Class Notes updated August, 2009
Angela Brown Bonifacie:
No really big news to report. Still in France raising my son Pascal who is now 4 years old. It is time for me to return to work but the market is not cooperating. I had a really nice visit from Kathy Fung in May. She was traveling to visit a friend in Italy when she made a stop in Paris on her way back to San Francisco. As always she looks great.
Jerry Garcia:
I have been a partner here at Lewis Brisbois since Nov. 1999. (Our old firm, Bottum & Feliton, moved over here at that time.) On Aug. 2, Elyse and I will celebrate our 23rd wedding anniversary. Daughter No. 1, Elizabeth, is 20 and is attending Long Beach City College. Daughter No. 2, Rachel, will be a senior at Millikan High this fall. Mike Cabori is doing well and so is his hair.I cross paths with Paul Marron every once in a while. We are still involved with the Long Beach Special Olympics.
Tony Pierotti:
I am still at Irell & Manella. I keep in touch with Steve Katzman (back in private practice in Orange County after 5 years as the U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee in San Diego), Byron Bahr and Keith Laufer and see Paul Couchot every so often. My oldest daughter, Victoria, is now 15 and playing a lot of water polo, and is participating in the Junior Olympics and a Hawaii tournament this summer. My son Michael is now 13 and went with me this summer on a fishing trip to the wilds of Alaska where he caught a 120 pound halibut and too many salmon to count. My daughter Samantha is now 7 and will be going into second grade this fall, although she has already firmly decided she wants to be a veterinarian or marine biologist. My wife Marie and I will celebrate our 19th anniversary this fall, and that dreaded 50th birthday is now on the horizon.
Jeff Woo:
Its been two years since I merged my six attorney practice into Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold. Most days, I remain happy I did it, but there are a couple a times whenI long for the independence of running my own shop. One of the perks of a big firm is that there are enough peopleto form a softball team, which I've been playing on.
My kids are 7, 9 and 18. I recently was reminded of my age when I fractured a bone in my knee playing touch football. It was spontaneous bone failure as no one was within 3 feet of me at the time.
I still see on occasion Lisa Ikemoto, Neil Sekhri, Mitch Wong and Vince Bausano.
Lori Barker:
Hi,
I am still in Chico, now as the City Attorney, which I really like and which is always really interesting, mostly fun and occasionally terrifying. Our daughter is about to turn 14, an interesting age, and will be in high school next year. (I am sure she was only 6 last year, we must have gone through a time warp.) Chico is a really great place, if anyone finds themselves in the neighborhood be sure and let me know.
Scott Bellows:
Five years ago our family (wife Carol, daughter Elizabeth now 14, and daughter Amelia now 12) moved from the Portland, OR area to Eugene, OR so Carol could back to school. While we were there we got together with Heidi Doggweiler, which was a lot of fun. Last Spring Carol graduated with her degree in Landscape Architecture, and after being unsure where she'd find work, she found a job with an architecture, landscape architecture and engineering firm in Portland. So, we're back in the Portland area now.
I gave up my litigation practice six years ago; I tell people that I loved litigation until I hated it, but then I massively burned out. Since then I've worked exclusively as a mediator, arbitrator, and public policy facilitator. I love mediation; it's almost a calling, so fortunately I seem to be good at it. I'm in private practice ( www.disputesolutions.org), and also am on the rosters of or have contracts with the Oregon Court of Appeals, Oregon Department of Education (special education and IDEA mediation), Oregon Department of Transportation (construction mediation, arbitration and third-party-neutral practice), etc. Carol and I co-presented a seminar at the last Oregon Mediation Association conference on the mediation environment, drawing from recent research into the impact of design on healthcare outcomes to make suggestions about how to help people "heal" conflict. I've been putting some of those ideas into practice, as well -- things like using natural settings to decrease stress and therefore positional rigidity -- with striking results.
On the nonprofessional level: our 12 year old is a softball player and a cellist in Portland's Metropolitan Youth Symphony; the 14 year old is into theater and singing. I'm a volunteer with Portland Mountain Rescue and Eugene Mountain Rescue (I was on the search for James Kim, the Bay Area technology writer whose family got stranded in Southern Oregon) and serve on PMR's Board of Directors, and also spend way too much time blogging, mainly on political topics (I'm an Obamanut) for my own blogs, VichyDems and The Neoprogressive, and for Arianna Huffington's online newspaper, the Huffington Post.
Angela Brown Bonifacie:
I hope all is well. I now live in the Paris area with my French husband and son. In mid-2006, I resigned from my partnership with Sabin, Bermant & Gould, located in New York City, where I practiced employment law, to move to France to raise Pascal who was 15 months old at the time. I am enjoying my time in France. I just had a recent visit from Kathy Fung who is also doing well, living in San Francisco. I would like to return to work in the Fall of 2008. If you know of any interesting opportunities, please feel free to send them my way.
I had a great visit with Brendan McDonnell's son Patrick and girlfriend when they came to Paris. Patrick is a wonderful young man with a good head on his shoulders (boy do I sound old). I can also vouch for the fact that Brendan and Mary are great hosts when visiting Portland.
Barbara Gallios:
I am opening my own law practice in San Francisco on May 1, 2008, specializing in insurance law for policyholders and also family responsibilities employment discrimination. My contact information is: Barbara Gallios, Attorney at Law, 1750 Montgomery Street, San Francisco, CA 9411, Telephone (415) 835-9499, Fax (415) 954-8598, www.barbaragallios.com.
Suzanne Graeser:
On August 18, 2007, we adopted a daughter, Alexandra Graeser, from Kazakhstan (Central Asia). She is 5 yrs old and goes by her nickname "Sasha." We always talked about adopting a child, so when my husband Scott “temporarily” retired last year, we decided it was time. We started the paper work in January 2007, and by mid-June we were all (including our 8 year old son, Bryan) on a plane traveling half way around the world to meet Sasha. We spent 3 weeks there going through the bonding process, finishing with a court hearing. We then had to leave her while we waited out the appeal period at home. Scott went back a month later to finalize Sasha’s paperwork and to bring her home.
Sasha started kindergarten after being in the U.S. for only 2.5 weeks and speaking only Russian and Kazakh. It was rough at first, but she loves it now and can’t wait to go each day. Our son Bryan is in 3 rd grade and having fun learning to be a big brother. He enjoys soccer, reading and writing stories and creating worlds with his Legos.
I am still a corporate partner at Morrison & Foerster in Palo Alto where I have been since 1995. I co-head the emerging company/venture capital practice for the firm.
That's all for now.
Dan Hatch:
My first note ever, but since it’s been on my to do list for 20 years, here goes. Since I did my first year with the 86 folks, I am sort of a hybrid between 86 and 87, so never knew which class to write to. But 87 it is!! I am a Partner at the Recruiting firm Major Lindsey & Africa, and head up the partner practice for Southern California (I specialize in partner representations). www.mlaglobal.com. I live in Newport Beach with my wife Karol and three kids, 6,9 and 10 (Danny, Kyle and Erin). Such fond memories of our time at King Hall. Seems like yesterday we were drinking at the Paragon, still figuring out how we were going to conquer (or save?) the world. I miss those days. I keep in touch with Keith Klein, Paul Couchot, Tony Pierotti to name a few. Run into others more sporadically. Cheers
Brendan McDonnell:
In 1990, I moved my family to Portland, Oregon. I have three children: Patrick (now 21 and formerly the baby I brought to the UC Davis Law School Perfect Tender Co-op), Erin (19 and a girl), and Joseph (17). Patrick is a junior at the University of Michigan, Erin is a freshman at Notre Dame and Joe is a junior in High School. Mary and I are soon to be empty nesters. We look forward to the freedom but will miss the noise. It has been a busy and fun 22 years.
Patrick did a semester abroad last year in Madrid, Spain. He was there with his girlfriend. They both visited Angela Brown in Paris, where she now lives with her husband Herve and son Pascal. The thought that Patrick is old enough to be in Europe visiting Angela and her family says that time flies for us all.
I am with the firm of K&L Gates doing Corporate, M&A and Securities law. I really enjoy the firm and practicing in Portland. If anyone visits Portland, they should send me an email. Best, Brendan
David Pursley:
My wife, Deidre Sparks, is retired, at least for the time being. No such luck for me. I'm Associate General Counsel at Synopsys, Inc., in the IP Group. Synopsys is in Mountain View and makes EDA (electronic design automation) software, which semiconductor companies use to design and manufacture their chips.
Brian Watnik:
Personal:
I am excited to announce that I am getting married again this summer! I am marrying a truly wonderful woman who supports me in every way!
My daughter just turned 17 and we just got back from a week of looking at east coast colleges. I wish that I could go back to college! I am very happy for her and proud of her accomplishments. She is actually considering law as one possibility!
Professional:
My law practice is growing. I have just celebrated my 3rd year of having my own Workers' Compensation Defense Practice. I have recently been retained by a national communications company and a national retail chain to assist in the defense of their workers' compensation matters.
I still practice local real estate in the Ventura area and have been getting involved in Investment Real Estate and purchasing bank owned properties.
Finally, I have expanded into the travel industry. I have found great opportunities in this business, from tax write offs to great travel discounts. We provide a online travel portal comparable to the other internet travel giants. I would like to invite anyone who is interested to check out my website at www.ytb.com/InPursuitofTravel.
Jeffrey Woo:
Last year, after 16 years of having my own firm, I merged (really got swallowed whole) my 6 attorney firm with Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold. We have formed a practice group here which focuses on Rent and Eviction control issues throughout California.