Davis Wright Tremaine has been named 2015 Innovative Law Firm of the Year by the International Legal Technology Association, a technology group for law firms and legal departments. The award was announced at a recent four-day conference attended by thousands of AmLaw 200 leaders, vendors and in-house lawyers from leading companies. Members of Davis Wright Tremaine’s research and development arm, DWT De Novo, accepted the award on behalf of the firm.
The Center for Women’s Leadership announces the selection of Martha Pellegrino as new board vice chair. Pellegrino has been lobbying for the city of Portland since 2005. In 2010, she was appointed director of government relations and oversees the city’s federal, state, international and intergovernmental lobbying efforts.
Jeff Dominic Price of Santa Monica, Calif., has been certified by the State Bar of California as a specialist in appellate law for a term of five years. He handles appeals in California and Oregon.
Portland Mayor Charlie Hales has appointed Jeff Bachrach to the Portland Planning and Sustainability Commission. He specializes in land use and real estate development and is project manager for Reed’s Crossing, a 460-acre master-planned community being developed in Hillsboro. Bachrach previously served nine years, three as chair, on the Housing Authority of Portland (now Home Forward) board.
For the 10th consecutive year, K&L Gates served as the title sponsor of Corporate Counsel Women of Color’s Annual Career Strategies Conference, which took place Sept. 23-25 in Atlanta. The firm has worked closely with the organization since its inception, during which time membership has grown from 40 to now more than 3,300 globally. Firm partners led or participated in several sessions. The not-for-profit organization provides support to diverse women lawyers across the globe, facilitates networking opportunities, promotes career advancement and advocates all aspects of global diversity in the legal profession and workplace.
Miller Nash Graham & Dunn partner Seth Row was recently chosen to chair the Multnomah Bar Association CLE Committee for the 2015-16 term. Row has served on the committee for two years and this year will focus on diversity and CLEs with access-to-justice components. Row is an experienced insurance problem-solver and litigator, representing commercial policyholders, including banks, manufacturers, developers and public entities in litigation and negotiation of insurance disputes in Oregon and Washington.
Tonkon Torp attorney Blerina Kotori has been appointed to the board of directors of Raphael House of Portland, a domestic violence agency dedicated to ending intimate partner violence. Kotori advises and represents employers in various matters, including discrimination, retaliation, leave laws, wage and hour, sexual harassment, disability and employment benefits. She is a member of the firm’s labor and employment and information privacy and security practice groups.
Kirk Spangler,a veteran administrative law judge with the Workers’ Compensation Board, has just released a sequel suspense novel, Evil Among Us, which will be published on Nov. 10. The main theme is child sex trafficking in the Pacific Northwest; the story is set in Salem. For more information, see www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=9781681646527.
Dunn Carney litigation attorney Joshua D. Stadtler has been elected to a two-year term as secretary of the board of directors for Portland Homeless Family Solutions (PHFS), a Portland nonprofit organization that assists homeless families with children move back into housing and stay there long-term. Earlier this year, he was awarded the Michael D. Haglund Pro Bono Award by the Multnomah Bar Association (MBA) for his pro bono service through Legal Aid Services of Oregon’s Domestic Violence Project and Night Clinic.
Traci Ray, Barran Liebman’s executive director, has been honored with the University of Oregon School of Law’s Outstanding Young Alumnus Award for 2015. The award was created to recognize graduates who have made significant career, leadership or service contributions to the community the law school or the legal profession within the first 10 years following graduation.
Stahancyk, Kent & Hook has launched Divorce on Demand, a new digital divorce product that “lowers the barrier to legal services and helps the system work better for people who can’t afford attorneys,” according to managing shareholder Bradford F. Miller. The self-help petition service provides the expertise of seasoned attorneys through software innovation, guiding users through the complex paperwork required to file for divorce through a simple call-and-response interface. The site was developed with input from dozens of top legal professionals, court administrators, bar members, judges and attorneys in Oregon. Translation services in Spanish and Russian have also been made available to address the needs specific to non-native speakers of English. The service is available in all 36 Oregon counties. For more information, see www.divorceondemand.com.
Tonkon Torp attorney Haley Morrison has been named to the board of directors of Playworks Pacific Northwest, which uses play to help create positive environments for building leadership and fostering teamwork at area elementary schools. A member of the firm’s labor and employment practice group, Morrison provides counsel to employers on a wide variety of matters, including discrimination, retaliation, harassment and wage-and-hour issues in both single plaintiff and class action litigation.
Dean N. Alterman, partner at Folawn, Alterman & Richardson, was recently appointed president of Portland Piano International, a nonprofit that presents one of the nation’s most prominent recital series for solo piano, a summer piano festival, educational programs and commissioned piano works. Alterman’s practice focuses on real estate transactions, land use and privately held businesses.
Brenda Meltebeke, partner and firm chair at Ater Wynne, has been elected to the board of trustees of Marylhurst University. Meltebeke will work with the board to continue strengthening the university’s nearly 50 existing accredited undergraduate and graduate programs and enhancing its existing spirit of entrepreneurism, innovation and curiosity.
Salem attorney Jesse Wm. Barton recently spoke at a gathering organized by Oregon CURE (Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants) and the sentencing-reform organization, Prison Reform Measure 11: Time Does Not Fit the Crime. His presentation challenged Measure 11’s companion, Ballot Measure 10, which allows legislative minorities to control reform efforts.
Tonkon Torp attorney Lindsay Reynoldshas been appointed to the newly formed ambassador board of Komen Oregon and Southwest Washington. Reynolds represents employers on a variety of matters including discrimination, ADA, FMLA/OFLA and other leave laws, employment benefits, and labor issues. She is a member of the firm’s labor and employment practice group.
Michael Millender has been appointed co-chair of the Tonkon Torp business department. Millender is a partner in the firm’s taxation, executive compensation and employee benefits practice groups. His tax practice focuses on the federal, state and local taxation of businesses, with an emphasis on the structuring of business transactions and the taxation of corporations, partnerships and LLCs.
Kristen Hilton has joined Sussman Shank as an associate in the firm’s litigation department. Hilton’s practice focuses on complex civil litigation matters in state and federal court. She has handled a broad range of matters including contract disputes, business torts, false advertising and unfair competition cases, partnership disputes and lawyer liability matters. She previously was an associate with Bingham McCutchen and Morgan Lewis in Santa Monica, Calif.
Sherman, Sherman, Johnnie & Hoyt in Salem announces the addition of Melinda Leaver Roy. Her practice will focus on wills, trusts, probate, trust administration, general business and real property. Leaver has extensive experience with clients on a variety of matters including estate planning, estate administration, general business and real property.
Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt has brought on board Stolowitz Ford Cowger, a seven-attorney Portland-based intellectual property/patent boutique law firm, bringing Schwabe’s IP practice to 32 attorneys. The new Schwabe attorneys are Micah Stolowitz, Steve Ford, Graciela Cowger, Bryan Kirkpatrick, Michael Cofield, Jeffrey Marlink and Mark Meininger. The team brings extensive experience in the tech industry, specifically in electronics, software, e-commerce, nuclear and wireless matters. Prior to becoming patent attorneys, they had worked as engineers at technology companies, including Hewlett-Packard, Texas Instruments and Xerox. In addition, four paralegals and one legal assistant have also joined the Schwabe staff.
Miller Nash Graham & Dunn welcomes Tony Kullen to the firm’s business, financial transactions and real estate practice teams. Kullen brings over 10 years of experience representing financial institutions and publicly traded companies, including over six years representing banks, loan servicers and individuals in congested judicial foreclosures and bankruptcy matters in state and federal courts throughout Oregon. His practice includes state-mandated resolution conferences, standing as successor trustee for nonjudicial foreclosures, litigating judicial foreclosures, FDCPA/CFPB compliance and resolving real estate title issues.
Barran Liebman welcomes Josephine Ko as an associate attorney who advises and represents business owners and employers in all areas of employment law. She volunteers her time as a mediator with Resolutions Northwest, a nonprofit community mediation and facilitation service, and as a legal adviser for API Forward, a foundation that works to support educational advancement for children in Asian and Pacific Islander Communities. She earned her law degree from Duke University School of Law, where she served as student director of the Duke Innocence Project.
Southeast Portland firm Schoenfeld & Schoenfeld has opened an office in Hood River. It will continue to focus on Oregon workers’ compensation and personal injury litigation, representing injured workers and victims of negligence.
William Fisher has joined Commercial Metals Co. of Irving, Texas, as counsel. Fisher previously served as a corporate counsel for Mission Foods, managing the company’s legal affairs for its European division as well as various commercial legal matters for its U.S. division. He is a 2009 graduate of the University of Oregon School of Law.
Nicholas A. Thede joined Ball Janik in September as an associate in the firm’s insurance recovery and commercial and construction litigation practices. As an insurance recovery litigator, Thede represents policyholders in complex insurance coverage disputes, including claims arising under general liability, professional liability, directors and officers, employee dishonesty, homeowners and automotive insurance policies.
David Delmar is a new associate in Ball Janik commercial and construction litigation practice groups. His primary areas of practice are insurance recovery and commercial and construction litigation. Delmar previously served as a law clerk, working on various litigation matters, including the defense of a mortgage deficiency claim and employment law claims. During law school, he interned at the Suffolk County district attorney’s office, the appeals division of the office of the attorney general of Massachusetts and at the Harvard Legal Services Center, assisting low income clients in predatory lending and consumer protection matters.
Yumi M. O’Neil has joined the legal department at Cambia Health Solutions as associate general counsel. O’Neil is providing legal services to Cambia’s government programs as well as to LifeMap, a Cambia subsidiary. She previously served as an associate general counsel and manager at Moda Health. O’Neil serves on the board of directors of the Oregon chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel and advisory board for the Medical-Legal Partnership of Oregon. She is also a member of the Oregon Women Lawyers Leadership Committee and the Portland Business Alliance’s A Place With No Ceiling Committee.
Garrett Hemann Robertson welcomes trial attorneys Lawrence (Larry) R. White and Taylor R. Anderson to the firm. White is licensed to practice in Oregon, New Mexico, California and Hawaii. He joins the firm with more than 25 years of experience as a trial attorney in state and federal court. Most recently, he was a partner at Miller Stratvert in Las Cruces, N.M., representing health-care professionals, employers and insurers in defending claims of negligence and discrimination. Anderson graduated from Willamette University in 2014. Prior to joining the firm, he served as a judicial clerk to the Hon. Jay A. McAlpin in Lane County Circuit Court and as a judicial extern for the Hon. Rives Kistler of the Oregon Supreme Court. He represents employers, healthcare providers, business owners and lawyers in firm’s litigation section.
Alan W. Karpinski, Attorneys at Law, welcomes two new additions to the firm. Amelia Osthohoff has been representing parents, youth and children in all aspects of juvenile law, including dependency, delinquency and termination of parental rights cases since 2012. She recently fought for and won recognition of a parentless foster child’s constitutional rights in juvenile court. Shannon Mortimer joined the firm after 10 years as a public defender in Multnomah County, handling a variety of misdemeanor and felony cases. His new caseload will consist of defending juvenile delinquencies, representing parents and children in juvenile dependency cases, as well as private practice involving criminal defense and family law matters.
Amy Reid has joined Wiscarson Law as an associate attorney. She served two years in AmeriCorps, working with children before completing her J.D. at Lewis & Clark Law School in 2015. She also was a law clerk at St. Andrew Legal Clinic in the Portland office. She clerked for one year at Wiscarson Law before joining the firm as an associate. Her practice will focus on assisting clients with special education.
Chris Robinson announces the addition of two associate attorneys to his property tax practice in Lake Oswego. Sam Zeigler and Alex Robinson will represent clients in a broad range of commercial and industrial clients in complex property tax matters, including appeals, exemptions and special assessments.
Bob Schnack has joined the affiliated companies of DBI Beverage and Ingram Entertainment as vice president and associate general counsel, employment and litigation, for both companies, which are headquartered in La Vergne, Tenn. DBI Beverage is the corporate parent of companies that operate nine wholesale beer and beverage distributorships in northern California; and Ingram Entertainment Inc. is a leading national distributor of home entertainment products and services. Schnack will work out of the West Sacramento, Calif., offices of DBI Beverage. He most recently was a shareholder in the Sacramento office of Jackson Lewis and previously was a shareholder of Bullivant Houser Bailey in both Portland and Sacramento.
Hans N. Huggler has joined Lane Powell as an attorney in the litigation practice group, where he will focus his practice on complex litigation. In addition to working as a summer associate with the firm, Huggler previously served as a judicial law clerk for the Hon. Sharon L. Gleason of the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska, as a judicial extern for the Hon. Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and as a law clerk for the Bonneville Power Administration. Huggler also held several positions with Oregon Health & Science University’s department of public safety and served as a reserve police officer for the Hillsboro Police Department.
Richard L. Larson has joined the Eugene law firm of Hutchinson Cox as of counsel. Larson has an active practice that focuses on estate planning, probate, business and real property issues. Larson can be reached at (541) 686-9160 or through www.eugenelaw.com.
The partners of Sussman Shank have elected Tom Stilleyas managing partner of the firm for a three-year term, effective Oct. 1. He succeeds Bob Carlton,who has held the role since 2009. Stilley joined Sussman Shank in 1988. He has held several management positions and is the co-chair of the firm’s nonprofit and religious organizations group, and past chair of the business restructuring and bankruptcy group. He focuses his practice on debtor/creditor rights, bankruptcy, business litigation, loan workouts and asset recovery.
Cliff Davidson has become a partner of Sussman Shank, effective Oct. 1. He is a commercial trial lawyer with nine years of experience and focuses his practice on commercial disputes, complex litigation including class action defense, entertainment and intellectual property litigation (including Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and World Intellectual Property Organization proceedings), First Amendment litigation, counseling in the areas of privacy and data security and insurance coverage.
Eugene attorney and longtime bar leader Bruce E. Smith died Sept. 28, 2015, after a long battle with the paralyzing effects of a hemorrhagic stroke. He was 79.
Smith was born Feb. 6, 1936. He obtained his J.D. degree from the University of Oregon School of Law, graduating first in his class of 1965 as a Paul Patterson fellow and editor-in-chief of the Oregon Law Review.
After graduation Smith was an associate of Brophy, Wilson & Duhaime in Medford. After a few years in Medford, Smith returned to Eugene where he practiced independently. In 1971, he joined the law firm that became Cass, Scott, Woods & Smith. Later in 1993, attorneys from the firm merged and formed Gleaves, Swearingen, Larsen, Potter, Scott & Smith.
Smith was a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and of the American Bar Foundation. He was listed in The Best Lawyers in America, in the business litigation category. He was a member of the American Inns of Court, arbitrator of the American Arbitration Association and mediator for the U.S. Arbitration and Mediation Service.
During his career, Smith served on various Oregon State Bar boards, including the Board of Governors (1982-1985); board of directors, Professional Liability Fund (1987-1992) and as its president in 1992; board of directors, Oregon Law Foundation (1993-1996) and as its president in 1996. At times, he worked as a circuit judge pro tem. In 2010, Smith was honored as one of Oregon’s outstanding trial lawyers in Oregon. Smith also volunteered for 30 years for Legal Aid of Lane County.
His wife, Susan Warner Smith, children and granddaughters survive.