Douglas G. Houser has been recognized by the Defense Research Institute (DRI) with the Louis B. Potter Lifetime Professional Service Award. He received the award at the annual meeting of the 22,000 member DRI, held in mid-October in Chicago. Houser’s commitment to DRI began more than 40 years ago. He served twice on DRI’s board of directors, and also served as national treasurer, chaired the first annual membership convention in the early 1990s and lectured at DRI national continuing education programs dozens of times both in the U.S. and Europe. Locally, Houser has also held many leadership positions, including president of the Oregon Association of Defense Counsel (OADC), the state arm of DRI.
The public is invited to the dedication of the Oregon World War II Memorial at Wilson Park on the State Capitol grounds in Salem at 1:30 p.m., Friday, June 6, the 70th anniversary of D-Day. The DuBoff Law Group in Portland serves as the general counsel for the Oregon WWII Memorial Foundation, which is responsible for the memorial.
For a third consecutive year, K&L Gates has been identified among the top 20 law firm brands in the United States, according to legal market research company Acritas’ U.S. Law Firm Brand Index 2014. The ranking is based on interviews with more than 700 in-house counsel at organizations both in and outside the U.S. The report ranks firms on such factors as top-of-mind awareness, favorability, consideration for both major M&A and top-level litigation, and overall level of use.
Lynne Siegel, principal of Strategies for Philanthropy, has been elected vice chair of California Casualty Indemnity Exchange. Siegel will also serve as board chair of the company’s four subsidiaries, two of which are based in Oregon. She has been a California Casualty Board member for more than 20 years and has been the board secretary since 2010. Siegel is a philanthropy consultant; her practice serves foundations, trusts and philanthropic families making grants throughout the country.
Lane Powell Shareholder Jill R. Long has been selected for the 2014 Fellows Program of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, a national organization of leading general counsel and managing partners. The program is a highly structured initiative built to increase diversity at the leadership levels of the nation’s law firms and corporate legal departments.
Rachael Atchison has been elected to the board of directors of Portland’s Rock‘n’Roll Camp for Girls. Atchison is a member of Tonkon Torp’s business law practice group, where she works on a variety of matters including securities regulation and issues related to the financial services industry. An accomplished guitarist and song writer, she is co-founder of a band that has performed throughout the United States. The Rock ’n’ Roll Camp for Girls provides workshops and technical training that builds girls’ self-esteem through music creation and performance. Programs are available for girls and women age 8 and up.
The 2014 World Trademark Review 1000 recently named Lane Powell as one of the top trademark law firms in Oregon and Washington, and Lane Powell Oregon attorneys Kenneth R. Davis II and Parna A. Mehrbanias top individuals in the practice.
On March 5, Miller Nash and partner Greg Lynch hosted the Second Annual Animal Law Networking Event, in conjunction with Lewis & Clark Law School’s Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) and Animal Law Review. The event aimed to connect law students interested in animal law with professionals in the Portland area. Lynch, former chair of the Oregon State Bar Animal Law Section, was in attendance, as well as local attorneys from ALDF, the Oregon Humane Society and private practice.
Karen O’Kasey of Hart Wagner, and Markowitz, Herbold, Glade & Mehlhaf shareholder Renée Rothauge have both become fellows of the American College of Trial Lawyers. The induction took place recently before an audience of more than 1,000 during the recent 2014 Annual Meeting of the college in La Quinta, Calif.
Lane Powell Shareholder Tanya Durkee Urbach has been appointed to the board of directors for Queen’s Bench, the Portland chapter of Oregon Women Lawyers. Founded in 1948, Queen’s Bench is a nonprofit corporation whose mission is to promote the professional advancement, camaraderie and good fellowship among women in the legal profession and in the community.
K&L Gates has named Portland associate Shiau Yen Chin-Dennis as its representative to the 2014 class of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity Fellows. Chin-Dennis is one of more than 170 attorneys from around the U.S. selected as LCLD Fellows for 2014, the largest class in the program’s history.
For the ninth year, Oregon Business magazine has recognized Sussman Shank as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work for in Oregon.” The firm ranked ninth in the medium-sized company category, the highest rating of any law firm in our size category. The list recognizes companies for excellence in work environment, management and communication, and decision-making and trust, as well as in career development and learning, and benefits and compensation. The winners and their rankings are published in the March 2014 issue and online at OregonBusiness.com.
Samuels Yoelin Kantor partner Victoria Blachly has been appointed to the Governor’s Commission on Senior Services, which is dedicated to enhancing and protecting the quality of life of older Oregonians. 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. Appointed the firm’s first female equity partner, Blachly is actively engaged with the local community. She has served on the boards for Dress for Success, Oregon Lawyers Against Hunger and Housecall Providers, the only nonprofit primary care medical practice in the Portland metropolitan area to provide in-home health-care services to homebound seniors and persons with disabilities.
Jay Richardson of Buckley Law was recently elected to the board of directors of the Oregon Society of Certified Public Accountants, the Oregon accounting profession’s statewide association of nearly 4,800 members. The two-year term is effective April 1. Richardson’s practice emphasizes taxation, business formation and transactions, estate planning and employee benefit plan consulting. Richardson is also a certified public accountant and certified management accountant, and is certified in financial management by the Institute of Management Accountants.
Attorney Tom Noble has been appointed to the Clackamas County Community Action Board. The advisory group advises the Clackamas County Social Services Division Community Action Agency on services for low-income persons and advocates both locally and at the state level on issues related to low-income persons and households. Noble focuses his practice on estate planning, probate, trust administration and estate litigation. He also regularly volunteers with the Senior Law Project and the St. Andrews Legal Clinic and serves as the treasurer of the Clackamas County Bar Association.
Samuel Hernandez, an associate at Barran Liebman, is the recipient of a 2014 Oregon State Bar Litigation Section Rising Litigator Award. He was one of four Portland-area young lawyers to receive this honor, which was presented in early March at the Litigation Section’s Annual Institute and Retreat in Stevenson, Wash. The new award highlights “the bar’s up and coming members and acknowledge their accomplishments.”
Cosgrave Vergeer Kester managing partner Jill D. Laney has been chosen as one of the Portland Business Journal’s 2014 Orchid Award winners. The awards honor women business leaders from across the state. Laney is the first woman to serve as managing partner in Cosgrave’s 80-year history, and serves as a leader and mentor for the firm’s young attorneys. Her legal practice emphasizes a wide variety of corporate and real estate matters, including financing, acquisition, commercial leasing, commercial landlord-tenant disputes and corporate governance matters.
Attorney Richard G. Matson has joined Landerholm in Vancouver, Wash., as of counsel. He represents businesses, professionals and individuals in litigation matters, including business disputes, construction claims, product claims and professional liability disputes. He regularly defends employers in claims involving workplace discrimination, wage violations and wrongful terminations. Matson can be reached at (360) 816-2506 or dick.matson@landerholm.com.
Steven Ungar has joined the Angeli Law Group, now the Angeli Ungar Law Group. Ungar, former chair of the Oregon Lottery Commission, has focused his 35-year practice on white collar criminal defense, governmental investigations and state and federal regulatory compliance, among other things. He was previously a partner for 15 years with Lane Powell in Portland. The firm also announces the addition of Kristen Tranetzki as an attorney with the firm. A graduate of the New York University Law School, Tranetzki served as a judicial law clerk to the chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court and practiced previously at Debevoise & Plimpton in New York and (most recently) Lane Powell in Portland. She focuses her practice in white collar criminal defense and complex civil litigation.
Aukjen Ingraham has joined Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt in the firm’s Portland office as senior counsel. Ingraham previously practiced with Cosgrave Vergeer Kester. Ingraham’s practice focuses on catastrophic injury cases. She has extensive trial experience in business and commercial litigation, products liability defense and toxic tort defense. She has successfully represented major medical device manufacturers as well as large and small business owners in all aspects of litigation.
Terry Hunt has moved his office as of Feb. 10 to Hall Street Station, Second Floor, 4500 S.W. Hall Blvd., Beaverton, OR 97005. His practice will to continue to consist of helping immigration clients, and serving as an arbitrator and defense of unusual criminal and civil matters. Reach him at (503) 296-9647; fax: (503) 646-2227; email: terry@nwdefenselaw.com; website: nwdefenselaw.com.
Attorney Greg Byrne has joined Buckley Law as of counsel in the firm’s civil litigation, real estate and construction law practice groups. Byrne focuses his practice on real estate (including homeowner associations), construction, business disputes and insurance coverage. Byrne is an honors graduate of Harvard Law School and a U.S. Marine Corps Vietnam veteran and has served as a pro tem judge. His extensive community involvement includes chairing the Northwest Parks and Recreation technical advisory committee of the Oregon Community Foundation. Prior to joining Buckley Law, Byrne had his own firm, representing homeowner associations, small businesses, landowners, developers and contractors on a wide range of legal matters.
Daniel J. Nichols has been elevated to partner in Gordon & Rees’s Portland office. He represents businesses in complex litigation involving commercial disputes, including professional liability, construction defect, employment, real estate and environmental matters.
Diana McDougle has joined the lawyer ranks at Sussman Shank. McDougle started her career with the firm as a law clerk and recently became an associate. In this position, she will continue to develop her practice and work on projects within the business, litigation and bankruptcy and creditors’ rights departments. She earned her J.D. from Seattle University School of Law in 2012.
Loren D. Podwill has been elected the new president at Bullivant Houser Bailey for a three-year term. Podwill will continue to represent clients in his nationally recognized fidelity and surety, commercial and intellectual property litigation practice.
Erica B. Strader has joined Stahancyk, Kent & Hook in the firm’s Bend office as an associate attorney. Strader graduated from the University of Oregon School of Law in 2013. While in law school, she worked as a judicial extern for the Lane County Circuit Court. Strader previously worked in the Deschutes County district attorney’s office, where she appeared in court on a number of criminal matters.
Kimberlee Petrie Volm has joined Cosgrave Vergeer Kester as an associate attorney in the firm’s complex torts practice group. Her practice includes business and commercial litigation, and personal injury and property damage liability. Petrie Volm previously worked as a deputy public defender for the Office of Public Defense Services as an appellate attorney, representing clients in the Oregon Court of Appeals and Oregon Supreme Court. She earned her law degree from Lewis & Clark Law School in 2011.
Kristina Bennard has been made a partner at Yarmuth Wilsdon, a litigation boutique in Seattle. Since joining the firm last year, she has been involved in a wide range of cases, including litigating a contempt allegation in an eight-day hearing, successfully briefing and arguing a motion to dismiss in a case involving multiple torts, and settling a licensing dispute on the eve of a three-day arbitration. She was previously with the Boeing Co., where she was chief counsel of litigation for Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
K&L Gates has elected two lawyers to the firm’s partnership, effective March 1, in the firm’s Portland office. Steven Boender advises on transactional matters such as mergers and acquisitions, financings and other corporate and securities issues. Stephanie McCleery focuses her practice on complex commercial litigation, including class action defense, securities litigation and intellectual property matters.
Litigator Laura Salerno Owens has joined Markowitz, Herbold, Glade & Mehlhaf as an associate. Her practice will focus on commercial litigation and employment disputes. Salerno Owens is a trial lawyer with broad experience representing clients in employment-related matters in state and federal courts and before the Bureau of Labor and Industries and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She represents employers and employees in a variety of employment law issues including wage and hour class action disputes, discrimination charges, sexual harassment allegations, whistleblower claims, noncompetition agreements and trade secrets. She also has experience litigating claims arising under the Family Medical Leave Act, the Oregon Family Leave Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Most recently, Salerno Owens practiced at an employment law boutique firm, where she represented individuals and corporations in employment related disputes.
Will Patterson has joined Folawn Alterman & Richardson as an associate. His practice includes complex civil litigation, business law and estate planning, as well as general transactional work, such as contract drafting and review. Before joining the firm, Patterson managed his own practice and in a prior life served as the executive director of the International Law Students Association in Chicago. Reach him at will@FARlawfirm.com or (503) 546-4632.
Portland attorney Scott Snyder has launched Scott Snyder Arbitration & Mediation, focusing on alternative dispute resolution services. Snyder has 24 years of experience in business and injury litigation, having arbitrated and mediated hundreds of cases. He is a former in-house counsel for Safeco Insurance, KinderCare and Rentrak Corp. He has also served as municipal judge for the city of North Plains. Reach him at (503) 452-7747; email: scottsnyderadr@gmail.com; or website: www.scottsnyderadr.com.
Standard Insurance Co. announces that Steven Williams has been promoted to second vice president of Insurance Services Group Legal. Williams joined The Standard in 2000 as an attorney and was promoted to senior attorney in 2005. Since 2009, he has served as a manager, first leading the business support legal team and, most recently, managing the claims and litigation legal team. Williams is an active volunteer both inside and outside of The Standard. He served as the 2013 chair of the company’s employee giving campaign, which raised more than $1.5 million for nonprofits via employee contributions and a dollar-for-dollar match by The Standard. He also works with the Franciscan Montessori Earth School/ St. Francis Academy, CYO Swimming and LaSalle Catholic College Preparatory.
The Greenbrier Companies has promoted Jack Isselmann to vice president, external affairs and communications. He previously served as director, corporate relations and communications. Isselmann manages government relations, corporate communications, public affairs and community relations at The Greenbrier Companies, a leading provider of freight railcars, marine barges and related services. He also oversees certain regulatory and compliance matters for Greenbrier. He previously was a partner at Tonkon Torp in the firm’s government relations practice.
Former Nike attorney Daniel Blaufus has joined the Port of Portland as general counsel. Blaufus most recently served as senior vice president and general counsel at Borden Dairy Company in Dallas, Texas. From 2000 to 2010, he served in various legal capacities at Nike, including emerging markets counsel, Americas regional counsel and assistant general counsel. Blaufus began his legal career in 1993 at Tonkon Torp in Portland.
In Memoriam will return next month.