Alumni – FORUM

Alumni Return for Reunion 2024

With the sun shining on the start of Reunion 2024, Jens David Ohlin welcomed nearly 500 people back to campus for three days of looking back and thinking ahead. “It’s a joy to see so many familiar faces gathered here to celebrate,” said Ohlin, the Allan R. Tessler Dean and Professor of Law, outlining plans for the weekend, including class dinners on Friday night, tours, hikes, wine tastings, dueling pianos, family fun, and a culminating all-class buffet under the big tent on Saturday night. “There’s something for everyone, and my hope is that whatever you do, you’ll enjoy yourself and your fellow classmates.”

They did, beginning with the dean’s reception in the Student Commons and followed by a full day of activities on Friday, when alumni headed back to class for continuing education, bent elbows at a tasting of Finger Lakes wines, walked the walk at Sapsucker Woods, talked the talk at class dinners around campus, and danced the night away on the Arts Quad.

As the sun came up again, Saturday’s early risers rolled out of bed for a Reunion 5K while late sleepers settled in for a leisurely breakfast, where Dean Ohlin’s State of the Law School Address was filled with good news: The incoming Class of 2027 has a median LSAT score of 173 and a median undergraduate GPA of 3.89. In the recent Class of 2023, 94.9 percent of students passed the bar on their first try and 98.2 percent found jobs within ten months of graduation. The Law School’s 3+3 program for Cornell undergrads is growing stronger, its Public Interest Loan Repayment Assistance Program tops the list of T14 law schools, and its faculty continue to expand Cornell Law’s influence around the globe.

“I was very impressed with the dean’s vision for the Law School,” said Chris Bowers ’89, who traveled from Dallas, taking the opportunity to attend Reunion CLE courses on the 1935 Nuremberg laws and the impact of artificial intelligence on legal practice. “I’m going to take those lessons home with me, along with reconnecting with classmates and connecting with some younger alumni. I’ve always enjoyed the engagement of being here, which is why I keep coming back. It’s a magical place.”

“It’s the relationships that classmates have together,” said fellow Texan Dick Wallach ’69, a third-generation Cornellian with three children who are also Big Red alumni. “By and large, our same group of classmates has been back every five years, and it’s always been a marvelous weekend. Cornell Law is where we learned to be lawyers and where we launched our careers. And though we’ve seen lots of changes over the decades, the essence of this school has stayed the same.”

That essence was everywhere at Saturday’s barbecue luncheon, where faculty, alumni, and families mingled inside the big tent. It was in the stories shared about that morning’s events, from President Martha E. Pollack’s valedictory conversation to the tours of the Law School’s new academic wing, new Peñalver Foyer, new Student Commons, new Hub collaborative space, and newly remodeled Hughes Hall. It was in the sound of clinking glasses, in the announcement that attendees had contributed more than five million dollars to the Law School, and in the cheers that accompanied each class gift.

“It was fun to be right in the middle of it,” said Jared Ham ’19, who served as emcee for the luncheon. “I’m always happy to be back, and so grateful for the connections I made here. It’s such a close-knit community, and people are always willing to go out of their way to help one another. Everyone knows everyone else, and we feel comfortable being together, because it’s a place that fosters unity, cooperation, community, above and beyond what you’d find at another school.”

“Reunion gives us a chance to step away from the day-to-day and really connect,” said Jonathan Goddard ’14, whose Seattle practice focuses on construction, making the Hughes Hall tour one highlight of the weekend. “It’s interesting to be in the tenth anniversary class, because I feel like I’m at a crossroads. I’m at the threshold of being an older alum, but I still feel young. At lunch, I shared a table with people from the Class of 1989, and at dinner, I sat with people from the Class of 2019. It was great to make these new connections, and it was really telling to see the commitment everyone has to being here, to being with one another.”

Then, after dabbing the last traces of barbecue lunch, attendees navigated Saturday afternoon’s events—a Law Library open house, a lecture by C. Evan Stewart ’77, about his recently published Myron Taylor: The Man Nobody Knew, and a presentation on the university’s “To Do the Greatest Good” campaign—before coming back together for an all-class buffet dinner in the Purcell Courtyard, complete with a two-piano rendition of U2’s “Pride (In the Name of Love),” requested by a dancing Dean Ohlin.

“I haven’t been back since 2017, when I was just here for a day,” said Debbie Faulkner ’09, taking a break from the dance floor. “I was excited to show my husband and my children where I went to school, and just watching the kids have fun has been really great. My two-year old has been dancing to the dueling pianos for about forty-five minutes. She was really charged up, really excited, and it made me so pleased to be here.”

On one side of the tent, father-and-daughter Hon. John Mulcahy ’59 and Ann Mulcahy ’99 compared notes about their time at the Law School, four decades apart, and the years that followed. (His path led from Cornell Law to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Hartford Judicial District Superior Court bench; hers led from Ithaca back to Connecticut, where she had the pleasure of being sworn into the bar by her father as she began her career in private practice before moving in-house at an insurance company.) On the other side of the tent, Tom Little ’79 talked about the insight he’s gained as president of the Cornell Law Students Association in 1978–1979, perennial chair of his class Reunion committee, and legislator in the Vermont House of Representatives. (One highlight from his weekend was the talk about Myron Taylor, whose approach reminded him of the kindness and dry wit of much-loved professor Robert S. Summers.)

Everywhere in between, alumni shared old and new memories, holding on for one more dance, one more glass of wine, or one more story before winding down for the night. “Cornell was instrumental in putting me on this path,” said Hon. Deena Ghaly ’89, who travelled from Los Angeles, where she’s an administrative law judge. “Cornell changed my life. It gave me the chance to think about what I might be in this world. I found meaning through my work here, especially at the clinic, and it transformed me. I had some very good professors, and they made me a lawyer.

“Cornell still lives in me,” continued Ghaly, “and I’m very, very glad to be back.”

Another Reunion, Another Milestone

Two days before coming to Reunion, Hon. Frederic Block, LL.B. ’59, celebrated his ninetieth birthday by walking from Brooklyn Federal Courthouse to his home in the West Village, about five miles away. “I must admit, I was a little slower than I used to be,” said Block, the oldest living Cornell Law alum still serving on the bench. “But I managed to do it, and I was feeling pretty psyched. I thought it was a good way to start my denial of death year.”

Tired but unstoppable, Block topped his walk with a jazz night out at Birdland, a two-day judicial convention at Lake George, and a trip to Reunion, where classmates sang a spirited “Happy Birthday” inside the big tent. It was a good way to kickstart a busy year, filled with the promise of publishing his fourth book, A Second Chance: A Federal Judge Decides Who Deserves It, with many adventures still to come.

If all goes well, he’ll spend this year finishing his fifth book, about the aerosol artists of Long Island City’s 5Pointz complex, and watching his second book, the reality-based thriller Race to Judgment, turned into a mini-series. That leaves just enough time to play jazz piano, write show tunes, relax with family and friends in Greece, and still keep up his caseload as a senior judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Hon. Frederick Block, LL.B. ’59 (being recognized for his 90th birthday at the BBQ lunch)

“It’s a calling,” said Block, “and I’m very much aware of the awesome responsibility of passing judgment on another human being. I feel a responsibility to speak out, especially after thirty years on the bench, and to tell people how important it is to respect the judiciary and the rule of law. This institution is part of the fabric of our democracy, even more today than ever before in the history of our country, and what I do continues to feel very relevant.”

New Alumni Leadership

Cornell Law School is grateful to the dedicated alumni volunteers who give voice to the interests of all Law School alumni. Joining the ranks of the Dean’s Advisory Council are Hon. Ariel E. Belen ’81, Daniel Duval ’02, Sally Anne Levine ’73, and Samuel S. Nam ’88.

Hon. Ariel E. Belen ’81 (retired), FCIArb, is a highly experienced domestic and international mediator and arbitrator who has resolved a plethora of wide-ranging legal disputes including complex insurance, business and commercial, international and cross-border, employment, entertainment and sports, construction, personal injury and torts, and real estate matters. Judge Belen joined JAMS in 2012 after nearly an eighteen-year tenure on the bench that included service as an associate justice of the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department, and as administrative judge of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Brooklyn). He also helped create and presided over the New York State Supreme Court’s Commercial Division in Brooklyn.

Chambers and Partners has identified Judge Belen as one of a select group of mediators in the United States and has noted that he is “very personable and able to harmonize difficult personalities and issues such that everybody feels like the time spent negotiating a settlement is worthwhile.” He is a calm, intelligent, fair, and hardworking professional whose reputation as an individual who is able to resolve complex legal issues between the most deeply entrenched of parties is widely recognized and well-deserved.

Chambers and Partners has identified Judge Belen as one of a select group of mediators in the United States and has noted that he is “very personable and able to harmonize difficult personalities and issues such that everybody feels like the time spent negotiating a settlement is worthwhile.”

Judge Belen is often retained as a special master in complex commercial and civil matters. He was appointed as the federal facilitator to guide the Joint Remedial Process in the New York City stop and frisk and trespass enforcement class-action settlements as described in the Remedies Opinion in Floyd v. City of New York, 959 F. Supp. 2d 668 (SDNY 2013). In that guise, he was charged with assisting the City of New York and its residents in developing sustainable reforms to the stop and frisk and trespass enforcement practices of the New York City Police Department through a community based civic engagement process.

He is a highly sought-after domestic and international speaker and trainer for alternative dispute (ADR)-related topics. He has presented at ADR training and continuing legal education programs for judges, attorneys, and business leaders in the United States, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. He also serves as co-chair of the Litigation and Dispute Resolution Section of the Hispanic National Bar Association. He is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, a fellow of the College of Commercial Arbitrators, a member of the CPR International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution, a member of the International Mediation Institute, and the co-author of New York Trial Notebook (James Publishing, 2008), an 850-page comprehensive practice treatise for the trial of civil cases which is supplemented on an annual basis.

Daniel M. Duval ’02 is a senior legal executive of Apollo Global Management, a leading global alternative asset manager with $700 billion in assets under management, where he oversees the financial services legal function as general counsel of the Apollo Capital Solutions business, which provides global investment banking, broker-dealer, capital markets, lead arrangement, direct lending, syndication, and market making services to affiliated and third-party clients. Prior to joining Apollo in 2022, Duval was a managing director, and the general counsel and chief compliance officer of Jefferies Finance, where for fourteen years he oversaw the legal and compliance department of the leverage finance and asset management affiliate of Jefferies’ full-service global investment banking firm. Prior to that, Duval was an attorney in the Bank Finance and Restructuring Group of the international law firm White & Case, working in New York and in São Paulo, Brazil.

Duval is a member of the Cornell University Council, the Cornell Law School Dean’s Advisory Council, and the Cornell Association of Class Officers, where he serves as vice president of the Class of 1999. He previously served as the president of the Cornell Law School Alumni Association Executive Board and is the president and founder of the Cornell Network of In-House Lawyers. Duval graduated from Cornell University’s College of Business, School of Hotel Administration with a B.S. in 1999 with honors and received his J.D. from Cornell Law in 2002 with a specialization in international legal affairs.

Sally Anne Levine ’73 concentrates her practice on all aspects of commercial real estate law including financing, syndication, and conveyancing of major properties such as hotels, multi-family residences, and shopping centers across the country. She has been featured in the “Big Deals” column of the New York Law Journal. For the past ten years, Levine’s practice has also focused on serving as trustee for clients and managing their large trusts.

Levine served as special counsel to the firm Carro, Spanbock, Kaster & Cuiffo and as of counsel to the firm Dreier. In 1993, she formed and continues her practice at The Law Offices of Sally Anne Levine. She has been active in New York City and New York State Bar Association committees and is past co-chair of the Committee on Business and Tax Law of the New York Women’s Bar Association.

A “double Cornellian,” having graduated from the College of Arts & Sciences as well as the Law School, Levine has been a devoted alumna. Over the years, her positions have included being president of the Cornell Law Association, member of the Executive Committee of the Curia Society of the Law School, president of the Class of 1970, vice president of the Cornell Alumni Federation Board, and member of the University Council and its Administrative Board. She is an active member of The Cornell Club—New York and resides in and enjoys the hustle and bustle of Midtown Manhattan.

Samuel S. Nam ‘88 is managing director, global head of Mergers and Acquisitions Integration for Payments at JPMorgan Chase & Co. Nam has extensive experience with the global operations of multinational firms and management of reputational, legal, regulatory, and compliance matters across multiple jurisdictions. He focuses on developing and implementing strategic initiatives and building and transforming organizations.

In his current role at JPMorgan in New York City, Nam leads a dedicated Integration Management Office, which was established to integrate acquired companies into the firm and realize business values through product, client, technology, operations, HR, and controls integration. He actively works with the boards and senior management of the acquired companies to develop their business strategies and governance. Nam has served as a board member of JPMorgan entities and other privately held companies, and currently serves as an independent board member of a Korean investment holding company.

Prior to rejoining JPMorgan, Nam spent eight years at the law firm of Kim & Chang in Seoul, Korea, as a senior member and led various practice groups, including banking, finance, government investigations and enforcement actions, corporate governance, and compliance. Before joining Kim & Chang, he spent fourteen years at JPMorgan Chase & Co., and was based in New York City, Tokyo, Seoul, and London. Nam also worked at a Silicon Valley law firm, where he acted as an outside general counsel to high-tech start-ups, served on boards of several privately held companies, and represented emerging technology companies from corporate formation and venture capital financings to initial public offerings.

Prior to entering into private practice, Nam served four years as captain in the U.S. Army. He received his B.A. in history from Cornell University. He is a member of the Washington, D.C., bar.

Nam enjoys mentoring professionals and students, and currently volunteers as a member of JPMorgan’s Military Connected Mentoring Circles Community, working with military veterans at JPMorgan. He also serves as a member of the Cornell University Council and Cornell University Committee on Alumni Trustee Nominations.

In addition, six alumni were appointed to the Cornell Law School Alumni Board for a three-year term 2024–2027: David B. Booker ’90, Matthew C. Bures, J.D./M.B.A. ’89, Priscilla A. Fasoro ’12, Ariane M. Horn ’96, Daniel E. Ovadia ’17, and Jade Ruscev, LL.M. ’15. Michael W. Wright ’94 has been appointed president and Vanessa Y. Yen ’07 as vice president. A complete listing of the board of directors can be found online at https://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/alumni/executive_committee.cfm.

David B. Booker ’90 is managing director, head of Legal and Compliance for CastleOak Securities where he oversees legal, compliance, and risk activities for the firm across all business lines. Prior to joining CastleOak in 2023, he was a managing director and senior counsel at the New York office of Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, where for more than fifteen years, he oversaw, among other things, legal work pertaining to over-the-counter traded products in the Americas. Previously, Booker was a director and counsel in the New York legal department of Credit Suisse. In addition, prior to going in-house, he practiced for several years in New York with the law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy and then the law firm Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker. Booker is also a frequent presenter at various programs and law schools. He received a B.A. from Wesleyan University.

Matthew C. Bures, J.D./M.B.A. ’89, is partner at Wolfe & Wyman and concentrates his work on the environmental litigation for insurance carriers, and publicly and privately held entities. In addition to environmental matters, Bures has represented a broad range of clients on a diverse array of matters and has had extensive litigation experience, with particular emphasis upon trial advocacy. His reported cases include Jarrow Formulas, Inc. v. Nutrition Now, Inc., 304 F.3d 829 (9th Cir. 2002), Castaic Lake Water Agency v. Whittaker Corporation, 272 F.Supp.2d 1053 (C.D. Cal. 2003), and California Department of Toxic Substances Control v. Interstate Non-Ferrous Corporation, et al., 99 F.Supp.2d 1123 (E.D. Cal. 2000).

Bures has been named a Southern California Super Lawyer multiple times by Law & Politics and Los Angeles Magazine. He has been an officer, presenter, and moderator for the Environmental Bar Section of the Orange County Bar Association, volunteers for the UCI Anti-Cancer Challenge, and previously sat on the Board of Directors of KHEIR, the Korean Health Information & Research Center.

Bures earned an M.B.A. at Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management in addition to his law degree. He also holds degrees in biology and psychology from the University of California at Irvine.

Priscilla A. Fasoro ’12 is a partner at Covington and represents clients on a wide variety of complex commercial transactions, specializing in those involving technology and data. Her practice focuses on negotiating outsourcing, complex collaborations, and other technology-driven agreements, including services agreements for both service providers and customers. Fasoro represents clients in a wide array of industries, including technology services, pharmaceuticals, public utility, automobile, consumer goods, airline, hospitality, banking, private equity, and retail.

In addition to her technology practice, Fasoro has significant experience representing U.S. and international clients in a broad range of general corporate and strategic matters. She received her B.A., cum laude, from Rutgers in 2009.

Ariane M. Horn ’96 is a partner at Arnold & Porter in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office. She is part of the Life Sciences and Healthcare Regulatory practice group. Horn counsels pharmaceutical manufacturers on commercialization strategies and compliance with federal and state anti-kickback, false claims, and other fraud and abuse laws, and FDA laws and regulations. She negotiates complex contracts with pharmacy benefit managers, insurance companies, pharmacies, hospitals, and many other customer segments and counsels manufacturers on product pricing strategies. She routinely advocates for her clients before government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General.

Daniel E. Ovadia ’17 is a finance associate in the New York office of Latham & Watkins and a member of the Banking Practice where he represents financial institutions, as well as borrowers and issuers, in a broad range of leveraged finance transactions, including acquisition financings, debt restructurings, and cross-border transactions.

Prior to joining Latham, Ovadia was an associate at another major international law firm, where he represented financial institutions and private-equity sponsors in complex acquisition financings.

He received his B.S. from the University at Buffalo in 2014.

Jade Ruscev, LL.M. ’15, is a graduate of the Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne and is a certified attorney in New York and in Paris, practicing in both jurisdictions. After a few years working in big law, Ruscev started working in law firms specialized in tech and innovation startups. She is currently partner at the law firm Stamina Law, helping startups with their incorporations, fundraisings, equity grants, and exits. Ruscev is actively involved in the startup ecosystem and regularly mentors in different incubators and accelerators.

President, Cornell Law School Alumni Association Board

Michael W. “Mike” Wright ’94 is senior counsel (federal prosecutor) at the Executive Office of the Organized Crime Drug Task Force (OCDETF), located at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. He previously served as the acting director of the OCDETF Fusion Center, an intelligence center utilizing the expertise of 200 employees from 24 different federal agencies. He previously held the position of regional director for the OCDETF Southwest Region—spanning the U.S. and Mexican border—where he worked with U.S. attorney’s offices and federal agencies to disrupt and dismantle significant and dangerous transnational criminal organizations. Prior to this, Wright served as an assistant United States attorney (AUSA) for twenty-three years in the Washington, D.C.; Miami; and Houston U.S. Attorney’s Offices. As an AUSA, he prosecuted approximately seventy-five criminal trials, and held numerous management positions including OCDETF regional director for the Southwest Region, chief of the Criminal Division, chief of the Narcotics Section, and deputy chief of the Major Crimes Section. He received an Exemplary Public Service Award in 2006 from Cornell Law School for his career accomplishments.

While at Cornell Law School, Wright was a member of the Cornell Law Review. He received his M.B.A. from Pepperdine University in 1989, and a B.S. in aeronautical engineering from the United States Air Force Academy in 1986. He served as a captain in the U.S. Air Force, including Operation Desert Storm.

Vice President, Cornell Law School Alumni Association Board

Recognized as one of the Top 100 Women Leaders of New York and Top Women Attorneys with twenty years of work experience, Vanessa Y. Yen ’07 is a litigation partner at Mintz Levin whose practice focuses on complex IP litigations and trade secrets in the life sciences and technology sectors. Her practice includes Hatch-Waxman and biosimilars litigations, medical devices and technology litigations, IPRs, trade secret management, IP counseling, prelitigation diligence, patent monetization, licensing, due diligence for mergers and acquisitions, and more.

Yen has never lost a trial on behalf of a client, and she has been commended for “exceptional skill sets and profound insights” (IAM Patent 1000, 2019). Named as the U.S. Rising Star in IP (LMG Life Sciences, 2021), Yen handled one of the Top Litigations and Disputes (Financial Times) and achieved a patent litigation victory named Hatch-Waxman Impact Case of the Year (LMG Life Sciences).

As an MIT graduate, Yen is experienced handling matters for Fortune 500 & 1000 companies to mid and start-up sized clients in the life sciences and technology industries, as well as academic and nonprofit organizations. She has experience in various venues from bench and jury trials before U.S. district courts, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, IPRs before the PTAB, and served as counsel of record when submitting several amicus briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of academic institutions and research centers.

Service is important to Yen. Aside from her service to Cornell Law School, she serves on Cornell’s University Counsel, Cornell’s Mosaic, and Cornell’s Asian Alumni Association. She served on the Intellectual Property Owners Assoc.’s Amicus Briefing Committee, and was partner co-chair of her prior firm’s Asian affinity group. She speaks and writes on developments in patent law and is committed to DEI.

Cornell Law School Alumni also represent the school on various boards, councils, and leadership committees for the broader university. Recently, Allan G. Mutchnik ’88 and Leslie A. Wheelock, M.B.A./J.D. ’84 were appointed to the Cornell University Board of Trustees.

Allan G. Mutchnik ’88 is the president of Harbor Freight Tools, the nation’s leading discount tool retailer—with over 1,500 stores and 29,000 associates in the United States. He also helped establish the Smidt Foundation, where he is a director, and Harbor Freight Tools for Schools, the foundation’s flagship initiative focused on the reinvigoration of skilled-trades education in America’s public high schools.

Mutchnik joined Eric Smidt, the owner and founder of Harbor Freight, in 2012 to help lead the company and manage the Smidt family’s interests and philanthropy. Previously, he was a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, where he practiced as a transactional lawyer for twenty-four years. He has served on the boards of several nonprofit organizations and has held leadership positions in a wide range of civic and charitable activities. Mutchnik received his B.A. from UCLA.

Mutchnik is currently serving his second term on the Law School Advisory Council and was a member of the Parents Committee for fiscal year 2022. In 2022, Allan and his wife, Nicole, established the Mutchnik Scholarship, which awards financial assistance to a law student of academic merit. He and his wife reside in Aspen, Colorado. They have three children, including Andrew, Class of 2025 (Arts and Sciences).

Leslie A. Wheelock, M.B.A./J.D. ’84 is the founder of Wheelock Consulting, where she serves as a tribal strategy and business advisor in areas that include federal policy and administrative law, broadband, cultural heritage, indigenous knowledge, historic preservation, and environmental justice. In 2013, President Barack Obama appointed Wheelock to the post of department officer, senior advisor to the secretary and director of the Office of Tribal Relations at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in which roles she served until 2017. Wheelock previously served as director of economic policy at the National Congress of American Indians and as cultural and intellectual property manager on the National Mall transition team for the opening of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. She currently participates as a trustee of the museum—serving on the development and repatriations committees—as well as a trustee of the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., where she serves on the art and governance committees. Wheelock is a board member of the Oneida ESC Group — a family of 8(a) companies owned by the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin where she is an enrolled member.

Prior to her move into public and non-profit service, Wheelock accumulated more than twenty years of executive legal and management experience in U.S. and international technology, finance, and telecommunications corporations. A member of the New York, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. Bars, Wheelock received her M.B.A. in 1984 from the Johnson Graduate School of Management focused on regulatory economics and completed her JD at Cornell Law School with a specialization in international legal affairs.

Wheelock’s volunteer leadership at Cornell spans nearly three decades. She served for five years on the Cornell Law School Alumni Association Executive Board of Directors, holding both vice president and president positions during her tenure. She was a member of the Cornell University Council and was both vice chair and chair of the Council Ambassador Program. She was also a member of her Law School’s 35th and 40th Reunion Campaign Committees. Integral to Law School alumni leadership and engagement, Wheelock currently serves as a member of the Law School Dean’s Advisory Council, the Native American Lawyers Alumni Network, the President’s Council of Cornell Women, and the Public Service Alumni Network.

In 2022, Wheelock demonstrated her philanthropic commitment through two significant gifts, both directed towards Cornell Law School. First, she established the Wheelock Fund for Entrepreneurship Law, a current-use program dedicated to establishing and enhancing clinical legal education initiatives focused on entrepreneurship within Cornell Tech and the broader New York City area. Second, as an advocate for Native American students, she documented an advised bequest to establish an endowed fund to be known as the Leslie A. Wheelock Law Scholarship Fund, which will provide support for students enrolled in the J.D. program at Cornell Law School with preference for students who self-identify as a person from a federally or state recognized American Indian tribe.

Wheelock currently resides in Washington, D.C.

Cornell Law School is grateful to all the dedicated alumni volunteer leaders who continue to unite and foster the vibrant network of graduates.