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.
Staff
Scarlet Espinosa
Assistant to the DirectorScarlet Espinosa has worked for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for the past three years as part of the Clerk’s Office. In that role she has expanded the Civics Outreach Program to over 3,000 Bay Area students who visited the courthouse. She joined the NJCHS on October 2019 and has deeply enjoyed working to preserve and promote the legal history of the West.
Board
Debora K. Grasham
ChairDebora K. Kristensen is a partner in the Boise law firm of Givens Pursley, LLP. For more than 25 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.
Sonia Martin
Vice ChairSonia Martin is a partner in Dentons’ Litigation and Dispute Resolution practice. She serves as managing partner of the Firm’s San Francisco office and is also a member of the Firm’s US Board. Sonia has extensive experience defending consumer class actions against insurers and financial institutions, including claims for alleged violations of California’s Unfair Competition Act, Business and Professions Code Section 17200, et seq. Sonia also defends insurers in bad faith and insurance coverage litigation. Sonia is a former lawyer representative to the United States District Court, Northern District of California
Jeff Portnoy
TreasurerJeff 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.
Rita Haeusler
Immediate Past ChairRita Haeusler is a partner in Hughes Hubbard’s litigation practice and head of the firm’s Los Angeles office. She has more than 30 years’ experience litigating in a variety of state and federal courts throughout California, Nevada, Arizona, the Pacific Northwest, Colorado, Tennessee, New Jersey and New York, and before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.Her practice focuses primarily on complex litigation and arbitration in the areas of consumer products, antitrust, unfair competition, intellectual property, class actions, privacy, and employment law. She received both her B.A. cum laude and her J.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles. She has been a member of the NJCHS Board since 2005.
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, 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, Chief Judge, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Seth Aronson, Esq., O’Melveny & Myers LLP
Ryan Bounds, Esq., United States Department of Justice
Jerome Braun, Esq., Farella Braun + Martel LLP
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
Donald Gaffney, Esq., Snell & Wilmer
Gersham Goldstein, Esq., Stoel Rives, LLP
Kiry Gray, Clerk of Court, US District Court for the Central District of California
Rachel Lee, Esq., Stoel Rives LLP
Thomas McDermott, Jr. Esq., Law Offices of Thomas J. McDermott, Jr.
Sonia Martin, Esq, Dentons
Ron Maroko, Esq, Office of the U.S. Trustee
Kathleen O’Sullivan, Esq., Perkins Coie, LLP
Jeff Portnoy, Esq., Cades Schutte, LLP
Heather Richardson, Esq., Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, LLP
Marc Seltzer, Esq., Susman Godfrey LLP
Gail Migdal Title, Esq., ADR Services, Inc.
Dean Ziehl, Esq., Pachulski, Stang, Ziehl & Jones
Advisory Council
Hon. Stanley Boone, US District Court for the Eastern District of California
Hon. Steve Cochran, Los Angeles Superior Court
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. Kimberly J. Mueller, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California
Hon. Randall Newsome, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California (Ret.)
Hon. Richard Seeborg, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
J. Bruce Alverson, Esq., Alverson Taylor Mortensen & Sanders
Cathy Catterson, former Clerk Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
A. Marisa Chun, Esq., Crowell & Moring
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
Colin Jones, Professor, Doshisha University Law School
Cynthia Jones, Esq., Jones Legal Group
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
Jonathan Patchen, Esq., Baker Botts
Robert J. Pfister, Esq., Klee, Tuchin, Bogdanoff & Stern
Nora Puckett, Esq., Google
Kelli Sager, Esq., Davis Wright Tremaine
Joy Shoemaker, JD., Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Library
David Steuer, Esq., Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Lillian Tsai, Esq., Oracle
Corey R. Weber Esq., Brutzkus Gubner
Claire Wong Black, Esq., Dentons
Douglas Young, Esq., Farella Braun + Martel
Meryl Young, Esq., Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
Kelly Zusman, United States Department of Justice
Board Emeritus
Hon. Christine W. Byrd
Hon. Diarmuid O’Scannlain, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Kenneth Klee, Esq., Klee, Tuchin, Bogdanoff & Stern LLP
Thomas McDermott, Jr. Esq
Robert Warren, Esq.