Brief updates about UW Law School Alumni, where they are in their career and what recent news they have to share.
Notes posted in alphabetical order by class.
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Classes of 2010-2019
- Courtney Kissel ’10 was elected partner in Dykema Gossett PLLC’s Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, office. Kissel’s practice primarily focuses on state constitutional law, insurance law, Indian law, election law, and public utility law.
- Kristen Lonergan ’10 has been named to the Wausau Daily Herald’s annual 20 Under 40 list. The list recognizes young professionals who are helping build a stronger community and economy in the Wausau, Wisconsin, area. Lonergan is an attorney with Crooks, Low & Connell SC.
- Louis Agnello ’11 has joined Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP as an associate in its public law and policy practice in Washington, DC.
- Andrew Briggs ’11 is an attorney at Trifecta General Counsel in Madison. He serves the legal needs of technology startups, with a particular focus on startups in the healthcare industry.
- Nicole Schrier ’11 has been promoted to partner at Neuberger, Griggs, Sweet & Smith LLP. Her practice concentrates primarily in the areas of estate planning, probate and trust administration, real estate, and municipal law.
- Nan Wang ’11 has relocated from Kobre & Kim LLP’s Hong Kong office to its new Shanghai office.
- Kelsey Delander ’12 has been appointed CEO of Adoray Home Health and Hospice in Baldwin, Wisconsin. Prior to accepting the position, Delander served as quality and compliance officer at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry.
- Shalanda Baker (LLM ’12) has joined the faculty of Northeastern University School of Law. Prior to her new appointment, she served as the director of the Energy Justice Program at the Richardson School of Law, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa.
- Lua Yuille (LLM ’13) won the 2017 Junior Faculty Teaching Award from the Society of American Law Teachers. Yuille is an associate professor at the University of Kansas School of Law.
- William Foley ’13 joined Axley Brynelson LLP as an associate in the business practice group. He focuses his practice in tax, estate planning, and general business matters.
- Mark Weinstein ’13 was named as one of the Top 40 Under 40 Civil Plaintiff Trial Lawyers in New Jersey by the National Trial Lawyers Association.
- David Edelblute ’15 has joined the Las Vegas office of Newmeyer & Dillion LLP. Edelblute represents clients in complex commercial litigation matters including contracts, business torts, labor and employment, and real estate.
- Curtis Hinca ’16 has joined the US Air Force as a first lieutenant and is an assistant staff judge advocate at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. Hinca is the Chief of Adverse Actions in the base legal office’s Military Justice division.
- Jordan Leslie ’16 joined the Wilmington, North Carolina, office of McAngus Goudelock & Courie PLLC, a regional insurance defense firm. She practices general litigation and coverage.
- Zachary Zellner ’16 joined Hupy and Abraham SC in 2017 as a law clerk and was recently promoted to an associate attorney.
- Brent Eisberner ’17 became partner at Levine Lyon LLP.
- Jill Johnson ’17 has been awarded third place in the 2017 Chief Justice John B. Doolin Sovereignty Symposium Writing Competition for her work “The Norwegian Way: Balancing Indigenous and Sovereign Rights: Norwegian leadership toward rational coexistence with the Sami.”
Classes of 2000-2009
- John Behling ’00 was unanimously re-elected president of the UW System Board of Regents. Behling has served on the board since 2012. He is also vice president of the Eau Claire firm Weld Riley and chairs its government and administrative law practice.
- Michele Goodwin (LLM ’00) received the Sandra Day O’Connor Legacy Award from the Women’s Journey Foundation in March. Goodwin is a Chancellor’s Professor at the University of California, Irvine with appointments at the School of Law; Program in Public Health; Department of Criminology, Law, & Society; Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies; and Stem Cell Research Center. She is the founder and director of the Center for Biotechnology and Global Health Policy at UC Irvine School of Law and its internationally acclaimed Reproductive Justice Initiatiave.
- Jerry DeMaio ’01 was appointed an administrative law judge for the US Department of Labor, sitting in Boston, Massachusetts.
- David Smith ’02 has joined the New York office of Pryor Cashman LLP to expand the firm’s corporate trust practice. Smith brings more than a decade of experience representing banks and other financial institutions, including two years inside the corporate trust department of The Bank of New York Mellon.
- Pareena Srivanit (SJD ’02) was appointed dean of Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Law last fall. She is the Bangkok-based university’s eleventh law dean, and the first woman to hold the post.
- Christa Westerberg ’02 was named partner at Pines Bach LLP. Westerberg concentrates her practice in environmental and land use law as well as open government law. She has represented individuals, nonprofit groups, businesses, and municipalities, in their efforts to protect environmental resources and promote transparent, open government.
- Holly Slota ’03 was named partner at Pines Bach LLP. She practices within the Pines Bach family law practice group. She concentrates her practice in divorce litigation, collaborative divorce, appellate practice, international child abduction cases, and estate planning. Slota also serves as a guardian ad litem in family law matters and volunteers at the Dane County Family Law Assistance Center.
- Toni Caldwell ’05, tribal attorney for the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, located in Keshena, uses her legal skills in a wide variety of areas in tribal, state, and federal courts. But preserving Menominee culture and values is what drives her. Caldwell feels this is the one thing that can change the tide for her community. This resurgence in language and culture will combat some of the effects of the erosion of Menominee values, such as substance abuse and family abuse. Caldwell, who was recently featured in Wisconsin Lawyer, chose to become a part of this movement and take a sabbatical from law for two years to learn the Menominee language and culture.
- Andrew Jaynes ’07 has been promoted to assistant dean of admissions and financial aid at Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. Prior to accepting the position, he served as the school’s executive director of the Center for Law and Global Affairs.
- Valerie Vidal ’07 recently became president and CEO of Meta House, an alcohol and drug treatment agency for women. Prior to joining the Milwaukee nonprofit, she served as a partner at Quarles & Brady in the Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution Group and was a member of the firm’s Professional Liability and Financial Services Industry teams. She was also named to Milwaukee Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 list for 2018.
- Karl Hanson ’08 was appointed as Rock County judge by Governor Scott Walker. Prior to the appointment, he served as an assistant attorney general for the state Department of Justice.
- Brenda Mayrack ’08 is Delaware’s new State Escheator—she will be Director of the Office of Unclaimed Property. Prior to joining the Department of Finance, she was the managing director of Specialty Audit Services, LLC, in Narberth, Pennsylvania, a company that provides abandoned and unclaimed property auditing services to state governments.
- Eric Weiss ’08 has been promoted to partner at Perkins Coie LLP. His practice emphasizes antitrust, unfair-competition, and consumer-protection law.
Classes of 1990-1999
- Dorothy Harrell ’90 received YWCA Rock County’s annual Racial Justice Award. She was selected by a panel of judges, based on her work to eliminate racism and her commitment to social change for all people.
- Richard Radcliffe ’90 was appointed Monroe County Circuit Court judge by Governor Scott Walker.
- Sally Mohr Lunde ’92 has joined the Waukesha-based Law Offices of David J. Carlson SC, where she will focus her practice on probate and trust administration, estate planning, and guardianship law. She is the recipient of the 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Waukesha County Bar Association, and recipient of a commendation from the Wisconsin Supreme Court for services rendered in the areas of probate, guardianship, and model form creation.
- David Strauss ’93 has joined Appriss as senior vice president and general counsel. Appriss is a global data and analytics solutions provider headquartered in Louisville.
- John Treadwell ’93 was named a Vermont Superior Court judge by Vermont Governor Phil Scott. Prior to the appointment, Treadwell led the state attorney general’s criminal division.
- Susan Huhta ’94 has joined the Washington, DC, office of Outten & Golden LLP. She will lead the firm’s individual practice group, where she will continue her practice of representing clients with respect to all aspects of workplace-related problems and disputes, including litigation.
- Kevin Grossman ’96 was promoted to captain of the Seattle Police Department and placed in command of the South Precinct.
- Michelle Nettles ’97 is among the group of four Milwaukee-area business executives to be inducted this year into the Milwaukee Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 Hall of Fame. Nettles currently serves as Molson Coors’s chief people and diversity officer.
- Laura Halferty ’98 was recently named chair of the Stinson Leonard Street LLP’s Tax, Trusts & Estates Division. She was also appointed a member of the firm’s board of directors. In addition to her new roles, Laura maintains a full-time practice representing families, individuals, and businesses with estate planning matters. She represents clients in federally taxable probate and trust administration matters, gift and estate tax filings and audits, business transition and succession planning, and disputed probate and trust matters.
- Carrie Schneider ’98 has been appointed judge of Outagamie County Circuit Court by Governor Scott Walker. Prior to her appointment, Schneider served Outagamie County as district attorney for more than a decade, dedicating much of her career to protecting child victims and victims of domestic abuse.
- Kimberly Sebranek ’98 was elected president and managing shareholder of Eustice, Laffey, Sebranek & Auby SC, based in Sun Prairie, Waunakee, and Madison, Wisconsin. As president of the firm, she will continue to practice law in bankruptcy, secured transactions, and agricultural and commercial litigation.
Classes of 1980-1989
- John Wagner ’80 wrote Baby Boomer Army Brat, a coming-of-age memoir set within the military culture.
- Roy Fine ’82 was named a shareholder with Murphy Desmond SC, where he oversees the firm’s Appleton office. Fine, who joined Murphy Desmond in 2016, has more than thirty-five years of assisting clients in the Fox Cities on business matters, estate planning, and real estate, including tax legal matters for businesses and families and business succession planning.
- Orlando Cabrera ’89 joined Arnall Golden Gregory LLP as a partner on the real estate practice group’s affordable housing team.
- Ginger Zimmerman ’85 has been elected president of the Wisconsin-based Murphy Desmond SC. She will be responsible for firm management and business development, and will continue to practice law in business, real estate, bankruptcy, secured transactions, agricultural and commercial transactions, and commercial litigation.
- Judith Gundersen ’87 was named the president and CEO of the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) headquartered in Madison. NCBE develops the licensing exams used by most US jurisdictions for admission to the bar. She had previously served as NCBE’s director of test operations.
- Peter Strand ’87 has been named chair-elect of the American Bar Association’s Forum on Entertainment & Sports Industries. He is a named partner at national entertainment law firm Leavens, Strand & Glover LLC. He will serve as chair-elect for two years and will become chair of the forum in 2019.
- Michelle Behnke ’88 began her term as tion. She was elected in August 2016 and served a year as treasurer-elect. She will now serve a three-year term as treasurer. She was also recently elected to the American Law Institute.
- David Criswell ’89 has joined Lane Powell’s creditors’ rights team as a shareholder in the firm’s Portland office.
Classes of 1970-1979
- William ‘Byll’ Hess ’70 won the Wisconsin State Bar’s Lifetime Innovator award for 2017.
- James Brown ’72 was awarded the Senator William Proxmire Award for Lifetime Achievement from the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers in April 2017.
- Kathleen Falk ’76 was appointed the Douglas Costle Chair in Environmental Law, a visiting professorship at Vermont Law School, for the fall 2017 semester. Falk previously served as regional director of the US Department of Health and Human Services, Dane County Executive, and Wisconsin’s assistant attorney general.