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School of Law Inducts 10 New Members into Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame

by Maria Tsikalas on 01/30/2019

01/30/2019

On Friday, Jan. 25, Saint Louis University School of Law inducted 10 new members into the Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame.

Saint Louis University School of Law Order of the Fleur de Lis 2019 Honorees, with Dean William P. Johnson

Saint Louis University School of Law Order of the Fleur de Lis 2019 Honorees pose with Dean William P. Johnson at the induction ceremony on Jan. 25, 2019. Photo by Steve Dolan

The Order of the Fleur de Lis is the highest honor from Saint Louis University School of Law. As a Catholic, Jesuit university, SLU’s mission is the pursuit of truth for the greater glory of God and for the service of humanity. This year’s inductees were selected for living this mission in their everyday lives and throughout their careers.

This year marked the fourth induction ceremony. Nearly 300 people were in attendance.

The Rev. Christopher Collins, S.J., assistant to the president for mission and identity, led the attendees in an opening prayer. Law development director Amanda Goldsmith, J.D. (Law ’07, A&S Grad ’07), and Dean William P. Johnson, J.D., gave brief remarks.

"This year’s Order of the Fleur de Lis has the added distinction of taking place during the 175th anniversary of the founding of the School of Law. Yes, 2018-19 is our dodransbicentennial year," Johnson said. "Throughout the years, SLU LAW has graduated first-rate attorneys who exemplify the SLU LAW traditions of excellence, pursuit of truth and commitment to social justice. Throughout its history, SLU LAW has also been home to extraordinary professors and civic leaders who have done remarkable things both in the legal community and in the community at large. We believe it to be desirable and appropriate to recognize them and their many accomplishments."

Learn more about the Order of the Fleur de Lis Hall of Fame

Four SLU LAW students served as the award presenters: Laura Beckering, Luvell Glanton Jr., M.D., Tariq Mahmood and Dane Nelson.

The 2019 honorees are:

Sally E. Barker (Law ’76)

Sally E. Barker, a partner at Schuchat, Cook & Werner, focuses her practice on labor law, with an emphasis on public sector, education and employment discrimination issues. She represented the prevailing unions in Independence National Education Association v. Independence School District, in which the Missouri Supreme Court held that public employees have a state constitutional right to engage in collective bargaining. Barker is a member and former board member of the Lawyers Coordinating Committee of the AFL-CIO. She was the recipient of the 2001 Daily Record “Woman Lawyer of the Year” award, an elected member to the ABA’s College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, and in 2015 and 2016 was listed as one of Missouri’s top 50 women lawyers.

Improvement of mental health care is an important issue to Barker both from a legal and community standpoint. She serves on the board of directors of Mental Health of America of Eastern Missouri, and to honor the memory of her son, Alex Permutt, she founded Feelingkindablue.org, a website operated by Provident Counseling designed to help people suffering from mental illness combat isolationism and find peer support through experience sharing.

John T. Boese (Law ’72)

John “Jack” T. Boese, of counsel to the Washington, D.C., office of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, is a nationally recognized expert on the civil False Claims Act. After five years in the U.S. Department of Justice, he joined the firm, where he has worked for 42 years in a variety of roles, including partner and managing partner of the D.C. office, as well as co-chair of the D.C. litigation department. Boese authored the book Civil False Claims and Qui Tam Actions, currently in its fourth edition, which has been cited by courts at all levels, including the U.S. Supreme Court. He lectures frequently at law schools and to public and private groups, and has testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on proposed amendments to the FCA.

Among his numerous professional affiliations, Boese is a member of the American Law Institute and an advisor to its project Principles of Law, Compliance, Enforcement and Risk Management for Corporations, Non-Profits and Other Organizations; a member of the ABA Task Force on New Contractor Business Ethics and Compliance Program Regulations; former chair of the ABA Criminal Justice Section CLE Board; and former vice-chair of the Debarment and Suspension Committee of the Public Contracts Section of the ABA.

Leonard P. Cervantes* (Law ’73)

Leonard “Lenny” P. Cervantes was a trial attorney for 45 years and the principal in the downtown St. Louis law firm Cervantes and Associates. He represented injured workers, victims and their families in personal injury, products liability, medical malpractice and workers’ compensation matters. He was a dedicated advocate for the underserved and a champion for legal education and mentoring at all levels. Cervantes regularly took on pro bono cases and encouraged other lawyers to do so, as well. In recent years, he provided legal advice and financial support to Catholic Legal Assistance Ministry’s efforts to assist undocumented immigrants in understanding their rights.

Cervantes was a past president of the American Board of Trial Advocates Missouri/Southern Illinois Chapter and served as a national board member. He was also a past president of the Lawyers Association of St. Louis and received its Award of Honor in 2014. Cervantes was the longest-serving member (since 1989) of St. Ambrose University’s board of trustees and received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the university in 2005. At the time of his death in 2018, he was secretary of the board of directors of Legal Services of Eastern Missouri and served on the boards of the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys, the St. Louis Bar Foundation and Jazz St. Louis.

*inducted posthumously

The Hon. Anne-Marie Clarke (Law ’73)

Judge Anne-Marie Clarke has served as the Family Court Commissioner for the 22nd Judicial Circuit, City of St. Louis, since October 1998. In 2017, Judge Clarke was sworn in as the 47th chair of the Judicial Council Division of the National Bar Association. She served as president of the Mound City Bar Association (1981-83) and was the first African-American to serve on the board of governors of the Missouri Bar (1986-1990, 1991-95). She also served on the board of directors of The Bar Plan Mutual Insurance Company from its inception in 1986 until October 1998.

Judge Clarke was the first African-American woman to serve on the St. Louis City Board of Police Commissioners and was unanimously elected president in April 1994, becoming the first woman to serve as president, a position she held until her resignation in September 1998. She has served on numerous statewide committees and has been recognized for her work and leadership in the community.

The Hon. Edward L. Filippine (Law ’57)

Judge Edward L. Filippine is a senior judge for the United States District Court, Eastern District of Missouri. He entered private practice after graduation with Lyng, MacLeod & Davidson and later joined Thomas, Busse, Weiss, Cullen & Godfrey. While in private practice, Judge Filippine served as special assistant attorney general of Missouri (1963-64). He then served as assistant to U.S. Senator Thomas F. Eagleton from 1969 to 1974 and became director for Sen. Eagleton’s reelection campaign. He returned to private practice with Lashly, Caruthers, Baer & Hamel. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter nominated Judge Filippine for appointment as U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of Missouri, to which he was subsequently confirmed by the U.S. Senate. He served as the chief judge from 1990 to 1995. As chief judge, he organized and chaired the committee that worked alongside the GSA in the planning and construction of the Thomas F. Eagleton United States Courthouse.

Judge Filippine received the Distinguished Lawyer Award in 1998 from BAMSL and the Lifetime Judicial Achievement Award from the Eastern Missouri/Southern Illinois chapter of The American Board of Trial Advocates in 2005. Prior to attending law school, Judge Filippine served on active duty in the United States Air Force.

The Hon. Kevin F. O’Malley (A&S ’70, Law ’73)

The Hon. Kevin F. O’Malley was nominated by President Barack Obama and served as the 31st United States Ambassador to Ireland from 2014 to 2017. During his tenure, Ambassador O’Malley developed the Creative Minds Series, a cross-cultural program that invited prominent U.S. artists, writers and innovators to share their experiences with Irish audiences, encouraging more creative economic links between young people in the two countries. In 2017 he returned to his hometown of St. Louis and has continued to work toward deepening these ties.

He rejoined the firm Greensfelder, Hemker, and Gale, P.C., where he had previously spent 11 years as litigation partner leading the medical negligence and white collar crime and regulatory compliance areas of practice. He also was appointed non-executive director for the board of Greencore Group, a billion-dollar multinational food company headquartered in Ireland. A former federal prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice, he earned his J.D. from SLU LAW in 1973 and also has a degree in philosophy and political science from Saint Louis University.

Kathleen R. Sherby (Law ’76)

Kathleen Sherby is a partner in the private client group and a member of the Fiduciary Litigation Committee at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP. Her practice involves representation of individuals in all aspects of wealth transfer planning. A particular focus of her practice is estate planning for retirement benefits. Sherby regularly represents trustees and beneficiaries in court controversies and also has represented the taxpayer in estate and gift tax audits, in U.S. District Court, the U.S. Tax Court and the Missouri Supreme Court.

Sherby is a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel; she is past president and a regent emeritus of the College and has served as both chair of the Employee Benefits in Estate Planning Committee and as the Missouri State chair. She also has served as chair of the Probate and Trust Committee of the Missouri Bar, as chair of the Probate Section of the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis (BAMSL) and as president of the Estate Planning Council of St. Louis.

The Hon. Francis G. Slay (Law ’80)

The Hon. Francis G. Slay was the longest-serving mayor in the history of the City of St. Louis, sworn in as the 45th mayor in 2001 and completing his fourth term in 2017. During his tenure, Mayor Slay led a downtown and city neighborhood revival that resulted in billions of dollars of private, public and philanthropic investment in historic renovations to commercial and residential structures; in advancement of cultural institutions; in improvements to streets, bridges and other city infrastructure; and in the creation and restoration of parks, trails and recreational facilities. In a precedent-setting partnership with the National Park Service, Mayor Slay put in motion the City Arch River effort to design and construct $400 million in improvements to the Gateway Arch grounds. Mayor Slay led a citywide campaign to create the Affordable Housing Trust Fund to support quality residential living for low-income St. Louisans, and successfully petitioned the Missouri Department of Education to create a special administrative board to oversee the St. Louis Public School District, which led the effort to achieve full accreditation by the State Board of Education for the first time in 17 years.

Prior to his service to the City of St. Louis, Mayor Slay was a private practice attorney for 20 years. He currently practices law as of counsel at Spencer Fane LLP, where he focuses on business transactions, real estate and public policy.

Sr. Laura J. Wolf, O.S.F. (Grad CPHSJ ’80, Law ’81)

Shortly after graduating as valedictorian of her high school class, Sr. Laura J. Wolf, OSF, entered the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity, a Roman Catholic congregation of religious women in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. In 1977, she was asked by her congregation to pursue the joint J.D./M.H.A. degrees at SLU. Upon graduating, Sr. Laura became manager and in-house counsel of Good Samaritan Medical Center in Zanesville, Ohio. After five years, she was called to Wisconsin to envision and create a structure to govern the health care ministry of her religious order. Over the next 31 years, as president and CEO of the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity Sponsored Ministries, Inc. (FSCCM), Sr. Laura and her staff worked with the boards of directors in each of their respective markets to develop efficient and effective structures to provide services to their communities.

In addition to overseeing hospitals, nursing homes and senior living institutions in Ohio, Nebraska and Wisconsin from the outset, in 2012 the FSCCM also assumed responsibility for a four-year liberal arts college, Silver Lake College of the Holy Family, in Manitowoc, Wis. In 2016 Sr. Laura retired from her position as president but continues to serve on local hospital boards and act as senior advisor to the FSCCM president on issues involving sponsorship, governance and strategy.

The Hon. Michael A. Wolff, Dean Emeritus, Professor Emeritus

Judge Michael A. Wolff joined the SLU LAW faculty in 1975 and served for 23 years before being appointed to the Missouri Supreme Court in 1998. He then served on the bench for 13 years, including two as chief justice (2005-07), where he wrote opinions in cases that established the right of jury trial in employment discrimination cases, disapproved execution of criminals who were juveniles when their offenses were committed, and upheld the right to collective bargaining for public employees.

Judge Wolff returned to teaching at SLU LAW in 2011 and became dean in 2013, serving through 2017. During his time as dean, the law school stabilized and increased its enrollment, alumni participation and national rankings, and maintained its pre-eminence in health law. He is the recipient of many honors and awards, including most recently Missouri Lawyers Weekly’s inaugural ICON Award in 2018. Judge Wolff is active in the American Law Institute, serving as an advisor on the Model Penal Code Sentencing Project. He serves as a board member of the National Courts and Science Institute (NCSI) and is a member of The Constitution Project. In St. Louis Judge Wolff is on the boards of trustees of the Missouri Historical Society and the St. Louis Public Library Foundation.


Saint Louis University School of Law was founded in 1843 and is the oldest law school west of the Mississippi River. The strength of the faculty, breadth of course offerings and extensive clinical and professional skills experience provide students with a well-rounded legal education. The School of Law’s rich history consists of strong connections to the community and a long tradition of public service. SLU LAW’s location in the heart of downtown St. Louis offers students unparalleled access to leading law firms, courthouses, corporations, government agencies and nonprofit organizations — and a unique opportunity to see the law in action.

For more information, visit slu.edu/law.