Shawn died April 3, 2012, after a sudden illness.
Originally from Fairmont, W.Va., Shawn attended Morgantown High School. At Princeton, Shawn was a Woodrow Wilson School major and member of Campus Club. The summer after junior year, Shawn studied abroad in Perpignan, France; this experience fueled his lifelong love of travel in general and France in particular.
After Princeton, Shawn attended law school at the University of Michigan, earning his degree in 1991. Following his federal clerkship, Shawn moved to San Francisco, where he lived most of his adult life. Despite a busy career as a corporate litigator, first as an associate at Heller Ehrman and then as a partner at Morgenstein & Jubelirer, Shawn often found the time to travel and experience new cultures. This passion took him to such far-flung destinations as Bali, Cambodia, and Tanzania. However, he always maintained his particular interest in France, eventually acquiring a flat in Paris.
In 2010, Shawn left San Francisco for Palm Springs, where he opened an independent law practice.
Shawn will be remembered as a generous, brilliant man with a free spirit. To his friends and family, the class sends deepest sympathy.