BYU Law welcomed alumni from eight classes (1977, 1982, 1987, 1992, 1997, 2002, 2007, and 2012) back to the law school over the last weekend. Alumni started the weekend early with a golf outing at Thanksgiving Point on Thursday. Transitioning from the traditional tournament, this year’s participants still brought their best game, resulting in at least one eagle on a par 4. According to Assistant Dean Gayla Sorenson, she enjoyed the “best day of golf [she had] played in years.”
On Friday, brothers Steven Hopkins, David Hopkins, and Thomas Hopkins presented alumni with a fascinating view into the world of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency at the reunion CLE. Steven Hopkins, an adjunct professor at the Law School, is the Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel of Medici Ventures, Inc., the subsidiary of Overstock.com that focuses on advancing blockchain technology. David Hopkins, a senior associate at Cooley LLP, focuses his patent practice on high-technology computer and electrical companies and has prosecuted patents for one of the blockchain world’s fastest distributed consensus mechanism. Thomas Hopkins is a principal at Occam LLC, which appraises companies that do not fit typical valuation models, and has focused his recent work on cloud-based software companies and cryptocurrency.
In the evening, alumni joined Dean Gordon Smith for a Dean’s Reception that was followed by class dinners. As graduates caught up with each other and met alumni from other years, they also learned about ways the Law School has changed. After learning about the new clinical opportunities students now enjoy, Jay Redd (’07), commented that the opportunity “to work with real clients and use their skills in the community is [. . . ] exactly what BYU Law students need.”
On Saturday morning the early risers hiked up to Stewart Falls and enjoyed the changing weather; everyone reassembled in the late afternoon for a tailgate on the west patio. They were joined by Cosmo and a number of current law students, who showed the alumni how it should be done when it comes to cornhole and kan jam. While the outcome of the game may not have fulfilled their hopes, visiting with old friends, making new ones, and reminiscing about “back in the day when the Law School didn’t have any windows” gave the visiting alumni an opportunity to kindle a love and appreciation not only for what the Law School was in their day, but for what it continues to become as it develops its unique mission.