Page 69 - ACTL Journal Win24

R. COURTNEY HUGHES, Carbondale, Illinois, wanted to be a lawyer since he was thir- teen. He put himself through school by working as a truck driver, lifeguard, factory worker in an auto parts plant, factory worker in an ice plant and finally as a law clerk. With a BS in Finance, Courtney initially wanted to practice tax law but was bitten by the trial bug in law school. He tried his first medical malpractice case as a plaintiff’s lawyer six months after graduation, losing horribly but learning a great deal. Four years later he opened his own firm. Courtney is a former tri-athlete who still works out every day, but he now spends more time on his 2016 Harley-Davidson Road Glide than on a bike.
JULIA MEZHINSKY JAYNE, Berkeley, CA, is a Belarusian-born, Russian-speaking criminal defense attorney who broke her law-and-order immigrant parents’ hearts when she left a prosecutor’s office (to them, the good side) to start her own criminal defense practice seventeen years ago. Julia is a Board member of Girls Crushing it [which I thought would be a great name for a smoothie bar, but it turns out that it’s an organization that helps teen and preteen girls develop self-confidence]. Julia has a picture taken in 1991 in Paul McCartney’s arms. [Julia gave us eleven bullet points for possible inclusion in this blurb and the McCartney photo was number nine, which really makes us question her priorities].
PHYLLIS JONES, Washington, D.C., told us “My very first trial experience was in a federal murder trial before [Judicial Fellow] Paul Friedman where I served as a wide-eyed, junior co-counsel to Fellow A.J. Kramer.” That’s it. So we looked her up. Phi Beta Kappa and highest honors in undergrad; Yale Law Review; two clerkships, for a District Court and a Court of Appeals; impressive results for impressive clients; and made a Fellow just eighteen years after law school graduation. So we’re back to where we started – the most impressive thing about Phyllis is how little she felt she had to say about herself . . .
BETSY KAMIN, Houston, Texas, climbed Mt. Fuji with her son who was stationed in Japan, because legend has it if you live in Japan and don’t climb Fuji, you’re destined to live there again. She wanted that boy home. While at an accident scene investigation with opposing counsel and experts, someone fired multiple gunshots towards the group in a drive-by. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but Betsy included an entry in her invoice that said “Take bullet for the client – priceless.”
The client framed the invoice.
GREGORY E. KARPENKO, Minneapolis, Minnesota, developed, after many years detasseling corn in rural Nebraska, a strong work ethic and a profound aversion to the smell of pig farms on a hot summer day.
JONATHAN KRAVIS, Washington, D.C., was the lead attorney in the successful prosecution of Roger Stone for obstructing a congressional investigation into foreign election interference and witness tampering. He resigned from the Department of Justice to protest what he believed to be improper political interference in the government’s sentencing recommendation, and took up run- ning so he could compete with his daughter in the Girls on the Run 5K.
RICHARD S. KRUMHOLZ, Dallas, Texas, needed a little extra cash as an undergrad so he backed blackjack games at a few fraternity houses and sharked local pool halls around Austin. Richard wanted to play basketball in the NBA until his realization that a short, Jewish, slow kid who insisted on being called Richard rather than Dr. Dick was not the ideal candidate to be drafted.
WINTER 2024 JOURNAL 68