Quarterly alumni achievements are listed in alphabetical order.
Philip Bentley, BS ’94, JD ’00, was appointed CEO of the Portland-based Oregon Health Care Association, effective January 2021.
Lee Ewing, JD 14, was hired by Lewis Roca Rothberger Christie as an associate in the firm’s regulatory and government practice, based in Denver, Colorado.
Michael Hamilton, JD ’99, rejoined the international law firm O’Melveny & Meyers as a partner in the project development and real estate practice based in Los Angeles.
Daniel Harris, JD '82, and his wife Susan recently finished an 18-month stint in Russia working as legal volunteers facilitating humanitarian projects.
Neil Kagan, JD '81, retired from his career as a lawyer for environmental nonprofit organizations and had an article published in the Michigan Journal of Environmental and Administrative Law about Congress’s preservation of 8.2 million acres of wilderness in eighteen states in 1984, catalyzed by two lawsuits he brought, which were made possible by his late wife, Elizabeth Reed, JD ’81: Wilderness, Luck & Love, 7 Mich. J. Envtl. & Admin. L. 315 (2018).
Charles Kochlacs, JD ’88, was appointed by Governor Kate Brown to be a judge for Jackson County Circuit Court in Medford, Oregon.
Mike McCord, JD ‘96, a career Foreign Service Officer, was promoted into the Senior Foreign Service (Counselor) in December 2019 following Senate confirmation and White House approval. Mike serves with the U.S. Agency for International Development and is currently posted to Zimbabwe. His previous Foreign Service assignments include Afghanistan (twice), South Africa, South Sudan, Zambia, and Ethiopia. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, he lived and worked in Kenya, Rwanda, then-Zaire, Eritrea, and Cote d'Ivoire.
Beth Ford Milani, JD ’15, was hired as an assistant US attorney by the US Attorney’s Office, District of Colorado in Denver.
Jonathan Patterson, JD’13, was named to the “Forty Under 40” lists of the Portland Business Journal for being a “game-changer, move-maker and force of the future” for his work as the national director of diversity, equity, inclusion, and human resources at Portland-based Compassion and Choices, which supports end-of-life care and planning.
Jeff Sluggett, JD '86, was named one of the Best Lawyers in America 2020 by Best Lawyers, a peer-review group.
Paul Tassin, JD ’08, was named “Hero of the Day” by New Orleans-based ABC news affiliate WGNO for founding a group called Stitchers Without Borders, which provided COVID-19 relief by sewing hundreds of masks weekly that were shipped to local hospitals and other facilities around the country.
Rodney Underhill, JD '88, announced he will retire in 2020 after serving more than six years as Multnomah County District Attorney.
In Memoriam
E. Richard “Dick” Bodyfelt, JD ’69, died May 11. Raised on a dairy farm, he was editor-in-chief of the law school’s Oregon Law Review and he later started a firm in Portland that became Bodyfelt, Mount, Stroup, and Chamberlain. He was recognized as one of the most professional and effective trail lawyers in the Pacific Northwest and was an avid pilot and runner.
Achievements are curated from the University of Oregon Alumni Association (UOAA). To be included in the next publication, please submit your class notes on the UOAA website.
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