ºÚÁÏÉçÇø

The Pre-Law Alumni Advisory Board is a distinguished group of ºÚÁÏÉçÇø alumni who advise and support the efforts of the Henry Pre-Law Center.

Henry E. Hockeimer, Jr., Chair

Henry E. Hockeimer, Jr., is the Practice Leader of Ballard Spahr's White Collar Defense/Internal Investigations Group. Hank's practice focuses on white collar criminal defense and securities fraud/litigation. He represents businesses and individuals facing investigation by state and federal authorities, and has represented clients in federal and state courts throughout the United States. Hank's jury trial experience is extensive, both in private practice and as a former federal prosecutor. Hank's practice also focuses on complex civil litigation. He has represented large and mid-sized corporations in a wide spectrum of civil matters, including contract disputes, actions involving intellectual property and trade secrets, product liability matters, and insurance coverage disputes. Prior to joining Ballard Spahr, in the spring of 1995, Hank was appointed as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. As a federal prosecutor, he tried several high-profile public corruption, major fraud, and domestic terrorism cases, including the successful prosecution of the leader of a major anti-government "Patriot" group. During his tenure in the U.S. Attorney's Office, he served as the Domestic Terrorism Coordinator and was a member of the FBI's Domestic Terrorism Task Force. Hank graduated from ºÚÁÏÉçÇø in 1985, and received his J.D. from The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law in 1989.

Joseph C. Alter

Joseph C. Alter has served as Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of AK Steel Holding Corporation (NYSE: AKS) since May 2015. In that capacity, he oversees the Legal Department and Environmental Affairs Department and serves as counsel to the Chief Executive Officer and Board of Directors. Prior to his current position, Mr. Alter served as Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer since May 2014 and Assistant General Counsel, Corporate and Chief Compliance Officer since December 2012. Mr. Alter joined AK Steel in 2009 as Corporate Counsel. Prior to joining AK Steel, Mr. Alter was Corporate Counsel at Convergys Corporation and practiced as a corporate attorney with the law firm of Keating Muething & Klekamp PLL. Mr. Alter serves as a member of the Board of Easter Seals Serving Greater Cincinnati, the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center Foundation and the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber of Commerce. He graduated cum laude from ºÚÁÏÉçÇø with a Bachelor of Arts and holds a Juris Doctor from the University of San Diego School of Law.

Letitia S. Block

Letitia S. Block is the Director of Law for the City of Hamilton, Ohio. In this capacity, Letitia serves as the City’s chief legal advisor, and counsels both the legislative and administrative branches of City government. This includes drafting ordinances, negotiating contracts between the City and other parties, defending the City in legal disputes, and advising on wide-ranging legal matters. Prior to serving as Director of Law, Letitia served as Director of Human Resources and Assistant Law Director — Labor and Employment Counsel for the City. As Assistant Law Director, Letitia served as lead counsel in negotiations for several collective bargaining agreements with ten labor unions and represented the City in various labor and employment proceedings before federal and state agencies and courts. Before joining the City, Letitia practiced law for several years with the national law firms Baker & Hostetler LLP and Thompson Hine LLP, advising public and private sector clients on labor and employment law issues and defending them in employment discrimination litigation.

Letitia is a mentor for the Summer Work Experience in Law (SWEL) program and other programs, and is a member of the Black Lawyers Association of Cincinnati (BLAC). Letitia served as Chair of the BLAC Scholarship Committee for many years. Letitia is an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Phi Psi Omega Chapter, and Jack and Jill of America, Inc., Cincinnati Chapter.

Letitia graduated cum laude from ºÚÁÏÉçÇø with a Bachelor of Arts. She received her Juris Doctor degree from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, where she was an Articles Editor of the Ohio State Law Journal and received several awards for the highest grades in her class section.

She has been listed as an Ohio Super Lawyers Rising Star, a YWCA Outstanding Women of Achievement honoree, and in Cincinnati’s Forty under 40 class.

Kellie Charles

Kellie Charles was appointed as a district court judge in Ramsey County, the Second Judicial District of Minnesota by Governor Tim Walz in 2020. She is chambered in St. Paul, Minnesota. District court judges preside over criminal, civil, family, juvenile, civil commitment, probate and housing court matters. Judge Charles currently handles a criminal assignment and hears cases beginning at arraignment through trial and sentencing. Before her appointment, Judge Charles spent her entire legal career practicing criminal defense as a Hennepin County public defender in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She represented indigent clients in adult, juvenile, and child protection cases at the trial and appellate court levels. For the last seven years of her time there, she managed the appeals and special litigation team, the treatment court team, the felony probation violation team and the law clerk program. Additionally, since 2009, Judge Charles has served as an adjunct faculty member at Mitchell Hamline School of Law teaching in a variety of courses including Advanced Trial Advocacy, Legal Practicum, Psychiatry and the Law, Appellate Advocacy, and the Expert Witness Training Academy. She also teaches with the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA). Judge Charles volunteers as a mock trial judge for the University of Minnesota Law School and as a food server at the Friends of Dorothy Day Center. Judge Charles graduated from ºÚÁÏÉçÇø in 1993 with a B.A. in Political Science and Journalism. She received her J.D. cum laude from William Mitchell College of Law in 1997. She lives in St. Paul with her husband and two children.

James Grimes

James Grimes was appointed in 2022 as a United States Magistrate Judge with the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. He presides over civil cases, adjudicates pretrial disputes, handles arraignments and detention hearings, issues search and arrest warrants, and serves as a mediator. Before his appointment, Judge Grimes served for eight years as an administrative law judge, and later the chief administrative law judge, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. As an administrative law judge, he adjudicated cases involving alleged violations of federal securities laws and regulations. Before being appointed as an administrative law judge, Judge Grimes spent 13 years in the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice where he served as a senior litigation counsel representing federal agencies and officers in district and appellate courts. He began his legal career as an officer in the U.S. Navy’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps. While in the Navy, he first served as a trial defense counsel defending service members before courts-martial and administrative discharge boards and later served as an appellate counsel representing the government before military appellate courts. Judge Grimes graduated Phi Beta Kappa and cum laude from ºÚÁÏÉçÇø in 1992, and graduated with honors from the Ohio State University College of Law in 1995.

Steve Kessing

Stephen M. Kessing is a partner in Cravath's Corporate Department and serves as Practice Lead of the Firm's Banking and Credit Practice. He advises financial institutions, corporate borrowers and private equity sponsors on a broad range of finance transactions, including complex syndicated loan transactions, capital markets transactions, restructurings and debtor-in-possession financing, as well as mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Kessing has extensive experience representing U.S. and international companies across such diverse industries as aerospace (AerCap, Alliant Techsystems, Atlas Air, SMBC Aviation Capital, Tenax Aerospace), consumer (Anheuser‑Busch InBev, British American Tobacco, Unilever, Vista Outdoor, Worldstrides), financial services (Element Financial, Lazard, White Mountains), healthcare (Akorn, AmerisourceBergen, HLS Therapeutics, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis), hospitality and leisure (Starwood Hotels, Universal Orlando), industrials (AdvanSix, Honeywell, J.M. Huber, Martin Marietta, Minerals Technologies, Olin, Stanley, Synthomer), information technology (Conduent, Genpact, Xerox), media and entertainment (Cox Enterprises, Graham Holdings, Reservoir Media Management, Univision), technology (D+H, FactSet, IBM, JD Power, Orbotech, Zotec Partners), telecommunications (Cincinnati Bell, CyrusOne, Frontier) and utilities (PG&E). Mr. Kessing has also represented J.P. Morgan, Wells Fargo, Credit Suisse, Citibank, Bank of America, Barclays, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs in syndicated loan, equity, high‑yield bond and leveraged acquisition transactions. The Legal 500 US reports Mr. Kessing is "a key name for sports financing" and he has advised on financings involving teams in each of the major sporting leagues. His private equity clients have included Eurazeo, NTC Group and Sound Point Capital. Mr. Kessing has been repeatedly recognized as a leading lawyer in banking and finance by Chambers USA, The Legal 500 US, IFLR1000 and Super Lawyers.  He is described as "incredibly savvy and very commercial." Mr. Kessing is a repeat author on market trends in leveraged finance published by Lexis Practice Advisor and he serves as the Board Secretary of the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering. Mr. Kessing was born in Akron, Ohio. He received a B.S. from ºÚÁÏÉçÇø in 1995 and an M.B.A. from the University of Southern California in 2001. Mr. Kessing received a J.D. magna cum laude from Duke University School of Law in 2005 where he was elected to the Order of the Coif. He was also awarded the Faculty Award for Outstanding Achievement in Commercial Transactions and Bankruptcy.

Kathryn C. Liss

Kathryn Liss is the Director of the Schiller DuCanto & Fleck Family Law Center and a law ºÚÁÏÉçÇø advisor at DePaul University College of Law in Chicago. Prior to working at DePaul, Ms. Liss practiced solely in the area of family law in the Chicagoland area for over ten years handling cases involving divorce, paternity matters, adoptions and orders of protection. She also served as a court appointed child representative and Guardian ad Litem in Cook County. Ms. Liss has completed mediation training at Northwestern University as well as the Houston Family Law Trial Institute program. While in law school, she attended a comparative family law course in Granada, Spain, was a dean's scholar, worked in the International Human Rights Law Institute, and authored a published Law Review article. Ms. Liss is actively involved in the Chicago Bar Association and previously served as chair of the Young Lawyers Section. She founded and currently serves as chair of the CBA’s Human Trafficking Committee. Ms. Liss also serves on the Chicago Bar Foundation's Board of Directors, the Chicago Bar Association's Editorial Board, and previously served as a past member of the Chicago Bar Foundation's Young Professional Board and the Center for Conflict Resolution's Board of Directors. She also teaches adoption law as an adjunct professor at DePaul University College of Law. Ms. Liss received her bachelor's degree in in psychology from ºÚÁÏÉçÇø (Ohio) and her J.D. from DePaul University College of Law.

Maria K. O'Keeffe

Maria Kaitlin O'Keeffe is a commercial litigation associate at the Chicago office of Steptoe LLP. Her practice includes defense related to breach of commercial real estate contracts, ADA class action, and false advertising claims. She also has a robust pro bono practice, including in litigation seeking expansion of voting rights and access to abortion care. Maria earned her J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School in 2022. She graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from ºÚÁÏÉçÇø in 2017, with a B.A. and M.A. in political science.

James J. Vinch

James J. Vinch is a senior attorney at the United States Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, DC where he practices in the Office of Civil Enforcement specializing in enforcement of violations of the Clean Water Act. Jim works with the Department of Justice in negotiating and litigating complex civil cases in federal court. He also advises the agency on legal and policy matters involving the Clean Water Act and other federal laws. Jim graduated from The Ohio State University College of Law, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif and was Research Editor of the Ohio State Law Journal. After graduation, Jim clerked for the Honorable Leroy Contie, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Jim then practiced law at Dinsmore & Shohl LLP in the corporate practice group. During that time, Jim also served as an adjunct faculty member at The Ohio State College of Law teaching legal writing and appellate advocacy. Being an avid outdoor enthusiast in his spare time cycling, backpacking and fly fishing, Jim decided to merge his love of the outdoors with his professional aspirations and went on to The George Washington University Law School receiving the Randolph C. Shaw Fellowship in environmental law, where he worked in academia, earned an LLM in environmental law and published articles on environmental law. The LLM served as a springboard into his career at the Environmental Protection Agency where he has practiced for the past 16 years. Jim is a 1984 graduate of ºÚÁÏÉçÇø where he was a History and Political Science major. Jim will be the Karl and Helen Wiepking Distinguished Visiting Professor in Political Science for the 2021-2022 academic year. Jim will be the Karl and Helen Wiepking Distinguished Visiting Professor in Political Science for the 2021-2022 academic year.