LGBTBAR | Board of Directors

Board of Directors

Executive Committee

President

Kate Fletcher is a solo practitioner in Chicago and its surrounding suburbs practicing in the areas of Tax and Estate Planning with an emphasis on estate planning for same-sex couples. She graduated from Loyola University Chicago School of Law with a J.D. and an LL.M. in Taxation. Ms. Fletcher began her career with the LGBT Bar as a Law Student Division representative, where she coordinated the most successful writing competition in the organization's history. Ms. Fletcher is also a pilot with a major US Airline.

President-Elect

O. Kim Byrd is a native of Florida and currently resides in Palm Harbor, Florida. Kim received his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Florida and his Juris Doctorate from New York Law School. He is admitted to practice in New York, New Jersey and Florida. In 2001, Kim established Byrd Legal Counsel, PA, as a general practice law firm that strives to meet the legal needs of Tampa Bay’s LGBT community. Kim practices primarily in the areas of traditional and alternative family law, estate planning, and criminal defense. He is a member of the Central Florida Gay and Lesbian Law Association, a cooperating attorney with NCLR and Lambda Legal and a volunteer lawyer with Bay Area Legal Services, Inc.

Past President

Laura Maechtlen joined the LGBT Bar Board of Directors as the affiliate representative for Sacramento Lawyers for the Equality of Gays and Lesbians in 2004. She has assumed responsibilities as the Membership Chair and most recently the President-Elect. Laura graduated from the Boston University School of Law after attending the University of Colorado at Boulder for undergraduate studies in Music and Political Science. She works at Seyfarth Shaw LLP in labor and employment litigation in their San Francisco, California offices.

Secretary

Kelly Olmstead is a Minneapolis-based litigator with Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P., focusing in the areas of intellectual property, family law, and juvenile protection. She is co-chair of the Minnesota Lavender Bar Association and has served on that organization's board of directors since 2002. She also sits on the Minnesota State Bar Association General Assembly and the Ramsey County Bar Association Board of Directors. Kelly graduated from William Mitchell College of Law, where she maintains an active volunteer presence. She is active in a variety of other community and pro bono service pursuits, including domestic violence and juvenile protection casework.

Treasurer

Joseph T. Gasper received his BA in 1998 in Comparative Literature from the Pennsylvania State University. Following college, Joe served two years in the United States Peace Corps, teaching English to high school students in Poland. Afterwards, Joe studied for a year at the Friedrich Schiller Universitat in Jena, Germany before returning to the US to begin graduate studies at Howard University. Joe graduated in 2006 with a JD and MA in Philosophy from Howard University. While in law school, Joe was both a member and later an editor of the Howard Law Journal. Throughout his second year, he interned with Servicemembers Legal Defense Network--an experience that culminated in a 2005 student note published in the Howard Law Journal. Joe was also active in the school's OUTLAW group and helped found its American Constitution Society (ACS) student chapter. In his last year, he served as one of five Dean's Fellows responsible for teaching legal citation and basic legal writing principles to a section of first-year law students. Originally from Scranton, Pennsylvania, Joe currently lives in New York and has worked as an associate with Clifford Chance US LLP in the firm's litigation department. He joined the LGBT Bar in 2003 as a law student and began serving on the board in 2008 and chairs the board's law student division subcommittee.

ABA Delegate

John T. Hendricks is a civil litigator with his own full service business-oriented firm, the Law Offices of John T. Hendricks, in San Francisco, California. Mr. Hendricks’ practice focuses on advising, counseling, and defending management in employment litigation, including Fortune 500 companies, health care, and public entity clients, in State and Federal courts throughout California. He also regularly handles commercial and construction litigation, and provides general legal counseling for businesses. The National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA) conferred Mr. Hendricks the NITA Advocate designation in 2007. Mr. Hendricks actively supports various community and professional organizations, including the AIDS Legal Referral Panel (ALRP), the American Inns of Court, the Bar Association of San Francisco (BASF), the Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom (BALIF), and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. He contributed to the groundbreaking Report of the BASF Equality Subcommittee on LGBT Issues published in 2007. Mr. Hendricks also has served in various director and leadership capacities in several of these organizations and was president of the National LGBT Bar Foundation in 2009-2010. Mr. Hendricks earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles and earned a Juris Doctorate from the University of San Francisco School of Law, where he received the John L. Brennan Award for trial advocacy.

Delegates

Delegate to the ABA's Commission on Women in the Profession

Jaime Todd-Gher is the Legal Fellow for Global Advocacy with the Center for Reproductive Rights. She engages in human rights litigation and advocacy to promote sexual and reproductive health and rights before the United Nations and regional human rights bodies, and supports national-level advocacy strategies with partner organizations worldwide. Before joining the Center, Ms. Todd-Gher earned her J.D. from the University of San Francisco and her LL.M. in international law, specializing in gender and international human rights, from American University, Washington College of Law. She has also practiced employment law with a prominent firm in San Francisco, California and served on the Executive Board of the AIDS Legal Referral Panel.

Representative to the ABA's Council of the Young Lawyers Division

Malcolm 'Skip' Harsch is a solo practitioner in the Chicago land area focusing on family law. He is a native of Illinois. Malcolm received his bachelor of science from the University of Iowa and his JD from DePaul University College of law. While at DePaul, Malcolm began his LGBT legal crusade as a summer inter for lambda Legal. He is now a sitting board member of the Lesbian and Gay Bar Association of Chicago, along with a number of other positions within the Chicago Bar Association.

Representative to the ABA's AIDS Coordinating Committee

Gary J. Greener is the Associate Dean for Career Services at Southwestern Law School. He received his B.A. from Brigham Young University, his J.D. from Southwestern Law School, and his LL.M. from Georgetown University Law Center. Gary Greener practiced law in the private sector for almost a decade, following law school and graduate law studies in international and comparative law. He began his career with firms in the Los Angeles and Orange County areas, handling a variety of cases involving environmental, construction, premises liability, employment, business and other general litigation. In 1996, he joined the law firm of Breidenbach, Buckley, Huchting, Halm & Hamblet where he became a partner and took on the additional role of hiring partner for the firm. Four years later, he was appointed as an assistant dean at Southwestern. Prior to returning to his alma mater as an administrator, Dean Greener maintained close ties with Southwestern over the years, serving as a judge for the law school's annual Intramural Moot Court Program and as a frequent panelist for career development programs. Active in professional and community organizations, he currently serves on the Board of Directors of the National LGBT Bar Association, and in that capacity, he serves as the Association's delegate to the American Bar Association's AIDS Coordinating Committee. In the past, he has served on the Board of Directors of the HIV and AIDS Legal Services Alliance (HALSA), he has chaired the GLBT Committee of the National Association for Law Placement (NALP), has served on the State Bar of California Committee on Sexual Orientation Discrimination, and has served on the Board of Directors for Art Share Los Angeles. Dean Greener joined Southwestern in 2000 as Assistant Dean for Career Services and was named Associate Dean in 2008.

Delegates to the ABA's Young Lawyers Division

Jason S. Gibson is an associate with Holland & Knight LLP in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He practices in the area of transactional real estate law - focusing on retail, office, and industrial leasing. Jason has been a member of the LGBT Bar since 2006. He graduated from the University of Miami School of Law after attending Harvard College for undergraduate studies in Economics.

Lousene Hoppe is an associate attorney in Fredrikson & Byron’s White Collar & Regulatory Defense, Commercial Litigation, and Health Care Fraud & Compliance Groups. She recently graduated from the University of Michigan Law School, where she sat on the leadership board of OUTLaws, the law school's advocacy group for GLBT rights. Since moving to Minneapolis, she has joined the LGBT Bar's regional affiliate organization, the Minnesota Lavender Bar Association. Her current pro bono work focuses on providing criminal defense services to underserved minorities and advocating for fair and equal access to the criminal justice system for the hearing impaired.

Law Student Division Representatives

ABA Law Student Division Chair

Craig Konnoth is a second-year law student at the Yale Law School. He holds a B.A. from Fordham University in Math-Economics and History, and an M.Phil. from Cambridge University in the History of Political Thought. Craig has worked with the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and the ACLU-LGBT Project on various assignments and has clerked for both organizations. At Yale, Craig works as an Activism co-chair for OutLaws, and is working to put together an LGBT Litigation Clinic. His research and writing centers on the early gay rights movement, and international human rights law.

Law Student Competitions Chair

Samuel Pearson-Moore is a second-year law student at American University Washington College of Law (WCL). He holds a BA in Political Science with a minor in Women Studies from Augsburg College. Sam worked as a clerk this past summer at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Pro Se Unit and is currently working at the Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office. Sam is currently the president of the WCL Lambda Law Society, a member of the American University International Law Review, and a member of the ICC International Commercial Mediation Competition. Before attending law school, Sam served in the United States Army Reserves for eight years, which included a deployment to Iraq in 2003, and worked as an Office & Program Manager of the Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest.

Affiliate Representatives

Heron Greenesmith is a recent graduate from American University, Washington College of Law. During law school, she worked for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Whitman-Walker Clinic Legal Services, and the ACLU LGBT Project. Heron has written about protections for transgender employees, the increasing number of aging adults with HIV, and the impact of the elite Supreme Court bar on LGBT advocates, among other topics.

Jeremy Protas is an associate at Marshall, Gerstein & Borun LLP in Chicago. Jeremy's practice focuses on securing patent protection in the United States and abroad, counseling clients on patent-related matters, and participating in complex patent litigation. He also serves on the firm's Diversity and Pro Bono Committees. Jeremy holds aJ.D. from DePaul University College of Law and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University. Active in the LGBT community, Jeremy joined the National LGBT Bar Association in 2007 and is also involved with many other organizations including the Lesbian and Gay Bar Association of Chicago, AIDS Legal Council of Chicago, and Lambda Legal. In 2009, he established the Jeremy D. Protas LGBT Patent Law Scholarship, which aims to raise awareness of patent law among LGBT law students with the goal of increasing the number of LGBT persons in the field of patent law.

At-Large Board Members

Sarah Alexander Goldfrank is a counsel in the Washington, D.C. office of O'Melveny & Myers LLP. Her practice focuses on the representation of financial services institutions in litigation, regulatory and enforcement matters. She also has served as outside general counsel to Women for Women International, a 501(c)(3) corporation, since 2003. Sarah is an active member of her firm's community, where she serves as Secretary to the Office of the Chair and is a member of the Washington, D.C. office's Employment Committee. She previously chaired the office's 2006 Summer Committee, and served on the firm's Diversity Task Force.

Alvin Lee is a third-year student at Harvard Law School. Prior to attending Harvard, Alvin studied violin performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music and received a bachelor's degree in Government from Cornell University. Since starting law school, he has served as a legal intern for the Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) and as a law clerk for the American Civil Liberties Union's (ACLU) LGBT & AIDS Project. His research on transgender prisoners' health care has been published in the Harvard Journal of Law & Gender, and he has worked in conjunction with the National Human Rights Commission of Korea to persuade the Korean Constitutional Court to overturn South Korea's military sodomy ban. He is the President of HLS Lambda, Harvard Law School's on-campus LGBTQ group.

Paul S. Marchegiani is an entertainment attorney at NBC Universal in Los Angeles, where he drafts and negotiates high level talent, licensing, digital media, and brand integration contracts for Universal Media Studios and the NBC, USA, SyFy, and Oxygen television networks. Prior to moving to LA, Paul worked as a litigation associate in the San Francisco offices of Morrison & Foerster and Orrick, where he focused on securities, white collar, IP, antitrust, contract, and civil rights litigation (including co-authoring an international law amicus brief for the successful 2008 In re Marriage Cases in the California Supreme Court). Paul holds a J.D. from U.C. Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall), and both a B.A. in History and a B.Mus. in Voice & Opera from Northwestern University. In addition to practicing entertainment law, Paul enjoys public speaking, and is a frequent musical theatre performer in the Los Angeles area.

Barry Parsons is the Associate General Counsel in the litigation department of Freddie Mac. Previously, he was the Counsel with the Washington, D.C. office of Crowell & Moring LLP where he represented companies in tort (including products liability, business torts, and privacy issues), class action, and complex commercial litigation matters. He also represented clients in a number of antitrust and insurance law cases and counseled clients on e-discovery and document retention issues. He had served on his firm’s Diversity, Recruiting, Summer Associate, and Associate Committees. Barry chairs the National LGBT Bar Association’s Diversity Committee. Prior to becoming a member of the Board of Directors, he served the Association as a member of the Diversity and Governance Committees. He has also been active on LGBT issues within the legal community including litigating several LGBT civil rights cases, serving as a panelist at the first Minority Corporate Counsel Association Annual Meeting to address inclusion of LGBT attorneys in law firm diversity efforts, and being a long-time member of Whitman Walker Clinic’s Legal Services Operating Committee. Barry received his J.D. with distinction from George Mason University School of Law. He also holds a M.B.A. from American University and a B.S. in Economics from King’s College. Barry and his partner have three children.

Jason Plowman is an associate at Littler Mendelson, P.C. in Milwaukee where he represents and counsels employers on the full spectrum of labor and employment laws. Jason also serves on the board of directors for the Friends of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, the Cream City Foundation and the Miami University LGBT Alumni Association. A native of Little Rock, Arkansas, Jason completed his undergraduate studies in political science at Miami University. He then worked a number of years as a flight attendant for a major commercial airline before graduating from Washington University School of Law in 2008.

Brad Evan Rosen is an associate in the New York office of Quinn, Emanuel, Urquhart, Oliver & Hedges, and a Lecturer in Computer Science at Yale University. He received his B.S and M.S. from Yale University in 2004, and his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2008. While at Harvard, Brad was a 3-year board member of Lambda, serving as a 1L Representative, Communications Director and Treasurer. He also served on the Dean's Committee for Solomon Amendment Amelioration, and helped launch HLS Lambda's GALLA (now HaLLA) Conference. He spearheaded the release of a unified statement from a coalition of law school LGBT groups following the Supreme Court's deicison in Rumsfeld v. FAIR.

Jeff Schimelfenig is the Washington DC based National Director of Project Management for Kelly Law Registry, a business unit of Kelly Services. He consults law firms and corporate general counsel clients on e-discovery project management and staffing alternatives for data intensive litigation and government investigations. Previously, Jeff was a general practice sole practitioner for over 15 years in Northeastern Pennsylvania with focus on small business and individual clients. He also had numerous years of business experience owning and managing small businesses. He is a graduate of the American University Washington College of Law and of the University of Scranton. He is an active member of the Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia Bars. Jeff is a member of GAYLAW in Washington DC, including a past Board member.

Mario Sullivan is an associate at the Law Offices of Peter Anthony Johnson, P.C. He counsels clients on a wide range of issues relating to real estate, evictions, business formation, and estate planning. Mr. Sullivan is a member of the Chicago Bar Association (CBA), the Illinois State Bar Association, and the American Bar Association (ABA). In addition, he is a member of the National LGBT Bar Association, the Lesbian and Gay Bar Association of Chicago (LAGBAC), and the American Constitution Society (ACS). Mr. Sullivan serves as the LGBT Bar's National Representative to the ABA Young Lawyers Division (YLD), Committee Member for the ABA YLD Diversity Team, Board Member and Chair of the Program Committee for LAGBAC, Chair of the CBA Committee on the Legal Rights of Lesbians and Gay Men; and Board Member and Programming Committee Member of the ACS Chicago Lawyer Chapter. Mr. Sullivan graduated from the Illinois State University in 2000 and obtained his J.D. from The John Marshall Law School in 2005.

Joseph A. Vallo is Litigation Of Counsel with Greenberg Traurig’s New York and White Plains offices. Joseph focuses his practice on securities arbitration, mediation and litigation and also has wide-ranging experience in retail brokerage compliance in domestic and international markets. Before joining Greenberg Traurig, Joseph served as Senior Vice President and Senior Litigation Counsel for Wachovia Securities, LLC, n.k.a Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC, where he supervised the firm’s major litigations and arbitrations. Previously, he served as the Senior Vice President and Director of Compliance for TD Waterhouse Group, Inc. and the Divisional Compliance Director at Salomon Smith Barney, Inc. where he was also the Director of International Private Client Group Compliance. Joseph is a 1979 graduate of SUNY Cortland and a 1984 graduate of New York Law School. He is admitted to practice in New York and Florida. Joseph also serves as Vice Chair of the SUNY Cortland Foundation Board of Directors. Joseph lives in New York with his partner, Mark and their daughter, Emma.

Justin A. Xenitelis serves as Senior Counsel to Thor Equities, LLC, a commercial real estate owner, manager and developer of retail shopping centers and mixed-use buildings across the United States. His responsibilities include managing the company’s day-to-day legal affairs, including drafting and negotiating retail and office leases for its eleven million square feet of commercial space, and managing outside counsel. Justin received his J.D. from New York Law School in 2006, where he earned the Dean’s Award for Student Leadership for his contributions to the student community, including co-founding and serving as president of the Stonewall Law Student’s Association, founding an annual HIV/AIDS fundraiser (raising over $30,000 for research), and establishing his school’s inaugural participation in the NYC Pride March. While in law school, Justin interned in the LGBT Rights department at Human Rights Watch, working extensively on transgender rights. He has previously served on the LGBT Rights Committee of the New York City Bar Association.

General Counsel

William S. Singer has been in the private practice of law in New Jersey for over 30 years. His practice concentrates on the creation and protection of non-traditional families and as counselor to numerous, varied non-profit organizations throughout the United States. He has worked to extend rights to lesbian and gay families through the Court system and the legislative process in New Jersey. In 2005, he won a landmark victory by convincing a court to establish a non-biological mother’s parentage as of birth by applying New Jersey’s artificial insemination statute, thus avoiding the delay and intrusive nature of the adoption process. In re Parentage of Robinson, 383 N. J. Super. 165, 890 A. 2d 1036 (Law Div. 2005). He is also the attorney who convinced the NJ Department of Health to change its birth certificates for same-sex couples from mother/father to parent/parent. Bill co-authored an article entitled “The State of Gay and Lesbian Adoption in New Jersey” in the April 2006 New Jersey Lawyer Magazine. In the non-profit world, Bill has counseled many different types of organizations through the process of their creation, securing their tax exempt status and the ensuing complex of issues they confront as an ongoing entity. For over 25 years he has represented numerous condominium and homeowner associations, trade associations, bar associations, foundations, political action committees and social welfare organizations. He has served as the General Counsel of the National Lesbian and Gay Law Association since its inception in the 1980’s and, among others, serves as general counsel to ACLU-NJ, the Sierra Club in New Jersey and the Trial Lawyers of America-New Jersey Branch. Mr. Singer received a degree in history with distinction from Rutgers College and his Juris Doctorate degree from the Columbia University School of Law.