CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Marc Rigsby (’12) is an idea person, the kind of guy who enjoys sitting around and brainstorming business plans.

He has lots of them and this year decided to launch one he believes will appeal to guys like him who like to dress well and add a little fun to their daily wardrobes.

“In one of my brainstorming sessions, I was wondering what had been done and what had not been done – and I came up with shoelaces,” he said. Brightly colored shoelaces. For dress shoes.

“My philosophy is a more traditional outfit with a subtle tweak,” said Rigsby, 26.

It’s the kind of detail he liked even in high school, when he would add a pink pocket square to a black suit.

Crayon Lacing takes that idea to shoes. Colorful dress shoelaces in six colors and two styles are just the things to dress up wingtips, Rigsby believes.

Read more here.

Texas a few years ago ran a seemingly ubiquitous ad promoting the state — its natural resources and its disparate topography, its diverse demographics and its regional yet universally craved food.

Texas is “like a whole other country,” says the ad, which is still used.

Wake Forest Law students should seriously consider moving there, Jeff Whittle (’91) told them during a luncheon on campus April 12.

Whittle, partner and the head of the Technology Law Section of Bracewell & Giuliani in Houston, talked about his career in law, his approach to management and the value of a JD/MBA, which he earned at Wake Forest in 1991.

And, well, he talked about Texas. For good reason.

The Lonestar State, he says, is No. 1 in the nation for wind energy capacity and biofuels production. It’s a major technology hub — Apple is expanding its Austin campus and Google is rolling out its fiber Internet service in that city — and is tops in electronics exports.

“The Texas economy is booming,” says Whittle.

In particular, Whittle points to the energy sector.

“For the energy industry in Texas, in my view, something historical is going on today.”

That’s great news, because yesterday was tough. The energy downtown in the mid-1980s — followed by the Enron scandal and a bursting high-tech bubble — transformed Houston into a virtual ghost town, says Whittle, who holds a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from Vanderbilt University.

Oil prices have risen, due in large part to Asian growth, and new energy technologies — take, for example, Tesla Motors — and alternative energy resources have emerged. The potential for the vast Keystone XL pipeline project — the pipeline would transport tar sands oil from Canada to the central U.S. and to Texas refineries — is in many ways immeasurable.

“I think there is an energy renaissance going on, I think the media is picking up on this,” referencing the burgeoning convergence of high-tech and energy jobs.

The energy boom manifests itself in a demand for lawyers with energy credentials, a scenario that led to a November story in the Wall Street Journal, “Houston Lawyers Ride New Gusher.”

“The mergers-and-acquisitions field has been sluggish since the financial crisis,” the story says. “But thanks to high oil prices and a boom in U.S. drilling over the past decade, energy deals have been a steady bright spot. Oil and gas deals have accounted for about 13.5 percent of mergers-and-acquisitions volume this year compared with 5.3 percent a decade ago,” according to Dealogic.

That means boom times for Houston attorneys with oil-patch credentials and clients.

Here’s more:

“International institutions such as Chinese- and Indian-owned energy companies have dumped billions into joint ventures with Texas-based oil and gas businesses,” the ABA Journal wrote in February.

The story continues, “The International Energy Agency — formed by 28 member nations to research energy issues and respond to disruptions in the oil supply — predicts in its World Energy Outlook 2012 that the U.S. will become the world’s top oil producer by the end of the decade, overtaking Saudi Arabia, and will be a net exporter of oil by 2030.

“There’s a lot of money flowing into energy and Texas right now,” Stephen Coats, a managing partner and general counsel at New York City-based Riverstone Holdings, a private equity firm with more than $22 billion in investments in the energy sector, including several billion in Texas, says in the story.

Whittle’s firm, Bracewell & Giuliani LLP, has 470 lawyers in Texas, New York, Washington, D.C., Connecticut, Seattle, Dubai and London, the firm’s website says. The firm offers guidance on business law, finance, litigation, government relations and regulatory policy.

Whittle, the site says, is experienced representing clients in various patent, trademark, copyright and other intellectual property matters, including patent, trademark and copyright preparation and prosecution, mergers and acquisitions, due diligence investigations and opinions, strategic planning, portfolio analysis, various types of intellectual property, litigation and client counseling.

Whittle says he enjoys coaching young attorneys and works often in roles related to management and strategic development.

“I do a lot of setting up cases and investigations, decide that we should take the case and cue it up to our trial attorneys. I don’t do trials as much any more, as most clients want me on the transaction and strategy side.”

Whittle complemented his JD with an MBA, an academic combination with distinct and indispensible benefits, considering how the law inherently dovetails into business and vice versa.

“The lateral market is very hot … so hot we’ve had trouble keeping associates from big law firms from New York and other firms in Texas,” Whittle says. “We’re paying a lot more the big Texas firms, and we’ve had to bump up pay comparable to what they would make in New York City. Even corporations had to raise salaries … because they couldn’t hire any (new) talent.”

Says, the Wall Street Journal: “Recruiters and lawyers say firms are offering multiyear contracts of $2 million in annual compensation to partners, a 50 percent bump or more for some local lawyers. Pay guarantees are offered as enticements.

“Experienced associates—who can earn about $240,000 in total compensation including bonuses—are generally seeing a 10 percent to 20 percent raise for switching firms, these people say, a significant boost in an industry typically with regimented pay scales.”

A low-fat diet and regular exercise. A light touch with the salt shaker. A good ol’ belly laugh.

That last ingredient is key. Laughter, Susan Sparks (’87) contends, is as important to your health and well-being as any of those other things.

She made believers of those who attended the American Heart Association Go Red for Women Luncheon on Tuesday at the Embassy Suites.

Wearing a pair of cute red shoes in keeping with the theme of the day, she had us laughing a lot and crying a little as the keynote speaker. It didn’t take long to feel as if we had a good new girlfriend.

“If you can laugh at yourself,” she said, “you can forgive yourself. And if you can forgive yourself, you can forgive others.”

Read the full story here.

Brad and Carole Wilson have given $1 million to the Wake Forest School of Law. The Wilsons’ generosity will address two priorities for the law school: transforming The Worrell Professional Center to meet the changing needs of law students, and providing endowed scholarships.

Brad Wilson (’78) is a graduate of the Wake Forest University School of Law. He has served on the Law Board of Visitors and will return as a member of that board in July, as well as chair the law school’s capital campaign committee. The Wilsons’ son, Alex, received his undergraduate degree from Wake Forest in 2008.

“We support Wake Forest University and the School of Law because of our strong belief in their approach to educating the whole person and preparing students to give back to the world,” said Brad Wilson. “We are grateful for what Wake Forest has meant to our family.”

Specifically, the Wilsons’ gift will establish the Brad and Carole Wilson Career and Professional Development Center, a key enhancement within The Worrell Professional Center, the home of the law school. The Career and Professional Development Center will dedicate space for mentoring and employer recruitment visits, and also serve as a focal point for law students to develop professional and leadership skills.

Dean Blake D. Morant said, “The provision of the most effective resources and opportunities for career and professional growth ensures that our students will have a positive impact on their clients and communities.”

The Brad and Carole Wilson Law Scholarship will also help Wake Forest address the burden of student loan debt through an endowed scholarship.

“Wake Forest competes with the nation’s top law schools for the brightest students,” Morant said. “The Wilsons’ generosity will allow us to attract top applicants and help extraordinary students who otherwise could not afford to attend law school.”

DUBLIN — Brad Wilson (’78), president and CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, will be the commencement speaker at  7:30 p.m. on Friday, May 10, at Bladen Community College’s curriculum graduation. 

As president and CEO of North Carolina’s largest insurer since 2010, Wilson has worked to improve North Carolina’s health care system and in making health care more affordable for the state’s residents.

Prior to joining BCBS of North Carolina in 1995, he practiced law and served as general counsel for Gov. Jim Hunt, where he was in charge of directing the governor’s legislative strategy.

To read the full story, click here.

William Reingold (’83), the chief District Court judge in Forsyth County, will retire at the end of October after 27 years on the bench. 

A graduate of Wake Forest University School of Law, Reingold has been chief District Court judge since 1998. He was appointed a District Court judge in 1986 and won election in 1988.

Reingold, 61, will retire Oct. 31. His term expires in 2016.

Reingold said Tuesday that a couple of things helped him make his decision.

Read the full story here.

WAKE FOREST, N.C. — Wake Forest University will provide three hours of free Continuing Legal Education (CLE) beginning at 1 p.m. on Friday, May 10, at the Wake Forest Historical Museum, 414 N. Main Street, on the old campus.

Even though William Shakespeare never met President Nixon and the Watergate Hotel was never a setting in one of Bill’s plays, an afternoon of continuing education will transport participants to a world in which it “just might have been so” while getting participants to think about how to best advise his or her clients to give charitably.

The sessions will discuss how the Watergate Affair changed the role of legal ethics and professionalism in the practice of law with a presentation by G. Eugene Boyce, who was the lead investigator in the discovery of President Nixon’s White House taping system of the Oval Office and Cabinet Room. It will also  explore ethical issues posed by the characters of Shakespeare’s most famous legal play, “The Merchant of Venice,” presented by Richard Schneider, Wake Forest University Professor of Law and Associate Dean of International Affairs. Finally, this CLE will provide an understanding of the benefits of charitable giving when advising clients, which will be presented by Kimberly H. Stogner (’94) and Edward W. Griggs, both attorneys with Womble Carlyle in the Tax, Trusts & Estates practice group in Winston-Salem.

There will be a reception immediately following the programming.  This event is sponsored by the Wake Forest University Samuel Wait Legacy Society.

While there is no charge for this event, space is very limited, so please register as soon as possible.  Approval of one hour of general and two hours of ethics/professional responsibility credit for attending this event is pending with the North Carolina State Bar.

Register here, or for more information call 919.556.2911.

Wake Forest Law co-hosted its first General Counsel Summit for alumni on Friday, April 19, with Spilman Thomas & Battle, PLLC. The conference addressed top issues facing corporate counsels today and the impact on their business or organization including technology, intellectual property, social media and data privacy, among others.

Dean Blake Morant opened the conference that featured sessions by Jeff Patton (’94), Spilman Thomas & Battle; Tom Sager (’76), Vice President and General Counsel of Dupont; Eric Iskra (’94),  Spilman Thomas & Batttle; and Wake Forest Law Academic Dean Suzanne Reynolds (‘77).

Other attendees included Robert Humphries, associate chief counsel, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (’89); Stephen Owens, General Counsel, University of Missouri System (’80); David Sousa (’81), Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Medical Mutual Insurance Company of N.C.; and Astrid Womble (’95 JD/MBA), Director and General Counsel, Everwatch Financial.

The purpose of the summit is for members of the Wake Forest Law General Counsel Advisory Committee to share their unique and relevant knowledge, perspective and philosophy in ways that can benefit one another as well as law students and faculty, according to Jon McLamb, assistant dean of law development. “The emphasis is on peer-to-peer and peer-to-student exchange of knowledge and ideas,” he explained.

The committee, which consists of 16 Wake Forest Law alumni in general counsel positions throughout the world, represents a diverse group of industries and organizations.

A group of law students who have expressed interest in corporate counsel positions participated in the summit. One of those students was Lee Denton (’14), who is from Winston-Salem and will be next year’s Wake Forest Law Review editor.

“We are told almost unanimously that corporations don’t hire students (right out of school) and we see a big gap between the time we graduate and the time it takes to reach the role of general counsel,” Denton said. “We are hoping you can help us with that.”

A number of alumni offered the students advice about how best to get the experience they need.

“I hope one of the things that comes out of this group are opportunities for students,” said Jeff Harvey (’97 JD/MBA), executive vice president, general counsel and secretary of inthinc Technology Solutions, Inc. “You can never get enough practical experience as a student.”

Burk Wyatt (’87), Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of CommScope, Inc., added, “Don’t think being a general counsel is a bed of roses,” he cautioned students. “I work harder than I ever have. But at the end of the day, I love it.”

Clara Cottrell (’07) started giving back to Wake Forest Law even before she graduated.

In spring 2007, she and John Mitchell co-chaired the law student fundraiser, better known as the 3L Campaign, to support the Law Fund. Since then, she has served on the Board of Visitors and is currently serving on the Young Alumni Board.

Cottrell, who is an associate attorney at Smith Moore Leatherwood, deals with intellectual property and general corporate law. Giving back is her way of showing her appreciation for her law school experience.

“Wake Forest has given us so much,” she said. “It’s not just the education we receive, but it’s about the connections we have made, the good feelings we have, the community that we are able to build around the common denominator of Wake Forest University, and the School of Law in particular.”

Another unappreciated aspect of law school philanthropy, according to Cottrell is that it’s fun, even for law students.

“As a student you’re looking for ways to be involved and network and meet people,” she said. “I really enjoyed my time at Wake Forest and felt very fortunate that I had the opportunity to go to Wake Forest for law school in part because of the Wake Forest Law alumni I met through working on the 3L Campaign and later as I continued to give back.”

Philanthropy was not necessarily a part of Cottrell’s childhood in West Virginia. There was not a lot of money left over for financial donations, but her parents encouraged her to take advantage of the opportunities she was given and to appreciate what she had.

“I think that volunteering and helping was something we did,” she said. “It was just always the right thing to do, more than anything else.”

Cottrell earned her bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from North Carolina State University. She was attracted to Wake Forest Law because of its sense of community, small class size and attentive professors.

“I really thought Wake Forest would give me a greater opportunity,” she said, “and more choices in where I was going to go.”

As one of the few in her age group to support the law school financially, Cottrell said she understands that there can be a bit of a perception problem. People who have recently finished paying their law school tuition tend to feel that the school must certainly have plenty of money, given what they know they’ve spent.

Cottrell said she has come to understand how much goes into not just keeping the law school running, but keeping it in the top ranks – such things as retaining the school’s much-loved professors and running the clinics that provide students with such important real world experience.

“Wake Forest has given me so much and I feel like I’ve taken a lot from Wake Forest,” she said. “Really, giving back financially is not that hard.”

Eight Wake Forest Law alumni and a law professor were admitted and sworn in to the United States Supreme Court Bar on Monday, March 25.The alumni are Dan Boone, Kathryn Eyster, Kristin Garris, Shaida Horner, Robert Humphries, Erika Karnaszewski, Justin Nifong and Bradley Roehrenbeck. The professor is Mark Rabil, director of the law school’s Innocence and Justice Clinic.

In addition to being sworn in, the group had the opportunity to meet Justice Samuel Alito before the swearing in ceremony and to listen to two oral arguments.

On Monday, the high court heard oral arguments on the issue of pharmaceutical patent settlement agreements between branded and generic drug companies that contain so-called “pay-for-delay” or “reverse payment” provisions. Federal Trade Commission v. Actavis, Inc., involves the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) appeal of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit’s order affirming dismissal of an FTC charge that such an agreement was an unfair method of competition in violation of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act.

The justices also heard oral arguments  in a case involving class arbitration, Oxford Health Plans LLC v. Sutter, No. 12-135.

You can listen to the actual arguments here.