Class Note 1997
Issue
Jul - Aug 2016
This column has updates from across the country—the West Coast, Southwest and East Coast—so let’s get to it.
Nora Freeman Engstrom recently made the news. A professor at Stanford Law School, Nora was interviewed by NBC Bay Area about U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Merrick Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Calling her clerkship with Judge Garland more than 10 years ago a “phenomenal” experience, she told the news station he would make an “extraordinary” Supreme Court justice. “He has a belief that, through our laws, we can actually be a better country,” she said. “For him it doesn’t matter if a case is front-page news or just really affects the life of one individual. He looks at those cases in the same way and with the same great care and attention.” Check out the story at nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Garland-Would-Make-Extraordinary-Justice-Former-Law-Clerk-372299381.html.
Nora’s scholarship interests lie at the intersection of tort law and professional ethics. Her current work explores the tort system and particularly its interaction with alternative compensation mechanisms, such as workers’ compensation and no-fault automobile insurance. Nora has written extensively on law firms she calls “settlement mills,” high-volume personal injury law practices that heavily advertise and mass-produce the resolution of claims.
Kelly (Roda) Taliaferro sent an update from New Mexico: “Our family has made Albuquerque our home after moving here in 2002 for Hank’s residency in emergency medicine at the University of New Mexico Hospital. Our family now includes two boys, Henry (10) and Matthew (7), three dogs, a cat and a few other reptiles and amphibians. I opened up my own real estate brokerage, Lucky Dog Realty, in 2013 after working for a larger national chain for nine years. Hank just celebrated the first year anniversary of his new business, Duke City Urgent Care. He hopes to revolutionize the business of quick, friendly medical care in our community. Our weekends are filled with kids sporting events, trips to our farm (where we grow hay for horses and cows at the dairy farms and oats for the elephants at the zoo) and the occasional ski trip. And like most alums our age, we are constantly striving to find the perfect balance between career ambitions, family time and personal interests.”
David Lynch recently was named president of Athena Capital Advisors, a registered investment advisor providing investment management, advisory and external chief investment officer services to private clients and institutions. Based in Lincoln, Massachusetts, Athena has $5.7 billion in assets under management. David has been with the firm since 2004 and is also a managing partner and deputy chief investment officer.
David coauthored an article in the Spring 2016 issue of The Journal of Wealth Management that develops a metric to measure social return in investing. For a summary of the article, go to athenacapital.com/in-the-news/athena-publishes-research-offering-new-approach-in-measuring-impact-investments.
Finally, congratulations to Dave Stefanowicz, who was just inducted into the Berlin High School Athletic Hall of Fame in Southington, Connecticut. A baseball and basketball player in high school, Dave told the Berlin Register he was “absolutely honored to be included with a number of athletes that have been inducted before. It was a real pleasant surprise for me to be included, especially with some of the guys that played baseball.” For more, see myrecordjournal.com/sports/berlinsports/8614518-154/hall-of-fame-david-stefanowicz-class-of-1993.html. At the College, Dave was an All-Ivy second team selection as a relief pitcher in 1995. He and wife Beth Johnsen Stefanowicz live in Alpharetta, Georgia, with their children, Amy and Chase.
Hope all is well with everyone. Please keep sending me your news.
—Jason Casell, 10106 Balmforth Lane, Houston, TX 77096; jhcasell@gmail.com
Nora Freeman Engstrom recently made the news. A professor at Stanford Law School, Nora was interviewed by NBC Bay Area about U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Merrick Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Calling her clerkship with Judge Garland more than 10 years ago a “phenomenal” experience, she told the news station he would make an “extraordinary” Supreme Court justice. “He has a belief that, through our laws, we can actually be a better country,” she said. “For him it doesn’t matter if a case is front-page news or just really affects the life of one individual. He looks at those cases in the same way and with the same great care and attention.” Check out the story at nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Garland-Would-Make-Extraordinary-Justice-Former-Law-Clerk-372299381.html.
Nora’s scholarship interests lie at the intersection of tort law and professional ethics. Her current work explores the tort system and particularly its interaction with alternative compensation mechanisms, such as workers’ compensation and no-fault automobile insurance. Nora has written extensively on law firms she calls “settlement mills,” high-volume personal injury law practices that heavily advertise and mass-produce the resolution of claims.
Kelly (Roda) Taliaferro sent an update from New Mexico: “Our family has made Albuquerque our home after moving here in 2002 for Hank’s residency in emergency medicine at the University of New Mexico Hospital. Our family now includes two boys, Henry (10) and Matthew (7), three dogs, a cat and a few other reptiles and amphibians. I opened up my own real estate brokerage, Lucky Dog Realty, in 2013 after working for a larger national chain for nine years. Hank just celebrated the first year anniversary of his new business, Duke City Urgent Care. He hopes to revolutionize the business of quick, friendly medical care in our community. Our weekends are filled with kids sporting events, trips to our farm (where we grow hay for horses and cows at the dairy farms and oats for the elephants at the zoo) and the occasional ski trip. And like most alums our age, we are constantly striving to find the perfect balance between career ambitions, family time and personal interests.”
David Lynch recently was named president of Athena Capital Advisors, a registered investment advisor providing investment management, advisory and external chief investment officer services to private clients and institutions. Based in Lincoln, Massachusetts, Athena has $5.7 billion in assets under management. David has been with the firm since 2004 and is also a managing partner and deputy chief investment officer.
David coauthored an article in the Spring 2016 issue of The Journal of Wealth Management that develops a metric to measure social return in investing. For a summary of the article, go to athenacapital.com/in-the-news/athena-publishes-research-offering-new-approach-in-measuring-impact-investments.
Finally, congratulations to Dave Stefanowicz, who was just inducted into the Berlin High School Athletic Hall of Fame in Southington, Connecticut. A baseball and basketball player in high school, Dave told the Berlin Register he was “absolutely honored to be included with a number of athletes that have been inducted before. It was a real pleasant surprise for me to be included, especially with some of the guys that played baseball.” For more, see myrecordjournal.com/sports/berlinsports/8614518-154/hall-of-fame-david-stefanowicz-class-of-1993.html. At the College, Dave was an All-Ivy second team selection as a relief pitcher in 1995. He and wife Beth Johnsen Stefanowicz live in Alpharetta, Georgia, with their children, Amy and Chase.
Hope all is well with everyone. Please keep sending me your news.
—Jason Casell, 10106 Balmforth Lane, Houston, TX 77096; jhcasell@gmail.com