Irish American Bar Association of Northern California

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Board of Directors

Board of Directors

Jim Weixel - President

Jim is a senior attorney in the San Francisco office of Demler, Armstrong & Rowland, LLP, where he concentrates his practice on toxic tort defense, insurance defense, and other related areas of litigation. Throughout his career Jim has represented clients ranging from individuals and families to large multinational corporations in widely diverse fields of practice, at all levels of the state and federal courts.

Jim is a 1986 graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and received his Juris Doctor in 1990 from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University. He is the treasurer of the United Irish Societies of San Francisco and has been a member of the San Francisco - Cork Sister City Committee. He has also served on the board of directors of the Bar Association of San Francisco and of the Conference of California Bar Associations. Jim has been a member of the California bar since 1993, and of the Ohio bar since 1990.

Nick Ginger - Vice President

Nick provides management, technology, and risk consulting services to help Fortune 500 companies in the Technology and Banking & Capital Markets sectors respond to their most complex business challenges.

Previously, Nick provided advice for a variety of specialty tax service groups including International Tax, Transaction Advisory, State and Local Tax, and Business Compliance. His background includes the researching of some of the most pressing tax law issues to companies today; including mergers and acquisitions of C corporations, S corporations, LLCs, and partnerships.

Nick holds a J.D. and an LL.M. in Taxation from the University of San Diego School of Law, where he also spent a summer studying law at Trinity College Dublin. Nick is a member of the State Bar of California and also serves as General Counsel for the Irish Network Bay Area.

Cliona Plunkett - Secretary

Cliona is a native of Dublin. After graduating from University College Dublin with a law degree, she qualified as a solicitor and was admitted to practice law in Ireland. Cliona then moved to San Francisco where she began working in the area of public interest law. For many years now, she has represented individuals under sentence of death in California in habeas corpus proceedings.

Cliona is a member of the State Bar of California and past president of the Irish Network Bay Area.

Ryan Dunn - Treasurer

Ryan is a fifth generation San Franciscan. He attended St. Ignatius College Prep in San Francisco, after which he matriculated at Santa Clara University. Upon graduating Santa Clara University, Ryan enrolled and attended University of San Francisco School of Law. Ryan is a founding partner of Dunn & Panagotacos LLP and his practice covers a broad range of litigation, including personal injury, premises liability, professional liability, product defect, commercial disputes, breach of contract, real estate. Ryan represents clients in both state and federal courts. He has successfully represented clients through every aspect of litigation, including deposition, arbitration, mediation and trial.

Michael E. Hale

Michael is a fourth generation San Franciscan, third generation San Francisco attorney and third generation alumni of the University of San Francisco School of Law. He also graduated with Honors from the University of California in Santa Barbara in 2001. While attending USF Law School, Mr. Hale received the CALI Award for Academic Excellence in Real Estate (Sales) Transactions, was a Staff Member of the Intellectual Property Law Bulletin, General Member of the Business Law Association and a participant in the USF Intensive Advocacy Program.

Mr. Hale was admitted to the California State Bar in 2006 and is licensed to practice in all California State Courts as well as the United States District Court of Northern California. Mr. Hale has practiced as a plaintiff's personal injury lawyer his entire career and has also worked with commercial tenants assisting with lease negotiations. In 2013, 2014, and 2015, Mr. Hale was honored with the designation of California Super Lawyer Rising Star. In 2016, he was honored with the designation of California Super Lawyer. He also published an article in 2012 for Plaintiff magazine entitled, Sexual Torts and Vicarious Liability: Expanding Mary M. into the Private Sector.

Catherine Barry

Originally from Dublin, Catherine lived and worked in publishing and photogrpahy in London and Sydney, before moving to San Francisco in the 1990s. She headed up the relaunch of The Irish Herald in 1996 and was managing editor until 2002. She contributed to IABA events and planning in the late 1990s, and continues to work with several Irish groups in the Bay Area.

In 2015, Catherine launched a Bay Area Irish arts and culture event guide - www.irishculturebayarea.com - and in October this year she heads up the First Annual Los Gatos - Listowel Writers’ Festival.