It’s an exciting honor!  Theresa M. Kohlhoff was elected by her peers to be on the Board of Governors of the Oregon State Bar, the entity that fulfills the executive functions of the bar, determines its general policies and approves its budget.  Her term will run from January, 1212 through December, 2015.  The bar exists, in part, to advance the science of law and to improve the administration of justice.  She will begin her orientation on November 17th.  One of the benefits we anticipate for the clients of Kohlhoff & Welch will be the connections made with other lawyers all through the state.  We will be better informed and made more creative by these associations.  It’s a huge commitment but given the stakes today for the court system and the jury trial in particular, it’s where we should focus.

I’ll be there, sure that if only I had done one more 20 mile run, gone up more hills, lifted a few more weights, gotten up at 4:30AM instead of 5AM to train, had a tiny bit more of a positive and/or fighting attitude, I would qualify for Boston today and/or get over the finish line a little faster this year.  Shot and then wait to go over the start line.  Taiko drummers.  Guys peeing on the wall about a mile out for no apparent reason.  Up a little hill, back down Naito Parkway, then long out and back before hitting NW PDX.  Highway 30 stretches a lot further than you think before you go over the St. John’s Bridge.  Belly dancers.  Smiling UP students handing out some form of hydration.  Steel Bridge, peeing wall, and then Naito Parkway.  Heading home, knowing it’s going to happen.  The fat Viking lady is singing before turning the corner in front of the Justice Building.  I try to empty out the very last bits of energy I possess so it appears that I have flashed over that finish line.  I bend my head a bit to get my medal and catch the smile of my husband, Mike, who always finds a way to shoehorn himself where he can be the first to congratulate me.  Ice cream, oranges, and water, water, water.  I’m a human salt lick.  I won’t qualify for Boston, of course, but I will be entirely happy with myself, and grateful to have done the marathon one more time.  (Theresa, the mother in this mother/daughter partnership.)

For the second year in a row, Elizabeth was named a Rising Star in Super Lawyers. Elizabeth Welch has been named to the Oregon Rising Stars list as one of the top attorneys in Oregon for 2011.  No more than 2.5 percent of the lawyers in the state are selected to the list.

Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters business, is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement.  The annual selections are made using a rigorous multi-phashed process that includes a statewide survey of lawyers, an independent research evaluation of candidates, and peer reviews by practice area.

Elizabeth E. Welch is co-founder and partner of Kohlhoff & Welch, Oregon’s first exclusively mother-daughter firm, which was opened in 2006 with attorney Theresa Kohlhoff. A determined advocate, Welch represents injured clients in car accidents, falls, or injuries caused by third parties at work. Kohlhoff & Welch also handles family law, real estate, wills, and probate. After nine years of professional experience as a legal secretary and paralegal, she graduated from Lewis & Clark Law School in 2004 and became a member of the Oregon State Bar in 2006. Involvement in both professional and community organizations continues to be a focus for Welch, the mother of two daughters. She is a board member for the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association and Vice President of North Portland’s Peninsula K-8 PTA