Class Action
Jason Geller was named Managing Partner in the San Francisco office of Fisher and Philips, LLC. Geller represents employers in litigation in both federal and state courts. Geller was most recently a Partner at Meckler Bulger Tilson Marick & Pearson LLP., representing employers in a variety of industries, including construction, manufacturing, technology, retail, restaurant and staffing. Geller is experienced in the preparation of employee handbooks and a variety of agreements. Geller is a member of the Northern California Human Resources Association and Employers’ Advisory Council of the California Employment Development Department.
1994
Cindy Runger
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Cindy Runger was named Senior Vice President and private client adviser with U.S. Trust in Seattle. Runger most recently served as a Senior Banker at JP Morgan Chase. Lorna W. Randall is presidentelect/treasurer of the ChelanDouglas County Bar Association for 2014-2015. Randall works for Northwest Justice Project, a dynamic statewide law firm that provides high-quality legal advocacy.
Teresa S. Ridle joined the Anchorage firm of Holland and Knight as a Partner. She focuses her practice on corporate law and governance, business formation and acquisitions, business transactions, intellectual property, shareholder relations, employment and secured transactions. Ridle also advises Alaska Native Corporations on the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) Business Development Program and government contracts. She also counsels a wide range of organizations, including American Indian tribes, nonprofit corporations and various forprofit business entities.
1996
Susan Pitchford Susan Pitchford has been honored with the James M. Burns Federal Practice Award by the Oregon Chapter of the Federal Bar Association. The award recognizes those who have “improved the practice of law before the U.S. District Court of Oregon” and who are role models of professionalism for other lawyers practicing before the Oregon Federal Courts. Pitchford is a patent attorney and partner at Chernoff Vilhauer, LLP.
John Bujak was profiled by the Coeur d’Alene Press on his recent efforts to run for governor of Idaho as a Libertarian. Yakima County Superior Court judges appointed local lawyer Kevin S. Naught to a court commissioner position vacated last spring by Gayle Harthcock. Naught leaves the law firm Finney, Falk, Naught and Remey to fill the post vacated in April by Harthcock when she was appointed by Gov. Jay Inslee to serve as a Yakima County Superior Court judge. Prior to working for the law firm in which he was a partner, Naught was a chief of legal services and attorney for the Army Judge Advocate General Corps.
1997 Diane M. Walker of Meridian, Idaho, was appointed Fourth Judicial District Magistrate Judge in Ada County. For the past nine years, Walker has served as Deputy State Appellate Public Defender, where she represented indigent clients in felony criminal appeals. Walker served as law clerk to Idaho Supreme Court Justice Roger Burdick from 2003 through 2005. Prior that she worked as a private practice attorney.
Fast Facts about Gonzaga Law Alumni:
4 Alumni Named Partner
1999 Jessie Harris was elected managing director of the Seattle firm Williams and Kastner. His practice focuses on civil litigation related to employment law, bodily injury, product liability and commercial cases. He has served on Williams Kastner’s board of directors since 2010.
2000
Joey Orduna Hastings Joey Orduna Hastings received the honor of Court Executive of the Year by the Nevada Association of Court Executives. Hastings was nominated by the Second Judicial District Court Judges and several elected and appointed Washoe County officials. She is the District Court Administrator and Clerk of Court at the District Court in Reno, Nevada. The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) presented Lt. Cmdr. Eric Pedersen with its 2014 Award of Merit. The award recognizes his service as a staff judge advocate (JAG) to SEAL Team 10 in Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. WSBA President Patrick Palace presented the award at the Annual Awards Dinner in September 2014 at the Sheraton Seattle.