Attorney Intel is pleased to announce the Top 25 Attorneys of Oregon for 2024. Perhaps most widely known for the Oregon Trail, or the route hundreds of thousands of early settlers traveled to Oregon City, the unofficially nicknamed “Beaver State” has left a great mark on American history. A state of natural beauty and economic growth, Oregon has drawn large corporations like Nike, Columbia Sportswear, and Intel’s Research and Development Department to establish headquarters offices there.
Despite a national downturn in jobs after the most recent pandemic, Oregon experienced a tremendous revival in new jobs and job opportunities in many sectors in the last few years. The legal profession in Oregon is no different, as many prominent law firms have opened offices there. This year’s awardees are trailblazers at such firms or are in-house counsel for well-known corporations and focus their practice on corporate transactions, governance, and litigation.
Among this year's awardees is the Senior Attorney for Intel, Robert Kim. Kim provides complex corporate counsel to one of the powerhouses of the technology industry. Also awarded is Brent Berselli, who has an advanced tax master's degree that allows him to advise high-net-worth individuals in private equity firms and hedge funds on high-stakes tax matters. Also of note is Alletta Brenner, partner at Perkins Coie, who has dedicated part of her career to offering pro-bono services to minority groups like immigrants and those in the LGBTQ+ community.
The amount of talent and dedication in the legal profession in Oregon is not in short supply. With extensive careers and experience and impressive educational backgrounds, the team at Attorney Intel had a lot to consider to parse out the competition and make selections. Please join us in celebrating the accomplishments of the Top 25 Attorneys of Oregon for 2024.
1. Elizabeth White
Partner, K&L Gates
Elizabeth White is a Partner at K&L Gates, a fully integrated global law firm with lawyers across five continents. The firm represents leading multinational corporations, middle-market companies, capital market participants, and entrepreneurs in every major industry group, public sector entities, educational institutions, philanthropic organizations, and individuals.
White focuses her practice on complex commercial litigation, with an emphasis on appellate litigation, securities, antitrust, and intellectual property disputes. White has extensive experience drafting dispositive motions and appellate briefs and has practiced in both trial and appellate courts at the federal and state levels. White’s legal prowess extends to defending clients in class action shareholder and shareholder derivative litigation, antitrust actions, and opt-out multidistrict litigation, and has extensive experience managing document collection and production and drafting filings and dispositive motions.
White has represented clients in sectors, including technology, manufacturing, education, and private equity investment. She graduated from The University of Chicago Law School with a JD, from Stanford University with an MA, and from the University of Utah with an undergraduate degree.
2. Robert Kim
Senior Attorney, Intel
Robert Kim began his professional career 15 years ago. Today, he is the Senior Attorney of Intel. Intel is an industry leader, creating world-changing technology that enables global progress and enriches lives. Inspired by Moore’s Law, they continuously work to advance the design and manufacturing of semiconductors to help address their customers’ greatest challenges. By embedding intelligence in the cloud, network, edge, and every kind of computing device, they unleash the potential of data to transform business and society for the better.
Kim started his career in 2009 as an associate at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, before eventually rising to attorney at Sussman Shank LLP, his most recent position before joining Intel. Kim graduated from the University of Michigan Law School with a JD and from Dartmouth College with an undergraduate degree in political science and government.
3. Brent Berselli
Partner, Holland & Knight
Brent Berselli is a Partner at Holland & Knight's Portland office and a member of the firm's Private Wealth Services Practice Group. Holland & Knight is a global law firm with more than 2,200 lawyers and other professionals in 34 offices throughout the world. Holland & Knight provides representation in litigation, business, real estate, and governmental law.
Berselli counsels wealthy individuals, their families, and their businesses throughout the United States to design and implement sophisticated strategies integral to family wealth planning. High-net-worth individuals, including principals of private equity, venture capital, and hedge fund firms, private and public company executives, real estate developers, entrepreneurs, and business owners, turn to Berselli for advice in all aspects of wealth transfer strategies, income and transfer tax planning, philanthropy, and business succession.
Berselli graduated from the University of Washington School of Law with a JD and an LL.M. in taxation and from Claremont McKenna College with an undergraduate degree in government.
4. Alletta Brenner
Partner, Perkins Coie
Alletta Brenner began her professional career 15 years ago. Today, she is a Partner at Perkins Coie, a leading international law firm that is known for providing high-value, strategic solutions and extraordinary client service. With more than 1,200 lawyers in offices across the United States and Asia, they provide a full array of corporate, commercial litigation, intellectual property, and regulatory legal advice.
Brenner focuses her practice on product liability litigation, representing clients in court and helping company leaders strategically manage risk before a lawsuit is filed. Her clients’ industries range from aviation to technology and even outdoor consumer products industries. With experience litigating on both the plaintiff and defense sides of matters, Brenner brings a special perspective to helping clients when litigation arises as well as to her product safety counseling practice, both helping clients identify and reduce potential liability in bringing products to market and advising them on how to respond when post-sale safety issues arise.
Brenner is also committed to pro bono work, whether she is representing families seeking asylum in the United States or defending and protecting the rights of those who identify as LGBTQ+ through impact litigation and legislative reforms. Brenner first got her start in 2009 as a legal assistant and paralegal at Jimmy W. Go, P.C. From there, she went on to work for the Harvard Law School Immigration and Refugee Clinic, before eventually rising to judicial law clerk, her most recent position before joining Perkins Coie. Brenner graduated from Harvard Law School with a JD, from the London School of Economics and Political Science with an MS in human rights, and from the University of Oregon with an undergraduate degree in women's and gender studies.
5. Christine Reynolds
Partner, Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe
Christine Reynolds is a Partner in the Public Finance Department at Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, a global law firm focused on serving the Technology & Innovation, Energy & Infrastructure, and Finance sectors. Leading companies and new entrants call on the firm’s teams in 25+ markets worldwide for forward-looking, pragmatic advice on transactions, litigation, and compliance matters.
Reynolds has broad experience as bond counsel, disclosure counsel, underwriter’s counsel, and borrower’s counsel across a wide range of public finance sectors and has more than two decades of experience in public infrastructure finance, advising on both traditional bond financings and innovative funding structures. She serves as a Vice-Chair of the Public Finance Group and on the leadership team for the Impact Finance Group.
Reynolds’ experience includes various general obligation and revenue bond financings, including those relating to transportation, education, healthcare, water and wastewater, economic development, urban renewal, public power, and other infrastructure financings. She has extensive knowledge and experience with disclosure requirements for municipal issuers under federal securities laws, including initial and continuing disclosure issues, material events disclosure, public offerings, private placements, and other matters. Reynolds graduated from Lewis & Clark Law School with a JD and from the University of Washington with an undergraduate degree in political science.
6. Adam Kobos
Partner, Troutman Pepper
Adam Kobos began his professional career 22 years ago. Today, he is a Partner at Troutman Pepper, a national law firm with more than 1,200 attorneys strategically located in 23 U.S. cities. The firm’s litigation, transactional, and regulatory practices advise a diverse client base, from start-ups to multinational enterprises. The firm provides sophisticated legal solutions to clients’ most pressing business challenges.
Kobos is a nationally recognized attorney whose practice encompasses a wide array of tax matters for energy industry clients, including utilities, tax equity investors, and project developers and sponsors. Kobos regularly represents clients who develop, acquire, or invest in renewable energy projects (including wind, solar, geothermal, waste-to-energy, biomass, hydroelectric, and other renewable energy generation facilities), energy storage facilities, and electric vehicle charging and other alternative fuel refueling facilities. Kobos also represents clients in mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity offerings, transactions involving partnerships, LLCs, and other pass-through entities, and tax controversy matters.
Before joining Troutman Pepper, Kobos was a partner at Troutman Sanders LLP and before that a partner at Stoel Rives LLP. Earlier in his career, he worked with Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP as an associate. Kobos graduated from Stanford University with a JD, Harvard University with an MA, and Amherst College with an undergraduate degree.
7. Lauren Vicharelli
Senior Corporate Attorney, Siemens EDA
Lauren Vicharelli is the Senior Corporate Attorney of Siemens EDA, a segment of Siemens Digital Industries Software, a technology leader in software and hardware for electronic design automation (EDA). Siemens EDA offers proven software tools and technology to address the challenges of design and system-level scaling, delivering more predictable outcomes when transitioning to the next technology node. With a closed-loop digital twin managing the silicon lifecycle, data can move freely between design, manufacturing, and the cloud for chips, boards, and electrical and electronic systems. Vicharelli has 11 years of experience. She began her career in 2013.
Before joining Siemens EDA, Vicharelli was a law clerk at the City of Portland. Vicharelli graduated from Lewis & Clark Law School with a JD and from Rochester Institute of Technology with an undergraduate degree in Japanese and food management.
8. Laurie Hager
Attorney, Snell & Wilmer
Laurie Hager is an Attorney at Snell & Wilmer. Founded in 1938, Snell & Wilmer is a full-service business law firm with more than 500 attorneys practicing in 16 locations throughout the United States and Mexico. The firm represents clients ranging from large, publicly traded corporations to small businesses, individuals, and entrepreneurs.
Hager focuses her practice in business litigation, commercial real estate and leasing, construction, enforcement of creditors’ rights, and insurance coverage. She has experience representing clients in a wide range of industries including construction and real estate. She regularly assists clients with contract disputes, negotiations, and resolutions.
Before joining Snell & Wilmer, Hager was an Attorney at Sussman Shank LLP. Hager graduated from the University of Colorado School of Law at Boulder with a JD and from the University of Connecticut with an undergraduate degree.
9. Ashley Vulin
Partner, Davis Wright Tremaine
Ashley Vulin is a Partner at Davis Wright Tremaine, an AmLaw 100 law firm with more than 600 lawyers representing clients based throughout the United States and around the world. With eight of the ten largest banks and a half-dozen of the leading fintechs among its clients. Vulin works with food and beverage and agriculture companies in traditional business litigation to address the regulatory and litigation challenges that come with running a company in the dynamic nature of today's world.
Vulin's firsthand experience in her family-owned beverage business gives her a unique appreciation for business challenges, the importance of creative solutions, and the value of loyalty to one's brand and mission. Having focused on representing food and beverage clients from the outset of her career, Vulin can hit the ground running with her clients' matters. Vulin graduated from Duke University School of Law with a JD and from Georgetown University with an undergraduate degree in English and political economy.
10. Brad Daniels
Partner, Stoel Rives
Brad Daniels is a Partner in the Litigation practice group focusing on complex business litigation (including class actions, shareholder disputes, and unlawful trade practices claims), securities and corporate governance litigation, appellate litigation, and property tax issues at Stoel Rives. Stoel Rives is a leading U.S. corporate and litigation law firm providing services to sophisticated business clients at every stage of their evolution. With 350 attorneys in seven states and Washington, D.C., Stoel Rives is a nationally recognized leader in the energy and natural resources industries.
Daniels represents manufacturing, consumer products, agribusiness, oil and gas, and mining clients. Daniels’ significant recent wins and cases include a two-week jury trial win resulting in full compensatory and punitive damages, assisting a Fortune 500 company in obtaining a full defense win on summary judgment in federal securities fraud litigation, defeating class certification, and obtaining a complete defense decision in an action alleging violations of the Affordable Care Act, securing a complete defense arbitration award for a local utility in an accounting dispute, and obtaining a unanimous decision from the Oregon Supreme Court in an employment tax matter.
Before joining Stoel Rives in 2004, Daniels served as a law clerk to Judge Leonard B. Sand of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and to Justice R. William Riggs of the Oregon Supreme Court. Daniels graduated from Yale Law School with a JD and from the University of Oregon with an undergraduate degree.
11. Lisa Fitzgerald
Attorney at Law, Ontra
Lisa Fitzgerald is an Attorney for Ontra. Ontra is the global leader in Contract Automation and Intelligence for private asset management firms. The Ontra platform combines AI-enabled software with a worldwide network of highly trained lawyers to modernize recurring legal workflows. Fitzgerald has 13 years of experience. She began her career in 2011.
Before joining Ontra, Fitzgerald was a Staff Attorney at Metropolitan Public Defender and before that a co-founder at Ensa. Earlier in her career, she worked with Premier Home Health Care Services, Inc. as a bilingual call center coordinator. Fitzgerald graduated from Harvard Law School with a JD and from Brandeis University with an undergraduate degree in public health, and Latin American and Latino studies.
Lisa Fitzgerald Input
"I've been very fortunate in my career so far to have so many opportunities to do mission-driven work in my community here in Portland."
12. Nicole Swift
Partner, Cable Huston
Nikki Swift is a Partner at Cable Huston LLP and a member of the firm’s litigation, eminent domain, and environmental & natural resources practice groups. She regularly handles complex matters involving commercial disputes, property acquisitions under the exercise of eminent domain, and environmental litigation. Over 30 years ago, the earliest iteration of Cable Huston (pronounced, “Cable Houston”) was formed with the express purpose of providing clients superior legal guidance without the overhead costs, hierarchy, and inaccessibility that are common at much larger law firms. In that time, largely through the generous word-of-mouth marketing of our clients, Cable Huston has grown into one of the strongest boutique law firms in the Pacific Northwest.
Previously, Swift was an attorney at Jones Day and before that an English language teacher at Mihara City Board of Education - JET Programme. Before joining Cable Huston, she worked as a Business and Torts Litigation associate at Jones Day in Chicago and served as a judicial extern for the Honorable Jeffrey S. Sutton, United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth District. Swift graduated from The Ohio State University with a JD and Vanderbilt University with an undergraduate degree in Economics.
13. John Ramig
Partner, Buchalter
John Ramig is a Partner and Shareholder in Buchalter’s Corporate Practice Group in the Firm’s Portland office. Buchalter is a full-service business law firm with offices in Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. Built on over 80 years of practice, the Firm's 300+ attorneys are experts in banking and finance, corporate, health care, insolvency and financial solutions, litigation, labor and employment, intellectual property, real estate, tax, and estate planning. Ramig serves as outside general counsel to multiple businesses, working with them on a wide range of general corporate matters including entity formation, mergers, acquisitions and sales of companies, corporate financings, intellectual property, and human resources matters.
Most of Ramig’s clients conduct business in the global marketplace. Relying on over 26 years of international business experience, he works with them to structure effective and efficient transactions; comply with U.S. and foreign laws and regulations; transfer and protect technology, intellectual property, and software; negotiate contracts for the sale and distribution of products and services; and establish foreign offices and manufacturing facilities.
Before practicing law, Ramig served on the Washington, D.C. staff of U.S. Senator Mark O. Hatfield and the White House staff in the Carter Administration’s Office of Public Liaison. He also served on the staff of Donald Anderson, a member of the British Parliament. Ramig earned his JD from the University of Virginia, School of Law where he served on the Editorial Board of the Virginia Journal of Law and Politics. He earned his A.B. from Harvard College, magna cum laude, in 1980 and was a Harvard Scholar.
14. Nathan Maki
Partner, Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton
Nathan Maki is a Partner at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton. Kilpatrick is a trusted counsel to the world’s most innovative companies. To serve their ground-breaking clients, they strive to be at the forefront of client service, a leader in DE&I, and on the cutting edge of law and technology.
Maki is a registered patent attorney who works closely with technology companies to develop and execute global patent strategies that maximize the protection of their valuable intellectual property assets. He has drafted and successfully prosecuted patent applications related to cellular networks, radio-frequency front-end solutions, volatile and non-volatile storage devices, platform and resource virtualization, clean technologies, storage networks, and optical systems.
Before joining the firm, Maki was a patent attorney and shareholder in the Portland, Oregon office of a West Coast law firm. Previously, Maki worked in the Patent and Licensing Group of a multinational technology corporation where he was involved in offensive and defensive licensing and patent prosecution. Maki graduated from Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College with a JD and from the University of Missouri with an undergraduate degree in industrial engineering.
15. Susan Glen
Partner, Dunn Carney Allen Higgins & Tongue
Susan Glen is a Partner at Dunn Carney LLP where she practices real estate and business law, leads the firm's Real Estate and Land Use Team, and is an active member of the firm’s Construction and Design Team. At Dunn Carney LLP, attorneys provide legal counsel to family businesses, Fortune 500 companies, and individuals throughout Oregon, the Pacific Northwest, and beyond. Their commitment to exceptional customer service and their collaborative culture translate into efficient, effective solutions that help clients meet their goals.
Glen’s nearly 30 years of real estate transaction work includes acquisitions, sales, financing, Section 1031 tax-deferred exchanges of all types of commercial real property, and extensive lease negotiation experience. She has particular expertise with real estate development; industrial and office properties, environmentally impacted properties; mixed-use developments and easements, covenants, conditions, and restrictions. Glen’s extensive experience with condominium and planned unit development construction and formation ranges from projects having only a few dwelling units to complex mixed-use urban developments. Her practice also includes post-turnover condominium management issues, giving her a keen understanding of key issues for condominium construction and operation.
Her clients include large, closely held investment and development companies, industrial and office property, homebuilders, government entities, other companies, and individuals. Glen graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School with a JD and from Carleton College with an undergraduate degree.
16. Oren Haker
Partner, Black Helterline
Oren Haker is a Partner at Black Helterline. Black Helterline is a Portland law firm with a 125-year tradition of providing quality legal services to emerging growth and established Pacific Northwest businesses, individuals, governmental entities, and nonprofit institutions.
Haker represents a wide range of parties across several different industries in distressed and special situations, including out-of-court workouts and bankruptcy cases. Over the past 20 years, he has sat on all sides of the negotiating table in complex multi-party workouts, representing clients in out-of-court distressed matters and Chapter 11 and 7 cases throughout the United States. Haker’s experience also includes pre-chapter 11 planning, advising on out-of-court options as an alternative to Chapter 11, and representing clients in Chapter 11 as debtors and debtors-in-possession. Haker has also represented strategic buyers of distressed assets and investors in distressed companies throughout his career, as well as critical commercial counterparties to distressed contracting parties.
Before moving to Oregon in 2012, Haker began his legal career in 2003 in New York City in the business finance and restructuring group with the law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. Haker graduated from Columbia Law School with a JD and from Rice University with an undergraduate degree.
17. Kurt Barker
Partner, Best Best & Krieger
Kurt Barker is a Partner at Best Best & Krieger. Best Best & Krieger serves as a trusted partner and strategist to public and private sector clients across the nation. With offices spanning from coast to coast, the firm’s 250 attorneys provide innovative legal solutions and cost-effective representation, working to protect and advance clients’ interests at every turn.
Barker counsels and defends clients in almost all employment-related matters, including discrimination, harassment, wage and hour, tort, non-compete enforcement, and trade secret obligations. Barker also serves as Co-Chair of the firm's Labor & Employment practice group. He frequently lectures on employment law topics around the state and has been featured at the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries Annual Conference. In addition to representing employers, Barker’s practice involves representing clients in a variety of other disputes in both state and federal courts. His experience includes fiduciary, will, and trust-related litigation, as well as disputes between businesses and business partners.
Before moving to Bend, Barker practiced employment law with Stoel Rives LLP in Portland, where his practice focused on employment litigation and counseling employers in all aspects of employment issues. Barker previously served as a campaign aide to U.S. Senator Ron Wyden and as a legislative aide to Oregon Secretary of State Phil Keisling. Barker graduated from Stanford Law School with a JD and from the University of Oregon, Robert D. Clark Honors College with an undergraduate degree in mathematics.
18. Tanya Huertas-Jourda
Attorney, Axiom
Tanya Huertas-Jourda began her professional career 37 years ago. Today, she is an Attorney for Axiom. Axiom is where high-caliber legal talent meets full-service law firm work. They invented the alternative legal services industry 23 years ago and now serve more than 1,500 legal departments globally, including 60% of the Fortune 100, with 95% client satisfaction.
Huertas-Jourda first got her start in 1987 as a business manager at MPAA, Inc. From there, she went on to Miller & Associates, before eventually rising to associate legal director in the Platform Security Division and Content Protection Services Division at Intel Corporation, her most recent position before joining Axiom. Huertas-Jourda graduated from Lewis & Clark Law School with a JD and from Portland State University with an undergraduate degree in history and international economics.
19. Alysha Phelps
Attorney, Ogletree Deakins
Alysha Phelps is an Attorney at Ogletree Deakins in the Portland office focusing on employment litigation, employment advice, and traditional labor. Ogletree Deakins is one of the largest labor and employment law firms representing management in all types of employment-related legal matters. The firm has a reputation for legal excellence and responsive client service. Licensed in both Oregon and Washington, Phelps is known for providing clients with efficient and practical solutions that are tailored to their workplaces.
With prior experience in business, contract law, and workers’ compensation, Phelps brings a well-rounded perspective and provides comprehensive guidance. She is a sound litigator with jury trial, mediation, arbitration, and dispositive motions practice experience in Oregon and Washington state and federal courts. Phelps’ practice involves matters such as wage and hour, family and medical leave, accommodations, multi-state compliance, performance management, and labor matters. She defends employers from six- and seven-figure claims of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation in all stages of litigation.
Phelps received her JD, cum laude, from Lewis & Clark Law School, where she served as an Article Editor for Lewis & Clark Law Review, as a Secretary and Archivist for the Public Interest Law Project, and as a member of the CLE Procurement Committee. She also served as a Research Assistant for Lewis & Clark Law School Associate Dean of Faculty, Professor John T. Parry. Phelps received her undergraduate degrees from the University of Idaho, earning her B.A., summa cum laude, in International Studies and Spanish, and her B.S., summa cum laude, in Economics.
20. Rome Rapier
Attorney, Epiq
Rome Rapier is an Attorney for Epiq, a global technology-enabled services leader in the legal industry and corporation. Epiq takes on large-scale, increasingly complex tasks for corporate counsel, law firms, and business professionals with efficiency, clarity, and confidence. Clients rely on Epiq to streamline the administration of their legal departments and business operations, class action and mass tort, eDiscovery, regulatory, compliance, restructuring, and bankruptcy matters. Epiq subject-matter experts and technologies create efficiency through expertise and deliver confidence to high-performing clients around the world. Rapier has 11 years of experience and began his career in 2011. Rapier is a creative writer and philosopher. He has a demonstrated history of working in the law practice industry. He is skilled in Trial Practice, Public Speaking, Class Actions, Legal Writing, and Corporate Law.
Previously, Rapier was an in-house counsel and research attorney at Bula Law Firm and a legal associate at John Mitchell Law Office. Earlier in his career, he worked with the University of Massachusetts as a law library research assistant. Rapier is a strong legal professional with a JD from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth School of Law and an undergraduate degree from Arizona State University.
Rome Rapier Input
“Rome started his legal career in Massachusetts, in 2013, after passing the Massachusetts Bar. He worked with the Mayor of Fall River but also practiced criminal defense. He is now continuing his legal career in his beloved Portland, Oregon. He has taught the Philosophy of Law at Grand Canyon University. "For these past 10 years, I can say only one thing for certain about Law: the more I learn, the more I realize how little I know. I am a philosopher at heart and that means I love to learn. The legal discipline provides me with infinite learning opportunities.”
21. Alexander Wheatley
Partner, Fisher Phillips
Alexander Wheatley is a Partner at Fisher Phillips' Portland and Seattle offices. The attorneys at Fisher Phillips are committed to providing value to their clients. They do one thing - represent employers in labor and employment matters. Their clients know their legal problems will be treated as business problems and that they strive to help them avoid legal problems. They believe a lawsuit that’s never filed is a better win for a client than a costly defense verdict.
Wheatley’s practice focuses on employment litigation, labor-management relations, and counseling employers on Oregon and Washington employment and labor issues. He has substantial experience working with employers of all sizes in creating and implementing policies and practices, providing counsel for discipline and termination decisions, and defending employers in court and before administrative agencies such as the NLRB, EEOC, and BOLI.
Wheatley represents employers with labor issues arising under the National Labor Relations Act, including organizing campaigns, labor negotiations, labor arbitrations, and collective bargaining. Wheatley provides counsel and training to executives and managers on compliance with leave, disability, wage and hour, equal pay, and anti-discrimination and retaliation laws. Wheatley also has substantial experience conducting workplace investigations into employee complaints of discrimination and other alleged misconduct. Wheatley graduated from Lewis & Clark Law School with a JD and from The University of Alabama with an undergraduate degree in political theory and environmental studies.
22. Stephan Warner
Attorney, McKean Smith
Stephan Warner is an attorney at McKean Smith. Mr. Warner and his dynamic team specialize in corporate law, business transactions, and litigation. His legal team is dedicated to empowering businesses at every juncture of their evolution, from inception to succession planning.
Warner's forte lies in crafting innovative solutions to the intricate legal challenges faced by his clients. With experience at the Oregon Taxpayer’s Clinic and the Oregon Department of Justice, Warner brings hands-on expertise in tax and finance. His approach is client-centric, ensuring a deep understanding of their needs and perspectives, positioning him as a trusted advisor ready to represent their interests effectively. Licensed in both Oregon and Washington, Warner earned his JD at Lewis and Clark Law School.
23. Gemma Nelson
Shareholder and Attorney, Elliott Ostrander & Preston
Gemma Nelson is a Shareholder and Attorney at Elliott, Ostrander & Preston. Elliott Ostrander & Preston's experience and training allow them to provide the full range of legal services expected of a larger firm but without the inefficiency of an institutional bureaucracy. Their practice areas include business, finance, real estate, entertainment, new technologies, insurance, intellectual property, litigation, appeals, tax, and estate planning.
Previously, Nelson was an attorney at McEwen Gisvold LLP and before that an executive editor at Lewis & Clark Law Review. Earlier in her career she worked with the University of Denver as a psychology research assistant. Nelson’s practice focuses on real estate, affordable housing, and low-income housing tax credits. Over the years, she has represented parties on numerous large-scale multifamily affordable housing projects throughout the Pacific Northwest. She also advises clients on various related legal matters, including state-level grants and funds, low-income housing tax credits, energy tax credits, and various land-use issues. Nelson is a member of the Oregon and Washington bars. Nelson graduated from Lewis & Clark Law School with a JD and from the University of Denver with an undergraduate degree in psychology.
24. Charles Harrell
Attorney, Sapient Law
Charles Harrell is an Attorney in the Portland office of Sapient Law. At Sapient they prepare, litigate, and maneuver in a manner that creates value. To accomplish that goal, their mission is to know your business and understand your growth planning and your risks, your key metrics, and your inflection points as though they were an in-house legal team.
Harrell has been practicing law since 2001 and his private practice emphasizes representing businesses of all sizes as general outside counsel with expertise in general corporate governance, business transactional matters, and real estate transactions. His industry focus includes clients in the renewable energy and data center infrastructure industry, Portland’s athletic and outdoor sector, light industrial and manufacturing, real estate development, wineries and vineyards, alcohol and spirits, and the emerging cannabis industry.
Before joining Sapient Law, he was the General Counsel for Form Factory, Inc. and Senior Counsel for Copia Power LLC. Harrell received his JD from Lewis and Clark Law School and graduated from George Fox University with a bachelor’s degree in business and economics.
25. Masa Yamaguchi
Shareholder and Attorney, Lane Powell PC
Masa Yamaguchi is a Shareholder and Attorney at Lane Powell PC. Lane Powell is a Pacific Northwest law firm with a national and international reach. Their approximately 200 attorneys are trusted counsel, advocates, and advisors for individuals, and small and large businesses, including Fortune 50 companies. Yamaguchi co-leads the Japan Team at Lane Powell and represents clients in general corporate matters and multinational antitrust litigations.
He focuses on multi-national antitrust cases, in both criminal investigations and class actions, and other types of multinational litigations involving businesses. Yamaguchi enjoys working with Japanese clients and regularly works with inbound Japanese businesses in various industries making direct investments in the Pacific Northwest region. He is actively involved in the legal and business community, currently serving as the Vice Chair of the Japan-America Society of Oregon (JASO), and as Co-Chair of the Doing Business in Oregon Committee at JASO. Yamaguchi graduated from Lewis & Clark Law School with a JD and from Dokkyo University with an undergraduate degree in French.
