Safie ’05 was named a "Woman Worth Watching" by the Profiles in Diversity Journal. Safie was also selected to the 2017 Southern California Super Lawyers Rising Stars list for the fourth consecutive time, and was selected by the Daily Journal as a top Labor & Employment attorney for 2018. Safie is a partner at Best Best & Krieger LLP's Riverside office.
  • Eric Vandevelde ’05 was featured in the Los Angeles Daily Journal as a top Cyber/Artificial Intelligence Lawyer. Vandevelde is known for his work on some of the country's most high profile cases including Apple Inc. in the "Apple v. FBI" case involving the government's demand for assistance in connection with the San Bernardino terrorist attack.
  • Kenneth Askin ’06 was promoted from counsel to partner at Latham & Watkins LLP in March 2019. He is a member of the Banking Practice in the Finance Department who advises on domestic and cross-border acquisition financings, structured financings, and other secured and unsecured leveraged finance transactions.
  • M. Douglas Flahaut ’06 was promoted to partner at Arent Fox LLP. M. Douglas Flahaut focuses on business reorganizations, representation of Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 trustees, representation of creditors, preference litigation, and related business litigation matters.
  • Robert Hurwitz ’06 joined Rocket Lab as Senior Legal Counsel. He previously served as an in-house attorney at SpaceX.
  • Elizabeth Y. J. Oh ’06 was promoted from counsel to partner at Latham & Watkins LLP in March, 2019. She is a member of the Banking Practice in the Finance Department who advises on debt financing for direct lenders in the late stage growth and lower middle market space, including technology and life sciences companies, practicing in the firm’s Los Angeles and San Francisco offices. She also represents private equity sponsors and public companies in leveraged finance transactions, with a focus on domestic and cross-border acquisition financings.
  • Neil Peretz ’06 co-founded Contract Wrangler. Peretz is the CEO of the company and they were recently selected for the FFL Accelerator and the LexisNexis LegalTech Accelerator. Previously, Peretz was co-founder and CEO of PocketMail Group, and then COO and CFO of Libraria/Sertanty.
  • Lucy Schwallie '06 was named the Managing Attorney for the Athens, Ohio office if Southeastern Ohio Legal Services. Lucy represents indigent clients in civil legal matters in Appalachian Ohio, and leads the program's Education Equity practice group.
  • Mohammed Cato ’06 was appointed as UCLA's Title IX Coordinator. In this role, Cato will lead and oversee a talented and growing Title IX team responsible for UCLA’s compliance with Title IX, including policies and procedures to prevent and respond to gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and sexual violence.
  • Veronica Darling '07 has joined the offices of Cultiva Law PLLC, a boutique cannabis practice with offices in Washington, Oregon, and California.
  • Sarah Esberg ’07 is to join the newly formed production company Goddard Textiles, as president. Esberg has been a longtime producer and executive at Brad Pitt's production company, Plan B.
  • K. Sage Fahimi ’07 has been promoted to shareholder at Littler in San Diego, CA. As an accomplished litigator, Sage defends her clients’ interests in all aspects of employment law. In particular, she possesses a deep understanding of California wage and hour law and the legal issues involving California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA), class actions and other representative claims.
  • Greg Good '07 was elected President of the Los Angeles Board of Public Works.
  • Patrick Hammon ’07 joined McManis Faulkner as a partner. Patrick has more than a decade of trial experience on a wide range of complex commercial disputes, and he joins the firm from Skadden Arps.
  • Dhananjay Manthripragada ’07 was made a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. Manthripragada has extensive experience defending companies in complex litigation in state and federal courts throughout the country, from pre-trial demands through trial, arbitration, or settlement, and on appeal.
  • Kiran Patel ’07 has been named partner at Dentons LLP. Kiran is a member of the Firm’s Commercial Litigation practice and resident in our New York office.
  • Morvareed Salehpour ’07 , Managing Partner at Salehpour Legal Consulting, was interviewed in June 2019 by Tyler Gallagher, for a series called "Women Leading The AI Industry: "If you are planning an event in the AI space, make sure you are including a female speaker". She has represented clients across the nation ranging from entrepreneurs and small businesses to Fortune 500 companies and works in a variety of industries, including technology, artificial intelligence and blockchain among others.
  • Lorna Wilson ’07 was made a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. Wilson’s practice focuses on federal income tax matters, including corporate and partnership tax matters in both the United States and international contexts.
  • Kevin Zen ’07 is among Snell & Wilmer's 2019 newly elected California Partners. He is a member of the firm’s corporate and securities group in the Orange County office.
  • George Azadian ’07 is co-founder of the Azadian Law Group PC. with locations in Los Angeles and Pasadena. George is the firm’s President and specializes in employment law, exclusively representing employees.
  • Taisuke Kimoto ’07 was promoted to partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman. Licensed in both Japan and California, Kimoto advises Japanese and US clients on cross-border deals, helping reconcile legal and cultural differences in corporate law, employment matters, and dispute resolution, among other issues. He also advises on real estate matters. He is a member of the Japan practice, collaborating to develop relationships with blue-chip Japanese clients.
  • Jessie Kornberg ’07 has been selected by the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division for the 2016 American Bar Association On the Rise – Top 40 Young Lawyers Award. Kornberg, a founding board member of UCLA Law Women LEAD, became the first female CEO of legal services nonprofit Bet Tzedek in 2014.
  • Alina Ball ’08 was selected as this year’s recipient of the Clinical Section’s Shanara Gilbert Award. Ball is the founding director of the Social Enterprise & Economic Empowerment Clinic at UC Hastings College of the Law.
  • Gregory Broege '08 appeared on the cover of the December 2019 Los Angeles Lawyer Magazine due to his article on California's upcoming "Split Roll" ballot initiative which could drastically change the state's property tax system.
  • Shirin Forootan ’08 has joined Workplace Justice Advocates, PLC as a Partner to lead and strategize on behalf of the firm's employee clients. Forootan previously served as defense counsel in employment litigation for several years at reputable firms and has over a decade of experience practicing law. Ms. Forootan has been selected to Super Lawyers’ Southern California “Rising Stars” for several consecutive years, which is a distinction reserved for just two and one-half percent of the attorneys in California.
  • Sally James ’08 has been elevated to partner at Greenberg Glusker. A summer associate at Greenberg Glusker back in 2007, James joined the firm in July 2017 after nearly a decade at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP.
  • Vanessa Lavely ’08 was promoted to partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP in the Litigation Department. She became the first UCLA School of Law graduate to rise to that position at the New York firm.
  • James McGrath ’08 founded the Intellectual Virtues Academy, a Long Beach charter high school, which was recently celebrated in the New York Times top 10 bestseller Coddling of the American Mind. The high school and affiliated middle school were the only K-12 programs identified, and stated that the program developed "wiser, stronger" students, and urging "prestigious universities" to "[a]dmit more students who have attended schools that teach the 'intellectual virtues.'"
  • Meehan Rasch ’08 was named to the 2018 National LGBT Bar Association list of “Best LGBT Lawyers Under 40.” Rasch currently serves as an appellate court attorney to Justice Brian M. Hoffstadt '95 of the California Court of Appeal, and was also recently elected Co-President of the LGBT Bar Association of Los Angeles.
  • Rachel Bloomekatz ’08 was a court appointed amica curiae for a case in Ohio - a rare and honorable appointment. The case was heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit.
  • Tristan Brown ’08 was featured in an article on PRWeb, examining the importance of hiring a bankruptcy attorney. His office, the T.L. Brown Law Firm, P.C., also hosted a holiday toy donation drive for Toys for Tots.
  • Emily Cuatto ’08 of Horvitz & Levy was selected by her peers for inclusion in Southern California Rising Stars 2017 in the field of Appellate Law. Rising Stars is a list of outstanding attorneys who are 40 years old or younger, or have been practicing for less than 10 years.
  • Anthony Nguyen ’08 was featured in the Los Angeles Business Journal as one of 2018's most influential minority attorneys in Los Angeles. Nguyen is a Shareholder with Shegerian and Associates and has previously represented Fortune 500 companies in labor and employment disputes.
  • Tim Reed '08 was promoted to Partner at FordHarrison LLP and recognized by the National Bar Association as a 40 Under 40 - Nation's Best Advocate award winner.
  • Kelsey Szamet ’08 was promoted to partner at the California firm of Kingsley & Kingsley. Szamet has been representing plaintiffs in employment cases since 2008 and has been recognized as a "Rising Star" by Super Lawyers magazine each year since 2014.
  • Sara Urch '08 has begun serving as a Senior Assistant Attorney General for the Oregon Department of Justice. She works in the Natural Resources Section of the General Counsel Division focusing on the Portland Harbor Superfund cleanup project.
  • Nathaniel Braun ’09 was admitted to partnership at Selman Breitman in Los Angeles. Braun is a member of the firm’s Commercial Litigation, Commercial Transactions, and Insurance practice groups.
  • Heather Brooks Karatz ’09 is now President of the XFL franchise the Los Angeles Wildcats. Her role will include fan engagement and business operations, and working within the following departments: ticket sales, corporate partnerships, marketing, content, communications, community relations and game day experience. She previously worked as the executive vice president and General Counsel for the Los Angeles Football Club, and she was the Senior Vice President of Relativity Sports and an attorney for the NHL.
  • Jon Cieslak '09 joined Bona Law PC as a Partner. Jon brings nearly a decade of Anti Trust litigation and white-collar criminal defense experience.
  • Christopher G. Geissinger ’09 was promoted to Counsel at Latham & Watkins LLP. He is a member of the Corporate Department whose practice includes advising public and privately held companies, as well as venture capital and investment banking firms, in public and private financing transactions, SEC disclosures, and corporate governance matters, particularly in the life sciences and technology sectors.
  • Timothy Hutter ’09 was elected to partnership at Allen Matkins. Hutter's practice focuses primarily on business and real estate disputes, including contract, construction, joint venture, entitlement, land use and commercial landlord/tenant litigation.
  • Heather Brooks Karatz ’09 has been named president of the XFL team the LA Wildcats. She previously worked as the Executive Vice President and general counsel of the Los Angeles Football Club.
  • Kirsten M. Kinegak-Friday ’09 joined Landye Bennett Blumstein’s Alaska Native and corporate law and civil litigation practice in the firm’s Anchorage office.
  • Jose Macias ’09 has been promoted to shareholder at Littler in San Jose, CA. He focuses his practice across the employment law spectrum, advising and representing clients on matters related to discrimination and harassment, wage and hour class action litigation defense, wrongful termination, and compliance advice and training.
  • Gina Marek ’09 was named one of the 2017 Women Leaders in Tech Law by The Recorder. Marek is a partner at Gunderson Dettmer in their Silicon Valley office.
  • Casey Pick ’09 , Senior Fellow for Advocacy & Government Affairs at The Trevor Project, recognized among 2019's Best LGBTQ+ Lawyers Under 40.
  • Karen Michail Shah ’09 has joined FisherBroyles LLP's Los Angeles office, and will be practicing for the firm's Financial Services & Lending and Real Estate groups.
  • Michael A. Titera ’09 was made a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. Titera’s practice focuses on advising public companies regarding securities disclosure and compliance matters, financial reporting, and corporate governance.
  • Tanya Greene ’09 was featured in the Los Angeles Business Journal as one of 2018's most influential minority attorneys in Los Angeles. Greene is a litigation partner in Kirkland's Commercial Litigation Practice Group. She has represented some of the world's most well-known companies and high-profile clients such as BP, Boeing, and RBS Securities, among others.
  • Linda Klein '09 has been promoted to partner at Cox, Castle, and Nicholson LLP. Klein’s practice focuses on land use entitlement and litigation, with extensive expertise in the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), and in particular air quality and greenhouse gas issues.
  • Gina Nicholls ’09 was recently promoted to Partnership at Nossaman LLP and is a member of the Water Practice Group in the Los Angeles office. Ms. Nicholls has litigation, regulatory, and transnational experience. Her practice focuses on water rights, litigation, and California public agencies. She was named a Super Lawyers "Southern California Rising Star" in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
  • Michael Saryan '09 joins Structure Law Group, LLP for the opening of their new Los Angeles office. Michael has been working with clients solely in business law for 10 years.
• Class Notes 1990 - 1999
  • Philip E. Cook '90 was recently elected Chair of the Board of Public Counsel, the nation's largest public interest law firm. Phil has been involved in pro bono work with Public Counsel for some time; he received its Volunteer of the Year award in 2012 (representing applicants for child care centers and homes), 2013 (representing victims of mortgage and other consumer fraud), and 2017 (representing operators of child care homes).
  • Robert Fabela ’90 was appointed the City Attorney for the City of Anaheim. He was previously General Counsel of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority.
  • Yakub Hazzard ’90 was featured in the Los Angeles Business Journal as one of 2018's most influential minority attorneys in Los Angeles. Hazzard is a partner in Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp's Entertainment and IP Litigation practice group.
  • Francis James '90 was appointed as Resident Representative for the UN Development Programme in Gabon (Central Africa) where his work focuses on climate change, the environment, good governance, youth and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Francis has spent the past 4 and a half years in Haiti with UNDP and the UN peace-keeping mission in Haiti.
  • David Klatsky ’90 is Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Premier Inc. Ranked by U.S. News and World Report as one of the Best Lawyers in America for four consecutive years. Klatsky has served as Premier’s chief outside counsel for the past nine years and has advised Fortune 500 companies. Prior to joining Premier, Klatsky was partner at Mc Dermott Will & Emery LLP.
  • Ann Munson Steines ’90 will be joining Nordstrom as general counsel after more than 21 years in-house at Macy's. She will be responsible for Nordstrom’s risk management strategies and policies and will provide strategic counsel on legal, risk, business and operational matters.
  • Phillip Neiman ’90 joined the JAMS panel in San Francisco. Neiman joined the JAMS Resolution Center as a mediator, arbitrator and special master in a variety of disputes including business/commercial, financial/securities, employment, real property, trusts/estates, insurance, intellectual property and tort claims.
  • Dennis Rolstad ’90 was featured in the Los Angeles Daily Journal as he recently joined Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP as a Partner in the San Fracisco office.
  • Rebecca Tsosie ’90 gave a talk on ‘Indigenous Nations, Environmental Justice and Public Health’ at the University of Arizona where she is a Regent’s Professor at the James E. Rogers College of Law and a Special Adviser to the Provost for Diversity and Inclusion. Professor Tsosie discussed how environmental pollution from energy resource development causes health impacts for tribal members in many reservation communities, and she will discuss how tribal governments and the federal government ought to handle the consequences of this development for tribal members. Professor Tsosie also serves as a Supreme Court Justice for the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation and as an associate judge on the San Carlos Tribal Court of Appeals.
  • Hui Chen '91 has been hired by the Hawaii Attorney General's Office to work as the Chief Integrity Adviser.
  • Janet Dhillon ’91 , Burlington Stores Inc. general counsel, has been selected by President Donald Trump to serve on the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and take over as its chair. Dhillon, who began her legal career by spending 13 years at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP, will be nominated to serve a term that expires on July 1, 2022.
  • Michael Garfinkel ’91 joined DLA Piper as a partner in the Media, Sport and Entertainment practice. Garfinkel, who has spent more than 25 years as an entertainment industry litigator, joins DLA Piper from Perkins Coie LLP.
  • Richard Hasen ’91 is the Chancellor's professor of Law and Political Science at the University of California, Irvine. He is an observer, analyst, and commentator on all things electoral. In 2016, Hasen published "Plutocrats United".
  • Susan Koehler Sullivan ’91 was featured in the Los Angeles Daily Journal as a 'Top Woman Lawyer.' Sullivan is a seasoned commercial litigator with over 25 years of experience. Within the first two months of 2017, she won four summary judgments. Sullivan handles insurance coverage investigations and disputes.
  • Jayne Lee ’91 has been appointed to a judgeship in the San Joaquin County Superior Court. Lee has served as a commissioner at the San Joaquin County Superior Court since 2018 and has served as a judge pro tem and supervising probate attorney at the San Joaquin County Superior Court from 2015 to 2018.
  • Jacqueline Nguyen ’91 was featured in the Daily Journal as one of the judge panelists that worked on the sneaker case, Adidas v. Sketchers.
  • Daniel Robbins ’91 has been appointed to serve a two-year term as Chair of the Committee on Scope and Program of the Uniform Law Commission (ULC). Robbins is Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) in Los Angeles, California.
  • Kimberly Arouh ’92 has been appointed as the Office Managing Shareholder of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney LLP's San Diego office. Arouh handles complex business litigation, and has been selected for inclusion multiple times in the San Diego Super Lawyers list and The Best Lawyers in America list for Commercial Litigation. She joined Buchanan after serving as a litigator at Latham & Watkins.
  • Nana Gyamfi ’92 was featured in a series in LA Weekly “25 Years After the Riots” – featuring accounts from Angelenos who witnessed the first 48 hours of the 1992 riots. Gyamfi was a student at the time, and after she helped rally community support for defendants in the Reginald Denny case. She has since become a leading civil rights attorney in Los Angeles, where she runs the Crenshaw Legal Clinic, represents Black Lives Matter in court and teaches at Cal State Los Angeles University.
  • Jason Kim ’92 was featured in the Los Angeles Business Journal as one of 2018's most influential minority attorneys in Los Angeles. Kim is a deal lawyer. In 2016 and 2017, Kim was also named Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of the Asian Business Association. He also serves as Director on the Board of Directors of U.S. Korea Law Foundation.
  • David Korduner '92 joined Endeavor Content, the cutting edge independent film and television studio that puts creative talent at the forefront, as Senior Vice President, Associate General Counsel, Labor Relations - the company’s first in-house labor hire.
  • Dan Kupetz ’92 will join 20th Century Fox TV as Executive Vice President of Business Affairs and Operations. Dan had worked at CBS Television Studios as head of business affairs since 2004.
  • Steven Levy ’92 and wife, Sarah, recently wrote a book, "The Rashi Discussion Torah Commentary", which was published by the Jewish Publication Society. Levy works in real estate.
  • Patti Perez ’92 , VP of Workplace Strategy for Emtrain, a technology-driven HR culture/compliance company, published her book The Drama-Free Workplace in April 2019. Built upon 25 years of professional experience and robust data from behavioral science research, her book is now available wherever books are sold.
  • Tony Rodriguez '92 was promoted to Vice President and Assistant General Counsel for Litigation at Kaiser Permanente in September 2020. With over 12 million members in eight states and D.C., KP is America’s largest integrated healthcare system. He joined KP in 2015 after partnerships at Morrison & Foerster and Donahue Fitzgerald.
  • Aaron Silberman ’92 will serve as ABA Chair of Public Contract Law Section in 2017-2018. Silberman is a Shareholder at Rogers Joseph O'Donnell, PC., and a member of the firm’s Construction and Government Contracts Practice Groups.
  • John Ulin '92 joined TroyGould PC. John brings more than 25 years of experience to TroyGould and an outstanding reputation as a copyright and trademark litigator.
  • Eugene Volokh ’92 wrote an amicus brief in support of Gerawan Farming on behalf of the Western Growers Association, California Fresh Fruit Association, California Farm Bureau Federation and Ventura County Agricultural Association in an appellate case involving the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB.) The State Appellate Court remanded the ALRB, and this is a seen as a victory for Fresno County-based Gerawan, which is one of the largest tree fruit farmers in the nation.
  • Tamar Faulhaber ’93 was sworn in as President of the North Fulton Bar Association in Georgia on May 4, 2019. She has a solo practice in Alpharetta, Georgia and specializes in Family Law.
  • Michelle Flores ’93 joined Akerman LLP's Los Angeles office. Flores joined as a partner in the Labor and Employment Practice Group.
  • Jeff Galvin ’93 has been honored with the 2017 June Black Pro Bono Award. Galvin is a partner in Downey Brand’s litigation department where he represents clients in trust and estate disputes across Northern California and Northern Nevada. Galvin was also named Best of the Bar 2017.
  • Jeff Galvin '93 has started a six-year term on the Executive Committee of the California Lawyers Association’s Trusts and Estates Section. Jeff is a partner at Downey Brand LLP in Sacramento, California.
  • Robert Galvin ’93 is a partner at Wilmer Hale LLC. in the Palo Alto office, and a member of the Intellectual Property Litigation Practice Group. Galvin won a precedent case of popular website domain company Daddy Inc., against the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences in a cyber-squatting dispute. He was also mentioned on The Hollywood Reporter’s Hollywood’s Top 100 Lawyers in 2016.
  • Michael Morgan ’93 was featured in the Los Angeles Daily Journal as a top Cyber/Artificial Intelligence Lawyer. Morgan is a partner at McDermott Will & Emery and specializes in complex data breaches, vehicle autonomy and connectivity.
  • Teri L. Witteman ’93 has been appointed General Counsel and Secretary of Beyond Meat, Inc. as of May, 2019. Ms. Witteman joins the Company from Musick, Peeler & Garrett LLP, where she was a partner since April 2016, specializing in the areas of SEC compliance, corporate governance, and mergers and acquisitions.
  • Daniel Alexander II '94 is the new director of the Startup and Small Business Clinic (SSBC) at UC Irvine Law School. Alexander is a graduate of Howard University, where he received a bachelor’s in international relations.
  • Yar Chaikovsky ’94 is Global Co-chair of the Intellectual Property practice at Paul Hastings based in Palo Alto, California. Cahikovsky serves as lead counsel for companies in all stages of development, such as eBay, Fox, HTC, Rovi(formerly Macrovision), TrendMicro, Twitter, Vitesse, Yahoo! He is recognized as one of the top patent lawyers in the nation since 2011 in IAM Patent 1000- The World’s Leading Patent Practitioners.
  • Don Fishman ’94 is in his 12th season with the Washington Capitals and ninth as Assistant General Manager and Director of Legal Affairs. In this role, he handles player contract negotiations, player contract research and analysis, the club's day-to-day salary cap position, team salary cap strategic planning, the salary arbitration process, NHL and team salary cap analysis, and interpretation of NHL/NHLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) issues. Fishman also assists the club's general manager with the day-to-day operations of the Capitals hockey operations department such as roster issues, player movement, preseason and regular season scheduling, budgeting, and training camp planning.
  • Michael Kalt '94 was recognized in The Best Lawyers in America 2021. Michael is a partner in the litigation office of Wilson Turner Kosmo.
  • Robyn Polashuk ’94 was featured in the Daily Journal as one of 2018's "Best Woman Lawyers." Polashuk works at Covinton & Burling LLP with a focus on licensing and distribution of video programming across a variety of platforms for clients such as The Walt Disney Co., CBS Corp., AMC Networks, etc.
  • Larry Solov ’94 is President and CEO of Breitbart News Network. With President Donald Trump in office, the network has become one of the most influential conservative media companies in the country. Trump’s presidency has availed an opportunity that will allow them to compete not only with conservative rivals like Fox News, but the entire media firmament, which they sees as dishonest about its left-leaning bias. Larry says their “goal is become a global news network.”
  • Paul Watford ’94 was mentioned in the Daily Journal for writing a partial separate concurrence in a 9th Circuit ruling concerning Berkeley’s 2011 Occupy Cal protests. He was also mentioned in another Daily Journal article concerning the possibility of the 9th Circuit revisiting anti-SLAPP appeals. Judge Watford is a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
  • Mark Campbell ’95 to spearhead the opening of Shook, Hardy & Bacon's LA office along with partners Michael Mallow and Rachel Straus.
  • Dmitry Gorin ’95 and his law partner Alan Eisner, both State-Bar Certified Criminal Law Specialists, successfully argued that a murder conviction should be reversed, and obtained a new trial for the elderly client.
  • Hadar Harris ’95 , a human rights attorney and non-profit leader with a passion for working with and on behalf of students, has become the executive director of the Student Press Law Center. Prior to joining SPLC, Harris served as the executive director of the Northern California Innocence Project. She previously served for 13 years as the executive director of the Center for Human Rights & Humanitarian Law at American University Washington College of Law.
  • Brian Hoffstadt ’95 was mentioned in the Los Angeles Daily Journal for a case involving contractors suing a company over labor violations.
  • Gregory Jones '95 moved from being a partner at Dykema Gossett to a shareholder at Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth, in Century City.
  • Michael King ’95 joined The Signatry as Senior Vice President of Gift Planning. King arrives at The Signatry after serving more than 10 years as a charitable gift and estate planning attorney at National Christian Foundation.
  • Jeffrey Prieto ’95 serves as the General Counsel at Los Angeles Community College District. Prieto is the chief legal officer and advisor to the Board of Trustees, Chancellor, Personnel Commission, and senior management for the District.
  • Angela Reddock-Wright ’95 was installed as President of the Southern California Mediation Association (SCMA.)
  • Angela Reddock-Wright ’95 joins Judicate West as a neutral. Judicate West, one of California’s leading providers of private dispute resolution services, welcomed Angela Reddock-Wright to its roster of neutrals. Reddock-Wright will be based in the Los Angeles office and is available for mediations statewide.
  • Angela Villegas ’95 was featured in the Los Angeles Daily Journal. Villegas serves as a Commissioner for Los Angeles County at the Central Civil West Courthouse and is tasked with hearing requests to modify child support payments.
  • Arun Baheti ’96 was appointed Vice President of Operations at The California Wellness Foundation, effective August 2018. He will oversee grants management, information technology, facilities and risk assessment. As part of the executive team, Baheti will help promote excellence and innovation throughout Cal Wellness’ operations.
  • Jennifer Hasbrouck ’96 has been named Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Southern California Edison. Hasbrouck has been with SCE since 1999 and currently serves as the assistant general counsel.
  • Kristin Holland ’96 is now a partner with Dentons US LLP in Honolulu, Hawaii. She handles complex commercial and intellectual property litigation matters and lives in Kailua with her husband Rick Sachar.
  • Andrei Iancu ’96 was unanimously confirmed by The U.S. Senate as the next head of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He will lead an agency tasked with deciding who owns the rights to inventions in areas like software, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices. Iancu was nominated by President Donald Trump in August.
  • Caroline Mankey ’96 has been selected by the editorial team at The National Law Journal for inclusion on its “Intellectual Property Trailblazers” list. She was also selected by the editorial team at the Daily Journal, for inclusion on its “Top Intellectual Property Lawyers” list. Mankey joined the firm Akerman LLP as a partner. She was previously at Sedgwick LLP, where she chaired the Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Group.
  • Michael Tu ’96 was featured in the Los Angeles Business Journal as one of 2018's most influential minority attorneys in Los Angeles. Tu is a partner at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP and is responsible for the victory of the Sumner Redstone's battle for control of Viacom Inc.
  • Lil Delcampo ’97 , former USC Associate General Counsel, joins Carlson & Jayakumar LLP as Partner. Before joining Carlson and Jayakumar, Ms. Delcampo served as Associate General Counsel for USC Health Sciences where she supervised the health sciences attorneys, providing legal support to the university’s health system.
  • Halim Dhanidina ’97 was presented with one of the 2017 Daniel K. Inouye Trailblazer Awards during the 2017 National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) Convention. Judge Dhanidina, who is also an adjunct Professor of Law at Whitter Law School, is California’s first Muslim American judge.
  • Irving Gomez ’97 was interviewed for an article in Forbes entitled "Helping Investors Understand The Importance Of ESG." Gomez is an Assistant Corporate Secretary and Managing Counsel in the Corporate Legal Group for Intel Corporation. Irving is responsible for the company's corporate-level legal activities, including certain securities filings with the SEC, providing advice and counsel to the Board, the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee and senior management in the areas of emerging corporate governance, securities laws, and executive compensation. Prior to joining Intel, Irving was in private practice as an Associate at Morrison & Foerster in San Francisco.
  • Michelle Hernandez ’97 has become the new Chair of the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce, effective November 17, 2017. She has been a member of the Board of Directors since 2013, serving as the Executive Committee’s Vice Chair since 2016, and is also currently Regional President of the Hispanic National Bar Association, where she has been a member since 1997.
  • Jennifer Kelly ’97 was named one of the 2017 Women Leaders in Tech Law by The Recorder. Kelly is a partner at Fenwick & West LLP. She is the Chair of the IP & Commercial Litigation Group and Co-Chair ​of the Games Industry Group.
  • John McKinney ’97 , Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney, was featured in a Los Angeles Times article after he secured a murder conviction against an 18-year-old woman for her role in the 2014 death of a USC graduate student from China.
  • Ingrid Myers ’97 joins King & Spalding as a partner. Myers joined the firm's Corporate, Finance, and Investments practice group in its Houston office. Myers's practice focuses on the drafting and negotiation of construction-related contracts for the development of energy and other major infrastructure projects.
  • Stephen A. Cazares ’98 joined the white collar and government investigations team at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP. He was most recently the Deputy Chief of the Major Frauds Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles and was previously a staff attorney in the SEC Division of Enforcement.
  • Brenton Hamlet ’98 , a Beverly Hills, California based Merrill Lynch advisor, was one of 11 employees recently honored with the 2015 David Brady Award at a ceremony in New York, recognized for his outstanding philanthropy, client focus and overall commitment to his company and community.
  • Jeffrey Lowenstein ’98 , a partner at Bell Nunnally & Martin LLP in Dallas Texas, is featured in the The Best Lawyers in America 2017 publication. Lowenstein is chair of the firm’s Litigation practice and represents businesses and individuals in a variety of complex commercial matters and business disputes.
  • Marie Mendoza '98 was promoted to Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Kratos Defense and Security Solutions Inc.
  • Phuong Phillips ’98 recently assumed the role as chief legal officer at Zynga Inc. in September 2017. Phillips will oversee all legal and government affairs for the San Francisco-based online gaming company. In 2015, Phillips was named one of the most influential women in Silicon Valley by the Silicon Valley Business Journal.
  • Effie Turnball Sanders ’98 was selected as Executive Director for the South Los Angeles Transit Empowerment Zone (SLATE-Z). Sanders also serves as Vice President of the Los Angeles League of Conservation Voters and as a member of the nonprofit board Social Action Partners.
  • Nichole Neal Walker ’98 has been promoted to Senior Vice President & Senior Wealth Planner in the Wealth Planning/Private Banking division at City National Bank.
  • Joshua Briones ’99 was featured in the Los Angeles Business Journal as one of 2018's most influential minority attorneys in Los Angeles. Briones is a managing partner of an AmLaw 100 Law firm - Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.
  • Chad Gordon ’99 was named as a member of the World Poker Fund Holdings, Inc. Board of Directors. Gordon, a lawyer and broker, has nearly two decades of experience in gaming, gaming regulation, real estate and corporate issues.
  • Spencer Kook ’99 was welcomed as a new member to the Imagine Project - Los Angeles' new Equity Children's Theatre’s Board of Directors. Kook is a member of the Executive Committee and Managing Partner of the downtown Los Angeles office of Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP.
  • Lynn Scaduto ’99 presides over a family law court at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in Los Angeles, and her role was discussed in an article in the Daily Journal.
  • Jonathan West ’99 was elected to partnership at Latham & Watkins. West is a member of the Entertainment, Sports & Media Practice in the Corporate Department in Century City.
  • Navid Yadegar '99 was named among the top 100 lawyers in Southern California by Super Lawyers. Navid practices employment law and is a partner at Yadegar, Minoofar, & Soleymani LLP.
  • Meldia Yesayan ’99 was appointed Director of Oxy Arts, the interdisciplinary hub for creativity and the arts at Occidental College.
• Class Notes 1980 - 1989
  • Rebecca Burnham ’80 was appointed to serve as chair of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona board of directors. Burnham is a Shareholder at the Greenberg Traurig office in Phoenix, AZ.
  • Dale A. Drozd ’80 was featured in the Los Angeles Daily Journal. Judge Drozd was confirmed as U.S. District Judge in 2015 to the Fresno division. Since JudgeDrozd's appointment, he has been instrumental in providing relief to the court system which had been strained under significant case backlog.
  • Theresa Fay-Bustillos ’80 was appointed Chief Program Director of Blue Shield of California Foundation. In this role, she will lead the overall strategy, design, and management of all the Foundation's programmatic and grantmaking activities, as well as its strategic planning, organizational learning, and evaluation.
  • Theresa Fay-Bustillos ’80 joins Benetech board of directors. Benetech, the leading software for social good nonprofit, announced the appointment of Theresa Fay-Bustillos to its Board of Directors. Fay-Bustillos’s appointment will provide insight, support and guidance for Benetech’s work in education, poverty alleviation, and human rights.
  • Knox Kimberly '80 serves as Chair of the Steering Committee for the Texas Child Protection Roundtable and on the Board of Directors for Texans Care for Children, the state's leading advocacy organization for the well being of children.
  • Laurie Levenson ’80 is the founding director of Project for the Innocent and was featured in the Daily Journal article titled "After decades, murder conviction is overturned" (3/16/2017) for her work on the overturned murder conviction for Andrew Leander Wilson.
  • Alec Nedelman '80 has joined Katten's Real Estate practice as Senior Counsel.
  • Rosendo Pena Jr. ’80 is the first Latino appointed justice to serve on the 5th District. Justice Pena was appointed by Gov. Gray Davis on October 21, 2002.
  • Douglas Canfield '81 has been working in legal services for almost 30 years. He is the founding Executive Director of Legal Services Corporation of Delaware, Inc. and has served in that position, going into his 25th year. He is the longest serving executive director of any legal aid or legal services organization in the history of the State of Delaware. In that position he has been the involved in the creation of numerous initiatives, including the Mortgage Foreclosure Mediation Program, the Access to Justice Program and the Homelessness Prevention Project.
  • Joscelyn Jones Torru '81 was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom to the Alameda County Superior Court to serve as a Judge.
  • Adam Kurland ’81 , Howard University School of Law Professor, was quoted in a Reuters article entitled “FDA’s sharing of grand jury information comes under criticism” in September 2016.
  • Julie Mebane ’81 a partner at Duane Morris LLP, received the fourth annual Duane Morris Pro Bono Leadership Award, which recognizes an attorney who exemplifies the spirit of pro bono: a selfless, long-standing and unwavering commitment to pro bono service; a leader by example who accepts pro bono matters without fanfare; and a pro bono contributor who encourages and mentors other firm attorneys in pro bono service.
  • Martine Rothblatt ’81 was honored with the UCLA Medal, the university's highest honor. Rothblatt is the Founder and CEO of United Therapeutics pharmaceutical company. She also founded Sirius XM satellite radio.
  • Benjamin Scheibe ’81 was mentioned in a Daily Journal article as a representative of a client suing a former law partner.
  • Janice Kamenir-Reznik ’82 was appointed new Board Chair at Beit T’Shuvah.
  • Dennis Ragen ’82 was mentioned in a Daily Journal article as the defense in an appeal concerning herbicides.
  • Brad "Tony" Summers ’82 joined Lane Powell's Portland office as a Shareholder. Summers' principal areas of practice are bankruptcy and debtor-creditor law, workouts and business transactions. He was previously a partner at Ball Janik.
  • Michelle Blakemore ’83 , who has served the County of San Bernardino for 28 years, was appointed County Counsel by the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors. Blakemore joined the Office of County Counsel in 1989 as a Deputy County Counsel and was promoted to Principal Assistant County Counsel in January 2009. In December 2010, she was named to her current position as Chief Assistant County Counsel.
  • Angela Brock-Kyle ’83 , JD/MBA 1983, added a directorship with Hunt Companies, Inc., a global private real estate and infrastructure firm, to her board portfolio which includes Guggenheim/Rydex Funds and the YMCA Retirement Fund. In addition she advises on global governance and board issues through her firm B.O.A.R.D.S., founded in 2013, and on behalf of Diligent Institute, a research affiliate of Diligent Corporation and board service organization.
  • Tim Coates '83 was appointed Co-Chair of the International Municipal Lawyers Association’s California State Region.
  • Don Gibson ’83 joined the ASU Law staff as a professor of practice in the Sports Law and Business Program. He focuses primarily on interscholastic and intercollegiate athletics, including an examination of gender- and racial-equity issues. He also designed a new course focused on personal and business branding for athletes and sports properties.
  • E. George Joseph ’83 , managing partner at Nossaman, was featured in the Los Angeles Daily Journal about the firm's 75th anniversary.
  • Daniel McLoon ’83 was featured in the Los Angeles Daily Journal as a top Cyber/Artificial Intelligence Lawyer. He was a part of the legal team that convinced a 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel to ax a $12 million class action judgement against a unit of Experian PLC, a consumer credit reporting agency and one of McLoon's longtime clients. McLoon specializes in data breach response and class action defense.
  • Jeffrey Nagler ’83 was promoted to President, Warner Bros. Worldwide Studio Operations effective February 1, 2020. Nagler most recently served as Executive Vice President of the Studio Facilities group at Warner Bros., a role he was promoted to in 2001. He previously served as Senior Vice President of Business Affairs for the group.
  • Walter Oetzell ’83 was mentioned in the Los Angeles Daily Journal article entitled "Resolving Insolvency", concerning multi-million dollar reorganizations and his firm Danning, Gill, Diamond & Kollitz, LLP. Oetzell is a partner at the firm.
  • Yvette Roland ’83 was featured in the Daily Journal highlighting her work as a hearing judge on the State Bar Court since 2014.
  • Dolly Gee ’84 was mentioned in the Daily Journal for reducing a judgement against Kimberly-Clark Corp. and Halyard Health Inc. Judge Gee is a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California.
  • Philip Gutierrez ’84 was mentioned in the Los Angeles Daily Journal for granting certification to a subclass of real property owners to sue an oil company. Judge Gutierrez also presided over the 2017 UCLA Law Bar Admission Ceremony. He swore graduates into the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the United States District Court for the Central District of California.
  • Daniel A. Olivas ’84 was appointed to Senior Assistant Attorney General of the California Department of Justice’s Land Law Section which represents over two dozen agencies including the Coastal Commission, State Lands Commission, and the Department of Housing and Community Development. In his “other life,” Daniel is the author of nine books of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction including two recent titles, The King of Lighting Fixtures: Stories (University of Arizona Press, 2017), and Crossing the Border: Collected Poems (Pact Press, 2017).
  • David Gindler ’84 , partner at Irell Manella LLP, specializes in intellectual property litigation and licensing. Gindler was one of the principal trial attorneys in City of hope National Medical Center v. Genentech, Inc., in which the City of Hope obtained a verdict including $302 million in compensatory damages. The Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal named Gindler one of California’s “Top IP Litigators” in 2008, 2014, 2015 and 2018. He was also recognized by Law360 as a “Life Sciences MVP”.
  • Joanne Moore ’85 won an "Excellence in Teaching" award from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Moore is a full-time faculty member in the School of Filmmaking.
  • Arnold Wuhrman '85 relocated to Lake Oswego, Oregon in June, 2018. Both of his kids graduated in 2020, and he and his wife are living the joyous life of empty nesters on top of a beautiful, pine tree-filled mountain.
  • Joel Beres ’86 has been recognized  as the Louisville Litigation - Patent Lawyer of the Year for 2021. Only one lawyer in each high-profile legal specialty in large legal communities is honored as the “Lawyer of the Year.”
  • Lolita Buckner Inniss ’86 recently joined Southern Methodist University (SMU) Dedman School of Law as a Professor of Law. Prior to her faculty position at SMU, Buckner Inniss taught at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Cleveland State University for 19 years.
  • James Burns ’86 joined Akerman LLP's Washington, D.C. office. Burns joined as a partner in the Healthcare Antitrust Practice Group.
  • Brad Krasnoff ’86 was mentioned in the Los Angeles Daily Journal article entitled "Resolving Insolvency", concerning multi-million dollar reorganizations and his firm Danning, Gill, Diamond & Kollitz, LLP. Krasnoff is a partner at the firm.
  • Gary Bradus '87 was named a 2020 Northern California Super Lawyer. Gary is a Shareholder in the Corporate group at Weintraub Tobin.
  • Alicia Miñana de Lovelace ’87 served as the UCLA School of Law Reunion Challenge National Chair for 2017, speaking at the September 2017 Law Reunion.
  • Andrew Shapiro ’87 was elected to a 2nd term as Board Chair & President of the Mill Valley Library Foundation. Additionally he was appointed to the Board of the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame Northern California.
  • Joseph Taylor ’87 was added as a partner to the firm Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, PC in the Media & Entertainment Litigation Group. Joe has been involved in several high profile entertainment cases in recent years and is a significant addition to the New York based Frankfurt Kurnit’s 2-year-old Los Angeles office.
  • Scott Campbell ’87 was named a Super Lawyer for 2017. Scott is the City Attorney of Avalon, on Santa Catalina Island and is the General Counsel for Gold Coast Health Plan, which provides Medi-Cal coverage for over 200,000 Ventura County residents. For ten years, he has served as General Counsel for the Lake Arrowhead Community Services District. He is a partner at Best Best and Krieger, LLP, where he opened the Los Angeles office.
  • Patricia Donahue '87 was appointed Magistrate Judge by the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. She will sit in the court's Western division.
  • Gary Frischling ’87 a partner at Irell & Manella LLP in the Los Angeles area, has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America for the 11th straight year and was named to the Southern California "Super Lawyers" list by Los Angeles Magazine for the years 2006-2016. Frischling was also honored as one of the Top Intellectual Property Lawyers in California in 2018 by the Daily Journal.
  • Bill Anderson ’88 is the founder of chief executive at First Beverage - a private equity group which funds startups and helps get their beverages on the shelves before being acquired. Anderson founded First Beverage Group as an investment bank and consultancy in 2005 after serving as executive vice president at Topa Equities.
  • Lee Arian '88 has been appointed to serve as a judge in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Arian has been a partner at Nelson Hardiman since 2017.
  • Michelle A. Banks ’88 , senior adviser at BarkerGilmore, is a recipient of the American Bar Association’s 2019 Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award. Banks is a senior adviser at BarkerGilmore, a New York-based boutique executive search firm, specializing in providing executive coaching to general counsel, as well as the co-founder and co-chair of UCLA Law Women LEAD.
  • James Batchelder ’88 was honored as one of the Top Intellectual Property Lawyers in California in 2018 by the Daily Journal. Batchelder is a partner at the firm Ropes & Gray LLP.
  • Stanley Blumenfeld Jr. '88 was confirmed to serve as a federal judge in the Central District of California. He has been an LA County Superior Court Judge since 2016.
  • Frank W. Chen ’88 Frank W. Chen was elected by the judges of the Los Angeles Superior Court to become the Los Angeles Superior Court's newest Court Commissioner. As a lawyer, Frank was best known for his pro bono work in combating abusive litigation. Most notably, in recognition for his public service involvement, he was named a recipient of California Lawyer Magazine's Attorney of the Year (CLAY) Award for 2003 for his volunteer work with state and local prosecutors, local elected officials, legislators, and the State Bar of California in coordinating a unique and sweeping defense to abusive litigation brought by the Trevor Law Group of Beverly Hills. Additionally, since 2009, he has written and given a multitude of presentations on the topic of combating abusive ADA accessibility litigation in California to numerous bar associations, chambers of commerce, and professional organizations. In the late 1990s, he was also instrumental in leading both the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office and the State Bar of California in the battle against the Unauthorized Practice of Law (UPL).
  • Chuck Geerhart ’88 has been selected for membership in the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). Geerhart is a partner in the firm Paoli & Geerhart.
  • Sidney Levinson ’88 joined Debevoise & Plimpton LLP as a partner in its Restructuring Group. She brings to the firm more than 30 years of experience representing bondholders, secured lenders, debtors, trustees and creditors' committees in complex and challenging restructuring and bankruptcy proceedings.
  • Mark Price ’88 was named among The Best Lawyers in America© for 2018. Price is a Shareholder at Roetzel & Andress in Naples, Florida, where he practices real estate law.
  • Ronald Sally ’88 was the recipient of the inaugural Beyond Duke Service and Leadership Award for the creation of and work with Project Greer Street. The Project Greer Street program is a transformational academic enrichment program for African-American males in high school that utilizes a bold new approach and framework to promote high achievement by cultivating an academic ecosystem and eliminating roadblocks to success.
  • Ronald Sally ’88 joins JLL's Project and Development Services team as a Senior Vice President in charge of Sports & Entertainment and Higher Education sectors in the West. Sally is a seasoned and accomplished business executive with considerable experience and success in the sports/entertainment, venue development, and education industries. At CAA ICON, he served as an owner’s representative and development executive on several successful, high-profile projects including the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California, home of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings and the first LEED platinum indoor sports arena in the country.
  • Erich Andersen ’89 has been named the Global General Counsel of TikTok. He will lead global legal team as the company expands its compliance and regulatory engagement capabilities.
  • Ken Berlin ’89 has been appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer of Advaxis. Berlin will also serve as a Director of the company.
  • Sara Berman- Barrett ’89 has been named Director of Programs for Academic and Bar Success for the AccessLex Center for Legal Education Excellence. Berman will be coming from Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad College of Law, where she served as Director of Critical Skills and Bar Success Programs.
  • Kevin Brown ’89 was featured in an article in the Los Angeles Daily Journal about his work as a Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge titled "Tough Love."
  • Dommond Lonnie ’89 was appointed to serve as Director of the Automotive Industry Group at Dykema, a multidisciplinary group focused on providing legal services to automotive and mobility clients. Based in the firm’s Los Angeles office, Dommond represents domestic and foreign automobile/mobility manufacturers in product liability, class action, toxic tort, and commercial litigation matters.
  • Susan S. Shields ’89 , a shareholder and tax and estate planning attorney with the law firm of McAfee & Taft, has been elected to serve as president-elect of the Oklahoma Bar Association. She will assume the role of president of the professional organization, which currently has more than 18,000 members, in 2020.
  • Susan Shields ’89 received a top Band 1 ranking in the Private Wealth Law category of the recently released 2020 edition of Chambers High Net Worth.
  • Livingston "Jack" Wong ’89 was profiled in the Hawaii Business Magazine for his work as CEO of Kamehameha Schools (6/2017). Wong oversees a portfolio that includes a $10.6 billion endowment; ownership of more Hawaii land than any other nongovernment organization; and developments in Kakaako, Moiliili, Kapalama and Kona; three K-12 campuses and 30 preschools with a total of 7,000 students; plus another 7,000 learners in a variety of culture-based programs. Wong joined Kamehameha Schools in 1997 as senior counsel.
  • Erich Andersen ’89 joined TikTok as global general counsel after 24 years in various leadership roles at Microsoft. He will be based in New York.
  • Ronald Kaye ’89 was named one of the 100 attorneys in California by the Los Angeles Daily Journal. Kaye has specialized as a trial lawyer representing plaintiffs in both federal and civil. Before forming KMBL, Kaye was a trial lawyer in the Office of the Federal Public Defender for 8 years. In 2010, he was named one of the California Attorney of the Year by the California Lawyer Magazine. Kaye was also featured in Southern California’s Prisoner’s Right Award. In 2015, Kaye received the Johnnie Cochran Award from the Criminal Courts Bar Association of Los Angeles, and he was the Lead counsel for the Gabriel Carrillo v. County of Los Angeles.
  • Melinda Murray '89 was elected to her third term as President of the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission. She is also President of the California Association of Black Lawyers.
  • Scot Stone '89 retired from the Federal Communications Commission at the end of 2019 and reports that teleretirement, while not optimal, still beats teleworking.
• Class Notes 1970 - 1979
  • Dick Eiden ’70 recently published his memoir “Paying the Rent: Adventures of a Left Coast Activist Lawyer from the Turbulent ‘60s to the Era of Donald Trump,”. The book covers his 25 years a lawyer and his continuing struggle for peace and justice.
  • Thomas Stindt ’70 (Ret.), has been recognized for civic volunteerism by receipt of a Certificate from the Los Angeles Police Department, acknowledging one thousand hours of service to the Detectives of the Van Nuys Division, L.A.P.D. He is in his fourth year of pro bono service as a Detectives' Assistant, Los Angeles Police Department, supporting the CAPS, MAC and Theft table detectives of the Van Nuys Division.
  • John Dobroth '71 has retired and has been doing some commercial acting.
  • Harold Hart-Nibbrig ’71 is an artist and a sole practitioner who continues to practice out of his Los Angeles office. His art piece entitled "River's End" appeared at the Riverside Art Market event at the Riverside Art Museum. Hart-Nibbrig has had exhibits throughout Southern California, including Pasadena, Claremont, Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, Sierra Madre, Los Angeles and Idyllwild.
  • Paul S. Meyer ’71 will serve as Co-Chair of the American College of Trial Lawyers Communication Committee for 2019 and as President of the Orange County Criminal Defense Bar Association. He was also named Orange County Lawyer of the Year in Criminal Defense by Best Lawyers in America.
  • Laurence Rubin ’71 has been appointed Presiding Justice of Division 5 of the Court of Appeal.
  • Rinaldo Brutoco ’71 is now the host of “Solutions News", a weekly radio talk show presented by the World Business Academy. The show discusses solutions to local, national and global problems to give people optimism and solutions for the future.
  • David Carter ’72 led a march of county workers, elected officials, lawyers and reporters through Orange County’s largest homeless encampment along the Santa Ana Riverbed. Unsatisfied with secondhand information about living conditions at the riverbed, Judge Carter went to see for himself, talking to dozens of homeless people, picking up trash and recruiting volunteers.
  • Roger Boren ’73 was featured in the Daily Journal article concerning a trial involving Beats headphones.
  • George Kieffer ’73 was mentioned by the Daily Journal in an article regarding his interest in music and his path to becoming a lawyer. Kieffer is a partner at Manatt, and the Chair of the University of California Board of Regents.
  • Jonathan Airey ’73 is a retired partner in the Vorys Columbus office. His Oil and Gas law expertise has appointment him as General Counsel to the Ohio Oil and Gas Association. He has also has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America, Oil and Gas Law, 2008-2017.
  • Joshua Dressler '73 is in his 43rd year of full-time teaching, his 20th year at Ohio State, and prior recipient of the Distinguished University Scholar and Distinguished University Professor awards.
  • Joe Hilberman ’73 is again a proud grandfather, this time of Ella, who is in San Francisco but will happily attend UCLA Law in about 2043.
  • Michael Abzug ’74 was mentioned in the Los Angeles Daily Journal for doing "good judicial work." The article went on to say that Judge Abzug "tends to issue written rulings so lawyers understand his reasoning."
  • Julian Bailey ’74 was mentioned in a Daily Journal article regarding the release of discovery by the Orange County Crime Lab. Judge Bailey is a Superior Court judge in Orange County. He was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown in May 2012 to fill a newly created position, and was elected to a full term in 2014.
  • Kenneth Gibbs '74 successfully mediated a dispute between Kiewit Corp. and the Metropolitan Transit Authority using a seldom-used mediation technique often referred to as a "mini trial". His 75-page non-binding was accepted by both parties and it became the settlement of the case.
  • Antonia Hernandez ’74 attended a "Real Film" event at the law school featuring the film "No Más Bebés." The film is about her fight for justice for Mexican immigrant women who were sterilized at the Los Angeles County - USC Medical Center in the 1970s. Hernandez was on hand for Q & A after the screening.
  • Victor Kenton ’74 was featured in an article in the Daily Journal titled "Timely & Therapeutic" detailing his work at Judicate West and 14 years as a magistrate judge of the Central District of California (4/28/2017).
  • Franz Miller ’74 has been appointed to Orange County Superior Court by Gov. Gray Davis. In 2002, Judge Miller was Senior Staff Attorney at 4th District Court of Appeal. From 1989 to 2002, he was Adjunct Professor of Law at Whittier Law School.
  • Lynn Miller ’74 has joined Tesla Motors as Associate General Counsel and Chief of Litigation and Privacy. Prior Tesla, Miller was Senior Litigation Manager at Apple Inc. Miller was also partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, served as Assistant City Attorney for the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office where she prosecuted 40 jury trials.
  • Judith O'Brien ’74 is a partner in the Silicon Valley office of King and Spalding, member of the firm’s Corporate Practice Group. Prior to joining King and Spalding, O’Brien was partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. She also co-founded Incubic Venture Fund and served as Manager Director. She has been recognized in various publications continuously since 1993 - such as The Legal 500 United States, The American Lawyer - Deal maker of the Year 2000. Forbes Magazine Midas List- One of venture capital’s top deal makers, 2001-2005.
  • Percy Anderson ’75 was responsible for granting favor to the plaintiff in the Wells Fargo Bank case, in which he ruled that Wells Fargo had violated labor laws and was liable for damages. Judge Anderson was also mentioned in the Daily Journal article concerning a $500 million copyright infringement lawsuit he tossed out in 2016 that is now up for revival.
  • John G. Branca ’75 a distinguished biographee of Marquis Who's Who, was named the World's #1 Music Attorney. Partner and head of the music entertainment department at the prominent entertainment law firm Ziffren Brittenham LLP in Los Angeles since 1981, Mr. Branca has represented over 35 members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
  • Edmund Clarke ’75 was appointed to the Los Angeles County Superior Court in 2007 by Gov. Arnold Schwarzeneggar. Prior to his appointment, Judge Clarke was a partner from 1992 - 2006 at Stark, Rasak & Clarke.
  • Andrew Guilford ’75 was profiled in the Daily Journal for his service as U.S. District Judge for the Central District of California. He was also was mentioned in another issue of the Los Angeles Daily Journal about a case concerning what constitutes timely public access to state court filings. Judge Guilford was appointed by President George W. Bush to the federal bench in 2006.
  • Robert Mc Guiness ’75 was featured in the Los Angeles Daily Journal in regard to his decision in Vaughn v. Tesla Inc. race bias case.
  • Juan Ulloa ’75 was featured in the Los Angeles Daily Journal highlighting his ability to work with limited resources in Imperial County. Judge Ulloa was elected to Imperial Country Court - an under-funded, high intensity drug trafficking, impoverished area - in 1994. Judge Ulloa is known for his ability to efficiently manage cases, empathy and creative thinking.
  • Alex Kozinski ’75 was profiled on CBS' 60 Minutes in an interview with Lesley Stahl. Judge Kozinski offered advice to President Donald Trump, and offered his opinion on various topics including splitting the Ninth Circuit and the death penalty.
  • Maggie Levy '75 Maggie Levy is a mediator and arbitrator with ADR Services, Inc., which has offices in Century City, downtown LA, Orange County, San Diego, Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose. Since April of this year, she has been conducting mediations on Zoom.
  • Carolyn Starks Saxon '75 Retired from the Office of the State's Attorney, Baltimore City in 2004 and retired from the Office of the State's Attorney Prince George's County in 2012. She resides in Bowie, Maryland.
  • William Fahey ’76 was appointed to the Los Angeles County Superior Court by Gov. Pete Wilson in 1998. Judge Fahey is known for his thorough preparation when trying a case. Prior to his appointment, he served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District and formed Smaltz, Anderson & Fahey in Los Angeles, specializing in complex civil and white-collar cases.
  • Wilma Pinder ’76 has been inducted into the National Bar Association Hall of Fame. She receives this award among judges, corporate, private and government lawyers across the nation.
  • Michael Rich ’76 published the research report/book, “Truth Decay: An Initial Exploration of the Diminishing Role of Facts and Analysis in American Public Life." Rich is president and chief executive officer of the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization that helps improve policy and decision making through research and analysis.
  • Bruce Stuart ’76 was selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers® in America 2018. Stuart was recognized in the practice area of Real Estate Law for Orange County. Stuart is a partner at Stuart Kane LLP in Newport Beach, CA.
  • Donald Clark ’77 was named a senior staff member of the Federal Trade Commission. Clark will continue to serve as the Secretary of the FTC.
  • Kenneth J. Fransen ’77 has opened a boutique estate planning practice in Portland, Oregon. Ken was an attorney in "that other state which shall not be named if you live in Oregon" for 38 years, then retired so he and his wife could move to Portland to be with their family, and also to travel. After 75,000 miles of road trips in just over two years, he found that he really missed practicing law. Take note young associates and junior partners! You can indeed love the law! After taking the Oregon Bar exam this year, Ken proudly became the oldest new lawyer in Oregon. He handles all manner of estate planning projects, and is a member of the Rotary Club of Portland, the University Club, and the board of directors of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Portland.
  • Royal Oakes ’77 was honored by the Los Angeles City Council in a special presentation recognizing 30 years of commentary and service to the community. Oakes is a legal analyst, news contributor, and has his own show - "The Royal Oakes Show." He is also a partner at Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP, and general counsel for the Radio and Television News Assn.
  • James Blancarte ’78 was featured in the Los Angeles Daily Journal highlighting his ability to make tough decisions to protect domestic violence victims. Blancarte serves as Commissioner in Los Angeles County at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse. After earning his law degree, Blancarte embarked on a career in entertainment law as well as media and broadcasting and international matters. Over the years, he has represented celebrities such as comedians George Lopez and Paul Rodriguez as well as institutions such as the Comedy Store.
  • John Parke ’78 has been appointed to represent the 3rd Supervisorial District on the County Planning Commission. Parke is a senior partner at Allen & Kimbell LLP, where his emphasis is on litigation in real estate and trust matters in addition to land-use issues.
  • Paul Rutter ’78 has been named the Urban Development Lawyer of the Year by the Century City Bar Association. The Association provides legal education, leadership opportunities, and a sense of community to more than 4,000 Century City attorneys. Paul is among six attorneys being recognized by the Association for distinguishing himself in his respective field of expertise.
  • Julia Strickland ’78 was featured in the Daily Journal as one of 2018's "Best Woman Lawyers." Strickland works with victims of the Great Recession at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP.
  • Anthony Wheeldin ’78 was featured in the Daily Journal for his goals and accomplishments as a traffic court judge. Judge Wheeldin is a Superior Court Commissioner in the Sonoma Superior Court.
  • Glen Reiser ’78 has joined the panel at JAMS, the largest private provider of alternative dispute resolution services worldwide. Judge Reiser will be based in the Century City Resolution Center.
  • Beth Berke ’79 joined Nelson Hardiman, LLP as Chief Operating Officer. Prior to joining the healthcare specialty law firm, Berke was Chief Administrative Officer of Sony Pictures Entertainment.
  • David De Alba ’79 was elected the next Presiding Judge by the Judges of the Sacramento Superior Court. Judge De Alba’s term will commence on January 1, 2018 and will continue through December 31, 2019. Judge De Alba is presently the Assistant Presiding Judge of the Sacramento Superior Court, and has served in that capacity since January 2016.
  • Rogelio Flores ’79 of the Santa Barbara County Superior Court is retiring after more than 30 years on the bench. Judge Flores lectures nationally and internationally on the idea of "collaborative justice" which diverts non-violent offenders away from incarceration and into drug or mental health treatment programs.
  • Bruce May ’79 was named the 2018 Labor and Employment Litigation "Lawyer of the Year" in Orange County by Best Lawyers®. May is a partner at Stuart Kane LLP in Newport Beach, CA.
  • Michael Schwartz ’79 was appointed Chief Assistant District Attorney at the Ventura County District Attorney's Office. The position is second in command in the office, overseeing 282 employees and some 20,000 criminal prosecutions a year.
  • Kim McLane Wardlaw ’79 was mentioned in two Daily Journal articles concerning DACA, and also the possibility of the 9th Circuit revisiting anti-SLAPP appeals. Judge Wardlaw was nominated to the 9th Circuit by President Clinton in 1998. She also served as a judge for the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Judge Wardlaw is considered a First Amendment scholar and role model for a whole generation of women coming into the profession in the '80s.
  • Roger Lautzenhiser ’79 was selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2018. Lautzenhiser is a partner at Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease. He was also mentioned in The Best Lawyers in America, Corporate Law, 2009-2013, and 2015-2017, Columbus CEO, Top Lawyers in Columbus 2014 and in Chambers and Partners, Leading Lawyer in Corporate/M&A, 2013-2017.
  • Larry Valdivieso '79 has retired from his position as Assistant General Counsel-Verizon.
• Class Notes 1960 - 1969
  • Richard Aldrich ’63 joined the JAMS Resolution Center as a mediator, arbitrator and special master in disputes across California following his retirement from the California Court of Appeal.
  • A. Barry Cappello ’65 was featured in an article the Santa Barbara Independent in September 2017. The article discusses Cappello's recent donation to UCLA Law to support trail lawyering, and to integrate trail skills into the curriculum. He was also mentioned in the Los Angeles Daily Journal as plaintiff counsel in a class action against an oil company.
  • A. Barry Cappello '65 has won billions of dollars for plaintiffs during a 50-year career. He is still taking on major corporations, including Southern California Edison, Boeing, and Plains All America Pipeline. 
  • Riane Eisler ’65 was honored by the Feminist Press in New York City. She was celebrated at the Feminist Power Awards which took place in October 2017. Eisler is currently president of the Center for Partnership Studies and author of international bestseller The Chalice and The Blade.
  • William Elfving ’65 has been honored by Santa Clara Country Trial Lawyers Association with its Lifetime Achievement Award. This award recognizes judges for their extended commitment to fairness and their dedication to public service.
  • Jack Newman ’65 was appointed to the Los Angeles County Municipal Court in 1975 by Gov. Jerry Brown. Judge Newman later began working as a settlement judge in 1990 and retired from the bench in October 1996. The bulk of his 20 years on the bench was in civil departments and he specialized in real estate, commercial/business disputes, and labor and employment.
  • Arnold York ’65 has served as the publisher of the Malibu Times since 1987.
  • Kenneth Ziffren ’65 was featured in an article in Variety entitled "Lawyer Ken Ziffren Bridges the Worlds of Show Business and Politics." Ziffren was the keynote speaker at Variety's Power of Law breakfast.
  • Kenneth Clayman ’66 will be appointed to serve as interim public defender of Ventura County. The appointment will be July 31, 2018. Clayman, who retired in 2006 at age 66, has previously served as interim public defender for Solano County in 2010, Napa County 2013 and Santa Barbara County in 2015.
  • Barry Russell ’66 was featured in a Los Angeles Daily Journal article entitled "Living Legacy." Judge Russell is one of the longest serving bankruptcy judges in the nation.
  • Lawrence Jacobson ’67 has been recognized among the top in his industry by the Expert Network. Lawrence, Founder and President of Lawrence H. Jacobson APC, has been chosen as a distinguished Lawyer based on peer reviews and ratings, dozens of recognitions, and accomplishments achieved throughout his career.
  • Kenneth Kleinberg ’67 is celebrating the 25th anniversary of Kleinberg Lange Cuddy & Carlo LLP in 2017. Novelist J.K. Rowling, actor Dustin Hoffman, and rockers Mick Jagger and Kiss are among the firm's clients.
  • Jeffrey Miller ’67 was featured in the Los Angeles Daily Journal. Judge Miller was first appointed to the San Diego Superior Court by Governor Deukmejian in 1987. He was then appointed to the U.S. District Federal Court by President Bill Clinton on May 27, 1997 (assumed senior status June 6, 2010). Judge Miller serves at the U.S. Courthouse in downtown San Diego.
  • Steven Perren ’67 served as a U.S. Army captain during the Vietnam War shortly after completing his law degree at UCLA. In 1983, he was appointed to the Ventura County Superior Court. Judge Perren is also a devoted musical artist and has participated in productions such as "Man of La Mancha," "Guys & Dolls," " South Pacific," "Oklahoma," and even at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown LA.
  • Barry Russell ’67 serves as Chief Judge of Bankruptcy Court for Central District of California. Judge Russell has been resolving cases for 43 years, making him one of the longest-serving bankruptcy judges in the nation.
  • Thomas E. Warriner ’67 has retired after nearly 29 years on the California Bench, and is now working as a Neutral with ADR Services. He is attached to the firm's San Francisco office and assigned matters in Northern California.
  • Steven Wawra ’67 works with IVAMS Inc. and is based in Santa Monica. Wawra has spent 30 years as a corporate transnational attorney for organizations such as Mitsui Real Estate Sales USA Co. Ltd. and Vidal Sassoon Inc. and became a mediator in 2000.
  • Allan Morton '68 has retired from Family Law litigation practice and has established a family law mediation practice in Santa Barbara.
  • Sidney A. Israels ’69 , a real estate and business partner with Wendel Rosen LLP, the largest law firm in the East Bay representing businesses throughout the state, has recently been appointed to the UC Merced Foundation Board of Trustees.
  • Elwood Lui ’69 was designated as Administrative Presiding Justice of the Second Appellate District. Justice Lui is the first Asian-American administrative presiding justice in the state of California.