Assembled Legal Team
John Boyd, Esq., Freedman, Boyd, Daniels, Hollander, Goldberg & Cline, has been practicing civil rights litigation, first amendment litigation, constitutional law and election law for over 25 years. He was lead counsel for the team that won a New Mexico Supreme Court decision ruling that the State Canvassing Board’s arbitrary decision to subjectively allow or disallow a recount as it saw fit in the 2004 presidential race was unconstitutional. Mr. Boyd has assisted Voter Action as a legal advisor and counsel of record in New Mexico, Colorado, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. He has also worked tirelessly to assist Voter Action in outreach and fundraising efforts. Mr. Boyd’s leadership, as well as his preexisting relationships with key New Mexico policy makers proved to be paramount in Voter Action’s success in turning the state into an all paper ballot election.
David Garcia, Esq., Garcia & Vargas, LLC, has been practicing law in New Mexico for the last 24 years. He helped lead the Kerry-Edwards legal team in Santa Fe in the 2004 general election and was co-counsel in the 2002 Redistricting Trials in New Mexico. Mr. Garcia served as co-counsel in the New Mexico re-count case, helping win equal rights for all candidates seeking a recount in any race. Garcia was also co-counsel in the New Mexico lawsuit challenging electronic voting machines and assisted in the development of key evidence from legal discovery.
John Eichhorst, a litigation director at Howard, Rice, Falk & Nabrinski, has extensive trial and appellate experience in a broad range of complex technology, intellectual property, securities, and international commercial disputes. Mr. Eichhorst led the California legal team to challenge Diebold electronic voting machines and the illegal voting machine certification processes employed by appointed Secretary of State Bruce McPherson. The filing of the case (available for review at http://voteraction.org/States/California/CA.html), resulted in half of the counties named in the lawsuit to move to settle through a stipulation stating they would no longer purchase Diebold electronic voting machines as planned if they were to be dropped from the suit.
Michael Gallo is an associate in the Litigation Department of Howard, Rice, Candace, Falk & Nabrinski. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Gallo served as a clerk for Judge Christina A. Snyder of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. His practice areas include commercial litigation, intellectual property litigation, labor and employment litigation, patent litigation, and trial practice. Mr. Gallo is co-counsel on the California Diebold Legal Team challenging the use of Diebold electronic voting machines in that state.
Jason Takenouchi is an associate in the Litigation Department of Howard, Rice, Candace, Falk & Nabrinski. Following law school, he was a law clerk for Judge Lourdes G. Baird of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Prior to law school, Mr. Takenouchi was a reporter with the Daily News of Los Angeles, the Pasadena Star-News, and the Los Angeles Times. Mr. Takenouchi is co-counsel on the California Diebold Legal Team challenging the use of Diebold electronic voting machines in that state.
D’Lonra Ellis is an associate in the Litigation Department of Howard, Rice, Candace, Falk & Nabrinski based in San Francisco, CA. During law school, Ms. Ellis served as an extern at the Office of the General Counsel at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Ms. Ellis is also co-counsel on the California Diebold Legal Team challenging the use of Diebold electronic voting machines in that state.
Paul Eckstein is a partner with Perkins, Coie, Brown & Bain. His areas of emphasis are civil litigation, including appellate, media law, political law, Indian law, gaming and antitrust. He has been recognized as one of the top lawyers in the country by The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers (2005) and The Best Lawyers in America (1983-2005), among other publications. Mr. Eckstein is co-counsel on the Arizona Voter Action legal team challenging the use of electronic voting machines in that state.
Charles Blanchard is a partner at Perkins, Coie, Brown & Bain. Mr. Blanchard received his J.D. from Harvard Law School, magna cum laude (1985), graduated from John F. Kennedy School of Government, M.P.P (1985), and received his B.S. with honors, from Lewis & Clark College (1981). He clerked for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, United States Supreme Court (1986-1987), served in the Arizona State Senate (1991-1995), was Chief Counsel of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, Washington, D.C. (1997 -99) and U.S. Army General Counsel, Washington D.C. (1999-2001). Mr. Blanchard is lead counsel on the Arizona Voter Action legal team challenging the use of electronic voting machines in that state.
Michael Liburdi is an associate with Perkins, Coie, Brown & Bain. His areas of emphasis include business litigation, government relations, and political law. Prior to joining Perkins, Coie, Brown & Bain, he served as law clerk to Honorable vice Chief Justice Ruth V. McGregor, Arizona Supreme Court, 2002-03. Mr. Liburdi is co- counsel on the Arizona Voter Action legal team challenging the use of electronic voting machines in that state.
Lauren Lowe is an associate with Perkins, Coie, Brown & Bain. Ms. Lowe focuses in litigation and earned her law degree from the University Of Arizona James E. Rogers College Of Law, magna cum laude, in 2005. She served as a Judicial Intern to the Honorable Judge Richard Fields in 2003. Ms. Lowe is co- counsel on the Arizona Voter Action legal team challenging the use of electronic voting machines in that state.
Paul F. Hultin, Counsel with Wheeler, Trigg & Kennedy, has worked with clients and experts in a wide variety of industries in trial courts throughout the country for over 30 years and has appeared as Counsel of Record in forty states, trying cases in ten states. After graduating from the University of Michigan Law School, Mr. Hultin served as a law clerk to the Honorable Donald E. Kelley of the Colorado Supreme Court. Mr. Hultin was lead counsel and led the award winning legal team which successfully won their efforts to challenge the inadequate and vendor driven voting machine certification in the State of Colorado. He has remained active in monitoring the new Secretary of State to create a system that is reliable and more rigorously tested.
Andrew C.S. Efaw is an associate with Wheeler, Trigg & Kennedy. He practices in the areas of commercial, franchise, and product liability litigation, primarily for companies in the automotive, medical device, and pharmaceutical industries. Mr. Efaw is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School and the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Mr. Efaw was a key part of the legal team which successfully won their efforts to challenge the inadequate and vendor driven voting machine certification in the State of Colorado and has remained active in monitoring the new Secretary of State to create a system that is reliable and more rigorously tested. Mr. Efaw was made a partner of the firm after the case.
Michael T. Williams is a partner with Wheeler, Trigg & Kennedy where his practice focuses on the litigation of class action, commercial, product liability, and professional liability disputes in federal and state courts for companies in a variety of industries. After graduating from Yale Law School where he was Senior Editor of The Yale Law Journal, Mr. Williams served as a law clerk to the Honorable Nancy Gertner of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Mr. Williams was a key part of the legal team which successfully won its efforts to challenge the inadequate and vendor driven voting machine certification in the State of Colorado and has remained active in monitoring the new Secretary of State to create a system that is reliable and more rigorously tested. Mr. Williams was made a partner of the firm after the case.
Marian K. Schneider of Berwyn, PA has 19 years experience practicing law. She currently practices employment law on behalf of employees and litigates commercial disputes. In 2004, she trained more than 200 pollwatchers and was a member of the Kerry-Edwards Election Protection team on Election Day. In December 2005, she helped to organize a non-partisan election integrity group called the Chester County Coalition for Voting Integrity. The Coalition was instrumental in convincing the Board of Elections to acquire a paper ballot system with optical scan tabulation. Ms. Schneider received her J.D. from the George Washington University in 1987 where she was a member of the Law Review. She earned her B.A. degree cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 1984. Ms. Schneider has been integral in bringing the state-based Pennsylvania case to fruition and its recent successful ruling. She works with activists throughout the state to supply county specific election information and to press for reform.
Michael Churchill works with the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia which he joined in 1976. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School. Prior to this, he was an associate and future partner at Ballard, Spahr, Andrews & Ingersoll. Mr. Churchill also served as Acting General Counsel of the Philadelphia School District in 1984. Among the many landmark cases litigated by Mr. Churchill are the Philadelphia School District desegregation case, a race discrimination case under Title VII, a police hiring class action; and a case which established the right to trans-racial adoption in Pennsylvania. Mr. Churchill is a 1994 recipient of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights under Law's Edwin D. Wolf Award. In 1995, Mr. Churchill was recognized with the Philadelphia Bar Association's Obermeyer Award for service to education and in 2000 he received the Guardian Civic League's Special Recognition. Mr. Churchill is co-counsel in the state-based Pennsylvania case and was instrumental in its recent successful ruling.
Mary Kohart is a partner in the firm of Drinker, Biddle & Reath. She has tried to verdict more than 25 cases and has argued hundreds of motions before appellate and trial judges throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, particularly in the Philadelphia State and Federal courts. Ms. Kohart is a member of the Pennsylvania and New Jersey bars. Ms. Kohart is co-counsel in the Pennsylvania state-based case, arguing and winning a powerful ruling in the case that has allowed for the rights of voter plaintiffs to challenge their elections systems and equipment used in the state.
Pamela Hultin isa partner in the firm of Smith & Hultin in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. Ms. Hultin is a 1973 graduate of the University of Colorado School of Law. She served as the first President of the Ohio Women’s Bar Association, and currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the Cleveland Bar Association. She practices in the areas of corporate law and business litigation and is admitted to practice in Colorado, Ohio, and the District of Columbia. She is the recipient of many awards for her service to the practice of law. Ms. Hultin serves as lead counsel in the Ohio litigation to block the continued use of electronic voting machines in that state.
