Botsford Honored with Alumni Award

The Honorable Margot Botsford ’73, associate justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court, was honored with Northeastern University’s Outstanding Alumni Award during the 2005 Homecoming Alumni Ball in October. President Richard Freeland and Dean Emily Spieler presented the award to Botsford, who was recognized for her “insightful written opinions” and “reputation among her peers as a scholar of the law and caring mentor.” Botsford volunteers with the public schools, including a 2001 sabbatical to work with Citizen Schools, a nonprofit organization that offers after-school programs for middle school students in Boston. She also assisted in developing the 8th Grade Academy, a program that utilizes lawyer volunteers to improve students’ writing skills and seeks to serve as a focused, positive transition to high school.

PHOTOS: JUSTIN KNIGHT

BBA Names Nemens to Honor Roll

The Boston Bar Association selected Katherine Nemens ’01 for its elite Public Interest Leadership Program for 2005-2006. She is one of eight lawyers — all of whom have been practicing for less than a decade — who have demonstrated a powerful commitment to public service and a keen interest in using the organized bar as a launching pad for building a pro bono culture among their peers. Nemens works for the Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee as a staff attorney in the Clubhouse Family Legal Support Project, where she represents parents with mental illness in a wide range of family law matters in the probate, juvenile and district courts. Through the BBA program, Nemens is participating in seminars that provide opportunities to meet with prominent community leaders, develop insight into the challenges confronting community organizations and an appreciation for the elements of successful community leadership. Past Northeastern graduates named to this BBA honor roll include Matthew Welnicki ’00, Kevin Currid ’99 and Kathleen Cloherty Henry ’00.

Chunias Hailed as “Up and Coming”

In September, Jennifer Chunias ’99 was saluted by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly as an “Up and Coming Lawyer.” Chunias, executive coordinator of the New England Innocence Project (NEIP), a pro bono project of Goodwin Procter in Boston, was hailed as one of “15 rising stars of the bar.” In addition to managing a full litigation caseload as an associate with Goodwin, Chunias directs NEIP, represents individual NEIP clients and sits on the organization’s board of trustees. She also oversees a clinical workshop through the Harvard Project on Wrongful Convictions, which includes supervising a dozen Harvard law students working on such cases.

More Rising Stars in Our Galaxy

The law school is pleased to report that several graduates were hailed as “rising stars” in the 2005 Massachusetts Super Lawyers — Rising Stars Edition published by Boston magazine and Law & Politics. “Rising stars” are either 40 or under or have practiced for 10 or fewer years, and considered by the magazine to be in the top 2.5 percent of the best up-and-coming lawyers in the commonwealth. They are chosen based on a general survey sent to all attorneys who have been licensed in the state for five years or more, as well as extensive independent credentials research, a blue ribbon panel review process and a final review and check of good standing by the magazine.

Rachael Splaine Rollins ’97, who was profiled in a feature story in the magazine, is an associate in the labor and employment group at Bingham McCutchen in Boston. She is a sports enthusiast who combines her passion for games and professional interests; as a law student she completed co-ops with the National Basketball Players Association and the Boston Celtics. She also received the 2005 Volunteer Lawyers Project Denis Maguire Pro Bono Award for her work supervising Bingham’s summer associates handling unemployment cases before the Division of Unemployment Assistance.

Darin Smith ’94 is a partner with Mintz Levin in Boston specializing in business and finance with an emphasis on securities law, mergers and acquisitions, and venture capital financings. He is a member of the board of directors of the Whittier Street Health Center, serves on the development council of Northeastern University’s Center for the Study of Sport in Society, on the board of overseers of the Boston Children’s Museum and is a mentor for students at Charlestown High School. He was also doubly honored in 2005: the Boston Junior Chamber of Commerce named him to its list of “Ten Outstanding Young Leaders” (Rollins was similarly recognized in 2002).

Kimberly Stone ’95 is a senior associate with the Worcester office of Bowditch & Dewey, where she focuses her practice in all areas of business litigation, including commercial litigation, appellate practice, malpractice defense and eminent domain. In addition, she is active in the Holy Cross Club of Greater Worcester and Park Spirit, an organization dedicated to the preservation and improvement of Worcester’s parks and open spaces.

Michael Pikiel Jr. ’02, an associate with the Boston office of Bowditch & Dewey, concentrates in business and finance. He has served as bond counsel, issuer’s counsel, borrower’s counsel, purchaser’s counsel, underwriter’s counsel and trustee’s counsel in numerous tax-exempt bond issuances and tax-exempt lease transactions.

Winter 2006 | Class Notes

Martha McCabe, a civil rights lawyer in Texas, has penned a legal thriller, Praise at Midnight. The book, about race and justice in small-town Texas, was released last summer by Park Publications and is available on Martha’s Web site, www.marthamccabe.com, as well as on www.amazon.com.

In October, Phyllis J. Broker was appointed first justice of the Woburn District Court; she took the oath of office at a swearing-in ceremony in early January. She joined the Woburn court in 1999 as an associate justice, and chairs the District Court Criminal Proceedings Committee.

In July, Calif. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Stuart M. Rice a judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court — just two weeks after Rice was elected president of the California Court Commissioners Association (CCCA). A commissioner since 2003, Stuart was required to resign the presidency in accepting the judgeship. His prior experience includes a partnership in a Long Beach firm, Rice and Rothenberg. He also served as an “as-needed” Superior Court referee in Long Beach for three years. Robert P. Sherman has joined the Boston office of DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary as a partner in the firm’s litigation practice group. He is focusing on business and intellectual property litigation, as well as white-collar criminal defense; he was previously a partner at Nixon Peabody.

Anitra D. Lanczi, a partner in the governmental law practice group of Shutts & Bowen in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., was named to the board of the beach council of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce. The council’s mission is to champion the beach by spearheading economic growth and community involvement. She is also on the board of governors of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce and is a member of the board of the Broward County Diversity Advisory Council.

The Boston Bar Association named Paula K. Andrews as cochair of the Commercial Lending Committee, a joint committee of the Business Law Section and the Bankruptcy Law Section. Paula is a partner in the Boston office of Hinckley, Allen & Snyder, where she represents national and New England regional lenders and borrowers in commercial and asset-based lending transactions. Paula is a frequent lecturer on Revised Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code and various other commercial lending topics.

Lester D. Blumberg has been appointed general counsel to the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, where he has worked since 1992 — first as a staff attorney, then as deputy general counsel, and most recently as chief of staff. On the home front, his son, Jake, is a high school senior thinking about college, while his daughter, Molly, is a sophomore who is into soccer. Stephen Harper was honored in November with the Southern Center for Human Rights’ Frederick Douglass Award for his work in ending the juvenile death penalty.

The Boston Bar Association named Rhonda L. Russian as cochair of the environmental litigation committee of the Environmental Law Section. Rhonda is a senior staff attorney with the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA), where she has worked for 15 years on a range of environmental litigation matters, as well as both affirmative and defensive cases involving construction law, eminent domain, personal injury and related matters.

Michael I. Behn and Linda Wyetzner have founded a new Chicago law firm, Behn & Wyetzner, concentrating in the representation of whistleblowers under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Acts. They will also continue to assist pension funds and health insurers in fraud monitoring and recovery. Michael was formerly a principal and director of Futterman & Howard, and last year handled the largest False Claims Act settlement ever achieved in Chicago. Linda is a seasoned trial lawyer and nego-tiator, with nearly 20 impressive years of experience representing employees in disputes with their employers. Gary W. Smith gave a presentation on cross-border licensing and IP transactions with Canadian companies at the “Doing Business with Canada” seminar sponsored by the Boston Bar Association and the New England-Canada Business Council. Gary heads the intellectual property and technology practice at Posternak Blankstein & Lund in Boston, and was selected for inclusion in the Massachusetts Super Lawyers 2005 magazine.

Anne Swiatek Harshbarger, a pension investigator in Detroit, just finished her 10th year of civil service. She says those ERISA papers she did for Judy Brown and Mary O’Connell sure have been useful!

Helaine I. Fingold is pleased to announce that she is now working at the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in Baltimore. Her work focuses on issues involving Medicare managed care; she may be reached at helaine.fingold@cms.hhs.gov. Casey Frank is a member of the medical ethics committee and the ethics consult service at the University of Colorado Hospital, serves as a faculty associate at the university’s Center for Bioethics and the Humanities, is coeditor of a health column for The Colorado Lawyer, the official journal of the Colorado Bar Association, and serves as a member of the Colorado Bar Health Law Section Executive Council. He writes and speaks extensively on these issues; his most recent publication is “Surrogate Decision-Making for Friendless Patients” in The Colorado Lawyer (April 2005). Mark I. Salvacion joined Prudential Financial, Inc. as senior vice president and chief legal officer of Prudential Investment Management Services (PIMS), based in Newark, N.J. Mark is at mark.salvacion@prudential.com.

Christopher T. Gassett was appointed senior vice president and general counsel at Match.com in Dallas last April. Kenneth E. Mack set up shop in Kazakhstan in July, where he is managing partner of the international law firm Chadbourne & Parke’s new office in the city of Almaty. Elizabeth Z. Stillman and Seth Kaplan happily welcomed a son, Benjamin Joshua, in February 2005. He joins big sisters Juliana, 8, and Daniella, 5.

Last summer, Jayne R. Cronlund took a seven-week sabbatical from her position as executive director of the Three Rivers Land Conservancy in Lake Oswego, Ore., to travel to Mongolia. While there, Jayne provided consulting advice to three Mongolian NGOs: the Centre for Human Rights and Development, the Women Leaders Foundation and Shin Zammal. Katherine G. Pease Manghillis joined Schottenstein Zox & Dunn in July as an assoc-iate in the litigation and bankruptcy practice groups of the firm’s Cleveland office. This fall, Cynthia Mark was named managing attorney of Greater Boston Legal Services’ Asian Outreach Unit. Cyndi has been an activist and advocate within Boston’s Asian-American community for more than 20 years, working on issues ranging from police brutality and workers’ rights, to community control over land use and development. Wendy B. Zazik and her husband, Mark Gale, welcomed a son, Zachary Ben Zazik Gale,

in April 2005. Wendy is vice president and associate general counsel at Fidelity Investments in Boston, where she practices employment law.

In September, John D. Lanza joined the Boston firm of Choate, Hall & Stewart as a partner in the intellectual property department. His practice focuses on a variety of technology areas. He was previously a partner at Lahive & Cockfield, also in Boston.

Sarah C. Peck joined the US Department of State as a polit-ical officer at the US embassy in Prague. David W. Stewart reports he is still general counsel for a labor union in Montpelier, Vt., and enjoys it most days. He and his wife, Kay, welcomed a daughter, Lia, in May 2005. Their daughter, Tessa, is now 3 and quite opinionated — they have no idea where she gets it! In January 2005, Barbara S. Whitbeck and her husband welcomed a second baby boy, Milo Isaac Whitbeck. Older brother Hunter is having a ball! Senta L. Wong is now of counsel in the Boston office of Fish & Richardson; she is in the trademark, copyright, media and entertainment group. Senta focuses her practice on intellectual property and transactions, particularly for companies engaged in the design, development, publishing, marketing, distribution, licensing and other exploitation of inter-active entertainment properties. She is also cochairing the firm’s interactive entertainment practice.

Curtis Tucker was named general director of the Lake George Opera in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Also a composer, his original opera, “The Stranger’s Tale,” received its world premiere at Ohio’s Sorg Opera in April 2005.

Christopher Scott Goeken and his partner since 1993, Glenn Duque Magpantay, held a commitment ceremony in September. Christopher is in private practice in Jackson Heights, New York. Christie Getto Young was promoted to senior director of public policy at United Way of Massachusetts Bay, where she has worked for five years and says she still loves it. She and her husband welcomed their second child, Elijah, in October 2004. He joins big sister, Emma, 4.

Tiffany M. Williams has joined the New Jersey-based firm of Riker Danzig Scherer Hyland Perretti as an associate focusing on commercial litigation, representation of public entities, administrative law and white-collar criminal defense.

Celia L. Wagner, general counsel at Citizens Bank New Hampshire, was profiled as a “rising star” in the May 2005 issue of Business NH Magazine.

Megumi Fujita and Brian Sherry were married in May 2005 in Washington, DC, with many law school friends in attendance. The Boston Bar Association named Ronald G. Nelson as cochair of the New Lawyers Section. Since 2002, Ronald has been an assistant corporation counsel in the City of Boston Law Department, where his practice includes real estate, legislation, contracts, civil litigation in the federal and state courts and providing legal consultation to more than 15 departments. Elizabeth M. Noteware has joined the staff attorney’s office in the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Terrance M. Schwab and Paula Bliss Schwab are pleased to announce the birth of their twins, Maya Kathryn and Edward Bliss, in October 2005. The proud parents report the kids are beautiful, healthy and happy. Stacy F. Antonucci married Joseph P. Posillico in March 2005. Stacy and Joe began dating when Stacy was in her second year of law school; they now reside in Long Island, where Stacy practices family law.

Eric J. Stern serves as executive director of the National Stonewall Democrats, the nation’s grassroots network of LGBT and allied Democrats. Eric served as the national director of LGBT outreach for the Democratic National Committee from 2003 through 2005 and worked on the Kerry-Edwards campaign in Iowa.

This fall, Debra L. Feldman joined the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., office of Gunster, Yoakley & Stewart as an associate in the firm’s corporate department. She focuses on business and corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, securities law, corporate governance and start-up companies.

Emily B. Read and Ethan Eddy ’05 purchased their first home in Woodbridge, Va. Emily is a teaching fellow and staff attorney for a clinical program at Georgetown University Law Center, and Ethan works at Meyer Glitzenstein & Crystal in Washington, DC.

In September, Brendan O’Neil joined the Portland, Maine, office of Verrill Dana as an associate in the estate planning and estate administration group. Sara Pic Harrison married Lisa Harrison in September 2005 with many law school friends in attendance.