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Ric Asfar '06
Ric is an associate attorney with Saxon, Gilmore, Carraway & Gibbons, P.A. in Tampa, Fla. His practice is primarily focused on commercial litigation and appeals. Ric is also active in the Hillsborough County Bar Association's Diversity Committee, and serves as a "big" for Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America. During his time at Pacific McGeorge, Ric served as a full-time student extern to the Honorable Consuelo M. Callahan of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, assistant comment editor for the Pacific McGeorge Global Business & Development Law Journal, and president of the Student Bar Association. Ric grew up in Queens, N.Y. and earned his B.A. from CUNY Baruch College. Ric is married to fellow Pacific McGeorge alum Jennifer Chapman, class of '07, who is a senior staff member of the federal tax group of Crowe Horwath LLP.
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Eric L. Barnum '94
Eric is a partner at Schiff Hardin LLP in Atlanta. He is an experienced trial lawyer, whose practice areas include wrongful discharge, discrimination and hostile environment harassment litigation, labor arbitration, and analysis of personnel practices and procedures. Eric also conducts training and educational seminars for lawyers and human resources professionals on various aspects of employment law. He has a background in career counseling and speaks on issues of youth mentoring and motivation. Eric earned his B.A. in History from UCLA.
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Dionne Choyce ‘ 01
Dionne Choyce is the owner of Choyce Law Firm, where his practice focuses on Criminal and Personal Injury Law. Upon graduation from McGeorge in 2001, he worked as a prosecutor with the Alameda County District Attorney's Office for three years. He then went into private practice where he has built up a practice that has offices in several cities throughout Northern California. Dionne went to undergraduate at Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA and received a Master of Education from Harvard University.
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James M. Day '73
After graduating from Pacific McGeorge, Jim went straight to work for Downey Brand LLP, where he became a partner in 1978, and served as Managing Partner for nine years. He left that firm with his oil, gas and energy practice group in 2006 to become a founding partner of Day Carter & Murphy LLP, a boutique firm practicing oil and gas and energy law. Jim represents a significant number of oil and gas companies active in California and elsewhere. Jim attended UCLA for his undergraduate degree, where he played water polo and rowed.
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Hector M. deAvila Gonzalez '03
Hector is an attorney (Mexican Jurisdiction) at De Avila Law Firm, a Sacramento-based firm focusing in International, and Mexican law. He was born in Guadalajara, Mexico and attended the Universidad Autonoma de Aguascalientes, where he earned his LL.B. degree. He then attended Skyline College and Sacramento City College, eventually obtaining his LL.M. degree in Transnational Business Practice from Pacific McGeorge. Hector is fluent in Spanish and English, and is a Foreign Legal Consultant for the Law of Mexico before the State Bar of California. Hector lectured International Law and International Commercial Law at the University of Phoenix as part of the Spanish MBA on-line program. He currently teaches Legal Spanish for U.S. Lawyers at Pacific McGeorge. Hector authored and published the book Legal Spanish, an International and Domestic Approach. He is working in conjunction with other attorneys in the formation of the first association of international legal practitioners in Sacramento.
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Kathryn Davis '99
Kathryn is an associate in the Walnut Creek office of Morrison & Foerster LLP, where she is a member of the firm’s Employment and Labor Practice Group. Kathryn represents employers in all aspects of labor and employment law, including actions in state and federal court and before administrative agencies, and has experience litigating class actions involving both employment and wage and hour claims and litigating multi- and single-plaintiff claims for employment discrimination, breach of contract, reasonable accommodation, and wrongful discharge. Kathryn earned her undergraduate degree at Saint Mary's College. Kathryn is married to Will Davis, a 1996 graduate of the Pacific McGeorge evening class.
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Kimberly Delfino '93
Kim oversees the work of Defenders’ California program team in protecting and restoring California’s imperiled wildlife and the places in which they live. She works on water, renewable energy, conservation planning and climate change issues. Kim currently serves on the California Water Commission and on the boards of Sustainable Conservation, the California Rangeland Conservation Coalition, and the Central Valley Joint Venture. Before joining Defenders of Wildlife, Kim worked for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group as a staff attorney and for CALPIRG as Legislative Director. She began her career as an associate attorney in Washington, D.C. with the public interest law firm of Meyer & Glitzenstein, where she specialized in cases involving the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act and other environmental laws.
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Erin M. Dunston '99
Erin is counsel with Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney PC in Alexandria, Virginia, where she is a patent attorney handling patent prosecution, litigation, and interferences in the chemical and biotechnology fields. Erin was a co-Chair of the D.C. Area McGeorge Alumni Chapter for several years. She is married to a fellow Pacific McGeorge alumnus, Sean Dunston ('98D), who practices estate planning law as counsel with Rich, Rosenthal, Brincefield, Manitta, Dzubin & Kroeger (also in Alexandria, Virginia). Erin has a B.S. in biochemistry from Boston College.
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Rex Frazier '00
Rex is President of the Personal Insurance Federation of California, and previously was the organization’s General Counsel. He had been an attorney with Pillsbury Madison & Sutro LLP, where he focused on insurance and banking issues, had held positions with the California Department of Insurance and was on the legislative staff of the California State Assembly. In 1996, Rex briefly left state service to manage the Proposition 213 campaign, a successful ballot initiative that substantially reduced auto insurance premiums. Rex earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Chicago before earning his J.D. from Pacific McGeorge.
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Shanti Halter '01
After graduating from Pacific McGeorge, Shanti Halter worked for Herum Crabtree in Stockton, California. Shortly thereafter, she moved to Washington, DC, where she was an advocate for the National Council of State Housing Agencies. Mrs. Halter finished her time in DC as an associate with Marzulla & Marzulla, focusing on property, environmental, and California water law issues. In 2005, Shanti moved to Arkansas where she had the privilege of being the Second Lady of Arkansas due to her marriage to the Lieutenant Governor, Bill Halter.
Shanti currently practices law by telecommuting for a California-based law firm. She is also on the Board of Trustees of Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) USA which is a parent involvement, school readiness program that helps parents prepare their three, four, and five year old children for success in school and beyond.
Lastly, Shanti is a sustainer-member of the Junior League and alumna of the Delta Gamma sorority. Mrs. Halter earned her B.A. degree from the California State University at Sacramento.
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Brian K. Harris '00
Brian is Managing Partner of Harris Schwartz Lawyers in Las Vegas, where he practices personal injury, wrongful death, and products liability law. After law school Brian was appointed Washington County Public Defender in St. George, Utah and then joined one of Nevada's premier personal injury law firms where he gained invaluable knowledge and experience representing individuals suing major insurance companies. In 2002 he and his partner formed Harris Injury Lawyers, which later became Harris Schwartz. He is an active member in many law-related organizations and associations, and enjoys running, travel, and spending time with his family.
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Scott M. Hervey '95
Scott is a shareholder with Weintraub Genshlea & Chediak, where he focuses on intellectual property matters, issues concerning the Internet, licensing, and entertainment law. Scott also lectures on music law for California Lawyers for the Arts, and has been a guest instructor of Entertainment Law at Pacific McGeorge. He frequently speaks on the law of the Internet in California, and intellectual property law, for the California State Bar and other organizations, and is frequently quoted on these topics. Scott has been both vice chair and chair of the Cyberspace Law committee of the California State Bar, and is an active member of the Trademark subcommittee of the Intellectual Property section. He is a founding member and director of the Music Industry Consortium of Sacramento and co-chairs the advisory board for the Sacramento Festival of Cinema. He serves on the board of the Arts and Business Council of Sacramento and on the development committee of SACTO. Scott earned his undergraduate degree from California State University Northridge.
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Daniel L. Hitzke '00
Daniel is a principal with Ainbinder and Hitzke and has been with the firm for five years. This firm is one of the largest and most experienced workers' compensation and personal injury firms in Southern California. Daniel is an experienced trial attorney representing personal injury, workers' compensation, business litigation, employment, and mass tort/toxic class action claims. He earned his undergraduate degree from California State University, Chico.
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Kim Kakavas '08
Kim Kakavas is an associate with Porter Scott in Sacramento, California. She specializes in litigation, including public entity liability, employment, and premises liability. Kim has represented a variety of public entity clients in a broad range of litigation matters in both state and federal courts; particularly in the areas of police practices, civil rights, wrongful termination, ADA compliance and governmental tort liability. Prior to joining Porter Scott, she interned at the Sacramento County Public Defender’s Office. During her time at McGeorge, Kim was president of Women’s Caucus and the third year representative for the Student Bar Association. At graduation, she received the award for Outstanding Student Service. She is the current co-chair of the Alumni Association’s recently formed Young Alumni Program and is an active member in the Women Lawyer’s of Sacramento, Sacramento County Bar Association and Metro Edge, a young professional chapter of the Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce. She has also regularly volunteered as both a presiding and scoring judge for the Gordon Schaber High School Mock Trial Competition. Kim earned her undergraduate degree in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley.
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Debra Kazanjian '79
Debra Kazanjian has been a Fresno County Superior Court Judge since 2001. She was self-employed as an attorney for 19 years, practicing primarily family law. She received a Bachelor of Arts Degree, summa cum laude, from California State University, Fresno. She is a past president of the Fresno County Planning Commission, Fresno State Alumni Association, and Fresno County Young Lawyers Association. She was also chosen as one of the Top Ten Business and Professional Women of the Year in 1993.
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Gayle J. Lau '74
Gayle retired from his position with the US Department of Justice, where he was the Assistant US Trustee for Hawaii, handling the administration of bankruptcy cases. He is now Regulatory Officer for the Hawaii Credit Union League, a trade association that represents the interests of credit unions in Hawaii and Guam. Gayle is past president of the Rotary Club of West Honolulu and Emeritus Director of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii.
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John R. Masterman '78
John is retired from his position as Senior Corporate Attorney for Intel Corporation. He earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Maine.
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C. Emmett Mahle '81
Emmett is currently an Adjunct Professor at Pacific McGeorge where he teaches The Law of Armed Conflict in the public policy sector. Until recently, he was an experienced criminal defense trial attorney, practicing in both the federal and state court arenas. Over the past 30 years, he completed in excess of 100 jury trials, more than 40 of which involved death penalty, homicide and attempted homicide cases. Prior to that, Emmett was an Assistant District Attorney in Stanislaus County. Emmett was very active in Sacramento County Bar Association activities, having been on numerous committees during the past 30 years, and received two SCBA President's Awards for this service. He was also active on the Sacramento County Indigent Defense Panel, and was both Chair and co-Chair of their attorney committee during this period. He recently was the recipient of the IDP's 2011 Award for Distinguished Service as Attorney of the Year. Emmett attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, for his undergraduate work, and received an MBA from Central Michigan University after that. He is a retired full Colonel in the Army Reserve, having seen combat as a Captain in Viet Nam in 1970.
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Gustavo Matheus '96
A native of Venezuela, and raised in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, Gustavo Matheus graduated from the University of Maryland Baltimore County in 1990, with a B.A. in biological sciences. After starting his work career in a molecular biology laboratory at Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, Mr. Matheus attended the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law, in Sacramento, California, receiving a law degree in 1996, and passing the Maryland bar that same year. He then graduated from the USMC Officer Candidate School, and the following year, in 1998, established his law practice, now located in Rockville, representing healthcare providers, and focusing on third party collections. Mr. Matheus is actively involved in his undergraduate and law school alumni associations, and is a member of a local hospital foundation’s board of directors.
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Megan Moore '08
Megan M. Moore is an Associate in the San Diego Office of Best Best & Krieger LLP. She practices general school law, with a focus on Special Education and school litigation matters. She represents school districts at the administrative, state, and federal levels. Ms. Moore received her undergraduate degree in English with honors from University of Florida. She was Chief Symposium Editor for the McGeorge Law Review, where she assisted in publishing two symposia, bringing Ralph Nader as a keynote speaker for the symposium Ethics Across the Professions. Upon graduation, Ms. Moore was awarded the ALI-ABA Scholarship and Leadership Award and was inducted into the Order of the Coif. Ms. Moore has extensive professional experience in K- 12 education. Prior to attending McGeorge School of Law, she worked for Scantron Corporation, where she managed and developed standardized assessment and curriculum development products. She spent one year as Editor-in-Chief for Parent Tutor Corporation and is also a former high school teacher.
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Dennis J. Olmstead '84
Dennis has spent over 20 yrs in tax and specializes in cross-border issues for multi-nationals. After receiving his JD from McGeorge, Dennis worked for the Belgian law firm of Rycken, Burlion, Bolle and Houben in Brussels, Belgium. At this time he also attended the Vrije Universiteit, Brussels and completed his LLM with a specialization in EU law. This complimented his Certificate in International Law from the McGeorge/Salzburg Summer Program. Dennis then worked for the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation in Amsterdam, the Netherlands for 2 years as Editor of the Bulletin, the oldest International Tax periodical in the world. While here he published several articles and studied PE and transfer pricing issues. He then returned to the US to work in NY for Arthur Young in their International Tax Services area. From there, he joined Citibank as Head of Tax for Europe. In 1994 Dennis took over as Global head of Tax for Swiss Bank Corp based in Zurich. Upon the merger of UBS and SBC in 1998, Dennis remained Global Head of Tax and joined the Group Governance Committee for the Bank. In 2000 Dennis left the bank to return to NY as a partner in Ernst and Young for the Financial Services Office. Since 2005, Dennis has been of Head of Tax for AGI, the asset management arm of Allianz with special focus on PIMCO.
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Diana K. Rodgers '94
Diana is an attorney with Robie & Matthai in Los Angeles, where her practice areas are professional negligence and civil litigation. She was recently named a Rising Star in Los Angeles Magazine's Super Lawyers. While at Pacific McGeorge, she was a finalist in the Best Brief and Best Oralist competition of the McGeorge Moot Court Program, and won an award for Best Written Brief for one of the presented problems. Diana earned her undergraduate degree at UC Berkeley.
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Jennifer Scott '99
Jennifer Scott is a Partner at Herum Crabtree in Stockton, California. She specializes in complex civil litigation and has extensive experience litigating multi-party complex matters including products defects, unfair competition, anti-trust claims, commercial contract disputes, fraud, eminent domain, real property and easement disputes, environmental contamination and trademark infringement cases. Jennifer is a member of the Roger F. Traynor Honor Society. While at McGeorge, she served as Staff and Comment editors for The Transnational Lawyer. Her article entitled "Environmental Watchdogs Take a Bite Out of Foreign Investment in Chile," 11 The Transnational Lawyer 245, was published in 1998. During law school, Ms. Scott was an intern at the United States Department of Justice, Environmental Natural Resources Division in Sacramento, California. She received a Bachelor's of Science degree in Environmental Policy Analysis and Planning from the University of California, Davis. Jennifer is a Leadership Stockton Alumni who is involved in her community and is currently on the Women’s Success Group board. Jennifer enjoys spending time with her family and playing tennis.
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Evan D. Smiley '92
Evan Smiley concentrates his practice on bankruptcy/insolvency matters and complex business litigation. Mr. Smiley is a former President of the Orange County Bankruptcy Forum and a former Director of the California Bankruptcy Forum. He is certified as a specialist in Business Bankruptcy Law by the American Bankruptcy Institute. In the years 2005 – 2010, Mr. Smiley was selected by the publishers of Los Angeles Magazine as a Super Lawyer, representing the top 5% of the practicing attorneys in Southern California. He was also included in the 2010 edition of The Best Lawyers in America in the specialty of Bankruptcy and Creditor-Debtor Rights Law which also appears in U.S. News & World Reports. He received his undergraduate degree in business administration (finance) in 1989 from California State University at Northridge and his law degree in 1992 from University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, where he was a Law Review writer and editor. He served a judicial clerkship to the Honorable John E. Ryan, United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Central District of California from September 1992 to September 1993, and an externship to the Honorable James N. Barr, United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Central District of California in 1991. Mr. Smiley was an associate attorney with Buchalter, Nemer, Fields & Younger, until joining Weiland, Golden, Smiley, Wang Ekvall & Strok, LLP when it was formed in 1995. He also co-authored Bankruptcy for Businesses, published in April, 2007 by Entrepreneur Media, Inc. and distributed by McGraw-Hill. Mr. Smiley currently serves on the Alumni Board of Directors for Pacific McGeorge School of Law.
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Morgan Smith ‘ 93
Morgan C. Smith is the founder and owner of Cogent Legal, a litigation graphics and consulting firm in Oakland. He began his career as a trial attorney in 1993 and was a founding partner at The Arns Law Firm, a boutique litigation firm in San Francisco, where he specialized in complex litigation, class actions, personal injury and products liability. As a litigator, he enhanced his case presentations for mediation or trial by developing multimedia graphics that leveraged his skills and passion for art, photography and computer-assisted design. Morgan opened Cogent Legal in early 2011 to help other trial attorneys achieve optimal results by integrating multimedia graphics with strategic consultation and support. Outside of work, Morgan serves on the board of Stagebridge Theatre Co. in Oakland and coaches his local high school's award-winning Mock Trial Team.
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Dawn C. (Houston) Sweatt '05
Dawn is an attorney with Silicon Valley Group where she engages in a civil litigation practice in the areas of corporate and financial services, property disputes, employment and other general litigation services. Ms. Sweatt has had substantial trial experience in her role as a civil litigator. Prior to joining Silicon Valley Law Group, Ms. Houston was a litigation attorney with Hansen, Culhane, Kohls, Jones & Sommer in Roseville, California. While in law school at McGeorge, Ms. Sweatt was the recipient of a Witkin award for academic excellence, received honors in oral advocacy, elected as a national member of the Order of The Barristers, and admitted to the Traynor Honor Society. Ms. Sweatt was one of only two people selected to participate in a prestigious internship in the Governors Office of Legal Affairs in 2004. She also completed internships at the California State Attorney General's Office and the District Attorney's Office. Dawn earned her undergraduate degree with honors in economics from the California State University, Chico.
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Thomas J. Tarkoff '92
Tom is an attorney in the Oakland office of Foley & Mansfield PLLP and has practiced law in California for more than 18 years representing corporate and individual clients in both state and federal court. As a trial attorney, Tom concentrates on the defense of product liability toxic tort cases, including the representation of manufacturers, suppliers, contractors and premises owners in asbestos litigation. Additionally, Tom regularly handles commercial, employment and personal injury matters. He has supervised litigation for clients throughout the country and currently serves as outside general counsel for a national manufacturing company. Tom has tried cases in courts throughout California and was recently admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court.
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Andrew P. Tauriainen '01
Andrew is an associate in the Natural Resources and Water Law department of Kronick, Moskovitz, Tiedemann & Girard, in Sacramento. He represents private and public sector clients in natural resources and land use matters. His practice emphasizes water rights and water supply, water quality, environmental compliance, endangered species, and land use issues. Andrew was a member of the Traynor Honor Society at Pacific McGeorge, served as Chief Managing Editor of the McGeorge Law Review, and received the Graduating Senior Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement. He earned his undergraduate degree in environmental sciences from UC Berkeley, and a master’s degree in environmental policy from Oregon State University. Andrew was named as a "2010 Northern California Rising Star" in environmental law by California Super Lawyers magazine.
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Vida L. Thomas '93
Vida L. Thomas, ESQ. is a founding partner of Carlsen Thomas, LLP, and has practiced labor and employment law since 1993. She has defended public and private employers in employment litigation involving discrimination, breach of employment contracts and sexual harassment. In addition, Ms. Thomas has extensive experience investigating complaints of employee wrongdoing. Ms. Thomas also provides limited legal consultations to employees. A prolific speaker, Ms. Thomas has conducted dozens of seminars on a host of employment law topics, including employee hiring and discipline, coordinating federal and California leave laws, employee privacy and conducting effective sexual harassment investigations. She also conducts sexual harassment prevention training for supervisors in compliance with AB 1825.
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Bruce M. Timm '98
Bruce is a founding partner of Barth Tozer & Timm LLP in Sacramento, a full service civil litigation firm. Bruce previously was an attorney with Littler Mendelson, where he litigated employment law matters in state and federal courts on behalf of employers, and with Kronick, Moskovitz, Tiedemann & Girard, where he did similar work. Bruce is an active member of the legal community, and enjoys working with law students at McGeorge, where he has been an adjunct professor in the Appellate Advocacy Program, presented on career development issues, judged oral arguments for the national moot court competition team, and participated in the Dining With McGeorge Program. While a student at McGeorge, Bruce was selected as the school’s Top Oral Advocate, received the American Jurisprudence Award for Appellate Advocacy, and was a member of the Traynor Honor Society and Moot Court Honors Board. He earned his undergraduate degree in management from Sonoma State University.
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Serge Tomassian ’83
Serge Tomassian is the lead trial & managing partner in the Irvine Law Firm of Tomassian, Throckmorton & Inouye LLP. In 2009 & 2010 he was named one of Orange County’s Top Ten Real Estate and Construction Lawyers by OC Metro magazine. He is an experienced litigator, trial lawyer and serves with the American Arbitration Association as a mediator and arbitrator. His legal career began in the Los Angeles office of O'Melveny & Myers with assignments on several large, complex civil litigation cases. Since 1988, he has been with Tomassian, Throckmorton & Inouye LLP., (previously Munns, Kofford, Hoffman, Hunt & Throckmorton) specializing in construction claims and defects, real estate, general civil and business litigation matters. His community involvement includes serving on the Board of Trustees and as Chairman Elect of the Orange County World Affairs Council and a member of the Chairman’s Circle for WACA
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Marianne L. Waterstradt '03
Marianne is an ’03 graduate and is a partner at King Waterstradt, Attorneys at Law. She is partnered with McGeorge Alum, Daniel A. King, who focuses on general civil litigation. Formerly, Marianne worked as a law clerk for the Honorable Judge Morrison C. England, Jr. ‘77, in the US District Court, Eastern District of California. Marianne lived in Okinawa, Japan for three years, attending the University of Maryland, Asian Division. When she isn’t practicing, she enjoys time with her family and performing magic!
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