Board & Staff

Robyn Lipsky has been the Executive Director of the NJCHS since June 2016. Previously, she was the Executive Director of the Northern District of California’s Historical Society and the Northern District of California’s Practice Program for ten years. She also has had the honor of serving as a law clerk in the Northern District of California for close to 18 years.

Audrey Barrett is a 2021 summa cum laude graduate from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, OR. Her interest in the legal field and non-profit work led her to the NJCHS, and she is excited to start her professional journey here and to contribute to the preservation and promotion of Western legal history.

Sonia Martin is CEO of Dentons US and is also a member of Dentons’ Global and US Boards, the Global Management Committee and the US Region Management Committee.  She is a litigator with extensive experience defending consumer class actions, including claims for alleged violations of California’s Unfair Competition Act, Business and Professions Code Section 17200, et seq.  Sonia is a former lawyer representative to the United States District Court, Northern District of California.

Jeff is a partner at the Cades Schutte firm in Honolulu, practicing in the area of litigation. He previously served as Chair of the firm’s Litigation Department, and has practiced law as a civil litigator at the firm since 1972. Jeff has served two three-year terms as a Lawyer Representative to the Ninth Circuit, and was Chairman of the United States District Court Advisory (Biden) Committee. He was President of the Hawaii State Bar Association in 2007. He is also a past President of the Hawaii Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, and he served a three year term as Hawaii’s representative to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Advisory Board.

Corey is a partner at BG Law LLP.  He is a litigator with 20 years of experience in bankruptcy, business and commercial litigation, who regularly litigates cases involving fraud, fraudulent transfers/voidable transfers and breaches of fiduciary duty, including in Ponzi scheme cases.  Corey serves as a commissioner on the State Bar of California Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation (JNE Commission) for the 2022-2025 term.  He also serves as an advisor on the California Lawyers Association (CLA) Business Law Section Executive Committee, is a past Chair of the CLA Business Law Section and served a three-year term as Lawyer Representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference appointed by the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.  Corey received his law degree from the University of Southern California Law School, his Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Notre Dame and his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Irvine.

Lilian is a Senior Corporate Counsel for Oracle Corporation. She is a corporate attorney with over 15 years of experience in corporate transactions, including technology and commercial deals, and matters involving the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, with a background in mergers and acquisitions. Lilian is the former lead in-house counsel on technology transactions at the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer of the U.S. House of Representatives. She is a board member for the BRAVO! Club of the San Francisco Opera and a San Francisco Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteer. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and a Bachelor of Arts degree in mass communications from the University of California, Berkeley, and her law degree from American University.

Judge Debora K. Grasham began her appointment as United States Magistrate Judge on April 1, 2022.  Prior to being appointed to the bench, Judge Grasham was a partner at Givens Pursley, LLP in Boise, Idaho for more than 22 years.  There, she represented a variety of clients in commercial litigation and employment matters, and specialized in first amendment, privacy, and media law.  Prior to joining Givens Pursley, LLP,  Judge Grasham practiced at Davis Wright Tremaine, LLP in Boise, Idaho and Seattle, Washington from 1990 to 1999. Deb has served the Ninth Circuit in a variety of capacities, including as a Lawyer Representative from the District of Idaho, Chair of the Lawyer Representatives Coordinating Committee and as a member of the Ninth Circuit’s Advisory Board and Courts and Community Committee. She is a founding member of the Idaho Legal History Society and is the first Idaho member of the Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society’s Board of Directors.