Vote For Your Board of Directors
Below you will find a link you can use for elections to the Board of Directors of the George Washington Law Alumni Association. Please take the time to vote by e-mailing law alumni relations. Please indicate whether you approve the slate as presented or approve the slate presented with certain noted exceptions. You may also offer other names for consideration for future elections. Your vote must be received by June 30.
The Board of Directors is your board. They represent you and all other members of the Law Alumni Association. (One automatically becomes a member of the association upon graduation.) The board meets three times a year, usually on campus, to assist the Law School in planning programs and activities for alumni, and to assist with fund raising, student recruitment, and student placement. In addition, the board presents three alumni awards each year.
The following alumni are nominated for four-year terms:
Joseph F. Baca (Hon.), JD ’64
Albuquerque, N.M.
State of New Mexico
During a legal career spanning more than 30 years, Justice Joseph F. Baca of the New Mexico Supreme Court has distinguished himself on the state and national level as an accomplished legal scholar, jurist, and community leader. Baca was twice named by Hispanic Business magazine as one of “100 Most Influential Hispanics in the United States.”
Ruth C. Burg (Hon.), JD ’50
Washington, D.C.
Retired
After 22 years as an administrative judge at the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals, Ruth Burg currently acts as a neutral in alternative dispute resolution matters. Prior to serving on the Armed Services Board, Burg practiced tax law in the District of Columbia and Maryland. In 1965 she became the part time legal assistant to the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission Board of Contract Appeals and continued in that capacity until her appointment to the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals in 1972.
Richard H. Champion, JD ’76
Fair Haven, N.J.
Self Employed
Richard H. Champion has been a solo practitioner since 1986. He concentrates on civil and criminal tax controversy work fraud and auditing on behalf of attorneys and clients before federal and state agencies, district courts and the U.S. Tax Court.
Margery B. Colloff, JD ’77
New York
White & Case
Margery Colloff joined White & Case in 1982 in the litigation department and is now in the Banking and Financial Services department. Colloff wrote the winning legislative history argument in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court banking case BankAmerica Corp. v. United States, 103 S.Ct. 2266 (1983), reversing a Ninth Circuit prohibition on interlocks between boards of directors of banks and other non-bank corporations with whom they compete.
Kenneth Landis, JD ’92
Chicago
Seyfarth Shaw Fairweather & Geraldson
Kenneth Landis is a partner with extensive experience in complex commercial litigation and products liability defense. He has represented numerous business entities in many commercial disputes, including newspaper owners, waste disposal companies, banks, construction companies, and computer-related companies. Landis has also defended many personal injury actions involving product liability, negligence, and the Federal Employer Liability Act. Landis handles trade secrets cases.
Donell A. Hicks, JD ’00
Washington, D.C.
Arter & Hadden LLP
Donell Hicks has worked with Arter & Hadden LLP since September 2000. He was a summer associate with Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP, a law clerk for the Surface Transportation Board and Conectiv energy company of Wilmington, Del., and an intern for Sen. Joseph Biden. While at GW Law School, Hicks took part in many law school activities.
Jeanette A. Michael, JD ’75
Washington, D.C.
D.C. Lottery and Charitable Games Board
Jeanette Michael currently works as general counsel for the D.C. Lottery and Charitable Games Board. She is also the immediate-past president of the Black Law Alumni Association.
Henry L.P. Schmelzer, JD ’68
Ellsworth, Maine
Maine Community Foundation
Henry L.P. Schmelzer is currently president and CEO of the Maine Community Foundation. He has worked as a securities law attorney for Allmerica Financial Services. From 1981 to 1987 he held various legal positions, including vice president and counsel for the New England Mutual Life Insurance Co. Schmelzer has held various marketing, management, and legal positions for New England Securities and was president and CEO of CDC Nvest Funds.
Richard B. Simring, JD ’91
Miami Beach, Fla.
Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP
Richard B. Simring concentrates in the area of complex commercial litigation. He has handled a wide variety of matters in both state and federal courts and administrative tribunals including securities fraud, environmental litigation, employment discrimination, insurance coverage disputes, health care law, and insolvency-related litigation.
Robert H. Stevenson, JD ’68
Pittsburgh
Denovus Corporate Ltd.
Robert Stevenson is general counsel of Denovus Corp., a receivables management company. From 1968 to1981, he was with Anderson, Morelans and Bush, a general practice law firm, last serving as partner and member of the executive committee. He was with Union National Corp., a financial services company, last serving as senior vice president, secretary, and general counsel, and he has served as senior vice president and general counsel of Integra Financial Corp.
Margarita (Ari) Brose Orr, JD ’89
Arlington, Va.
PricewaterhouseCoopers
(*Nominated for Secretary/Treasurer Position) Ari Orr currently works at PricewaterhouseCoopers as a principal consultant in the financial services group. She manages consulting projects for securities industry clients, including banks, retail and institutional broker/dealers and investment banks. Past engagements include operations support for online brokerage launch, assessment of corporate brokerage strategy, system conversion business process re-engineering and Section 20 front office and back office infrastructure development.
Paul Hesses Welch, JD '60, BA '57
Dallas
Fiduciary Financial Services
Paul Welch is CEO/founder of Fiduciary Financial Services of the Southwest, an investment management firm. Previously he was CEO/founder of two different trust companies also in Dallas. Before moving to Texas in 1972, he was president of New England Life's mutual fund distribution subsidiary after serving as assistant general counsel of the National Association of Securities Dealers in Washington, D.C. He served in the Judge Advocate Program of the U.S. Air Force, achieving the rank of captain.
