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Articles by Alison Macor
A Change of Heart
A near-death experience made Mark Haefner rethink his practice Published in 2026 Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers magazine By Alison Macor on November 12, 2026 Chest pains woke Mark Haefner in the early hours of Jan. 29, 2025. The St. Louis-based family law attorney had turned 45 two weeks earlier and was under significant stress: He had a busy family law practice, and his daughters Mikayla and Kassidy were getting married within months of each other.
Fighting Fairly
No one was more surprised than William Toles when he received the James H. “Blackie” Holmes Award last December. Established in honor of the Dallas trial lawyer who passed away in 2014, the award recognizes integrity and civility, among other standards of professionalism, upheld by the American Board of Trial Advocates. It is the Dallas chapter’s highest honor, presented only sporadically.
Signed, Sealed, Expunged
How to ensure a criminal record doesn’t ruin employment prospects Super Lawyers online-exclusive By Alison Macor on September 10, 2026 Molly Bagshaw remembers the first time she helped someone seal their criminal record. In 2016, she was a student at the University of Houston Law Center, where she worked in the clinic that handled petitions for nondisclosure—the technical term for the process.
AI: For Better or For Worse
The business benefits and legal pitfalls of artificial intelligence Super Lawyers online-exclusive By Alison Macor on July 30, 2026 When attorneys at Seyfarth Shaw recently shared a legal brief with a client, the customer had positive feedback—for the most part.
Making Sure They’re OK
Jeff Gordon and his wife have found room in their home—and hearts—for more than 30 foster children Published in 2026 Florida Super Lawyers magazine By Alison Macor on June 23, 2026 In 2011, Jeff Gordon received a text from a state licensing agency notifying him and his wife, Gay, that a 5-year-old girl in need of fostering was on her way to their house. She spoke no English and had experienced a recent trauma, although the Gordons weren’t told that initially.
Never Say Die
Tom Slater is competitive but always a gentleman—except when it comes to farming Published in 2026 Virginia Super Lawyers magazine By Alison Macor on April 17, 2026 Tom Slater is a gentleman, and he enjoys talking about the 356-acre farm that’s been in his family for nearly 200 years. Just don’t call him a “gentleman farmer.” “Gentleman farmers are ones who don’t get their hands dirty,” says Slater, who has been working on the farm since childhood.
Belonging
Columbus litigator Kelli Amador has been focused on the law since 6th grade Published in 2026 Ohio Super Lawyers magazine By Alison Macor on December 12, 2025 The sixth-grader was participating in a mock trial as part of a school program, and her “client” was a man accused of accidentally starting a forest fire.
Things That Matter
James E. Payne’s docket includes a significant number of cases involving serious burn injuries. Among the many challenges they present, not least is the sensory issue. “There’s nothing like that smell,” says Payne. “You have to be strong. You can’t walk into the room—the hospital, the courtroom—and be emotional about it. [The client] is looking to you for strength. There’s absolutely nothing in law school that prepares you for that.” What did prepare the Beaumont attorney was a childhood accident.
Team Player
Former UW swimmer Catherine Clark on the importance of mentoring Published in 2025 Washington Super Lawyers magazine By Alison Macor on July 31, 2025 Many people who were old enough to watch the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich remember it for the shocking terrorist attack on members of the Israeli team. But Catherine “Cat” Clark was only 8 and watching the games on TV from her home in Yakima.
Aligned Spirits
Wine, beer, and spirits law showed Carrie Bonnington an unexpected path Published in 2025 Northern California Super Lawyers magazine By Alison Macor on June 26, 2025 In the early 2000s, when Carrie Bonnington first started at her firm, she says, “I didn’t even know the beverage regulatory practice existed.” Now, the 47-year-old partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman’s Sacramento office is known for her expertise in the food and beverage area, particularly concerning alcohol regulatory...
‘Things That Really Matter’
In under a decade as a litigator, Shirin Afsous has clocked hundreds of pro bono hours, mostly helping victims of domestic violence. One memorable case came in 2022, when she represented an Afghan woman seeking to end her marriage to an abusive spouse. The client could neither read nor write, did not speak English, and could not drive.
How We Do It
Published in 2024 Texas Super Lawyers magazine By Alison Macor on September 13, 2024 You don’t have to tell millennial attorneys that change is a constant. From the Great Recession to the pandemic, they’ve lived it their whole careers. Civil litigator Kimberly Chojnacki was in her first year of law school when the bottom of the legal market fell out.
‘Do You Want to Be My Friend?’
And other topics tackled by Kirsten Barron and her co-host in their workplace-focused podcast Published in 2024 Washington Super Lawyers magazine By Alison Macor on July 29, 2024 A year or two into their podcast Crina and Kirsten Get to Work, co-hosts Kirsten Barron and Crina Hoyer discovered something surprising. While the podcast focuses on topics of interest to women in the workplace, their audience was more diverse than they thought.
Safeguarding the Vote
Julie Braman Kane co-founded an organization that sends out legal professionals to keep an eye on elections Published in 2024 Florida Super Lawyers magazine By Alison Macor on June 20, 2024 Not long after co-founding the Voter Protection Action Committee in 2010, Miami trial attorney Julie Braman Kane flew to Georgia to offer legal expertise during a statewide election.
Movie enduring honest take on post-war trauma
As we pause to remember those who have died while serving in the armed forces, it is worth considering the veterans among us, particularly those who are dealing with mental health issues. kAmuC@> “%96 q:8 !2C256” W`hadX E@ “r96CCJ” Wa_a`X[ A@AF=2C >@G:6D 92G6 2EE6>AE65 E@ A@CEC2J E9:D DECF88=6 C62=:DE:42==J[ D@ E92E G:6H6CD 42? 6>A2E9:K6 2?5 G6E6C2?D 42? D66 E96:C @H? 6IA6C:6?46D H:E9 H2C EC2F>2 >:CC@C65 @? D4C66?]k^Am kAmx?
Making The Best Years of Our Lives
“In her compulsively readable, meticulously researched, and altogether elegant reappraisal of The Best Years of Our Lives, a towering Hollywood classic that many regard as William Wyler’s most enduring cinematic achievement, Alison Macor offers a veritable model of accessible, public-facing scholarship.
Now Streaming in Austin: "1990 - The Year Richard Linklater's Slacker Broke"
AFS lets the director explain the Dobie run of his classic By Richard Whittaker, 7:00PM, Mon. Jul. 27, 2020 Welcome to Now Streaming in Austin, highlighting locally made titles to watch while self-quarantining. So if you were at the Dobie Theatre 30 years ago, right now, there's a good chance you were in line to catch the first public screening of Slacker. Or maybe The Brave Little Toaster.
Being Mark Lanier
Mark Lanier was having a week. Within a 36-hour span, he would touch down in four cities—attending a pretrial conference in St. Louis for an asbestos case, sitting in on a hearing in Cleveland dealing with the opioid epidemic, then heading home to Houston for a morning meeting of The Lanier Law Firm’s section heads. That afternoon, he would fly to Nashville to moderate a panel at Lipscomb University, his undergrad alma mater, and attend a dinner honoring his former Greek professor.
On This Week's Podcast: Masatsugu Ono on Childhood, Trauma, and Translation
On This Week's Podcast: Masatsugu Ono on Childhood, Trauma, and Translation
The Best Years of Our Lives: The War Film After the War
Not long after my book about the making of the 1946 Academy Award-winning film The Best Years of Our Lives was released in 2022, I received an e-mail from a recently retired high school teacher. He had taught U.S. history at a private academy on the East Coast that enrolled a substantial number of underprivileged students on scholarship. These were tough kids, he told me. Every spring, he would screen the movie for them during a unit about World War II.
Movie Review: Grosse Pointe Blank
1997, R, 107 min. Directed by George Armitage. Starring John Cusack, Minnie Driver, Alan Arkin, Dan Aykroyd, Joan Cusack, Jeremy Piven. REVIEWED By Alison Macor, Fri., April 11, 1997 “You can never go home again, but you can shop there,” is how Martin Blank (Cusack) responds when he discovers that his childhood home has been razed and turned into a convenience store. This is just one of the surprises that awaits Martin when he returns to Grosse Pointe, Michigan, for his 10-year high school reunion.
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