Class of 1980
(Notes posted in the order they were received, with the newest posts on top.)
Scott Williams has been named senior vice president and general counsel of RailAmerica, a short-line and regional railroad operator, and Florida East Coast Railway. Scott’s responsibilities include corporate governance, claims and risk management, regulatory and governmental affairs and environmental matters. Scott has 22 years of combined experience working for railway companies and representing railroad industry clients. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Yale.
Posted on web 8-27-08
Michael P. Coury was named a Fellow of The American College of Bankruptcy at the College's annual meeting on March 15, 2008 in Washington, D.C. A member of the Memphis law firm of Ferris Bobango & Branan, Coury was one of 29 nominees from the U.S. and abroad who were inducted in the Nineteenth Class (2008) of College Fellows. He is the first practicing attorney in Memphis to receive this honor and was the only inductee this year from the Sixth Circuit. Coury concentrates his practice on bankruptcy reorganizations and related litigation, business restructurings, out of court workouts, and commercial litigation. Coury has been listed in The Best Lawyers In America for the past fifteen years and has been named a Mid-South Super Lawyer by Law & Politics since 2006. The American College of Bankruptcy is an honorary professional and education association of distinguished bankruptcy and insolvency professionals. Fellows are extended an invitation to join based on a proven record of the highest standards of professionalism and service to the profession.
Judge Paul Young, of the Caddo Parish Juvenile Court in Shreveport, has been elected president of the Louisiana Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, a voluntary organization that seeks to support and educate judges in juvenile and family law issues, to build appropriate collaborative relationships with other juvenile justice stakeholders, and to provide leadership at a statewide level in children and family issues affecting the judicial system.
He worked as a staff attorney at Northwest La. Legal Services and served as a law clerk for Judge James Clark and the late Judge Paul Lynch of the First Judicial District Court. He then served as senior staff attorney with the Louisiana Mental Health Advocacy Service. He was appointed executive director of Northwest La. Legal Services and served from 1992 until his election to the Caddo Parish Juvenile Court in 1999.
Young is married to Vickie Moore Young, of Shreveport, and they have three children: Ann, a second-year law student at New York Law School; John-Paul, a graduate student in the Classics Department at Princeton University; and Alex, a graduating senior at Caddo Magnet High School.
Kim Kelley was selected as an Associate Judge for the Tenth Judicial Circuit of Illinois at Peoria County, and he assumed this position on December 4, 2006. Judge Kelley is currently assigned to domestic relations court and will be serving 2008 in juvenile abuse and neglect court.
Mark Lowes lost his wife of 31 years, Sara McClenaghan (Sally) Lowes, on August 5, 2007. Sally was competing in the Alcatraz Challenge swim in San Francisco at the time of her death. She was a CPA in private practice in Houston, where Mark is Vice President, Litigation for KBR Inc.
Joel counsels clients on corporate and asset transactions and operations, particularly in hospitality, franchising and distribution, including strategic planning and transactions, financing, mergers and acquisitions, system policy and practice development, regulatory compliance and contract system drafting. He previously served as executive vice president and deputy general counsel of Cendant Corp., where he was involved in acquisitions, international master license transactions and the supervision of legal practice groups.
Active in the International Franchise Association (IFA), Joel was recently named administrator for the IFA's Franchise Compliance Training Program, an educational program designed to aid companies in meeting the requirements of federal and state franchise sales and disclosure regulations. He will be offering the training as part of IFA Legal Roundtable events in five locations around the country in 2007. He will also be speaking at the IFA's Legal Symposium on May 7 in Washington, D.C. on a panel discussing the changes in the rules governing franchisor disclosure documents and procedures recently announced by the Federal Trade Commission. Additionally, Joel is the host/organizer for the Nashville chapter of the IFA’s Franchise Business Network.
Among the cases Joel has successfully litigated, he has defended an OEM manufacturer against claims of apparatus and method patent infringement, obtaining dismissal with prejudice after Markman hearing. He defeated a preliminary injunction in an audio-visual work copyright case, and obtained a preliminary injunction in a copyright case involving product designs. He also obtained a judgment and successfully defended it on appeal to the Ninth Circuit, in a First Amendment free speech and free exercise of religion case.
Gayle Buttram Carlson, a Tampa attorney who represents businesses and property owners in environmental matters, received an award from the pro bono program of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit of Florida on March 8, 2007. The award recognized her for outstanding pro bono service in the Domestic Violence Injunction Assistance Project. Since 2003, she has contributed over 100 hours assisting victims of domestic violence.
Gary Brown was featured as an expert commentator in a May 23 Tennessean article focusing on reports that several companies have granted stock options to senior executives just before the shares posted big gains. Gary, who practices with Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz in Nashville, told Tennessean reporter Todd Pack that, while it's possible an executive could time grants to a few days of a price increase, "corporate executives are typically the worst predictors of how the market is going to perform. I've seen them try to predict it, say that the price is going to go this way, or that the price is going to go that way, and they're always wrong." Gary, who worked with the U.S. Senate during its investigation into the collapse of Enron, said corporate records should show whether a compensation committee meeting was scheduled months in advance or called at the last minute to take advantage of low prices.
Peter F. Clark is senior vice president and general counsel at SEMCO Energy, Inc., in Troy, Michigan (outside of Detroit). Before joining SEMCO, he was vice president, general Counsel and secretary at Conectiv, a Fortune 500 public utility holding company headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware.
Do you have news you would like to share or just want to let everyone know what you are up to these days? Submit your class note online, e-mail Grace Renshaw or call 615-322-2606.
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