Five alumni from the Indiana University Maurer School of Law will receive the highest honor the school can bestow when they are inducted into the school’s Academy of Law Alumni Fellows this April. The ALAF comprises the Law School’s most distinguished alumni, recognizing those who have distinguished themselves in their careers through personal achievements and dedication to the highest standards of the legal profession.
“These five individuals have led remarkable careers in a number of different fields, from private practice and the federal judiciary to public service and academia,” said Law School Dean Austen Parrish. “We couldn’t be more proud to honor Harry, Andy, Judy, and Charlotte later this spring, and to posthumously induct Judge Lozano.”
The 2022 ALAF inductees are:
Harry Gonso, JD’73. Gonso, a retired partner in the Indianapolis law firm of Ice Miller, currently serves on Indiana University’s Board of Trustees. Active in his community, he has served as a member of the Indiana State Bar Association in several leadership positions, and on the boards of directors of Community Hospital Foundation, Community Hospitals, Methodist Sports Medicine Foundation, and the Indiana University Research and Technology Corporation. He is a charter member of the IU Athletics Hall of Fame and is a director of the IU Foundation. Gonso has served as a member of the Indiana University Board of Trustees twice, 1976 to 1994 and 2017 to the present. During his first 18 years as a member of the IU Board of Trustees, Gonso was the youngest person ever elected to the board; he was vice president for more than 10 years; was the chairman of the board’s student affairs committee; and a member of its architectural committee. In 2017, Gonso was reappointed to the board by Governor Eric Holcomb. Gonso received his B.S. from IU Bloomington and his J.D. from its Maurer School of Law. As quarterback, he led the Indiana University football team that played in the 1967 Rose Bowl and was an Academic All-American and All-Big Ten selection. He has been awarded the Sagamore of the Wabash by three different Indiana governors, received the Indiana University Distinguished Alumni Award (1995), received the Z.G. Clevenger Award (1994), and was inducted into the Indiana University Athletics Hall of Fame (1982). Additionally, Gonso served on the Law School’s Board of Visitors from 1998 to 2005. In 2019, he received the IU Bicentennial Medal in recognition of his distinguished service.
Andrew Mallor, JD’74. A partner at Mallor Grodner, LLP, Mallor leads the firm’s private client division, handling all legal needs of the firm’s private clients, from matrimonial to wealth management and family wealth planning, and has been a leading family lawyer in Indiana for more than 40 years. He is board certified in family law and is an acclaimed trial lawyer. Mallor was an early advocate of the use of collaborative law techniques to resolve family law disputes in the most amicable and cost-effective way possible, and he has significant expertise in collaborative law. A skilled and gifted teacher, Mallor is the chair of the annual Family Law Institute for the Indiana Continuing Legal Education Forum (ICLEF). He is the author of more than 100 articles on family law and tax planning. Mallor is the only person from Indiana ever selected by his peers to be a member of the American College of Family Trial Lawyers, a peer-reviewed organization of the top 100 family trial lawyers in the United States. He was one of only two Indiana attorneys named to the 2020 Lawdragon 500 Leading Family Lawyers list of the nation’s best attorneys for divorce. He is a long-time “Super Lawyer,” member of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, and in 2015 received the ICLEF Excellence in Continuing Legal Education Award.
Judith A. Waltz, JD’81. Waltz is a health care partner with Foley & Lardner LLP in San Francisco, where she works with clients throughout the health care industry. She is the co-chair of the firm’s Health Care Practice Group and Health Care Industry Team, and former co-chair of the Life Sciences Industry Team. Waltz is also a member of the Government Enforcement Defense & Investigations and Bankruptcy & Business Reorganizations Practices. Prior to joining the firm in 1998, Waltz served as assistant regional counsel for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in San Francisco, primarily handling Medicare issues including survey and certification and various types of reimbursement disputes. She has held collateral appointments as a special assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern and Northern Districts of California. Waltz is a past chair of the Women’s Network Steering Committee at Foley. She is also a member the Health Law Committee of the Business Law Section of the State Bar of California, the American Bar Association’s Health Law Section, the California Society for Healthcare Attorneys, and the Health Care Compliance Association. Waltz has been consistently ranked as one of the top health care attorneys in California by Chambers USA (2009-21) where she is described as “the gold standard for issues with CMS” (2015) and “a leader in fraud and abuse” and “a masterful negotiator” (2014). She is deeply committed to the Law School, and is a long-standing member of the Law School’s Board of Visitors, having served since 2009.
Charlotte Westerhaus-Renfrow, JD’92. Westerhaus-Renfrow was the first African-American woman to serve as an associate and, subsequently, assistant editor at the Indiana Law Journal. She is currently a clinical assistant professor at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business in Indianapolis as well as the faculty chair of the undergraduate program at Kelley-Indianapolis and the Kelley Honors coordinator. Her significant contributions to IU were recognized when she was named a Bicentennial Professor in July 2019 and received an Indiana University Bicentennial Medal in 2020. During law school, Westerhaus-Renfrow clerked for the Honorable Justice Brent E. Dickson of the Indiana Supreme Court. After graduation, she joined the Milwaukee law firm of Foley & Lardner. Westerhaus-Renfrow soon found her way into academia where she served as the assistant to the presidents of the Universities of Iowa and Wisconsin. Westerhaus-Renfrow also served as the director of affirmative action for Purdue University before becoming the vice president of diversity and inclusion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association. She left the NCAA to become the interim president of Martin University. She is a past board member of the board of governors for the Indiana State Bar Association. She is also a past board member of both the Indiana Bar Examiners for the State of Indiana and the Supreme Court of Wisconsin’s Board of Bar Examiners. Westerhaus-Renfrow has also been deeply connected to the Law School. She served as an adjunct professor for three years, teaching Sports Law. Westerhaus-Renfrow is also the first president of the Black Law Student Association (BLSA) Alumni Board to serve a three year term. Prior to that she served as vice president of the board. BLSA recognized her contributions by awarding her the Samuel S. Dargan Award.
The Hon. Rodolfo (Rudy) Lozano, JD’66 (posthumously). Judge Lozano, of the U.S. District Court Northern District of Indiana, served on the federal bench for 30 years, making landmark rulings in a Hammond courtroom that his peers said was known for its collegiality. A 1963 graduate of Indiana University, Rudy also served as a US Army Reserve and prior to his appointment to the federal bench, he operated his private practice in Merrillville, Indiana for 22 years. Confirmed to the Northern Indiana District Court bench by unanimous consent in 1988 after his appointment by President Ronald Reagan, Judge Lozano was the first Hispanic federal judge appointed in Indiana. Prior to his ascent to the bench, Judge Lozano had gained a reputation in the local bar as a worthy adversary and straight-shooter. The decision for which Judge Lozano is likely best known is Back v. Carter, 933 F. Supp. 738 (N.D. Ind. 1996). This ruling struck down gender and racial quotas the Indiana General Assembly had enacted for the Lake County Judicial Nominating Commission, which nominates judges for the Lake County trial court bench, as constitutionally defective. Judge Lozano granted an injunction blocking the law from taking effect, and his ruling was not appealed. Judge Lozano also presided over one of the largest federal jury damages awards ever returned against a state agency. That was the case of Roman Finnegan, et al. v. Laurel Myers, et al., 3:08-CV-503, in which a jury awarded more than $31 million to a family whose children were wrongly removed by the Department of Child Services. The state agreed to settle that suit after the jury trial for $25 million. Judge Lozano passed away in July 2018. We have recently honored his memory with a banner outside the Law School and feel that Judge Lozano is worthy of being inducted posthumously into the Academy.
The school will induct the five honorees at a banquet to be held on Friday, April 8, at the Tudor Room in the Indiana Memorial Union.
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