Alumni Notes

1968

Donald Messinger and his wife Sally were honored by the Cleveland Jewish News in December as “2021 Difference Makers” who have made a “significant difference” both in and beyond the the Northeast Ohio Jewish community. An article noted their longstanding support for, among other institutions, the Free Medical Center of Greater Cleveland (now Circle Health Services) which Don served as a board member for more than 40 years, including a term as president. Don continues to practice corporate law as a partner of Thompson Hine, which he joined immediately upon graduating from Duke Law.

---

1969

Ned Donoghue has authored “The Albrecht-Mekeel Family, World War II and the Making of Arthur J. Mekeel’s The Quakers and the American Revolution,” Quaker History 38 (Fall 2021). Ned is a freelance writer and advisor on philanthropy, following a 27-year career at Dechert in Philadelphia and working as a fundraiser for the Philadelphia Orchestra Association and the Academy of Music. He has been re-elected as secretary of the board of trustees of the Princess Grace Foundation-USA, a nonprofit that recognizes and supports emerging talent in theater, dance, and film in the United States.

Scott Johnson was named a 2021 “Broadcaster of the Year” by the Alabama Broadcaster’s Association and named to its Hall of Fame in recognition of his long service to the association as its legal counsel. He has spent his career as a communications law attorney, representing mass media clients, including radio and television station owners, broadcast networks, and satellite program distributors, as well as universities and cities with respect to telecommunications needs and funding.

---

1971

Peter Seibel has been honored by the Ohio State Bar Association for 50 years of service to the community and the legal profession. Peter is a private practitioner in Defiance focusing on criminal defense, domestic, and custody cases. He previously served as the elected prosecuting attorney for Defiance County for 16 years.

---

1972

John Sherrill, one of the first lawyers to practice alternative dispute resolution in Atlanta, has been honored with the 2021 Chief Justice Harold G. Clarke Award from the Supreme Court of Georgia Commission on Dispute Resolution and the Dispute Resolution Section of the State Bar of Georgia. Now a full-time arbitrator and mediator, John was a trial lawyer in Georgia for over 40 years until retiring from his firm in 2014.

---

1979

Steven Wasserman has authored the book, Grasping at Straws: Letters from the Holocaust (Sola Hill Press, November 2021). The book about Steve’s mother’s family and their efforts to escape from Germany in 1938 is based on dozens of letters sent between family and friends between 1938 and 1946 that detail their lives before and during the Holocaust and the war.

---

1980

Justin Klimko, president and CEO of Butzel in Detroit, has been named to Michigan Lawyers Weekly’s Hall of Fame Class of 2022. His practice includes securities regulation, corporate financing, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, and general corporate matters.

---

1981

John Yates was named, in February, as one of Atlanta Magazine’s “Atlanta 500: Professionals.”John is a partner at Morris, Manning & Martin, where he launched the firm’s technology practice more than 38 years ago.

---

1982

Paul Russell Hardin, president of the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation, Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation, Lettie Pate Evans Foundation, and Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation, was named, in February, as one of Atlanta Magazine’s “Atlanta 500” leaders in the area of nonprofit organizations. The foundations, which primarily support organizations in metro Atlanta, were created by Robert W. Woodruff, the former president of the Coca-Cola Co., and the family of Joseph B. Whitehead, one of the original Coca-Cola bottlers.

---

1983

Robert Fuller has been named to the “Power Players: Outside Counsel” list by Sports Business Journal. An attorney in the Charlotte office of Robinson Bradshaw, he is one of three lawyers in the firm who serve as outside general counsel to the Southeastern Conference.

---

1986

Janine Brown was named, in February, as one of Atlanta Magazine’s “Atlanta 500: Professionals.” She is the partner in charge of Alston & Bird’s Atlanta office, with experience handling multibillion-dollar domestic and international transactions focusing primarily on M&A, joint ventures, and strategic alliances.

Lyndall Huggler has joined the Pittsburgh office of McNees Wallace & Nurick as of counsel and a member of its real estate, corporate and tax, and construction and procurement law practice groups. Before joining McNees, he was a partner at Blumling & Gusky in Pittsburgh.

 

Stephen Labaton was named executive vice president of communications for the NBCUniversal News Group in October. He was previously executive vice president of corporate affairs for Booz Allen Hamilton.

Lawrence Wright and his Philadelphia firm Wright & O’Donnell, which was established in 1995, have joined the firm of Rawle & Henderson, where Lawrence began his legal career. Rawle & Henderson, established in 1783, specializes in insurance defense, handling a broad array of matters throughout the mid-Atlantic region.

---

1987

Christopher Petrini retired, in June, as the Framingham, Mass., city solicitor. He served as Framingham’s principal legal officer for more than 20 years, first as town counsel from 2001 to 2017, and then as city solicitor since 2018. In his two roles, he represented the city in over 500 lawsuits and other major matters. Chris is a past president of the Massachusetts Municipal Lawyers Association and has received its Presidents Award, and currently is a regional vice president of the International Municipal Lawyers Association, representing the First Circuit.

Brian Rubin’s article, “Inconceivable: The Princess Bride Fences with SEC and FINRA Enforcement Matters,” was selected as “Best of NSCP (National Society of Compliance Professionals) Currents 2021.” Brian is the Washington, D.C. office leader of the Eversheds Sutherland U.S. litigation group and the head of the firm’s SEC, FINRA, and state securities enforcement practice.

---

1988

Jody Debs was named, in December, chief administrative officer and legal counsel at Water For People, a global NGO committed to providing sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene systems, and services to underserved communities. The 30-year-old organizataion operates in nine countries in Africa, Latin America, and India. Jody was most recently the general counsel for HDR, Inc., an international engineering and architecture firm. She is a member of the American College of Construction Lawyers and has served on the board of Engineers Without Borders, including as president.

Liisa Anselmi-Dalton has been appointed to the board of directors of the Wyoming Humanities Council for a three-year term. Liisa served in the Wyoming legislature as a state senator from 2017 to 2021 and is currently a commissioner on the Wyoming Water Development Commission and a member of the Wyoming Wildlife Taskforce. She has been named a Rocky Springs (Wyo.) Businesswoman of the Year.

Shawn Lochinger has been named a partner at Sweet, Stevens, Katz & Williams, a firm specializing in Pennsylvania education law. He represents clients in all areas of education law, including special education and labor and employment.

---

1990

Phoebe Kornfeld has authored Passionate Publishers: The Founders of the Black Star Photo Agency (Archway Publishing, 2021), which traces the lives of the agency’s co-founders, Ernest Mayer, Kurt Safranski, and Kurt Kornfeld, German Jewish refugee-émigrés who helped ignite a photojournalism revolution. Phoebe is a retired international lawyer and Kurt Kornfeld’s granddaughter.

---

1991

Dara Redler has joined H&R Block, Inc., as chief legal officer. She previously was the first general counsel and corporate secretary for Tilray Inc., a global cannabis firm, and earlier held legal roles of increasing responsibility over 17 years at The Coca-Cola Company.

Sanford Stark has joined the Washington, D.C., office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher as partner and co-chair of the firm’s newly-formed global tax controversy and litigation practice group. He formerly was with Morgan, Lewis & Bokius.

---

1992

Tony Jeffries is one of two Wilson Sonsini partners overseeing the firm’s establishment of an office in Boulder, Colo, that focuses on the region’s life sciences sector. Now dividing his time between Boulder and Palo Alto, Tony’s practice focuses on corporate, securities, governance, and related matters for technology and life sciences companies.

Michael Sherman has been named executive vice president and chief legal officer of Genesis HealthCare. From 2009 to 2021 he served as the company’s senior vice president and general counsel. He now manages the company’s development and acquisition activity in addition to its legal affairs.

Donald Tunnage was sworn in as an associate judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia on Feb. 25 after being nominated by President Joe Biden and being confirmed by the U.S. Senate. He was previously an attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, where he litigated lawsuits in federal district courts to enforce the Fair Housing Act and Title II (Public Accommodations) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

---

1993

Brian Kelly has joined the intellectual property and technology and entertainment practices of Greenberg Traurig as a shareholder in the firm’s Los Angeles office. He previously was a partner in the digital and technology group of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.

---

1995

Carol Brown has been appointed as an independent director on the board of directors of SL Green Realty Corp. Carol is a tenured real estate law professor at the University of Richmond School of Law, where she teaches and writes in the areas of property, land use planning, real estate transactions, and housing law. She is also a fellow with the American College of Real Estate Lawyers and has served as the chair of the Association of American Law Schools’ Section on Real Estate Transactions and Section on Property Law.

Jason Erb has been promoted to vice president, chief legal officer at Hyundai Motor North America. Jason joined Hyundai in 2002 as senior counsel. Most recently, he served as assistant general counsel and executive director, litigation.

Masahiro Kihara has been appointed president of Mizuho Financial Group Inc. He previously served the Japanese bank as senior executive officer.

Kevin Patton rejoined Maynard Cooper & Gale in Birmingham, Ala., in August as a shareholder in the firm’s litigation practice. He practiced at the firm from 1996 to 2008, when he joined Regions Bank as head of litigation.

Teresa Pearson has been appointed by the judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit as a bankruptcy judge on the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Oregon, with chambers in Portland. Her 14-year term began Oct. 4, 2021. Teresa previously had been a partner at Miller Nash with a practice focused primarily on insolvency, reorganization, and creditor’s rights.

---

1997

John Barlament has joined the Milwaukee office of Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren as a shareholder in its employee benefits group, where he counsels plan fiduciaries, employers, multi-employer plans, pharmacy benefit managers, insurers, insurance brokers, third-party administrators, and other plan service providers on a range of employee benefit matters. He was previously a partner at Quarles & Brady.

Odetta MacLeish-White, director of Georgia Initiatives for the Center for Community Progress, was named, in February, as one of Atlanta Magazine’s “Atlanta 500” leaders in the area of government and infrastructure. The publication cited her leadership in creating partnerships and strategies for improving vacant, abandoned, and deteriorating properties. A longtime leader in community development, Odetta was managing director for the TransFormation Alliance.

---

1998

Guy Rotkopf, former director general of the Israel Ministry of Justice, has been named chairperson of Cellebrite DI Ltd.’s ethics and integrity committee. Headquartered in Petah Tikva, Israel, Cellebrite is a global leader in digital intelligence solutions for the public and private sectors.

Jill Steinberg has joined the white collar defense/internal investigations group of Ballard Spahr as a partner in its Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. offices. Jill spent more than a decade handling high-profile white collar and violent crime matters for the U.S. Department of Justice and served in its senior leadership as associate deputy attorney general in the Office of the Deputy Attorney General.

Jocelyn Strauber took office on Feb. 28 as the commissioner of the New York City Department of Investigation, by appointment of Mayor Eric Adams. Most recently, Jocelyn was a partner at Skadden Arps. She previously spent eight years at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, where she held numerous roles, including co-chief of the terrorism and international narcotics unit, and supervised investigations and prosecutions involving terrorism and national security, arms trafficking, money laundering, and global narcotics trafficking.

Jon Taylor has been named managing partner at Koenig, Oelsner, Taylor, Schoenfeld & Gaddis (KO Law Firm) in Denver and Boulder, Colo. Jon guides the firm’s strategic vision and oversees its day-to-day operations. He continues his corporate transactional law practice.

---

1999

Tim Dadson has been promoted to general counsel of SoundExchange, a technology solutions company, where he oversees the comprehensive legal functions of the organization and is chief legal advisor. He joined the company in 2012 and previously served assistant general counsel and deputy general counsel.

Kyle Jefcoat has been elected partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Latham & Watkins, where he is a member of the white collar defense and investigations practice in the litigation and trial department. Previously of counsel to the firm, his practice focuses on government contracts, including on transactional and compliance matters.

Monty Sarhan has been named CEO of SkyShowtime, the Europe-focused streaming service of Comcast and ViacomCBS. Now based in London, he joined Comcast Cable in December 2019 as senior vice president, content acquisition, responsible for a multi-billion dollar content budget.

 

Zephyr Teachout, an associate professor at Fordham University School of Law, has taken a leave of absence from the school to join the New York Attorney General’s office as a special advisor and senior counsel for economic justice.

 

Jason Webber has joined Latham & Watkins’ New York office as a partner in the mergers and acquisitions and private equity practices, and as a member of the corporate department. He advises private equity firms and other investors in the development or acquisition and divestiture of infrastructure and energy businesses. He previously practiced with White & Case in New York.

---

2000

Licha Nyiendo has joined Human Rights First as its inaugural chief legal officer. Her hiring is part of the organization’s strategy to equip and activate skilled leaders to address and abolish oppression in the United States and worldwide. She most recently served as commissioner for the New York State Division of Human Rights.

Dustin Rawlin has joined Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough as the managing partner opening the firm’s new Cleveland office. Previously a partner at Tucker Ellis, Dustin is a litigator who represents clients in complex litigation matters and appeals involving product liability, breach of contract, business tort, breach of warranty, consumer fraud, professional negligence, and commercial disputes.

Scott Thompson was named acting co-director of the Philadelphia Regional Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission on Feb. 10. He joined the agency in 2007 and most recently served as associate director of enforcement for the Philadelphia Office.

---

2001

Kamla Alexander has joined dentsu international, a marketing solutions company, as general counsel for the Americas. She previously was with The Coca-Cola Company for 15 years.

 

 

Mark Bieter has joined the Stoel Rives litigation group as of counsel in the Boise, Idaho office. He represents clients in commercial litigation in state and federal courts in matters involving securities fraud, contract disputes, class actions, franchise agreements, and breach of fiduciary duty, among others. He previously practiced with Groom Law Group.

Rodney Bullard, vice president of corporate social responsibility for Chick-fil-A and executive director of the Chick-fil-A Foundation, was named, in February, as one of Atlanta Magazine’s “Atlanta 500” leaders in the area of nonprofit organizations. He leads the company’s and foundation’s community-engagement, philanthropic and sustainability strategies.

Ken Craycraft, the James J. Gardner Family Chair of Moral Theology at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary & School of Theology, has authored an opinion piece, “Why Capital Punishment is ‘Inadmissible,’” in the October issue of The Catholic Telegraph.

Randy Katz has been named special counsel to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. An assistant U.S. attorney since 2005, he has also joined the adjunct law faculty at Nova Southeastern University’s Shepard Broad School of Law.

---

2002

Jesse Linebaugh, a partner in the Des Moines office of Faegre Drinker, has been appointed co-leader of the firm’s national financial services industry team. He focuses his practice on defending insurance and annuity companies, banks, and broker-dealers, as well as handling non-compete litigation and internal investigations.

---

2003

Claibourne Harrison has been elected partner in the London office of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, where his practice focuses on private equity, real estate private equity, and mergers and acquisitions.

Bridget O’Connor has joined the Washington, D.C., office of Jones Day as a partner in the firm’s business and tort litigation practice. She previously was a litigation partner at Kirkland & Ellis.

Catherine Peshkin has been appointed assistant dean for the Harvard Law School graduate program and international legal studies. She has served as the graduate program’s director of admissions and financial aid since 2012.

 

 

---

2004

Trever Asam has been named to Hawaii Business Magazine’s “20 for the Next 20.” Trever is a partner at Cades Schutte in Honolulu, where he represents taxpayers in tax controversies and disputes with the IRS and the Hawaii State Department of Taxation. He is also the president of Volunteer Legal Services of Hawaii.

---

2005

Britt Whitesell Biles has joined Womble Bond Dickinson as a partner in the business litigation group in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining the firm, she served as general counsel of the Small Business Administration (SBA), appointed in 2020 to manage the legal needs that arose from the SBA’s role as a lead agency in the federal government’s economic response to COVID-19. As the SBA’s chief legal officer and third-highest-ranking official, Britt led the SBA’s legal function, managing 140 lawyers and staff across the country.

Scott Edson has joined the Atlanta office of Jones Day as a partner in the firm’s business and tort litigation practice. Previously a partner in the trial and global disputes practice at King & Spaulding’s Washington, D.C., office, Scott represents clients in complex litigation and is a frequent writer and lecturer on various aspects of law and legal practice. On Jan. 1, he began a three-year term on the Florida Bar’s Standard Jury Instructions Committee — Civil Cases, by appointment of the Florida Supreme Court.

---

2006

Omar Rashid has been named to the board of directors of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the advocacy affiliate for the American Cancer Society, which pursues evidence-based public policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem nationwide. His term began on Jan. 1. Omar, who also completed his MD at Duke in 2006, practices general surgical oncology and general surgery in South Florida.

Teddy Schwarzman, founder and CEO of Black Bear Pictures, an independent studio, has joined the board of directors of the Gotham Film & Media Institute. Black Bear, the company behind “The Imitation Game” and “I Care A Lot,” has been nominated for 13 Academy Awards and 10 BAFTAs and launched a television arm, Black Bear Television, in 2021.

2007

Amy Curry, a partner at Frost Brown Todd, has been named a Louisville Business First’s “Forty Under 40.”

Landon Zimmer, managing partner of Zimmer Development Company in Wilmington N.C., received a “40 Under 40” award from StarNews Media and the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce in September.

---

2008

Natalie Hirt Adams has joined the Tampa, Fla., office of Bradley Arant, where she is a partner in the firm’s government enforcement and investigations practice group. She advises clients on criminal matters, complex civil litigation, and internal investigations. Natalie previously served for nine years as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Middle District of Florida.

Abby Dennis has joined the Federal Trade Commission as senior trial counsel in the Bureau of Competition. She previously was a partner at Boies Schiller Flexner and co-chair of the firm’s hiring committee.

Burr Eckstut has joined the New York office of White & Case, where he is a partner in the technology transactions practice within the firm’s global M&A and global IP groups. He advises clients on legal matters involving software, data, media, and other intellectual property. He previously was with Covington & Burling.

Michael Sopko has been promoted to captain in the U.S. Air Force and remains assigned to Patrick Space Force Base in Florida. Mike has also completed training and is now a judge advocate. He continues work at his civilian job at the Board of Veterans’ Appeals in Washington, D.C.

Sarah Hawkins Warren, associate justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia, served this spring as the University of Georgia School of Law’s Hines Jurist-in-Residence, an honorary teaching position. As part of her residency, she co-taught a weeklong seminar titled “Persuading the Judge and Jury” and met with students in small groups to discuss issues related to appellate practice in Georgia. Sarah also spoke as part of UGA’s 38th Annual Edith House Lecture on Feb. 1.

---

2009

Sarah Keeton Campbell was confirmed as a justice on the Tennessee Supreme Court in February by a joint session of the General Assembly after being nominated by Gov. Bill Lee. She was previously associate Tennessee solicitor general and special assistant to the attorney general.

 

Rafael Marquinez has been promoted to partner in the Panamanian law firm Aleman, Cordero, Galindo & Lee (Alcogal), where he specializes in corporate law and capital markets.

Carla Reyes was appointed chair, in September, of the Texas Work Group on Blockchain Matters, which is charged with considering policy priorities related to blockchain technology in that state. An assistant professor of law at Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law, Carla’s scholarship focuses on issues raised by the intersection of business law and technology. She was named a fellow of the American Bar Foundation in June 2021 and named a Women of Legal Tech 2020 by the ABA Legal Technology Resource Center.

Joshua Schmidt has been appointed chief legal officer and corporate secretary of InterDigital, Inc., a mobile and video technology research and development company. He joined InterDigital in 2015 and has since served in a series of roles within the legal department, most recently as deputy general counsel.

---

2010

Kristin Cope has joined O’Melveny as a partner in the firm’s new Dallas office. Formerly a partner at Baker Botts in Dallas, she has handled a wide range of complex commercial litigation, as well as appellate matters.

Kip Nelson, a partner at Fox Rothschild in Greensboro, N.C., has been included on the Triad Business Journal’s “40 Under 40 2022,” and the 2022 “Legal Elite (litigation)” list by Business North Carolina magazine.

Adam Zwecker has joined the real estate practice at Holland & Knight as a partner in the firm’s Miami office. He previously was a partner at Akerman.

---

2011

Travis Buchanan has been promoted to partner in the Wilmington, Del., office of Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, where he is a member of the firm’s bankruptcy and restructuring group.

Andrew Galdes has been promoted to counsel in the Washington, D.C., office of Latham & Watkins, where he is a member of the white collar defense and investigations practice in the litigation and trial department.

---

2012

Benjamin Gibson has been promoted to counsel in the San Diego office of Latham & Watkins, where he is a member of the environmental regulation and transactions practice in the environment, land and resources department.

Steven Lee has joined Meta (previously Facebook) as associate general counsel, based at the company’s headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. He previously was product counsel at Sony PlayStation.

Matthew Peters has been promoted to counsel in the Washington, D.C., office of Latham & Watkins, where he is a member of the securities litigation and professional liability practice in the litigation and trial department.

Josh Roling has been promoted to partner in the Milwaukee office of Foley & Lardner, where he is a member of the firm’s real estate practice group as well as the energy and sports industry teams. Josh represents real estate developers, investors, owners, and tenants in all aspects of commercial real estate transactions.

John Rudd has been elevated to partner in the Raleigh, N.C., office of Hutchison PLLC, where his practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and corporate law. Prior to joining Hutchison in 2018, John was an associate in the mergers and acquisitions group of Jones Day’s Tokyo office.

Dana Sheahan has been promoted to vice president, corporate legal at Warner Music Group, where she manages and advises on domestic and international transactions and investments, and negotiates and advises on commercial technology, data, and other agreements. Dana also advises WMG on corporate governance matters.

Sarah Vacchiano has joined United Talent Agency as a motion picture business affairs executive in Los Angeles. She most recently served as vice president of business and legal affairs at FilmNation Entertainment in New York, where she negotiated production, finance, and development deals for the company’s slate of feature film and podcast productions.

---

2013

Nathan Fonda has been elected partner in the St. Louis, Mo., office of Thompson Coburn, where he is a patent attorney and intellectual property litigator with experience representing plaintiffs and defendants in federal litigation and before arbitration and administrative bodies.

Serena Rwejuna has joined the energy, infrastructure, and project development and finance practice in the Washington, D.C., office of White & Case, where her practice focuses on advising energy companies on a range of regulatory, compliance, administrative litigation, and enforcement issues. She previously practiced at Jones Day. In April, she received the Duke Law Alumni Association’s Young Alumni Award.

Tori Simmons has been elected a shareholder in the Tampa, Fla., office of Hill Ward Henderson, where she is a member of the firm’s litigation group, focusing on complex commercial litigation. She represents clients in a variety of business disputes and class action litigation in state and federal court.

---

2014

Gabriela Bersuder has joined Burford Capital in New York as a vice president. She previously practiced as a litigator at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, where she represented Fortune 500 companies, food and beverage manufacturers, and large corporations in complex commercial litigations, arbitrations and mediations.

Renee Cohn Jubelirer has been elected president judge of the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania for a five-year term. She has served on the court for more than two decades. As president judge, she oversees administrative matters of the court, including budgeting, oversight of administrative offices, scheduling, special sessions, education, and bench-bar interaction.

Jesse Kobernick has joined the business and corporate team in Miller Nash’s Vancouver, Wash., office. He represents clients on a range of transactional matters including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, stock and asset purchase agreements, and restructurings, as well as corporate governance. He previously was supervising lawyer for the Entrepreneurial Law Clinic at the University of Washington School of Law.

Austin Maloney has been promoted to partner at Hunton Andrews Kurth’s Richmond, Va., office, where he is a member of the corporate group. He advises clients in connection with domestic and cross-border acquisitions and dispositions, including representation of private equity funds and institutional clients. Austin married Anne Peyton Leitch on Sept. 19, 2020, in Richmond, with a celebration on Sept. 18, 2021.

---

2015

TG Falcon has joined Smith Anderson in Raleigh, where he advises clients on intellectual property matters and tech-related issues such as development, licensing, marketing, acquisitions, and use of assets. Prior to joining Smith Anderson, he served as associate corporate counsel for Amazon.

Jonathan Hayes has been elected shareholder at Tallahassee, Fla.-based Ausley McMullen, where he practices in the areas of litigation, appellate practice, probate, trust and estates, business law, health care, employment law, corporate law, and government.

 

Chauneice Davis Yeagley is an MBA candidate (Class of 2023) at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She previously was an associate at two New York City firms, and most recently clerked for a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

---

2018

Erin Mack, an associate in McGuireWoods’ debt finance department in Charlotte, has been selected as a member of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity 2022 Pathfinders Program. The program fosters professional development of lawyers early in their careers. At McGuireWoods, Erin handles corporate lending transactions, including syndicated lending, multicurrency financing facilities, and acquisition financings.

Jennifer Thurston has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California. She has served as a U.S. magistrate judge in the Eastern District of California since 2009, and as chief U.S. magistrate judge for the district since October 2020.

---

2020

Carla Archie assumed the role of senior resident superior court judge for the 26th Judicial District of North Carolina (Mecklenburg County) on Sept. 1. She was first elected to the bench in 2014, after a varied career including as deputy executive director and first general counsel of the N.C. Education Lottery.

Mark Rothrock has joined Smith Anderson in Raleigh where he practices general business litigation and advises clients in complex business disputes across multiple sectors, including the construction industry. Prior to joining Smith Anderson, Mark served as a clerk for Judge James C. Dever III ’87 on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

---

2021

Jonathan Bass has joined Smith Anderson in Raleigh, where he works with the corporate group assisting clients with M&A transactions and advising start-ups and venture capital investors. Prior to joining Smith Anderson, he was a consultant at FiscalNote, a software, data and media company in Washington, D.C.