Current LLM StudentsProfiles of New LLM Students in 2007-2008 Mr. Szu-Liang Chen (FT) has had a private law firm in Taichung City, Taiwan since 1985. He graduated from Fu Ren University School of Law in 1978. He is recognized as one of the top ten youngest attorneys who built practice from the ground up, and has a reputation as one of the Taichung's leading defense attorneys today. His practice has taken him to nearly all parts of Taiwan and he has represented clients in local and supreme courts nationwide. He believes in serving people in need and resolving their conflicts without attending the courts. Consequently, the communities and people that he serves have honored him as the "representative of justice" and awarded him the Honor of Golden Lawyer. In May 2007, the Judicial Yuan (the highest judicial administration bureau in Taiwan) selected him as the private notary public. (There are less than 200 members of the private notary public in Taiwan). His ambition now is to make ADR an important part of his law practice and continue striving for human rights in the world. He enjoys reading, writing Chinese calligraphy, swimming, hiking, traveling and great things in life. He is serving as vice chair of Amnesty International Taiwan from 2006 to 2007. Ms. Iyekemi Vee-Ann Gefu (FT), a Nigerian, obtained her LL.B. (Civil Law) from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria – Nigeria in 2002. Thereafter she proceeded to the Nigerian Law School and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2004. Kemi has worked with three law firms in Nigeria and was primarily involved in litigation, company formation, mortgage perfection, company secretarial activities for boards of companies and general legal correspondence. Her interest in the field of dispute resolution led her to become an associate member of the Nigerian branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, UK, and a member of the Negotiation and Conflict Management Group, a non-profit organization that aims at training and promoting ADR awareness in Nigeria. Kemi currently works in the Corporate Services & Dispute Resolution Groups of Aina, Blankson & Co, a law firm in Lagos, Nigeria. The firm recently seconded her to act as a dispute resolution officer at the Lagos Multi-Door Courthouse (LMDC). The LMDC is the first court-annexed dispute resolution center in Africa that provides an alternative means to litigation in the settlement of disputes through one or a combination of its available doors: mediation, arbitration and early neutral evaluation. Kemi hopes to acquire more skills in effective dispute resolution mechanisms, especially applying and maintaining them in developing countries such as Nigeria. Mr. Ho-Yoon Hwang (FT), is from South Korea where he is a government official. He graduated from Chonbuk National University, School of Law, in 1991 and graduated from Chonbuk Graduate School of Law with master’s of law (studying administrative law) in 2000. He worked for the South Korean central government and local government for 11 years. He worked as a head of the foreign investment cooperation office and deputy director of the international relations department in local government from 1996 to 2004, where he assisted the foreign investors and provided information about the Korean investment environment. In 2000, he worked for the Korea Local Government Center in New York City as a deputy director. He also has assisted with the International Sister Cities program between South Korea and the United States. From 2005 to present, he has worked for The Ombudsman of Korea, a government agency under the president, as a director of finance and tax team. He investigates wrongdoings of tax-related processed of government offices and consults on complaints of the people about taxes and finance. Last year, he was selected as the recipient of the Korean government fellowship for overseas study, which has enabled him to study in the LLM Program. Mr. M. Govinda Jayasinghe (FT) received his secondary education at Trinity College Kandy, a leading private school in Sri Lanka. After receiving the best advanced level examination results in the school, he was admitted to the faculty of law at the University of Colombo, where he received the LL.B. He has also read for a master’s in public law at University of Colombo Sri Lanka. Govinda was admitted to the bar as an attorney at law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka in 2001 after passing the law college final exams with distinction, where he obtained a first class. Later he practiced as an attorney attached to a law firm, M/S Paul Rathnayake Associates. Govinda has appeared in several constitutional cases of the country, including the fundamental rights application in which the supreme courts limited the tenure of the then president in the country. He practiced in the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal for three years, where he specialized in public law and made more than 100 appearances before the Supreme Court. Moreover, he was involved in commercial arbitration in areas of shipping and aviation. Ms. Barbara Johnson (FT) graduated from Baylor Law School in November 2005. She was Senior Notes and Comments editor on the Baylor Law Review and was a member of the Moot Court Team. Her background is in real estate. After law school, she worked for the Small Business Administration providing disaster assistance loans to the victims of hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. She is currently updating the Real Estate Transactions section of the New Lawyers Handbook for the Kentucky Bar Association and conducting research in the area of Legitimacy and the Rule of Law. Mr. Richard “Rich” Moore (FT) graduated from the MU Law School in 1969 and served as an officer in the Army before going into the private practice of law. From 1972 through 2005, he practiced law with the firm of Brill, Moore and Wagoner P.C. in West Plains, MO. He concentrated primarily on civil litigation and has been certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy since 1982. In recent years, he has mediated a number of his cases, including several employment cases. He recently completed the three-day mediation seminar presented by the MU Law School. He is married. He and his wife, Linda, have three adult children and four grandchildren. Mr. Brian Pappas (FT), is a native Michigander, who holds both a bachelor of arts in political science and a master’s of public policy from the University of Michigan. Along the way, Brian worked in a variety of corporate, government, and non-profit settings. He received his J.D. from Wayne State University’s Law School in 2005, and was admitted to practice in Illinois in 2006. He completed multiple facilitative, transformative, and domestic relations mediation trainings, and for the past year worked as a mediator in court, academic, and community settings. He also interviewed Cook County inmates on behalf of a small Chicago civil rights firm in preparation for a class action lawsuit against the City of Chicago. For the next year, Brian will be dividing time between Missouri and Michigan, where he will complete an externship as an ADR Teaching Fellow at Michigan State University’s College of Law. His main areas of interest are public policy mediation, instruction & training, and online dispute resolution. He sees dispute resolution as the future of law, and is excited by the opportunities and challenges ahead. Brian is a lifelong Detroit sports fan, and attends as many Wolverines, Tigers, Pistons, Lions, and Redwings games as possible each year. He also is an avid marathoner, triathlete, and he greatly enjoys travel, meditation and bikram yoga. Despite the fact that his girlfriend is a lifelong Kansas Jayhawk, Brian is excited to be joining the 2008 LL.M. class. Ms. Susan Rouse (FT). In 1982, Susan earned a bachelor in business administration from Southern Methodist University, where she majored in accounting. After working for a publicly held company in the positions of assistant controller, controller, and chief financial officer, she returned to Southern Methodist University and earned a master of business administration with a focus on organizational change in 1991. From 1992 until 2003, Susan worked in the building materials industry in the positions of chief financial officer, chief operating officer, and president. In 2006, Susan earned her doctor of jurisprudence from Texas Tech University School of Law. In Texas, Susan has been a certified public accountant since 1987, a credentialed mediator since 2005, and a licensed attorney since 2006. In Florida, she has been certified as a county court and family mediator by the Florida Supreme Court since July 2007 and a licensed attorney since October 2007. Mr. Ivan Rugema (FT) is a citizen of Rwanda, but was born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya. He graduated with an LL.B. degree summa cum laude in March 2007 at the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town, South Africa. He received the Hofmeyr-Herbstein-Gihwala medal, which is the most prestigious academic award by the Faculty of Law. It is awarded to a student who has obtained the best academic results in the course of their studies for the LLB degree. He is currently pursuing an LLM degree in international trade and investment law, which he hopes to complete immediately after his return from Missouri. In 2004-05, he participated in the University of the Western Cape tutoring program as a tutor for criminal law. He also worked as an intern for the American Refugee Committee, an American non-governmental organization. He plans to use his LLM in Dispute Resolution education to contribute to the process of justice and reconciliation in his country of Rwanda. He is a keen sports fan, and in particular, a fanatic soccer lover. Mr. M. Zain Satardien (FT) is from South Africa. He commenced his LLB in 2000 at the University of the Western Cape. Since then he has been a tutor for the Law of Succession and Legal Interpretation. He received the dean’s medal for achieving second place LLB final year student and was the best student for corporate law. He has recently obtained a master’s degree in international trade law, having obtained first classes for his courses as well as his thesis and graduating cum laude. He received the dean’s medal for this achievement and was the Top LLM student in 2007. He further obtained the post of junior lecturer at the Faculty of Law at UWC in 2006. Zain also has trained shop stewards in Labor Law for the NEHAWU Diploma Program hosted by UWC and has rendered private tutoring for LLM students. He also represented UWC at the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation Seminar in Pretoria in 2007. Zain is currently a Legal Researcher at the Faculty of Law, working together with the Dean of the Economic Management Sciences Faculty of UWC (Professor Tapscott) as well as Professor Julia Sloth-Nielsen of the Faculty of Law at UWC. Mr. Frederick “Hank” Schwetye (PT) attended the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, graduated in 1973, and has been engaged in the practice of law in Missouri since then. He is a former assistant prosecutor and had a private practice with a small insurance defense firm. Since 1980 he has operated his law firm from Eastern Missouri (Franklin County), and also has an office in Columbia, MO. The practice consists of insurance defense and civil litigation, including domestic relations, plaintiff's personal injury, worker's compensation, probate, and real estate law as well as criminal defense, generally in state courts. In his practice, he has noticed and experienced a significant rise in court filings with a corresponding delay in resolution of disputes and controversies. Ms. Jacquie Shipma (PT) graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a BA in political science in 1985. She then attended her first year of law school at the University of California – Berkeley, but returned to Mizzou and graduated with a JD in 1988. She was in private practice until January 2000, when she became general counsel for the Missouri National Education Association in Jefferson City. Jacquie has had an interest in alternative dispute resolution since college when she wrote her honors thesis on the subject of an ADR program created by an FTC settlement with General Motors. In her current position, she is involved in labor arbitration both in the private and public sectors. Jacquie hopes to use the knowledge she acquires in this program to help define the future of public sector labor disputes in Missouri. Jacquie lives in Columbia with her husband, Michael and two children, Paige and Nicolas. Mr. Robert Stacy Thompson (PT) serves as senior vice president of risk management and patient safety and in-house counsel for Healthcare Services Group (HSG) in Jefferson City. HSG provides medical professional liability coverage for over 65 hospitals and 1,500 doctors in the state of Missouri. Robert has worked in the medical malpractice field since shortly after his graduation from the University of Georgia School of Law in May 2000. Robert has a medical background and worked before and during college and law school as a radiologic technologist. He is a veteran of operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, a U.S. Army Paratrooper and an Air-Assault School graduate. He played basketball at North Georgia College and State University and competed in the 1996 NAIA National Championship Tournament. He holds an MBA from Lincoln University and is a certified professional in Healthcare Risk Management by the American Hospital Association. He looks forward to building a dispute resolution program specifically tailored to the early intervention of medical malpractice cases. Profiles of Continuing LLM Students in 2007-2008 Mr. John T. Blankenship (PT) is the senior partner in the law firm of Blankenship & Blankenship in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where he practices in the areas of commercial law including construction and real estate litigation, arbitration and mediation. He is a member of the American Arbitration Association Panel of Neutrals and he is an approved mediator under Rule 31 of the Tennessee Supreme Court. He also is a member of the College of Commercial Arbitrators. He has served as mediator or arbitrator in numerous commercial and construction cases in several states including multi-party/complex construction disputes. John attended Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) (1969-1973) on a football scholarship where he played four years despite receiving the customary knee injury. He obtained his law degree in 1977 from the University of Tennessee where he met his wife, Pat, who is his law partner and a business law professor at MTSU. They have four children. John's “escape” is singing and playing guitar, banjo and mandolin and performing in community theater. Mr. Roger Brown (PT) has been in private practice in Jefferson City, Missouri, since 1980. He graduated from MU in 1974 with a BA in Political Science and an MA in Public Administration in 1976. He graduated from Gonzaga University School of Law in 1979. He has a five-person law firm, where he primarily does trial practice from the plaintiff's side. His practice has taken him to nearly all parts of Missouri and he has tried cases in Kansas City and St. Louis as well as many rural areas of Missouri as well as in Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Ohio, and Washington. He practices in both state court and federal court in Missouri. He has tried more than 100 jury trials and 100-150 bench trials. He has been certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in Civil Trial Practice since 1989. Over the last 10-15 years, he probably mediated 100-150 of his cases. He is on the list of mediators in the Western and Eastern District Federal Courts of Missouri. He was president of Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys in 1996-97 and president of the Cole County Bar Association in 1996. Mr. Angel Dimov (PT) earned his master’s of law degree from Varna Tech University, in his home city – Varna in Bulgaria in 1998. Angel studied law in a period of dramatic legal changes and transformation in his country, which shaped his legal interest and perception of the law. The excitement of his student years was furthered by the fact that he had the privilege to receive legal training from the most prominent legal scholars and law professors in Bulgaria, among them the current chief justice of the Bulgarian Supreme Court and now a presidential candidate -- Nedelcho Beronov. After graduation, Angel clerked for a little over a year at Varna District Court dealing with appellate civil law cases. He moved to the United States as a permanent resident and settled in the state of Arkansas in 2000. There he studied economics and Spanish at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and the University of Central Arkansas. The National Dean's list published his biography twice – in 2002 and 2003 – in recognition for his high academic achievements. In the field of dispute resolution, he is hoping to find a way to satisfy his diverse interests and an opportunity to apply his legal philosophy. His plans after graduation are to return to his home country and work for the development of dispute resolution methods. Ms. Martha Halvordson (PT) is a founder and managing partner of Civil Alternatives, a Kansas City-based firm that provides individuals and businesses with alternative dispute resolution (ADR) services including mediation, arbitration and facilitation. As an attorney, she has been both an advocate and practitioner of ADR. She was inspired to start her own business after realizing the significant advantages ADR provided her clients. After receiving her JD degree from the University of Tulsa in 1983, Martha relocated to Kansas City where she entered private practice. She has more than 20 years of legal experience and has litigated matters in federal and state courts and before administrative agencies across the nation. She is an approved mediator in Kansas and Missouri. Mr. Aaron Jones (PT) practices with Hulston, Jones & Marsh in Springfield, Missouri, where he has worked since graduating from MU Law School in 1998. He maintains a general business practice, with a focus on employment law, though he also handles a variety of other matters, including work as a part-time city prosecutor for the City of Springfield, primarily handling night court dockets. He is a member of the Young Lawyers Section Council for the Missouri Bar, and currently serves as the YLS Liaison to the Board of Governors of the Missouri Bar and as a member of the YLS Executive Committee. He is also President of the Drury University Alumni Association. He has enjoyed working with mediation in private practice and is interested in mediation and arbitration of employment disputes. Ms. Jiaqi Liang (PT) was born and educated in Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong Province. This is called the “Southern Gate of China” and is the third largest economy in China's group of cities. In the summer of 2006, she received her Bachelor in Law (LL.B.) from Guangdong University of Business Study, completing her studies in the Chinese legal system and international law. Although choosing two substantive legal fields — marital law and copyright law – as the focus of her junior semester and graduate thesis respectively, she knew that the use of any substantive law needs to be applied through procedural rules. She is concerned about an explosion of lawsuits, overload for judiciaries, costs for clients, and power of courts. China has little experience in ADR and she feels that it is her responsibility to help her country enjoy the benefit of more effective and useful ways to settle disputes in international matters. In the summers of 2004 and 2005, she worked as an assistant to a partner in the Guangdong Z & T Law Firm, which handles domestic, territorial and international economic affairs. In this position, she had opportunities for direct experience with negotiation and mediation. She is a fluent speaker of Mandarin and Cantonese. She enjoys watching movies from different cultures and collecting books. In Fall 2007 she started the Master of Public Affairs degree program in the MU Truman School of Public Affairs. Ms. Peggy A. McNeive (PT) is a commissioner with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service stationed in the Kansas City, Missouri field office. Peggy received her bachelor of general studies degree from the University of Kansas in 1978 and a juris doctorate from the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) in 1981. Before attending UMKC's law school, she also attended Washburn University's School of Law. She was a member of the law review at both law schools and published in the Washburn Law Review in Fall 1979. During the 16 years she practiced law, she concentrated on labor relations, including labor-management relations, worker's compensation, social security disability, and equal employment opportunity law. She represented both labor and management in all these areas, except for social security disability law. When the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri was selected as a site to implement the alternative dispute resolution pilot program, Peggy completed the initial training program for mediators and was included on the court's roster of ADR providers. In 1997 and 1998, she was a trainer in a national training program for judges and other employees in state workers' compensation systems. The training included alternative dispute resolution concepts. She joined the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service in October 1997. FMCS works with parties in collective bargaining relationships to assist them in making their relationships better. During her tenure with FMCS, Peggy has mediated contract disputes (both public and private sectors), grievances, and equal employment opportunity claims. In addition, she has conducted training sessions in alternate dispute resolution processes, interest-based problem solving, establishment of labor-management committees, conducting effective meetings, steward-supervisor relations, and contract negotiations. She was selected in 2000 and 2001 to serve on the training team in dispute mediation for commissioners who were hired by FMCS during those years and she was selected as the class mentor of the 2002-2003 classes of commissioners. She also was selected for the facilitation team for rulemaking negotiations between the Indian Health Service and Indian Nations to develop regulations to implement Title V. Ms. Jane Fairfax O’Toole (PT) is the general counsel to Missouri State Treasurer Sarah Steelman. Previously she worked as the legal aid fiscal officer for the Missouri Supreme Court. Jane earned her JD and Certificate in International Law from St. Louis University School of Law in 2003. She received her BA in International Studies and Public Affairs with an emphasis in East Asian Studies from Stephens College in 1997. While pursuing her degrees, she studied and worked in China, Japan, Spain and Belgium. Jane was first introduced to ADR as a student in the St. Louis University Law Clinic, where she completed mediation training. She lives in Jefferson City with her husband, Thomas O’Toole, also an attorney. They have three children. Ms. Karrén M. Prasifka (PT) is a 1985 MU law graduate and has been a consultant in association with the New York restructure and crisis management firm of Walker, Truesdell, Radick & Associates. She served in key management roles in three of the largest retail Chapter 11 bankruptcies in the past 10 years, including the $17 billion K-Mart Chapter 11 reorganization, Venture Stores bankruptcy, and the Service Merchandise Chapter 11. She initiated and implemented court-approved mediation procedures to liquidate more than 5,000 bankruptcy claims for Service Merchandise and Venture. She acted as a consultant for K-Mart mediation programs created to liquidate more than 40,000 claims. Karrén also has worked with other distressed companies such as Napster and Eagle Foods. She has been a speaker for the National Association of Credit Managers, the International Women's Insolvency Confederation and other organizations on corporate governance, bankruptcy, and alternative dispute resolution. Before working on these cases, Karrén was an attorney with Bryan Cave in St. Louis, regional ADR coordinator for the Resolution Trust Corporation, and a clerk for the Honorable William A. Knox. Ms. Stephanie Sloggett-’Dell (PT) is vice president for labor relations and chief negotiator for Tenet HealthSystem in Dallas, Texas. Tenet is the nation’s second largest investor-owned hospital company, and through its subsidiaries, owns and operates 74 acute care hospitals and employs approximately 82,600 people across the country. Stephanie has been with Tenet for more than seven years. She is responsible for Tenet’s labor strategy and the administration of its 51 collective bargaining agreements, including all negotiations, grievances and arbitrations. Before joining Tenet, she was a senior staff attorney with the Association of Flight Attendants, the largest flight attendant union in the United States, representing more than 40,000 flight attendants. In this role, she was responsible for negotiations and arbitrations at various represented carriers. She was born and raised in Southern California. She received her J.D. from Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, California in 1984. She now lives in Springfield, Missouri with her husband, Dennis, and daughter, Ashley. Her husband and stepson, Ryan, both graduated from the MU Law School. Dennis is a partner with Schmidt, Kirby & Sullivan in Springfield. Ryan is an associate with Lathrop & Gage in Kansas City, Missouri. Ashley is attending Vanderbilt University. |
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