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Class Notes
Note: All School of Law class notes can be sent to: Saint Louis Brief
1964
The Best Lawyers in America named Joseph Giljum of Kohn, Shands, Elbert, Gianoulakis & Giljum LLP as a top attorney in the magazine’s 2009 edition.
1968
Gary Lucas (Cook ’66, Grad ’76) has retired from his position of Senior Vice President of Labor Relations for AT&T. Lucas’ position was the third largest in the U.S. private sector, and he was responsible for contract negotiation and administration for more than 30 agreements, covering approximately 130,000 employees. Lucas recently founded a labor relations consulting and training company, Cooperative Labor-Management Group. He and his wife of 42 years, Mary Anne, reside in St. Louis.
Robert F. Ritter, chairman of Gray, Ritter & Graham, P.C. has been named “St. Louis Plaintiff Injury Litigator of the Year” for 2009 by The Best Lawyers in America. Ritter was named a 2008 Super Lawyer, which recognizes the top 5 percent of lawyers in both Missouri and Kansas.
1970
This April, Michael Reap began serving as Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri.
1974
Daniel G. Tobben has been named the Chair of the Litigation Department of Danna McKitrick P.C. in St. Louis. A principal with the firm since 2001, Tobben maintains his seat on the firm’s Strategic Planning Committee.
1975
Scott S. Brinkmeyer of Mika Meyers Beckett & Jones PLC was recently recognized in the Super Lawyers: Corporate Counsel Edition for attaining a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement in business litigation.
1976
The Best Lawyers in America named Charles Elbert of Kohn, Shands, Elbert, Gianoulakis & Giljum, LLP as a top attorney in the magazine’s 2009 edition.
1984
Mark Bobak recently joined Williams Venker & Sanders LLC in St. Louis. He most recently served as Chief Legal Officer at Anheuser-Busch, where he spent 15 years in a number of leadership roles within the legal department.
1985
Evans & Dixon L.L.C. recently announced that Bryan Groh, an attorney specializing in litigation, will lead the Kansas City location’s Civil Litigation Practice Group. He has more than 23 years of experience in industries ranging from automotive, construction, education, transportation and public utilities to wholesale trade.
1986
Gov. Jay Nixon appointed Associate Circuit Judge Gloria Clark-Reno to the Circuit Judge position. Clark-Reno will be the first African-American woman in the position, which serves all of St. Louis County. Reno has served as an Associate Circuit Judge on the 21st Circuit since March 2002, presiding over a variety of civil, family law and criminal cases.
Dennis Ruth was sworn in as a Circuit Court Judge for the Third Judicial Circuit of Illinois in December. He is assigned to a civil case docket at the courthouse in Edwardsville, Ill., where he also resides.
1987
Michael E. Bub recently joined Paule, Camazine & Blumenthal, P.C. He has more than 20 years of experience as a successful insurance defense trial attorney and has represented hundreds of companies across Missouri and Illinois. In addition to insurance defense and civil litigation, Bub’s other areas of practice include product liability, transportation and appellate litigation.
1991
The Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service recently appointed Diane Ryan the National Chief of IRS Appeals. Ryan has taught taxation as an adjunct professor at the School of Law on several occasions since her graduation. Ryan was the director of technical services for Appeals and has held numerous management positions with the office. She has also served as a special agent with the IRS’s Criminal Investigation Division.
1992
Patricia A. Zimmer, partner in the law firm Ripplinger & Zimmer, LLC of St. Louis and Belleville, Ill., has been appointed to the Tort Law Section Council of the Illinois State Bar Association. Zimmer is the immediate past chair of the association’s Insurance Law Section Council. She concentrates her practice in the representation of claimants in injury, wrongful death and legal, medical and other professional malpractice cases in the state and federal courts of Illinois and Missouri.
1993
The Silicon Valley office of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP recently announced Michael A. Molano as a partner in the firm’s Intellectual Property Practice Group. Before joining the firm, he was a partner in the Palo Alto, Ca., office of Mayer Brown LLP.
1994
Thomas O’Connor, senior counsel of labor and employment for Georgia-Pacific LLC in Atlanta, was featured in the December issue of The Atlanta Lawyer magazine. O’Connor was recognized for his public service work through charities and non-law initiatives. He creates art with license plates and donates his unique pieces to charities throughout the Southeast for fundraising events.
English Lucas Priest & Owsley LLP in Bowling Green, Mich., named Michael S. Vitale as a partner. He previously served as the partner in charge of Wyatt Tarrant & Combs LLP’s office in Bowling Green.
1995
David Franklin was recently named partner in the intellectual law firm of Amin, Turocy & Calvin, LLP based in Cleveland, Ohio. Franklin works from Cincinnati as a registered patent attorney in the electrical, software and bio-device technologies. He is a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserves, assigned as the staff judge advocate for the 445th Airlift Wing at Wright-Patterson AFB.
The national litigation firm Foley & Mansfield, PLLP has named attorney Margo E. Miller a partner. Miller is located in the firm’s Detroit office, and she practices in the firm’s Toxic Tort and Mass Tort Litigation Practice Group, with special emphasis on asbestos cases. She also participates on the prosecution committees of the Animal Law Section/State Bar of Michigan and serves on the board of the International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council.
Paul Petruska, a partner with Williams Venker & Sanders LLC in St. Louis, lectured at the National Association of Railroad Trial Counsel’s winter meeting in Sea Island, Ga. Petruska is an experienced speaker and has lectured across the country on an array of topics, including employment law, toxic torts and e-discovery. He also handles product liability, transportation litigation and complex commercial litigation.
1997
Husch Blackwell Sanders recently named Erin Matis as a partner. She joined the firm as an associate in 2005 in the Estate Planning, Trusts & Estates, Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation and Tax groups. She focuses her practice on tax and estate matters.
1998
Matt Devoti recently opened Newstead Tower Public House, a cozy “gastropub” in the Forest Park Southeast’s Grove neighborhood. The restaurant has been featured in an array of local publications and noted for its great burgers and beer selection.
Christopher Geldmacher (Cook ’95) and Tracy Janson Geldmacher (Doisy ’95, Grad Doisy ’97) welcomed their third child, August (Gus) Kenneth, in March. Chris is an attorney in St. Louis at Sauter Sullivan LLC and Tracy is a physical therapist at Missouri Baptist Medical Center.Randy Jackson was recently selected as a “2009 Cincy Leading Lawyer” by Cincy business magazine in Cincinnati, Ohio. Jackson received the award for his work in the biotech area.
Local law firm Danna McKitrick, P.C. recently announced that attorney and CPA Patrick J. Murphy has been named principal in the areas of corporate, tax and estate planning. Murphy, who joined the firm in 2005, provides sophisticated estate planning and trust administration and counsels in corporate matters.
Mark W. Nelson has been named the newest magistrate for the 14B District Court in Ypsilanti, Mich. Nelson is the second magistrate for the court since its inception in 1984. He will serve as the court’s part-time magistrate while continuing his private practice at the firm of Murphy & Nelson PLLC.
1999
SimmonsCooper LLC recently announced Nicholas Angelides as a new partner. He brings extensive experience in asbestos litigation and has worked with mesothelioma victims since 2003.Christopher Weiss was recently named a partner at Husch Blackwell Sanders. He joined the firm as an associate in 2006 and focuses his practice on general litigation, appeals, real estate and business transactions.
2000
James Crowe joined the law firm of Dowd Bennett LLP this June. Crowe has served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of Illinois for the past five years. His wife, Rachelle Crowe (’00) is an Assistant State’s Attorney in Madison County, Ill. They live in Maryville, Ill., with their 2-year-old son, Ryan.
Andrew Douglass has been named a partner in the Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Department of Seyfarth Shaw LLP in the firm’s Chicago office. He has extensive experience with legal, financial and administrative issues affecting qualified retirement plans, health and welfare plans and other employee benefit arrangements.
Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP recently announced Marcus Helt as a partner in the firm’s Bankruptcy and Business Reorganization section. He practices in the firm’s Dallas office.
2001
Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear recently appointed attorney Jennifer L. Elliott to the Board of Trustees of the Kentucky Retirement Systems. Elliott is a member of the Louisville, Ky., office of Stites & Harbison. She focuses her practice on regulatory and transactional health care law. Elliott is also a frequent author and lecturer on health care topics for both national and local organizations.
2002
Christopher Guinn has joined the law firm of SimmonsCooper as a partner. Prior to joining the firm, Guinn served two years as assistant prosecuting attorney for the St. Louis County Office of the Prosecuting Attorney. Guinn is dedicated to representing victims of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases.
2004
Hall Booth Smith & Slover in Atlanta recently announced Shawn Pinkston as an associate. Pinkston’s practice will specialize in medical malpractice defense and commercial litigation.
2005
Morris Turek formed YourTrademarkAttorney.com, a law firm focusing on federal trademark registration and trademark infringement litigation for small and medium-sized businesses.
2006
Jenkins & Kling, P.C. recently announced Keli Orlando as a new associate. Prior to joining the firm, Orlando was an associate in private practice. Orlando specializes in land use and zoning, real estate creditors’ rights, bankruptcy and corporate law.
2007
Kilby Cantwell McFadden was sworn in as an assistant state’s attorney in Cook County, Ill.National litigation firm Foley & Mansfield hired Brittany A. Young as an attorney in the Toxic Tort and Mass Tort Litigation Group in its St. Louis office. Prior to joining Foley & Mansfield, she was a litigation attorney at the Illinois law firm Kurowski, Baily & Shultz, LLC.
2008
Steven G. Holdener has joined the law firm of Armstrong Teasdale LLP as an associate and member of the firm’s Intellectual Property Practice Group. He focuses primarily on the preparation and prosecution of both U.S. and foreign patent applications.
An article written by Sarah Keefe Molina in the Saint Louis University Law Journal was recently cited in a high profile case, Padilla v. Kentucky. The petitioner cited Molina’s comments in the support for his argument. The Supreme Court has granted cert on the issue addressed in Molina’s article, “Rejecting the Collateral Consequences Doctrine: Silence About Deportation May or May Not Violate Strickland’s Performance Prong.”
McAnany, Van Cleave & Phillips added Brent Neumeyer as an attorney. He represents employers and insurance carriers in defending workers’ compensation claims. He also drafts proposed awards and appellate briefs, Medicare set-aside trust proposals and workers’ compensation seminar materials.
Melanie E. Riley has joined the firm of Heyl Royster Voelker & Allen in the firm’s Edwardsville, Ill., office as an associate.
HeplerBroom LLC law firm announced Audra L. Zobrist as an associate in the Edwardsville, Ill., office. She concentrates her practice in toxic torts.
in memoriam
John C. Roberts Jr. 1950
Stuart J. Traynor Sr. 1950
Robert T. Ebert Sr. 1951
Robert K. Spalding 1955
Wyvetter Hoover Younge 1955
Daniel F. Sheehan Jr. 1965
Lester A. Paff 1973
Bertram Cooper 1975
Mary A. Dinkel 1982
Mark A. Bertsch 1986
in memory of Mary Cosgrove Cosentino, ’78
Mary Cosgrove Cosentino graduated from the School of Law in 1978, one of the first graduating classes at the School of Law — and at any law school in the nation — to have studied health law. These early SLU LAW students inspired the inception of the health law program by initiating the annual health law symposium of the Saint Louis University Law Journal.
Following their lead, the law faculty established the Center for Health Law Studies formally in 1982.
“Mary always remembered to reach back to the health law students who followed in her footsteps and gave them a hand up into the field,” says Emerita Professor Sandra H. Johnson. “And she was a resource for the faculty in those early days as well.”
Upon graduation, Cosentino joined the legal department at the Catholic Health Association of the United States. Just two years later, Gardner, Carton & Douglas, a major law firm in Chicago, recruited her to help establish a new health law department. In 1984, Cosentino went on to become general counsel at St. Joseph Hospital and Health Care Center in Chicago. She left St. Joseph’s in 1988 to join the faculty at Loyola University School of Law in Chicago.
Cosentino served as a pioneer at Loyola University School of Law’s Beazley Institute for Health Law and Policy and was instrumental in establishing the health law program there. Larry Singer, director of the institute, says Cosentino had a “significant impact” on elevating the school’s program to its current stature.
“Mary made a strong contribution to Loyola’s program in the early days,” he says. “She was a dynamic personality, eternally optimistic and devoted to her students and her colleagues.
”Professor Roger L. Goldman adds that he remembers Cosentino from the first day of Civil Procedure class, recalling she was a great student and interested in all aspects of the law, not just the academic side. “Mary was curious about my volunteer work on civil liberties and joined me at rallies and meetings,” he says. “When I think of Mary, her infectious smile, enthusiasm and empathy for all immediately come to mind.”
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