Class Notes

Leigh Sebastian has been promoted to the position of general counsel of the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA). She oversees the Legal Services department including legal support, LCRA’s ethics program, and regulatory and electric market compliance. Sebastian also has supported the development of the organization’s legal strategy related to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas and the Public Utility Commission of Texas. Sebastian currently serves on the Advisory Council of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Energy, Law and Business.

Jeremy Fudge has been named a 2022 Outstanding Director by the Dallas Business Journal. Fudge is the managing partner of the firm Berry, Appleman, and Leiden LLP, and has helped oversee expansion of the firm nationally and in the Dallas area.

Basil Umari has joined national law firm Dykema’s new Houston office as Senior Counsel. Basil has more than 20 years of experience representing debtors, liquidating trustees, official creditors’ committees, creditors, equity holders, officers and directors, patent holders, landlords, tenants, and asset purchasers in corporate bankruptcy matters. He also has extensive experience in bankruptcy litigation.

Scott D. Page has joined Carlton Fields in Los Angeles as a member of the firm’s national Real Estate and Commercial Finance Practice. Page’s practice focuses on commercial real estate transactions, including development, purchase and sales, joint ventures, financing, leasing, and other matters involving office, hotel, retail, industrial, and multitenant residential projects.

James S. Carter was elected partner of Blank Rome LLP in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office, effective Jan. 1, 2022. Carter represents policyholders in disputes and litigation against their insurers, and provides strategic guidance to clients on ways to enhance coverage for their risks.

Christopher D. Kratovil was promoted to National Recruiting Partner at Dykema, a leading national law firm. This follows a five-year stint as Managing Member of Dykema’s Dallas office where Kratovil helped to develop the office through laterals of top legal talent. In his practice, Kratovil remains in Dallas as a member of the firm’s Litigation Department, focusing on appellate matters. Kratovil has made a name for himself as one of the “Top 100 Lawyers in Texas”.

Basil A. Umari has joined leading national law firm Dykema as senior counsel in the firm’s Bankruptcy Practice Group in Texas. Umari offers representation in corporate bankruptcy matters.

Emily Stephens has joined Vinson & Elkins LLP as a partner in its Investment Funds practice. Stephens, who previously served for more than 14 years in managing director roles for global alternative investment management firm Oaktree Capital Management, participated in all aspects of fundraising for several of Oaktree’s largest funds, including what was, at the time, the world’s largest closed-end distressed debt fund at $10.9 billion. She also served as an investment team member and lead lawyer for Oaktree’s flagship investment strategy focused primarily on distressed credit opportunities.

Vincent E. Morgan, one of the nation’s most prominent corporate policyholder litigators, has joined Bracewell LLP’s Houston office as a partner in the litigation group. Morgan most recently was a partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, where he spent almost 18 years and was the former managing partner of the Houston office. He graduated with honors from The University of Texas Law School with a J.D. in 2000.

Maggie Murphy was recently featured in the Chambers USA 2020 Guide, a publication ranking the leading lawyers and law firms across the U.S. Ms. Murphy is the Office Managing Principal in the Austin, Texas office of Jackson Lewis P.C. She concentrates her practice on advanced U.S. immigration and nationality law and global business immigration matters, assisting employers with immigration challenges facing international workforces.

Prof. Dr. John Henry Dingfelder Stone was awarded tenure as a Professor of Law (Public and International) at the Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences in Kleve, Germany.

In August 2018, Samuel Kan began serving as the Assistant Dean of Academic Success and Bar Preparation at Barry University School of Law in Orlando Florida. As Assistant Dean, he will continue teaching tax, estate planning, and criminal law subjects as he taught during the 2017-2018 academic year. He initially joined the Barry law faculty as a tenured track Assistant Professor of Law after becoming a Florida licensed attorney and retiring from the Army JAG Corps, last serving as the Tax Counsel for the Department of Defense Office of General Counsel from 2014 to 2017 at the Pentagon.

ALUMNI NEWS: Robert Thomas ’00 appointed Chairman of the Texas Facilities Commission by Gov. Greg Abbott.