Alumni Advisory Board

The Pre-Law Alumni Advisory Board is a distinguished group of Miami University 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 Miami University in 1985, and received his J.D. from The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law in 1989.

Andrew Bayman, Esq. ‘86

Andy is a partner at King & Spalding, representing pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers, retailers, automotive manufacturers and other major companies in complex and novel product liability and toxic tort cases. Andy has frequently been recognized for his leading practice including by being named as a Product Liability MVP by Law360 and in Chambers Nationwide and Legal 500. He is notably a fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, an honorary society limited to less than .05% of U.S. lawyers. In addition to his client work, Andy also is the Co-Chair of the firm’s new Product Liability and Mass Tort Practice Group.  He served for five years as the Practice Group Leader of King & Spalding’s former Trial & Global Disputes practice group, a diverse group of over 550 litigators in 22 offices globally.  Andy graduated from Miami University in 1986 and received his JD from Vanderbilt University 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 Miami University 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.

Sarah MacMaster Blount ‘95

Sarah is an accomplished legal executive with extensive expertise in government contracting and corporate law. She most recently served as Chief Legal Officer for Copper River Shared Services, where she has led legal operations for over five years. Throughout her career, Sarah has held key in-house counsel roles at organizations such as MicroTech, ARG3X, and Arizona Intelligence, following her early career experience as an attorney with White & Case LLP. A proud alumna of Miami University, where she earned a B.A. in History, English, and French, she remains deeply involved in her alma mater as a member of the Miami Prelaw Alumni Advisory Board. Sarah received her JD from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.

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 Miami University 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.

John C. "Jack" Greiner ’80

Jack is a partner at Faruki PLL and the region's leading authority on First Amendment and media law. With an extensive background in representing high-profile media outlets like The Cincinnati Enquirer and ESPN, Jack specializes in public records disputes, access to courts, and defamation cases. Beyond his media practice, he is a seasoned commercial litigator who manages complex contract disputes in state and federal courts. His notable work includes representing clients in significant litigation such as the Sandmann v. The New York Times case, and he is consistently recognized as a Super Lawyer for his expertise and commitment to defending constitutional freedoms. Jack graduated from Miami University and received his JD from University of Notre Dame Law School.

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 Miami University 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 Miami University 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.

Mallory Moreno, Esq. ‘10

Mallory is a principal at Chuhak & Tecson, and leader of the firm’s Elder Law practice,  focused on adult guardianships, estate and trust administration and litigation, including financial exploitation, will and trust contests, fiduciary disputes, issues of capacity and fraud. She also dedicates a significant percentage of her time to long-term care planning, advance and crisis Medicaid planning, Medicaid appeals, estate planning, special needs planning and disability law. Mallory’s has earned designation as a Certified Elder Law Attorney (CELA), an exclusive honor bestowed to a select group of attorneys by the National Elder Law Foundation. Mallory is also a member of the Board of Directors and past president of the Illinois Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (IL NAELA). She has earned an impressive number of recognitions and awards from her peers for her professional excellence and accomplishments, including being named 2022 “40 Under 40: Illinois Attorneys Under 40 to Watch” and 2025 “Top Women in Law.”  Mallory graduated from Miami University in 2010 and received her JD from DePaul University College of Law.