Class Notes - 1980s
1980
Dan Balmer BA played guitar at the Sisters (Oregon) Jazz Festival.
1981
Ben Fetherston JD has been elected chair of the board of directors of Associated Oregon Industries (AOI). He is a partner at Clark, Lindauer, Fetherston, Edmonds, Lippold & Collier in Salem, where he focuses on business law. Fetherston has held other officer positions with AOI, including serving on its executive committee.
Chrys Martin JD, shareholder at Bullivant Houser Bailey in Portland, was named chair of the 22,000-member Law Institute. As chair, Martin is responsible for the creation and direction of seminars and continuing legal education programs for the nation’s largest organization of defense trial lawyers. She focuses her practice on discrimination, discipline, discharge, harassment, wage and hour, union negotiations, employee contracts and benefits, ERISA, fiduciary liability, confidentiality agreements, and selected litigation.
Britt Nelson JD has joined Buckley LeChevallier as an associate attorney. Nelson’s practice areas include general business litigation, land use planning and zoning, business contract disputes, foreclosures, building and premises defects, real property litigation, and condominium conversion disputes and defects.
Lee Weinstein BA opened his own public relations consultancy, Lee Weinstein & Associates, in Portland and the Columbia Gorge. Before opening his firm, Weinstein had worked 15 years at Nike, which made him the company’s longest tenured U.S. communications veteran. Weinstein has worked in public relations for 26 years.
1982
Wendy Wallin Malinow BS is a children’s book illustrator. She lives in Portland and owns a collection of 200 snow globes.
Michael McKenzie BS is principal and owner of McKenzie Communication, a San Francisco–based consulting firm providing marketing, public relations, and organizational communication services. He lives in the Lake Street district of San Francisco with his wife, Lori McKenzie BA ‘83, and two teenage children, Nathan and Sarah. He is an amateur chef and plays bass in the band The Swingin’ Earthlings.
1983
Barbara Kaempf Matkowski CAS is a mixed-media artist in Portland.
Kristin Patton BA was recently promoted to vice president and corporate secretary at Sahara Enterprises. Last year, she received her M.BA with high honors from the University of Chicago.
Bob Wollheim JD, a judge on the Oregon Court of Appeals, received a Lifetime Achievement Award for community contributions and dedicated service honoring the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. The award was presented on January 15 at the 22nd annual Keep Alive the Dream tribute to King.
John Wright BS was recently named the best headhunting executive in Japan. His firm, Global Sage, also received top honors for its work in both Asia and Japan. The awards were based on results of a survey taken by senior executives in Asia-Pacific’s financial services industry.
1984
Vincent Bernabei JD has relocated his law practice to Washington Square Road in Portland. He continues to practice civil litigation and family law.
Robert Briggs JD has spent the last eight years as a staff attorney for the Disability Law Center of Alaska in Juneau, a year’s sabbatical to spend more time with his family, and a year of not really trying to practice law (i.e., part-time solo practice). Recently Briggs joined the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development as the workers’ compensation hearing officer for the Juneau office. Former classmates taking a cruise through Juneau are encouraged to contact him for a personally guided hike through the mountains and forests surrounding Juneau. Although wildlife sightings may not be guaranteed, it is a pretty good bet it will rain.
Cynthia Garner BA lives in Goldendale, Washington, after having spent two years in a small village outside of Thessaloniki, Greece, with her husband, three children, two dogs, and two cats. She homeschools her two daughters and teaches drawing and calligraphy. Her husband, Rob, is a therapist and supervisor at a small mental health agency. Her son graduated from high school last year and is now attending community college.
Bethanne Klauck BA currently lives in North Carolina with her sons.
Roger Lenneberg JD joins Stewart Sokol & Gray as of counsel after serving as corporate counsel for Performance Contracting Group. His practice focuses on complex construction and commercial disputes.
John Montgomery JD has changed the Montgomery Law Group to Montgomery & Hansen, which focuses on corporate and securities law, technology transactions, venture fund representation, and executive employment. The firm is located in Menlo Park, California.
Valerie Tomasi JD has been selected as one of Oregon Business magazine’s “50 Great Leaders” for 2007. Tomasi, a shareholder at Farleigh Witt since 1990, was elected president and managing shareholder of the firm in 2000. She is an adjunct professor at the law school and cochairs the Multnomah Bar Association Managing Partner Roundtable. Tomasi has chaired the pro bono subcommittee of the Oregon State Bar’s Debtor-Creditor Section since 1993.
1985
Paul Jorgensen BA founded Jorgensen Law Firm in Washington D.C., after 18 years of experience in business and legal practice. An active member of the D.C. community, he was honored with the Mayor’s Arts Award in 2004.
Kellar Laros BS lives in Hawaii. He was recently visited by Gary and Judy Emblen. Gary was a health and physical education instructor at Lewis & Clark for many years, and he and Judy also led trips to Nepal. Gary–along with Tom Darrow, professor emeritus of biology–led Laros on a trip to the Caribbean in 1984 to study marine life. To prepare for the trip, Gary helped Laros become certified as an NAUI scuba diver in Lewis & Clark’s swimming pool and in Hoodsport, Washington. Since that time, scuba diving and marine life have become Laros’ career. He is a partner at Jack’s Diving Locker, Kona’s largest and oldest dive shop and charter operator. He is also the founder of the Manta Pacific Research Foundation. He has logged over 7,400 scuba dives and has certified more than 500 scuba divers. It all started with Gary and Lewis & Clark College.
Lisa LeSage JD, associate dean and director of business law programs and executive director of the law school’s Small Business Legal Clinic, has been elected president of the Oregon Law Foundation for 2007. The foundation, which is the charitable arm of the Oregon State Bar, helps raise funds to provide access to justice for the state’s poor. Since its inception in 1981, the foundation has awarded more than $17 million for charitable law-related purposes.
Blake Underwood JD has been appointed assistant attorney in charge of the business transactions section of the general counsel division with the Oregon Department of Justice. He was in private practice in Portland before joining the business transactions section of DOJ in 2000.
1986
Corey Loehr BA is the Australia–New Zealand manager of Intel’s enterprise solution group. In his previous position as Intel Australia’s business development manager, he focused on the banking sector and prominent high-performance computing projects.
Christopher Shotola-Hardt BA is an art teacher at Wilsonville High School and plays the Irish bouzouki, the bass guitar, and the mandolin with the band Bugtoast. The Oregon Art Education Association named him the 2005 Oregon secondary art educator of the year. His art was exhibited at Portland’s Blackfish Gallery in 2006.
Trina Strom JD has joined Sorensen-Jolink, Trubo, Williams, Scherzer & Strom as a partner. Strom’s practice is limited to family law, including mediation, arbitration, and traditional client representation. She was formerly a partner at Borg, Strom & Greenlick.
1987
Sarah Jo Chaplen BA ‘87, M.P.A. ‘93 recently became an assistant city manager for Hillsboro. She began working for the city in 1998 as a project manager.
Tom Lyden BS continues to work as a reporter at KMSP-TV, Fox 9, in Minneapolis, where he has been employed for the past 14 years.
Erin Thompson BA ‘87, MAT ‘93 was inducted into the Lewis & Clark Sports Hall of Fame for achievements on the soccer field from 1983 to 1987. She is an educational assistant and soccer coach at Hood River Middle School.
Gary Young JD has opened his own law office. He specializes in personal injury and business law in Gresham.
1988
Ann Sherman JD has been selected by K&L Gates as the Portland administrative partner and a member of the firm-wide management committee for a four-year term.
Jill Tanner JD, presiding magistrate of the magistrate division of the Oregon Tax Court, received the 2006 Lawrence Lasser Award at the annual meeting of the National Conference of State Tax Court Judges. The award recognizes special service to the public in dispute resolution in tax matters. Presiding magistrate of the Oregon Tax Court since 2002, Tanner also serves as an officer of the Mary Leonard Law Society and on the Board of Bar Examiners.
1989
Dean Alterman JD has left Lane Powell and opened the Alterman Law Office in Portland.
Michael Drapkin BA recently became an associate at the law firm Townsend and Townsend and Crew in Denver.
Lorie Hancock JD has been named partner at Karnopp Petersen. Hancock’s practice emphasizes business transactions, mergers and acquisitions, emerging companies, and intellectual property issues.
J. Francisco Hulse BA and his wife, Merav Rozenblum, live and work as freelance interpreters and translators in San Francisco. Hulse also does voice-overs for TV commercials and offers private tutoring in Spanish. Rozenblum, who is from Israel, works as a contract interpreter for the State Department.
William “Barney” Later JD has relocated the Law Offices of William N. Later to Clay Street in Portland.
