Roy M. Bell '74 is senior counsel at Troutman Sanders LLP, where he focuses his practice on complex business civil litigation and trial work. Bell serves as special outside counsel to Oxbow Carbon and Minerals and the Oxbow Group, overseeing major issues, litigation, and negotiations relating to their worldwide operations.

Bell served two tours in the Western Pacific during the Vietnam Conflict where he earned two Navy Commendations, the Navy Achievement Medal, the Vietnam Unit Medal of Gallantry, and six Vietnam Campaign Medals. He graduated from California Western with honors in 1974, and was valedictorian. Bell was as lead articles editor for the California Western International Law Review, and is chairman emeritus of the Board of Trustees, having served for more than 25 years.

Gayle M. Blatt '85 is a partner at Casey Gerry Schenk Francavilla Blatt & Penfield, LLP where she heads the firm's pharmaceutical and class action practices. Blatt has played a prominent role in national pharmaceutical and medical device cases over the past decades. In addition to other experience in high profile national pharmaceutical litigation, she served as liaison counsel for the plaintiffs' steering committee in In re: Hydroxycut Marketing and Sales Practice Litigation, which recently settled in the Southern District of California, and currently serves as co-liaison counsel for In re: Incretin Mimetics Products Liability Litigation.

Blatt also has extensive class action litigation experience, including serving as co-liaison counsel in In re: Sony Gaming Networks and Customer Data Security Breach Litigation; as class counsel in Villa v. City of Chula Vista addressing the city’s tax collection on mobile telephone services; as class counsel In re: Apple and AT&T iPad Unlimited Data Plan Litigation in the Northern District of California; and with a class action filed against Chase Bank of violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act for placing automated calls (robocalls) to consumer cell phones without their consent.  

Blatt also is recognized by her peers for her work with serious personal injury cases. She has received the Consumer Attorneys of San Diego “Outstanding Trial Lawyer” award three times; has been recognized in Super Lawyers from 2007 through 2014; recognized three times on the Super Lawyers’ list of Top 25 Women Lawyers in San Diego; included in the San Diego Daily Transcript Top Attorney list; and listed annually in the Best Lawyers of America.

Justice Gonzalez has received numerous honors and awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hispanic National Bar Association, the Joan Dempsey Klein Distinguished Jurist Award from California Women Lawyers, and the Outstanding Jurist Award from the San Diego County Bar Association.

Kenneth L. Greenman ’71 is partner and of counsel to Greenman, Lacy, Klein, O’Harra and Heffron. Greenman has practiced estate planning, trust, wills, and probate law exclusively for more than 25 years—with special focus on complex trusts and estates—and has held Martindale-Hubble’s AV Preeminent rating for more than 20 years. He is a member of the United States Supreme Court Bar, the California State Bar, the United States Courts of Appeals for the Ninth, Seventh, and Fifth Circuits, and the United States District Courts for the Central and Southern Districts of California.

Currently chair emeritus of the Board of Trustees, Greenman served as editor-in-chief of the California Western Law Review and received American Jurisprudence Awards in wills and trusts, corporations, and conflicts of law while in law school. He also received the Dean’s Award - Outstanding Law Student, and graduated with honors. Upon graduation, Greenman was selected as a United States Attorney General Honor Law Graduate Fellow, serving in the Department of Justice’s U.S. Supreme Court appellate section.

Currently serving as an Associate Justice of the California Court of Appeal, Fourth District, Division One, Hon. Judith L. Haller ’75 was a deputy district attorney with the San Diego County District Attorney’s office for three years before entering private practice for 10 years at Higgs, Fletcher & Mack. Justice Haller was a partner in the firm’s litigation department when she was appointed to the bench by Gov. George Deukmejian in 1989. Gov. Pete Wilson nominated her to the Court of Appeal, and she was unanimously confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments in 1994.

In 2013, California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye appointed Justice Haller to serve a four-year term on the Supreme Court Committee on Judicial Ethics Opinions. Justice Haller is a master of the American Inns of Court and was awarded the American Inns of Court 2012 Professionalism Award for the Ninth Circuit in 2012. She is a director of the Board of Trustees of California Western, a former member of the San Diego County Bar Association Ethics Committee, and chair of the Appellate Court Legacy Project.

Prior to her judicial appointment, she was vice president of the San Diego County Bar Association and served as secretary and treasurer of the San Diego Defense Lawyers.

Gary H. Hunt is vice chair and founding partner of California Strategies, LLC, providing strategic counsel drawn from a business career shepherding some of the state’s largest, most controversial land development projects through to approval. Hunt’s business and political consulting career over the last 11 years marks an ability to achieve both partisan success and multi-partisan compromise.

Hunt developed close relationships with California’s business leaders through his service on the boards of directors of the California Business Roundtable, State Chamber of Commerce, and other statewide and national business organizations. His political experience spans more than four decades, beginning as a consultant to the California State Legislature and on the staff of then-Gov. Ronald Reagan. Hunt volunteered as California State Finance Vice Chairman for Gov. Pete Wilson in 1990 and 1994, Finance Chairman in 1998 for the Republican nominee for Governor, State Finance Chairman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Campaign Chairman for Carly Fiorina for California State Senator.

Jeffrey S. Isaacs ‘68 is of counsel with Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch, where he is a member of the firm's bankruptcy and commercial litigation practice. Isaacs has been recognized as Bankruptcy Court Mediation Panel Mediator of the Year as well as among the top lawyers in San Diego for bankruptcy and debtor/creditor rights.

He is a past president of the San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program and the San Diego Bankruptcy Forum, and he served as treasurer and vice president of the San Diego County Bar Association and its foundation. Prior to his election to the Board of Trustees, Isaacs served as a member of the law school’s Council of Visitors for many years.

J. Randall Jones ‘81 is a founding partner at Kemp, Jones & Coulthard in Las Vegas. Named Trial Lawyer of the Year in 1998 by the Nevada Trial Lawyers Association, Jones has tried more than 35 jury trials to verdict in both state and federal court, including In re Kitec, the largest class action case ever tried in the state of Nevada. He is an inductee of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and has been recognized for his advocacy skills by the American Board of Trial Attorneys.

Jones has been appointed as a Civil Arbitrator & Mediator for the American Arbitration Association, and has been a contributing author of the American Bar Association's Survey of State Class Action Law for more than a decade. In addition to serving on the California Western Board of Trustees, Jones is a founding board member of the Thomas and Mack Legal Clinic at the Boyd School of Law - UNLV, and was named a Colleague of the Nevada Law Foundation, created by the Nevada State Bar to provide legal services to the poor. He has served on the board of the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada, a nonprofit, public interest law firm serving low-income residents of Clark County, Nevada, since 1995.

Having served for more than 20 years, Jeffrey D. Lewin '75 is chairman of the California Western Board of Trustees and shareholder and partner at Sullivan Hill Lewin Rez & Engel in San Diego. With more than 35 years of experience in business and other civil litigation, Lewin has tried dozens of lawsuits, including antitrust, RICO, Lanham Act, fraud, breach of trust, products liability, breach of contract, employment, negligence, product defamation, and punitive damages cases for a variety of national and international corporations and sophisticated individuals in state and federal courts throughout the country.

Lewin serves on the steering committee for the UC San Diego Economics Roundtable, formed to provide top business professionals and community leaders in the region with the opportunity to share the views and opinions of renowned experts in the fields of economics, finance, business, and public policy. He is a founding member of the board of the German-American San Diego Foundation, a nonprofit organization created to connect the German-American community through innovation, culture, and business.

Mark P. Mandell ‘77 is chief executive officer of Square One Development in San Diego, also serving as the company’s legal counsel and director of finance. Mandell began his practice in real estate transactional law in 1977, focusing on acquisition, development, finance, and entitlements.

Mandell served on the board of directors at San Diego National Bank from 1992 to 2009, and has founded and managed numerous businesses (not related to real estate) over the years.

Nancy A. Marlin, Ph. D. is a former Provost of San Diego State University, with prior administrative and faculty experience at the University of Missouri and the University of Northern Iowa. Dr. Marlin is a professor of psychology and holds a Bachelor of Arts from SUNY Binghamton, and a Ph.D. in experimental psychology from the City University of New York.

Dr. Marlin served as a member of the board of directors of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, and currently serves on the board of the National Conflict Resolution Center. She has served on the board of governors for San Diego’s International Community Foundation, and was a member of the board of directors of Planned Parenthood for San Diego and Riverside Counties. Dr. Marlin was chair of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (then NASULGC) Council on Academic Affairs, and the 2003 recipient of NASULGC’s Michael P. Malone International Leadership Award for outstanding contribution to the promotion of international education.

Jeffrey R. Newport ’80 is an attorney and mediator in Houston, Texas with more than 17 years of experience in both plaintiff’s and defendant’s personal injury, civil litigation, and sports representation. Prior to founding his own firm, Newport was recruited by Alvin M. Barrett & Associates to research work on oil, gas, and mineral leases, and has served as a member of Allstar Management Group, where he was a certified contract advisor for professional athletes.

Newport is a member of the American Bar Association, Texas Trial Lawyers Association, New York Trial Lawyers Association, Houston Bar Association, Florida Bar Association, Harris County (Texas) Criminal Lawyers Association, Sports/Entertainment Lawyers Association, College of the State Bar of Texas, and the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. He is licensed to practice in Texas, Florida, and North Dakota, and is fluent in both English and Spanish.

John F. O’Brien has been dean of New England Law | Boston since 1988, before which he was associate dean. O’Brien has the longest continuous service at a single institution of any law school dean in the country, and in 2012 was named one of the most influential people in legal education in a nationwide survey conducted by the National Jurist. He currently teaches personal income tax, and has previously taught taxation of business entities, constitutional law, and legal research and writing.

O’Brien is a past chair of the Council of the American Bar Association (ABA)’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, and also served as chair of the ABA’s Accreditation Committee and its Independent Law Schools Committee. He is a founding member and former president of the Consortium for Innovative Legal Education, Inc. Before joining the New England Law faculty in 1985, he was a senior attorney in the Office of the Chief Counsel of the Internal Revenue Service, heading the northeast region’s tax shelter program. He received a B.A. from Manhattan College; a J.D. from New England Law | Boston, where he graduated first in his class; and an LL.M. in taxation in 1980 from Boston University School of Law.

Eberhard H. Röhm is a partner with Duane Morris LLP, specializing in international transactional matters between the U.S., Germany, and other European Union countries. His focus includes corporate and real estate mergers and acquisitions, vendor and buyer due diligence, restructurings, securities, real estate development and management, and commercial and industrial construction. Röhm previously led the U.S. legal practice for the Ernst & Young global network, and serves as a mediator for the International Chamber of Commerce.

A native of Munich, Germany, Röhm holds law degrees from Fordham University in New York, the University of Heidelberg, and the University of Bonn. He is fluent in English, French, and German.

Janine A. Sarti serves as chief legal officer for Palomar Health System and is immediate past president of the San Diego chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel. Prior to her work with Palomar Health, she served as general counsel and chief legal counsel to several healthcare organizations in the Pacific Northwest.

She is a member of the executive committee of the California State Bar public law section and was a founding member of the Oregon State Bar corporate counsel section. Sarti has received numerous awards including the Tribute to Women in Industry and Women Who Mean Business awards. She holds a J.D. from Gonzaga University.

Robert K. Scott '75 is a trial attorney who has practiced law in California for more than 35 years, specializing in all aspects of insurance "bad faith" litigation. Scott has obtained multi-million dollar judgments, favorable appellate decisions, and arbitration awards, as well as substantial out-of-court settlements on behalf of his clients.

Scott is co-author—with colleague and former California Trial Lawyers Association President Douglas K. deVries—of “Establishing Insurance Bad Faith” in the Insurance Settlement Handbook. He previously served as chairman and member of the executive committee of the board of trustees of Irvine Regional Hospital and Medical Center and a member of the board of trustees of the Irvine Cancer Center. Additionally, Scott has served on the board of the American Bar Association Tort and Insurance Practice subcommittees on disability, health, and life insurance. He is a frequent author and speaker on insurance-related matters.

An attorney at Higgs Fletcher & Mack, Rahil K. Swigart '03 represents and advises businesses in disputes, including those concerning judicial foreclosure actions, misappropriation of trade secrets and proprietary information, covenants not to compete, breach of contract, copyright, and unfair business practices.

In addition to litigation disputes, Swigart has assisted individuals and businesses in transactional matters, such as assisting selling/buying real estate properties, forming business entities, and reviewing mortgage and deeds of trust documents for both commercial and residential real estate. She also assists clients in arbitration proceedings for refund of deposits in real estate development projects. She has a California Real Estate License, and is working on her LL.M. in taxation at the University of San Diego.

Michael J. Whitton is San Diego managing partner at Troutman Sanders, LLP, where he advises and counsels public and private companies, real estate investment trusts, and lending and financial institutions on a variety of complex real estate and business transactions throughout the country.

Whitton is considered one of the leading experts in transactions and other legal matters involving golf courses/country clubs, marinas, hotels, and other resort properties. He has received numerous accolades for his work, including being named one of 10 "Best Attorneys in the Golf Industry" by Golf, Inc. in 2011 and 2012.

The Hon. Howard B. Wiener (Ret.) has been engaged in private dispute resolution since 1994, serving in more than 5,000 cases as a mediator, arbitrator, and private judge. His assignments have included business disputes, intellectual property, professional liability, insurance coverage litigation, product liability, environmental cases, and class action suits including securities fraud litigation. From 1978 to 1994, Justice Wiener was an Associate Justice of the California Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, Division One, and also served on assignment to the California Supreme Court. He was on the Superior Court for San Bernardino County from 1975 to 1978.

Justice Wiener was president of the Pomona Valley Bar Association, trustee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, and a member and vice president of the board of governors of the California State Bar. He was also a member of the executive board and vice president of the California Judges Association. A graduate of Brown University and Harvard Law School, Justice Wiener received a Master of Laws degree in the judicial process from the University of Virginia Law School, and attended Oriel College at Oxford University as a member of the first Oriel seminar in legal studies for American judges.