| Oregon State Bar Bulletin — AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2011 |
|
|
Leonard DuBoff, founder and managing member of the DuBoff Law Group, has been appointed general counsel of Oregon World War II Memorial Foundation, an organization of representatives from the Veterans Administration, veterans groups and the legislature, created for the purpose of installing a memorial to those who served during World War II. The memorial will be installed on the capital mall in Salem. DuBoff also served on the board of the Oregon Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Elsewhere, DuBoff conceptualized a sculpture depicting the nine best justices in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court and the late Candise DuBoff Jones, the attorney who was shot to death in Multnomah County Circuit Court in the late 1970s. The sculpture has been donated to the Brooklyn Law School by DuBoff’s brother and New York attorney Michael DuBoff and is now on permanent display in that law school’s lobby.
Barran Liebman attorney Andrew Schpak will be the first chair of the OSB’s New Lawyer Mentoring Committee. Schpak also serves as chair of the Quality of Life Committee, and he previously acted as a member of the New Lawyer Mentoring Task Force and the Senior Lawyers Task Force. He represents management in employment litigation and provides advice in employment matters.
Dagmar Butte, immigration attorney with Parker, Butte & Lane, received the 2011 President’s Commendation for Outstanding Leadership by the American Immigration Lawyers Association at the national organization’s annual conference June 16 in San Diego. The award recognized her work, while chair of the USCIS Service Centers Operations Committee, on the application of common law as it relates to employer-employee relationships in Immigration Law and on EB 1-1 visa guidance and language issues. (The EB 1-1 immigrant visas are used by immigrants with extraordinary ability seeking to establish permanent residence and work in the United States.) Butte practices in the areas of business and family immigration and business/corporate law and is a regular speaker and writer for AILA national and regional conferences.
Leta Gorman, shareholder at Jordan Ramis, has received the International Association of Defense Counsel’s Joan Fullam Irick Award, an honor recognizing exceptional leadership as chair of the organization’s products liability committee. She is also a member of the Oregon Association of Defense Counsel and the Defense Research Institute and is admitted to the Oregon, Washington and Idaho state bars.
Jordan Ramis shareholder Peter Watts has been named president of the Clackamas County Business Alliance, an advocacy group of the area’s largest employers. He also has been appointed to the Leadership Council of the Community Investment Initiative, a think tank charged with recommending strategies for regional economic growth. Watts also serves on the Oregon Law Foundation board of directors.
Frank Langfitt, chair of Ater Wynne’s litigation department, has been elected treasurer of Literary Arts Inc., a nonprofit organization of language and literature programs. He was first elected to the board in 2008. Langfitt focuses his law practice in a variety of litigation and client consultation areas, including business and commercial disputes, business torts, insurance coverage issues, casualty/product liability cases and environmental cases.
Kevin B. Dull, a Kaiser Permanente Northwest executive consultant, was recently honored as one of Portland Business Journal’s “Forty Under 40” professionals for 2011. The annual list recognizes leaders committed to professional excellence who are making significant contributions to the greater Portland community. Dull is an adjunct professor for the University of Phoenix and formerly for Portland State University. He serves on the region’s Workforce Investment Board and in April was named to Associated Oregon Industries’ board of directors.
OSB member James D. Huegli, who practiced in Oregon from 1972 until his move to Idaho in 2006, was recently honored as the Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year for Idaho. Huegli spent more than 700 hours in 2010 volunteering for such projects as prisoner rights, domestic relations, juvenile protection and general practice for the underprivileged. His son, Todd Huegli, a public defender in Hillsboro, was awarded Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year in Oregon in 2006 for his public service.
ABA president-elect Bill Robinson has appointed two OSB members to the ABA Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law. Katherine H. O’Neil will serve a second term as commission chair, and the Hon. Adrienne Nelson will serve a three-year term as a commission member. The commission promotes full access and participation in the legal system by persons with physical and mental disabilities.
Darius L. Hartwell, shareholder in the Portland office of Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt, received the Judge Learned Hand Emerging Leadership Award at a luncheon June 22. The award is presented by the Oregon Area Jewish Committee and recognizes outstanding emerging leaders in the legal profession. Hartwell is a member of the board of directors of the Portland Farmers Market and is active with the Lewis & Clark Small Business Legal Clinic, where he provides pro bono legal services to economically disadvantaged local entrepreneurs. He has been recognized by Thomson-Reuters and Law & Politics magazine as a rising star in the field of business and corporate law, and was named by the Portland Business Journal in 2010 as one of its “Forty Under 40” recipients, which recognizes the most accomplished, influential and civic-minded young executives in Portland. Hartwell focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and securities law.
Schneider Law Offices of Portland recently funded, prepared and served dinner for 90 men at Transition Projects’ shelter located in the new Bud Clark Commons in Northwest Portland. On two other occasions, the firm hosted and served meals at the Clark Center near the Hawthorne Bridge.
Kathy Black, in-house counsel for the Bonneville Power Administration, has been elected to the board of directors for Music for All, a national nonprofit organization that sponsors educational and competitive events for high school and middle school music programs and advocates for music education. Black has been involved in musical activities and organizations since an early age and currently plays drums for two Portland-based bands.
Tonkon Torp business attorney Darcy M. Norville was elected to the board of the YWCA of Greater Portland at its annual meeting on June 23. She will serve a three-year term on the board that is in the process of “reinventing” the 100-year-old organization. Norville has provided pro bono services to the YWCA during its strategic planning process to develop a new operating model that realigns programs and services with community needs and the organization’s mission. Norville’s law practice is focused on general business and corporate law, executive compensation and employee benefits.
Tonkon Torp business lawyer Craig Foster has been elected to the nine-member board of directors of the Alliance Française de Portland. Foster’s practice focuses on general business law and corporate finance. He regularly counsels investment advisers, broker-dealers and private investment funds on corporate, compliance and regulatory matters.
C. Michael Arnold of the five-attorney Eugene firm of Arnold Law Office was recently featured in a photograph in Canoe & Kayak Magazine’s whitewater photo annual. In March, Arnold and his rafting partner Quin Slocumb of Westfir were photographed running 30-foot Big Brother Waterfall on the Upper White Salmon. Footage of their runs will also be featured in an upcoming whitewater documentary by Washington documentarian Hans Hoomans.
The City Club of Portland has named Tonkon Torp litigator Caroline Harris Crowne a Member of the Year for 2011. The award recognizes outstanding overall contribution to City Club. Harris Crowne co-chairs the club’s Agora Steering Committee, leading an initiative to create more civic engagement through informal small-group activities. Discussions, lectures and tours focus on topics ranging from agriculture to urban planning, economics to social dynamics. She has served in a variety of leadership roles for the City Club, including chairing a 2009 research study on how to bridge the partisan divide in Oregon’s political system. A partner at Tonkon Torp, Harris Crowne’s practice focuses on litigation between business owners and cases with accounting issues.
The Oregon Asian Pacific American Bar Association (OAPABA) has elected its 2011-12 board of directors. Incoming board president Elisa Dozono, an associate at Miller Nash, is joined by: president-elect Simon Whang, assistant attorney general at the Oregon Department of Justice, financial fraud/consumer protection section; secretary Corinne Celko, associate at Perkins Coie in the firm’s real estate and land use practice; and treasurer Connie Kong, law clerk for the Hon. Marco Hernandez of the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon. The most recent regional and at-large representatives to join the board are Jessica Asai, Janelle Factora Wipper, Annie Jhun, Chin See Ming and Miyuki Yoshida, and law student representative Tommy Chau.
The Lane County Bar Association has announced its 2010-11 board members and officers: Jane Yates of Watkinson, Laird, Rubenstein, Baldwin & Burgess, president; Valeri Love of Gleaves, Swearingen, Potter & Scott, vice president; Megan Livermore of Gaydos, Churnside & Balthrop, secretary-treasurer. Directors are Don Corson, Hon. Mustafa Kasubhai, Karrie McIntyre, Tom Moseman, Margie Parris and Terri Wood.
The Lane County Bar Association also recently announced its 2011 award recipients. The Joseph M. Kosydar Award for Professionalism was presented to Bill Warnisher, deputy district attorney for Lane County. The Distinguished Service Award was presented to John Van Landingham, Lane County Legal Aid & Advocacy Center. Awards of Appreciation were presented to Hon. Doug Mitchell, Hon. Jack Billings and Hon. Ted Carp, all of the Lane County Circuit Court, for their years of service on the Lane County bench.
Iris Tilley and Melissa Healy of Barran Liebman recently joined two local boards. Tilley is the newest member of the Metropolitan Youth Symphony board, and Healey now sits on the Portland Festival Ballet board. Tilley advises employers in all aspects of employee benefits. Healey represents management in employment matters. Learn more at barran.com.
Cassandra Skinner- Lopata has been named chair of the Oregon Liquor Control Commission’s board of commissioners. She was appointed by Gov. John Kitzhaber on July 5. SkinnerLopata has been a member of the OLCC’s board of commissioners since June 2009. She is general counsel and Medicaid program director for Agate Healthcare, the parent company of Lipa (Lane Individual Practice Association) and Trillium Community Health Plan, all located in Eugene. She has held positions on the Governor’s Council on Domestic Violence, the Lane County Human Rights Advisory Committee, and the board of directors for Breaking Free, a nonprofit organization promoting empowerment and self-defense for women and girls.
The Multnomah Bar Association Young Lawyers Section recently elected new officers and board members with terms starting July 1. The new president is Nicholas A. Kampars, Davis Wright Tremaine; president-elect, Duke Tufty, Davis Wright Tremaine; secretary, Bernadette Dieker Nunley, Multnomah County district attorney’s office; and treasurer, Sarah M. Petersen, attorney at law. New directors are Valerie Colas, Sean C. Currie, Amy M. Hoven and Jeanne Sinnott. William H. Glasson and Traci R. Ray continue as directors. Kimberly R. Griffith, attorney at law, serves as immediate past-president.
Carmen Calzacorta, shareholder in the Portland office of Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt, recently joined the board of Friends of the Children, a mentoring program that provides paid professional mentors to vulnerable children. The nonprofit currently serves more than 375 children in the Portland metro region. 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 co-practice group leader of the firm’s general business group and corporate finance and securities groups.
Jay Folberg recently received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American College of Civil Trial Mediators. Folberg, now living in San Francisco, serves as the executive director of the JAMS Foundation and the JAMS Institute and is an active mediator with a national practice. He is the former dean and professor emeritus at the University of San Francisco School of Law. Previously, Folberg was a law professor at Lewis & Clark for 18 years. He has served as president of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, president of the Academy of Family Mediators and chair of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Section of the Association of American Law Schools. His texts on mediation and lawyer negotiation are used in law schools throughout the country.
Attorney Damien Hall of Jordan Ramis has been appointed to the city of Portland’s 2011 Charter Review Commission. He will serve a six-month term. The commission is considering possible amendments to Portland’s charter. He was also recently elected chair of the Oregon Convention Center Urban Renewal Area Advisory Committee.
Former Oregon Supreme Court Justice W. Michael “Mick” Gillette, now a shareholder in the Portland office of Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt, recently received the Justice Hans A. Linde Award from the Oregon lawyer chapter of the American Constitution Society. The award recognizes Oregonians who promote the values of individual rights and liberties, genuine equality, access to justice and the rule of law. Gillette is a shareholder in Schwabe’s commercial litigation group, where he brings his extensive knowledge of administrative law and the appellate process.
The Multnomah Bar Association has elected new officers for a one-year term that began July 1. The new officers are: Steve Blackhurst of Ater Wynne, president; Bonnie Richardson of Folawn, Alterman & Richardson, secretary; Julia M. Hagan of Gevurtz, Menashe, Larson and Howe, treasurer. Sarah J. Crooks of Perkins Coie continues as past president. New board directors serving three-year terms are: Cedric R. Brown, Helen M. Hierschbiel, Christopher J. Kayser and Dana L. Sullivan. Nicholas A. Kampars is the new Young Lawyers Section (YLS) president and serves as an MBA director. Continuing as directors are Carol J. Bernick, Keith M. Garza, Martha J. Hodgkinson, Samuel C. Kauffman, Susan Marmaduke, Gregory T. Moawad, Sheila H. Potter and Richard J. Vangelisti.
Darien Loiselle, a shareholder in the Portland office of Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt recently took over the firm’s leadership role with El Programa Hispano, a low-income legal clinic that serves the Hispanic population in east Multnomah County. The firm has supported the program for more than 20 years with funding and volunteerism. The legal clinic is coordinated in partnership with the Oregon Law Center, which provides staff assistance and Spanish translation services to volunteer attorneys. Schwabe founded and provided base funding for El Programa Hispano in 1991. Since then, Schwabe attorneys have regularly volunteered time on a weekly basis to help low-income clients confront legal challenges related to housing, automobile obligation and collections, individual civil rights and more. Loiselle focuses his practice in the area of construction law. Loiselle is counsel to ABC’s Merit Board as well as chair of the Construction and Maritime sections of the Oregon State Bar.
Mark Bonanno was appointed chair of the Fraud and Abuse Practice Group for the American Health Lawyers Association in July. His Oregon-based law practice that he founded in 2000 continues to provide business and compliance legal services to clients in the health care industry in Oregon and Washington. He recently moderated a national webinar, “Medicare ACOs: Details from the Fraud and Abuse Perspective,” hosted by AHLA. He serves as pro bono general counsel for Oregon Health Decisions, a nonprofit corporation that disseminates advance directive information. He also is a principal in Er-Quik.com, a company that produces emergency room quick-information kits for patients.
Elizabeth C. Knight of Dunn Carney has been named to the board of directors for the Campaign for Equal Justice. Knight is a long-time supporter of the CEJ and has served on its large firm committee since 2007. The CEJ, established in 1991 by Oregon lawyers with a mission of ensuring equal access to justice to all Oregonians, supports 100 legal aid attorneys in 18 communities.
Martha Pagel, shareholder in the Portland office of Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt, recently joined the American College of Environmental Lawyers, a professional association of leading lawyers who practice in the field of environmental law. Pagel, former director of both the Oregon Water Resources Department and Department of State Lands, focuses her practice on water law, natural resources and government relations.
Roy Lambert, a shareholder in the Portland office of Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt, was recently elected to serve on the board of directors of the Oregon Area Jewish Committee. Lambert is a past president of the Oregon Jewish Community Foundation and the Mittleman Jewish Community Center and has served as a board member and officer for the Jewish Federation of Portland. He also served as the initial president of the Portland Police Activities League. Lambert has focused his practice in the areas of entity planning, real property development transaction structuring, nonprofit tax-exempt organizations and foundations, and compensation and charitable gift planning.
Glen Goland has joined Samuels Yoelin Kantor as an associate in the firm’s estate planning and immigration practice areas. He previously was an associate attorney with Boston-based Squillace & Associates. Prior to law school, Goland served as an investment sales and marketing coordinator for Guardian Investor Services/RS Funds. He has served as a volunteer for the Oregon Post Adoption Resource Center, where he has spoken to groups about estate planning and the challenges families face when adopting. A talented musician, he once was a guitarist and booking agent for a Boston-area rock band, Focusin, which won the Hard Rock Cafe’s national battle of the bands in 2004 and went on to share the bill with Def Leppard, Blink-182 and others at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pa.
Jeremy T. Vermilyea has joined Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt as a shareholder in its construction litigation practice. With 15 years of experience representing general contractors, specialty contractors, developers, design professionals and other members of the construction industry, he will continue to focus his practice in the area of construction. He has litigated numerous complex matters in state and federal courts in Oregon, Alaska, Washington, Idaho and California. Vermilyea is a member of the Oregon, Washington, Alaska and California state bars.
Kate Stebbins has joined Berkshire Ginsberg as an associate. She will be focusing on personal injury cases, with an emphasis on motor vehicle, bicycle accident and wrongful death litigation. Prior to joining the firm, Stebbins was a deputy district attorney, prosecuting criminal cases in Hood River County. She has tried more than 40 cases to date and is available for referral and co-counsel opportunities. Her addition allows Bill Berkshire to expand his availability as an arbitrator and mediator. Berkshire can be scheduled directly through the firm.
The Washington County Board of Commissioners has appointed Alan Rappleyea to lead the county counsel’s office. Rappleyea, who has been the city attorney for Beaverton since 2003, will return to lead the county office he served in from 1996 to 2003. His previous experience includes stints as county counsel and planning director with Crook County. He also worked in government, labor and land-use law with the Portland firm of McEwen Grisvold.
Jovanna L. Patrick joined the law firm of Hollander, Lebenbaum & Gannicott in May. Patrick, who graduated from Lewis & Clark Law School in December 2010, worked in the office for more than three years as a legal assistant while attending law school. She is currently focusing her practice on workers’ compensation, civil rights, employment and personal injury matters and has some Spanish proficiency. She can be reached at 1500 S.W. First Ave., Suite 700, Portland, OR 97201; phone: (503) 222-2408; email: jovanna@hollanderlaw.com.
Nicholas M. Frost has joined Hershner Hunter as an associate. Prior to joining the Eugene firm, Frost practiced privately with Perkins Coie in its Chicago and Portland offices. His practice will focus on trusts and estate matters and business organizational and transactional issues.
On June 6, Jordan Schrader Ramis became Jordan Ramis, Attorneys at Law. Like most law firms, Jordan Ramis has changed its name periodically over the years to reflect the coming and going of key shareholders. In 2007 the firm changed its name from Jordan Schrader to Jordan Schrader Ramis, reflecting a merger with Ramis Crew Corrigan. Charles R. Schrader left the firm in 2008 to join one of his clients as in-house counsel, a position he still holds. There is no change in the day-to-day firm operations. The phone number, office locations and staff remain the same. Email addresses have been changed to @jordanramis.com, though the former email addresses will continue to work. The website address is now www.jordanramis.com.
Paul M. Tiger has rejoined Stoel Rives in the firm’s Portland office as a partner in the corporate practice group. Previously, Tiger had worked at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton in New York City for five years. He represents and advises public and private company clients on corporate transactions, with a particular emphasis on public and private merger and acquisition and joint venture transactions. He also provides advice to companies regarding governance matters, the fiduciary duties of officers and directors, debt and equity financings, federal and state securities regulation, periodic reporting to the Securities and Exchange Commission and other general corporate matters.
James C. Bradshaw has joined Ball Janik in the firm’s Portland office as special counsel in the government contracts practice group. Bradshaw focuses his practice on government contracts and business transactions, both domestic and international. He represents companies in the pursuit and performance of contracts with military and civilian government agencies operating at both the prime contract and subcontract level, as well as companies selling to governments directly or through an intermediary. Bradshaw has guided companies through a broad range of commercial business transactions, including those relating to sales, supply, service, development, manufacturing and distribution. Prior to joining the firm, Bradshaw served as assistant general counsel for the government systems division of FLIR Systems.
Jordan Ramis announces the addition of litigation attorney and shareholder Leta E. Gorman to the firm’s construction and business law practice groups. Gorman has extensive trial experience in both state and federal courts, having tried more than 20 bench and jury trials. She focuses her practice on the defense of manufacturers of consumer and industrial products, including several pharmaceutical companies and device manufacturers. She was previously a shareholder at Bullivant Houser Bailey.
Karen Moynahan and Denis Vannier have joined the Portland city attorney’s office as deputy city attorneys. Since 1996, Moynahan has been a senior assistant attorney general in the trial division of the Oregon Department of Justice, where she litigated environmental matters on behalf of many state agencies. Prior to moving to Oregon, she represented the State of New Jersey in a similar capacity for nearly 10 years. She will represent the city as part of the Portland harbor superfund team. Following his graduation from law school, Vannier joined the Oregon Department of Justice, spending two years in the criminal and civil rights section of the trial division and over four years in the appellate division. He has been an active member of the Willamette Valley American Inn of Court and a volunteer in numerous capacities at Lewis & Clark Law School and community groups. He will represent the city in a variety of areas, including collections and labor and employment cases.
Katrina L. Reinhardt recently relocated to Shanghai, China, to take a new position with Dow Corning Corp. Her new role is governance and compliance director for greater China. Reinhardt practiced with Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt until 2004, when she accepted an in-house counsel position with Dow Corning in Midland, Mich.
Longtime Newport attorney Kevin Strever retired from the practice of law at the end of 2010. He practiced with the Newport firm Barton and Strever since 1985, emphasizing catastrophic injury jury trials and complex litigation in Oregon and other jurisdictions. He advocated for victims of child abuse and published and lectured on those topics as well as representing abused children. Many of his cases resulted in landmark appellate decisions. He is listed in The Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers, The Best Lawyers in America and the publication Super Lawyers. He served on the OSB Board of Governors from 1995 to 1998, and in 1997-98 was the youngest president in OSB history. He has also served on the board of the Oregon Law Foundation, the Joint Bench and Bar Commission on Professionalism, the bar’s Local Professional Responsibility Committee, numerous bar task forces and committees, and was a past president of the Lincoln County Bar Association. He and his wife, Lauri, plan to spend their time in Newport, Portland and Hawaii, enjoying books, music, fitness and cooking.
Morgan D. Diment has become a partner of Diment & Walker. He joined the firm in August 2004, then left in 2005 to work for Stahancyk, Kent & Hook in Bend, practicing exclusively family law. He returned to Diment & Walker in the spring of 2007 and has been representing clients primarily in the areas family law and criminal defense in Lane County and surrounding counties since that time.
Diment & Walker welcomes Kelsea Feola as an associate. She previously worked at the King County prosecutor’s office in Seattle and then at Thorp, Purdy et al. as a law clerk in Springfield. She will be specializing in family law, wills and probate, real estate litigation and criminal law.
Lewis M. Horowitz and Charles W. Riley Jr. were recently reappointed by Lane Powell’s board of directors to another three years in their current positions, as firm president and vice president, respectively. Horowitz and Riley have served in the positions since 2006. Horowitz has focused his law practice on federal and state tax laws applicable to corporations, partnerships and LLCs for more than 25 years. Riley is chair of the firm’s trusts and estates practice group. His practice focuses on tax-sensitive estate planning, and estate and trust administration for high net-worth families.
Xin Xu announces the opening of her new firm, the Law Office of Xin Xu. She was previously a partner at Kennedy, Watts, Arellano & Ricks, and will continue to focus on commercial litigation, professional liability defense and securities litigation. She can be reached at xin@xinxulaw.com.
Julene M. Quinn has joined Kryger Alexander Carlson. She comes to the Albany firm after more than 20 years at Saif Corp., where she specialized in appellate and trial matters. She has handled well over 100 cases before the Oregon Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, with more than 60 reported decisions. Her appellate practice emphasizes workers’ compensation cases as well as a full range of civil and administrative matters. Quinn also handles matters at the administrative level in workers’ compensation and Social Security disability cases as well as personal injury matters.
Christopher Lombard has joined the Office of Career Services at Lewis & Clark Law School as its new associate director. He will conduct student and alumni career counseling and will reach out to legal employers and oversee judicial clerkships. Lombard is a 2003 graduate of Lewis & Clark, and for the past two years held a similar position at Syracuse University College of Law. He had previously been in private practice, focusing primarily on criminal defense representation.
Eugene-based litigator Andrea Coit has rejoined Harrang Long Gary Rudnick as a senior litigation associate. Her practice will focus on a wide range of civil defense litigation, including professional liability, employment and third-party insurance. She previously was an associate with Harrang Long Gary Rudnick in both the Portland and Eugene offices from 2001 to 2009.
Marcus H. Reed has joined Cosgrave Vergeer Kester’s business practice group, where he will work with businesses on entity formation, business transactions, ownership and asset transfers, employment issues, partnership agreements and real estate matters.
Robin J. Wright has been named a shareholder of Gevurtz, Menashe, Larson & Howe. Wright has been with the firm as an associate attorney since 2002. Her practice focuses on a broad range of family law issues, including divorce, custody and parenting time, domestic violence, abuse and neglect and juvenile matters. She is a member of the OSB Family Law Section and Juvenile Law Section (executive committee), as well as the Multnomah Bar Association, Washington County Bar Association and Oregon Women Lawyers.
Celia Leber announces the launch of her new law firm, Leber Patent Law P.C., on Aug. 1. The firm offers a wide range of patent-related services, specializing in patent prosecution and counseling in the mechanical and engineering arts. Learn more at www.leberpatentlaw.com.
Portland attorney Patrick Angel, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and formerly a litigation associate at Brayton Purcell, has opened a new sole practice, Angel Law P.C., focusing on injury litigation. The office, located in downtown Portland in the American Bank building overlooking Pioneer Courthouse Square, handles a wide spectrum of injury cases, including asbestos exposure, products liability, hospital liability, medical mistakes and serious vehicle accidents. Angel currently serves as an executive committee member of the OSB Product Liability Section. He welcomes referrals of injury cases from members of the bar, across the entire state of Oregon. For more information, see www.angellawpc.com.
Williams Kastner announces the expansion of its tax, estate and legacy practice with the addition of Abby Wool Landon as a member in its Portland office. Landon focuses her practice on estate planning, wills and trusts, tax, business succession and probate, and has extensive experience advising family businesses in various capacities. She routinely handles matters pertaining to marital trust planning for clients with step-family issues and is experienced in domicile tax analysis, grantor trusts and trust administration for high net worth families and charitable trust planning and administration. She previously was a shareholder at Bullivant Houser Bailey.
Cheryl Coon has joined Swanson, Thomas and Coon to lead the firm’s Social Security disability practice. Her legal practice over 34 years has included trial work in state and federal courts, administrative practice before state and federal agencies and six years working in the U.S. Congress. Coon was a senior assistant attorney general in the Oregon Department of Justice and served in Washington, D.C., as chief counsel and staff director of a subcommittee of the House Science, Technology and Space Committee. She also has practiced with Drinker, Biddle & Reath in Philadelphia.
Brenda L. Meltebeke, chair of Ater Wynne’s emerging business group, has been elected chair of the firm. Michael W. Shackelford has been re-elected as managing partner. Both will continue to serve on the firm’s management committee. Meltebeke replaces Jonathan Ater, who completed four years as the firm‘s chair. Her practice focuses on entity formation, general corporate and securities law, including venture capital financings and mergers, acquisitions and divestitures. She served as chair of the firm’s business department from 2001 to 2009, and has chaired the firm’s emerging business group since 2009. Shackelford has served as managing partner since 2001. His practice focuses on corporate counseling and business transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and venture capital financings. Continuing their terms on the firm’s management committee are James M. Barrett, L. David Connell, Stephen J. Kennedy, Joel R. Paisner and Michael J. (Sam) Sandmire.
Shannon Raye Martinez has become the newest shareholder in the Salem firm of Saalfeld Griggs. Martinez joined the firm as an associate in 2004, representing the firm’s clients in the litigation group, with an emphasis on banking law, real estate and construction litigation and creditors’ rights in bankruptcy.
Edward Branchfield, a former legislator, judge and public servant, died April 11, 2011, at his home in Newport, Ore. He was 96.
He was born Oct. 30, 1914, near Macomb, Ill. He attended Macomb High School, Western Illinois University and the University of Michigan Law School. Following graduation he served as an infantry lieutenant in World War II. He was injured in southern France and received the Purple Heart. While he was recovering in Illinois, he met his future wife, and they were married in 1946.
He practiced law in Medford for 21 years, and during that time served in the Oregon legislature. Gov. Tom McCall recruited him to become his legal counsel, and he later was one of Gov. McCall’s appointments to the Court of Appeals. He became Oregon’s first state court administrator, whose duties included being clerk for the Oregon Supreme Court. He finished his career in Eugene as chief counsel for the Oregon Department of Higher Education.
Wherever he lived, he gave freely of this time with service on school and church boards, to the Boy Scouts, American Red Cross and United Way. After retirement to the Oregon coast in 1970, he served as clerk of session at Newport’s First Presbyterian Church. But he was especially known for his longstanding service as a Legal Aid volunteer, taking tough cases others wouldn’t touch, and winning the confidence and admiration of his clients, many of them mentally challenged or physically disabled. For his volunteer law-related services to the public, Branchfield received the OSB President’s Public Service Award in 1988.
In a 1998 profile published in the Bulletin, Branchfield explained his motivation: “I’ve always tried to get people to work together and make compromises and try to get along with all the people involved.” Of his long participation as a pro bono lawyer, he said, “I felt that Oregon had been good to me, and I wanted to give something back to Oregon. I realized a lot of people couldn’t afford legal representation, and I enjoyed the practice of law.”
He is survived by his wife, Edith, three sons and a daughter, four grandsons and two great grandchildren.
Helen Frye, Oregon’s first female federal judge who was widely credited for paving the way for generations of women entering the legal profession, died April 21, 2011, after a long illness. She was 80.
Helen Jackson Frye was born on Dec. 10, 1930, in Klamath Falls. She worked her way through college in various jobs, including babysitter, waitress and bookstore employee. In 1952, she married William Frye when they were both juniors, and graduated the following year from the University of Oregon with a bachelor’s degree in English. She later earned a master’s degree in education in 1961.
According to a 2005 edition of Oregon Benchmarks, the historical newsletter for the district court, Frye was forced to resign from her job teaching high school English in Eugene because she was pregnant. The school district policy at the time forbade visibly pregnant woman from teaching; she later was able to return to teaching.
At the urging of her husband, she enrolled in the University of Oregon’s law school, graduating in 1966, just one of three women in her class. After five years of private practice, Gov. Tom McCall appointed her to the Lane County Circuit Court, its first female judge.
She and her husband divorced in 1975. She later married Perry Holloman.
In 1980, President Carter appointed Frye to the U.S. District Court of Oregon, making her the state’s first female federal judge. In 1995, she started working part-time as a senior judge; she retired some years later.
Frye presided over several notable cases, including bank fraud, the fight over the spotted owl, the dumping of sewage into the Tualatin River and several headline-making criminal cases. In 1973, she oversaw the plea of Dayton Leroy Rogers — who went on to be Oregon’s most prolific serial killer — in one of his early crimes, the stabbing of a 15-year-old Eugene girl. In 1985, she ruled against the fledgling rural town of Rajneeshpuram, formerly and again called Antelope, rendering the town invalid on account of an unconstitutional church-state link.
Frye is survived by four children, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Retired tax attorney Leo Meysing died of natural causes on April 24, 2011, in Portland. He was 81.
Leo Stanley Meysing was born June 7, 1929, in Marion County, Kan. He grew up on the family farm and received his education in Kansas and Missouri. He graduated from St. Joseph’s Military Junior College in Hays, Kan., in 1948. He received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Kansas, where he was in the ROTC, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. Upon completion of his active duty, he moved to Portland and enrolled at New York City University Graduate Law School in Manhattan, earning his master’s degree in taxation.
Meysing returned to Portland, where he began his successful law practice as a taxation attorney. He was a member of the Oregon State Bar for 54 years, as well as a member of the Kansas State Bar.
He met Kathryn Ann “Kay” Kuckenberg and they married Sept. 29, 1962.
He loved to hunt and fish on his various farms. One of his passions was to assist in the sainthood of his friend, Father Emil Kapaun, who was a U.S. Army chaplain who died in a North Korean prison camp. He was a life member of the Arlington Club.
Meysing was preceded in death by his wife, Kay, and a son. He is survived by two other sons, two brothers and a sister, and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews.