About Hannah Black
Hannah Black is a freelance writer for Super Lawyers. She studied journalism at the University of Missouri and has written for publications in Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Wisconsin and Brussels, Belgium. Most recently, she worked as a criminal justice reporter for the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, covering law enforcement and the legal system. She was named the Wyoming Press Association Journalist of the Year for 2021.
Articles written by Hannah Black
Connected With the Land
Tim Jacobson’s environmentalism touches law, filmmaking and beyondGrowing up in rural Wisconsin, Tim Jacobson was fascinated by the natural world and developed a passion for preserving the environment. Nowadays, that’s reflected not only in his environmental litigation practice but his hobbies—especially filmmaking. Jacobson has made several films about the Driftless Area, the region in the Upper Mississippi River Valley untouched by glaciers during the last ice age. Its hills, valleys and water features contrast with those typical of the Midwest and …
The Goal Remains the Same
Julius Kim’s time as a Milwaukee ADA made him a better defense attorneyWhile growing up in Chicago, Julius Kim attended a Catholic school for boys. Many of his classmates were the sons of police officers, which inspired Kim to think about a career in law enforcement. But his parents weren’t as excited. “They were kind of the typical Korean parents,” Kim says. “They were like, ‘Why can’t you be a lawyer? Why can’t you be a doctor?’” He hadn’t considered pursuing either. But on a freshman field trip to the Cook County circuit courthouse, Kim’s …
Making Time and Fighting Fires
Mac Finlayson has dedicated decades as a volunteer firefighterIt started with a move out to the country in the early 2000s. After relocating just outside of Beggs, south of Tulsa, Mac Finlayson and his late wife, Lori, became friends with a neighbor who soon recruited Finlayson to work for Beggs Rural Fire Department. “I’ve always believed that those of us who are doing well have a responsibility to help those of us who aren’t,” Finlayson says. “And if you need us, it’s certainly not a good day.” For the past decade, Finlayson, senior …
Finding the Saddle Point
Once a horse wrangler, Kim Cannon is now a horse-wrangler’s lawyerKim Cannon can trace much of who he is to the head of Wyoming’s Green River, where his grandfather’s dude ranch sat. “It was a pretty dramatic, beautiful place,” Cannon says. “I tell people how all the really great aesthetics of my life were frontloaded.” The Utah-born Cannon, now of counsel at Davis & Cannon, spent several summers there. Under the mentorship of the cowboys who worked there, he wrangled horses—at its peak, the ranch boasted 150— and prepared them for guests, …
Making the System Work
From prosecutor to defense attorney, Maryam Afshar-Stewart helps clients at their worstMaryam Afshar-Stewart believes in second chances. It’s a belief solidified by her time as a deputy prosecuting attorney with the Lake County Prosecutor’s Office, and a common thread connecting her current work as a defense attorney. “There should be some sense of accountability, but also there needs to be some element of preventing people from reoffending,” Afshar-Stewart says. “How can we provide resources to assist people so something like this doesn’t happen again?” …
A Fair Shake
How Ray Dall’Osto helped free Daryl Holloway after 24 yearsRay Dall’Osto began thinking about how he could make a difference while attending Marquette in the early 1970s. Inspired by the Civil Rights Movement and other social reforms of the previous decade, Dall’Osto set his sights on service. He invokes the classic John F. Kennedy quote: “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.” “I think that is emblematic of what it means to do pro bono work, and also what has sort of been the guiding light in my …
‘Anything They Ask'
Gary Chilton’s own experience led him to help families with premature childrenThe most stressful moment of Gary Chilton’s life arrived when the time came to extubate his infant daughter. After nearly two months attached to a ventilator, doctors needed to see if Olivia Chilton, born at just 25 weeks weighing 1 pound, 2 ounces, could breathe on her own. Parents Gary and Michelle Chilton looked on as hospital staff prepared for the procedure. “They said, ‘OK, here we go,’ and they did it,” Chilton says. “They pulled that tube out of her lungs and she breathed. …
Part of Her Pack
Gina Bongiovi helps animals and the organizations that save themGina Bongiovi describes herself as “Velcro for stray animals.” While living in a home next to a Las Vegas park during the late 2000s housing crisis, Bongiovi, a Las Vegas native and business attorney, found herself unexpectedly caring for up to seven dogs at once. “People were driving their dogs to the edge of the city and dumping them in the desert,” she says. For those who were abandoned, she “ended up perfecting a very specific system of reuniting lost pets with their owners,” …
Coming to Others’ Defense
Deja Vishny teaches, trains and consults on what she learned as a public defenderWhen Deja Vishny received a call in 2008 asking if she wanted to write a book on the Fourth Amendment and suppressing evidence, she was suspicious. “I thought it was a prank,” she recalls. But she decided to return the call, which turned out to be from a representative of James Publishing. The book that resulted, Suppressing Criminal Evidence, is now in its fourth edition. Suppression of evidence is a focus Vishny’s, along with police misconduct and false confessions. They’re topics in …
Because He Can
Advocating for the marginalized is Will Hoch’s callingWill Hoch was an undergrad in Washington, D.C. when he first became involved in addressing the issue of homelessness. His university offered a variety of volunteer opportunities to its students, including working with the food kitchen at SOME (So Others Might Eat). He would work the food line in the dining room, serving out meals to those in need. Hoch has continued to help those experiencing homelessness for decades, even longer than he’s been practicing law. As he sees it, there are endless …
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