2008 Send your 2008 class notes and photos to Andrea Hoversten (ahoversten@goklawfirm.com). ______________________________ Sarah Brenes is now the executive director of the James H. Binger Center for New Americans at the University of Minnesota Law School. Sarah has long advocated for the rights of non-citizens, including refugees and asylum- seekers.
2011 Send your 2011 class notes and photos to Amanda Crain or Pamela Steinle at (ust2011classnotes@ gmail.com).
______________________________ Hello Class of 2011, pour yourself a cup of coffee and grab a snack, Pam and Amanda have a lovely set of class notes to share with you today. Please note, we were directed to keep notes to 45 words each. Your submissions are wonderful, we love every word, but “like sands through the hourglass …” Congratulations to Jenna Eisenmenger on launching Midwest Family Law, a Woodbury-based firm that focuses on family law and child protection.
2010 Send your 2010 class notes and photos to Meghann Kantke or Garin Strobl (ustlaw2010@ gmail.com). ______________________________ Congratulations! Frank Aba-Onu is now senior associate general counsel at Optum. He and Danielle welcomed their first child, Ayden Chinedu, on July 13, 2022.
Congratulations to Ryan Hansch , who was elected McLeod County Attorney. Mandy Kopnick joined Castlelake in September as head of core compliance, senior counsel. Castlelake is a global alternative investment firm. Mandy reports she enjoys the change of pace and has already learned a lot! Congratulations to Brandon Niles ’09 and Pamela LeBlanc Niles, who welcomed their second child, John Arthur, on April 22, 2022. Pamela Steinle moderated the 2022 School of Law Alumnae Brunch panel, “Creating Space for Women to Succeed.” Victoria Brenner ’04 was honored with the Alumna Achievement Award, and panelists included Barb Brekke ’05 , Kelli Riley ’12 and Molly Hough ’18. Carly Stephani is now Medtronic’s lead counsel for core spine and biologics, providing legal support and partnership on everything from contracting and communications, to deals and disputes. She lives in Eden Prairie with husband Mike Stephani ’10 and children Jack (5) and Liv (3).
2009 Send your 2009 class notes and photos to Lisa Thimjon (Lmthimjon@gmail.com).
______________________________ Class of 2009, I hope you all are doing well as we start 2023. I had a great summer trip, which included biking 142 miles from Amsterdam to Cologne to celebrate my dad’s retirement. It was a really fun way to take in the sights, and I would highly recommend it. Matt Schwandt is using his expertise as Bauhaus Brew Labs president and co-founder to expand into consulting, helping other brands establish brand equity and align organizational decision-making with profitable branding and marketing solutions. He also spent time hiking the Scottish Highlands, which sounds revitalizing. In August 2022, Blair Gisi was named a shareholder at South Law in Overland Park, Kansas. Way to go, Blair! Jessica Welk joined Minneapolis- based real estate development company Schafer Richardson as general counsel. Jessica leads the legal team and supports the development, asset management, property management, construction, leasing, accounting and SR Realty Trust teams.
Mike Boulette, a domestic relations partner at Taft, won a Minnesota Supreme Court victory in Pooley v. Pooley, a case regarding omitted assets in a divorce.
Meghan Feliciano returned to St. Thomas Law as the assistant director of the Mentor Externship Program. Meghan reports it has been fun seeing familiar names in students’ mentor logs and thanks her colleagues for serving. Anyone interested in serving as a mentor can email her at meghan. feliciano@stthomas.edu.
Ana (Chilingarishvili) Michno is now director counsel of operational systems at Target. Iowa District Court Judge John Sandy started a pilot drug court program in Clay and Dickinson Counties. The program seeks to help those struggling with addiction stay clean during probation.
Sarah Gillaspey married Byron Lubenkov on May 20, 2022, in St. Paul, MN. Many Tommies were in attendance: Caitlin Anderson, Will Aschenmacher, Ashley Boe, Amy Boyle, Jacques Duplantier, Peter Glessing, Kelly Mellberg and Callie Lehman. Sarah and Byron live in the Longfellow neighborhood in Minneapolis.
The award for best business move goes to Tony Toepfer, who claims he hired an associate purely to put the associate’s last name (Wins) on marketing materials. And with that … “so are the days of our lives.” Keep those class notes coming, and next time, more pictures!
Alyssa Troje is now a shareholder at Fredrikson & Byron (Minneapolis).
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