Leadership boards welcome new members and give thanks to those departing
The alumni who serve on the Law School Foundation Board of Trustees and the Alumni Association Board are essential partners in ensuring the Law School’s success. Their insight and expertise are invaluable in supporting Law School operations and driving excellence in all areas of the institution.
We are grateful to each member of our leadership boards and would like to express special appreciation to those who are completing their terms in 2026. Their commitment to serving the Law School community exemplifies what we mean by the term “citizen lawyer.”
The new members beginning their terms this year likewise share a dedication to helping the Law School and its students, faculty, staff and alumni flourish. We welcome their new perspectives and look forward to their contributions.
New Members
William & Mary Law School Foundation Board
The Board of Trustees is the governing body of the William & Mary Law School Foundation and has fiduciary responsibility for the management, investment and disposition of the Foundation’s assets. Board members are selected from the Law School’s alumni body and may serve up to three, three-year terms.
Jon M. Mahan ’96
Jon Mahan is a Managing Director and Head of Financial Sponsor M&A in Stifel’s Mergers & Acquisitions Group. Over his 30+ year investment banking career, he has advised on more than 200 transactions representing over $23 billion in aggregate consideration. Jon maintains longstanding relationships with financial sponsors nationwide and serves on the firm’s Fairness Opinion Committee. Jon joined Stifel in 2005 through the firm’s acquisition of Legg Mason Capital Markets, where he had worked since graduating from William & Mary Law School in 1996. Earlier in his career, he served as an equity research analyst and worked at a boutique investment bank specializing in mergers and acquisitions. Jon is a member of the Board of Directors of Donegal Group, Inc., a publicly traded property and casualty insurance company. He also recently completed nine years of service as a Trustee of the Severn School, including the final two years as Board Chair.
Alumni Association Board
The William & Mary Law School Alumni Association Board serves as a bridge between Law School alumni and current faculty, students and administrators. The Board helps alumni stay engaged with the Law School and creates opportunities for collaboration.
Lauren Smith ’06
Lauren Smith is a Senior Partner at the legal search firm CenterPeak. For more than a decade, Lauren has successfully placed preeminent partners with robust practices across a range of practice areas, including M&A, Private Equity, Real Estate, Antitrust, Regulatory, Litigation and White-Collar Crime & Investigations. She practiced law for almost 10 years before becoming a Legal Recruiter. Her law career included practicing commercial litigation at a national Amlaw firm in DC and Los Angeles, serving as in-house counsel for a real estate company, and then practicing for a boutique intellectual property firm in DC. Thereafter, she was a partner at two search firms where she was the top producer and handled numerous high-profile transactions in multiple markets across the country.
Lauren graduated with a double major in Classical Languages and Political Science from Cornell University and then worked for two years as a paralegal before attending law school at William & Mary. Lauren resides in Northern Virginia with her husband, two daughters, and their Bernese Mountain dog, Pepper, and miniature dachshund, Ajax.
Kristin Hopkins ’18
Kristin Hopkins currently serves as Counsel, Legal & Business Affairs for A+E Global Media, focusing on drafting and negotiating agreements for unscripted programming on A&E, Lifetime and The History Channel. She also handles licensing agreements for film acquisitions for Lifetime and Lifetime Movie Network. Prior to joining A+E, Kristin worked in Business & Legal Affairs at the interactive technology company eko and was an associate at Segal McCambridge Singer & Mahoney. Her experience spans media, entertainment and technology, with a focus on complex commercial transactions and content licensing.
Brendan W. Clark ’24
Brendan is a corporate and Chancery litigation associate at Abrams & Bayliss, LLP, a corporate and commercial litigation firm in Wilmington, Delaware. Previously, he was an associate at Richards, Layton & Finger, P.A. in Wilmington, a law clerk for the minority on the United States Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, a Student Researcher for the National Center for State Courts and a law clerk for a number of law firms. Brendan has also written scholarship on British history, constitutional law and early developments in Anglo-American common law.
Brendan was a summa cum laude graduate of Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, graduating in 2021 with a B.A. in history and public policy and law and a minor in religious studies. While at William & Mary Law School, Brendan was involved with the William & Mary Business Law Review as both a staff member and a Symposium Editor, was a member of the law school’s moot court team and served as a law school representative to William & Mary’s Student Assembly. Brendan also worked for three years as a student associate in the Advancement Office.
In his private life, Brendan is an avid collector of antiques, with a particular focus on antiquarian books, Delaware silver, and early Philadelphia furniture. Brendan is rebuilding the library of the Honorable Baron Colchester, an early 19th-century English parliamentarian, which is due to go to William & Mary’s Special Collections as a bequest. Brendan is also a member of the Grolier Club of New York, the oldest and largest bibliographical society in the world.
Departing Members
William & Mary Law School Foundation Board
Kindra Kirkeby ’00
Howie Kwon ’91
Jimmy Robinson ’98
Alumni Association Board
Steven Popps ’10
Latoya Asia Smith ’09
Matthew Rosendahl ’18
Please join us in expressing appreciation to these individuals for their dedication to William & Mary Law School.