Monthly Alumni Updates
June 19, 2009
John G. Andersen, ’85, has joined the Sacramento law firm of Ellis, Coleman, Poirier, La Voie & Steinheimer LLP as an associate attorney. A long-time business attorney and former Pacific McGeorge Institute for Administrative Justice hearing officer, his practice will focus on civil litigation.
June 19, 2009
Marlene Hertoghe, ’91, was featured in a judicial profile in the San Francisco DailyJournal. She is a Sacramento County Superior Court referee.
June 10, 2009
David Reed, ’83, has been elevated to a judgeship on the Yolo County Superior Court by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. A former Woodland sole practitioner, he has served as a court referee since 2006.
June 10, 2009
Michael Vicencia, ’90, was elected the 78 th president of the California Judges Association by the group’s executive board at its meeting in Sacramento. A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge since 2002, he will begin his one-year term as head of the CJA in mid-September.
June 8, 2009
Kimberley Lewwellen, ’05, David Graulich, ’07, and Roberta Larson, ’97, are among the slate of new officers of the Sacramento Law Foundation, the charitable arm of the Sacramento County Bar Association. Lewellen, an associate with Ellis, Coleman, Poirier, La Voie & Steinheimer LLP, is the incoming president; Graulich is the vice president; and Larson, a partner with Somach Simmons & Dunn, is the secretary of the organization.
June 3, 2009
Paloma Perez, ’08, has joined the Consumers Attorneys of California as the group’s associate legislative counsel. She previously worked as a policy consultant for RMP Strategies, Inc.
June 1, 2009
Alison R. Terry, ’08 was recently appointed to serve as the 5th District representative for the California Women Lawyers Board of Governors. She is a litigation associate at Griswold, LaSalle, Cobb, Dowd & Gin, LLP in Hanford.
June 1, 2009
William M. Wunderlich, ’72, resigned as a federal magistrate judge in Yosemite National Park, citing health reasons. He was a long-time state appellate court justice before assuming his U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California, position five years ago.
May 28, 2009
JoAnn Bicego, ’89, was appointed as a commissioner of the Siskiyou Superior Court by the court’s judges. The Yreka attorney has worked with the Siskiyou County Counsel’s Office since 2006, most recently serving as the interim assistant county counsel.
May 27, 2009
Jo Anne Bernhard, ’69, received the International Council of Shopping Centers Distinguished Service Award at the organization’s convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. A Sacramento commercial real estate attorney, she has been active in the ICSC since 1976.
May 21, 2009
Mark Johnson, ’80, has joined Chugach Electric Association as general counsel. His work at the Anchorage-based electric cooperative focuses on regulatory and energy affairs. He served as a member of the Alaska Regulatory Commission of for six years.
May 20, 2009
Morrison England Jr.,’83, dismissed a lawsuit from a woman who claimed she was deceived into buying Cap’n Crunch cereal over a four-year period because she thought Crunch Berries were real fruit. A judge of the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California., he pointed out in his dismissal order that the woman’s attorney had filed an earlier similar suit against Fruit Loops.
May 19, 2009
Mona Ehrenreich, ’86, was profiled in a front-page feature story in the Los Angeles DailyJournal. She is the general counsel for Princes Cruises, a 17-ship cruise line based in Santa Clarita and owned by Carnival Corporation & PLC, the world’s largest cruise line.
May 18, 2009
Gerald D. Waite, ’77, was appointed as the presiding judge of the Lebanon, Oregon, Municipal Court by the city council. He previously served as an assistant district attorney in Benton County after a long career as a private attorney in Las Vegas, Nevada.
May 18, 2009
Jenny Hubach, ’89, and Bruce Hahn, ’92, were elected, and Laurence Digesti, ’76, was re-elected, to the State Bar of Nevada Board of Governors from Washoe County. Hubach and Digesti are private attorneys while Hahn is a prosecutor with the Washoe County District Attorney’s Office.
May 15, 2009
Scott Triplett, ’96, announced that he will run for Placer County District Attorney in 2010. The Roseville resident is a long-time deputy district attorney with the Sacramento County DA’s office who most recently has handled homicide cases.
May 14, 2009
Eric Clarke, ’93, has joined Hanson Bridgett as a partner in the business section of the firm’s San Francisco office. He was previously with Carroll, Burdick & McDonough.
May 13, 2009
Michael Fannon, ’92, is working in the Afghanistan Justice Sector Support Program under a contract with the U.S. State Department. The Pine Grove criminal defense attorney was recently featured in a story in the Amador County Ledger Dispatch.
May 12, 2009
Elizabeth Strahlstrom, ’94, has joined Miller Starr Regalia as a partner in its Walnut Creek office. A real estate transaction, land use, and environmental law attorney, she was previously a partner with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman.
May 8, 2009
Marie Nakamura, ’01, and Roman Munoz, ’99, have been promoted to shareholders at Kronick Moskovitz Tiedemann & Girard while Candice Fields, ’94, has been named of counsel at the same Sacramento firm. She was previously an associate at Segal & Kirby.
May 6, 2009
Monica Marlow, ’77, ordered a halt to random mandatory drug testing of non-athletes in the Shasta Union High School District. She is a Shasta County Superior Court judge.
May 5, 2009
Timothy P. Roberts, ’87, was profiled in the San Francisco Daily Journal. He is a judge of the Monterey County Superior Court in Salinas.
May 4, 2009
Brent McDonald, ’06, has joined the law firm of Snow, Jensen & Reece in St. George, Utah. Previously, he was an associate with Pate Pierce & Baird in Salt Lake City.
April 30, 2009
James B. Pierce, ’74, was profiled in the Los Angeles Daily Journal. He is a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge.
April 27, 2009
Andrew Grundman, ’00, has been appointed to the board of directors of British Columbia-bases SNS Silver Corporation. Currently based out of Nevada and Sinaloa, Mexico, he provides consulting services to several precious and base metal companies.
April 24, 2009
Norman Morrison, ’00, has joined Walter & Wilhelm Law Group in Fresno where his practice focuses on reorganization, insolvency, bankruptcy and commercial litigation.
April 24, 2009
Timothy F. Freer, ’87, was profiled in the Los Angeles Daily Journal. He is a judge of the Riverside County Superior Court who hears cases in Murrieta.
April 24, 2009
Robert “Print” Maggard, ’90, was sworn in as an immigration judge by U.S. Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review. The former assistant chief counsel for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement unit of the Department of Homeland Security will conduct administrative hearings in the San Francisco Immigration Court.
April 22, 2009
Carolyn Nichols, ’80, was named captain of the American team for the Maria Esther Bueno Cup, an international tennis tournament for women 50 and over. Nichols, a former attorney who resides in Holt, is ranked No. 2 in her age group in the ITF world rankings.
April 21, 2009
Stephen Gizzi, ’02, is the managing partner of Gizzi & Reep, LLP in Benicia and serves as a judge pro Tempore for the Solano County Superior Court. He is also an adjunct faculty member at the National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada. His firm was honored with the 2008 Law Firm of the Year by the Solano County Bar Association.
April 20, 2009
Emily Barrett, ’05, was featured in a San Francisco Daily Journal article about political law attorneys. The Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman associate represents corporate clients seeking advice on compliance with campaign finance and lobbying laws.
April 19, 2009
Ty Cobb, ’02, was the subject of a feature story in the Reno Gazette-Journal. A business attorney, he is serving his second term as a member of the Nevada Assembly. He is considered a likely candidate for the state Senate in 2010.
April 18, 2009
Brian Golding, ’02, was the keynote speaker at the 2009 Yuma Birding and Nature Festival in Yuma, Arizona. He is the director of economic development for the Quechan Indian Tribe, which is a major partner in the restoration of the Yuma East Wetlands.
April 18, 2009
Wesley Hamilton, ’78, was profiled in the Ukiah Daily Journal. A veteran criminal defense attorney, he has served as the Mendocino County Public defender since 2004.
April 16, 2009
Cynthia Z'berg, ’80, has been appointed an as administrative law judge for the State Personnel Board. A resident of Palm Desert, she will handle hearings in the southern California area.
April 15, 2009
Randolph May, ’55, died of complications from Parkinson's disease at the age of 95 in Sacramento. He served as an unemployment insurance appeals administrative law judge from 1949 to 1973 and was active in the American Red Cross. He served as executive director of the Olympic Ski Patrol in 1960 in Squaw Valley.
April 15, 2009
Michael “Tod” Fogarty, ’75, was named chair of McDonough Holland & Allen’s civil and commercial litigation practice group. A 30-year veteran of the Sacramento firm, he has successfully represented some of California’s leading companies at the trial and appellate levels.
April 13, 2009
Evan E. Zelig, ’03, has opened his own practice, The Law Office of Evan E. Zelig, in Santa Rosa. He focuses solely on criminal defense in both the state and federal courts.
April 13, 2009
Kristen Ingersoll, ’01, was recognized in the North Bay Business Journal as one of the top young professionals in the Santa Rosa area. A partner at the law firm of Beyers Costin, she is active in community and nonprofit activities, including pro bono legal work.
April 10, 2009
Angelique Ashby, ’03, and Lisa Kaplan, ’00, have filed papers to run for the same Sacramento City Council district seat in 2010. Ashby is a community activist who was the first president of the Creekside Neighborhood Association. Kaplan has been a member of the Natomas Unified School Board for seven years.
April 9, 2009
Randal Hooper, ’80, was co-counsel for a victorious plaintiff, winning a $4.6 million verdict in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California, in a retrial of a case involving the 2001 shooting death of an 18-year-old involved in an auto chase with CHP officers. Before punitive damages were awarded, the parties settled for $5.7 million.
April 3, 2009
Gary Cortopassi, ’68, died of multiple myeloma at the age of 67. He practiced law as an attorney with Cal Western Life in Sacramento and also worked for American General and Zenith. He served as a member of the Sacramento County Project Planning Commission.
April 3, 2009
Derek Cole, ’99, wrote a book, California Surface Mining Law, which has been published by Solano Press Books. The book covers all aspects of surface mining regulation, including land use and environmental restrictions and specialized laws governing mine closure. He is a partner at the Roseville firm of Cota Duncan & Cole.
April 2, 2009
Douglas L. White, ’98, has received the Associate Member of the Year Award from the Building Industry Association of Central California. An attorney in the Los Angeles office of Greenberg Traurig LLP, he focuses his practice on green building codes, sustainability, land use, climate change and commercial real estate transactions.
April 1, 2009
Mark Gorton, ’81, was elected to McDonough Holland & Allen’s board of directors. A member of the Sacramento firm’s real estate practice group, his practice emphasizes insolvency and bankruptcy matters.
March 31, 2009
R. Scott Owens, ’89, announced that he will run for Placer County District Attorney in 2010 when the current D.A. retires. He has worked for the office since 1990, most recently as acting assistant district attorney.
March 30, 2009
Margaret Masunaga, ’87, has been named deputy director of the Hawaii County Department of Planning. She most recently served as a Hawaii deputy attorney general in the Family Law Division after 17 years as a deputy corporation counsel for the big island county.
March 29, 2009
Aaron McKinney, ’08, has joined Brown, Hall, Shore & McKinley in Stockton as a litigation associate. Before joining the firm, he served as an advocate on behalf of survivors of childhood abuse at a personal injury firm in Sacramento.
March 26, 2009
Ruther Ashley, ’88, received the President’s Award at the 28th Asian/Pacific Bar Association of Sacramento’s Installation Dinner. A long-time leader of the organization, she is the president and CEO of CaliforniaAll, an alliance that promotes diversity in the professions.
March 26, 2009
Thadd A. Blizzard, ’78, Lorna H. Brumfield, ’83, Bryan K. Stainfield, ’86, Christian R. Gullón, ’92, and David Moranda, ’80, were appointed to the Superior Court of California by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Blizzard, a shareholder with Weintraub Genshlea Chediak since 1987, was named to the Sacramento County Superior Court. He fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Gail Ohanesian, ’72. Brumfield and Stainfield join the Kern County bench. Gullón was appointed to the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Former Merced County deputy district attorney Moranda received his judgeship in that county.
March 25, 2008
David McHale, ’87, has been appointed senior vice president and general counsel for The Doctors Company, the largest national insurer of physician and surgeon medical liability in the United States. He joins the Napa-based company after serving as vice president and associate general counsel at Nationwide Insurance following an 11-year stint with the Allstate Insurance Company.
March 19, 2009
Daniel M. Dooley, ’76, was appointed senior vice president for external relations for the University of California system. Before taking office as UC vice president for agriculture and natural resources in January 2008, he was a partner at Dooley, Herr and Peltzer LLP in Visalia.
March 18, 2009
Jodi Cohen, ’90, was co-counsel for a respondent stock brokerage company and won an arbitration ruling against a plaintiff’s claims of intentional interference with economic advantage. She is a partner in the Long Beach firm of Keesal, Young & Logan.
March 17, 2009
Jeffrey Simenton, ’97, has joined the San Diego firm of Goode, Hemme & Peterson as a principal. A business and real estate attorney, he serves on the San Diego County Bowl Game Association Committee for the Holiday Bowl and the Poinsettia Bowl.
March 16, 2009
Kathryn Hardy, ’06, was co-counsel for a large group of current and former diary employees and helped them obtain a $1.275 million settlement in a Tulare Superior Court class-action wage and hour case.
March 16, 2009
Thomas Jeffry Jr., ’86, has joined Arent Fox as a partner in its Los Angeles office. The healthy care law specialist was previously with Davis Wright Tremaine.
March 15, 2009
Martin Taylor, ’90, has joined Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro as a partner in its Orange County office where the former Rutan & Tucker partner’s will focus on real estate finance, creditors' rights and bankruptcy.
March 9, 2009
Laurel Edgeworth, ’08, launched a Web-based company, Law Clerk Connection, which pairs junior lawyers with companies and law firms looking to outsource legal work such as research, document review and organization.
March 6, 2009
Naisha Covarrubias, ’05, has joined Ellis Coleman, Poirier, La Voie & Steinheimer, LLP as an associate. Previously, she practiced as a litigation attorney with the Law Offices of Dale S. Wilson, handling juvenile cases that involved delinquency and dependency.
March 3, 2009
Shannon Reno, ’01, was co-counsel for the defendant Central California Traction Company, which won a $1.8 million countersuit in a San Joaquin Superior contract case involving alleged fraud and a kickback scheme. She is an in-house counsel with the Union Pacific Railroad in Roseville.
March 2, 2009
Megan Lewis, ’02, has been promoted to partner at the Sacramento law firm of Wilke, Fleury, Hoffelt, Gould & Birney LLP. She represents businesses in bankruptcy proceedings and assists in corporate formation and litigation.
March 1, 2009
Robert Busch, ’85, wrote a book, How to Marry Smart: A Divorce Attorney’s Advice onHow to Tell the Winners from the Losers When Choosing a Spouse. A 22-year veteran practicing family law lawyer, he is a principal in the Law Office of R. Jeff Busch in Gold River.
