Oregon Governor Kate Brown

Kate Brown is Oregon’s 38th Governor, with nearly 30 years of experience advocating for working families and ensuring that every voice is heard in our democracy. As Governor, she dramatically expanded access to the ballot box with the nation’s first automatic voter registration program, made historic investments in education, transportation, and affo​rdable housing, and expanded the Oregon Health Plan to reach 94 percent of adults and all Oregon children so they have access to the quality health care they deserve. Governor Brown came to Oregon to attend Lewis and Clark’s Northwestern School of Law, where she received her law degree and Certificate in Environmental Law.

Ed Edmo

Ed Edmo is a Shoshone-Bannock poet, playwright, performer, traditional storyteller, tour guide and lecturer on Northwest tribal culture. He offers guided tours of the She Who Watches petroglyphs in the Columbia River Gorge, as well as of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in Central Oregon’s high desert. Ed conducts workshops, traditional storytelling performances, dramatic monologues, and lectures on cultural understanding and awareness, drug and alcohol abuse, mental health, and other issues. He enjoys working with both children and adults in educational and other settings. Ed is a published short story writer, poet and playwright, and he serves as a consultant to the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian. He lives in Portland with his wife, children, and granddaughter.

Judge Angel Lopez

Judge Lopez graduated from Willamette University School of Law in 1978 and moved to Portland with is wife, Wendy Squires, who also attended Willamette law school and would later become his law partner at the firm of Squires and Lopez. The focus of Judge Lopez’s practice was criminal defense of unrepresented communities. In 1979, Judge Lopez became the first Latino director of the Oregon State Bar’s affirmative action program where he promoted programs and services for law students and lawyers from racially-diverse backgrounds. He later went on to serve on the OSB Board of Governors in 2001 and also served on the Oregon Bench and Bar Commission on Professionalism. Judge Lopez was a major organizer of the Oregon State Bar’s first Convocation on Equality held in 2001, and he served on the 2011 Convocation on Equality Steering Committee. In 2002, Judge Lopez became the first person of color to serve as Oregon State Bar President. During his tenure, he prioritized adequate funding for the criminal justice system, legal services for low-income Oregonians, and promoted the creation of the Oregon State Bar’s Diversity Section. Judge Lopez was appointed to the Multnomah County Circuit Court Bench by Governor Ted Kulongoski in 2009. Judge Lopez became a Senior Circuit Court Judge in 2021.

Judge Melvin Oden-Orr

Melvin Oden-Orr is a Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge, a court of general jurisdiction in Oregon.  Judge Oden-Orr was appointed by Oregon Governor Kate Brown to the Multnomah County Circuit Court effective January 1, 2018.

Judge Oden-Orr previously served as the Chief Hearings Officer for the city of Portland, where he had worked from July 2016 until his appointment to the Circuit Court. In that role, he adjudicated land use disputes, city code violations, and other municipal matters. From 2005 to 2016, Oden-Orr operated a law practice, representing clients in civil litigation, mediation, arbitration and business transactions. From 2000 to 2004, he served as Assistant General Counsel at TriMet.  He served as a volunteer mediator with the Multnomah County Small Claims Mediation Program from 2009 to 2016.

Judge Oden-Orr began his career as an associate attorney at a predecessor to the firm Lane Powell LLP. He attended law school at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign after receiving his B.A. degree in political science at UCLA. He is the founding chair of the Oregon State Bar’s Diversity Section and has served on a number other boards and committees, including with the City Club of Portland, Youth Employment Institute, Micro Enterprise Services of Oregon, and the State Construction Contractors Board, to name a few.

Christine Cress

Dr. Cress is a professor of postsecondary, adult, and continuing education in the Educational Leadership and Policy Department at Portland State University. She earned her Ph.D. in Higher Education and Organizational Change at UCLA and is an accomplished scholar (over 50 publications & 100 professional presentations) focused on learning environments, community-based learning experiences, and the impact of campus climate on student development outcomes and faculty productivity. She is the author of three books on community service, including the internationally best-selling book Learning through Serving: A Student Guidebook for Service-Learning and Civic Engagement across Academic Disciplines and Cultural Communities, which has been adopted as a textbook at more than 30 colleges. She is the initiator of the PSU master’s specialization and graduate certificate in service-learning and community-based learning.

US Magistrate Judge Mustafa Kasubhai

Judge Kasubhai graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1992, with a degree in business administration. He completed his Juris Doctorate degree at the University of Oregon School of Law in 1996, where he served as an associate editor on the Oregon Law Review, a graduate teaching fellow for the University of Oregon, and President of the Student Bar Association. Judge Kasubhai began his private legal career in a small civil plaintiff’s firm until he opened his own practice, the Law Offices of Mustafa T. Kasubhai. He worked primarily between Klamath Falls and Eugene, Oregon serving a wide geographic area including rural communities, representing workers and unions in workers compensation cases and plaintiffs in civil cases primarily involving torts and work-related injuries. Governor Kulongoski appointed Kasubhai as a judge on the Lane County Circuit Court in 2007, where he was the first South Asian-American and Muslim-American judge to serve on the court. He was re-elected to another six-year term in 2014. Judge Kasubhai was appointed to the federal bench in September 2018 and is the first Muslim-American to serve on the federal bench in the United States.

Judge Kasubhai has been dedicated to promoting diversity and equality throughout his legal career, and has served as a mentor and role model to many young attorneys and students over the years. He has been an active member of a number of Oregon legal associations and diversity groups including the Oregon State Bar Board of Bar Examiners, the Dean’s Advisory Council for the University of Oregon School of Law, Lane County Bar Association, Oregon Asian Pacific American Bar Association (OAPABA), Oregon Gay and Lesbian Lawyers Association (OGALA), and the Oregon chapters of Hispanic Bar Association and South Asian Bar Association. He received the Daniel K. Inouye Trailblazer Award from the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) in 2018, and the Justice Lynn Nakamoto Trailblazer Award from OAPABA that same year. Judge Kasubhai co-founded the Oregon Mediation Diversity Project in 2020, and is currently a member of the Oregon District Court Judicial Equity Committee, Oregon State Bar Leadership Institute Advisory Board, and Joint State and Federal Workgroup on Unconscious Bias Education.

Jovita Wang

Jovita Wang is a partner at the Portland law firm, Richardson Wright LLP, where she handles complex business litigation cases. She has been practicing law since 2010. Jovita began her legal career as an associate at Miller Nash Graham & Dunn. She is the current president of the Multnomah Bar Association and previously served on the Young Lawyers Section board. Jovita remains involved in the Oregon Asian Pacific American Bar Association, where she is a past president, and in 2019, was selected as one of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association’s “Best Lawyers Under 40.” She is an Associate Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America and a Life Fellow for the American Bar Foundation.

Kareem Walcott

Mr. Kareem Walcott joined the Benton County District Attorney’s Office in 2016. Before joining the District Attorney’s Office, Kareem worked as a civil attorney for the Reynolds Law Firm, in Corvallis, and Caldwell Law, in Salem. Kareem graduated from Willamette University College of Law with a certificate in business law. Kareem is active in the community volunteering for various organizational projects, such as the local NAACP branch and the African American Youth Leadership Conference.

Ravyn Goss

Ravyn Goss is a new attorney currently practicing as an Assistant Deputy City Attorney for the City of Portland in the Honors Attorney program. While earning her J.D. from the University of Oregon School of Law, Ravyn began her work in the public sector, clerking for the Oregon State Bar and the Oregon Department of Justice, Civil Recovery Section. After graduation, Ravyn served as a judicial clerk for the Honorable Karrie K. McIntyre at Lane County Circuit Court in Eugene, Oregon. While she comes most recently from Eugene, Ravyn is a proud University of Texas at Austin graduate and a Texas native. During her time in Oregon Ravyn has shown a passion for public service, diversity, inclusion and equity both within the legal field and the community at large.

Judge Adrian Brown

Judge Adrian Lee Brown (she/her) was elected in November 2020 by voters across Multnomah County. She attended Lewis & Clark Law School, receiving a Juris Doctorate Degree in May 2000. She began her legal career on Active Duty as an Air Force Officer and Judge Advocate — serving in Alaska, Washington, and Germany. As a JAG Officer, she served in a range of assignments including as prosecuting trial counsel, criminal defense counsel, and as a legal assistance attorney for military members and their families. She progressed in her public service career, serving as an Assistant U.S. Attorney Oregon, for 13 years. As an AUSA she has both criminal and civil litigation experience, focusing on Civil Rights Enforcement. For the entirety of her 20+ years of her legal career she has served the public, on both sides of the courtroom — prosecution and defense, and in both civil and criminal cases. Judge Brown embraces public service as a community member – in both legal and non-legal capacities. She volunteers with both state and local bar organizations, including the Oregon State Bar; the Multnomah Bar Association; and helping to begin the Oregon Attorneys with Disabilities Association. She has also volunteered in a non-legal capacity as a reader for Start Making A Reader Today (“SMART”), and she helped launch the inaugural Lawyers for Literacy Campaign to help increase the number of lawyers who participate as readers for SMART.

Judge Miranda Summer

Miranda Summer is a Beaverton Municipal Court Associate Judge. Judge Summer is a member of the B-SOBR DUII Specialty Court Team and covers both criminal and traffic matters for the court. Prior to working for the city, Judge Summer was in private practice, primarily as a family law attorney, as well as working as a pro tem judge for Washington County Circuit Court and Beaverton Municipal Court. She also has experience working for the Office of Administrative Hearings as an administrative law judge. Judge Summer graduated from the University of Oregon School of law in 2007. When she is not working, Summer volunteers in the community, most recently as a member of the Beaverton Human Rights Advisory Commission. She enjoys wine tasting, sports and coaching her daughter’s youth teams.

Emily Cooper

Emily leads a team of attorneys who work to uphold the rights of Oregonians with disabilities. She focuses on litigation to transform systems and practices so that more Oregonians have the opportunity to reach their full potential.

Previously, she served as a Senior Attorney at Disability Rights Washington since 2006 where she worked on class action litigation, monitoring facilities that serve people with disabilities, investigating abuse and neglect, and testifying in front of the legislature.

Emily was also an Adjunct Law Professor at Seattle University School of Law from 2014 to 2017, served on the American Civil Liberties Union (“ACLU”) of Washington’s Board of Directors from 2011 to 2017, and served as the Director of Advocacy for the Washington Attorneys with Disabilities Association (“WADA”) from 2013 to 2016. Emily graduated from Seattle University School of Law in 2003.

Yesenia Gutierrez

Yesenia Gutierrez has recently joined the University of Washington School of Law as their Director of Professional Development in Student and Career Services. Prior to joining UW, she was the Director of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity/Deputy Title IX Coordinator at Portland State University. Yesenia has spent nearly 20 years serving in higher education, government, and civil rights focused non-profit organizations. Yesenia is licensed in both New York and Oregon and continues to serve the diversity and specialty bar organizations of both states. She earned her B.A. from Hampshire College in Economics & Gender Studies, and her J.D. from City University of New York School of Law.

Vanessa Nordyke

Vanessa Nordyke is a mental health advocate, Salem City Councilor (Ward 7) and a Senior Assistant Attorney General at the Oregon Department of Justice, Trial Division. Vanessa served as the youngest-ever elected President of the Oregon State Bar in 2018. As OSB President for 2018, Vanessa made attorney wellness a top priority, by (1) supporting the creation of mental health and substance abuse CLE requirement, (2) spearheading OSB’s first-ever Wellness Summit and (3) conducting mental health trainings across the state of Oregon. Born and raised in Oregon, Vanessa graduated with honors from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service with a Bachelor of Science in International Political Economy in 2002. After graduating from the University of Oregon School of Law in 2008, Vanessa was admitted to the prestigious Honors Attorney Program with the Oregon Department of Justice, where she has made her career ever since, currently as a civil litigator. She tries cases in state and federal courts in torts, employment, civil rights, and more. She is as past president of the Willamette Valley American Inn of Court and past president of Oregon Women Lawyers’ Mary Leonard Chapter. She is the recipient of Oregon DOJ’s Excellence in Justice Award, Willamette University College of Law’s Outstanding Mentor Award, the Marion County Bar Association Government Lawyer of the Year Award, and the University of Oregon School of Law’s Outstanding Young Alumnus Award. She also served as a member of the American Bar Association Commission on the Future of Legal Education.

Michael Levelle

Michael Levelle has practiced law in Oregon since 1990. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Social Work from the University of Montana, graduating with honors. He then attended Willamette University College of Law, where he earned his Juris Doctorate and a Dispute Resolution Certificate. In 2018 he embarked on a new journey and established Levelle Law LLC, a firm with a client-centered culture. Michael’s practice focuses on complex estate planning, estate and trust administration, guardianships, conservatorships, and general business. Mr. Levelle is dedicated to participating in civic organizations that serve under-represented and at-risk communities. He has extensive non-profit experience, including his role as Board Chair for the local organization Self Enhancement Inc., and on the Medical Teams International Board for two years. Mr. Levelle was a member of the Oregon State Bar Board for three years and served as its first African American President in 2017. His focus as President was to promote equity, inclusion, and access to justice. Mr. Levelle enjoys spending time with his family, gardening and photography. He has a deep appreciation for the outdoors, and road tripping through the western United States, especially his home state of Montana.

Bryson Davis

Bryson regularly serves the wide-ranging legal needs of businesses and nonprofits of all sizes and industries.

Bryson’s practice involves advising and representing for-profit and nonprofit clients in a broad range of business issues from formation to sale and he often serves as external General Counsel for his clients. His practice touches on mergers and acquisitions, business formation and maintenance, securities offerings and sales, real estate transactions, contract drafting, employment advice, and regulatory compliance. In addition, he has specialized knowledge helping clients in the cannabis industry, working with professional licensing issues, and handling administrative law matters.

In addition to his legal practice, Bryson is committed to improving social and economic equity across the Northwest’s BIPOC communities. This commitment has led to Bryson’s participation and leadership within several nonprofit organizations and community groups whose mission and purpose is focused on increasing equity, supporting diverse representation, and community economic development.

When not working, Bryson can be found working on one of his cars or his racing kart, or playing tabletop and board games with friends.

Alexzandra Watson

Alexzandra joined the OSB State Bar in 2014 and specializes in estate planning practicing at Anderson Bradley Krant, P.C. in Ashland as an associate. She is licensed to practice in Oregon and is an inactive member in California. Alexzandra is a graduate of the University of San Francisco School of Law. Alexzandra is a California native who grew up in Ashland, Oregon. Alexzandra‘s practice is focused on working with people of all ages and stages of life, assisting them in their estate planning needs. Her experience with preparing comprehensive estate plans. Alexzandra has volunteered for the OSB on the subcommittee for events for this Convocation and is the President of the Jackson County Bar and is its representative to the House of Delegates as bar president.