By Amanda Perez
February 2001
It is hard to believe that by the time you all read these notes, we will be approaching three years since the day of our graduation and life at Yale. To my dismay, however, the steady stream of class notes has declined over the past few months and submissions have been few and far between. Alison Siegler gets the award for "Classmate of the Year," because she actually engaged in the near-antiquated practice of letter writing, and sent me a letter (yes, through the United States mail service!) informing me of her whereabouts. Thank you, Allison! Thank you also to the handful of you who did drop an e-mail with details about your happenings.
So, what is going on among our fellow classmates? As always, our careers are moving on a fast-track. Jill Baisinger completed her two year clerkship and is working at Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads in Philadelphia. Jessie Liu and Richard Primus have joined the litigation department of Jenner, Block in D.C. Stephen Yoder has returned to clerk for Judge Cardamone on the Second Circuit, where he finds time to commune with the chipmunks in Utica in between drafting opinions. Alison Siegler completed her clerkship in Chicago, moved to Dupont Circle and has begun her Prettyman Fellowsihp in the Criminal Justice Clinic at Georgetown Law Schol. Shelley White has left the Big Apple for the Windy City (go figure!), where she has begun working at the Chicago office of Sidley & Austin. Camille Gear left Davis Polk & Wardwell to commence her clerkship for Judge Rosemarie Barkett on the Eleventh Circuit in Miami, Florida.
Chuck Berg completed his fellowship in Germany and has accepted a position at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton in New York. Polly Clark and Monica Youn have joined the New York law firm of Patterson Belknap, Webb & Tyler and are working in the Exempt Organizations and Litigation groups, respectively. Monica is one of the talented few who can pull off being lawyer by day, poet by night. New Yorkers, watch out for her future poetry readings!
Laura Appleman is working as appellate counsel at the Center for Appellate Litigation in New York. Alix Biel has turned to the securities world. After working for a year as a litigation associate at Foley, Hoag & Eliot and completing her clerkship for the Honorable Mark Wolf in Boston, Alix is working as a staff attorney for the Securities and Exchange Commission in the Boston District Office. She is currently in the enforcement division, investigating and prosecuting various types of securities fraud. You'd best all be filing your 10-K's in an honest and timely fashion! Michael Abramowicz is busy teaching Civil Procedure at George Mason University School of Law - Professor Koh, you must be proud!
A few of our classmates have moved on to bigger (and better?) things. Jonathan Glater is working as a reporter on the busines desk of the New York Times, the newspaper that many of us frequent on a daily basis. How exciting! Two former Supreme Court clerks have chosen to forsake the law for the world of finance. Jay Koh accepted a position as Vice-President of the Carlyle Group and Bill Burck is working as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter in New York. Mark Gerson has been making contributions to USA Today, among other media. Keep your eyes open!
On the personal front, once again, wedding bells are ringing! Congratulations to Gloria Tan and Greg Schwartz, who were married on May 28, 2000 in Boston. Their special day was attended by fellow classmates Elena Baylis, John Balestrieri, Polly Clark, Benjamin Davis, Gail Horowitz, Goodwin Liu, Marshall Miller, Paul Myer, Steffan Pryor, Portia Wu, and myself. Congratulations to Paul Mandell and his lovely bride Lisa, who were married on August 12, 2000. Their celebration was attended by classmates Greg Chernack, John Collins, Matt Fader, Mark Gerson, Amy Levine, Larry Liu, Jim McLaughlin, Cassie Motz, Tom Shakow and Mark Trachtenberg. We wish you a lifetime of happiness!
Speaking of new families, it's a boy! Congratulations to Greg Bowman and his wife Kerry, who delivered their first baby. Benjamin Lee Bowman was born on August 2, 2000. Congratulations also to Mark Whitaker and wife Kristen, who are proud parents for the second time! James Nathan was born on August 3, 2000, a whopping nine pounds, twelve ounces and twenty-two inches long. Many of us remember the birth of Emma Whitaker during our last semester at Yale.
And who said we don't have a wordly class? Jill Baisinger managed to hit four states prior to commencing her new job! She reportedly traveled throughout Nebraska, Kansas, Wisconsin, and Colorado, where she enjoyed visiting Michael Saul and Susannah Pollvogt. Camille Gear was recently touring Sevilla, Spain with Stephen Rich. Gloria and Greg spent their romantic honeymoon touring the beautiful Greek Islands. Paul and Lisa honeymooned in Hawaii, where they reproredly shared a hottub with Tori Spelling (of course all eyes were on Lisa). And Iris Chiu, Jennie O'Flanagan and I traveled the volcanos, rainforests and beaches of Costa Rica in November.
Of course we are also an athletic group. Congratulations to the three of our classmates who successfully completed the Marine Corps Marathon in D.C., Matt Fader, Allison Moore and Jennie O'Flanagan. Congratulations as well to Jennifer Chacon and Jonathan Glater, who successfully completed the Chicago Marathon. Very impressive!
Despite the decrease in submissions, there seems to be an abundance of activity among the class. Please continue to forward along any news about the happenings of our classmates, big or small, to Amanda Perez. And don't forget, pictures are always welcome - first picture in may earn you the title of classmate of the year, especially if it's accompanied by a letter. Finally, please send along your e-mail addresses for the class list, which, at the rate at which I have received responses, will be completed by the year 2004 (sigh - I have not yet lost hope). I hope that this bit of news finds you all happy and healthy, wherever you may be.