Oregon State Bar Bulletin — AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014
Bar People
Among Ourselves
The University of Oregon School of Law will honor OSB member Fred Risser this month with the school’s John E. Jaqua Distinguished Alumnus Award, given to individuals who exemplify the highest quality and ethical standards of the school. Risser was first elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1956, representing part of the city of Madison. In 1962, he was elected to the state Senate and is the longest serving state legislator in the nation. He was elected Wisconsin Senate president 15 times, serving more than 25 years in that position. Risser helped pass bills to promote women’s rights, protect the environment, reduce smoking and to allow public employees to form unions. He was the leading architect of Wisconsin’s recycling program and has been repeatedly named one of the “Clean Legislators” by Wisconsin Environmental Decade. A veteran of the U.S. Navy, he was honored in August 2013 by the National Conference of State Legislatures as one of six World War II veterans currently serving in state legislatures. The award will be bestowed during a dinner Sept. 12 in Eugene.
Dunn Carney estate planning and business attorney Heather L. Guthrie has been appointed to the board of directors of the United Way of the Columbia-Willamette for a three-year term. Guthrie also serves as chair of the planned giving advisory council for United Way and has been working with the nonprofit for seven years.
Judy Johnson and Sally Curey were recently appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state senate as members of the Workers’ Compensation Board. Johnson worked as in-house counsel for both Saif Corp. and Liberty Mutual, and most recently had her own private practice representing self-insured employers. Prior to her appointment, Curey had worked for the last 23 years as in-house counsel for Liberty Mutual.
Miller Nash business and intellectual property attorney Brian Sniffen has been selected to join the Portland Business Alliance’s Leadership Portland class of 2015, a program for designed to develop community leaders. Sniffen, a member of the firm’s business group, focuses his practice on helping clients manage and enforce valuable intellectual property rights and with corporate formation and governance matters. He also has a passion for helping Portland’s start-up businesses and volunteers with the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network.
The Oregon Women Lawyers Foundation announces its 2014-15 slate of board officers: Lori E. Deveny, president; Deanna Wray, president-elect; Kristie Gibson, treasurer; and Trudy Allen, secretary. New board members include Kate Wilkinson and the Hon. Jill Tanner. Also, Kathy Root is the new OWLF advisory board president, and Cristina Sanz is a new member of the advisory board. Continuing OWLF Board members include Jill Brittle, Kat Kogan, Karen Nashiwa, Aruna Masih, Sarah Freeman, Terri Kraemer, Jodee Jackson, Phylis Myles, Traci Ray, Katharine von Ter Stegge, Maite Uranga and Diane Rynerson (ex officio).
Tonkon Torp attorney Jeff Bradford has been appointed to the board of directors of the Federal Bar Association, Oregon chapter. An associate in the firm’s litigation department, Bradford focuses his practice on breach of contract actions and business ownership disputes. He replaces Colin Love-Geiger and joins Chris Pallanch, two other Tonkon Torp attorneys who are involved with the FBA.
Sam Hernandez, an associate with Barran Liebman, has been honored by the Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber with its Leadership Award. The award recognizes Hernandez’s years of service as a member of the board of directors and leadership in supporting the advancement of Latino businesses, students and community members in Oregon and southwest Washington. Hernandez has served on the board since 2011.
Miller Nash government and regulatory attorney Carla Kelley was recently elected to the board of directors for the Oregon Repertory Singers and will immediately assume a leadership position as board secretary. The group is celebrating its 41st season this year; she has sung with the group for the past five years. Kelley, a member of the firm’s business group, works with clients on government and regulatory issues.
Miller Nash has joined Multilaw, one of the world’s largest associations of independent law firms. Multilaw’s membership consists of 8,000 lawyers in 79 member firms, located in 68 countries. Founded in 1990, Multilaw assists members to provide the best possible service to clients through a variety of informational and skill-building resources and programs.
Cliff Davidson of Sussman Shank has been recognized by the National LGBT Bar Association as one of the Best LGBT Lawyers Under 40 — Class of 2014. The award recognizes outstanding lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender legal professionals under the age of 40 who have distinguished themselves in their field and demonstrated a profound commitment to LGBT equality. Davidson, a commercial litigator experienced in a diverse array of litigation cases, focuses his practice on commercial contract disputes, entertainment and intellectual property litigation, First Amendment litigation and counseling in the areas of privacy and data security.
David Ludwig, a shareholder with Farleigh Wada Witt, has been elected president of the Metropolitan Youth Symphony. The two-year term began July 1. He has been a member of the symphony board since 2012, and he brings more than 30 years of legal knowledge and experience to the organization. His law practice focuses on corporate and securities, real estate transactions and financing matters.
Carol Bernick, partner-in-charge of the Portland office of Davis Wright Tremaine, has been appointed to the board of directors of Metropolitan Family Service.
The Oregon Asian Pacific American Bar Association has elected a new board of directors, as of June. Officers are: Toan Nguyen, president; Liani Reeves, president-elect; Anne Nguyen, secretary; and Jovita Wang, treasurer. Also elected to the board were the Hon.Beth M. Bagley, the Hon. Mustafa Kashubhai, Hong Dao, Kristin Asai, Megha Desai, Genevieve Kiley, Jonathan Liou and Dan Simon. Also serving are student representatives: Tucker Kraught (Willamette), Paul Kim (Lewis & Clark) and Kouang Chan (University of Oregon).
Jordan Ramis shareholder Leta E. Gorman has been appointed secretary-treasurer of the International Association of Defense Counsel, upon a vote by the 2,500 members of the organization. Her term began July 9 and will last for three years. Gorman’s practice focuses on litigation and jury trials, insurance coverage, product liability defense and business disputes. She has extensive trial experience in a variety of state and federal courts.
Traci Ray, executive director at Barran Liebman, was recently selected to join the Albertina Kerr Events Committee. Albertina Kerr supports children, adults and Oregon families who face mental health challenges and developmental disabilities. Among Ray’s role will be the planning and implementing of the Christmas Ship Fundraiser, taking place on Dec. 8.
Jeff Merrick was added to the panel of mediators for Adverse Health Care Incidents, maintained by the Oregon Patient Safety Commission. Panel mediators must meet prescribed levels of experience as mediators and in work involving medical malpractice. In addition, panel mediators participated in a two-day training in June on the pertinent laws, on the concerns of health care providers and on the interests of those who suffer serious physical injury from actual and perceived medical mishaps.
Laura Craska Cooper, managing partner of Ball Janik’s Bend office, has been elected chair of the board of directors for Central Oregon Community College, effective July 1. Cooper represents Zone 2, which primarily encompasses Crook County. Cooper has practiced business, real estate and land use law since 1991, and has significant experience structuring real estate and corporate transactions, as well as obtaining development permits and land use entitlements.
Kenneth C. Goodin, senior associate in the Bend office of Stahancyk, Kent & Hook, was recently elected to the board of directors of the Education Foundation for Bend-LaPine Schools. Goodin, who focuses his practice on domestic relations, regularly represents clients in complex divorce, custody and child support litigation, including issues related to same-sex marriage.
The Oregon Criminal Defense Lawyers Association has elected new officers for the 2014-15 membership year. They are: Eve Oldenkamp, Klamath Falls, president; Edward Kroll, Hillsboro, vice president; and Gordon Mallon, Lake Oswego, secretary.
Judith Woodruff was recently elected chair of the board of the Equity Foundation, a community foundation established to advance equality for those in the LGBTQ and other diverse communities. Woodruff is a consultant specializing in the social innovation sector, working with a broad range of philanthropic entities, including private, family and community foundations, to address fundamental questions about mission, vision and impact, and how they can best use resources to address increasingly complex social problems. Prior to her consulting practice, Woodruff directed grant-making programs at the Northwest Health Foundation.
Samuels Yoelin Kantor firm partner Victoria Blachly has been appointed to the Allied Professionals Council at Legacy Health. The council provides support, advice and counsel to the planned giving program at Legacy Health. Blachly’s practice is almost entirely focused on fiduciary litigation for individual trustees, corporate trustees, beneficiaries and personal representatives, including trust and estate litigation, will contests, trust disputes, undue influence, capacity cases, claims of fiduciary breach, financial elder abuse cases, petitioning for court instructions, and contested guardianship and conservatorship cases.
Dunn Carney attorney Randy L. Arthur has been elected chair of the city of Lake Oswego Planning Commission. Earlier this year, the Lake Oswego City Council reappointed Arthur as a commissioner. He joined the planning commission in 2012. He is a senior civil litigation attorney at Dunn Carney whose practice focuses on complex litigation and dispute resolution relating to commercial contracts, professional liability and insurance matters.
In late May, Robert Weiss attended the 70th celebration of the liberation of Normandy, France. He was honored for his role in the Battle of Mortain in August 1944, the largest German counterattack in France in World War II, including the award of its Medaille d’Honneur by the Town of Mont St. Michel. He participated in ceremonies at Mortain on Hill 314, where he fought with the “Lost Battalion” at the American Military Cemetery at St. James and at Mont St. Michel. Wiess reports that the French people were overwhelming in their show of affection, goodwill and gratitude for the liberation.
Moves
The Pacific Seafood Group, a family-owned seafood company based in Portland, recently welcomed attorney Daniel Occhipinti to its team to oversee the company’s legal, risk management and public affairs issues. Occhipinti previously practiced at Stoel Rives, where he was a litigator in the firm’s Portland office. He has been active in many civic and community organizations and plans to continue his involvement and leadership as he represents Pacific. And here’s a fun fact about his last name: Occhipinti is Italian for “painted eyes,” named for the eyes painted on the side of Mediterranean fishing boats for good luck — a particularly fitting name for his new career at Pacific Seafood.
Nathan Orf has joined Karnopp Petersen as its newest associate attorney in the firm’s business department. His practice is primarily focused on helping clients with various commercial transactions, including entity formation, buying and selling businesses, corporate finance and securities, contract drafting and review, and regulatory compliance. Orf previously worked for a large regional firm in New Orleans, where he gained significant experience on matters ranging from entity formation, contract preparation and general business counseling, to arbitration and litigation. He received his J.D. from Willamette University College of Law and an LL.M. in admiralty from Tulane University Law School.
Sean Hoar, a veteran assistant U.S. attorney with the Department of Justice and the agency’s lead cyber attorney in Oregon, has joined the national privacy and data security team at Davis Wright Tremaine. Hoar has more than two decades of experience prosecuting complex white collar and high-tech crime, including intellectual property theft, computer intrusions, defense procurement fraud, identity theft, Internet fraud and securities fraud. He has spoken, taught and published widely on all of these topics, and he currently serves as an adjunct professor on cybercrime at both Lewis & Clark Law School and the University of Oregon School of Law. He will be based in the firm’s Portland office and will work with clients in Oregon and around the country.
Philip F. Schuster is relocating his office to 294 Warner Milne Road, Oregon City, OR 97045, effective July 1, where he will continue to practice appellate work, personal injury and worker’s compensation. Reach him at (503) 335-7765.
Elijah (Eli) B. Van Camp has joined Harrang Long Gary Rudnick as an associate attorney in the Portland office. Van Camp will work closely with the firm’s litigation department attorneys, specifically the professional liability defense, construction law and litigation, and business and commercial litigation groups. Van Camp previously worked at Brisbee & Stockton in Hillsboro, where he focused on defense of civil litigation, including professional liability, personal injury, construction and general liability claims. In that position, he gained significant experience resolving cases through mediation, arbitration and trial. He received his J.D. from the University of Oregon School of Law, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Oregon Review of International Law and was a member of the Moot Court Board.
Lisa C. Alan recently joined Lane Powell as counsel to the firm in the trusts and estates practice group, where she will focus her practice on advising clients on estate planning alternatives, in addition to discussing and defining estate planning objectives. Alan previously was an attorney in the trusts and estates group at Stoel Rives. She also worked at Schwabe, Williamson and Wyatt. Alan received her J.D. from Lewis & Clark College’s Northwestern School of Law.
Stephen T. Janik is stepping down as chair of Ball Janik for 10 years. The partnership has elected James T. McDermott as chair and David W. Criswellas managing partner. Janik, one of the firm’s founding partners, called the move “a symbolic milestone reflecting the growth and strength of the firm and the diversity of the firm’s practices.” McDermott, who has led the firm’s litigation practice since 1998, is a commercial business litigator and trial lawyer. Janik will maintain his real estate and land use practice and will continue to devote time to the Portland community, serving as a board member for the OHSU Foundation, the Knight Cancer Institute and the Portland Art Museum.
Todd Albert has joined the Oregon Judicial Department as an assistant legal counsel with the Office of the State Court Administrator in Salem. Albert received a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School in New York. He previously served as the Oregon acting local counsel to the Brownstone Appellate Law Firm, a national litigation law firm that advises clients on criminal and civil appeals. He also maintained his own legal practice in Portland, handling civil and criminal matters, including tribal sovereignty, tribal court jurisdiction, commercial leases and energy law. He spent more than 11 years as a public defender at the Legal Aid Society in New York, representing clients in all facets of criminal prosecution. He will provide legal counsel to the state courts on a variety of court administration issues.
Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt announces that Gillian Bunker, Christiane Fife, Sara Kobak, Peter Ricoy and Kelly Walsh have been named shareholders of the firm. Bunker, Fife, Kobak and Ricoy are located in the firm’s Portland office, and Walsh in the firm’s office in Vancouver, Wash. Gillian Bunker is an experienced patent attorney whose practice focuses on the preparation, prosecution and commercialization of U.S. and foreign utility and design patents. Assisting start-ups, established companies, universities and other research institutions, she provides advice ranging from patent procurement and protection, to due diligence analyses, technology transfer, licensing and strategic planning/counseling. She handles a variety of technologies, including mechanical devices, medical devices, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and chemistry. Christiane Fife focuses her practice on product liability litigation, representing businesses involved in automotive, pharmaceutical and medical device cases in federal, state and multidistrict proceedings. She regularly represents clients in consumer warranty disputes, disability and life insurance coverage and premises liability adjudications. She also devotes considerable time to advising manufacturers, distributors and sellers on the enforceability of product warranties and in drafting product warranties, disclaimers, warnings and limitations of liability. Sara Kobak specializes in appellate litigation. She has significant experience before the Oregon Court of Appeals, the Oregon Supreme Court, and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. She also has assisted with briefing before the U.S. Supreme Court at both the certiorari and merits stages. She is a volunteer attorney with the 9th Circuit Pro Bono Program and has served on the associates committee for the Campaign for Equal Justice. Peter Ricoy focuses his legal practice in health care law, data security and privacy, insurance regulation, and general corporate and business transactions. He works with health plans, physicians, group practices, hospitals, insurers and employers. He advises clients on a variety of matters, including issues related to health care reform under the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Stark and Anti-Kickback statutes, Medicare, Medicaid, reimbursement, HIPAA, COBRA and ERISA health plan matters. He previously served as associate general counsel for Cambia Health Solutions, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Kelly Walsh focuses her practice on the areas of commercial and business litigation, as well as construction law. Prior to joining the firm, she served for five years as a deputy district attorney in Deschutes County. She is the 2008 recipient of the “Outstanding Young Lawyer” award, presented by the Washington State Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division.
Kathryn Smith Root has been named a shareholder of Gevurtz Menashe. Root focuses her family law practice on divorce and post-divorce cases involving complex property and financial issues, interstate and international child-custody disputes, Hague child abduction matters and relocation. She is a leading authority on interstate and international custody in the U.S., having handled more than 100 contested interstate custody cases. She received her J.D. from Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College in 1984. She became of counsel with Gevurtz Menashe in April 2012.
Dan Ricks is pleased to announce the establishment of his solo practice, Dan Ricks, Attorney at Law. He can be contacted at Dan Ricks, Attorney at Law, 9570 S.W. Barbur Blvd., Suite 302, Portland, OR 97219; phone: (503) 946-1768; fax: (503) 946-1771; email: dan@danricks-law.com.
The University of Oregon School of Law welcomes alumna Kristie Gibson as the school’s new LL.M. (master of laws) program director. Gibson began her new role on July 1. Gibson replaces longtime Oregon law professor John Bonine, known worldwide as an expert in public interest environmental law. He had previously been serving concurrently as LL.M. faculty director and program director, but announced his retirement from both positions in 2013. Gibson spent a number of years in leadership roles doing international law and business as president and in-house counsel at Gibson Holders (subsequently Gibson Pacific), an international company involved in product development, manufacturing and sales. In addition, she has experience teaching for the law school and working with students, having developed and taught Oregon’s pilot four-credit undergraduate public international law course in 2013. Gibson’s experience includes work in private practice at Gartland, Nelson, McCleery & Wade in Eugene, where she focused on business and real property transactions, acquisitions, trademarks, copyright, intellectual property licensing, employment law and international manufacturing agreements.
Sue Lain has joined Buckley Law the firm as shareholder in the family law practice groups. Lain brings her entire Hohbach Law team, including associates Megan Brazo and Taylor Murdoch. She focuses her practice in the area of family law including divorce, custody and asset division. Lain has specialized experience handling military divorces and division of closely held businesses. She is also an experienced criminal law and juvenile law attorney.
Rocky Dallum has joined the government relations and public policy practice group at Tonkon Torp. Dallum, who previously worked in Oregon politics, returns to his roots with a business law degree and nearly five years of experience as in-house counsel at a large, public manufacturing company in Idaho. There, he advised business clients on general corporate matters, labor and employment law, and mergers and acquisitions. Dallum is a graduate of Linfield College and Willamette University College of Law. Prior to attending law school, he served as a legislative director, campaign manager and outreach director for organizations in Oregon and Idaho. He has advocated for both large and small nonprofits, advancing their public policy agendas at the state and federal level.
Jay Huh has joined Tonkon Torp as an associate in the firm’s business department. Huh most recently practiced corporate law with Sidley Austin in Palo Alto, Calif., where he provided counsel and transaction services to domestic and foreign technology-related and life sciences companies at various stages of development. His experience includes venture capital financings, intellectual property licensing, commercial and technology transactions, corporate governance, complex debt financing, mergers and acquisitions, and other corporate matters. Huh previously was a corporate associate in the Los Angeles office of White & Case.
In Memoriam
Retired Bend lawyer Frank Wesson died May 6, 2014. He was 74.
Frank Stegall Wesson was born Feb. 11, 1940, in Memphis, Tenn. He earned a B.A. from the University of Memphis and a J.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Law. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1965 to 1968 and was awarded the Bronze Star while serving in Vietnam. He practiced law in Chattanooga, Tenn., in 1971 and 1972, and labor and employment law in Portland from 1973 to 2012.
Wesson retired to Bend in 2012 with his wife of 27 years, Sandy, to hunt, fish, ski and play with his grandchildren.
His law practice is carried on by his former partner at the Law Office of David W. Duncan.