1989

1989

Our annual Class Officers Weekend was just a few weeks ago in September (yes, I know it’s January when you’re reading this, please time travel with me) and saw a slew of ’89s, including Tom Beecher, Lenora Brown, Nancy Bernard Felix, Nicole Waldbaum Moser, Antonia Rutigliano Nedder, Andy Thompson and our special guest, Dan Parish. I also got to see Ray Prado and his wife, Gesine, both ofwhom I hadn’t seen since San Diego ComicCon several years back. Ray makes a mean cappuccino when he’s not storyboarding our favorite new Netflix show, Stranger Things.

Got an email out of the blue from Eric Berlin, asking me if I wanted to have dinner. I jumped in the car and picked him up, since Eric and his wife, Laura Hartwell Berlin, live in the Chicago suburbs, but he was presenting in L.A. at a conference. Eric has spent most ofhis career at Jones Day, litigating bet-the-company cases, particularly on antitrust or heathcare issues. Classmate Ted Chung is in the office right next to Eric and is the practice leader for the investigations and white-collar defense practice; Sharyl Hirsh Reisman is in the New York office and is the firm-wide chair of recruiting.

Eric’s legal career has taken an interesting turn. As an extension ofhis advocacy and fundraising for digestive diseases (he’s the president of the University of Chicago’s gastrointestinal research foundation), Eric spent several years advocating, pro bono, for patients’ safe, legal access to medical cannabis. He worked with members of state general assemblies and other stakeholders to help create the Illinois medical program and more recently to revise and help get passed the Ohio bill. With these experiences and as demand forhis paid services grew, Eric has become one ofthe nation’s leading cannabis law lawyers. He now represents multiple clients in or impacted by the cannabis industry, including large companies that sell into the industry, private equity interests devising financial and other solutions for the industry, hospitals and other healthcare organizations and cultivation centers in various states. Amazing stuff, and great to see Eric leading this charge.

I heard from Kari Draper, who lives outside of Philadelphia with her husband, Thomas Manning. They met on the language study abroad to Arles (I wonder if they still call it “LS-Play”?) sophomore spring and have two daughters, 15 and 17 years old. Kari writes, “Thomas is an attorney and does mainly commercial litigation. I am the medical director of a large urban outpatient pediatric clinic (31,000 patients) ofthe Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where I have been since completing residency. In addition to seeing patients, I also teach residents and U Penn medical students. I ran into Adam Glick this summer on a college tour in Maine (Bowdoin College). His daughter was on her way to Dartmouth soccer camp and our daughter was on her way to Dartmouth crew camp—small world! It is always great to be back at Dartmouth (although it was not as attractive as usual this summer since both the Green and Baker were under construction).”

I just got back from Hong Kong, and had emailed Cathy Lee to see if I could catch up with her while I was there for a trade show for a week. She emailed back to let me know that she had moved back to Boston, “working in financial planning with a local advisor for the last few years. Raising two teenage boys who have just started driving. Needless to say, sitting in the passenger seat has increased my number of white hairs.”

—Ned Ward, 2104 Graham Ave., #B, Redondo Beach, CA 90278; ned@nedorama.com