Written by: Gloria Kosir
The Iowa Law School Foundation (ILSF) elected three alumni members, a faculty member, and two student members to its board of directors. The foundation meets twice a year at the Boyd Law Building to advance Iowa Law’s mission through alumni relations, fundraising, endowment management, and program support.
Meet the ILSF Board’s newest members.
Alumni Board Members
Tiffany Ferguson (96JD)
Tiffany Ferguson graduated from the University of Illinois in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts degree and earned her JD from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1996. Ferguson has been the vice president of labor and employment at Allstate since 2022, where she leads global legal strategy for a workforce of more than 54,000 employees. She also currently serves on the Allstate Foundation Grant Committee. Prior to joining Allstate in 2016, Ferguson was a partner at a boutique litigation firm where she handled high-stakes matters and tried a wide range of cases before a jury. She has also argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and has extensive experience in crisis management, including white-collar defense and SEC matters. Ferguson has remained greatly involved with the College of Law since graduating. She was awarded the Alumni Service Award in 2013 and founded the Back to Iowa program, which brings together Black Law School Association alumni and students.
John Knapp (74JD)
John Knapp graduated from St. John’s University in 1971 with a Bachelor of Arts degree and earned his JD from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1974. Knapp spent 34 years at Winthrop & Weinstine P.A., where he worked in the regulatory and government relations practice group as a director. Prior to joining Winthrop & Weinstine, he was an associate at Hessian & McKasy (formerly Hessian, McKasy & Soderberg) for eight years. Knapp also worked in the Minnesota Legislature as an assistant revisor of statutes before entering private practice. Throughout his career, he gained significant experience in many areas of the law, including insurance, administrative, political, and legislative and regulatory law. Knapp retired from practice in 2019 but has maintained close ties to the College of Law, frequently volunteering and working to recruit Law Hawks.
Malinda Morain (05JD)
Malinda Morain graduated from Lafayette College in 2002 with a Bachelor of Science degree and earned her JD from the University of Iowa College of Law in 2005. Morain is a highly skilled litigator with experience in federal and state courtrooms, and uses her background in biology to practice energy litigation, public lands, and environmental law. She is a shareholder and heads the litigation group at Beatty & Wozniak in Denver, where she’s worked for 13 years. Prior to joining the Beatty & Wozniak team, she was an associate at McDermott Will & Schulte (then McDermott Will & Emery) LLP for seven years and completed a federal clerkship at the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Morain is an active advocate for the energy industry and a frequent volunteer for the College of Law.
Faculty Board Member
Megan Graham, Clinical Professor, Director of Technology Law Clinic, and Managing Attorney of the Clinical Law Program
Megan Graham is a clinical professor, managing attorney for Iowa Law's Legal Clinic and the director of the Technology Law Clinic. Her work in the Technology Law Clinic centers on the role technology plays in criminal defendants’ cases and the broader criminal legal system. Graham graduated from Georgetown University in 2008 with a Bachelor of Science degree and earned her JD from New York University School of Law in 2015. She has trained hundreds of federal and state defense attorneys and judges nation-wide on various technologies and criminal law topics and has been an invaluable resource to the College of Law since joining in 2024. Graham also taught students in the Samuelson Law Technology & Public Policy Clinic at UC Berkeley School of Law and clerked for then-magistrate Judge Katherine Menendez in U.S. District Court, the District of Minnesota.
Student Board Members
Elijah Redington (28JD)
Elijah Redington is a 2L and will graduate from Iowa Law with a JD in 2028. Redington comes to Iowa from Newton, Kansas. Prior to law school, Redington studied Economics and Ethics & Public Policy at the University of Iowa before briefly working for the Kansas Legislature and the National 4-H Council. Redington is Co-President of the Iowa Student Bar Association and is active within the Rural Interest Group, Pro Bono Society, University Lecture Committee, and works as a legal research assistant. He spent his 1L summer as a law clerk with the Iowa Environmental Council, where his work included filing comments on proposed rule changes by the EPA and Iowa DNR.
Nihitha Valluru (27JD)
Nihitha Valluru is a 3L and will graduate with a JD from Iowa Law in 2027. A native of the northwest suburbs of Chicago, Valluru studied war studies at King's College London prior to attending law school. This past summer, she worked at a large litigation firm in Tampa, Florida, where she put the writing skills she developed at Iowa Law to good use and gained substantial real-world trial experience. Valluru previously served as co-president of the Iowa Student Bar Association and currently serves as symposium editor for the Transnational Law and Contemporary Problems journal. After graduation, she looks forward to pursuing a career in litigation.