Shawn Lindsay and Parna Mehr-bani of Lane Powell were recently named 2011 Up & Coming Lawyers by the Daily Journal of Commerce, two of 24 honorees selected from hundreds considered for the award. Lindsay, of counsel, and Mehrbani are both members of the firm’s intellectual property practice group.

Ryan Bledsoe of Tonkon Torp has been elected to the Forest Park Conservancy board of directors. An avid hiker and runner, Bledsoe spends time every week enjoying Forest Park and the Wildwood Trail. Along with his wife and son, Bledsoe is participating in the 2011 Forest Park Conservancy All Trails Challenge, by agreeing to walk approximately 80 miles of trails while raising awareness and funds for the conservancy. (Earlier this summer, Bledsoe blogged about the experience at http://forestpark.posterous.com/52951987.) Bledsoe joined Tonkon Torp in 2007 and is a senior associate, with a practice focusing on antitrust, securities and business litigation.

The University of Oregon School of Law has announced former OSB president and longtime Eugene lawyer William G. (Bill) Wheatley as the fifth annual John E. Jaqua Distinguished Alumni Award. Wheatley, a 1959 alumnus of the law school, was honored at a reception and dinner Oct. 28 in Eugene.

Gwendolyn Grif- fith, chair of the tax and employee benefits practice group at Tonkon Torp, has written a new law student study guide, Basic Federal Income Tax, 4th edition. The book is part of the Emanuel Law Outline series of study guides that explain critical issues and key topics for various legal disciplines. She has authored several books on taxation and is a frequent speaker on tax, transition planning and other business-related topics. She is also co-author of Family Wealth Transition Planning (Wiley, 2009), a guidebook for families and advisors that addresses family business succession issues. Her 30-year career includes both practicing and teaching law.

Perkins Coie has been named one of the 2011 Best Law Firms for Women by the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE) and Flex-Time Lawyers LLC, the third time in four years to be so honored. For nine consecutive years, the firm also has been named to Fortune magazine’s list of 100 Best Companies to Work For and has received a perfect 100 percent rank by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.

Dana L. Krawczuk, a partner in the Portland office of Ball Janik, was recently appointed to serve on the city of Portland’s Development Review Advisory Committee as the “frequent development review customer” representative. In addition, Krawczuk has been appointed to the Metro regional government’s Metro Technical Advisory Committee, serving as the commercial/industrial development association representative. Krawczuk focuses her law practice in land use and environmental law.

Cynthia Fraser of Garvey Schubert Barer is a co-editor of Eminent Domain: A Handbook of Condemnation Law, published in August 2011 by the ABA State and Local Government Law Section. The book is resource for practitioners on the intricacies of condemnation law.

Colin Love-Geiger has joined the board of directors of the Federal Bar Association, Oregon chapter. Love-Geiger held judicial clerkships with U.S. District Court judges Dennis Hubel and Garr King prior to joining the labor and employment practice group at Tonkon Torp last spring. His practice focuses on helping employers defend charges filed by employees.

Davis Wright Tremaine Jay Hull has joined the finance committee at TechAmerica Oregon, a committee that educates CFOs and other financial professionals about the changing role of the finance executive in the technology industry. Hull focuses his practice on business transactions, with a concentration on transactions for technology and communication companies.

David Van’t Hof was recently appointed to the board of directors of the Green Sports Alliance, a nonprofit organization that helps sports teams, venues and leagues enhance their environmental performance. Van’t Hof is a member of the sustainability and climate change practice group at Lane Powell, a founding partner in the alliance.

Tonkon Torp attorney Janet Neuman, a leading water policy expert in the Pacific Northwest, has written a new book that details the law of water and water rights in the state. Oregon Water Law: A Comprehensive Treatise on the Law of Water and Water Rights in Oregon provides an overview of the state’s water resources, a brief history of Oregon law on water rights and a comprehensive discussion of the types of water rights that exist in the state and how these rights are obtained, used, regulated and reallocated. The book also discusses environmental issues, public rights to use bodies of water and court adjudications related to water use in Oregon. It is available through Portland State Bookstore’s Odin Ink web page; see www.portlandstatebookstore.com.

Gene Grant, a partner in the real estate group at Davis Wright Tremaine, has been named chair of the Urban Land Institute’s Oregon operating committee and to the board of ULI Northwest. The organization advocates responsible use of land and creating and sustaining thriving communities in

Robert E. Maloney of Lane Powell, Portland, and Derek C. Johnson of Johnson, Clifton, Larson & Schaller, Eugene, were recently appointed to serve on the Lawyers Committee of the National Center for State Courts as the two lawyer representatives from Oregon. The organization advocates for state courts throughout the country and for improvements in the civil justice system, including jury reform, judicial independence and management of complex civil cases.

Tonkon Torp litigator Daniel H. Skerritt has been reappointed to chair the Oregon chapter of the American College of Trial Lawyers for a second year. Skerritt, a member of the Tonkon Torp litigation department, has 35 years of experience representing plaintiffs and defendants in complex commercial litigation. One of Oregon’s leading litigators, he has been instrumental in the development of several programs aimed at improving the standards and ethics of trial practice and the system of justice. He was a key driver of the Jury Experience Project, an initiative to provide young litigators with jury trial experience at a time when the vast majority of cases settle before trial. Skerritt also was instrumental in developing Oregon’s Expedited Civil Jury Case program, an initiative designed to offer a trial-based alternative to arbitration and to encourage speedier, less costly jury trials. Skerritt last year was asked to serve on a national ACTL committee examining the vanishing jury trial.

Bullivant Houser Baileysenior counsel Douglas G. Houser was recently elected the 28th general fraternity president of Beta Theta Pi at the fraternity’s 172nd general convention held recently in Seattle. Houser joined the fraternity in 1954 during his undergraduate years at Willamette University and has remained devoted to it ever since. In 2007, Houser was appointed chair of the Beta Theta Pi Foundation board of directors, responsible for funding the fraternity’s award-winning Men of Principle initiative.

The DuBoff Law Group is pleased to announced that the book entitled Art Law in a Nutshell, 4th Edition, published by the West Publishing Group, has been translated into Mandarin and is being distributed throughout the People’s Republic of China for use in Chinese law schools and by practitioners interested in learning about the field of art law. This text was originally written by the firm’s founder, Leonard D. DuBoff, and was recently updated by him in collaboration with Christy King, another member of the firm. It was translated by Zhou Lin, a professor at the Law Institute of China Academy of Social Sciences.

Milestones

McEwen Gisvold, a real estate and business law firm in Portland, is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year. Originally founded as Cake & Cake in October of 1886, by brothers Harry and William Cake, McEwen Gisvold remains as one of the oldest law firms in Oregon. When Cake & Cake was founded in 1886, it opened its first office in the former Labbe Building, which was located on S.W. Washington Street, between Second and Third avenues. The firm had mainly dealt with business law matters and represented companies such as the John Deere Plow Co., Inman-Poulson Lumber, Roebling Wire and Equitable Savings and Loan. Today the firm is located on the 16th floor of the Standard Plaza building, has 14 attorneys and represents clients such as Standard Insurance Company, StanCorp Mortgage Investors, Safeway, Regal Cinemas, Bank of America, N.A., Oregon School Activities Association and the OSB Professional Liability Fund. You can read more about the firm’s history in a special publication created for the occasion online at http://tinyurl.com/3m5xbjb.

Lauren Wallace has joined Stewart, Sokol & Gray in Portland as an associate. The new bar admittee brings significant, relevant corporate experience to the practice of law. She previously worked in corporate development for such major internationals as Microsoft and Apple, developing and managing technology and marketing partnerships with similar large companies, and helping smaller companies navigate their relationships with these market leaders. She is familiar with a wide variety of technologies, markets and business models.

Law professor Jennifer J. Johnson was installed as the Erskine Wood Sr. Professor of Law at a public lecture Oct. 24 at Lewis & Clark Law School. The Wood professorship was created to recognize an individual committed to the established traditions of the American legal and constitutional systems.

Dunn Carney announces Elissa Meyrowitz Boyd, Blair E. McCrory and Mary Anne Nash have joined the firm. Boyd will focus on insurance coverage and commercial litigation and contribute to the firm’s insurance coverage blog. She received her law degree from the University of Michigan School of Law. McCrory has three years experience defending contractors and developers in complex construction defect matters. McCrory will focus on insurance defense and construction defect litigation. She is a graduate of Lewis & Clark Law School. Nash will practice agriculture, natural resource and environmental law as well as general litigation. She will also be contributor to Dunn Carney Natural Resources Updates. She is a graduate of the University of Oregon School of Law.

Donald B. Bowerman and Kristen S. David welcome Eva M. Marcotrigiano (pictured) to the firm of Bowerman & David. Marcotrigiano previously served as clerk to the Clackamas County presiding court and more recently as a litigator in the construction defect insurance field. The firm practices general litigation and defense of lawyers and physicians throughout Oregon.

Daimler Trucks North America has appointed Brian T. Burton as general counsel and secretary. He will lead the legal department and will serve as the chief legal adviser for the company. Burton joined the company in May 2000 as corporate counsel; he was promoted October 2002 to associate general counsel. In May 2008, he was appointed as director of compliance and regulatory affairs.

Peter H. Koehler Jr. of Nike was recently promoted to vice president for geographies, legal strategy and operations. His contact information remains the same.

After 33 years with the Portland firm of Sussman Shank, partner Jeffrey R. Spere has retired, effective at the end of the firm’s fiscal year on Sept. 30. His banking, business, finance and commercial real estate practice responsibilities will be shared by other partners in the firm. Throughout his career, Spere has been committed to providing leadership within the firm and business community. He played an integral role in the management of the firm, serving as the firm’s managing partner for five years, and also served as chair of the firm’s banking and finance and business and real estate practice groups. He is the former president of the East Portland Rotary Club, and he currently sits on the board of trustees for the YMCA of the Columbia-Willamette.

Andrea R. Meyer, legislative director/counsel for the ACLU of Oregon, has moved to New York to work as associate director of advocacy and policy with the national ACLU. She began her new position Oct. 3. Using her 12 years of lobbying experience at the Oregon affiliate, Meyer will build the ACLU’s legislative program development initiative and will support ACLU affiliates across the country with state legislative programs to advance and defend civil liberties.

Cameron O. Carter has joined Shaw Law Group (formerly David D. Shaw P.C.) and will be heading up the firm’s personal injury practice. Carter joins the firm at its new offices in the Commonwealth Building, 421 S.W. Sixth Ave., Suite 1150, Portland, OR 97204. He can be reached directly at (503) 221-4260 or at cameron@shaw-law.net.

Aaron J. Besen has been elected a partner of Sussman Shank, effective Oct. 1. Besen chairs the firm’s health care practice group and is a member of the business group. He has extensive experience representing long-term care providers, including skilled nursing, assisted living and independent living facilities, management companies and the landlords related to these businesses. He is a member of the American Health Lawyers Association, Oregon Healthcare Association and Washington Healthcare Association. He is admitted to practice law in Oregon and Washington and in the United States Tax Court.

Eugene attorney Cindy Danforth announces the relocation of her office to 433 W. 10th Ave., Eugene, OR 97401, effective Nov. 1. Danforth represents employees in discrimination and civil rights cases. Her telephone number remains (541) 431-0500; the new fax number is (541) 344-6266. Contact her via her website, www.cindydanforthlaw.com, or by email, cindy@cindydanforthlaw.com.

Mark Johnson Roberts has returned to Gevurtz, Menashe, Larson & Howe — the firm where he began his legal career — as of counsel. He has been a solo and small firm practitioner since 1993, with a practice focused on professional ethics issues, appellate litigation and family law. A leader in the campaign for equality for Oregon’s gay and lesbian citizens since the early 1990s, he brings to decades of experience in appeals, adoption and surrogacy arrangements, and the laws relating to same-sex couples and step-families. Johnson Roberts is a past president of the Oregon State Bar, a member of the Legal Advisory Team for Basic Rights Oregon, a past president of the National LGBT Bar Association, and a founder and past president of the Oregon Gay and Lesbian Law Association. Johnson Roberts plans to turn a portion of his practice to the rapidly growing area of international family law.

Naomi Stacy has become the new lead attorney for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation near Pendleton. An enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes, Stacy will lead the tribes’ legal team of in-house and contract attorneys. She left her partnership of Williams Johnson Stacy, a Portland-based firm. Her former partners, J.D. Williams and Matt Johnson, will continue as Williams Johnson LLP, with a focus on serving tribal governments, businesses and those doing business in Indian country.

Miller Nash has hired three new associates in its Portland office. Jesús Miguel Palomares, Sharae M. Wheeler and James M. Walker all join the firm as associates. They are each members of the Oregon State Bar and begin their practices at the firm immediately. Palomares, a participant in Miller Nash’s successful 1L diversity fellowship program, joins Miller Nash’s litigation, insolvency, nd international practice teams. He spent part of last summer at Barrera, Siqueiros y Torres Landa, S.C., one of Mexico’s leading law firms, before finishing his second summer as a clerk for Miller Nash. Palomares received his law degree from the University of Oregon School of Law. Wheeler also joins Miller Nash’s litigation practice team. She recently earned her law degree from New York University School of Law, where she participated in the moot court board and served on the executive boards of the NYU Law Women organization and the High School Law Institute. Walker joins Miller Nash’s business practice team after earning his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School, where he was a member of the Black Law Student Alliance and Future Advocates in Training. Walker earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan, obtaining a bachelor of arts degree in economics.

David Boyajian has joined the transportation and maritime practice group at Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt as an associate in the Portland office. He previously practiced in San Francisco. He will continue to focus his practice in the area of transportation and maritime law. He has experience in the areas of cargo, longshore, Jones Act and LHWCA, Rule B attachment, toxic torts, maritime liens, collision and allision, marine insurance, and employment and general civil litigation in state and federal courts. He graduated from Tulane University Law School with a juris doctor degree and a certificate of specialization in maritime law. While at Tulane, Boyajian served as a managing editor of the Tulane Maritime Law Journal. Boyajian also holds a U.S. Coast Guard Master of Sail, Power and Assistance Tow license.

J.C. Van Voorhees and Ellen Krider dissolved their law partnership, effective Sept. 1. Krider will retain the old office and contact numbers. Van Voorhees has relocated his law practice to 252 NW Claypool St., Prineville, OR 97754. His telephone and fax number is (541) 362-5599. His email is vanvoorheeslaw@crestviewcable.com.

Land use attorney Phillip Grillo has joined Davis Wright Tremaine as a partner in the firm’s Portland office. Grillo brings more than three decades of experience in land use planning, permitting and development to the firm. He represents a wide range of residential, commercial, industrial and institutional clients on major projects throughout the Pacific Northwest. He also served for many years as a land use hearings officer in various cities and counties in Oregon and Washington. Among Grillo’s most prominent clients in recent years has been the Working Waterfront Coalition, a group of businesses responding to an effort by the city of Portland to amend development regulations along the North Reach of the Willamette River.

Jamie L. Pfeiffer has joined Bullivant Houser Bailey as an associate in the Portland office. Pfeiffer is the latest addition to the firm’s commercial litigation group. Previously, she clerked with Potratz & Hollander, the Cook County state’s attorney’s office and Barrett & Associates in Chicago, Ill. While interning with the state’s attorney’s office, Pfeiffer prepared for, researched and independently conducted criminal court proceedings, motions and trials in a felony trial courtroom. Pfeiffer earned her J.D. from the DePaul University School of Law, where she was managing business editor for the DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal.

Beth Crawford has established her own law firm, Crawford Law Firm LLC, in Corvallis. Her practice emphasizes family law, family law appeals and probate matters. She earned her J.D. from the University of Oregon School of Law. She also holds degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary and Wake Forest University. Crawford’s new office is located at 310 .N.W Fifth St., Suite 101, Corvallis, OR 97330. She can be reached at (541)752-3237 or at beth@crawfordlawfirm.us.

Belton Hamilton, Oregon’s first African American federal administrative law judge, died April 15, 2011, of natural causes. He was 86.

H.J. Belton Hamilton was born June 1, 1924, in Columbus, Miss., one of 10 siblings and a grandson of former slaves. He served as a medic in the U.S. Army during World War II, earning a Purple Heart. After the war, in 1949, he received his undergraduate degree, becoming one of the first African American men to graduate from Stanford University. In 1953, he graduated from Lewis & Clark’s Northwestern College of Law.

Hamilton is remembered as a trailblazing civil rights and labor advocate who led state efforts in enforcing wage and hour requirements, farm workers’ protections, and developing housing anti-discrimination laws that became a model for the rest of the nation.

Appointed as the state’s first black assistant attorney general in 1954, Hamilton substantially influenced every important civil rights law that passed the Oregon Legislature in the 1960s and 1970s, according to former officials. Hamilton was the highest ranking African American in state government when he left the justice department to accept an appointment as a federal administrative law judge in 1970. He served in that position for 25 years, retiring in 1995.

Hamilton is survived by his wife, Midori Minamoto Hamilton; a son and daughter, three grandchildren and two sisters.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Donald C. Ashmanskas died suddenly July 18, 2011, while working in a community garden in Beaverton. Ashmanskas, a larger-than-life personality known inside and outside the courthouse as “Judge Ash,” was 75.

Ashmanskas was born Aug. 26, 1935, in Boston, Mass. He served in the Marines from 1954 to 1957. He then attended Boston College, the University of Maine and Rutgers University before receiving his B.A. degree in 1960. He earned his J.D. degree from the New York University School of Law in 1966.

Prior to receiving his law degree, Donald Ashmanskas worked stints as a revenue officer for the U.S. Treasury Department and as an editor for Commerce Clearing House. In 1966, he became an assistant professor at the University of Oregon. In 1968, he joined the League of Oregon Cities as a legal counselor and field consultant. He was Beaverton city attorney from 1970 to 1975.

He joined the bench in 1975, serving on the Washington County District Court. In 1977, he was promoted to the Washington County Circuit Court and served there until he was appointed a federal magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon in September 1992.

Ashmanskas was voracious reader and trivia fan. His longtime devotion to his hometown Boston Red Sox almost goes without mentioning. His many friends recall his humor, wit and charm. U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken told the Oregonian that being around Ashmanskas was like visiting “an intellectual candy store” because of his wide range of interests. He shared both tips and produce from his garden, she recalled.

Ashmanskas’ wife, Joyce-Marie, predeceased him. He is survived by three children, a sister, one brother and one grandchild. The family requested remembrances be made to the Classroom Law Project, which Judge Ashmanskas supported and participated in for many years.

Administrative law judge Chuck Mundorff of Eugene died suddenly of heart failure on June 20, 2011, while on a fishing trip with his son Charlie. He was 52.

Charles Ralph Mundorff was born July 10, 1958 in West Branch, Mich. After high school in Anchorage, Alaska, he moved to Portland, where he held a variety of jobs including orderly, carpet layer and production manager at a printing company. While working at the printing company, Mundorff began attending Portland State University. He graduated from PSU in 1990 and from the University of Oregon School of Law in 1994.

Following graduation, Mundorff practiced law in Eugene at Rasmussen & Henry. In 1999, Mundorff moved to Tillamook and joined the practice of W. Todd Westmoreland. Mundorff specialized in workers’ compensation and disability law throughout Oregon. In May 2008, he became an administrative law judge for the Workers’ Compensation Board hearings division, based in the Eugene office. Over the course of his practice, Mundorff actively participated in the OSB Workers’ Compensation Section. He had been serving as chairman of the section’s executive committee since January 2011.

Mundorff loved books, history, politics and food. He was an avid sports fan and took his family to BCS national championship game in Arizona to cheer on his beloved Ducks. He also coached youth baseball and softball teams. He was also a musician, playing lead guitar in a garage band. He was also active in his community and was a member of the Rotary Club of Eugene Delta.

Mundorff is survived by his wife of 19 years, Deborah Hallick Mundorff, two children, his mother, two sisters, a brother, Karl and their families.

Longtime Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Loren L. “Buz” Sawyer died Aug. 31, 2011. He was 80.

Sawyer was born in Redmond, Ore., on March 24, 1931. He attended primary school in Redmond, preparatory school in Portland and Salem, college at Willamette University and law school at the University of Oregon.

Among his many accomplishments were the initiation of Project Misdemeanant, the Jackson County misdemeanor probation program. He was a founder of Star Gulch home for troubled children; initiator of the Jackson County Alcohol Offender Program; initiator of Jackson County Driver Improvement School; organizer of Jackson County’s first drug rehabilitation program; and organizer of Jackson County’s Volunteers for Juveniles Program. He also helped organize Jackson County’s Little League and Soccer Programs.

In addition he actively served as president of the board of the Rogue Council Campfire Girls, president of the board of the YMCA, a member of Southern Oregon State College Regional advisory board and foundation, member of the Carpenter Foundation, the Providence Hospital Ethics Committee, the Jackson County Greenway Foundation, the board of directors of the Mount Ashland Ski Area, the advisory board of the Alternative Education Program, the advisory committee of the Children’s Services Division, the Governor’s Commission on Judicial Reform, the state task force to study state jail needs, the State Board of Education task force to study the status and needs of state colleges, and the State Jail Overcrowding Project.

Sawyer loved to teach and shared his skills at Southern Oregon University’s departments of Criminology, Education and Business, and at the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, among many others. He authored numerous articles for legal publications and sections of the Evidence Handbook for use at the National Judicial College.

He was honored as Medford Oregon Safety Council Citizen of the Year, Medford Education Association Award for Service to Education, the National Judicial College Hall of Honor and received a certificate of merit from the Exalumnos of the Amistad program of Guanajuato, Mexico.

The youngest appointment to the bench, he was only 29 years old when he became a judge. At his retirement, he was the second longest serving judge in the history of Oregon, having completed 37 years on the bench. He was known for his courage in making difficult and often controversial decisions. As a senior judge, he continued to serve as an arbitrator and mediator.

He was an avid outdoorsman, well known for his love of hiking, backpacking, skiing and bicycling, having ridden his bicycle to work from Ashland to Medford for 25 years.

He retired from the U.S. Navy as a lieutenant commander.

Sawyer is survived by his wife, Sandra, four daughters and three sons, as well as two exchange students who became his children, and many grandchildren and great grandchildren.

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