“Award/Recognition” Class Notes
Jamie Dreher (Col ’96)
Jamie Dreher (Col ’96), a lawyer with Downey Brand, was recognized at the Sacramento chapter of the Federal Bar Association’s Ninth Annual Night to Honor Service for his pro bono contributions.
Rebecca Sinclair (Col ’91)
Rebecca Ogur Sinclair (Col ’91) received the Medical Society of Virginia’s Salute to Service Award for Outstanding Service with the Uninsured & Underserved in 2018. Read more about it here. She also received the Virginia Health Care Foundation’s Unsung Hero Award-Physician in 2006 and the United Way of the National Capital Area’s Humanitarian Award in 2005.
Lazetta Braxton (Com ’95)
Lazetta Rainey-Braxton (Com ’95 L/M) received the See It, Be It Role Model Award, one of several Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion Awards given by InvestmentNews. She also received the Heart of Financial Planning Award from the Financial Planning Association in Nov. 2018. Braxton owns Financial Fountains, and her financial advice has been highlighted in the Wall Street Journal, Money Magazine, the New York Times and other media outlets.
Irving Brand (Law ’67 CM)
Irv Brand (Law ’67 L/M) received the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award from Marquis Who’s Who for excelling professionally for 20 years or more.
Timothy Grendell (Law ’83)
Timothy J. Grendell (Law ’83) was sworn in as a new member of the National College of Probate Judges Executive Committee. Grendell is one of only ten probate judges from across the country who currently serve on the executive committee and is the first combined probate/juvenile court judge to be elected for the position.
Jesse Placher (Col ’04 CM)
Jesse A. Placher (Col ’04 L/M) was honored with the Jury Verdict Reporter’s 2018 Trial Lawyer Excellence Award. Placher, an attorney with Hinshaw & Culbertson who practices in the firm’s Peoria, Illinois, office, focuses on the defense of medical malpractice claims. Honorees are selected following the review of hundreds of notable Illinois jury defense verdicts; Placher was recognized for obtaining a defense jury verdict in a case in which the plaintiff was seeking $3.5 million in damages.
Adam Olenn (Col ’95 CM)
Adam Olenn’s (Col ’95 L/M) screenplay Blood and Plunder won first prize in the ‘Spotlight on New England’ category of the 2018 Rhode Island International Film Festival’s screenplay competition. Blood and Plunder is the true story of John and Moses Brown, two brothers who birthed our nation, and their rift that still divides us. More information can be found here.
Steve Klepper (Grad ’98, Law ’01)
Steven M. Klepper (Grad ’98, Law ’01), an appellate lawyer at the Baltimore law firm Kramon and Graham, has been awarded the 2018 Tip the Scales of Justice Award by the Domestic Violence Legal Empowerment and Advocacy Project, a nonprofit dedicated to providing justice to victims of domestic abuse. Klepper was selected for the award for his exceptional pro bono appellate advocacy on behalf of survivors of domestic violence in two cases before the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.
Kathleen Edmunds (Col ’84, Med ’88 CM)
Kathleen O’Connor Edmunds (Col ’84, Med ’88 L/M) was awarded a U.S. patent for her Tampon Assembly, which is trademarked The Menstrual Shield.
Ashleigh DeFries Gallagher (Col ’07)
Ashleigh DeFries Gallagher (Col ’07) was awarded the Maryland Daily Record VIP Award, naming her one of Maryland’s “Very Important Professionals Under 40.” Gallagher works as legislative director for state Sen. Bill Ferguson, and as a dispenser of health tips and environmental friendly advice on the online platform she founded in 2017, “Healthy Living with Ash.” She is a graduate student at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
John Via (Engr ’84 CM)
John W. Via III (Engr ’84 L/M) was named to the Alumni Circle of Distinction of Drexel University’s College of Engineering. The award recognizes distinguished alumni for their contributions to the field of engineering and support for the college and university. Via also serves as a Trustee for the UVA’s School of Engineering.
Robert Perrow (Com ’70 CM), Howard Gordon (Col ’69, Law ’72 CM), Charles James (Col ’96 CM), Farhad Aghdami (Col ’89), W. F. Drewry Gallalee (Col ’77)
The following attorneys, all of whom practice with Williams Mullen, were named “Lawyers of the Year” in the 2019 edition of The Best Lawyers in America© in their respective fields: Charles E. “Chuck” James Jr. (Col ’96 L/M), criminal defense; Farhad Aghdami (Col ’89), trusts and estates; Robert D. “Bob” Perrow (Com ’70 L/M), financial services regulation; W.F. Drewry “Drew” Gallalee (Col ’77), product liability litigation (defense); and Howard E. Gordon (Col ’69, Law ’72 L/M), real estate.
John Paradee (Col ’85 CM)
John W. Paradee was named a Delaware Top Lawyer 2018 by Delaware Today magazine. He is an attorney at Baird Mandalas Brockstedt, where he specializes in land use law. Top Lawyers were selected through votes of licensed attorneys from the 4,900-member Delaware Bar Association.
Matt Ward (Com ’06)
Matt Ward (Com ’06) was inducted into Northwestern Mutual’s 2018 Forum Group, the company’s elite membership. Ward is affiliated with Northwestern Mutual–Chicago, and this is the first time that he has received the Forum honor. Only five percent of more than 6,000 financial advisers receive this recognition.
Nayna Agrawal (Col ’98)
Nayna Agrawal (Col ’98) is a 2018 Sesame Street Writer’s Room Fellow and was awarded a development deal. Her TV pilot “American Pia” was recognized at the New York TV Festival, and she has two play readings in New York later this year. She received a full scholarship to attend the Kenyon Playwrights’ Conference. Learn more here.
Finn Pincus (Col ’77 CM)
Finn Pincus (Col ’77) was inducted into Roanoke College’s Hall of Fame in April 2018. In his 25 years as track and cross country coach, his teams won 22 conference titles, forty individual All-American honors, two individual national titles, and 10 national runner-up finishes for individuals and relays. Two athletes competed at the U.S. Olympic Trials. Honored 21 times as Old Dominion Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, Pincus had eight women’s team top-25 finishes at the NCAA track championships, with a best of fifth at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships in 2008.
Eric Cunningham (Col ’06 CM)
Eric Cunningham (Col ’06) couldn’t vote in the New York Primary election because he moved to Jersey City, but he did like all the Instagram photos of people who did vote. He is a Double-Hoo, in that he graduated from U.Va. and no one knows hoo he is.
Jamie Dreher (Col ’96)
Jamie P. Dreher (Col ’96), an attorney with Downey Brand, was named to the lists Best of the Bar 2018 as well as The Best Lawyers in America© 2019 in the fields of bankruptcy and creditor debtor rights/insolvency and reorganization law and litigation.
Fred Daniels (Col ’87)
Frederick L. Daniels Jr. (Col ’87), a DeKalb County, Georgia, representative on the MARTA board of directors, was selected as the 2018 Outstanding Public Transportation Board Member, one of the American Public Transportation Association’s highest honors.
Mary Wayne Watson (Grad ’83 CM)
Mary Wayne Watson (Grad ’83 L/M) will present “The Sandhills: The Comfort of Tradition and Ritual” at the Scotland County Museum in Laurinburg, North Carolina, on Sept. 24, 2018, at 7:00 p.m. Watson is a Road Scholar with the North Carolina Humanities Council. This program is free and open to the public.
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