Staff
Robyn Lipsky
Executive DirectorRobyn 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
Communications & ProgramsAudrey 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.
Board
Sonia Martin
ChairSonia 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 Portnoy
Vice ChairJeff 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 R. Weber
TreasurerCorey 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.
Debora Kristensen Grasham
Immediate Past ChairDeb is a partner in the Boise law firm of Givens Pursley, LLP. For more than 30 years, she has represented individuals and businesses in litigation throughout Idaho and the northwest in a variety of commercial disputes. She is admitted to practice in Idaho, Washington, California, the U.S. Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and district courts in Idaho, Washington and California. 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.
Board
Hon. Stanley Bastian, US District Court for the Eastern District of Washington
Hon. Marsha Berzon, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Hon. David Carter, US District Court for the Central District of California
Hon. Richard Clifton, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Hon. Michael Daly Hawkins, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Hon. M. Margaret McKeown, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Hon. Mary Murguia, Chief Judge, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Hon. William Orrick III, US District Court for the Northern District of California
Hon. Virginia Phillips, US District Court for the Central District of California
Hon. Mary Schroeder, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Hon. Milan D. Smith, Jr., Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Hon. Christina Snyder, US District Court for the Central District of California
Hon. Sidney Thomas, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Seth Aronson, Esq., O’Melveny & Myers LLP
Ryan Bounds, Esq., United States Department of Justice
George Brewster, Esq.
John Carson, Esq., Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP
David Casey, Jr., Esq., Casey Gerry Schenk Francavilla Blatt & Penfield LLP
Dale A. Danneman, Esq., Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP
Gareth Evans Esq., Redgrave LLP
Robert Fairbank, Esq., Phillips ADR
Jeffrey Fisher, Esq., Farella Braun + Martel LLP
Margaret Foley, Esq., Foley Law Center
Paul Friedman, Esq., Morrison & Foerster
Kiry Gray, Clerk of Court, US District Court for the Central District of California
Rita Haeusler, Esq., Hughes Hubbard
Cynthia Jones, Esq., Jones Legal Group
Rachel Lee, Esq., Stoel Rives LLP
Ron Maroko, Esq, Office of the U.S. Trustee
Kathleen O’Sullivan, Esq., Perkins Coie, LLP
Robert J. Pfister, Esq., Klee, Tuchin, Bogdanoff & Stern
Heather Richardson, Esq., Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, LLP
Marc Seltzer, Esq., Susman Godfrey LLP
David Steuer, Esq., Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Gail Migdal Title, Esq., ADR Services, Inc.
Lillian Tsai, Esq., Oracle
Dean Ziehl, Esq., Pachulski, Stang, Ziehl & Jones
Advisory Council
Hon. Stanley Boone, US District Court for the Eastern District of California
Hon. Magdalena Reyes Bordeaux, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California
Hon. Morgan Christen, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Hon. A. Marisa Chun, Superior Court of California
Hon. Steve Cochran, Los Angeles Superior Court
Hon. Haywood Gilliam, US District Court for the Northern District of California
Hon. Philip Gutierrez, US District Court for the Central District of California
Hon. Robert Johnston, U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada (Ret.)
Hon. Robert Lasnik, U.S. District Court for the District of Western Washington
Hon. Eric D. Miller, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Hon. Kimberly J. Mueller, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California
Hon. Richard Seeborg, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
J. Bruce Alverson, Esq., Alverson Taylor Mortensen & Sanders
Katherine Ball, Professor, University of Idaho, College of Law
Cathy Catterson, former Clerk Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Matthew Close, Esq., O’Melveny & Myers
Barbara Dawson, Esq., Snell and Wilmer
Caroline Djang, Esq., Best Best & Krieger
Ben Feuer, Esq., California Appellate Law Group
Peter Habein, Esq., Crowley Fleck Law
Ernest Hoidal, Esq., Law Office of Ernest A. Hoidal
Robert A. James, Esq., Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman
Courtney Linn, Esq., Golden 1 Credit Union
Robert Lowry, Esq., Law Offices of Rob D. Lowry
Sean McAvoy, District Court Executive and Clerk of Court, Eastern District of Washington
Tracy Morris, Esq., Federal Civil Rights Clinic
Sarah MacDonald, Esq., Oracle
Dan Nichols, Esq., Harris Berne Christensen LLP
Andrew Ong, Esq., Goodwin Procter
Jonathan Patchen, Esq., Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
Nora Puckett, Esq., Google
Fred A. Rowley, Jr., Esq., Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Anna Russell, JD., Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Library
Kelli Sager, Esq., Davis Wright Tremaine
Joy Shoemaker, JD., Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Library
James Sigel, Esq., Morrison & Foerster
Claire Wong Black, Esq., Dentons
Douglas Young, Esq., Farella Braun + Martel
Kelly Zusman, United States Department of Justice
Board Emeritus
Hon. Christine W. Byrd
Hon. Diarmuid O’Scannlain, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Jerome Braun, Esq., Farella Braun + Martel LLP
Kenneth Klee, Esq., Klee, Tuchin, Bogdanoff & Stern LLP