Results of 2016 Board of Trustees Election Approved

The 2016 American Inns of Court Board of Trustees Election concluded on Wednesday, April 20, 2016. During its May 13, 2016 meeting held in Alexandria, Virginia, the American Inns of Court Board of Trustees approved the election of the following individuals to begin terms effective July 1, 2016:

Anthony B. Haller, Esquire—At-large Trustee (Philadelphia, PA)

Anthony B. Haller is partner at Blank Rome LLP and is chair of the firm’s Employment, Labor and Benefits Practice Group. He is a member of the Thouron Award Executive Committee and the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation. In 2015, he was elected as a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. Haller is a past president of the Temple American Inn of Court and serves on the Inn’s executive committee. He is a member of the American Inn of Court Pegasus Scholarship Committee.

Stephanie J. Zane, Esquire—At-large Trustee (Haddonfield, NJ)

Stephanie J. Zane is a partner at Archer & Greiner P.C. where her practice is focused on family law. She served as law clerk for Judge Angelo DiCamillo and was recently re-appointed by the Supreme Court of New Jersey for a third three-year term as a member of the State of New Jersey Committee on Character. Zane is a Master and executive committee member of the Thomas S. Forkin Family Law American Inn of Court and is chair of the American Inns of Court Program Awards Committee.

John M. DeStefano III, Esquire—Barrister Trustee (Phoenix, AZ)

John M. DeStefano III is an associate at Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP where his practice is focused on consumer and antitrust class actions along with media and entertainment litigation. He served as a law clerk for Judges William C. Canby, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth circuit and Neil V. Wake of the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona. DeStefano is a member of the Lorna E. Lockwood American Inn of Court where he is program chair and previously served as treasurer. In 2012, DeStefano was selected as an American Inns of Court Pegasus Scholar.

Mary Beth L. Sweeney, Esquire—1st Circuit Trustee (Boston, MA)

Mary Beth L. Sweeney is a partner at Atwood & Cherny where her practice includes all aspects of domestic relations and probate litigation. She has expertise in custody, removal, visitation, and Hague Convention matters (where a parent abducts a child to another country). Sweeney serves by appointment and agreement as a Guardian ad Litem in family law cases and is regularly appointed as a Conciliator by various justices of the Massachusetts Probate and Family Courts. She is a trained mediator and collaborative law attorney and also works as a Parenting Coordinator. She is president of the North Shore Women in Business. She is president of the Massachusetts Family and Probate American Inn of Court.

W. Thompson Comerford, Esquire—4th Circuit Trustee (Winston Salem, NC)

W. Thompson Comerford, Jr. is a senior partner at Comerford & Britt, LLP where his practice is focused in the areas of aviation, catastrophic auto accidents, medical malpractice, inadequate security, defective products, and construction accidents. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, and an active member of the North Carolina Advocates for Justice. Comerford holds the rank of an Advocate in the American Board of Trial Advocates and is a permanent member of the Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference. He is the president of the Chief Justice Joseph Branch American Inn of Court.

Matthew J. Sweeney, Esquire—6th Circuit Trustee (Nashville, TN)

Matt Sweeney is a shareholder and conflict counsel at Baker Donelson. He has a background in white collar criminal defense, complex, class action, and shareholder derivative litigation in state and federal courts. He has served as mediator or arbitrator in a wide variety of complex business disputes, contract disputes, intellectual property disputes, divorce, personal injury cases, and insurance coverage claims. Sweeney is chair of the National Judicial College Board of Trustees; vice chair of the Tennessee Bar Association Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility; and a member of the Hearing Committee of the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility, Disciplinary District V. He has been an active member of the Harry Phillips American Inn of Court for more than 20 years and serves on the Inn’s executive committee and program committee.

Katayoun Donnelly, Esquire—10th Circuit Trustee (Denver, CO)

Katayoun Azizpour Donnelly is an appellate and trial lawyer who focuses her practice in civil and criminal appeals, civil litigation, and criminal defense. She has worked at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and served as a law clerk for judges of the federal District Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Within the Colorado legal community, she has served on several boards and committees, including the Chief Justice’s Commission on the Legal Profession and both the Appellate Practice Subcommittee and the Board of Governors of the Colorado Bar Association. In 2010, Donnelly was selected by the American Inns of Court as one of four Temple Bar Scholars. She is an active member of the Judge William E. Doyle American Inn of Court and a member of the American Inns of Court Temple Bar Scholarships Committee.