Class Notes Updated October 12, 2011
Greetings Class of ’92! Can you believe that it has been almost 20 years since we graduated from law school? How time has flown by! Here are the latest updates from our classmates.
Steve Boreman writes that he retired as a Deputy Attorney General in the Health Quality Enforcement section in December 2008 and joined the San Francisco firm of Slote & Links in an Of Counsel capacity in January 2009. He serves as their Sacramento area attorney, focusing on medical licensing and administrative law.
Tony Wong is trying to reach Mike Ahern but doesn’t have a good email address for him. Mike, where are you?
Kevin Ranken continues to love his career and has his own private practice in clinical psychology in Wailea, Maui. Kevin notes that he is a huge fan of 'Internal Family Systems,' the next wave of applied brain science. He still golfs every Thursday, and said that he misses Tony Allen and Eric Shelby (and sometimes even misses Kraig Kilger). He gets back to America 5 or 6 times a year, including to Vegas to play poker. He adds that “two years ago I was walking through the Venetian, and ran into a life-size image of Diane Smith from 1992. We got to chat for a minute.I don't know how she does the time-warp thing, it's quite impressive.” In addition to running into Diane, he also sees lots of great UCD friends at least every year or two, usually at Dave Harris' house.
Ken Sokoler is still working in the criminal law section of the California Attorney General's Office and lives with his family in Sacramento. A year ago, in September 2010, his family was plunged into the world of pediatric oncology when his young son developed a cancer of the kidney known as Wilms tumor. He underwent several surgeries and seven months of chemotherapy, and in May 2011, he completed his treatment. Ken adds that “he's now doing very well and has a full head of hair and very good prognosis.” As to career matters, he still enjoys his work on criminal appeals and habeas corpus matters. Ken is currently keeping busy writing the prosecution's brief in the appeal of the serial killer Charles Ng.
Kelly Valen has just returned from Bangkok after a 19-month tour with the State Department (she notes that her husband is the diplomat, not her). Their next post is Vancouver, but they are cooling their heels in the Piedmont/Bay Area for a few months in between.
Dawn McIntosh notes that “life is still clicking along at a breakneck pace. Kids are now 10 and 8 and busier than ever with school, sports, dance, etc. I'm still Of Counsel with Meyers Nave doing environmental and land use transactional and litigation work. I'm also the leader of my daughter's brownie troop. Doug and I continue torace sail boats in our spare time and the kids are starting to get into racing too. That's about it from Long Beach. If anyone gets down this way, give me a call!”
Larry Sher continues to enjoy the good life in Marin County. He writes, “I’ve been very happily married to Renee, a distant relative of classmate Ken Sokoler, for nine years. Travel continues to be one of my great passions, and I’ve traveled to London/Budapest/Vienna, Thailand, and Ireland in the last 12 months. Another major passion is music. (You may recall I played piano at Cardozorama when we were 1Ls.) More recently, I released a CD of all original music under my nom de guerre, Lars From Mars. It is titled “Vitamin L,” and I invite my classmates to check it out at larsmarsmusic.com. I also put together my first band in 25 years and we had a CD release party over Labor Day in Sonoma. It was lots of fun.”
Kelli Borelli’s main news is that she left the partnership with Murphy Austin Adams Schoenfeld in December 2008 and started her own practice. Her firm, Employment Law Counsel, LLP, has three partners, two in Sacramento and her in Elk Grove, and they all practice exclusively labor and employment law. They primarily advise and counsel employers and also conduct workplace training and investigations. As many of you may know, Alberto Roldan and Kelli Borelli are both on the King Hall Alumni Association board of directors. Kelli noted that any ’92 alumni with any questions or concerns about King Hall are welcome to contact them.
Chris Witte sends in that his wife Kirsty Lockhart (McGeorge class of 1993) was recently elected the Chair of the City and County of Broomfield Cultural Counsel. He also wanted to encourage our classmates to see a Dave Harris play if the opportunity presents itself. Chris and Kirsty flew in for one of Dave’s show and reported that everyone really enjoyed it.
As for me, Jennifer Kennedy, I continue to work for the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office. I currently handle the juvenile intake and get to see what crimes the youth of Sacramento County are committing. My oldest son, Ty, just started his freshman year of college at UCDavis. Visiting the campus has brought back many wonderful memories of the time that we spent at King Hall, even nearly 20 years later! My daughter Tatum is a junior in high school, and my son Cole is a sophomore. As always, if any of you are in the Sacramento/Rocklin area, please look me up and give me a call. Until next time, be safe and happy!
Bruce Kerr is coming up on his second year as the VP of Legal Affairs for The Sleep Train, Inc. Bruce notes that The Sleep Train is a great company and lot of fun to boot. His three kids are all happily playing organized sports. Between the job and the kids, he rarely gets a chance to see our classmates, but does occasionally see Phil Rhodes and John Klein.
Phil Rhodes and his wife Tricia are in the process of buying a new house, using fellow classmate John Klein as their realtor (apparently John Klein is now a principal/partner in the KZ Real Estate Group). Phil adds that he is singing in the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles on June 26 with the 185 voice Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra -- Mozart's Requiem and another piece. Other than that, he continues to practice law “for the dark side, keeping the world safe for creditors everywhere.” For those of you who may find yourselves in Lake Tahoe in September, keep your eyes open for Phil, his wife, and Bruce Kerr as they currently are planning on riding in an organized bike ride around the lake at that time.
Allen Hopper is now the Litigation Director for the National ACLU’s Drug Law Reform Project. According to Allen, his work is “serendipitously located far away from the ACLU’s New York City headquarters in sunny Santa Cruz.” Allen met his wife Anjuli at work, proposed while they were surfing (with dolphins swimming nearby), and they recently celebrated their 1 st anniversary. Allen has also happily stumbled into a twice-a-week basketball game with a group of Santa Cruz lawyers, including none other than basketball legend J.J. Hamlyn.
Speaking of legends, Dario Frommer has "retired" from the State Assembly in 2006 thanks to term limits. Following in the footsteps of his hero Andrew Sabey as a partner in a big law firm, Dario is working in Los Angeles at Mayer Brown LLP. Dario adds that he was just appointed to the California Transportation Commission, “so if anyone needs a freeway built in their neighborhood, they have a friend in the business.” While he misses politics, he is enjoying a less hectic schedule that allows him to spend more time with his son who is now 2 ½.
Eric Shelby and his wife Laura are also still living in Los Angeles, working at their respective firms (Seyfarth and Allen Matkins). Eric notes that they are “still pretty busy, despite the bumpy economy. Watching two kids grow up takes up most of our time and psychic energy - Sarah is 12, in 7th grade, and Ben is 6 and loving kindergarten. We now have two dogs, which is two more than we need. They are fun though. Spending a lot of time at the beach, hiking in the Santa Monica Mountains, and playing soccer with the kids.”
Chris Witte’s big news is that wife Kirsty Lockhart (‘93 McGeorge) is quitting her job to be a full-time mom to their children Madeline Lockhart Witte (age 4) and Jameson Witte Lockhart (age 2). “We have our house in Denver on the market and will be moving to Broomfield as soon as that house sells. Kirsty grew up in Broomfield and her parents and siblings are there. We had a long, tough couple of years trying to be full-time attorneys with little children and we are very much looking forward to the changes.”
It was nice to hear from David Kornbluh for the first time. David writes that his daughter Mariah, who was in first grade when we graduated, just graduated college this week from UC Santa Cruz. His second child, Noa, is a freshman at UC Berkeley, and his youngest, who was born during our second year, is a junior at Palo Alto high school. His wife, Diane, teaches elementary school in Redwood City. David adds that “I am still a partner at Miller Morton Caillat & Nevis in San Jose specializing in employment and business litigation. I still enjoy being an attorney. I hope that is true for our classmates.”
Susan Geanacou wanted to express her appreciation to King Hall graduates Floyd Shimomura (’73) and Bob Campbell (’74) for playing a very positive role in her life as mentors. She adds: “May others have the benefit of supervisors and co-workers who share wisdom, experience, perspective and humor. I am also thankful for the support and teaching of many colleagues over the years and for the good friendships that have formed. I miss special people who have died and celebrate those who are living and make every day brighter and more fun. Count your blessings all.” In winter 2007, Susan graduated from UC Davis Health Systems' Mini Medical School, motivated by a desire to learn more about nutrition and its impact on health and aging in "life's second half." With young kids in school, she notes that she is not traveling as much as she’d like, but did have a great fall trip to Santa Fe in 2007.
Caroline Otani wishes to send her hello to all of you from Hawaii.
Dave Harris writes as follows: “In case you didn't feel old enough, my son Dylan, born after we graduated law school, is now 15. Emma is 13, and Danny, who recently helped Reed Sabey celebrate his birthday, is 8. I passed "old" some time ago. I still argue about dirt for a living, am still writing the screenplay that will allow me to stop the aforementioned arguing, and am still buying lottery tickets as a backup plan. I just had my 3rd short story accepted by a fantasy magazine entitled "The Black Gate" which does not pay enough to abandon the screenplay/lottery strategy.
Recent King Hall sightings include Andrew Sabey and his wife Erin (’93) at Reed's party, Darryl Stallworth being officially inducted into his new law firm in Oakland ( Dave Simons also attended), and Paul Dau down in Palo Alto.
Caroline and I also ran into Marcy Friedenthal at a games store in Concord while shopping for Christmas presents. Marcy was accompanied by a man named Keith, with whom I used to play volleyball years before law school, who somehow recognized me, right after I took one of those magic 8-balls from the shelf and spiked it.”
Speaking of Andrew Sabey, in January 2007, Andrew and five others in the land use, natural resources and real estate practice, departed MoFo for the San Francisco office of Cox, Castle & Nicholson. Andrew notes that it has been a great move. “After 10 plus years at MoFo, it was a difficult decision to leave, but the practice fit and people at Cox Castle made it a huge success. In this era of routine partner lateral moves, it has become cliché to speak in terms of compatible platforms and practice synergies. So I won't fall into that trap of describing how Cox Castle provides us with the right platform to serve the real estate industry in California and how we have enjoyed the synergies of Cox Castle's strong Southern California presence combined with the dynamic practice our group enjoys in Northern California. You can draw your own conclusions.”
Kim Kralowec notes that she has joined a new law firm, Schubert & Reed LLP in San Francisco and is still doing plaintiff’s class action work.
Dawn (Andrews) McIntosh writes that things are good in Southern California. “Kids are growing so fast. Andrew is 6 and Katie is 4. Andrew is in first grade and into lots of activities. Katie is in her last few months of preschool and loves wearing princess dresses. Doug and I are still racing sailboats. I am working at Meyers Nave; I joined them over a year ago. That is working out really well. The people are wonderful and the work interesting. I do endangered species act work, environmental compliance and land use litigation.” She adds that she hopes to see everyone at the NLA Reunion August 23-24 at Elizabeth (Coppage) Brown's house in La Canada.
Ashely Tobin continues to balance work with leisure. She adds: “I think the last time I wrote, I was in New Zealand working for Larry Ellison’s America’s Cup Sailing team. I am back home in Orinda, but again working for the Team as Deputy General Counsel/Rules Advisor. I split my time between sampling vino tinto in Valencia Spain, where the Team is based, and working from the Golden Gate Yacht Club in SF. I see Jill Thayer and Bea Liu monthly at Bookclub, Kelly Dick Valen for more vino tinto, and Alice Michel occasionally for pit-stops to and from skiing. Time seems to be flying, but much is good and the same with me.”
Ken Sokolorand his wife Ardyth had their second child, Joshua Ryan, in November 2007. In addition to having a new baby, Ken and his wife report that they will be moving from Los Angeles to Sacramento in early May. Ken will be transferring within the AG's office, still doing criminal appellate and habeas work.
As far as my news ( Jennifer Kennedy), I don’t have much to report – other than that I can’t believe another year has gone by. My son Ty is a freshman at Jesuit High School, my daughter Tatum is in 7 th grade, and my son Cole is in 6 th grade. My children hear often of how much I enjoyed King Hall and the wonderful people that I met there. Please know that I think of our class with as much fondness now as I did then. Thanks for the privilege of getting to stay in touch with you. My warmest regards to all of you until next time.