Board & Staff

Staff

Robyn Lipsky

Executive Director

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

Communications & Programs

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.

Board

Sonia Martin

Chair

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 Portnoy

Vice Chair

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 R. Weber

Treasurer

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.

Debora Kristensen Grasham

Immediate Past Chair

Deb 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