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.

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.

Parna Mehrbani

Parna is a partner at Tonkon Torp LLP, with a practice focused on intellectual property, including trademark and copyright registration and enforcement, and advising on intellectual property portfolios for local, national, and international companies at all stages of growth. She has particular expertise in the apparel, footwear, consumer products, food and beverage, cannabis, and education services industries. Parna is Co-Chair of Tonkon Torp’s Information Privacy & Security Group, advising businesses on the management and security of personal data and the laws that regulate the collection, use, and protection of personal data. Parna is a member and immediate past chair of the Partners in Diversity Leadership Council, a member and past chair of the OSB Professionalism Commission, and the 2021 recipient of the MBA’s Diversity Award. She is a frequent speaker on diversity, equity, and inclusion matters.

Carolyn Walker

Carolyn Walker is senior in-house litigation attorney at Portland General Electric Company. Prior to joining PGE just over a year ago, Carolyn was a partner at the Stoel Rives law firm in Portland. She has extensive experience litigating and counseling clients on a wide variety of general litigation matters, and employment matters including discrimination, harassment, retaliation; state and federal leave laws; wage and hour; breach of contract; and other claims arising in the employment context.

Carolyn’s professional honors and activities include being listed for several years in The Best Lawyers in America, as well as a “Litigation Star,” and as one of the nation’s “Top 250 Women in Litigation,” by Benchmark Litigation. In 2018, Carolyn received the Professionalism Award from the Multnomah Bar Association. Her community service includes serving as a board member of the Oregon Community Foundation. Carolyn has also participated in many public speaking engagements on race and gender equity issues.

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.

Ron Cheng

Ron is a trial lawyer acting in the capacity as Of Counsel at Kaplan Law LLC. Ron focuses his talent and passion on helping people who have been seriously injured. In addition to his regular practice, Ron dedicates 10% of his caseload to pro bono work to make sure that the underrepresented and those with modest means do not get forgotten. Ron believes very strongly in community service and he gives back by volunteering as a coach with Jefferson High School’s mock trial team. He also mentors students at Portland State University and Lewis & Clark Law School. For his service to the community, Ron was presented with Lewis & Clark Law School’s Mentor of the Year Award; presented with the Community Spirit Award at the Lewis & Clark Distinguished Alumni Dinner; and was further recognized by the Oregon State Bar ONLD with the Public Service Award. In 2018, Ron was elected as a member of the Oregon State Bar House of Delegates. In 2019, Ron was elected to serve as a Board Member of the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association and in 2020 was recognized and awarded as the young lawyer of the year. Ron is a 2014 graduate of Lewis & Clark Law School. Before beginning his legal career, Ron was involved in public service; helping marginalized communities gain respect and dignity. As a result of his work with women rights, minority groups, and college students, Ron was presented with a leadership award by the local NAACP chapter.

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.