| Oregon State Bar Bulletin — APRIL 2011 |
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The National Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Association awarded Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Nan Waller the National CASA Judge of the Year award at its 30th annual conference held recently in Chicago. Waller was recognized for her vision and energy in improving the welfare of children and families. Under Waller’s leadership, Multnomah County Circuit Court has implemented docketing procedures designed to reduce the time to trial in termination of parent rights and dependency cases. She regularly convenes other partners in the system on a frequent basis to ensure that best practices for improving the lives of children are implemented by all parties. She is a prominent voice in addressing racial and ethnic disproportion issues within the juvenile justice and foster care systems and speaks frequently of the value and importance of CASA’s presence in the courtroom.
Oregon City attorney John Henry Hingson III delivered a presentation, “DUI and the Constitution,” at the midwinter meeting of the National College For DUI Defense held in Mazatlan, Mexico. Hingson is a former regent and founding member of the college.
Charles F. “Charlie” Hinkle of Stoel Rives was recently recognized for his 40 years of service to the American Civil Liberties Union by the ACLU Foundation of Oregon. He was awarded the inaugural Charles F. Hinkle Distinguished Service Award at the foundation’s 2011 Liberty Dinner on March 12 in Portland. Hinkle has been a cooperating attorney for his entire career, championing landmark cases in free speech; separation of church and state; gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights; and religious freedom. He has also served on the ACLU of Oregon board and lawyers’ committee, testified before the legislature, written on civil liberties issues and served as a speaker on behalf of the ACLU.
Peter Bragdon was elected to the board of directors of the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry at its annual meeting in Munich, Germany in February. The board includes executives from sporting goods companies such as Under Armour, New Balance, Asics, Nike and Adidas. In August, he was elected to the board of the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) at its meeting in Salt Lake City. That board includes leaders from outdoor companies such as Patagonia, VF Corp., and Timberland.
Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt has been admitted to the International Alliance of Law Firms, a network of midsized law firms founded to provide clients with global legal services. Alliance members advise clients on the challenges of international business requirements. It has 58 member firms in 42 countries.
The Lawyer’s Campaign for Equal Justice has named Edwin A. Harnden as the Henry H. Hewitt Access to Justice Award recipient for 2011. The award recognizes individuals for strong leadership, consistent effort and commitment to the ideal of equal justice under the law, and substantial contributions to legal aid for low income Oregonians. Harnden, who has been active with the CEJ since 2000, serving as chair from 2006 to 2010, is managing partner at Barran Liebman, where he represents management in employment law matters.
Duncan Campbell will receive the University of Oregon School of Law’s Frohnmayer Award for Public Service during a ceremony April 18 in Portland. Campbell is a Portland native who graduated from the University of Oregon School of Law in 1973. He is the founder and chairman emeritus of The Campbell Group, a timberland investment firm, presiding over the group from its inception through 2009. He is also an attorney and certified public accountant. Campbell is the founder of Friends of the Children, which has been recognized as a model for mentoring children at the state and national levels. It matches at-risk youth with professional mentors who provide long-term support and guidance for each child, and now has chapters in nine cities around the country. In 2005, Campbell gave a generous gift to the law school to teach law students child advocacy skills and to make systemic legal changes that promote children’s well being.
Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt shareholder Adam Rose of Portland was recently honored by the Portland Business Journal as a recipient of its “Forty Under 40” award, which recognizes individuals under 40 who have shown accomplishments in their professional lives and who have made contributions to their communities. In his practice, Rose handles a wide variety of corporate and business matters including: business transition and succession planning; joint venture relationships; mergers and acquisitions; private placements; corporate governance; securities law compliance; fiduciary duty advising; general business advising; and complex corporate settlements. Rose graduated from Harvard Law School in 1997.
Seven Oregon attorneys were among 35 business professionals who graduated recently from “The Art of Leadership,” a board training program presented by Business for Culture and the Arts. They are: Lisa Alan, Stoel Rives; Timothy Crippen, Kivel & Howard; Melissa Jaffe, attorney at law; Bradley Maier, Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt; Calon Russell, Hinshaw & Culbertson; Elisabeth Shellan, Stoel Rives; and Anna Sortun, Tonkon Torp.
The Multnomah Bar Foundation has elected new officers: Peter H. Glade, of Markowitz Herbold et al., president; Edwin A. Harnden, Barran Liebman, vice president; Loree A. Devery, Tonkon Torp, will continue as secretary/treasurer.
The Multnomah Bar Foundation has elected new directors to its board. The Hon. Julie E. Frantz, chief criminal judge, Multnomah County Circuit Court; Leslie Nori Kay, regional director for the Multnomah County Office of Legal Aid Services of Oregon; Sarah Ryan, chair of Ball Janik’s labor and employment practice group; Hon. Kathryn Villa-Smith, Multnomah County Circuit Court; Timothy Volpert, Davis Wright Tremaine; and Jim Westwood, Stoel Rives. Continuing board members include Tom Sand, Miller Nash, immediate past president; Christine L. Hein, Bateman Seidel et al; and Cashauna M. Hill, Oregon Law Center. The 2010-11 MBA board liaison is Carol Bernick, Davis Wright Tremaine partner in charge.
Holland & Knight partner Josh Husbands has been elected to the board of directors of the Estate Planning Council of Portland, an interdisciplinary organization dedicated to fostering an understanding of the proper relationship between the attorney, insurance professional, trust officer, accountant and other parties involved in estate planning. Husbands is a member of Holland & Knight’s private wealth services practice group. He represents clients in an array of business, tax, business succession and estate planning matters, including business reorganizations, acquisitions and divestitures. He often writes and speaks on business, tax, life insurance and asset protection matters concerning business and high net-worth individuals. He also teaches estate planning as an adjunct professor at Lewis & Clark Law School.
Schwabe, William- son & Wyatt shareholder Carmen Cal-zacorta has been recognized with Sch- wabe’s annual firmwide client service award, the “John L. Schwabe Client Service Award,” which recognizes an attorney in the firm who goes “above and beyond” in his or her dedication and service to firm clients. Calzacorta focuses her practice in the area of corporate law, with an emphasis on securities law compliance, corporate finance transactions, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and general business advice. She is the practice group leader of the firm’s general business group and co-practice group leader of the firm’s corporate finance and securities group.
Newly retired Oregon Supreme Court Justice W. Michael Gillette has joined Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt as a shareholder in the firm’s commercial litigation practice group. Gillette, who left the bench on Dec. 31, served as an associate justice since 1986 following nine years as a judge on the Oregon State Court of Appeals. In addition to serving as a member of the firm’s commercial litigation group, Gillette will work closely with Schwabe shareholder Bill Crow to build the firm’s mediation and arbitration practice. In addition to serving on the two courts, Gillette was the solicitor general for the state of Oregon and was chief trial counsel for the Oregon Department of Justice. Gillette is currently an instructor at the National Judicial College in Reno, Nev., and was the 2006 recipient of the college’s Payant Award for Teaching Excellence. Gillette is an adjunct professor of administrative law at Willamette University College of Law.
Samuels, Yoelin, Kantor, Seymour & Spinrad announces that the firm has returned to downtown Portland, where it was founded 80 years ago. As of Feb. 1, the firm is located on the 38th floor of the U.S. Bancorp Tower (“Big Pink”), 111 S.W. Fifth Ave. The new space, which totals 10,845 square feet, is about one-third larger than the previous office in John’s Landing. Also effective Feb. 1, the firm is shortening its name to Samuels Yoelin Kantor, in part to provide better branding and marketing opportunities. The new name reflects the last names of the three longest-serving partners of the firm.
Michelle K. Freed and Tim L. Eblen, formerly associates with Smith & Greaves, have opened their own practice, Eblen Freed. Their firm offers legal services to families and small businesses. They will continue to offer individualized counsel on debtor or creditor issues, including litigation, dispute resolution and bankruptcy. Their general practice includes collaborative family law, basic estate planning and business transactions.
Jason Smith has joined Lane Powell as counsel to the firm in the litigation practice group, and Christine Thelen has joined as an associate in the employment law practice group. Previously, Smith worked as general counsel and director of corporate compli- ance at Evergreen Healthcare in Vancouver, Wash., where he oversaw legal and compliance operations. Smith has provided legal support in the acquisition or divestiture of facilities or properties, including reviewing and drafting related transactional documents. Thelen previously worked as a litigation associate at Flaster Greenburg, an East Coast firm with offices in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. She has handled a wide array of matters including employment disputes, compliance with anti-discrimination laws, contract disputes, business disputes, class actions, Section 1983 claims, state and federal regulatory issues, bankruptcy and commercial collection matters.
David A. Aamodt has joined Marko- witz, Herbold, Glade & Mehlhaf as of counsel. For the past 18 years, Aamodt served as associate general counsel for Portland General Electric, where he worked closely with attorneys from the Markowtiz firm, which served as PGE’s outside business litigation counsel. He retired from PGE in 2010 but found that he missed the camaraderie and intellectual challenge that came from working in the legal field. At PGE, Aamodt oversaw some of the company’s most significant civil matters including PGE v. Westinghouse and CRPUD v. PGE. Besides energy and government law, his focus will also include torts and commercial litigation. Prior to joining PGE, Aamodt led the Oregon Department of Justice’s Civil Enforcement section, where he supervised more than 80 attorneys and 100 investigators, paralegals and support staff. Earlier in his career Aamodt was the city attorney for Roseburg, served in the U.S. Navy JAG Corps, was a staff attorney for Gov. Robert Straub and was a metropolitan public defender.
After 35 years of deciding Oregon tax appeals, the Hon. Jeffrey S. Mattson has retired from the Oregon Tax Court. He may be contacted at JMattson.Mediator@comcast.net.
Kate Wilkinson has joined C&K Market, Inc. as corporate counsel and director of human resources. Wilkinson has more than 10 years of private practice litigation experience. She also taught at the University of Oregon Law School as an adjunct faculty member and has served on the boards of numerous community and legal organizations.
Stoel Rives recently announced three attorneys in the Portland office have been named partners: Brad S. Daniels, Amy Edwards and Timothy W. Snider. Daniels is a member of the firm’s litigation practice group. His practice focuses on securities litigation, appellate litigation and complex business litigation. He has represented clients in state and federal courts and in Financial Industry Authority and other arbitrations. Edwards is a member of the firm’s litigation practice group. Her practice focuses on trusts and estates, real property and land use, product liability and complex litigation. Edwards advises clients on litigation and legal issues involving fiduciaries, trusts, estates and nonprofit organizations. Snider is a member of the firm’s litigation practice group. His practice emphasizes complex business litigation, and his clients range from public companies to privately held businesses. He defends companies and executives in class actions, securities and antitrust cases, consumer and deceptive practices actions, and corporate governance disputes.
Black Helterline has added new associates John J. Christianson and Alexander Wheatley. Christianson joins the business practice group. His prac- tice focuses on estate planning, business transactions and federal and state taxation. He previously practiced business law in Eugene and served as in-house counsel to a large regional grocery chain. Wheatley joins the firm’s litigation practice group. A 2010 graduate of Lewis and Clark Law School, Wheatley recently passed the Oregon State Bar. He was a 2009 summer associate at Black Helterline and in the summer of 2008 attended Tulane Law School’s International Law Study Abroad Program in The Hague, The Netherlands.
After serving as interim general counsel to newly elected Gov. John Kitzhaber, Joseph O’Leary has joined the executive team at the Oregon Public Employee Retirement System, where he will lead the PERS policy planning and legislative analysis division. O’Leary served as general counsel to Gov. Ted Kulongoski for the past two years. He also served the governor as a senior policy adviser in public safety and telecommunications issues and oversaw seven statewide public safety agencies within the executive branch of state government. He is a past counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee of the Oregon Legislature and a former trial attorney with the Law Office of Janet Lee Hoffman and Metropolitan Public Defender.
Peter Ricoy has joined Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt’s health care practice as special counsel. Ricoy previously worked for Schwabe as an associate before joining Regence Group in 2008. He will continue to focus his practice in the area of health care and insurance regulation, as well as corporate and business transactions. While at Regence Group, he gained extensive experience and knowledge on the federal health care reform legislation. Ricoy is a member and past chair of the OSB Health Law Section and the American Health Lawyers Association. He is also a member of the Oregon Hispanic Bar Association, the Hispanic National Bar Association and the Oregon Minority Lawyers Association.
Kimball H. Ferris has joined Miller Nash as a partner in the firm’s Portland office, bringing more than 30 years of Oregon law experience to the firm’s business practice group. Ferris previously was a shareholder at Bullivant Houser Bailey. His experience encompasses corporate, international and real property and finance transactions. He has assisted with the purchase or sale of numerous business entities, including Fortune 100 companies. He has represented sellers and purchasers in real property transactions, as well as institutional lenders and corporate and individual borrowers of all sizes.
Julianne Davis has joined Lane Powell as counsel to the firm in the intellectual property and technology practice group. Davis previously worked as assistant general counsel at Nike, where she handled cases involving utility patents, including utility models in Germany and China, design patent and registrations throughout the world, as well as trademarks and trade secrets. Before Nike, Julianne was an established trial lawyer in Portland, specializing in all forms of intellectual property litigation. She has also handled cases involving trade secrets, unfair competition, first-chaired ITC proceedings and enforced European “tweener” cases for multi-national corporations.
Arnold Law Office announces that Rogelio “Roger” Cassol has joined the firm as an associate attorney. He is a past co-chair of the Lane County Bar Association’s New Lawyers Committee. Prior to joining the Arnold Law Office in 2011, he represented injured workers seeking benefits and served as judicial clerk to the Hon. Gregory G. Foote.
D. Christopher (Chris) Burdett has joined Sussman Shank as an associate in the litigation practice group. For nearly a decade, Burdett has concentrated his practice on complex commercial litigation in both state and federal courts. He has experience in all aspects of litigation including discovery, motion practice, settlement, trial and appeal. He has represented and assisted individuals, businesses and corporate clients in a variety of matters focusing on complex contract disputes, consumer class actions, products liability, insurance and securities.
Miller Nash has promoted Jennifer Roof and Michelle Barton to partners. Both are members of the litigation team at the firm’s Portland office. Roof joined the firm as an associate in 2001. Her practice emphasizes employment litigation, appeals and commercial litigation. She previously has served as a judicial clerk for 10th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Bobby R. Baldock in New Mexico. She is licensed to practice in Oregon state and federal courts and the United States Courts of Appeals for the 2nd, 9th and 10th circuits. Barton began as an associate in 2005. She represents businesses and public entities, helping them resolve their legal disputes through litigation, including in jury trials. After law school, Barton clerked for a United States district court judge in the District of Arizona before returning to Oregon and joining Miller Nash.
Global law firm K&L Gates has named corporate partner Brendan R. McDonnell as administrative partner of the firm’s Portland office, effective March 1. McDonnell succeeds Ann L. Sherman, who, after six years as the office’s head, will now focus her time on client work within K&L Gates’ public finance practice. McDonnell counsels clients on corporate and securities laws, mergers and acquisitions, and public and private financings, including private equity and venture capital transactions. His practice concentrates on the legal and business issues affecting public and private growth companies, both in the technology and non-technology sectors. McDonnell regularly represents some of the region’s most active private equity funds.
Alison G. Hohengarten has joined the business team at Francis, Hansen & Martin in Bend. She has practiced in Bend for a number of years, both in private practice and as in-house counsel to a local construction and development company. She will continue to assist businesses and individuals in commercial, real estate and estate planning matters. Hohengarten has been long active in the Bend community, serving on the board for the Central Oregon Builders Association and as a mediator for the Deschutes County Circuit Court.
Portland lawyer Richard J. Brownstein, a former bar leader and well-known community volunteer, died Jan. 24, 2011, from a heart attack. He was 80.
Brownstein was born June 29, 1930. He attended Reed College and received his law degree from the Willamette University College of Law in 1953. (He later served both institutions on their boards.) He was a retired colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves, Judge Advocate General’s Corps.
Brownstein was admitted to the Oregon State Bar in 1953 and practiced for 20 years with the firm that was ultimately named White, Sutherland, Brownstein & Parks. In 1973, he was the founding partner of Brownstein, Rask, Sweeney, Kerr, Grim, DeSylvia & Hay. He actively practiced with that firm to the time of his passing, having been an OSB member for 58 years.
Brownstein was committed to community service throughout his life beginning in high school when he served as student body president of Lincoln High School and the international president of Aleph Zadik Aleph. Brownstein’s commitment to human rights was highlighted by his appointment and tenure as general counsel of the Housing Authority of Portland from 1960 to 2004. Brownstein was also a member of the Portland Civil Rights Committee, the Oregon Advisory Committee of the U.S. Civil Rights Committee, the Committee on Integration of Portland Schools of the Portland City Club and chairman of the Metropolitan Human Rights Commission.
For the OSB, Brownstein was secretary of the Civil Rights Committee and co-author of the Oregon State Bar Affirmative Action Program and chairman of the Affirmative Action Committee. The initial program was a direct result of Brownstein’s leadership in 1974 and again in 2007 when the program was continued.
Brownstein was also actively involved in the Portland Jewish community. His most significant Jewish-related legal representation was pro bono, Cedar Sinai Park’s issuance of $11.5 million in revenue bonds for the construction of the Rose Schnitzer Manor in 1996. Again in 2005, he represented Cedar Sinai as issuer’s counsel for its $9.2 million in revenue refunding bonds. Brownstein was also president of Portland Lodge, B’nai B’rith, Congregation Neveh Shalom and the Institute of Jewish Studies; vice president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland; a director of the Mittleman Jewish Community Center; and a member of the board of governors of B’nai B’rith International.
He never missed an opportunity to go on training runs in his beloved Forest Park and ultimately capitalized on those outings enough to be able to run 19 marathons, his first when he was 54. A consummate storyteller with an infectious laugh, he could frequently be heard at the intermissions of the opera at the Schnitzer concert hall, in the restaurants of the University Club or at the table sharing dinner with friends.
He is survived by his wife, Donna, two sons, a daughter, two stepsons and a sister.
Longtime Roseburg attorney Donald A. Dole died Feb. 1, 2011, in Eugene. He was 83.
Dole was born Aug. 12, 1927, in Aberdeen, Wash. He graduated from the University of Oregon School of Law in 1951, practiced briefly in Eugene, and then moved to Roseburg, where he spent his professional career until retiring in 2004.
Public service was Dole’s passion. Throughout his career he was deeply committed to bar activities, serving on the Board of Governors, Board of Bar Examiners and numerous other bar committees. He served on the board of visitors at the University of Oregon School of Law and was a dedicated Boy Scout leader, earning Scouting’s highest service award, the Silver Beaver, in 1977. He was active in Rotary, was a Mason and served on the board of directors of Douglas Community Hospital for many years. His many civic activities earned him Roseburg’s “First Citizen” recognition in 1980.
Dole was also involved in local and statewide politics. In 1995 he was honored to be appointed pro tem circuit court judge for the purpose of swearing into the office of governor his close friend John Kitzhaber.
At his retirement, Dole was senior partner in the Roseburg firm of Dole, Coalwell, Clark et. al., which still bears his name. He maintained a busy and extensive civil litigation practice, with particular emphasis on the timber industry, health care and financial services. He enjoyed many activities with his family, including cattle ranching and salmon fishing in the Pacific Ocean. He was also a master gardener.
Dole is survived by his wife of 54 years, Lois, five children and seven grandchildren.