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Chair-Elect:
Yvonne Flaherty, Esq.
Lockridge Grindal Nauen, PLLP
100 Washington Ave. S
Minneapolis, MN 55401
Phone: 612-339-6900
E-mail: ymflaherty@locklaw.com
Yvonne Flaherty is Chair Elect of the Women’s
Caucus. She practices with Lockridge Grindal Nauen PLLP
in Minneapolis, MN, where she focuses her practice on
representing plaintiffs in mass tort, pharmaceutical/medical
device, anti-trust and consumer fraud litigation. She
is a frequent lecturer
on a variety of litigation topics, including mass torts,
electronic discovery, Daubert, and the learned intermediary
doctrine.
Yvonne currently serves on the AAJ and Minnesota Association
for Justice Boards of Governors, as well as numerous AAJ
committees. She received her
B.A. from St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN and her
law degree from William Mitchell College of Law in 1996.
Second Vice Chair:
Marianne C. LeBlanc, Esq.
Sugarman & Sugarman, PC
One Beacon St., 13th Fl.
Boston, MA 02108-3106
Phone: 617-542-1000
E-mail: mleblanc@sugarman.com
Marianne LeBlanc is a partner at the Boston law
firm of Sugarman and Sugarman, P.C. and currently
serves as Second Vice-Chair of the Women’s
Caucus. She concentrates in the area of plaintiff trial
practice, specializing in negligence law, medical negligence,
motor vehicle tort, product liability and liquor liability
law. She graduated from Wellesley College and from Boston
College Law School. Marianne currently serves as the President
of the Women’s Bar Foundation of Massachusetts and
is
a past president of the Women’s Bar Association
of Massachusetts, and continues to serve on its Board.
Marianne serves as a State Delegate to AAJ and has also
served on a number of its committees including the National
Finance Council, Public Education Committee, Public Affairs
Committee and the ATLA-PAC Task Force. She is a recipient
of the
Wiedemann-Wysocki National Finance Council
Award and is a PAC Eagle.
In addition, Marianne also serves on the Board of Governors
of the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys (MATA),
and serves on its Executive Committee. She is a past chair
of the Massachusetts Bar Association’s Civil Litigation
Section and is a Fellow of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation.
Marianne was recognized as one of 1999’s “Lawyers
of the Year” by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, in
connection with a liquor liability case she tried and
has also been recognized with the Boston Business Journal’s
“40 Under 40” Award. She is listed in The
Best Lawyers in America. Marianne frequently writes and
lectures, locally and nationally, in legal education programs
for the Massachusetts Bar Association, MATA, Massachusetts
Continuing Legal Education, Inc., and Continuing Legal
Education International.
Marianne lives with her husband and three children
in the Boston suburbs.
Representative
to AAJ Executive Committee:
Staci Yandle, Esq.
The Law Offices of Staci M. Yandle, LLC
7012 West Main St.
Belleville, IL 62223
Phone: 618/394-9600
Email: smy@yandlelaw.com
Staci Yandle is the Immediate Past Chair of the Women's
Caucus and currently serves the
Caucus' representative to AAJ's Executive
Committee.
Formerly a Partner with The Rex Carr Law Firm,
LLC in E. St. Louis, Illinois, Staci is currently the
owner of The Law Offices of Staci M. Yandle, LLC
in Belleville, Illinois. Her practice areas include personal
injury, nursing home litigation, medical negligence, wrongful
death and civil rights litigation.
Staci is currently a member of the AAJ Board of Governors,
has served as Chair of the Minority
Caucus and on other numerous ATLA and AAJ committees.
She received her B.S. from The
University of Illinois in 1983, her J.D. from Vanderbilt
University School of Law in 1987 and is licensed to practice
in Illinois and Missouri.
Representative to AAJ Board of
Governors: 
Kathleen L. Brandt, R.N., J.D.
Silver Golub & Teitell
184 Atlantic St.
Stamford, CT 06901
Phone: 203-325-4491
E-mail: kbrandt@sgtlaw.com
Kathleen L. Brandt, a partner at Silver, Golub & Teitell,
LLP, focuses primarily on significant medical malpractice
litigation with a special interest in birth trauma litigation.
Prior to becoming an attorney, Ms. Brandt worked for many
years as a Registered Nurse in both New York and Connecticut.
Ms. Brandt is the founder and co-chair of the Connecticut
Trial Lawyers Association Women’s Caucus, and a
former Chair of the American Association for Justice Women’s
Caucus. For 2007-2008, she is representing the AAJ Women’s
Caucus on the Board of Governors
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First Vice Chair:
Melissa R. Smith, Esq.
Gillam & Smith, LLP
303 S. Washington Ave.
Marshall, TX 75670
Phone: 903-934-8450
E-mail: Melissa@gillamsmithlaw.com
Texas attorney Melissa Smith was elected to serve as
First Vice Chair of the Women’s Caucus for 2007
– 2008.
Smith is a partner in the law firm of Gillam & Smith
in Marshall, Texas. She is Board Certified as a specialist
in personal injury trial law by the State Bar of Texas
and as a civil trial advocate by the National Board of
Trial Advocacy. She has also been inducted to the prestigious
American Board of Trial Advocates. She obtained these
accomplishments prior to age 35.
An AAJ member for 10 years, Smith has served on both
the Board of Governors and Executive Committee as well
as serving on countless other committees and chairing
the Membership Oversight Committee for two years. This
year she received the AAJ F. Scott Baldwin Award for “Most
Outstanding Young Trial Lawyer.”
Smith received her B.A. from the University of Texas
at Austin in 1994 and her law degree from Baylor School
of Law in 1997.
Secretary:
Maria S. Diamond, Esq.
Otorowski Johnston Diamond & Golden, PLLC
The Alliance Bldg.
298 Winslow Way West
Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
Phone: 206/842-1000
E-mail: msd@medilaw.com
I am a partner at the law firm of Otorowski Johnston
Diamond & Golden, located on beautiful Bainbridge
Island, a 35-minute ferry ride from Seattle. I have been
a plaintiff’s trial attorney for my entire 24-year
legal career. My practice focuses on medical negligence
and serious personal injury cases. I was lead counsel
in two landmark victories for insurance consumers in Washington
State.
I am a past president of the Washington State Trial Lawyers
Association (2000 – 2001), have held numerous offices
in that organization and have served on its board of governors
since 1992. I have represented Washington State on the
AAJ Board of Governors since 2002. Currently I serve on
the AAJ PAC Board of Trustees and I am an AAJ PAC EAGLE.
I also serve on the AAJ PAC Task Force, and on the Public
Affairs and Justice List committees. I have a longstanding
love of politics, which is both personal (I married a
lobbyist - election consultant) and professional. In my
spare time, I enjoy travel, reading, golf, movies, and
wine collecting. I speak fluent Greek and a bit of French.
My involvement in AAJ has been very rewarding, especially
the friendships I have developed with other Women’s
Caucus members. As the new Secretary of the Women’s
Caucus, I look forward to working with the other officers
to build upon the Caucus’ past successes, including
efforts to get more women involved in AAJ generally and
in the Women’s Caucus in particular, and increasing
leadership opportunities within AAJ for women trial lawyers.
Representative
to AAJ Board of Governors:
Ruth E. Bernstein, Esq.
Ruth E. Bernstein Law Firm
488 Madison Ave., Ste. 1100
New York, NY 10022
Phone: 212-888-6688
E-mail: ruthbernstein@ruthbernstein.com
Representative
to AAJ Board of Governors:
Miriam Bourdette, Esq.
Bourdette & Partners
2924 W. Main St.
Visalia, CA 93291
Phone: 559-625-8425
E-mail: mrbb@bourdettelaw.com
Miriam Bourdette is a senior (66 years old) member of
the Women’s Caucus and proudly represents the Caucus
on the Board of Governors. She went to a small local law
school, CED School of Law, at 40 years of age, passed
the California Bar on her first attempt, and then began
practicing several years later, when her youngest daughter
went off to college. She went to St. John’s College
in Annapolis, MD; worked in the non-violent peace and
civil rights movements; worked at the Living Theater in
New York; used drugs for eight months and was arrested,
cutting short her “bad girl” life; went to
Synanon in California for rehabilitation; developed and
taught in a private school; worked in public relations,
event planning, fund raising and marketing; raised cattle,
dairy cows and sheep; raised her own and other children
and then mentored Migrant Education students. She has
served on many non-profit Boards and continues to volunteer
in and raise money for community, civic, political and
professional organizations in the San Joaquin Valley of
California as well as for AAJ and Consumer Attorneys of
California. The most important focuses and sources of
pride in her life are her family: husband Phil with whom
she practices law, very adult children and her young grandchildren,
and her extended family, which includes her AAJ sisters
and brothers. |
