The Advocate - May 2012 - Idaho State Bar - Idaho.gov

Parsons Behle & Latimer
hires senior paralegal
Parsons Behle & Latimer hired Josh
Sweet as a senior paralegal for the firm’s
Boise office (formerly Zarian Midgley
and Johnson). Sweet, who joined the firm
in January, will support the firm’s litigation
practice group. He has an extensive
background in general, civil and business
litigation.
Sweet’s work at Parsons Behle &
Latimer will focus primarily on document
management, discovery, pre-trial preparation
and trial support. He previously
worked as a litigation
paralegal at Boisebased
firms Naylor
& Hales and Greener
Burke Shoemaker,
and Los Angelesbased
McCutchen
Doyle Brown & Enersen
(now Bingham
McCutchen). Sweet
earned a Bachelor of
Arts in Political Science
from University
of California, Irvine.
Parsons Behle & Latimer’s Boise office
features the largest intellectual property
legal team in Idaho.
Attorneys Gingras, Grubbs
join Winston & Cashatt
Attorneys Scott Gingras and Erika
Grubbs have joined
Winston & Cashatt
as associates who
will work out of the
firm’s Coeur d’Alene
office.
Gingras focuses
on civil litigation
involving employment
and labor law,
personal injury,
products liability,
medical negligence,
insurance law, and
insurance defense. A
Gonzaga Law School
graduate, Gingras
joins Winston &
Cashatt from a Coeur
d’Alene firm. He is
the current chair of
the Employment and
Labor Law Section
of the Idaho State
Bar, and a regular
Erika Grubbs
presenter on employment and labor law
58 The Advocate • May 2012
Josh Sweet
OF INTEREST
topics. He is admitted to practice in Idaho,
Washington and Montana.
Grubbs has two decades of trial experience,
and will focus on construction
law, land use and development, planning
and zoning, real estate, contracts, business
law, civil litigation, government law,
and estate planning and probate. She is a
frequent presenter on employment law,
risk management, government law, and
contracts. She is admitted to practice in
Idaho, Washington and Georgia.
Winston & Cashatt is a regional, independent
law firm that has been practicing
law for more than 60 years.
Ninth Circuit Advisory Board
welcomes Debora Kristensen
Boise attorney Debora K. Kristensen
has been appointed to the Ninth Circuit
Advisory Board, a group of prominent attorneys
that advises on the effective administration
of the federal courts in the
western states.
Ms. Kristensen, 46, a partner at Givens
Pursley LLP, is a general business
litigator in state and federal courts, with
a particular emphasis on employment
and media law. She is considered one of
Idaho’s prominent lawyers and previously
served for six years as an Idaho Lawyer
Representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial
Conference.
“It’s an honor to have been selected
to serve in this new role. I’m thrilled to
be able to continue working with the fine
judges, lawyers and
staff of the Ninth Circuit,”
Ms. Kristensen
said.
The Advisory
Board acts as an advisor
to the chief
judge and the Judicial
Council of the
Ninth Circuit, which
Scott Gingras sets policy for fed- Debora K. Kristensen
eral courts in Idaho,
eight other western
states and two Pacific Island jurisdictions.
The board formulates recommendations
for improvement of judicial administration,
comments on proposed changes in
practice and procedure, and participates in
the annual Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference.
More recently, the board has sought
to educate lawmakers about the judicial
vacancy crisis in the courts.
Appointments to the Advisory Board
are made by Chief Judge Alex Kozinski
of the United States Court of Appeals for
the Ninth Circuit, who chairs the Judicial
Council. Selection is based on an outstanding
record of contributions to the
administration of the federal courts of the
circuit, demonstrated leadership, and past
service to the Judicial Conference.
Fourth Judicial District
Magistrate Judge appointed
The Magistrate Commission for the
Fourth Judicial District has appointed Lamont
(Monty) Berecz, 37, of Boise as a
new magistrate judge in Valley County.
Since 2008, Mr. Berecz has been employed
as a magistrate judge assigned to
the juvenile court in Ada County. From
2001-2008, Mr. Berecz
was employed
with the Ada County
Prosecutor’s office
where he was a
felony trial attorney
focusing on domestic
violence cases and
served as an on-call
drug prosecutor.
Mr. Berecz holds
Bachelor’s of Art degree
in Biology from
Andrews University in Berrien Springs,
Michigan and a J.D. from the University
of Virginia School of Law.
He and his wife, Sophie, and their four
daughters currently live in Boise and will
relocate to Valley County in the near future.
Camacho Mendoza Coulter
Law Group opens new office,
hires Remington Johnson
Camacho Mendoza Coulter Law
Group announces the addition of a new
attorney and opening of a new office.
The firm provides counsel to businesses,
employees, employers, Native American
Tribes and Tribal members, insurers, political
candidates and parties.
Remington J. Johnson joined the firm
in January. He graduated with a degree in
Political Science and
a minor in History
from the University of
Utah, before graduating
with honors from
the George Washington
University Law
School, Washington,
D.C. where he was a
member of the Black
Law Student Association
and served as
senior member of the
Federal Circuit Bar Journal.
Hon. Lamont Monty
Berecz
Remington J.
Johnson