Have you moved to a new city or job? Do you have a baby on the way? Did you get a promotion? Keep your fellow alums up-to-date with your important life changes by submitting a Class Note. We'll publish your news on the web and/or the alumni magazine, Transcript. And if you don't have anything new to report, just browse our our Class Notes page.
Monica Schreiber (formerly Hayde) '00 reports: "I recently marked my fifth year in the marketing and business development group at Dechert LLP. I love working with the firm's IP attorneys on client development and communications projects and have never regretted my decision to leave the the practice of law. I've been working part-time for the last year and am enjoying the extra days with our girls, ages 4 and 2. I also squeeze in some time as a volunteer PR representative for a non-profit that focuses on a discrete, but important animal welfare issue: ending the practice of keeping dogs chained or caged for their lives, a method of canine confinement that is all-too-common, and even widely accepted, in many parts of the country, especially in rural areas. See www.dogsdeservebetter.org.
Amy Guzman '02 writes: Since graduating, I got married, had two children, left practicing in a law firm, and am currently working at a small private finance company.
Ebony-Azizi Sylla '02: After spending several years in the private sector, and a short time at Legal Aid of Arkansas, and after relocating to Memphis, Tennessee, Ebony-Azizi Sylla joined the United States Navy JAG Corps. Lt. Sylla, JAGC, USN is currently fulfilling a lifelong dream by relocating to Okinawa, Japan this summer to work as the staff judge advocate (military general counsel) for Naval Hospital Okinawa.
Paolo Cioppa '05 writes: After a great experience with the Skadden M&A team in New York, I have accepted an offer at Davis Polk. I will be spending the first few months in the New York office of Davis, and as of September I will relocate to the Madrid office for two years. I would really like to see any fellow alumni in Spain.
Heather Elliott '00 writes: This summer, I am leaving my position at Catholic University to teach at the University of Alabama so that I can be with my fiance, a philosophy professor there.
Jennifer R. McClure '95 recently joined Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps LLP in the firm’s growing real estate and environmental litigation practice group as special counsel. McClure, who is experienced in litigating a broad range of complex civil litigation issues, specializes in the trial of eminent domain and inverse condemnation matters, including pre-condemnation delay and loss of business goodwill. In her practice, she has represented a variety of corporations, landowners and public agencies in real estate valuation law and environmental disputes. Ms. McClure was previously employed at Nossaman, Guthner, Knox and Elliot LLP.
Micah Jacobs '94 is managing partner and lead of the litigation team at Jacobs & Ferraro, a San Francisco business and litigation law firm, which recently announced a merger with leading West Coast law firm Bullivant Houser Bailey PC. “We’re thrilled to be joining forces with an outstanding group of attorneys,” Jacobs said. Established in 2001 by partners Micah Jacobs and Eric Ferraro, Jacobs & Ferraro has built a strong local and national reputation. The firm has secured numerous multi-million dollar settlements and unanimous jury verdicts, and both partners have been named Northern California Super Lawyers. “We recognize in Eric and Micah a real entrepreneurial spirit and a demonstrated ability to deliver creative, practical and sophisticated results for their clients. With their capabilities and proven track record, we look forward to enhancing Bullivant's presence in one of the world's most creative and dynamic legal markets,” said M. Taylor Florence, chair of Bullivant’s board of directors.
Christine Kurek ’96: After practicing law for a number of years, Christine Kurek ’96 has recently launched a business venture of her own out of L.A.— sleep & loungewear label Buxom Inc. (Christine was also on her class reunion committee a few years back.) After law school, Christine clerked for Chief Judge Jerry Buchmeyer, N.D. Texas (in Dallas), then worked at Covington & Burling in D.C. for a few years before returning to California. Here she worked for Yahoo! at their corporate offices in Sunnyvale as their first, in-house employment attorney. Influenced by the entrepreneurial environment at Yahoo!, Christine left in Jan. '06 to move back to Los Angeles (to be closer to the garment district) to start Buxom Inc. A stint working in the lingerie department at a Nordstrom’s while still in law school would incidentally work out to Christine’s advantage, as she was able to gain knowledge about customer needs, wants, and fit that is now put to use in Buxom's collections. Combining her lingerie retail sales experience with fashion design classes in the San Francisco Bay area, Christine officially launched Buxom. Offering beautiful designs that both flatter and fit full-busted women, Buxom Inc. debuts with its Fall 2008 Collection of sleep, loungewear and crossover pieces. Christine has already received ample interest from buyers as well as press, and is soon to be featured in trade magazines Body & Contours as well as consumer magazine InStyle. Currently she is selling online at www.buxominc.com. She expects to be in stores by August for the fall season.
Sean D. Reyes '97, a shareholder at Parsons Behle & Latimer, received an “Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business” award on May 28th in New York City. Organized by the Asian American Business Development Center, this annual event honors Asian American individuals with outstanding leadership and accomplishments who have built a successful business or distinguished themselves within their community.
Reyes is a shareholder in the firm’s litigation department and concentrates his practice on complex commercial litigation. He also has expertise in defamation, tort and employment law. Reyes graduated from Brigham Young University in 1994 with a B.A. degree, summa cum laude, in English. In 1997, he graduated with honors from Boalt with a J.D. degree. He was admitted to the Utah State Bar in 1997.
Mae O'Malley '98 sends this update: Raising three young boys while also nurturing my fourth and largest baby—Paragon Legal, which I founded in 2006. Paragon provides highly experienced attorneys to leading Bay Area companies such as Google, Cisco and Autodesk on a project basis, with an expertise in technology transactions. We're honored to have been featured in a number of major publications, including most recently the American Bar Association Journal, for our innovative business model in leveraging the talents of seasoned lawyer moms (and dads!) seeking a challenging yet flexible practice. We're proud to have a number of Boalt graduates working on our team. www.paragonlegal.com
Donna Schuele '99 reports: I joined the faculty in the Department of Criminology, Law & Society at the University of California, Irvine, in July 2007.
Daniel Shanfield '96, Santa Clara Valley Chapter Chair of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and managing attorney of Daniel Shanfield, Esq. & Associates – Immigration Defense, was recently honored as a “Super Lawyer” by San Francisco Magazine and Law and Politics Magazine.
Edward L. Quevedo ’84 recently joined Farella Braun + Martel LLP and its Environmental Law Department as special counsel. Quevedo has 23 years of experience advising clients on domestic and international sustainability planning and program development, and strategic environmental, health and safety compliance and performance counseling, both in a legal and business consulting capacity. Most recently, he was a senior consultant with WSP Environment & Energy.
“Ed’s experience in sustainable development, clean technology and strategic environmental management in a broad range of industry sectors adds depth to the full array of environmental law services we offer to clients,” said Chris Locke, chair of the firm’s Environmental Law Department. “Ed has a strong record of skill, business acumen, leadership and client service in these areas of environmental law, and we enthusiastically welcome him to our practice.”
Quevedo has litigated environmental law cases and advised clients on environmental regulatory matters since 1990. He has handled environmental law matters domestically and internationally, including litigating before the California Supreme Court, the International Board of Arbitrators in The Hague, and the European Court of Justice on several matters. His clients have included major colleges, universities and firms in the high technology, wine, agricultural, food and beverage, life sciences, biotech, automotive and manufacturing industries, as well as public agencies. He is a frequent instructor on sustainable business practices at a number of colleges and universities, and lectures widely on these topics before diverse industry trade associations.
Sheldon Siegel's '83 has written his sixth novel, Judgment Day, released on May 16th. Sheldon's New York Times best selling courtroom dramas feature San Francisco criminal defense attorneys Mike Daley and Rosie Fernandez. In Judgment Day, Mike and Rosie are called in at the last minute to try to stop the pending execution of the oldest man on Death Row. In a starred review, Booklist Magazine said the following about Judgment Day: "A compelling cast and plenty of suspense put this one right up there with the best of Lescroart and Turow." When he isn't writing novels, Sheldon practices corporate and securities law with the San Francisco office of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP (along with Boalt '83 classmates Tom Nevins, Geri Freeman and Ed Vogel). Sheldon lives in Marin County with his wife, Linda, and their twin 16 year-old sons, Alan and Stephen.
Ethan P. Schulman '83 reports: After practicing for 24 years at one firm, I recently joined Folger Levin & Kahn LLP, where I am co-chair of the appellate practice and legal profession groups. My practice involves appeals, representation of public entities, representation of attorneys and law firms, and complex commercial litigation. I have been certified as an appellate specialist by the Board of Legal Specialization of the State Bar of California, and am a member of the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers.
Janie Schulman '87 shares this update: In October 2007, I celebrated my 20th anniversary as an attorney with Morrison & Foerster in L.A., where I am a partner in the Employment and Labor Group (If you count my tour of duty as a paralegal before Boalt, I'm headed for my 25th anniversary with Mofo this September). For 13 years, I've been happily married to John Caragozian, who is senior counsel at Sunkist Growers. We are the proud parents to Emma, 10, and Max, 6, who clearly have suffered the detriments of having two lawyers as parents—last year, I was ambushed on my way in the door one evening and put on trial for (allegedly) stealing candy out of my kids' Halloween bucket when I worked late one night. After some stinging cross (to which I universally responded "I do not recall"), including being confronted with a Hershey's wrapper found on the dining room table, I was adjudged guilty and ordered to pay full restitution and punis!
Zee Claiborne '82, full-time mediator and arbitrator since 1998, has moved her practice to JAMS. She will be based in the San Francisco JAMS office and will continue to travel as needed to handle domestic and international disputes. She specializes in the resolution of complex business, intellectual property, real estate, and construction matters. For more information, visit www.jamsadr.com.
Aime Mandel '73 writes: Our younger son Antoine (28), PhD in mathematics and economy, presently doing research at the Climate Institute in Potsdam-Berlin (Germany), has just married Anne Franceschini, a medical intern (juvenile psychiatry) presently in the Champagne wine country. My elder son Olivier (31) convinced me to remain in practice as an active "Avocat" and to establish our partnership together as "Mandel-Associes" at our old family building at 47, rue Saint Andre des Arts (75006) Paris. Wife Sylvie survived the preparation for the wedding of our Antoine and her 32 years of marriage with the undersigned, and presently chairs the commercial chambers of the Versailles "Cour d'appel".
Robert Evans '71 shares this update: In February, I retired from my position as executive vice president, general counsel and secretary of NYSE-listed Waste Connections, Inc. to join Penumbra, Inc., a small, private medical device company specializing in the treatment of stroke and other neurovascular diseases, as executive vice president, general counsel and secretary. I'm enjoying being out of the heavily regulated environment of a public company, and I'm also enjoying being in a position where on a daily basis I use my business skills more than my legal skills. The fact that our products significantly improve patients' treatment outcomes, and occasionally save their lives, is a tremendous intangible reward for having made the change. Near the end of my professional career I'm having the time of my life.
Mr. Robert E. Willett '74, a partner and vice chair of the law firm of O'Melveny & Myers LLP, was elected to Southwestern’s Board of Trustees at the board’s spring meeting. One of Los Angeles’ leading litigators, Mr. Willett previously served on the board from 1985 to 2001. Southwestern’s Dean Bryant Garth noted, “As a highly respected leader in the legal and business communities, Robert Willett brings tremendous insight and perspective to the board.”
Dave Fuller '56 shares this update: After 40 years working as a trial lawyer and managing a general practice firm in Chico, I retired to spend more time with my family and friends. JoAnne and I have been able to travel extensively visiting many other countries, and are lucky enough to both be in good health 12 years later. We still live in Chico, but spend three months at our summer home on Lake Almanor and a month on Maui in January each year. In between we visit our three children and seven grandchildren in Colorado and Oregon.
Watching Cal football remains one of our favorite activities , and we attend most home games as well as many away from Berkeley. We were fortunate to have all of our children receive their degrees through the U.C. system, with our two daughters both graduating from Berkeley. Acting as the Butte County representatives for the Cal Alumni Association also keeps us in close touch with the university. Contacts from any members of the Class of 1956 would be welcome at [email protected].
Alumni Weekend & Reunion 2008, September 18-20 
Thank You for a Wonderful Citation Award Dinner
Under clear blue skies at the outdoor Greek Theatre, Berkeley Law's commencement ceremony for the Class of 2008 was both festive and poignant.
In the last four years the law school has grown by leaps and bounds. In response to this rapid growth we’ve begun a number of internal renovation projects and developed plans to construct a South Addition. We’d like to share some of these plans and to invite you to look at our Website as well. It’s in its early stages right now, but we will soon have more pictures and details.
