Class Notes, May 2007
Super Lawyers® is an annual listing of outstanding lawyers who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. Many Law Center alums have been identified as 2007 Super Lawyers:
Timothy J. McNamara, ’61
David S. Willenzik, ’71
Samuel A. Bacot, ’72
James C. Crigler, Jr., ’72
Larry Feldman, Jr., ’74
E. Frederick Preis, Jr., ’74
Michael H. Rubin, ’75
Alton E. Bayard, ’76
R. Keith Colvin, ’79
Paul S. West, ’80
Stephen P. Strohschein, ’81
Rudolfo J. Aguilar, Jr., ’82
Errol J. King, Jr., ’86
Michael D. Ferachi, ’89
R. Marshall Grodner, ’90
Those distinguished as a Super Lawyer, Rising Star were:
Marianne Rabalais Sulser, ’01
Lee White, ’01
1960s
Carl H. Hanchey, ’65 and David H. Hanchey, ’89, launched the Hanchey Law Firm. The father and son firm is based in Lake Charles.
Gerry Rault, ’68, Wessel, Distinguished Professor of Law and Social Justice at Loyola Law School, announced his retirement from active classroom teaching. He will continue his consulting practice and split his time between New Orleans and the Kingdom of Thailand.
1970s
W. John English, Jr., ’72, was named partner at Baker Hostetler where, in the firm’s business group, he will concentrate his practice in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, domestic and international energy, business transactions, and environmental matters.
Colin Hedlund, ’72, senior vice president and trust officer at Hancock Bank, had two sons, Scott and Greg, in the Law Center’s Class of 2006.
Riecke Baumann, ’74, of the Baumann Law Firm, was named to the board of the Houston branch of the NAACP.
Michael W. McKay, ’74, merged his firm with Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann L.L.C and is practicing in Baton Rouge.
Robert Lowther, ’75, retired after 31 years in practice and started a second career as broker/general manager of the new regional Coldwell Banker real estate office in Costa Rica.
Kell McInnis, ’75, is now the executive director of the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Foundation.
Charles L. Spencer, ’75, Hebert, Spencer, Cusimano & Fry, LLP, will serve as district governor for Rotary International. His one-year term begins July 1, 2007.
Alton E. Bayard, ’76, Baker Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC, was named a fellow in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. He was also voted one of the Best Lawyers in America in the area of trusts and estates.
Paul Lawrence, ’76, added a partner and updated his firm name to Lawrence Soifer Satija LLP. Located in Austin, Texas, the boutique firm focuses on “qui tam” whistleblower litigation under the federal False Claims Act and its state counterparts.
Robert G. Levy, ’76, was elected chairman of the Family Law Section of the LSBA.
Charles A. Landry, ’77, was elected chairman-elect of the Board of Directors for the LSU Foundation.
Oliver G. “Rick” Richard, III, ’77, was elected to the LSU Manship School of Journalism Hall of Fame.
James R. Austin, ’78, joined the Baton Rouge office of Adams and Reese as a member of the Banking/Finance and Real Estate Practice Teams in the Transactions and Corporate Advisory Services Practices Group.
1980s
Richard J. Arsenault, ’80, Neblett, Beard & Arsenault, served as moderator of the LSBA’s annual Admiralty Symposium and annual Class Action/Mass Tort Symposium. He also served as moderator at a Complex Litigation seminar in Las Vegas that featured former President Bill Clinton as a speaker. In addition, Arsenault was named in the 2007 edition of Best Lawyers in America and selected Best of Class in the Best of the U.S., Inc.
Henry Hobbs, ’80, U.S. Department of Justice, is the acting chief of the Credit Counseling/Debtor Education Unit of the Executive Office for the United States Trustees in Washington D.C. He is assisting with the implementation of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, and recently received the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award for his work in this area.
F. Lee Butler, ’81, was elected to serve a three-year term on the Adams and Reese executive committee.
Corbett L. Ourso, Jr., ’82, was inducted as an administrative law judge and named attorney supervisor.
Paul J. Masinter, ’87, Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann L.L.C., was named president of the board of commissioners for the New Orleans City Park Improvement Association and appointed to the board of directors of Lighthouse for the Blind, Inc.
Craig Nunez, ’87, joined Halliburton Company as senior vice president and treasurer.
Nancy James Goodwin, ’88, was inducted as an administrative law judge.
James J. Devitt, ’89, was named senior attorney in the Office of the Secretary of Louisiana Department of Natural Resources.
1990s
Nancy R. Landry, ’90, was honored with a 2006 Women of Excellence Award from the Lafayette Commission on the Needs of Women for founding “Unbundled Legal Services of Louisiana, LLC, which offers limited scope family law services to people who make too little money to afford traditional legal representation, but too much to qualify for free legal services.
Troy Villa, ’90, was selected to participate in Leadership Louisiana 2007, a nationally recognized program that enhances the capacity of leaders from across the state.
Joel P. Babineaux, ’92, was elected secretary for the Federal Bar Association’s Lafayette-Acadiana chapter.
Ashley Stone Benedik, ’92, formed a private practice, Cothran & Benedik, P.A., after 12 years as assistant state attorney in Panama City, Florida.
David L. Reisman, ’92, was appointed vice president and general counsel for Bisso Marine Company.
Jennifer Treadway Morris, ’94, joined Modiphy Design Studio as executive officer and vice president of business development.
Douglas D. Brown, ’95, has written a novel titled Ascension: A Novel of Politics. Set in the fictional town of Ascension, Louisiana in the mid-1990s, it revolves around a wild legislative campaign.
Kristen Ieyoub Savant, ’95, was named partner at Fulbright & Jaworski where she focuses on public finance matters in the Dallas office.
S. Suzanne Mahoney, ’96, joined the New Orleans office of Johnson Gray McNamara LLC.
John Zvonek, ’96, was named vice president and general counsel for Burnett & Company, Inc.
Hillary H. Hughes, ’97, was promoted to partner at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal in New York City.
Stephanie G. John, ’97, of McGlinchey Stafford, was board certified in Labor and Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.
Jeffrey M. Barbin, ’98, was named partner at Phelps Dunbar. He works in the Baton Rouge office and practices in the areas of business, gaming, and commercial real estate.
J. Scott Loeb, ’98, made partner at Montgomery, Barnett, Brown, Hammond & Mintz in New Orleans.
Jason R. Anders, ’99, made partner at Montgomery, Barnett, Brown, Hammond & Mintz in New Orleans.
2000s
Penelope Brobst Blackwell, ’00, joined Greenberg Traurig as an associate and was elected secretary of the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers.
Nicole F. Gould, ’00, opened her practice in Baton Rouge.
Blake R. David, ’01, Broussard & David, was listed as “20 Under 40” by the Daily Advertiser and named president of both the Acadiana-Lafayette Federal Bar Association and Downtown Lafayette Unlimited.
Kyle A. Ferachi, ’01, joined McGlinchey Stafford as an associate in the labor and employment section.
Ryan N. Ours, ’01, was named partner in the Baton Rouge office of Taylor, Porter Brooks & Phillips.
Ricky Rivers, ’02, taught law for People to People, an organization for young people started by President Dwight Eisenhower.
Vanessa L. Waguespack, ’03, joined the Lafayette office of Liskow & Lewis, where her practice areas are maritime, oilfield and insurance.
J.P. Cashio, ’04, established two businesses in 2006. Cascio & Cashio, a law firm handling personal injury, family law and criminal defense cases, where he concentrates in family law, and Pelican Title in Baton Rouge.
Kerri S. Crocket, ’05, was promoted to “C” felony prosecutor for the Miami-Dade County State Attorney’s Office.
Jennifer Gaubert Aertker, ’06, was named first year associate with Lee & Walsh, a practice specializing in family law, white-collar criminal law, and succession matters.
Barbara A. Olinde, ’06, opened her own estate planning practice in Lafayette.
The LSU Law Center community mourns the passing of the following alumni whose deaths were reported since the date of our last newsletter publication.
Joseph P. Jewell, Jr., ’31 Lawrence Sandoz, Jr., ’48 George Dulferes, ’49 Thomas Joseph Poche, ’53 Roland Boatner Howell, Jr., ’57 John R. Tharp, ’67 Athena B. Piedrahita, ’76 Stephen W. Cavannaugh, ’77 Frederick Wayne Frey, ’78 R. Bruce Macmurdo, ’78
