Classnotes submitted by Kim Lucia and Eric Toscano on October 05, 2011
Thanks for the great response! We received over thirty updates and have lots to share. Thanks also to Kalen Gallagher for setting up the Google survey which allowed us to collect this information. Congratulations are in order for Evan Klarich, Phil Yeager, and Jay Yin, who recently tied the knot; Henry Chi and Grace Law who married each other (finally!) in September; Matt Tolve and his wife Mercy, who are expecting a baby girl in December; Rebecca Akroyd who is celebrating her six year wedding anniversary this October; and Sara Grumley, who got engaged in late September while in Kauai!!!
Several of our classmates are still in the Sacramento Area. Rebecca Akroyd is living in Rancho Cordova and working for Kronick Moskovitz Tiedemann & Girard as an attorney in the Natural Resources department (mostly doing water law). She tells us she is happily married (six years this October), and happily settled in the area. Jeff Edwards is as an associate at Mastagni, Holstedt, Amick, Miller & Johnsen in Sacramento, where he represents public safety labor unions. Sara Grumley is working at Coleman Chavez and Allen in Roseville. Amanda Pearson is entering her third year with Downey Brand LLP in Sacramento, where she was a summer associate during her time at King Hall. Her practice is in natural resources, with a heavy emphasis on water law. She and her husband live in Davis and expect to buy a house there sooner or later. She hopes to continue to see King Hall students as summer associates at Downey and wishes all the best to her fellow alumni. Crystal Ying Yu is working at the California State Board of Equalization as a Tax Counsel, specializing in state and local tax litigation and administrative law. She lives in the Bay Area and commutes to Sacramento during the week. She just came back from Europe and reports that she likes London better than Paris. Sara Granda is living in Davis and is practicing health and policy law following her appointment by Governor Schwarzenegger. She keeps busy house hunting and traveling to visit friends around the state.
Many have made the move to the Bay Area. Matthew Barnette is living in the East Bay and working at Archer Norris PLC. Evan Klarich is living in San Francisco and working in Morrison & Foerster’s Palo Alto office doing venture capital, M&A, and fund formation work. He just married Mia, his law school girlfriend. Tyler Onitsuka is working at Cooley LLP in Palo Alto doing employment defense litigation and counseling. After the bar exam and before he rejoined the law firm where he was a summer associate in 2008, Todd Ostomel was employed as a post-doctoral scholar in the Materials Science and Engineering department at Stanford University. Since May of 2010, he has been employed as an associate at Kilpatrick Townsend and Stockton LLP (formerly Townsend and Townsend and Crew LLP). His practice focuses on patent prosecution, due diligence and patentability, validity, and freedom-to-operate opinion work in the pharmaceutical, chemical, medical device, and nanotechnology fields. Andrew Ramos is a Real Estate and Litigation Associate at Miller Starr Regalia in Walnut Creek. After graduating from King Hall, Nushin Sarkarati began working at the Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA) in San Francisco, where she is currently a staff attorney. CJA works on international human rights claims in the U.S. and abroad under the Alien Tort Statute and Universal Jurisdiction laws. She is currently representing Cambodian survivors of the Khmer Rouge before the UN-Cambodia hybrid Tribunal in Phnom Penh. Matt Tolve is working at Orrick in the firm’s Securities Litigation group and living in the Cow Hollow neighborhood of San Francisco. He and his wife Mercy got married shortly after graduation in 2009 and, as noted, are expecting a baby girl in December. Matt reports they are “excited but also trying to take advantage of the time until everything gets turned upside down!” Jocelyn Wang is still living and working in San Francisco, practicing tax law at Winston & Strawn. Other highlights include playing hockey, walking her dog, and planning a trip to Australia.
The Class of 2009 also has a very strong Southern California contingent. Laura Chooljian is working for K&L Gates and living in Los Angeles. Jennifer Dasteel is the Director of Pro Bono at Inner City Law Center, the only legal services organization headquartered on Skid Row in Los Angeles. Her practice consists mainly of eviction defense, public benefits, and slum housing litigation. She welcomes any and all King Hall alumni to email her at jdasteel@innercitylaw.org about pro bono projects with her office. Victoria Kahn received an LL.M. in Taxation from Georgetown University Law Center in May of 2010 and thereafter worked for a boutique tax and estate planning firm in Bethesda, Maryland. Since April she has been working as an associate attorney at Price, Postel & Parma LLP in Santa Barbara. Her practice focuses on estate planning, probate, trust administration, and the law of tax-exempt organizations, as well as advising clients on individual, corporate, partnership, and international tax issues, and business formation and transactions. Paul Liu is working as an associate at Kauth, Pomeroy, Peck and Bailey LLP, an Orange County intellectual property boutique firm. Jeff Osofsky is practicing employment law at Paul Hastings LLP in Los Angeles. Raymond Pascual is living in La Jolla and working as an attorney with San Diego Metropolitan Transit System. Hanni Pichel is living in Orange County, working in Civil Litigation at Rutan & Tucker, LLP, and—when she has time to go to the games—is a YLD softball all-star. Megan Rivetti is living in Los Angeles and working at Greenberg Glusker in Century City. She handles a variety of litigation matters in the areas of real estate, business, entertainment, and intellectual property law. Jessica Shofler is living in Santa Monica and working at a boutique law firm in Beverly Hills that represents public charities, private foundations, and start-up companies interested in supporting philanthropy. David Vogel is living in San Diego; working at HechtSolberg in real estate/general business transactions and finance; and spending his free time cycling, sailing, being outdoors, and volunteering through his church. “Overall, life is good!”
Jackie McQuarrie is working at the Shasta County Public Defender’s Office and living in Redding.
Phil Yeager and Ashutosh Sahu are representing King Hall in Washington, D.C. Ashutosh is a patent attorney, living and working in the DC Metro area. He does mainly patent and antitrust litigation and was fortunate enough to work on a very unique case that he can’t tell us about but that he hopes to see published in law school textbooks in the next 3-7 years! He enjoys playing table tennis and reading sci-fi to get an idea of the inventions he may come across in the future. Phil Yeager married Christine Epres on August 19, 2011 in Maui, Hawaii. Phil practices banking law as an associate at Silverman Theologou LLP in Montgomery County, Maryland. Phil and Christine live in Washington, D.C.
Rachel Anderson became a licensed member of the Louisiana State Bar in May 2011. She has been working as a staff attorney at the Louisiana Supreme Court since July 2011, reviewing criminal appeals.
Darius Pazirandeh and Jay Yin are living in Canada and Taiwan, respectively. Darius finished two years of clerking for the Alaska Court of Appeals. He just moved to Vancouver, British Columbia and may or may not become a lawyer there. He reports that “finding a job sucks for Canadian attorneys as well as Americans.” He is still reffing women’s flat track roller derby bouts. Jay tied the knot in June and is working as an in-house attorney at Chimei Innolux Corporation in Taiwan, handling antitrust compliance and litigation, patent litigation, and general contract review and drafting.
Kalen Gallagher has been active in K-12 public education reform. After passing the bar, Kalen set off to gain classroom experience and spent the next two years teaching 7th and 8th grade Social Studies at KIPP Heartwood, a public charter school that serves the low-income communities of East San Jose and Alum Rock.
He helped show that all students are capable of achieving great things (81% of his students scored “advanced” or “proficient” on the CA Social Studies CST even though California had identified 63% of his students as “English Language Learners” and 84% as “socioeconomically disadvantaged.”). Kalen fell in love with teaching, but made the tough decision to make a jump into the world of education technology startups. He believes these innovative Silicon Valley companies have the power to be the great equalizer in public education.
Kalen also co-founded and serves as Co-Director of the Silicon Valley chapter of the New Leaders Council, an organization that provides leadership training, mentorship, and networking to young, progressive professionals identified as the next generation of “social and political entrepreneurs.” Kalen also co-founded and serves as Co-Director of the Silicon Valley chapter of the UC Davis Alumni Association, serves on the Board of Directors of the Stanford chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon, and is active with the Silicon Valley Young Democrats. In his spare time, he is mildly obsessed with film, television series, the Giants, 49ers, Sharks, and Lakers.
I ( Kim Lucia) purchased a new home in March 2010 in West Sacramento. I am entering my third year of practice for Boutin Jones Inc. in Sacramento. I practice general business litigation with a focus on securities-related litigation. I also represent employers in all manner of labor and employment issues, including providing employment advice and litigation. I am a board member for Women Lawyers of Sacramento (WLS) and recently organized WLS’ annual silent auction fundraiser. You can often find me with fellow alumni supporting King Hall by acting as a judge for negotiations competitions and moot court, as well as coaching moot court competition teams. Come by to visit if you are ever in Sacramento and please stay in touch ( klucia@boutinjones.com).
Since January 2010, I ( Eric Toscano) have been working as an associate in the Intellectual Property Litigation Practice Group of Reed Smith LLP’s San Francisco office. Fellow King Hall alumni Rachel Golick (‘08), John Pingel (‘09), Ashley Shively (‘09), Craig Baumgartner (‘10), and Drew Amoroso (‘10) also work in this office. I’m currently co-chairing the BASF Barristers Club Pro Bono and Community Service Committee, so if any of you are in the Bay Area and interested in getting involved in pro bono/community service activities, let me know ( etoscano@reedsmith.com)!