Class Notes


Class Notes 1951


Jacob Rosenbaum was honored by the Cleveland Bar Association as an outstanding real estate attorney. He is past president of the Lawyer Pi- lots Bar Association and is a life trustee of the Cleveland Zoological Society. He has retired from Tucker Ellis & West, in Cleveland, Ohio, and would like to hear from his class- mates at Jacob.Rosenbaum@Tuck- erEllis.com.


1960 Norman Thayer was inducted into the Roehl Circle of Honor for Trial Lawyers in 2010. He is the senior partner at Sutin, Thayer & Browne. The Circle was established in 1990 at the State Bar Center by Jerrald J. Roehl in memory of his father, Joseph E. Roehl, a prominent trial lawyer. On July 1, 2010, Thayer was ap- pointed to the Judicial Standards Commission. He also was recognized by the New Mexico Supreme Court for his longstanding service to improve the state’s courts and promote judi- cial independence.


1962 C. Gene Samberson received the 2010 Trustee of Free Enterprise Award from the University of the Southwest. The award was presented for out- standing business achievements, eth- ical business practices, community leadership and working to preserve a free society.


1971 Mel Eaves was designated a 2010 Southwest Super Lawyer.


John Leathers is general counsel of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, a 450-lawyer firm based in Pittsburgh with offices in 10 other cities. He joined the firm in 2005, following 17 years in commercial litigation. After earning his J.D., Leathers received an LL.M. from Columbia University and


spent the next 16 years as a law pro- fessor.


1973 Walter Echo-Hawk authored IN THE COURTS OF THE CONQUEROR: THE TEN WORST INDIAN LAW CASES EVER DE- CIDED, a 576-page book that looks at how court decisions through the years have shaped life in Indian country across the United States. The book was published in 2010. He is of counsel to the Crowe & Dunleavy law firm of Oklahoma.


1975 Catherine Goldberg was elected to the Board of Directors of Albu- querque Economic Development in 2010. She is a partner and share- holder in the Rodey Law Firm, where she is a member of the business de- partment. The mission of Albu- querque Economic Development is to recruit business and industry to gen- erate quality job opportunities in the Albuquerque area.


Harold Lavender joined Modrall Sperling as of counsel in 2010. He brings to the firm 33 years of experi- ence as a trader and broker at the Chicago Board of Trade.


1976 Paul W. Grimm has been a full- time magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Mary- land since 1997, serving as chief judge since May 2006. An order he is- sued in late 2010 was featured in an article in the American Bar Associa- tion’s Litigation News.


Tommy Roberts was elected mayor of Farmington in 2010. He was born and raised in Farmington and after earning his J.D., he returned there to practice oil and gas law.


Ron Solimon was appointed to the United States Travel and Tourism Ad- visory Board in 2010. The 29-mem- ber board provides guidance on programs, policies and issues affect- ing the industry. He is chair of the Al-


buquerque Convention and Visitors Bureau board of directors and presi- dent and CEO of the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center.


1977 Hannah Best was presented with the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award by the New Mexico Commission on the Status of Women. The commission presented awards to 20 additional women from across New Mexico for their contribution to improving the lives of women in the state.


Jan Gilman-Tepper has been elected 2011 president of the Albu- querque Bar Association. She is a name partner at Little, Gilman-Tep- per & Batley, a family law firm.


Paula Tackett received the 2010 Public Lawyer of the Year Award, pre- sented every year by the State Bar Pub- lic Law Section. In June 2010, she resigned as director of the Legislative Council Service after 22 years at the helm. She joined the LCS in 1982 as a staff attorney and was later promoted to assistant director. She took over the operation after longtime director Clay Buchanan (`52) died in 1988.


1978 Thomas Acevedo was appointed by President Barack Obama to the National Advisory Council on Indian Education. He is CEO of S&K Tech- nologies, a family of tribally owned businesses in northwestern Montana. He previously served as chief of staff for the National Indian Gaming Commission.


Margaret Moses Branch re- ceived the 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award from the New Mexico Com- mission on the Status of Women for a long list of professional accom- plishments and philanthropy. She is with the Branch Law Firm.


Diane Fisher is senior vice presi- dent and general counsel for Presby- terian Healthcare Services.


Named to Federal Circuit Appeals Court


Jimmie Reyna (`78) was unani- mously confirmed in April 2011 by the U.S. Senate as the first Hispanic member of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Prior to his confirmation, he was a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Williams Mullen, Clark & Dobbins, where he led the law firm’s International Trade and Customs Group and served on its board of directors. Reyna also has a di s t ingui shed track record of leadership in the Hispanic legal community.


Jimmie Reyna


1979 Angela Jewell received the 2011 Justice Pamela B. Minzner Profession- alism Award from the State Bar of New Mexico.


Richard Puglisi became a U.S. magistrate judge for the District of Hawaii in March 2011. He was ap- pointed to a magistrate judge position in the District of New Mexico in 1996 and was chief judge when he relo- cated to Hawaii, where he began his career as a Navy judge advocate sta- tioned in Pearl Harbor.


Barbara Stephenson was pro- moted in early 2011 to shareholder in the firm of Sheehan & Sheehan, where she works in the area of coun- seling and defending employers in employment litigation and adminis- trative procedures.


Kathleen Kennedy Townsend is the author of FAILING AMERICA’S FAITH- FUL: HOW TODAY’S CHURCHES MIXED GOD WITH POLITICS AND LOST THEIRWAY, pub- lished in 2010. She is an adjunct pro- fessor at Georgetown University’s School of Public Policy and former lieutenant governor of Maryland.


UNM LAW •25


Jimmie Reyna


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