Biographies
Lish Whitson (Chair)
Lish Whitson (Chair) has been a trial lawyer for 28 years. Mr. Whitson's practice emphasizes litigation in Medical Malpractice, Personal Injury, Health, Construction, Commercial and Employment law. He has also litigated intellectual property, administrative, antitrust, criminal, defamation, environmental, insurance and real property law cases. In addition, he is an experienced and highly successful Mediator and Arbitrator. Mr. Whitson received the King County Bar Association Pro Bono Award in 1993 for his work representing women seeking treatment for their breast cancer. He recently served on the American Bar Association's Commission on Women in the Profession. He worked with the Washington State Insurance Commissioner in 1994 to draft and get legislative approval for making preliminary injunctions more accessible to people with health care needs. He worked with the drafters of the Washington State "Patient Bill of Rights" with the hope of helping to broaden the rights of the average citizen in Washington State to access quality health care. Mr. Whitson formed Lish Whitson PLLC after 24 years of civil practice with two other firms, Helsell Fetterman, LLP and the Badgley~Mullins Law Group. Mr. Whitson is a member of the Washington State, Federal, American and King County Bar Associations as well as the American Judicature Society (past National Board member). He is a past President of the King County Bar Young Lawyers Section and a past Trustee of the King County Bar. He is a Fellow of the American and King County Bar Foundations. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates. He has lectured and written extensively on trial practice, ethics and professionalism. Lish has served on and chaired numerous committees with various Bar Associations over the past 25 years, including the Washington Judicial Council Task Force on Evidence. He is a past-chair of the ABA Standing Committee on Lawyer Referral & Information Services and continues to work for the committee as a volunteer consultant. He is also a past Governor of the Washington State Bar Association. He is admitted to the U.S. District Court for Western Washington, 1973; the U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington, 1976; the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, 1976; and the United States Supreme Court, 1977.
John T. Berry
John T. Berry is the Executive Director of the State Bar of Michigan. Prior to that he was the Director of the Center of Professionalism at Levin College of Law, University of Florida. Mr. Berry was the Assistant Executive Director at the State Bar of Arizona from 1998 to 2000. Prior, he was staff counsel and Division Director-Legal of the Florida Bar. Mr. Berry has more than twenty-four years of legal practice and management experience in the legal field. He has been a speaker throughout the United States; a member of evaluation teams to numerous state bars; member of the McKay Commission; past president of National Organization of Bar Counsel; and is a delegate to the ABA House of Delegates and a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Professionalism. Mr. Berry is a graduate of the University of Florida (B.A. 1973), and Stetson University College of Law (J.D. 1976). He was the recipient of the 2001 Michael Franck Professional Responsibility Award.
Thomas C. Grella
Thomas C. Grella is Vice President & Managing Partner of McGuire, Wood & Bissette, P.A. He was admitted to the North Carolina bar in 1985 and is also admitted to the U.S. District Court, Western District of North Carolina and the U.S. Tax Court. Mr. Grella graduated from James Madison University, B.B.A. in Management Information Systems, with honors, 1982 and Wake Forest University School of Law, J.D. 1985. His areas of practice are Business, Corporations & Securities; Commercial Real Property Law; Internet and Online Law; and Law Office Technology. North Carolina Bar Association, Young Lawyers Division background: Fellow; Division Director, 1990 – 1995, Member, Executive Council 1988 - 1995; Chair, Professionalism Committee, 1988 – 1990. American Bar Association background includes Member, House of Delegates 1993 - 1995; Law Practice Management Section: Member, Council 1999 - ; YLD Liaison to Council 1997 - 1999; Young Lawyers Division: Fellow; Member, Cabinet 1996 - 1997; Division Director 1996 - 1997; Member, Executive Council 1996 - 1997; Chair, Ethics and Professionalism Committee 1994 - 1996; Young Lawyer Division Liaison to the Standing Committee on Professional Discipline 1994 - 1996.
Dudley Humphrey
Dudley Humphrey became a partner at Kilpatrick Stockton in 1967 and practices law in the areas of aviation law, general business, bankruptcy, construction law, business litigation, and selective trust and estate matters. Mr. Humphrey, who is a lecturer and writer in banking, commercial and bankruptcy law, and construction litigation, is a member of the American Bar Association (Litigation Section and Construction Law Forum), the North Carolina Bar Association (past Chair of the Construction Law Section, 1998-99, member of the Litigation Section), and the Forsyth County Bar Association (past President). He is also Vice President of the North Carolina State Bar. He was an original member and former chairman of the North Carolina Disciplinary Hearing Commission (member 1975-84; Chairman 1980-84). He is a member of the North Carolina Department of Transportation Aeronautics Council. He is a certified mediator in the North Carolina Superior courts. Mr. Humphrey received his J.D., with honors, from the University of North Carolina School of Law, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif and the North Carolina Law Review. He is also a former President of the UNC Law Alumni Association. Before law school, he received an A.B. in political science from Duke University.
M. Peter Moser
M. Peter Moser is of counsel, Piper Marbury Rudnick & Wolfe LLP, Baltimore, Maryland office and serves on its ethics committee. His practice emphasizes business, tax and estate planning, health care law, and counseling attorneys on legal ethics, malpractice and disciplinary matters, and has also included trial and appellate advocacy. Moser was a partner in the firm of Frank, Bernstein, Conaway & Goldman for 35 years. He also was an assistant state’s attorney for Baltimore City and a judge advocate on active duty in Korea. Mr. Moser has written extensively in the areas of judicial conduct and professional responsibility and has taught these subjects at the University of Baltimore and University of Maryland Law Schools. He has served on various governmental commissions. A member of the ALI, Mr. Moser was an Adviser to the Law Governing Lawyers Restatement project (1987-1999). He has been a member of the American Bar Association (ABA) House of Delegates since 1978 (currently as a Business Law Delegate), is a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and its former chair, and formerly was ABA Treasurer (1993-96) and a member of the ABA Board of Governors (1984-87, 1992-96). He has been President of the Maryland and Baltimore City Bar Associations. Mr. Moser received his B.A. from the Citadel with high honors and his LLB. from Harvard Law School. He is the recipient of the 2002 Michael Franck Professional Responsibility Award.
Lynda C. Shely
Lynda C. Shely is the Director of Ethics for the State Bar of Arizona, which includes providing ethics advice to lawyers, advising the Client Protection Fund Board of Trustees, supervising the Fee Arbitration and Peer Review Programs, and assisting with unauthorized practice of law matters. Lynda is a frequent speaker on lawyer ethics and unauthorized practice of law matters throughout the country. She is the chair of the ABA Standing Committee on Client Protection and is a vice president of the National Client Protection Organization. She is a member of the Sandra Day O’Connor Inn of Court, the State Bar of Arizona Task Force on the Future of the Profession, and State Bar Ethical Rules Review Group. Prior to her work with the Bar, she was an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, practicing in intellectual property and antitrust matters. Lynda received a BA from Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, PA and her JD (with highest honors) from Catholic University in Washington, D.C. She is a member of the American Bar Association, Arizona, District of Columbia, and Pennsylvania Bars.
Robert D. Welden
Robert D. Welden is the Washington State Bar Association General Counsel (1988 – present) and administrator, WSBA Lawyers’ Fund for Client Protection (1988 – present). He was in private practice in Seattle (member, Smith, Welden, Kaplan, Young and Withey from 1970 – 1972; solo practice until 1975); Seattle Indian Center Legal Services, staff attorney (1976); Seattle-King County Public Defender, staff attorney (1976 – 1981); and Washington State Bar Association, staff attorney (1981 – 1988). Other positions include staff liaison, WSBA Committee to Define the Practice of Law (1998 – 2001); staff liaison, WSBA Future of the Legal profession Study Group (2000 – 2001); National Client Protection Organization, vice-president, Western Region (1998 - 2001); American Bar Association Advisory Commission on Lawyers’ Funds for Client Protection (member, 1998 –1999; chairperson 1999 - 2001); American Bar Association Standing Committee on Client Protection (member, 2001 – 2004); American Bar Association President-elect Task Force on Access to Legal Services (member, 2002). He graduated from the University of Washington, (B.A. 1967, J.D. 1970).
Arthur H. Garwin
Arthur H. Garwin served as the ABA Staff Counsel to the Task Force on the Model Definition of the Practice of Law. He also serves as Staff Counsel to the ABA Standing Committee on Professionalism and Director of Publications and Conference Planning for the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility. Mr. Garwin previously served as Staff Counsel to the ABA Commission on Multidisciplinary Practice (1998-2000). He has appeared on programs on multidisciplinary practice for the Chicago Bar Association, Illinois State Bar Association, Arizona State Bar, Loyola University School of Law (Chicago) and others. He has written numerous articles on professional responsibility, including 37 ethics columns for the ABA Journal. He has appeared on two panels at the ABA National Conference on Professional Responsibility, of which he has served as director since 1994. He has served as Editor of The Professional Lawyer since 1993. He is the principal author of The Legal Assistant’s Practical Guide to Professional Responsibility. Mr. Garwin has B.S. and J.D. degrees from the University of Illinois and an M.B.A. from Northwestern University. He practiced law for fifteen years before coming to the ABA in 1990.