W&L Law Presents Alumni Awards during 2015 Reunion Celebration
On April 18 during Law Alumni Weekend 2015, Washington and Lee School of Law announced the recipients of the Outstanding Alumnus/a Award and the Volunteer of the Year Award.
Angelica Didier Light ’75L, a member of first class of women graduates at W&L Law, received the 2015 Outstanding Alumna Award for exceptional achievements in her career and unselfish service to her community and her alma mater.
Now retired, Light was the president and CEO of the Hampton Roads Community Foundation, a position she held with the foundation’s predecessor, The Norfolk Foundation. Under her leadership, the foundation assets and annual grants and scholarship distribution more than doubled to $244 million. In 2010, the foundation awarded more than $12.3 million in grants and scholarships.
During Light’s tenure, the community foundation has incubated Smart Beginnings South Hampton Roads; established the Academy for Nonprofit Excellence in 2004; created ArtsMatch in 2003 and Charters Basic Needs Relief Program in 2008 in response to economic downturns; and merged The Norfolk Foundation and the Virginia Beach Foundation in 2010 to form the Hampton Roads Community Foundation.
Before joining the foundation, Light was vice president, general counsel and secretary of Shenandoah Life Insurance Company in Roanoke, Va., and a general attorney for Norfolk Southern Corp. She received her undergraduate degree from Smith College.
William Toles ’92, ’95L received the 2015 Volunteer of the Year Award, which recognizes those individuals who go above and beyond assisting the Law School. He has served W&L as President of the Law Council, Chair of the Law Annual Fund, Law Class Agent, member of the W&L Alumni Board, member of the W&L Dallas Alumni Chapter, and on numerous reunion committees, including his 20th reunion committee this weekend. He has worked tirelessly on behalf of W&L and the law school helping to recruit students and advise them in their career search and for that we are grateful.
Toles is a trial lawyer with extensive experience handling high exposure litigation. After trying more than 75 jury trials as an assistant Dallas city attorney, he joined a Dallas-area law firm in 1998 as a senior litigator and partner prior to coming to Fee Smith Sharp & Vitullo in 2012. He has handled more than 40 civil trials to a successful conclusion and jury verdict. Toles has trial experience throughout the state of Texas in tort litigation ranging from simple negligence cases to more complex premises liability, DTPA, commercial and contractual dispute matters.
During the awards ceremony on Saturday, the reunion classes presented a collective gift of $3.5 million to law dean Nora Demleitner. This included gifts to establish the Class of 80L Law Scholarship and the Brian W. Robinson 90L Law Scholarship, as well as gifts to the Law Annual Fund and the renovation of Lewis Hall.
Also honored during Law Alumni Weekend was long-time law school employee Darlene Moore, who retired last year after 39 years at W&L Law. The Law Council, the governing board of the Law Alumni Association (LAA), passed a unanimous resolution making Moore an honorary member the LAA.
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