January 2012 Alumni Briefs

Robert Rettich ’78 was elected judge on the Miamisburg, Ohio, Municipal Court in November. Robert has operated his own law practice for more than 30 years. He is also the former law director for the village of Farmersville, Ohio, has served as arbitrator on Common Pleas Court arbitration panels, and has been an acting judge in the Miamisburg Municipal Court.  

Harriet Turney ’79 lives in Phoenix and is the chief administrative law judge for the State of Arizona in the field of worker’s compensation.    

Thomas E. Dover ’80 was named the “Cleveland Best Lawyers Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions - Defendants Lawyer of the Year” for 2012 by Best Lawyers, and the “Person of the Week” in North Royalton, Ohio, for the week of December 11 by the Sun Star Courier. Tom is the managing partner of Gallagher Sharp in Cleveland. He joined the firm in 1980 and became a partner in 1987. He has served as the chair of the firm’s transportation practice group and as a member of the executive committee. He currently serves on the executive committee of the National Association of Railroad Trial Counsel.

Deborah J. Adler ’81 and Kelly Henrici ’94 participated in the JDRF Ride to Cure Diabetes in Death Valley, California, this fall. Participants raise money to fund research for treatment and a cure for diabetes. Deborah is the development director at the University of Dayton School of Law, and Henrici is the director of the school’s Program in Law and Technology.  

Doug Cohen ’81 is a partner at Jones Vargas in Las Vegas. He is a trial lawyer who concentrates his practice in the areas of catastrophic personal injury, medical malpractice, products liability and premises liability. He was recently named a 2012 “Best Lawyer in America” in plaintiffs personal injury litigation.  

Milton Shuffield ’81 is a judge in the 136th district court of Jefferson County in Beaumont, Texas. Appointed by Governor Bush to the bench in 1995, Milton has only been opposed in one election since he began his service.  

Marie Splees Zawtocki ‘86 and Rich Zawtocki ’85 continue to practice law together in their family firm, Zawtocki Law Offices in Mesa, Arizona. Marie’s area of practice is family, juvenile and probate law, and Rich’s focus is in the area of personal injury and general civil litigation.   

Connie Price ’90 announced that she will not run for re-election next year on the Montgomery County, Ohio, Court of Common Pleas. Connie said she is not running for health reasons. She was first appointed to the court in February 2009 to fill a vacancy. She ran unopposed for re-election in November 2010. 

Valoria Hoover ’92 delivered a tribute to the late Dean Fran Conte at a ceremony in November blessing the future location of memorial garden for Conte on the Keller Hall east lawn. Valoria is the partner in charge of the Columbus office of Kohrman, Jackson and Krantz. The focus of her practice is the area of complex business litigation and general corporate matters and appellate practice. She also serves as special counsel to the Ohio attorney general.   

Paul R. Lucchese ’92 is the founder and president of Outsourced General Counsel in Sudbury, Massachusetts. Started in 2010, the company aims to provide outsourced general counsel legal services.   

Rebecca Rice DeBakey ’93, who lives in Houston, is the senior vice president and senior Latin America counsel for Stewart Legal Services at Stewart Title Guaranty, where she has been employed for 15 years. As part of her international work, she has traveled extensively in Mexico.   

Roger A. Czulewicz ’95 wrote a guest column on GoErie.com celebrating the life of an Erie, Pennsylvania, builder who died last fall. Roger, who lives in Fairview Township, Pennsylvania, works at Blair Corp. and runs his own business, R.A. Advocacy Group.

Nicholas Enoch ’95 is a partner in the firm of Lubin and Enoch, which has offices in Arizona, Colorado and Texas. The firm specializes in representing private and public sector unions. Nicholas also practices in the area of employment discrimination, wage and hour litigation and public utility regulation.   

George A. Lyle ’96 was appointed to a two-year term on the Virginia Legal Aid Society Board of Directors. He is the county attorney for Henry County and is past president of the Martinsville-Henry County Bar Association and currently serves as the governor’s appointee to the board of the New College Institute.  

Jimmy R. Marcum II ’97 was appointed to fill a vacancy in District Court judgeship in the 31st Judicial District, Division 1, in Kentucky. Jimmy will have to run for election next year. He has served as an assistant county attorney for Floyd County, Kentucky; an associate with the law firm of Vanover, Hall & Bartley; and city attorney for the cities of Allen, Wayland and Wheelwright.  

Christopher Reeder ’97 is featured in a question-and-answer article with Law360.com (PDF). Christopher is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Robins Kaplan Miller & Ciresi. He represents clients in complex trial and litigation matters and also counsels clients in real estate transactions, lending and brokerage laws, advertising, business practices and employment law.

Oscar J. “O.J.” Salinas ’99 joined the faculty of the University of North Carolina School of Law in 2011. He teaches research, reasoning, writing and advocacy and assists with the Writing and Learning Resources Center’s Legal Education Advancement Program. His research interests include the creation of law school learning communities and the use of counseling and helping skills to assist students in their law school experience. Previously, he practiced civil litigation with law firms in San Antonio and Corpus Christi, Texas, and was a lecturer at the University of Texas at San Antonio.   

Tyler Starline ’04 was re-elected to the Huber Heights, Ohio, City Council. Starline was appointed to the council in 2009. He is an attorney with the firm of Finlay, Johnson & Beard, where he focuses on juvenile law and civil litigation. In addition to his J.D., Tyler received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Dayton.   

Adam Armstrong ’05, left, Katie Armstrong ’08 and UDSL staff members Rita Barney, Nan Holler-Potter, Mary Boston, Mary Beth Miller and Lee Ann Ross participated in the St. Vincent de Paul’s Friends of the Poor Walk on September 24 in Dayton.  

Chris Seelbach ’05 won a seat on the Cincinnati City Council. After the election, he was featured in articles in the Cincinnati Enquirer and the Cincinnati Business Courier. He is vice president and chief financial officer of The Seidewitz Group, a marketing and consulting firm. 

Mindy (Melinda) Koehne ’06 is an associate with Coates Rose in Houston. She practices in the real estate and public finance section of the firm. Her practice involves the creation and administration of special purpose districts in Texas. She primarily works with real estate developers who engage in residential and commercial development.   

Chris Cotter ’08 published an article, “Guilty as Charged? Consider a Different Approach,” on the American Conference Institute’s blog. Chris is an associate with the law firm Roetzel & Andress in its Akron, Ohio, office. He defends personal injury, property damage claims on behalf of large and small transportation companies, and products liability claims on behalf of product manufacturers and other entities.

Michael O. Eshleman ’08 has had three law review articles accepted for publication: “A South Seas State of Nature: The Legal History of Pitcairn Island,” in the UCLA Pacific Basin Law Journal; “Law in Isolation: The Legal History of Pitcairn Island,” in ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law Review; and “The New Pitcairn Islands Constitution: Plenty of Strong Yet Empty Words for Britain’s Smallest Colony,” in the Pace International Law Review.  

Thomas B. Fullerton ’08 has joined Swanson, Martin & Bell, LLP, as an associated. Working in in the firm’s Chicago office, Thomas concentrates his practice on real estate litigation and transactional services, creditors’ rights and bankruptcy, commercial litigation and business disputes and construction litigation. He previously was an associate at James B. Carroll & Associates.   

Rob Scott ’10 was elected to a seat on the Kettering, Ohio, City Council in November. He is a partner at the law firm of Oldham & Deitering and focuses his practice in representing small business. He is also president of the Dayton Tea Party.

April Ward ’10 has joined Dinsmore & Shohl as an associate in the intellectual property practice group. Working in the firm’s Dayton office, April focuses her practice on patent preparation and prosecution. She previously worked for the law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr in Dayton.   

Bradford Bury ’11 joined the law firm of Flaherty Sensabaugh Bonasso as an associate in the firm’s Charleston, West Virginia, office. Brad is focusing on workplace liability and deliberate intent law. He also has a master’s in business administrative from the University of Dayton.   

Eric Holway ’11 joined the law firm of Flaherty Sensabaugh Bonasso as an associate in the firm’s Charleston, West Virginia, office. Eric is focusing on medical malpractice law. 

Nicholas J. Hursh ’11 joined Shambaugh, Kast, Beck & Williams, LLP, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. As a law student, he clerked for the Honorable Judge Thomas J. Felts for Allen Circuit Court in Fort Wayne and worked in the corporate legal affairs division of Luxottica Retail in Mason, Ohio.  

Jonathan Osborne ’11 joined the law firm Jackson Kelly as an associate. Jonathan is working in the firm's Charleston, West Virginia, office as a member of the Industrial, Environmental and Complex Litigation Practice Group. As a law student, he interned for Magistrate Judge Sharon L. Ovington at the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio.