Classnotes submitted by Fred Douglas on July 23, 2012
I went into the William Morris building on Wilshire hoping to get someone interested in an entertainment act. I faked my way past security and got into an elevator with some other people. This one guy (“Hi, I’m Sammie”) had a briefcase that he told another guy contained a blockbuster script. Sammie left the elevator on the next floor, but his scent was still strongly present back in the elevator. I asked the other guy, “What’s the deal with all the Drakkar Noir?” The other guy replied, “Hastings grad.”
Sammie yelled for us to hold the door while someone at a desk was trying to hand his briefcase back to Sammie. We impatiently tapped the elevator buttons to keep moving up, but Sammie caught the door and it closed on the guard trying to shove the briefcase in Sammie’s direction.
Since the other guy wanted to ignore Sammie, I took advantage of the situation to distract him by talking up the new act that I wanted to get an agency to take on. “Hey, you’re an agent, right?” said Fred. The guy said, “Uh . . . . yeah, but I’m not interested in taking on anyone new.”
So I launched into my spiel with as fast as I could spit it out. “Whatever. You see, there’s Bart Hightower at the AG’s Sacramento office doing employment litigation. His daughter just graduated from Oakwood University.
And there’s CJ Clugston, who got married in the same year that he turned the Big 4-O. He’s in Korea at Keimyung University. In this photo, there’s CJ and his wife in Boracay in the Philippines.
Once a year he gets back to the U.S. and gets to see Vinay Chari, who also is married with a beautiful daughter.
Then in Petaluma, California we have Erin Farley, a family law solo with an emphasis on collaborative and mediated agreements.”
The agent asked, “Does she litigate?”
“She’ll litigate when necessary, but she follows a child-centered approach and does her best to keep families away from the court system. She’s happily single and mainly works and spends time with her children, Jess and Jake. Here they are in this picture.
Another member of the act is Iman Shad. He used to be a deputy D.A. and then did civil litigation in SacTown, but he’s now an admin law judge for the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, Office of Tax Petitions. He even was teaching trial clinic labs at King Hall.” Living in Fresno is Jerry Casheros, with his wife Nichelle and two kids, Lexi and Noah. He’s still at McCormick Barstow, doing half malpractice defense and half family law.
Sammie asked, “You got any more pictures?”
“Well. Here’s one of Jeff Marks, his wife, and John Mayer.
Jeff was the energy advisor for two Maine governors and now he is Executive Director of E2Tech, a non-profit trade association with 175 member businesses and organizations seeking to build and expand Maine’s environmental and energy technology sectors. He says that if anyone from the Class of ’99 finds themselves in New England, drop him a line and he’ll help you find some of the best food and brews in the country (and the freshest lobster).”
“Then there’s Jeff Slaton, who’s been staff counsel at the California Housing Finance Agency, doing real estate transactional work related to affordable housing.”
The agent asked, “Nobody is gonna believe this act. There’s no such thing as ‘affordable housing’ in California.”
“Well, I’m sure that he’s working on making housing affordable. Plus, he’s heavy into road bike racing, which he says is ‘expensive, painful, time-consuming, challenging, exciting, and dangerous.”
The agent said, “Oh, I thought for a moment that you were describing your stupid elevator speech.”
“Hold on, there’s still more. Kate Hadley has been working on a master’s degree in library and information science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Megan Labelle is living in Washington, D.C. with her husband David and their two children, Xavier and Anastasia. Megan is an Assistant Professor at the law school at Catholic University, where she teaches Civ Pro, Fed Courts, and IP course.” And Taro Kusunose is a partner at a Seattle law firm, practicing business/corporate, real estate, and trademark issues. His wife Nami is a school teacher and they have a boy and a girl.”
Sammie and the agent asked, almost in unison, “What’s the name of this act?”
I replied, “The Esquires.”
-Fred Douglas
Class of 1999
King Hall
Class Notes October 2009
Ten years gone. Let's see how's everyone's doing.
Pietro Canestrelli is now in Murrieta, California working at a law firm. He mainly works on tax controversies and recently completed his LLM in taxation at the University of San Diego. Jeff Marks and his wife Danielleleft their high-profile jobs in Washington, DC to start a new life in Portland, Maine.WithPortland's reputation as one of the best"foodie" small cities and Maine's leadership on clean energy issues,the two are exploring small business opportunities in these fields. Peter Bassett is in the Bay Area working as a benefits manager for San Mateo. He has two children, ages two and five. Peter came to the reunion looking not a day older than how he looked in law school. Somehow he found the fountain of youth and I need him to kick me down a bottle of it.
Maya Sinclair couldn't make it to the 10-year reunion. I don't blame her as the plane flight from her abode, Saipan, takes about 20 hours. She is in the middle of the Pacific with her husband Victor and two children (4 years old and 5 months old). Maya transferred from a San Francisco law firm to practice law in Saipan to enjoy the island lifestyle and to raise her kids on the beach. She says that Saipan has three main roads and reliable power requires owning a generator. She wrote me in the middle of a typhoon, but she expected to return back to the pool or the beach soon. Ain't [1] that tough? Pool or beach. Life is full of choices and I am jealous.
Megan La Belle and husband live in Washington, D.C. with their two children. Recently she joined the faculty at the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America where Megan teaches civil procedure and intellectual property courses.
Jerry Casheros and wife Nichelle recently celebrated their ninth wedding anniversary. Jerry is still with the McCormick Barstow firm. They live in Fresno with their seven-year-old daughter and a four-year-old son.
Ken Tyndal has moved his practice to Basra, Iraq. He's in Army JAG, presently with the U.S. State Department Provincial Reconstruction Team on Rule of Law Mission to Basra. His role is to assist Iraqi judges and police to establish a legal system. The previous legal system seemed to consist of thirty years of doing whatever Saddam Hussein decreed. Ken has his job cut out for him with a system of corruption and influence from the friendly neighbor called Iran.
Jutta Dissen came to the reunion from Germany, with her husband and young son. Her career benefits from her LLM degree obtained at King Hall such that her work at the White & Case firm uses her abilities from having a U.S. law degree, membership in the New York Bar, and legal credentials in Europe. I enjoyed talking to her and her husband at the reunion. She reminded me that she gave me a bike when she left Davis. That was a good deal as I believe that it is still illegal to reside in Davis without possessing a couple of bikes.
Melissa Jones came to the reunion. I was hoping to see her husband Greg Fisher (Class of 1998) but he was visiting back East. Leon Kousharian came with his family. He is with the Marin County District Attorney Office. Sean Ponist came with his wife. Yuping Wang moved back to China after obtaining her LLM degree in 1999. Yuping came to the reunion from Shanghai, China with her husband and son, who both speak Chinese, English, and French. She is a partner at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP and has many U.S. clients at her firm in Shanghai.
I also saw Brent Finch, Michelle Moseley Espy, and Natasha Hyman. Roberta Savage and family also attended.
Sandra Chong has been Assistant General Counsel for the San Diego Unified School District for over seven years. She is still active in dragon boat racing with the San Diego Dragon Boat Team, which competes locally and internationally. Her fiancé, Paul Bergman, proposed to Sandra during a trip to Italy in September.
I spent quite a bit of time talking with Pascal Benyamini, Taro Kusonose, David Kesselman, Aimee Dudovitz (she and David are going ten years strong), Jesse Alexander, and Sandra Chong (and her fiancé). We went to Sudwerk for advanced socializing.
It was a great experience taking a tour of King Hall after ten years' absence. Unexpectedly, as we passed by each room, several memories came rushing by from my experience at King Hall and several others expressed the same.
As for faculty, we had Dean Kevin Johnson, Professors Joel Dobris, Rex Perschbacher, Richard Wydick, Lisa Pruitt, Alan Brownstein, Floyd Feeney, Thomas Joo, and Marty West.
Well, as for me, my wife and I just celebrated our twentieth wedding anniversary. I am still in Irvine, California, working on my own in patent litigation. I associate with other lawyers and law firms to build a litigation team on a case-by-case basis.
I've experienced a lot of things during the last ten years, but if I tell you now, you'd get bored. So I'll see you at the next King Hall Reunion where I can bore you in person.
Fred Douglas
[1] "Ain't" previously was a frequently used contraction for "is not", which really could be shortened to "isn't." Still, I miss "ain't" so I'm bringing it back. Come on now. Should Bill Withers have sung "There Is No Sunshine When She Is Gone"? Even if you disagree, I believe that I am not misbehaving.
James Anthony reports: “After three years as an award-winning Neighborhood Law Corps Attorney for the Oakland City Attorney (at a miserable nonprofit salary) [he is] now solo in private practice…specialty is land usefor medical cannabis collectives, up and down the state. Busy, busy. For an interesting biography of his brief career as a community prosecutor, see the speakers bio page at www.leap.cc (cops against the war on drugs.)”
Pete Bassett is living in the Bay Area and working in the County Manager's Office of San Mateo County. Baby #2 came in January 2007.
Matthew Charney sent in a picture of his son, Andrew Jacob Charney! He was born on October 11, 2006. Matthew writes: “He's healthy, happy, and beautiful (although I may be biased). He's 2 wks old in the photo.”
Sandra Chong is still working as Assistant General Counsel for San Diego Unified School District on all aspects of construction and facilities management. She writes that she “has been competing in dragon boat racing, the second most popular sport in the world after soccer, as part of the nationally and internationally ranked San Diego Dragon Boat Team. Over the last three years, I have travelled to China, Taiwan, and South Africa for competition, winning over a dozen medals from local, national, and international races. Please visit http://www.sddragonboat.com/. I also paddle outrigger canoe, but haven’t used my 7’6” surfboard more than three times. “ Sandra’s King Hall sightings this past year: a Denver, CO water rafting trip with Michelle Park (’98), visit with Joice Noidy (’00) who lives in Las Vegas., and lunch with Tamara Swenson.
In April 2004, Rob Cloninger moved from Chicago, Illinois, to Sacramento, California. Prior to his move, Rob had been practicing at Schiff Hardin LLP for five years, and he now is practicing with Downey Brand, LLP. Rob's practice focuses primarily on private equity investing, mergers and acquisitions, securities law compliance and general corporate counseling. Rob and his wife, Charlotte, live in Sacramento with their daughter, Meghan (age 4 1/2) and their son, Bobby (age 2 1/2), and they are expecting the birth of their third child in early March 2007.
CJ Clugston writes: “I moved to Korea and I am never coming back...
Actually, it will probably only be for a year or two.” CJ is a visiting professor at Chungnam Natiounal University - it's located in Daejeon, about one hour south of Seoul.
David Del Buono is practicing construction defect and large exposure insurance coverage law in Redwood City at Branson, Brinkop, Griffith & Strong. He was just sworn into the Washington state bar last year. He and his wife, Amanda, have two children, Alex, 3 and Genoa, 6 mos. and live in Mountain View.
Michelle Espy is back at her old job part-time, representing parents in Juvenile Dependency cases after a 2 year “break” home with kids.
Erin Farley is married and living in Santa Rosa, working some from home. She spends most of her time with her son Jake, and Jessie (who is now 16 year-old!). Her daughter (who’s somehow become interested in non-profit work, has founded an organization called, “Students Against Genocide Everywhere”. Check it out on the web: www.studentsagainstgenocideeverywhere.com) – Erin says its pretty cool.
Greg Gilmer and his wife, Carrie, have been enjoying their son Grant and his “wonderful (and sometimes destructive) nature.” Greg says his sone “has taken up all of our time so there is nothing else to report. On the job front, I was recently named partner at Bowman and Brooke LLP, a products liability firm in Los Angeles.” Congratulations Greg!
Bart Hightower is still working at Porter Scott practicing litigation -- business, employment, civil rights. He had two civil rights trials this year at the Eastern District before Judge Frank C. Damrell, Jr. deadlocked jury on one, and a successful defense verdict on the other.
Brian Holdaway represents State Compensation Insurance Fund inStocktonand continues to battle Jesse Alexander III in workers' comp court. They are known to settle their cases on the local golf course. Chrishna Martinez is enjoying maternity leave with her and Brian's second child. Now in her 7th year at the San Joaquin County Public Defender's office, she and Dorothy Mead (98) worked the same beat in prelim court last year.When both working, Brian and Chrishna's combined total commute time is20 minutes per day.
Melissa Jones (me) is still working at Morrison & Foerster in Sacramento. “I’m enjoying parenthood and work (just settled a big case, which is why these notes are SO late-- apologies!). My daughter, Elise, just turned two and is great fun. She likes to talk (a lot) and sing, and keeps me and Greg on our toes every day.”
David Kesselman writes that he and
Aimee Dudovitz are doing great. Their son Joshua is over a year old; Dave said he and Aimee don’t have much more to report-- they are just trying to balance work and family.
Megan LaBelle is still living in DC and I'm still working for Munger, Tolles from DC (telecommuting from home). She’s also teaching an Introduction to Intellectual Property courseas an adjunct at the Catholic University of America School of Law, and recently wrote an article on copyright law that is to be published in the fall issue of the Denver University Law Review. Her son, Xavier, turned 2 last November.
Jeff Marks is the Director of Energy and Environmental Policy for United Technologies Corp., a Fortune 50 aerospace and building products company. He and his wife (Danielle) “had a very colorful wedding at the Crayola Factory in Pennsylvania last year.” Jeff and Danielle spent a few weeks in India at the end of 2006; Jeff says “Life is good!”
John McKinsey recently moved to Stoel Rives LLP, from a small firm to a large firm, and is loving it. John said: “I continue to focus my practice on the energy industry where I have . In my personal life, I am loving the farming life (I own a ten acre almond orchard)and am really almost done with my first novel.”
Kimberly McFarlin Niemeyer has 2 kids now - Magdalena (2 years) and Olen (6 months). She recently left private practice and is working for the State Water Resources Control Board.
Ashante Norton is still with the AG's office in Sacramento doing primarily appellate work, hearings before the state personnel board, and says: “I am trying my hardest to keep drunk drivers off the roads via opposing writs on behalf of DMV.” She has two sons with Doug (98)- Michael Ray (3 years old) and Jackson Knight (3 months old). Doug opened a financial and estate planning firm- Norton Mansu Financial Services. Ashante said that she’s in touch with
Rochelle (Boone) Briscoe, who
just had her first child (a boy) last year- little Maceo Briscoe.
Rachael Salcido is enjoying life as a law professor at McGeorge; last year she was promoted to Associate Professor. Rachael says: “I've been doing research on ocean and coastal issues and plan to teach a course on that subject in Spring 2008. This summer I spoke at the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Annual Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico and published a paper titled Public Lands Access: Everything Old is New Again. New Mexico is beautiful. The food in Santa Fe was amazing! After the conference we also spent a few days in Taos, where we stayed at a wonderful B&B and did some hiking out of the ski area. Outside of work and travel, I have also been spending more time with my family since my sister, niece and nephew moved to Davis.”
Michael Scimeca is still livingin San Franciso, working at the same firm. He writes that he is getting married in March 2007and going on a honeymoon to Vail for skiing and then to Hawaii. Congrats Mike!
Manuel Valencia recently accepted the position of Staff Counsel with the California State Assembly Judiciary Committee. His issue areas are Civil Rights, Labor & Employment, Immigration and Attorney Discipline. Manuel says that as part of his duties, he participated in recent efforts, initiated by Chief Justice Ronald M. George, to increase diversity among California's judges. He said :I definitely enjoy my job and look forward to what challenges the coming year brings.”
Yuping Wang is an associate at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP (has been there for 4+ years) and is enjoying life with the baby!