Shanelle Boyd, a former defense attorney, deputy district attorney and police officer, and now a candidate member for the National Speaker’s Association, is speaking to law enforcement agencies, lawyers and the public on the major causes for wrongful convictions and how to prevent them. Her focus is on creating more efficient training techniques and installing better policies to prevent wrongful convictions. Her goal is to partner with the various Innocence and Wrongful Convictions projects across the country.
Miller Nash senior litigation partner Peter Richter has been elected to the board of Oregon Law Institute, the continuing legal education department of Lewis & Clark Law School. Additionally, Richter has been appointed to the International Academy of Trial Lawyers (IATL) Site Committee for a three-year term. Last year, Richter was elected as a fellow in the IATL.
Tonkon Torp attorney Michael Millender has joined the board of Portland Made, a new association of small local manufacturers that seeks to grow Portland’s local manufacturing economy by educating policymakers and the public about urban manufacturing. Millender is a partner in Tonkon Torp’s taxation and executive compensation and employee benefits practice groups. He advises clients on federal, state and local tax matters and employee benefits matters, including retirement plans, equity-based plans and fringe benefit plans.
Jeremy Sacks, Portland office partner and business litigator for Stoel Rives, has been named a BTI Client Service All-Star by the BTI Consulting Group, a leading provider of strategic research to law firms and corporate general counsel. The 2014 list consists of 330 attorneys nationwide who are nominated independently by corporate counsel for client service performance exceeding all others. Sacks was one of only three Portland attorneys recognized.
Davis Wright Tremaine partner Tim Volpert was elected president of the Multnomah Bar Foundation as of Jan. 1. He previously served as vice president and secretary-treasurer. The foundation promotes civic education, public participation and respect for the law and supports programs and projects related to the foundation’s purpose.
Tonkon Torp trial lawyer Ryan M. Bledsoe has been elected to the Oregon State Parks Foundation’s board of trustees. Bledsoe, a senior associate in the firm’s litigation group, has worked on cases in both federal and state courts addressing antitrust, securities, trust and intellectual property issues. Bledsoe is secretary of the Forest Park Conservancy board of directors and also serves on the Multnomah Bar Association’s Continuing Legal Education Committee. His election continues a long association between the firm and the foundation. Tonkon Torp founding partner Brian Booth played a key role in the 1995 establishment of the foundation (formerly the Oregon State Parks Trust), which raises funds and builds partnerships to restore and create new facilities and sites in the Oregon state park system. Bledsoe is the fifth Tonkon Torp lawyer to serve on the board. The firm also provides office space to the
Portland mediator Susan was selected to serve as a judge and mediator for the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Mediation Week held Feb. 7-12 in Paris. The ICC competition involves more than 500 students, 65 teams from 42 countries, who compete to demonstrate their skills as collaborative problem solvers. Hammer judged or mediated for students from Bulgaria and Bahrain, Germany and Australia, the United States and New Zealand, Israel and Denmark, Singapore and Canada, Russia and France, Ukraine and The Netherlands.
Traci Ray, Barran Liebman’s executive director, was honored with the Campaign for Equal Justice Staff Award for Exceptional Fundraising Contributions at its annual luncheon in February. Ray served on the CEJ board from 2011 to 2013 and is currently an advisory member. She is also the Multnomah Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Section Board president, a board member with the Oregon Law Foundation and auction co-chair for the Oregon Women Lawyers Foundation board.
Lane Powell shareholder Brenna K. Legaard was recently named a “Forty Under 40” honoree by the Portland Business Journal. The award honors executives under 40 years of age who have character, achievement and involvement as a consistent theme in their career. Legaard is a member of Lane Powell’s intellectual property and technology practice group, where she focuses her practice on crafting intellectual property protection that supports client business goals. She has also worked with the Oregon legislature, the governor’s office, the Insurance Commission and the Health Evidence Review Commission to secure coverage of therapy for children with developmental disabilities such as autism.
Lane Powell raised more than $33,000 during the Oregon Lawyers Against Hunger food drive benefiting the Oregon Food Bank. As the top fundraiser during this year’s drive, Lane Powell again received the “Silver Barrel Award” —the firm’s 16th year to receive this recognition. Attorneys Lisa D. Poplawski and Cozette Tran-Caffeeled the effort this year as firm captains, organizing entertaining fundraising events like karaoke and Pictionary for employees.
Craig Nichols, founding partner of the Law Firm of Nichols & Associates in Portland, was recently elected president of the Brain Injury Alliance of Oregon (formerly known as the Brain Injury Association of Oregon). He most served as a board member in 2013. Nichols’ practice includes representation of the Oregon Auto Dealers Association, Metro Portland New Car Dealers Association and Metro Portland R.V. Dealers Association. In addition to representing local and regional businesses, his trial practice has, for more than 30 years, included representation of severely injured individuals and their families in both state and federal courts.
Bridget Donegan of Larkins Vacura has been sworn in as a member of the Portland Police Citizen Review Committee. The committee reviews investigations of officer conduct, makes recommendations on bureau policies and conducts public outreach activities. Her term is for three years.
Mindy Stannard has joined McKinley Irvin as an associate in the firm’s Portland office. With a decade of family law experience in Oregon, Stannard tackles clients’ most difficult challenges with tenacity, and an eye for creative solutions. For more information, visit www.McKinleyIrvin.com.
Tamsen L. Leachman has joined Littler Mendelson’s Portland office as a shareholder. Leachman represents employers in a wide variety of employment-related lawsuits, administrative hearings and grievances, as well as arbitrations, unfair labor practices and collective bargaining. She counsels employers on laws governing employment relationships, with an emphasis on prevention through compliance, coupled with the development of strategic, system-driven solutions. She also assists in the development of proactive training programs for human resource professionals, managers, executives and in-house counsel. Leachman serves as president of the Portland Human Resource Management Association and as a member of the executive committee of the Board for Children’s Developmental Health Institute. She is admitted to practice in Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
Duke Tufty has become a partner in Wyse Kadish effective Jan. 1. Tufty joined Wyse Kadish in June 2013 and focuses his practice on alcohol regulatory law. He helps Pacific Northwest businesses that make or sell alcohol to understand the regulatory environment, obtain their licenses and permits, stay in compliance and defend their licenses when necessary. To learn more about his practice, visit his blog at nwalcohollaw.com.
Diane S. Sykes announces the formation of Diane S. Sykes, Attorney at Law, specializing in civil rights, primarily in the areas of employment, housing and public accommodation. She will also take referrals on wage and hour, landlord/tenant, consumer protection and domestic violence matters. For more information, go to www.dianessykeslaw.com.
Paige A. De Muniz has been named a shareholder of Gevurtz Menashe. De Muniz received J.D., with a certificate in dispute resolution from Willamette University College of Law in 2008. Her practice focuses on a broad range of family law issues, including divorce and complex asset cases, custody and parenting time, child support, grandparent and third-party rights, paternity issues and domestic partnerships. De Muniz is a member of the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association and the Oregon Academy of Family Law Practitioners. She is also a board member for the Multnomah Bar Young Lawyers Section and serves on the development committee for the YWCA of Greater Portland.
Andrea Coit has been named a shareholder of Harrang Long Gary Rudnick. Coit has been with the firm since 2001. Before being named shareholder, she was a senior litigation associate. The experienced litigator’s practice includes a wide range of civil defense matters in state and federal courts, focusing on the defense of individuals and both public and private entities in matters involving professional negligence defense, civil rights violations, products liability claims and employment disputes.
Roland Iparraguirre has been named deputy director of the Oregon Lottery. Previously, Iparraguirre had been with the city of Portland as deputy city attorney since 2006. In that role he served as legal counsel during city council meetings and advised the city’s elected officials on numerous issues that were highly political and controversial. From 1997 to 2006, Iparraguirre served as an assistant attorney general with the Oregon Department of Justice. During that time, he served as general counsel to Oregon’s largest agencies, such as Oregon Department of Transportation, Oregon State Police, Department of Motor Vehicles and Oregon Youth Authority, and also worked on legal matters for the Oregon Lottery. Born in Peru, Iparraguirre moved to the United States when he was 8 and was raised in the Coos Bay/North Bend area.
Shannon Armstrong has become a shareholder with Markowitz, Herbold, Glade & Mehlhaf. She joined the law firm as an associate in 2011. Armstrong will continue to concentrate her practice in the area of complex litigation, representing clients in business litigation ranging from breach of contract actions and shareholder disputes to commercial real estate matters. Armstrong has experience in state and federal courts, arbitrations and mediations, and in all stages of the litigation process.
Perkins Coie has promoted two attorneys in the Portland office to partnership. Christopher (Chris) Criglow is a member of the firm’s real estate practice, focusing on real estate development, leasing, purchases, sales and financings. Criglow has represented a wide variety of clients and has significant experience in many different types of transactions and property types, with particular focus in the following areas: commercial, industrial, forest products and agriculture, environment, natural resources, and renewable energy sources, and eminent domain/condemnation. He is a member and chair of the education committee for the Commercial Association of Brokers (Oregon & Southwest Washington). Gina K. Eiben is a member of the firm’s business practice, focusing on public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, securities compliance, corporate governance, private placements, restructurings and spinoffs. She has a broad range of experience in public and private company business and financing transactions, as well as ongoing securities compliance and counseling. Eiben is a member of the board of directors of Portland Parks Foundation and has served as a member of the board of directors of Oregon Women Lawyers.
Paul Taylor, formerly of Taylor Global Law Office, has been appointed vice president and general counsel for Ajinomoto North America, the U.S. subsidiary of a large Japanese company that produces and sells food, nutritional and pharmaceutical products around the world. Taylor will be responsible for all legal matters in the company’s 10 offices and factories across the U.S. He will be based in the company’s North Portland office. He can be reached at taylorp@ajiusa.com. Read more about him at www.ajinomotofoods.com.
Zachary Brunot has joined Randy M. Elmer, Attorney at Law, as an associate attorney. His practice will focus primarily on representing individuals in their workers’ compensation, employment law and personal injury matters. Brunot graduated from Willamette University College of Law in 2012. He can be reached at (503) 581-9770 or zachary@elmerlaw.com. For more information, visit www.elmerlaw.com.
Ann Marie Simmons was sworn in Dec. 6, 2013, as Douglas County’s newest circuit court judge. Simmons was appointed by Gov. John Kitzhaber in November to succeed retiring Judge Ron Poole. Prior to her appointment, Simmons served three years as a public defender and 11 years as a deputy district attorney, including four years prosecuting delinquencies for the Douglas County Juvenile Department. In 2005, was recognized as the state’s Prosecutor of the Year by the Oregon Multi-Disciplinary DUII Training Task Force.
Holland & Knight has announced a major addition to its Portland office, welcoming five new partners and an associate to its West Coast litigation practice and introducing a new practice area for the firm. All of the new lawyers were previously with the Portland office of a national firm and are among the most experienced in the country in lawyer ethics, risk management and regulation law. Peter Jarvis focuses his practice on legal ethics, risk management and disciplinary defense matters for lawyers, law firms and corporate legal departments. Jarvis is co-author of The Law of Lawyering, one of the leading treatises on professional responsibility issues nationally. At his former firm, Jarvis was a co-chair of the professional responsibility and risk management practice area was also a former member of that firm’s executive committee. Allison Rhodes advises lawyers and law firms on legal ethics and risk management. She also advises both law firms and lawyers in matters involving lawyer mobility, partnership and corporate structuring, lawyer dissociation and lateral hiring. Rhodes is the co-author together with Ron Mallen of the leading treatise, Legal Malpractice, in which Rhodes authors the discussions pertaining to legal ethics, risk management, fiduciary duty and conflicts of interests. Along with Jarvis, Rhodes was a co-chair of the professional responsibility and risk management practice area at her former firm. Roy Pulvers handles appeals for lawyers and law firms, government bodies and officials, and he has been counsel on private-sector appeals that are among the largest personal injury, products liability and class action cases in Oregon. Pulvers has been recognized by Super Lawyers as a top lawyer in appellate law since 2008. In addition to professional responsibility and government/elections law, Pulvers has focused his practice for the last 30 years on appeals, and he is widely recognized for his expertise in appellate law and First Amendment law. Dayna Underhill handles the representation of lawyers and law firms in ethics and professional responsibility, risk management and attorney discipline matters. She also represents clients in state and federal court employment matters and securities and commercial litigation. David Elkanich defends lawyers in attorney discipline matters and disqualification motions as well as other professional responsibility matters. He advises lawyers on how to navigate an “electronic” practice with online issues, metadata mining and social media. He also represents clients in commercial litigation. Calon Russell assists law firms at the organizational level, assists lawyers with regulatory compliance issues, and defends lawyers accused of misconduct. He also focuses on civil litigation, primarily at the appellate level.
Vaden Francisco Jr., has joined Harrang Long Gary Rudnick as an associate attorney in the firm’s Eugene office. His practice will continue to focus on business and aviation law, as well as estate planning and veterans’ benefits. He regularly advises clients in a variety of industries regarding the formation of a business, succession planning, contracts and agreements and other legal business transactions. As a former business owner and manager, Francisco brings a unique prospective to his practice of the law. He was previously a sole practitioner in Eugene and has been active in the Eugene Chamber of Commerce and other community organizations.
Gülgün Mersereau has been elected to partner at Hawkins, Delafield & Wood. Mersereau represents governments, including cities, counties, state agencies and special districts, in a wide variety of financings. She has a bachelor of arts degree from University of California at Los Angeles and a J.D., from the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law.
James Barrett and Jennifer Nelson have been elected to shareholder at Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart. Barrett represents private and public employers in all aspects of employment disputes. He has defended clients against single plaintiff and class action lawsuits involving claims relating to wage and hour disputes, drug testing, whistle blowing, discrimination and retaliation. He has also successfully obtained injunctive relief to enforce noncompetition agreements against a client’s former employees. Nelson focuses her practice on representing employers in a range of labor and employment matters, including class action claims involving discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination and wage and hour issues. She has represented employers in state and federal courts, as well as before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries and the Washington Human Rights Commission.
Josh K. Smith and Cassie K. Jones have been promoted to partners at Gleaves Swearingen. Both are members of the firm’s litigation team. Smith focuses his practice on commercial disputes and employment, construction defect, insurance subrogation and property r elated matters. Jones specializes in creditors’ rights, bankruptcy, general business litigation and insurance subrogation.
Real estate attorney Robert G. Koury II has joined Jordan Ramis, effective, Jan. 15, as a shareholder and chair of its real estate practice. Koury addresses the full range of real estate matters, including transactional, financing, leasing and development, guiding clients through acquisition, construction, leasing, financing, refinancing and the restructuring of loans. He earned both his J.D. and MBA from Willamette University. He is a member of the Building Owners and Managers Association and the International Council of Shopping Centers.
Buckley Law announces that attorney Stan Rotenberg has been elected by the firm’s board of directors as president for the 2014 term. Practicing law for over 30 years, Rotenberg brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the role. His practice emphasizes commercial real estate transactions, as well as general business and finance matters. Rotenberg also represents general corporate, limited liability company, partnership and joint venture clients in connection with the formation and the sale and purchase of businesses.
Miller Nash recently elected six new partners in its Portland office, all women. Miller Nash has 113 total attorneys, of which about a third are women. The percentage is similar for partners: out of 75 partners, 26 are women. According to the American Bar Association, women make up only about 20 percent of partners in law firms across the country, though about 45 percent of law firm associates are women. In 2012, women accounted for 47 percent of law school graduates, according to the National Association of Women Lawyers. The new partners at Miller Nash, and their respective practice areas, are: Mia Butzbaugh, employee benefits; Jeneé Hilliard, real estate and tax; Naomi Levelle Haslitt, employment and labor relations, education and litigation; Stacey Martinson, litigation, construction and insurance; Elizabeth Milesnick, intellectual property and litigation; and Jeanne Sinnott, debtorcreditor litigation and bankruptcy.
Richard G. Morganhas joined the Reynolds Defense Firm in Portland. After graduating from Princeton in 1993 with a degree in philosophy, he spent the next decade working his way across the country, ultimately living in Portland and attending law school in Salem at Willamette University. Morgan received his law degree in 2006 and since then has worked exclusively as an Oregon criminal defense attorney. Reach him at 1512 S.W. 18th Ave., Portland, OR 97201; phone: (503) 223-3422; website: www.reynoldsdefensefirm.com.
David W. Cramer has joined Martin Bischoff as an associate. His practice will focus on civil litigation with an emphasis on products liability, defense of financial institutions and general insurance defense.
John W. Knottnerus has been elected as managing partner of Martin Bischoff. He will continue to concentrate his practice on product liability defense, insurance coverage and defense, and complex commercial litigation. Knottnerus is a member of the Oregon, Washington and Alaska bars.
Senior Judge Janice Wilson has joined ADR Support Services’ panel of mediators and arbitrators. Wilson served as a Multnomah Circuit Court judge from 1994 to 2013 and Multnomah County District Court judge from 1991 to 1994. Before that she was an associate and later a partner at Lindsay, Hart, Neil & Weigler. Wilson brings a wide range of knowledge and expertise to both mediations and arbitrations. Read more about her at www.adrsupportservices.com.
Douglas A. Miltenberger announces the opening of the Law Office of Douglas A. Miltenberger. His new practice will focus on mediation, family law and education law. His office is located at 521 S.W. Clay St., Suite 202, Portland, OR 97201; phone: (503) 227-3444; email: dmilten bergerlaw@gmail.com.
Shelly Matthys has been named executive director of St. Andrew Legal Clinic, a not-for-profit clinic serving low income families in the Portland area. Matthys, a staff attorney with the clinic for 16 years, most recently served as lead attorney and manager of the Multnomah County office. Her practice has focused on custody, parenting time and support in cases of domestic violence, substance abuse and mental health issues. As a volunteer, Matthys represents children in high-conflict domestic relations cases as an attorney for the Counsel for Children program. She is a member of the Multnomah County Circuit Court Family Law Advisory Committee and has served on several state and local committees of the Oregon State Bar. Matthys replaces Joel Overlund, who served as the clinic’s executive director for 18 years before deciding to enter private practice.
Megan R. Lemire and Jason K. Hiranoannounce the opening of their law office, Lemire & Hirano, in Portland. Lemire will focus on employment law and civil rights litigation, and Hirano will focus on estate planning and administration and elder law.
Douglas Green announces the opening of The Law Office of Douglas Green. His practice will continue to focus primarily on personal injury and criminal defense in Oregon and Washington. He has several years of experience as both a public defender and a civil litigator. He can be reached at (503) 935-5450 or doug@douglasgreenattorney.com.
The Local Government Law Group (a member of Speer Hoyt) announces that Lauren Sommers has become a partner in its boutique municipal law practice. She graduated from the University of Oregon School of Law in 2006 and since joining the bar has been advising local government entities. Her areas of expertise include government ethics, public records and public meetings laws, election law, employment law, municipal budget law and legislative advocacy.
Longtime Brookings lawyer Samuel A. Hall died at home with family on Dec. 18, 2013. He was 98.
Samuel Alphonso Hall was born Aug. 12, 1915, on a homestead near Higley, Ariz. He grew up in and near Fresno, Calif., the fifth of six brothers and sisters. Responsibility and work ethic were established early in life. By age 12, he had earned and saved enough from selling newspapers on a street corner to buy his first suit. His youth was spent working to help support the family and by age 20 he had already worked years of manual labor on farms and in vineyards and packing plants. He dug canals with a blade pulled by a two or four horse team. He worked in the woods with the Civilian Conservation Corps.
In 1935, Hall moved to Portland and began working for Purdy Paint Brush Co. in St. Johns. He was still helping to support his mother and stepfather. He became a leader in his union. In 1937, Hall began attending night law school at Northwestern College of Law after work each day. His was the last entering class eligible to attend with only a high school diploma. Hall attributed his desire to become a lawyer to some of the current events of his youth, but specifically credited a high school agriculture teacher who also taught and encouraged public speaking. He was admitted to the Oregon bar September 1941 and remained a member until his death.
Hall’s first few months of law practice in Portland were halted by World War II. Like many others, Hall closed his law practice and joined the Army. While stationed at Drew Field, Tampa, Fla., Hall met his future wife, Jeanie Margaret Trice, through a dinner invitation. Jeanie was teaching grammar school and was a daughter of a prominent Tampa pioneer family. Hall and Jeanie wrote each other almost daily for the two years Hall was overseas, including his proposal and her acceptance of marriage.
Hall gained the rank of diamond first sergeant and was decorated, including the Bronze Star, for the beach invasion of North Africa at Oran, Algeria, and the battles for the Kasserine Pass, the invasion of Sicily and the beach invasion at Salerno, Italy. He was engaged in the battle of Monte Cassino, Italy, when told he could go home. He and Jeanie were married in her parent’s home in Tampa on July 5, 1944.
After his discharge in October 1945, Hall and Jeanie returned to Portland. Hall’s work included the city attorney’s office and private practice. In 1948, Hall joined the Oregon attorney general’s office, and the family, including two sons, made Salem home. Assigned to litigation, Hall tried cases in almost every, if not every, county in Oregon. He was then appointed to be statutory counsel for the state Highway Commission.
In early 1951, Hall accepted an invitation to move to Brookings, opening a private practice with retainers from local mills and the newly established plywood manufacturing cooperative. His office was on the main floor of the Central Building. His first task was saving the co-op from being shut down, before it even opened, for selling shares without securing any timber contracts to supply the enterprise. He convinced the attorney general’s office to hold off while timber was secured. A ceremonial piece cut from the plant’s first sheet of plywood was proudly displayed in his office.
Hall wore many hats, including as the first city attorney for the newly incorporated town of Brookings, school board member, district attorney for Curry County, and in 1960 was elected district court judge, a position he served in for 20 years.
Based on an experimental program he read about and studied, Hall pioneered one of the first alternative sentencing programs in Oregon. Even before being elected to the district court, Hall had served as a circuit court judge pro tem and continued to do so while maintaining his district court, returning to preside over trials in Portland, Eugene and Klamath Falls each year. He practiced law one last year in Eugene with son Sam Jr., before fully retiring in 1982.
Jeanie died in 2002, after 58 years of marriage. Hall is survived by his six sons and their families, 17 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren, 12 great-great-grandchildren, and nieces and nephews in Oregon, California and Florida.
Walter H. Pendergrass, the son of V.V. Pendergrass, the founder of what is now Bullivant Houser Bailey, died Dec. 26, 2013, in Portland. He was 88.
Pendergrass was born in Portland on Jan. 26, 1925, the eldest of the three children of Victor V. and Lorraine (Hinson) Pendergrass. He joined Bullivant in 1950 after his graduation from Stanford Law School. He served as managing partner of the firm for many years following his election to partnership in 1957. His contemporaries and fellow Stanford Law students included U. S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and U.S. Senator Frank Church. (He served as best man in Church’s wedding.)
Pendergrass was known nationally and well respected for his imaginative resolution of complex estate and business issues. He was a member of the Board of Visitors of Stanford Law School (1968-1971), chaired the Probate Committee of the Oregon State Bar (1973-74) and was a fellow with the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. He also chaired the Stanford Alumni Association of Oregon for a term and the Oregon Traffic Safety Commission for more than a decade.
He was active in his church and was also a member of the Columbia Pacific Council of the Boy Scouts. A scoutmaster for more than a decade, he received the “Silver Beaver” award for his work with the Boy Scouts.
For many years, he and his wife, Jeanne, owned a house in Manzanita, where he was a two-term city councilor. He enjoyed hiking the beaches and fishing on the Nehalem.
Survivors include his wife, Jeanne, a sister, a son and two daughters, four grandchildren, three stepchildren and five step-grandchildren.