Pioneer Courthouse

PIONEER COURTHOUSE HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Pioneer Courthouse
GALLERIES

Members of the Board of Pioneer Courthouse Historical Society

Ryan Bounds

Ryan Bounds
president

Ryan Bounds began his legal career in the Pioneer Courthouse, where he served as a law clerk for Circuit Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain. He is now an assistant United States attorney for the District of Oregon and prosecutes defendants charged with fraud and environmental crimes. Ryan also sits on the Board of Trustees of the High Desert Museum in Bend, Oregon, and the Board of Directors of the Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society; he is also an Appellate-Lawyer Representative to the Ninth Circuit.  Before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Portland, he served as special assistant to President George W. Bush for justice and immigration policy, as chief of staff and deputy assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Policy, and as a federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C. He is a native of Eastern Oregon and graduated from Hermiston’s public schools before obtaining his bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and his J.D. from Yale Law School.

Kathy Dodds

Kathy Dodds
secretary

Kathy Dodds is a career law clerk for Senior Circuit Judge Edward Leavy. She is a native of upstate New York, earning her undergraduate degree from the University of Vermont, and her law degree from the University of Oregon School of Law. Following a clerkship on the Oregon Supreme Court, she practiced law with the Portland law firms Tonkon Torp, then Sussman Shank, focusing on appellate law. She then spent several years raising young children, while also renovating the historical Besaw’s restaurant and volunteering in the preservation of the Deschutes River canyon. She joined the chambers of Judge Leavy in 1995. Outside chambers, Kathy’s priorities include her husband, four children, their spouses, and several grandchildren. She is an active volunteer in local schools, charities, and parish. Her favorite places are her cabin in the Deschutes canyon (where there is no wi-fi) and her family’s 120-year old summer camp on a rural Adirondack lake.

Andy McStay

Andy McStay
treasurer

Andy McStay is a partner at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, where he represents food industry clients in foodborne illness and contamination cases and supply chain disputes. He also sits on the board of Boys & Girls Aid Society. He is a graduate of Yale College, Columbia University, and the University of Texas School of Law. He clerked for Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain in 2003-2004 – ironically, spending the entire year in the Hatfield Courthouse while the Pioneer Courthouse was being renovated.

Nell Brown

Nell Brown

Nell has served as an Assistant Federal Public Defender for the District of Oregon since 2006. After nine years as a trial attorney, Nell’s practice now focuses primarily on appellate and habeas corpus work. A Massachusetts native, Nell graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College with a degree in History and Afro-American Studies and cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center. Before relocating to Oregon, Nell clerked for the Honorable Mark A. Wolf in the District of Massachusetts and the Honorable Chief Judge R. Guy Cole of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit before working in private practice in Washington, D.C. for the firm, Akin, Gump. Nell serves on the Boards of Directors for the Oregon Criminal Defense Lawyers Association and the District Court of Oregon Historical Society. Nell also has taught as an adjunct at Pacific University and the Oregon Health and Sciences University. She enjoys spending time with her family exploring the Pacific Northwest and long trail runs with her dog.

Nadia Dahab

Nadia Dahab

Nadia is a trial and appellate advocate at the Portland law firm of Sugerman Dahab. She represents individuals in consumer, civil rights, and class action litigation. Before joining Sugerman Dahab, Nadia served as Senior Litigation Attorney for the Portland nonprofit Innovation Law Lab, where shew as co-lead and class counsel on several complex matters challenging Presidential and federal agency actions and seeking to protect the rights of immigrants and refugees. Nadia began her legal practice at the Portland law firm of Stoll Berne. Nadia graduated from the University of Oregon and served as a law clerk to Justice Rives Kistler of the Oregon Supreme Court and Judges Mary H. Murguia and Susan P. Graber, both of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. On the weekends, you’re likely to find Nadia running the trails of Forest Park or cycling Oregon’s scenic backroads.

Robert Hogfoss

Matthew Kalmanson

Matthew Kalmanson

Matt is a partner in the appellate department of Hart Wagner LLP. Matt’s admiration of the Pioneer Courthouse began during his clerkship for Judge Susan Graber in 2000-2001, and since then has had the pleasure of arguing numerous cases in its historic courtroom. Matt is an editor of the Verdict magazine, has presented on developments in state and federal law, and is the author of various articles in bar publications. He is on the Executive Committee of the Constitutional Law Section of the Oregon State Bar, and has served as a member of the Oregon Appellate Rules and Uniform Civil Jury Instructions Committees. He is a graduate of Yale Law School and the Honors Program at the University of Massachusetts.

Marianne King

Bob Koch

Bob Koch

Bob Koch is a Senior Assistant Attorney General in the Appellate Division of the Oregon Department of Justice. Bob began his legal career in Pioneer Courthouse as a law clerk to Judge Susan P. Graber. Following his clerkship, Bob joined the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. He served as an Honors Attorney in the Division’s Special Litigation Section, where he led case teams vindicating the rights of individuals with mental illness and developmental disabilities. He then served as a Senior Attorney in the Division’s Appellate Section, where he worked on both civil and criminal matters in the U.S. Supreme Court and in federal courts of appeals across the country. Bob also served on a detail to the Office of White House Counsel under President Barack H. Obama, where he vetted candidates for executive and judicial branch nominations and advised the President on LGBT legal issues. Before joining the Oregon Department of Justice, Bob chaired the appellate practice group at Tonkon Torp LLP in Portland, Oregon. Bob also serves as Chair of the Oregon State Bar’s Constitutional Law Section and on the Executive Committee of the Bar’s Appellate Practice Section, after previously chairing the Ninth Circuit Lawyer Representative delegation on behalf of the District of Oregon. Bob received his B.A. from Duke University and his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.

Chet Orloff

Chet Orloff

Executive Director of the Oregon Historical Society from 1991 to 2001, Chet Orloff teaches urban studies, history, and planning at Portland State University and the UofO School of Architecture. He’s the founding president and director of the international Museum of the City. He has served on the Portland Planning, Landmarks, and Arts&Culture commissions, as well as the Portland Parks Board and numerous other city, state, and national boards and committees. He recently chaired the Central City 2035 Plan Citizens Advisory Committee and chaired the new TriMet Transit Bridge Naming Committee.

Danny Newman

Danny Newman

Danny Newman is an Attorney in Tonkon Torp LLP’s Litigation Department, where he focuses his work in the Bankruptcy & Reorganization, Government Solutions, and Appellate Practice Groups.  Following a clerkship with Judge Xavier Rodriguez at the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas and an extended stint with global law firm Paul Hastings LLP, Danny completed a clerkship with Circuit Judge Richard C. Tallman of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which included his first visits to the Pioneer Courthouse. Danny previously taught a negotiations seminar at Gonzaga University School of Law and South Texas College of Law Houston. He is an active member of local bar associations, frequent presenter at continuing legal education programs, and member of the Board of Directors for the Oregon Health Justice Center. Danny earned his J.D. from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law in 2014, and graduated from Rice University in 2010 with a B.A. in Political Science and Public Policy. Outside of work, he enjoys grilling, exploring Portland’s restaurants and coffee shops, and hiking and relaxing everywhere from Oregon’s coast to Bend with his wife and daughter.

Robert Walch

Robert Walch

Robert M. Walch is the Senior Deputy Clerk of the Northern Division of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. His office is located in the historic Pioneer Courthouse. He served as the Court’s project manager for the 2003-2005 renovation and restoration of the Pioneer Courthouse and the 2007-2009 renovation and restoration of the William Kenzo Nakamura United States Courthouse in Seattle, Washington. From 1990 to 2003, as Chief Deputy Clerk of the District of Oregon, he was responsible for the renovation and restoration of the James A. Redden United States Courthouse in Medford, Oregon and the John F. Kilkenny United States Courthouse and Post Office in Pendleton, Oregon. From 1994 to 1997, he was a member of the project management team responsible for the construction of the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse in Portland, Oregon.

Robert Walch is a graduate of the University of South Florida and has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Historical Society since 2003.

Kelly Zusman

Kelly Zusman

Kelly A. Zusman is the First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the United States Attorney’s Office in the District of Oregon. Following federal district court and appellate court clerkships, she joined the Department of Justice and has worked in the civil and criminal trial divisions, also serving as the office’s Senior Litigation Counsel and Criminal Discovery Trainer/Coordinator. She teaches appellate advocacy, evidence, and legal writing at the National Advocacy Center and the Northwest School of Law at Lewis & Clark, serves as the Ninth Circuit representative to the Appellate Chiefs Working Group to the Attorney General Advisory Committee, and she authored articles for the OLE Blue Book on Federal Criminal Discovery, the USA Bulletin on the Government’s Brady Obligations, and the USA Bulletin on Appeals. She is currently a member of the Oregon State Bar Federal Practice and Procedure Committee, and has previously served as a Ninth Circuit Lawyer Representative to the Judicial Conference (2008-1011), President of the Oregon Chapter of the Federal Bar Association (2009-2010), and a Member of the Board of Directors of the U.S. District Court Historical Society (2002-2005). She is the recipient of an Attorney General Director’s Award (2013), the FBA’s James M. Burns Federal Practice Award (2011), and an Outstanding Teaching Award from Northwestern School of Law (2008).

Ex Officio—United States Court of Appeals
Ninth Circuit:

Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain

Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain

Judge O’Scannlain was appointed United States Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit by President Reagan on September 26, 1986. He received a J.D. degree in 1963 from Harvard Law School and a B.A. in 1957 from St. John’s University. He also earned the LL.M. (Judicial Process) degree at University of Virginia Law School in 1992. He was awarded the LL.D. (honoris causa) degree by the University of Notre Dame in 2002, the LL.D. (honoris causa) degree by Lewis & Clark College in 2003 and the LL.D. (honoris causa) degree by the University of Portland in 2011.

As a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Judge O’Scannlain has participated in over 10,000 federal cases and has written hundreds of published opinions on a broad range of subjects including constitutional law, international law, securities law, administrative law, and criminal law. He hears appeals in San Francisco (court headquarters), as well as in Los Angeles (Pasadena), Portland, Seattle, Anchorage and Honolulu. The late Chief Justice Rehnquist appointed Judge O’Scannlain to the Federal Judicial Center’s Advisory Committee on Appellate Judge Education. In 2009, Chief Justice Roberts appointed Judge O’Scannlain to the International Judicial Relations Committee of the U.S. Judicial Conference and subsequently appointed him Chairman in 2010.

President George W. Bush appointed Judge O’Scannlain to the Board of Trustees of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation in 2004. Pope Benedict XVI conferred the Order of Saint Gregory the Great on Judge and Mrs. O’Scannlain in 2007.

Judge O’Scannlain’s professional interests also include judicial administration and reform, and continuing legal education. Judge O’Scannlain is former Chair of the Judicial Division of the American Bar Association and has previously chaired the ABA’s Appellate Judges Conference, its Committee on Appellate Practice, and its 9th Appellate Practice Institute. He has testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on several occasions, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property, and the Commission on Structural Alternatives for the Federal Courts of Appeals on the subject of court reorganization. In addition to serving as a faculty member at numerous federal appellate practice seminars for judges and attorneys, including New York University Law School’s Institute for Judicial Administration, Judge O’Scannlain is an adjunct Professor at Lewis & Clark Law School where he teaches a seminar on the Supreme Court. He has served as a Moot Court Judge at distinguished law schools across the United States including Harvard, Yale Stanford, Boalt Hall (Berkeley Law), Virginia, Cornell, Notre Dame, Duke, Fordham, Alabama, University of Southern California, King Hall (U.C. Davis) and Loyola Marymount University and in China at Xiamen and Renmin Universities.

Between graduation from Harvard and investiture as a federal judge, Judge O’Scannlain was primarily engaged in private law practice. Between 1969 and 1974, he was consecutively the Deputy Attorney General of Oregon, the Public Utility Commissioner of Oregon, and Director of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. He retired from the U.S. Army Reserve in 1978 as a Major after 23 years Reserve and National Guard service, including four years as an enlisted man.

A first generation Irish-American son of immigrant parents from Sligo and Derry, Judge O’Scannlain is married to the former Maura Nolan and has eight children: Sean, Jane, Brendan, Kevin, Megan, Christopher, Anne, and Kate, and eighteen grandchildren. His chambers are in the Pioneer Courthouse in Portland, Oregon.

Judge Edward Leavy

Judge Edward Leavy

The Honorable Edward Leavy, born August 14, 1929, was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 1987 by President Ronald Reagan. He received a B.A. from University of Portland in 1950, and J.D. from Notre Dame Law School in 1953. He served as Deputy District Attorney, Lane County, Oregon from 1954 to 1957, Lane County District Judge from 1957 to 1961, Lane County Circuit Judge from 1961 to 1976, Justice Pro Tempore, Oregon Supreme Court, from October 1974 to November 1974; U.S. Magistrate for the District of Oregon, 1976 to 1984; and Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon from 1984 to 1987. In 2001, Judge Leavy was appointed by Justice Rehnquist as Judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court of Review, serving from 2001 to 2008 (Presiding Judge 2005 to 2008). Judge Leavy assumed senior status on the Ninth Circuit in 1997. He continues participation in the Ninth’s Circuit’s caseload, and also has served as mediator in several complex federal mediations, including United States v. Wen Ho Lee (1999- 2000); civil litigation involving large Oregon pension fraud cases (2001-2003); Confederated Tribes of the Warms Springs v. United States, concerning the Tribe’s claims of trust funds mismanagement (2004 - 2006), and ongoing mediation matters involving the Confederated Tribes, the Yakima Nation, the Department of Justice, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and California utilities.

Judge Susan P. Graber

Judge Susan P. Graber

The Honorable Susan P. Graber was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 1998 by President Clinton. Previously she sat on the Oregon Court of Appeals (1988-90) and the Oregon Supreme Court (1990-98). Judge Graber practiced law from 1972 to 1988, most recently as a partner in the Portland office of Rives, where she specialized in employment law and other civil litigation. Judge Graber received her B.A. from Wellesley College in 1969 and her J.D. from Yale Law School in 1972.

Judge Graber has been a frequent moot court judge and has lectured and written on a wide range of legal subjects. She is a member of the Rules of Practice and Procedure Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. In 2000 Judge Graber chaired the American Bar Association’s Committee on Appellate Practice. She was named Oregon’s 1998 Legal Citizen of the Year, and in 2001 received Yale’s Tercentenary “For Country” Award in Oregon.

Danielle J. Forrest

Danielle J. Forrest

The Honorable Danielle J. Forrest was nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit by President Donald Trump and was confirmed in November 2019. Her chambers are in Portland, Oregon.

Judge Forrest was born and raised in Oregon. Immediately before her appointment to the federal bench, she was a trial judge on the Washington County Circuit Court in Hillsboro, Oregon. While on the state bench, Judge Forrest handled criminal, civil, and probate cases and served in leadership as the Chief Civil Judge and the Presiding Judge.

Judge Forrest graduated from the University of Idaho College of Law magna cum laude and served on the Idaho Law Review. She clerked for Judge Paul J. Kelly, Jr. of the Tenth Circuit, Judge Michael W. Mosman of the U.S. District Court in Oregon, and Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain of the Ninth Circuit. Judge Forrest had a civil litigation practice in Portland at Stoel Rives LLP and Larkins Vacura Kayser, LLP, where she was a partner. She also was an adjunct professor at Lewis & Clark Law School teaching advanced civil procedure and litigation skills.

Judge Jennifer Sung

Jennifer Sung

The Honorable Jennifer Sung was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 2021 by President Joe Biden. Previously, she sat on the Oregon Employment Relations Board (2017-2021). Judge Sung had a civil litigation practice in Portland at McKanna Bishop Joffe LLP, and in San Francisco, at Altshuler Berzon LLP. She also completed a Skadden Fellowship at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, and served as a clerk for the Honorable Betty Binns Fletcher of the Ninth Circuit. Judge Sung received her B.A. from Oberlin College and her J.D. from Yale Law School.

In Memorium

Gersham Goldstein

Gersham Goldstein
December 5, 1938 to August 6, 2020

Gersham Goldstein was Of Counsel at Stoel Rives, LLP in Portland, Oregon. He concentrated his practice primarily in federal and state taxation matters, including income taxation of individuals, partnerships and corporations, and estate planning. He represents taxpayers in federal and state tax controversies and has a substantial tax planning and advisory practice. He is editor in chief of the Journal of Corporate Taxation and compiler of the Index to Federal Tax Articles. He collaborated with Professors Boris I. Bittker and James S. Eustice to produce the seventh edition of Federal Income Taxation of Corporations and Shareholders. An extensive lecturer to tax institutes and bar groups, Gersham was the Charles S. Lyon Visiting Professor of Taxation from Practice at New York University Law School in the fall of 1991, and also was a faculty member of the New York University Law School Graduate Tax Program for many years.

Professional Activities

• Fellow, American College of Tax Counsel

• Member, Tax Section, (former member, Council; former chair,
Committee on the Standards of Tax Practice; former vice chair and editor-in-chief of volumes 52 and 53 of The Tax Lawyer, Publications Committee), American Bar Association

• Member, Oregon State Bar Association

• Member, American Law Institute

• Member, Treasurer, Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society for many years and President from 2002-2004.

The Gersham Goldstein Memorial Exhibits Fund has been established by the Pioneer Courthouse Historical Society Board of Directors. Donations are welcome. Checks may be payable to PCHHS. Mail your check to Pioneer Courthouse Historical Society, 700 Southwest Sixth Avenue, Suite 110, Portland, OR 97204


Remembrances

 

From Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain
United States Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit
The Pioneer Courthouse

Gersham Goldstein, or “Gersh” as we would fondly call him, was an esteemed founder of our Pioneer Courthouse Historical Society. Gersh, whom I had known before I came on the Court 34 years ago and later served with on the board of Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society, was among the very first to assist us in conceiving of the need to preserve and to honor the history of this National Landmark and Portland icon. His organizational and fiscal expertise proved crucial to the success of this enterprise. His never-failing support and counsel, as well as his friendly and cordial demeanor, are a memorable inspiration for us all. My wife, Maura, joins me in extending condolences to Pauline; Gersh will be sorely missed.

 

From Judge Susan P. Graber
United States Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit
The Pioneer Courthouse

 

It was my good fortune that my career intersected Gersham Goldstein’s. We had much in common: past lives in Cincinnati, partnership at Stoel Rives, and service together on the board of the Pioneer Courthouse Historical Society. Gersham’s brilliance was obvious, but he never flaunted it. He was patient, helpful, courteous, and kind. Gersham also was a pillar of Oregon’s Jewish community, and he was as generous there as in the legal community. I will miss him.

 
 

From Ryan W. Bounds,
President, Pioneer Courthouse Historical Society
Assistant United States Attorney, District of Oregon

 

It was my good fortune that my career intersected Gersham Goldstein’s. We had much in common: past lives in Cincinnati, partnership at Stoel Rives, and service together on the board of the Pioneer Courthouse Historical Society. Gersham’s brilliance was obvious, but he never flaunted it. He was patient, helpful, courteous, and kind. Gersham also was a pillar of Oregon’s Jewish community, and he was as generous there as in the legal community. I will miss him.

The gray and rainy skies on August 6 were not so out of place as they might have seemed in an otherwise hot and sunny August. They marked the loss of one of the great lights of our organization, our community, and the bar: Gersham Goldstein. Gersham was a founding member of the Pioneer Courthouse Historical Society, a font of historical—and invariably amusing—anecdotes, and a tireless advocate for preserving and celebrating the culture, history, and traditions of the legal profession and the Ninth Circuit. (He was also a long-serving board member of the Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society.)

I knew Gersham my entire legal career; I expect hundreds (if not thousands) of lawyers could say the same thing, for he was an institution. He was also the best sort of lawyer and mentor. He was magnificently warm, slyly witty, deeply intellectual, and unquestionably expert in his field. What stood out most often among his many virtues, though, was his warmth. It was impossible to quibble with Gersham when you could actually hear him smiling on the other end of the line. And he was almost always smiling—even when his health was failing and he was enduring hardships and losses that must have been profound even for a man in his 80s. Gersham was simply a wonderful and generous person. (Indeed, he and his wife Pauline were the PCHS’s most generous individual benefactors.) He will be sorely missed but gratefully remembered by a multitude of admirers, including all those of us who were honored to serve with him on the PCHS Board.