Club Leadership
Officers
President: Meredith Brown is a founding partner in the law firm of Bryant & Brown, P.C. Ms. Brown has over 15 years of experience representing public agencies, and her principal areas of specialty are public procurement and construction law for California public school districts. Ms. Brown received her Bachelor of Science from Cornell University her J.D. from Boston University School of Law. Ms. Brown served as a clerk for United States Magistrate Joyce London Alexander, First Circuit in Boston, Massachusetts in 1988. From 1989 to 1994 she practiced construction and business litigation on behalf of nationally recognized public and private clients. From 1994 to the present Ms. Brown has represented a number of large and small public entities in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her Club e-mail address is president@demlawyers.org.
Vice President: Joel Young is an attorney with Gunderson Dettmer LLP and serves on the board of directors of the Charles Houston Bar Association. He graduated from Boalt Hall where he was Articles Editor of the African-American Law and Policy Report, Vice President of Law Students of African Descent, and member of the Berkeley Business Law Society. Joel also was a four-year letterman in football as an undergraduate at U.C. Berkeley. His Club e-mail address is joelyoung@demlawyers.org.
Secretary: Lise Pearlman is an expert witness and consultant on legal ethics, and arbitrator/mediator with Alternative Resolution Centers (A.R.C.), was the first Presiding Judge of the California State Bar Court (1989-1995) and was appointed by Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris to the Oakland Public Ethics Commission (1997-2000, Chair 1998). She served on the State Bar Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct (2002-2005) and is a frequent lecturer on legal ethics. She also serves as a judge pro tempore and settlement commissioner for the Alameda County Superior Court. A member of the first class of women at Yale (Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa), she graduated Boalt Hall School of Law in Berkeley in 1974 (Law Review, Order of the Coif) and clerked for the Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court. She then became a Teaching Fellow at Stanford University School of Law and practiced for thirteen years as a business litigator and appellate lawyer with two Oakland firms. In 1984, she was recognized as the first woman sole managing partner of an established California law firm. She is the co-author of Volume 1 of California Forms of Jury Instruction (Matthew Bender 1985), numerous State Bar Court Review Department opinions and a number of articles on legal ethics. Her Club e-mail address is secretary@DemLawyers.org
Treasurer: Guy Bryant is a partner in the law firm of Bryant & Brown, P.C. His principal areas of specialty are Education Law and Labor Law. Prior to specializing in Education and Labor law, his practice included workers' compensation, civil insurance and business litigation. His current practice emphasizes employment, labor, and general civil litigation on behalf of K-12 school districts and Community College Districts. He has participated in several trials, briefed and argued several cases in state and federal appellate courts and has briefed matters before the California Supreme Court. He is often a guest lecturer in the field of Education Law and he conducts annual seminars on the topics of collective bargaining, employee discipline, discrimination, and sexual harassment. In May 2003, he was the first attorney in California to complete the Superintendents Academy offered by the Association of California School Administrators. His Club email address is treasurer@demlawyers.org
Treasurer Emeritus: Joel Zebrack is a Past President of the Club and an av rated Lawyer and Mediator with emphasis in resolution of business, construction, conservatorship, estates, trusts & probate and real estate disputes. Engaged in general civil practice since 1964, he has focused his practice primarily to mediation since 1995 after mediation training from coast to coast including programs at the UC Berkeley campus, at Pepperdine and Harvard Law Schools, and from the Court of Appeal, First Appellate District at Stanford University. His office e-mail address is resolutionist1@juno.com. His office web site is www.MediationWorks.us His Club e-mail address is joelzebrack@demlawyers.org
Directors
Elizabeth Echols is Director of Policy for Global Online Sales at Google. Echols is also on the board of directors of (and was previously CEO) of OpNet Community Ventures, Inc., a nationally recognized nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting opportunities in the technology industry for low-income young adults. Echols previously held several senior political appointments in the Clinton Administration, including Executive Director of the White House Electronic Commerce Working Group and Senior Advisor to then Secretary of Commerce Daley. Previously she was in private law practice and was an investment banker at Morgan Stanley. She has been a member of National Women’s Political Caucus since 1992 and on the Executive Board of NWPC-Alameda North since 2003. She has been active in democratic campaigns for over 15 years and served as State Co-Chair of Women for Kerry. She also serves as a Member of the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee. She graduated from Yale University and Stanford Law School where she was an editor on the Stanford Law Review. Her Club e-mail address is elizabeth@DemLawyers.org (term through 2009).
Gabrielle Lessard is an attorney with the National Economic Development & Law Center (NEDLC). Gabrielle provides legal representation to community-based organizations and provides technical support and other resources to legal services program attorneys engaged in CED projects. She has expertise in counseling non-profit clients in formation, tax exemption and operating issues, as well as experience representing business clients in variety of transactions. Gabrielle has worked on a diverse array of community development projects. She also has extensive experience in policy analysis and advocacy in health care, other public benefit programs, and issues affecting immigrant communities. As founding Project Director for Healthy Outcomes for Youth, she advocated successfully for the redesign of Idaho's Medicaid application process, resulting in health coverage enrollment for over 35,000 children. She received her J.D. with honors from the University of Wisconsin, where she was an articles editor for the Wisconsin Law Review. She is a member of Order of the Coif and a Skadden Fellowship recipient. Her Club e-mail address is gabrielle@DemLawyers.org (term through 2009).
Frank Russo is an attorney and former Chair of the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee. He is the creator and publisher of the California Progress Report. His Club e-mail address is frank@DemLawyers.org (term through 2009).
Mike Ng is an attorney with Kerr & Wagstaffe, where his practice focuses on plaintiff-side class actions in the employment and consumer rights areas, and also complex commercial litigation. A native of the Bay Area, he attended Harvard College and Harvard Law Schoool and served two stints in New York City government as special assistant in the office of the Commissioner for Children's Services and as legal advisor to the New York City Fire Department. He worked for Southern Echo on a Skadden Fellowship and was awarded the Skirnick Public Interest Fellowship and Kaufman Fellowship for leadership in public interest (term through 2008). His Club e-mail address is mikeng@demlawyers.org (term through 2009).
Rena Rickles is an Oakland attorney who specializes in land use. Rena first joined the Club in law school as an elected official, stayed on to serve on the Board, and as President and Vice President. Active in the campaigns of pro-choice Democrats, she also was the founding Chair of the National Womens' Political Caucus-Alameda North and serves as the Political and Judicial Appoiontments chair of that organization. Rena is married to Physicist Glen H. Dahlbacka; they have two daughters, Nara and Nika. Her Club e-mail address is rena@DemLawyers.org (term through 2008).
Joel Freid is an attorney with the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD). Joel was a Kerry delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 2004, and is Chair of the Assembly District 16 Democratic Committee. His Club e-mail address is joelfreid@DemLawyers.org (term through 2008)
Tony West is an attorney with Morrison & Foerster LLP. His practice includes corporate litigation and criminal law. An experienced trial attorney and former federal prosecutor, he has served as California Special Assistant Attorney General, an Assistant United States Attorney and a senior U.S. Department of Justice aide prior to joining Morrison & Foerster. As Special Assistant to the Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., he participated in the development of national law enforcement policy, including the successful effort to pass the landmark 1994 Crime Bill. As an Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of California, he prosecuted high-tech crime, child pornography, economic espionage, financial fraud, firearms violations, tax offenses, drug crimes and government fraud. As a federal prosecutor, he led a team of FBI and U.S. Customs agents to successfully investigate and prosecute ten men involved in one of the nation's largest Internet child pornography/child molestation crime rings. A frequent public speaker, he is also a legal analyst for ESPN and has been a featured legal commentator on various media networks. His Club e-mail address is tony@DemLawyers.org (term through 2008).
Elaine Shaw
Libby Schaff
Past Presidents and Ex Officio
Directors
Past President (2008-09): Inés Vargas Fraenkel is an attorney who specializes in all areas of labor and employment law representation, as well as risk management and advising public agencies in all aspects of employee relations. She has extensive experience in jury trials in both state and federal courts, and has expertise in providing training to public agencies on issues ranging from harassment and discrimination, civil rights liability prevention, testing, selection and promotion, to developments in labor and personnel law matters. She serves on the Board of Directors for IPMA-HR Assessment Council.
Past President (2005-07): Steve Tidrick practices in the areas of civil litigation, representation before government agencies, and strategic counseling. He has represented clients on a wide range of matters, including complex commercial cases, consumer cases, antitrust cases, employment cases, securities law, intellectual property litigation, insurance disputes, elections law, government investigations, personal injury, and class actions. He serves on the board of directors of the California Bar Foundation. He has also served on the Oakland & Berkeley Mayors' Task Force on Emergency Preparedness and Community Restoration and on the Oakland Library Advisory Commission. A former staff member of the Clinton-Gore Administration's "reinventing government" project, Steve graduated from Harvard Law School where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. His website is www.tidrick.com
Past President (2002-05): James McWilliams is a criminal defense attorney who was previously with the Alameda County Public Defender’s Office. James is co-chair of the Alameda County Bar Association Race and Ethnic Fairness Committee, and Past President of the California Public Defenders Association (CPDA). His Club e-mail address is james@DemLawyers.org (Ex Officio Director).
Lourdes Matthew is an attorney with the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD). Her Club e-mail address is lourdes@DemLawyers.org (Ex Officio Director).
Phil Goldsmith Phil is a twenty-five year public defender with the Alameda County Public Defender’s Office handling everything from homicide to drunk driving to mental health commitments. Phil is also a Vietnam veteran and veteran of University of California helicopter tear gassing by Ronald Reagan. A Bear Backer, ACLU member, long time member and supporter of Masquers' Playhouse, Point Richmond, Phil is originally from Saratoga County, New York. His Club e-mail address is phil@DemLawyers.org (Ex Officio Director)
Louis Goodman is a Hayward attorney whose practice emphasizes litigation in Alameda County, with high volume criminal defense, including felony and misdemeanor jury trials, preliminary hearings, and representation of both adult and juvenile defendants in all stages of criminal proceedings. Formerly Deputy District Attorney in Alameda County, Louis is also Past President of Rotary Club, Hayward South. His Club e-mail address is louis@DemLawyers.org (Ex Officio Director)