Utah Bar Journal

Region I Director represents Box Elder, Cache, Rich, Weber, Davis and Morgan Counties - This position is vacant at this time. If you are a member of the Paralegal Division and would like to serve, please contact Kathryn Shelton.

Region II Director, Thora Searle - Thora is the Director covering Salt Lake, Tooele, and Summit Counties and is also a member of the CLE Committee for the Paralegal Division. Thora has worked in the legal field since 1972, including 21 years working for the Honorable William T. Thurman at McKay, Burton & Thurman and the past 5 years as his Judicial Assistant at the United States Bankruptcy Court.

Region III Director, Claire Frehner - Claire is the Director covering Juab, Millard, Utah, Wasatch, Duchesne, Uintah and Daggett Counties. She was first elected as a Director at Large in 2005 and served as the chair for long range planning and the co-chair of the ethics committee. Since obtaining her degree in Paralegal Studies, Claire has worked in various fields of law including real estate, bankruptcy and estate planning. Due to her nursing background and her advocacy experiences gained raising three children with developmental disabilities and autism, she was drawn to areas of law that were more medically focused. She has specialized in the areas of personal injury, medical malpractice, product liability, toxic tort and pharmaceutical litigation. Currently Claire is employed with Mildenstein Law Office in Orem, where she has worked in the demanding area of pharmaceutical tort litigation since 2000.

Region IV Director, Suzanne Potts - Suzanne is the Director covering Carbon, Sanpete, Sevier, Emery, Grand, Beaver, Wayne, Piute, San Juan, Garfield, Kane, Iron and Washington Counties. She has been a paralegal for over 15 years and is currently employed by Clarkson, Draper & Beckstrom in St. George, Utah, working primarily in civil litigation. Suzanne is a mediator having completed basic Mediation Training through the Utah State Bar, Alternative Dispute Resolution in 2001. She is a past member of LAAU, having served as the Southern Regional Director. She presently serves on the Ethics and Membership Committees of the Division. Suzanne is also is a volunteer mediator for the Juvenile Court Victim Offender Mediation Program.

Director-at-Large, Chair-Elect, Sharon Andersen - Sharon has been a paralegal in the civil division of the Salt Lake City Attorney's office since June of 2004. She graduated from Westminster College in 1990 and for the past 16 years has assisted as a paralegal/legal assistant for several law firms and corporations including Kennecott Utah Copper, Huntsman Corporation, and IHC where she became the contract administrator. Sharon's primary areas of practice have included litigation, medical malpractice, personal injury, contracts, environmental law; labor relations; family law, and worker's compensation. For the past three years, she has volunteered as a community judge in mock trials for the Utah Law-Related Education Program.

Director-at-Large, Tally Burke - Tally is a paralegal in the corporate legal department of Boart Longyear headquartered in Salt Lake City. Previously, she worked for the law firm of Durham Jones & Pinegar in the areas of Corporate and Securities Law, Intellectual Property and Immigration Law. Tally began her career over 10 years ago at Kruse Landa Maycock & Ricks where she fell in love with the legal profession. She received her Legal Assistant Certificate in 1996, her Associate of Applied Science, with a major in Paralegal Studies in 1997 and her Associate of Science in 2005 from Salt Lake Community College. In 2006, she earned her bachelor's degree from Weber State University. Ms. Burke is an adjunct professor at Salt Lake Community College. In addition to her Division membership, she is also a member of NALA, and LAAU. Tally is a past Chair of the Paralegal Division (2004-2005) and currently serves as their Professionalism Committee Chair.

Director-at-Large, Meg Chesley - Meg is a litigation paralegal at the law firm of Parsons Behle & Latimer, where she focuses most of her work in the area of intellectual property, contract and trade secret litigation. She has been employed at Parsons Behle & Latimer since fall of 1996. Ms. Chesley graduated from the University of Utah with a bachelors in History and a minor in French. She later went on to get her paralegal certificate from Westminster College (an A.B.A. accredited school) and graduated in September 1996. This is Ms. Chesley's second year as the utilization officer in the Paralegal Division of the Utah Bar Association.

Director-at-Large, YLD Liaison, Robyn Dotterer, CP - Robyn has worked as a paralegal for over 15 years. She works for Strong & Hanni with attorney Paul Belnap, primarily in the areas of insurance defense and bad faith litigation. She achieved her CP in 1994 and is a Past President of LAAU. She served two terms as a Director-at-Large for the Paralegal Division of the Utah State Bar, chaired the Division's Utilization Committee and served as liaison to the Young Lawyer's Division. Robyn continues to serve as liaison to the Young Lawyer's Division, is a current Director-at-Large and is honored to be the first Chair of the Division's newly formed Community Service Committee.

Director-at-Large, Julie Eriksson - Julie will be serving as a Director at Large and Co-Chair of the CLE Committee. She is currently serving as Treasurer for the Legal Assistants Association of Utah and has served two terms as President of LAAU. She has also held the positions of 1st Vice President/Education Chair and Secretary. She began her legal career in 1992 and has worked at the law firm of Christensen & Jensen, P.C. since 1999. She specializes in the civil litigation areas of personal injury, bad faith and product liability claims.

Director-At Large, Finance Officer, Bonnie K. Hamp, CP - Bonnie is a Sr. Paralegal with the Litigation Practice Group at Holme Roberts & Owen LLP which represent clients in business, financial, employment, tax, securities, intellectual property, environmental and complex litigation matters. Bonnie began her legal career in 1978 and attained her Certified Paralegal designation from the National Association of Legal Assistants. She served as Region II Director for the Paralegal Division and NALA Liaison for LAAU. She serves on the Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee for the Utah State Bar. She begins her second term as Director-at-Large and will serve as the Division's Finance Officer.

Director-at-Large, Peggi D. Lowden, CP - Peggi is a Certified Paralegal/Civil Litigation Specialist employed with the Salt Lake City Law Firm of Strong & Hanni since 1990. She has held numerous leadership positions with several paralegal associations, including chair of the Paralegal Division. She currently serves as a Director-At-Large and Membership Chair for the Paralegal Division of the Utah State Bar, and as a public member and panel vice-chair on the Utah Supreme Court's Disciplinary Committee where she participates in disciplinary hearings for informal complaints brought against Utah attorneys. She has a B.S. in Speech Communication/Conflict Resolution from the University of Utah, A.S. in Social Science from Salt Lake Community College, and paralegal certificate of completion from Santa Ana College in Southern California.

Director-at-Large, Secretary, Aaron Thompson - Aaron is a Paralegal employed with Headwaters Incorporated assisting the Associate General Counsel, Curtis Brown. Aaron's primary focus is on stock options, Section 16 filings, commercial insurance, mergers & acquisitions, as well as contracts and business entity filings. Aaron graduated from Westminster College with a Paralegal degree, a B.A. degree in English, a minor in Political Science, with an emphasis in Mandarin Chinese. Aaron's academic and working career has provided varying experiences to work for the Utah Attorney General office in the Commercial Enforcement and Consumer Protection divisions, local and national governing bodies as well as various Presidential, Senate and Congressional campaigns around the United States.

Director-at-Large, Greg A. Wayment - Greg studied Sales and Marketing at Weber State University, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 2004. He obtained his paralegal certificate from A.B.A. accredited school, the Denver Paralegal Institute, in January 2005. He previously worked for a large insurance defense firm in Denver, Colorado. Currently, he is a litigation paralegal at the Salt Lake City firm of Magleby & Greenwood, P.C.

Parliamentarian, Deborah Calegory - Deb has worked in the legal field for 25 years. She became a Certified Paralegal in 1986 through the American Paralegal Association. Deb works for the law firm of Barney & McKenna, P.C. in St. George in the areas of business, transactional and real estate. Deb was a charter member of the Paralegal Division and has maintained an active role in the Division since its inception, including serving on the Board of Directors from 1998 through 2004, and as Chair during 2001-2002. She currently serves as the Division Parliamentarian.

LAAU Liaison, Patricia H. Allred, CP - Patty has over 24 years of legal experience. She obtained her Legal Assistant Associate Degree in 1982 from UTC/Orem; her BS in Psychology in 1992 from the University of Utah; and her Certified Paralegal credential from NALA in 1996. Patty is currently a litigation paralegal at Dunn & Dunn, PC., specializing in personal injury, insurance defense, and trial preparation. She has been a member of LAAU for 18 years; the Utah State Bar Paralegal Division since 2004; and NALA since 1994.

Ex-Officio Director, Danielle Price, CP - Danielle is a paralegal with Strong & Hanni and has over 14 years experience in numerous practice areas. She received her paralegal certificate from Westminster College and achieved her Certified Paralegal designation in 2005 from NALA. She is the immediate past Chair of the Paralegal Division; served from 2004-2006 as the Division's ex-officio member of the Board of Bar Commissioners of the USB; was an elected Director-at-Large for the Division; has served on the Bar Journal, Governmental Relations, and Licensing committees as the Paralegal Division representative; served with LAAU as President, Education Chair, Parliamentarian, and Newsletter Editor. She is also a member of NALA and LAAU. Danielle has taught seminars for IPE, LAAU, and the Paralegal Division on civil litigation and utilization topics, chaired the Paralegal Division's 10th Anniversary Celebration, and is currently serving as the Chair of a membership task force for the Paralegal Division.

Chair and Ex-Officio member of the Bar Commission, representing the Paralegal Division, Kathryn K. Shelton - Kathryn has been a paralegal for over 11 years and has worked in the legal field for over 23 years. She has been a Paralegal with the law firm of Durham, Jones & Pinegar since 1998 where she works in the Corporate & Securities Section as well as in Intellectual Property and Business Immigration law. Previously Kathryn worked for the General Counsel's office with the Huntsman companies in Salt Lake City and for Van Cott, Bagley, Cornwall & McCarthy. Kathryn served as the Division's Region II Director and Finance Officer from 2004 to 2006 and has served on the Executive Committee, the CLE Committee and the 10th Anniversary committee. Kathryn is also a member of LAAU and NALA. She received her Associate Degree from Ricks College.