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Alumni Newsmakers


the '70s

Jeffrey C. Bortner, JD ’49, was honored with the second in a series of scholarship endowments from PeoplesBank, which recognize the accomplishments of distinguished community leaders in the Southern York County area of New York. Bortner was the first solicitor of the Southern York County school district, a position he held for more than 40 years. His wife, Gene Patermaster, BA ’47, joined him at the award presentation in May.

the '70s

Tacoma, Wash., attorney Dale Carlisle, JD ’60, was honored with the 2007 Lifetime Service Award from the Washington State Bar Association. Carlisle began his career as a judge advocate for the U.S. Air Force and as an assistant U.S. attorney for the western district of Washington. He later was general counsel for Levitt West. From 1990 to 2000, Carlisle was the managing partner of his firm, Gordon Thomas Honeywell Peterson & Daheim, where he has practiced since 1966.

Harold I. Rosen, BBA ’64, JD ’67, LLM ’73, was awarded the President’s Medal by the Society of American Military Engineers. He has served as the society’s general counsel and as a member of its board of directors and executive committee for the past eight years and has been an officer of its Academy of Fellows since 1994.

Robert L. Geltzer, JD ’68, received his Master of Arts degree in literature from the City College of New York. Geltzer is a practicing attorney and federal bankruptcy trustee. His dissertation was titled “Milkmaid and Major from Wessex to Adano: Similarities Between Tess of the D’Urbervilles as Naturalistic Novel and A Bell for Adano as Journalistic Novel as Bases for Demonstrating Differences Between Tess and Joppolo as Heroes.”

the '80s

Schnader attorney Neil Thomas Proto, MA ’69, JD ’72, was appointed to the board of directors of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute in Hyde Park, N.Y.

In June, Joseph J. Tabacco, JD ’74, was appointed as an independent director of Overstock.com Inc. The company’s board of directors also appointed him to serve on the audit and compensation committees. Tabacco is managing partner at the San Francisco office of Berman DeValerio Pease Tabacco Burt & Pucillo.

Smith Moore attorney Jeri L. Whitfield, JD ’77, is listed in the 2008 issue of The Best Lawyers in America. Whitfield specializes in workers’ compensation law in the firm’s Greensboro, N.C., office.

Law & Politics has named Richard L. Byrne, JD ’78, a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer for 2007. He also was ranked with honors by the legal directory Chambers USA America’s Leading Lawyers for Business 2007. Byrne is director and secretary of the Webb Law Firm, a Pittsburgh-based intellectual property law practice. He lives in Upper St. Clair, Pa.

The Utah State Bar named Gregory K. Orme, JD ’78, a Judge of the Year for 2007. Orme was appointed to the appeals court in 1987 and also serves as a member of the Utah Sentencing Commission and as the judicial adviser to the Utah Bar Journal.

J.T. Westermeier, LLM ’78, was named one of the “Best Lawyers in America” in 2006 and 2007. He also made Virginia’s “Legal Elite” in 2006, Virginia Super Lawyers in 2006, and Washington, D.C., Super Lawyers in 2007. Westermeier is a partner at DLA Piper in the Reston, Va., office.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., the federal insurer of private-sector pensions, named Israel Goldowitz, JD ’79, its chief counsel. He leads a team of 50 attorneys who are involved in numerous cases in federal trial and appellate courts across the country. Goldowitz also is an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center.

the '90s

imageAndru H. Volinsky, JD ’80, was named one of New Hampshire’s most influential residents over the past 25 years as part of a program airing on New Hampshire Public Radio. He is known for his work as lead counsel for the Claremont school funding cases. A Concord resident, Volinsky manages Bernstein Shur’s Manchester office.

imageWinston & Strawn welcomed Joyce L. Bartoo, JD ’81, as of counsel in its Washington, D.C., office. Her practice is focused on antitrust, litigation, and administrative/regulatory matters. Previously she was a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, antitrust division.

The bar association of Middlesex County, N.J., appointed Michael K. Feinberg, JD ’81, co-chair of its elder law committee. Feinberg is a member of numerous groups of elder law specialists and is listed in the Best Lawyers in America in the Trusts and Estates category. He is a partner in the Woodbridge, N.J., office of Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis.

Michael W. Clancy, JD ’82, has been named vice president and associate general counsel with Oracle USA Inc. in Reston, Va.

The Washington, D.C., office of Arnold & Porter welcomed Raul R. Herrera, BA ’81, JD ’84, to its corporate securities practice group, where he will continue to expand his Latin American transactional and arbitration practice.

In May, Norman L. Pernick, JD ’84, began supervising the Downtown Wilmington Main Street Program, a community-driven renewal plan. As chair of the program’s board of directors, Pernick will direct efforts to attract new businesses and promote arts and culture in Wilmington, Del.

The law firm of Roetzel & Andress promoted Gary Adler, JD ’85, as a partner in its Washington, D.C., office. Adler counsels clients on litigation and acts as general counsel to various corporations, partnerships, and trade associations. He also represents professional athletes.

The American Bankruptcy Institute published ABI’s Bankruptcy Appeals Manual: Winning Your Bankruptcy Appeal by Samuel R. Maizel, JD ’85. After graduating from law school, Maizel served in the U.S. Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps, including service in Operation Desert Storm, for which he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal. In 2007 he was named a Southern California “Super Lawyer.”

Parsons hired Joseph Mahaley, JD ’86, as senior vice president and director of its newly created applied systems division, which provides systems engineering, analysis, and scientific and technical solutions to the intelligence community and other U.S. government agencies.

Real estate attorney Jane Thomassen, JD ’86, has joined Sherin and Lodgen law firm in Boston.

Kathleen Quartey Ayensu, MCL ’87, was appointed attorney general of the British Virgin Islands. Before her appointment, she served as chief state attorney for the Ministry of Justice in Accra, Ghana, a post she held since 1999.

Florida Super Lawyer magazine recognized Mahesh H. Nanwani, JD ’87, as ranking among the top 5 percent of attorneys in the state.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty appointed William H. Koch, JD ’88, a state trial court judge. He is one of 62 judges on the Fourth Judicial District responsible for Hennepin County, Minn.

Tom Connelly, LLM ’89, was named general counsel of Navy Federal Credit Union. Navy Federal is the largest credit union in the world with $29 billion in assets and almost 3 million members.

Attorney Pamela K. Elkow, JD ’89, of Ridgefield, Conn., was elected a 2007 James W. Cooper Fellow of the Connecticut Bar Foundation.

the '00s

Brad Pomerance, JD ’90, received an Emmy nomination from the Los Angeles branch of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for a television program he hosted and produced on the revitalization of Hollywood.

Matt Rizzo, JD ’91, is principal and co-chair of the labor and employment practice group of Odin Feldman & Pittleman, a 50-attorney law firm located in Fairfax, Va. He is the co-author of Employment Law in Virginia (VA Law Foundation, 2007) and has served since 1994 as an adjunct professor at Marymount University in Arlington, Va.

imageVeteran trial attorney Rodney R. Sweetland III, JD ’91, joined McKool Smith’s new Washington office. Sweetland’s work in high-profile technology disputes includes litigation involving cyber-squatting, computer hacking, and Internet trademarks.

In April, Andrew R. “Art” Arthur, JD ’92, was sworn in as a judge for the York Immigration Court in York, Pa. Arthur is a member of the Maryland bar and previously served as counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives, committee on the judiciary, subcommittee on immigration, border security, and claims.

Ron Abramson, JD ’93, an attorney at McLane, Graf, Raulerson & Middleton, was appointed to a three-year term on the board of governors for New Hampshire Public Television. He was tapped for membership in part because of his diverse background, including involvement with community-based Latino nonprofits and recent time spent living in his native Chile.

McCarter & English partner Gregory H. Horowitz, BBA ’90, JD ’93, was selected by American Lawyer as one of the New York area’s “Best Lawyers” for insurance matters. He was also selected as one of the New Jersey Law Journal’s “40 Under 40” list of young lawyers and by Law and Politics as a “New Jersey Rising Star Super Lawyer” for insurance matters. He lives in Springfield, N.J., with his wife, Wendi (Fried) Horowitz, and their two children, Jared and Julia.

imageSonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal named Anthony L. Perricone, JD ’93, a partner in the New York office as chair of its fund services group. Perricone’s practice involves advising clients on all aspects of the investment management sector, from initial fund formation to complex restructurings and transactional representation.

Formerly a NASA engineer and a co-chair of Sughrue Mion’s electrical/mechanical group, Grant Rowan, JD ’94, joined the intellectual property department of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr.

Ana L. Escobar, JD ’95, started the law firm of Escobar and Parks in Nashville, Tenn. She focuses her practice in both state and federal criminal defense as well as administrative disciplinary matters. Escobar is in her second term as a commissioner for the Davidson County Election Commission.

Dan Hamilton, JD ’95, teaches legal history at Chicago-Kent College of Law. His book, The Limits of Sovereignty: Property Confiscation in the Union and Confederacy during the Civil War, was published by the University of Chicago Press in February 2007.

President George W. Bush appointed Paul Harris, JD ’95, as a member of the advisory committee of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. He will hold the post until 2010.

Bradley P. Hartman, BBA ’90, JD ’95, was elected to the board of directors of the Amblyopia Foundation of America, a nonprofit pediatric health organization dedicated to screening and treating the disorder commonly known as lazy eye. Hartman is a partner at Stinson Morrison Hecker in Phoenix.

imageCole, Schotz, Meisel, Forman & Leonard attorney Randi (Weller) Kochman, JD ’95, was named a New Jersey Super Lawyers “Rising Star” in the field of employment law.

The Washington Business Journal named Howrey litigation partner Christina Sarchio, JD ’95, one of its “Young Guns” in its most recent ranking of top Washington lawyers.

Sheldon Bradshaw, JD ’96, joined Hunton & Williams’ Washington office to expand the firm’s food and drug practice. Bradshaw previously served as chief counsel of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Brian Kamoie, JD ’96, MPH ’97, works at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as deputy assistant secretary for preparedness and response and director of the Office of Policy, Strategic Planning and Communications within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.

An attorney in the telecommunications group of Kelley Drye Collier Shannon, Melissa Smith Conway, JD ’97, was elected special counsel at the firm’s Washington, D.C., office. She specializes in obtaining state public utility commission regulatory approval for a wide variety of corporate transactions.

The New York office of Reed Smith welcomed Edward J. Estrada, JD ’97, as a partner in its commercial restructuring and bankruptcy group.

Los Angeles firm Weston Benshoof Rochefort Rubalcava MacCuish added Andrew S. Begun, JD ’97, as a partner in its real estate and corporate practice groups. His practice concentrates on real estate and financing transactions.

imageBrandon J. Kavanagh, JD ’97, is chair-elect of the business section of the Arizona State Bar for 2007-08. In this capacity he will serve as senior co-vice chair and work on programming for the section. Kavanagh practices business law with Gust Rosenfeld.

Blank Rome partner and Pro Bono Services Director Kathy Ochroch, JD ’97, has been elected to the Nationalities Service Center’s board of trustees. Ochroch will serve on an 18-member board charged with the governance of the agency and will help to oversee its mission of assisting immigrants and refugees in the Delaware Valley region.

Smith Anderson partner Margaret Rosenfeld, JD ’97, was the featured speaker for TheCorporateCounsel.net podcast, which focused on outside counsels serving as in-house counsels.

Christie L. Grymes, JD ’98, was elected partner at Kelley Drye Collier Shannon in Washington, D.C. An attorney in the firm’s advertising and marketing law practice, she assists clients on matters of consumer protection, including advertising, product safety, promotions, privacy, and sweepstakes.

imageCole, Schotz, Meisel, Forman & Leonard attorney James T. Kim, JD ’98, was selected by his peers as one of New Jersey Super Lawyers’ “Rising Stars” in the area of business litigation. He was also featured in the New Jersey Law Journal as one of “40 Under 40” accomplished lawyers in the state.

Jeremy Rosen, JD ’98, was named executive director of the National Policy and Advocacy Council on Homelessness in Washington, D.C. NPACH is a grass roots anti-poverty organization that seeks to ensure that national homelessness policy accurately reflects the needs and experiences of local communities.

Smith Moore attorney Kimberly Gatling, JD ’99, has been named chair of the North Carolina Bar Association’s intellectual property section. She will serve a one-year term in the position, guiding the 573-member section and its examination of patent, trademark, and copyright law issues.

Matthew A. Kaminer, JD ’99, was promoted to vice president and chief privacy officer for WebMD, where he is still assistant general counsel. He resides in New York City. His email address is mkaminer@webmd.net.

Miller Canfield welcomed Kenneth J. Sachs, JD ’99, as senior attorney in its Detroit office, where he will continue to concentrate his practice on employee benefits, business planning, and executive compensation. He will complete his LLM in taxation from Wayne State University in December 2007.

the '00s

Bryan Miller, JD ’00, a litigation attorney in the West Palm Beach office of Gunster, Yoakley and Stewart, was named a leader in the legal profession by Florida Trend magazine.

imageTina Richards, LLM ’00, joined Baker & Daniels as an associate in the law firm’s construction, environmental law, and real property litigation practice group. She has extensive experience in the areas of environmental cost recovery and insurance litigation.

Dilworth Paxson litigation attorney Eric B. Meyer, JD ’01, was recognized as handling one of the top 50 largest decisions in Pennsylvania for the case Transport International Pool Inc. v Suhler Trucking Inc. Meyer focuses his practice on both labor and employment matters and general commercial litigation. He lives in Philadelphia.

Dilworth Paxson litigator Edward W. Chang, JD ’02, participated in the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s 2007 Annual Minority Law Day. The theme for this year’s Law Day was “Combating School Violence: Arm Yourself with the Law.” Chang was part of the planning committee for the event and led the students through a mock trial advocacy problem on constitutional law search and seizure issues.

The American Road and Transportation Builders’ Association promoted Nick Goldstein, LLM ’02, to the position of assistant general counsel and director of regulatory affairs. He joined ARTBA as a staff attorney in 2004, and he previously was an associate in the Washington firm of Van Ness Feldman. Goldstein has an extensive background in environmental law and service, having worked for a year with the Volunteers in Service to America program and completed internships with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe’s Office of Economic Planning and Development.

Maj. Gen. Scott Black, the U.S. Army’s judge advocate general, has selected Lt. Col. Harrold McCracken, LLM ’03, as the staff judge advocate for the U.S. Army’s Southern European Task Force (SETAF) (Airborne), headquartered in Vicenza, Italy. McCracken will be the senior legal adviser to the SETAF commanding general, the senior Army officer responsible for all Army personnel stationed in Italy and Turkey.

Carolyn Lindsey, JD ’04, joined TRACE International’s corporate compliance team. Lindsey previously worked on international regulatory issues for Powell Goldstein in Washington, D.C.

Nossaman named Jeremy Jungreis, LLM ’04, of counsel at the firm’s Orange County, Calif., office. His practice will continue to focus on environmental and land use issues. Jungreis previously served as regional environmental counsel for Marine Corps installations in the western United States, where he specialized in water quality, water rights, and air quality.

Meredith Mariani, LLM ’06, has published a revision of her LLM thesis on the international regulation of genetically-modified plants and food safety. The book is titled The Intersection of International Law, Agricultural Biotechnology and Infectious Disease and will be published by Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.

On June 30, Christal Mims, LLM ’06, married W. Frank Williams III, a senior vice president at Bank of America. The wedding and reception took place at the Castle at Maryvale in Brooklandville, Md., and was followed by a 14-day trip to Hawaii. She is currently employed with the Office of the Attorney General in Washington, D.C.

Sunita K. Sreedharan, LLM ’06, has set up her own IPR practice with a focus on patent drafting, filing, prosecution, opposition, and infringement, after resigning from the partnership of an Indian law firm. “Suddenly life is even more exciting,” Sreedharan says. “The challenge of setting up a practice is an adrenaline rush, and I am enjoying every moment.”


A Clear Connection

Robin Sangston got her first taste of American media by hanging around the Washington NBC/WRC studio with her father, an announcer for Meet the Press and other radio and television programs.

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Robin Sangston, JD ’87

As she absorbed the political discussions and carefully studied high-profile guests like Henry Kissinger and Jimmy Carter, Sangston developed a deep respect for journalism and First Amendment rights. But the courtroom was her calling.

“Even then, I never saw myself in front of the camera,” says Sangston, JD ’87. “I wanted to be behind the scenes.”

Today Sangston, an attorney for nearly two decades, serves as vice president and associate general counsel of Cox Communications Inc., the third largest cable provider in the nation. The young girl who once observed the media intently from backstage is now helping to lead an increasingly competitive telecommunications industry, where an explosion of innovative technology and additional regulations are sparking new legal challenges.

“Every day there seems to be something that is changing the face of the cable industry,” Sangston says, noting the introduction of Voice Over Internet Protocol, satellite TV, and increased Internet and DSL packages. “Dealing with the legal issues never gets boring.”

A native Washingtonian, Sangston studied anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania before continuing her education at GW Law, where she says she was drawn to the school’s strong First Amendment and media law program. After earning her Juris Doctor with high honors, she specialized in media litigation as an associate in the Washington law firm of Dow, Lohnes & Albertson. The cable industry’s rapid growth in the 1990s presented ideal opportunities for corporate in-house attorney positions, and Sangston soon found her niche.

As the current manager of Cox Commun-ications’ 27-employee law department, Sangston is helping to develop the company’s intellectual property and patent arena, as well as introducing e-billing and e-discovery initiatives to help make the company’s legal work more efficient and cost effective. She has been with Cox Communications since 1995, when the Atlanta-based corporation focused mostly on cable service. Today, the company touts nearly 6 million customers and offers a variety of products, including digital video, high-speed Internet, and telephone services over its own nationwide IP network, as well as integrated wireless services in partnership with Sprint. The cable industry’s rigorous competition demands that Sangston regularly confront new, uncharted legal territory. And her efforts as a leader, especially as a woman in a male-dominated field, have
been noticed.

In 2004, Sangston served as the national chair of Women in Cable & Telecommunications Inc., a 6,000-member nonprofit organization dedicated to developing women leaders in the cable television industry. A year later, the mother of three was ranked number 22 in CableWorld Magazine’s Top 50 Most Influential Women in Cable issue. Even with her successful career, Sangston says she is aware of the challenges facing working moms.

“I grew up in the ’80s when the term ‘having it all’ was bandied about quite liberally, and it became something of an accepted given that young women were led to believe was possible…[but] it’s very difficult to have it all at the same time,” she says. “I’ve learned that at any given moment you may not be as perfect in every aspect of your life as you’d like, but if you can forgive yourself and learn to accept something less than perfection, you can usually get through the tough times, and it all eventually works out.”

Sangston says the status of women in the cable industry is improving as more females take on nontraditional roles, such as in technology and finance. But she maintains that women still need a greater presence, especially in the industry’s top ranks.

“At the very highest level, you don’t see much of a difference,” Sangston says. “Consolidations across the industry gobbled up some of the women in senior level management positions. We still need to regroup from that.”

When she isn’t delving into new telecommunications legal issues, Sangston is busy balancing life at home. She and her husband, Jim, MS ’87, DSc ’95, live in the Atlanta suburbs with their two teenage sons, Kevin and Geoffrey, and a 10-year-old daughter, Amanda. She credits Cox Communications with being the kind of family-friendly company that allowed her “the flexibility to be with my kids and not miss out on their growing up.”

And although she regularly travels around the country for WICT to speak about women’s leadership roles in the cable industry, she may be making her most important impression at home.

“I strive to teach my two sons and especially my daughter, Amanda, that they can be anything they want to be,” Sangston says, “if they have drive and determination and are willing to take some risks.”

Jaime Ciavarra


Chocolate Connoisseur

A little chocolate is good for the soul, says Binta Robinson, JD ’06, owner of the newly launched online gourmet chocolate company Somptueusement (French for “sumptuously” or “magnificently”).

The longtime gourmet food fan says that she has always wanted to start her own business. She set her sights on chocolate after learning that there’s much more to the delicious treat than meets the eye. “I was intrigued to discover that gourmet chocolates have a wide array of flavors and aromas, as do fine wines,” she says, explaining that flavors vary significantly according to regional climate and soil conditions where cocoa is grown.

“As many as 400 different aromas and flavors of chocolate have been identified,” she notes. “Chocolate connoisseurship can, therefore, be equated to wine connoisseurship in many instances. Chocolate is also chock-full of healthful chemicals known as flavonoids, which act as antioxidants—protecting the body from aging, enhancing the immune system, and leading to an overall feeling of well being.”

Excited by her findings and eager to educate the public about the diversity of chocolate flavors, Robinson has been working diligently to bring the finest gourmet chocolates to her customers. “Somptueusement offers fine gourmet chocolates from Switzerland, North America, Belgium, Ghana, Venezuela, and many other of the best chocolate-producing countries or regions,” says the native Washingtonian, whose interest in chocolate was piqued when she spent a summer in Switzerland on a youth exchange program.

Robinson says that the business combines her interests in fine travel, fine food, and fine art. “Fine chocolate embodies art and artistry,” she says, noting that her company works with customers to create custom, handmade chocolates for special events such as weddings and corporate gift occasions. Somptueusement also specializes in pairing gourmet chocolates with gourmet teas.

While the business is now solely an online venture, Robinson hopes to eventually open a Somptueusement retail store in the Washington area. “Another one of my dreams is to develop my own line of gourmet chocolates,” she says. During a recent trip to Hawaii, she visited a coffee farm and came away inspired. “In Hawaii, the raw sources for chocolate, teas, and coffee are grown,” she says, pointing out that Hawaii is the only place in the United States where cocoa is farmed. “Maybe one day, I’ll grow cocoa there and have my own chocolate factory there!”

She is quick to state that her GW legal education provided her with many of the tools to succeed in the business world. “Law school gave me the grounding I needed to start a business,” she says, noting that she recently formed a limited liability company, Chocolate Tastes, to support her online business. The chocolate connoisseur shares that she was also greatly inspired by the entrepreneurial success of fellow alumni, like Warren Brown, JD ’98, who founded the popular Washington bakery chain CakeLove.

As Somptueusement spreads the joy and benefits of fine chocolate to online shoppers throughout the nation, Robinson says that the enterprise is providing her with great joy as well. “I’m excited and delighted to have launched this business embodying exquisite taste and offering people the finer things in life.”

—Jamie L. Freedman


Spinning Water Into Gold

Joseph R. DiSalvo, JD ’97, has joined the front lines of the bottled water wars. The native of Queens, N.Y., returned to his hometown in April 2006 to become vice president and general counsel of Glacéau, producer of Vitaminwater, Smartwater, Fruitwater, and Vitaminenergy, a line of enhanced water products making waves in the beverage industry.

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Joseph R. DiSalvo, JD ’97

From a young New York trial attorney to a leader in the trendy billion dollar industry of H20, DiSalvo says he has always enjoyed his work, even when confronting new challenges.

“It has been an interesting and amazing ten-year legal career,” DiSalvo says.

Raised by Italian immigrants, DiSalvo’s intellect was realized at an early age. “In my family, that meant doctor, dentist or lawyer. And I’m squeamish, so lawyer was my only option,” he says. While in school he worked in the family garment business, “long enough to know that’s what I didn’t want to do.”

Counting himself as “one of GW’s truly fortunate Class of ’97 alumni,” DiSalvo says he owes a lot to his experience at GW and acknowledges the value and training GW gave him. “It was tremendously rewarding on every level. It was phenomenal preparation with a remarkable, dynamic combination of people. I really felt it was an unbelievable environment in which to better myself and develop the professional skills needed for the next 50 years of my life.”

Although he always thought he would work in one of New York’s district attorney’s offices, his first job out of law school was with McCarter & English, the largest law firm in New Jersey. DiSalvo was recruited by its trial practice group and was one of two McCarter & English attorneys to open its Manhattan office. As part of helping to increase the firm’s presence in New York, he practiced in a wide variety of fields, from trial work to transactional practice, to labor and employment, and beyond. “It was a rare experience for a young associate in a large firm,” he says. He distinguished himself: At age 32, he was named partner, one of the youngest in the history of the firm.

Back in Queens, many of his old friends from the neighborhood were working at Glacéau. One of them was Glacéau’s president, Mike Repole, who was constantly asking DiSalvo to join their team. Although DiSalvo was reticent to give up his partnership, he finally made the leap—and his career in private practice was, well, water under the bridge.

Since joining Glacéau, DiSalvo has overseen more than $6 billion worth of corporate transactions, including the purchase of the company by Coca-Cola earlier this year for more than $4 billion. Not bad for a bunch of guys from the neighborhood.

DiSalvo says the biggest difference between private practice and working in house is that, “when you get away from measuring your day in one-tenth of an hour increments, your thought processes work more organically. You see everything differently, you see the big picture more clearly. It’s been very liberating.” And of course he loves working with so many of the friends with whom he grew up. These longstanding relationships naturally created a strong bond in the workplace, one so unique in corporate America that DiSalvo says, “If you could bottle it, it would be the next billion dollar company.”

One of his favorite memories of GW is his time as a dean’s fellow, during which he felt the smaller classes created a more relaxed atmosphere. First-year students could “really stretch their intellectual capacity,” he says. DiSalvo adds that teaching may be in his future, as he feels “there is no door that is closed to a GW grad.” For now, family life keeps him busy outside of work. He is married (to a girl he knew from the neighborhood, of course) and is a proud parent, who spends his leisure time painting and playing the bass.

“Ten years after graduating from GW, I find myself in the amazing position of general counsel to a wholly-owned subsidiary of the largest beverage company in the world and thoroughly enjoying my job and each day of work that it brings me,” DiSalvo says.

A feeling like that is worth its weight in gold, or in his case…water.

—Adam Mimeles


In Memoriam

Togo Nakagawa, JD ’34
May 15, 2007
Honolulu, Hawaii

Halbert W. Dodd, LLB ’36
Nov. 12, 2006
North Las Vegas, Nev.

Willard L. Pollard, JD ’38
Oct. 2, 2007
St. Petersburg, Fla.

Griffin T. Garnett Jr., LLB ’39
June 15, 2007
Arlington, Va.

John “Jack” Flynt Jr., JD ’40
June 24, 2007
Griffin, Ga.

David Carliner, LLB ’41
Sept. 19, 2007
Washington, D.C.

Louis Clark Stephens, JD ’41
May 30, 2007
McLean, Va.

Ernest A. Loveless Jr., JD ’47, LLM ’48
Aug. 5, 2007
Clinton, Md.

Hiram Day Black, LLB ’49
June 9, 2007
Venice, Fla.

William Frederick Purdy, LLB ’49
April 10, 2007
Sandy Spring, Md.

James Frazier Fort Sr., LLB ’50
Aug. 4, 2007
Madison, Va.

Ramon Arthur Roubideaux, AA ’48, LLB ’50
July 10, 2007
Tucson, Ariz.

Reid C. Tait, AA ’48, LLB ’50
June 20, 2007
Rockville, Md.

Paul Arnold Borel, JD ’51
July 7, 2007
Southern Pines, N.C.

William E. Recktenwald, LLB ’52
March 25, 2007
Honolulu, Hawaii

Irving M. Hecht, LLB ’53
May 28, 2007
Silver Spring, Md.

Jennings T. Smith, BA ’50, LLB ’53, LLM ’58
Sept. 17, 2007
Irving, Texas

Frederick H. Theobald, AA ’48, LLB ’53
May 10, 2006
Washington, D.C.

Ralph H. Vogel, JD ’53
June 2, 2007
Falls Church, Va.

Eugene C. Fitzhugh, JD ’55
Aug. 21, 2007
Little Rock, Ark.

Harry S. Dent, JD ’57
Sept. 28, 2007
West Columbia, S.C.

Daniel D’Antimo, JD ’58
July 12, 2007
Tucson, Ariz.

Herb Henderson, JD ’58
Oct. 16, 2007
Huntington, W.Va.

William Raines Judy, JD ’58
Aug. 4, 2007
Wethersfield, Conn.

Daniel T. Franklin, BA ’56, LLB ’59
April 18, 2007
Silver Spring, Md.

William Dial Perry, LLB ’59
April 24, 2007
Dataw Island, S.C.

Richard S. Buck IV, JD ’61, LLM ’70
Oct. 10, 2007
Lothian, Md.

Daniel W. Sixbey, LLB ’61
April 20, 2007
Sherwood Forest, Md.

Galen G. Gillette, JD ’62
Feb. 23, 2007
Redfield, S.D.

Diana H. Josephson, MCL ’62
March 6, 2006
Boulder, Colo.

Andrew J. Beck, JD ’63
July 14, 2007
St. Louis, Mo.

Fred W. Bennett, JD ’66, LLM ’67
July 1, 2007
Gambrills, Md.

Daniel Michael O’Connell Jr., JD ’67
May 8, 2007
Warrenton, Md.

Robert Anthony Dublin, BA ’65, JD ’68
Oct. 5, 2007
Alexandria, Va.

Frank Gregory, LLM ’68
Sept. 3, 2007
Broken Arrow, Okla.

Peter W. Nauert, JD ’68
Aug. 19, 2007
Santa Fe, N.M.

Anita S. Vogt, BA ’61, JD ’72
March 26, 2007
Falls Church, Va.

William N. Martin, JD ’73
April 6, 2007
Greensboro, N.C.

Robert S. Thorpe, JD ’73
Oct. 1, 2007
Bethesda, Md.

Whitney Adams, JD ’75
Sept. 23, 2007
Vienna, Va.

Henry Bartholomew Cox, MA ’62, PhD ’67, JD ’76
April 8, 2007
Fort Washington, Md.

Louis Francis Jr., JD ’77
July 23, 2007
Akron, Ohio

Nisar Ahmed Kalwar, MCL ’82
Aug. 7, 2007
Charleston, W.Va.

Thomas R. Porter, JD ’82
May 23, 2007
Marshall, Va.


And What About You?

Please write and tell us about your career accomplishments and personal milestones. (If you’ve changed your name since you attended GW, please include your former name.) Send your news and a photo you can spare to:

GW LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINE
The George Washington University
2121 Eye Street, N.W., #512
Washington, D.C. 20052
Or call up www.gwmagazine.com