Alumni News

Brian Deese ’09, Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama, will lead the White House’s team currently seeking a Supreme Court nominee. Deese has previously been involved in the administration’s efforts on climate change, the U.S. auto industry bailout, and budget deals with Congress. See the full article from Reuters.

Philadelphia lawyer Michael H. Reed ’72 will be honored with the A. Leon Higginbotham Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award during the 28th Annual Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) Minority Attorney Conference.

Ramón Enrique Bauzá died at his home in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, on September 29, 2015, after a long illness. He practiced law in Puerto Rico for more than four decades and was an informal advisor to Rafael Hernández Colón, who was governor of Puerto Rico for three terms. José Cabranes ’65, a friend of Bauzá’s from their time in New Haven, wrote this tribute.

In her new book, Vagrant Nation: Police Power, Constitutional Change and the Making of the 1960s, Risa Goluboff ’00 explores how and why vagrancy laws that had been on the books for hundreds of years collapsed in the span of two decades.

The American Academy of Arts and Letters has announced that writer Adam Haslett ‘03 and Jesmyn Ward will each receive the Academy’s prestigious Strauss Living of $200,000.

Vinson & Elkins announces the promotion of 10 lawyers to its partnership effective January 1, 2016, two of whom are Yale Law School graduates: Mike Heidler in Austin and Danny Tobey in Dallas.

Risa Goluboff ’00, a renowned legal historian specializing in civil rights, is the John Allan Love Professor of Law and Professor of History at UVA and serves as the director of the J.D.-M.A. in history dual-degree program. She also is a faculty affiliate of UVA’s Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies and faculty associate of the Governing America in a Global Era Program at UVA’s Miller Center. Goluboff will be the first woman dean of the School of Law. Read more.

Frank J. Silvestri '74, an attorney in Verrill Dana's Connecticut office, was recognized recently for his skill as a litigator in multiple national rankings. Frank was recognized both in the 2015 edition of New England Super Lawyers and Rising Stars and in Benchmark Litigation's 2016 edition.

The 2015 Bernard Witkin Lecture was presented by the Los Angeles County Bar Association on November 12, 2015. This year’s Witkin Lecture, co-sponsored by the Witkin Foundation and the Litigation Section, was delivered by California Supreme Court Justice Leondra R. Kruger ’01.

David Martin ’75, the Warner-Booker Distinguished Professor of International Law at University of Virginia School of Law, received the Excellence in International Migration Scholarship Award from the Center for Migration Studies in New York City on October 28. Read about Professor Martin and the award on the University of Virginia School of Law website.