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Buzz says his sweet spot is complex com- mercial litigation, but he has had all sorts of different cases, including one seeking the recovery of about $100 million in gold from the shipwreck of the S.S. Central America. The wooden-hulled, side-wheel luxury steamship was sailing from Panama to New York, filled with passengers carry- ing gold that had been mined in California following the 1849 gold rush, when it en- countered a hurricane and sank on Septem- ber 12, 1857. The ship descended into water about a mile and a half deep, due East of Charleston, South Carolina, where the Gulf Stream meets the Sargasso Sea. But no one knew the exact location of the ship, and it took about 100 years to find it. Buzz’ clients found it using sophisticated search theories to sort through data and currents, then fo- cusing on a search area about the size of the State of Rhode Island, and finally utilizing side-scan sonar for two summers. When a ship sinks to that depth, it doesn’t deteriorate because there is little oxygen and very little sediment in the water. But once found, admiralty law dictates that the finder of the ocean treasure must notify any and all claim holders of the discovery, in order to “quiet title” to the discovery. In this case, about thirty insurance companies from Britain and the United States claimed that they had insured – and paid – for the lost cargo of gold. After two three-week trials, and concomitant appeals, the trial court finally awarded Buzz’ client, Columbus America Discovery Group, 92% of the gold it had found as its salvage award. Nice work for a Fellow from Ohio where the lawyers have no cause to be steeped in maritime law. For more of the story, see Columbus-Amer- ica Discovery Group, Inc. v. Unidentified, Wrecked & Abandoned Sailing Vessel, 742 Supp. 1327 (E.D. VA 1990). Both Traffords have been involved in pres- idential political litigation. When John Anderson lost the Republican primary in Ohio in 1980, he tried to run as an Inde- pendent on the Ohio ballot. Ohio required that a candidate file 270 days (about nine months) before an election if the candidate wanted to run as an Independent. Anderson was of course well outside of that timeline, and wanted to challenge the restriction on constitutional grounds, as an unnecessary infringement of his First Amendment rights. Enter Buzz Traf- ford to handle the trial portion of the argument. The case was ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of the Anderson campaign, but Kathleen points out that Buzz “only” won 5-4, whereas her Supreme Court victory was 9-0. Kathleen was retained in 2004 to represent the John Kerry Campaign as its “boots-on-the-ground” counsel if election day issues arose. Around mid-day on Election Day, she got a call that there were extraordinari- ly long lines at certain precincts due to a shortage in electronic polling booths. She quickly drafted paperwork for injunctive relief and notified the national campaign office she was headed to federal court. A panicked call from national counsel stopped her progress, telling her she should go to state court because he believed Ohio law was stronger than federal law. She responded that the case had a shelf life of maybe 12 hours, that the odds were 16 out of 17 that she would draw a Republican judge in state court, and that federal court provided better odds. After an hour debating about the right forum, a senior campaign representative broke the stale- mate and told her to proceed as she saw fit. She knocked on the federal courthouse door at 5 p.m. in the pouring rain and smiled when the duty judge immediately convened an evidentiary hearing. By 7 p.m., before the polls closed, the judge ruled that “voting in America should not be so hard,” and that the polls should remain open until all in line could cast their ballots. The State quickly appealed to the Sixth Circuit, but before she could file a response, the appeal was denied and the case was closed. It did not last even 12 hours. Both Traffords have given generous amounts of time to the College since their respective inductions. Buzz has served multiple terms on the Ohio State Committee as well as serving as Chair of the Attorney-Client Rela- tions Committee, and is now Vice Chair of the Legal Ethics and Profes- sionalism Committee. Kathleen also served on the Ohio State Committee, including a stint as Chair, then as Regent for Region IX from 2013 to 2017. She chaired the 2018 Task Force on Judicial Independence and continues to serve on the Judicial Independence Committee, after co-chairing its 2020-2021 public education pilot project with Ginny Nelson. She is a Trustee of the ACTL Foundation. Both consider the College a wonderful organization, with the best part being the dear friends they met through the College. Buzz points out that at the end of the day, the College really is what its Fellows make it. “You can have all the mission statements and lofty ideals in the world, but it’s really what people actually do.” It is the professionalism that the College so values that has caused both to so highly regard the College. And it is Fellows like Buzz and Kathleen that make the rest of us similarly value the fellowship and the friendships we share. Carey E. Matovich Billings, MT SUMMER 2023 JOURNAL 84