David B. Fawcett, ’53, a shareholder with Dickie, McCamey & Chilcote, P.C., received the American Inns of Court Professionalism Award at the Third Circuit Judicial Conference.
Alumni Notes
Cyril H. Wecht, M.D., (LAW ’62), was elected Vice-Chairman of the newly created American Board of Disaster Medicine.
William G. Ketterer, ’66, Senior Attorney in the Office of the General Counsel, Public Health Division of the Department of Health and Human Services, was awarded the Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service from the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Ketterer received the award for his work on behalf of the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Louis Coffey, ’69, of Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen LLP, led the workshop, “Conducting the Preliminary Hearing in Large, Complex Commercial, Real Estate and Construction Disputes,” at the annual meeting of the Dispute Resolution Section of the American Bar Association held in Atlanta, GA.
Michael D. McDowell, ’73, an attorney, arbitrator and mediator based in Pittsburgh, was designated “Advanced Practitioner—Workplace Mediation” from the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR). ACR is a national professional association that includes arbitrators, mediators and other dispute resolution professionals dedicated to enhancing the practice and public understanding of conflict resolution.
Robert L. Byer, ’77, former Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Judge, joined Duane Morris LLP in its Trial Practice Group, practicing in both the firm’s Pittsburgh and Philadelphia offices.
Carl A. Cohen, ’78, joined Raptor LLC as a Senior Managing Director.
Robert D. German, ’78, Managing Shareholder of Sherrard, German & Kelly, P.C., was recognized as the “2006 Honoree” at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s 14th Annual Rainbow Gala this past April. German is also Chairman of the Board of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International.
Steven E. (Tim) Riley, Jr., ’78, the founding shareholder of Connor Riley & Fryling, was named President-Elect of the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association (PaTLA) at its annual convention. He also serves as Immediate Past President of the Western Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association.
James A. Pitonyak, ’79, was named First Assistant Public Defender of Erie County, PA.
James A. Escovitz, ’81, shareholder in the Business Services Group at Babst, Calland, Clements and Zomnir, P.C., was elected a member of the executive committee and finance committee of the $1 Energy Fund’s Board of Directors.
HON. PHIL IGNELZI, ’81, was recently elected to the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County.
Marion Laffey Ferrey, ’85, a family law attorney practicing in Butler County, was awarded the 2006 Pennsylvania Bar Foundation Louis J. Goffman Award for outstanding Pro Bono and Reduced Fee Services at the annual meeting of the PBA.
Penina Kessler Lieber, ’86, Of Counsel with the Pittsburgh office of Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel LLP, was appointed as the At-Large Woman Governor to the Board of Governors of the Pennsylvania Bar Association. Lieber was also appointed by the Federal District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania to its pilot program for mandated Alternate Dispute Resolution, serving as a Mediator and as an early Neutral Evaluator.
Thomas J. Madigan, ’86, joined Pepper Hamilton LLP as a partner, focusing his practice on construction law.
William T. Molczan, ’86, was elected a partner with Weltman, Weinberg & Reis Co., L.P.A. He manages the firm’s Legal Action Recovery department of the Pittsburgh office.
Paul A. Supowitz, ’89, was promoted to the position of Vice Chancellor for Governmental Relations at the University of Pittsburgh and continues to serve as Associate General Counsel for the University on matters relating to environmental health and safety and government relations.
Tammy Singleton-English, ’90, principal attorney of Singleton-English Law Offices, was re-elected to serve on the Board of the Estate Planning Council of Pittsburgh.
Scott G. Bullock, ’91, a senior attorney with the Institute for Justice since its founding in 1991, argued the landmark Kelo v. City of New London case before the Supreme Court. He has worked with property owners in cities throughout the country in an effort to challenge private-to-private transfers of property. He was a recipient of the top civil rights prize by the Mississippi chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference for his efforts in creating litigation that saved the land and home of a Mississippi family.
Hon. Beth A. Lazzara, ’91, a judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, received the 2006 Milton D. Rosenberg Award from the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyer Association (PaTLA) at the Association’s annual convention. The Award is given to a trial lawyer “whose devotion to achieving justice for injured victims, qualities of leadership, and service to the bar best represent the life of the late PaTLA past president, Milton D. Rosenberg.” Judge Lazzara formerly was an attorney with the Pittsburgh law firm Goodrich, Goodrich & Lazzara.
Jean E. Novak, ’93, of Strassburger McKenna Gutnick & Potter, was elected to the Board of Directors of The Unseam’d Shakespeare Company, a professional theater company dedicated to preserving classical theater in Pittsburgh.
William J. O’Mahony, ’93, was named a partner at Quadrino Schwartz.
Mark A. DiAntonio, ’94, of Pallo, Marks & Hernandez, P.A., is a contributing author of Age Discrimination in Employment Law: Cumulative Supplement, Chapter 26: “Statistical Evidence,” published by the Bureau of National Affairs.
Sharon F. DiPaolo, ’94, was elected a partner with Pepper Hamilton LLP.
John C. Hansberry, ’94, was elected Of Counsel at Pepper Hamilton LLP.
David A. Jaffe, ’94, joined Fox Rothschild LLP as a partner.
Bethann R. Lloyd, ’94, a shareholder with Grogan Graffam, P.C., was elected to the firm’s board of directors for a three-year term.
Jeffrey A. Mills, ’94, was elected to a four-year term on the Planning Commission of Peters Township in Washington County, PA.
Rick J. Gibson, ’96, was named a partner at Jones Day. Gibson practices in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, financings, franchising, and general corporate law.
Debra Sherman Tedeschi, ’96, re-joined the chambers of Associate Justice John H. Waller, Jr. of the South Carolina Supreme Court as a permanent judicial law clerk.
Kristin I. Wells, ’96, was elected a partner with Pepper Hamilton LLP.
Levi S. Wolf, ’96, a shareholder with Wolf, Baldwin & Associates, P.C., was nominated to become Treasurer of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Solo and Small Firm Practice Section.
Kathleen Chess Kelly, ’97, an Acquisition Attorney with the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps, was promoted to the rank of Major. She also began her studies this fall for an LL.M. in military law at the Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School in Charlottesville, VA.
Seth A. Cohen, ’98, an associate with Kilpatrick Stockton LLP, received the prestigious Stuart Eizenstat Young Lawyer Award in April at the Anti-Defamation League’s (Southeast Region) Ninth Annual Jurisprudence Luncheon in Atlanta, GA.
Stacey H. Cohen, ’98, joined The Shavitz Law Group, P.A. as an associate.
Nina Wadhwa, ’98, joined Burns, White & Hickton, LLC as an associate in the firm’s Transportation Group, focusing her practice on occupational illness defense in the transportation industry.
Melissa Lightcap Cianfrini, ’99, joined Harter, Secrest & Emery LLP as an associate in the firm’s Buffalo, New York, office. Cianfrini will concentrate her practice in civil litigation including bankruptcy, construction law, products liability, and commercial litigation.
Today, Cianfrini is a cancer survivor, having been diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer at the age of 30. Cianfrini’s cancer had spread into the mammary lymph nodes—a Stage 3 metastasis seen in only 10 percent of breast cancer patients.
“I realized that if cancer could strike me, at the age of 30 with no family history of cancer, it could happen to anyone. I am now an advocate of early screening and detection, even for those with no known risk factors,” said Cianfrini.
Radiation and chemotherapy treatments along with two surgeries helped Cianfrini battle the cancer. Cancer-free three years later, she and her husband announced the birth of their first child, Sophia.
Cianfrini began her legal career as an associate with Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLP, where, for five years, she concentrated her practice in the defense of product liability suits and commercial litigation. She subsequently moved to western New York where she practiced law at her family’s law firm, The Cianfrini Law Firm LLP in Oakfield, New York, before joining Harter, Secrest & Emery.
She and her husband are currently expecting their second child in October.
Eric P. Kimbel, ’99, joined Cohen, Seglias, Pallas, Greenhall & Furman, P.C., concentrating his practice in the areas of construction and commercial litigation.
Mark A. Bartholomaei, ’00, joined Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel LLP as an associate in the firm’s Litigation Department.
David F. Stern, ’00, an associate with Martin, Banks, Pond, Lehocky & Wilson, served as a member of the course faculty for the PESI seminar, “Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Law” in Philadelphia, PA.
Natalie D’Amora, ’02, joined Dilworth Paxson LLP as an associate, focusing her practice in the areas of contractual, construction, commercial lending and insurance coverage disputes at the state and federal court level.
Joe Nguyen, ’04, joined the Philadelphia office of Reed Smith as a defense attorney in the firm’s Financial Services Litigation group. Nguyen had first joined Reed Smith in 2004 as an associate in the firm’s Pittsburgh office.
He is the first recipient of the Reed Smith Fellowship— a merit-based scholarship providing full law school tuition for two years to a Pitt Law student who has overcome significant adversity.
The Nguyen family’s harrowing account of survival in South Vietnam began immediately after the fall of Saigon in 1975. With his wife and two small daughters in tow, Joe’s father escaped the new Communist regime, finding passage aboard a cramped, ill-equipped fishing vessel. Once a proud military family of wealth and privilege, the Nguyens now found themselves, literally and figuratively, adrift on the China Sea.
They drifted aimlessly for weeks before being picked up by an oil tanker en route to the Philippines. There, they lived in a Philippines refugee camp for the next six months before they would immigrate to the United States.
Joe was born soon after their arrival in America. For the Nguyens, their escape from Communist Vietnam was only the beginning of a life-long struggle for a better life. Once in America, his father and mother both worked double shifts and overtime to feed their family of five.
Nguyen’s achievements are a proud testament to the courage and tenacity of the Nguyen family in their valiant struggle for survival.
He is the first recipient of the Reed Smith Fellowship— a merit-based scholarship providing full law school tuition for two years to a Pitt Law student who has overcome significant adversity.
The Nguyen family’s harrowing account of survival in South Vietnam began immediately after the fall of Saigon in 1975. With his wife and two small daughters in tow, Joe’s father escaped the new Communist regime, finding passage aboard a cramped, ill-equipped fishing vessel. Once a proud military family of wealth and privilege, the Nguyens now found themselves, literally and figuratively, adrift on the China Sea.
They drifted aimlessly for weeks before being picked up by an oil tanker en route to the Philippines. There, they lived in a Philippines refugee camp for the next six months before they would immigrate to the United States.
Joe was born soon after their arrival in America. For the Nguyens, their escape from Communist Vietnam was only the beginning of a life-long struggle for a better life. Once in America, his father and mother both worked double shifts and overtime to feed their family of five.
Nguyen’s achievements are a proud testament to the courage and tenacity of the Nguyen family in their valiant struggle for survival.
Laura E. Rosas, ’04, joined Health Quest Inc. as Director of Corporate Compliance and Privacy. She also now serves on the Advocacy Committee for the American Society of Healthcare Risk Managers (ASHRM), part of the American Hospital Association. Laura also added that she and her husband are the parents of their fifth child, Charles, born last April.
Daniel R. Bentz, ’05, joined Willman & Arnold as an associate, concentrating on the defense of toxic tort and mass tort claims.
Patrick C. Booth, ’05, joined Burns, White & Hickton, LLC as an associate.
