The OCBA's Secretarial Candidates for 2010:
Wayne R. Gross and Solange E. Ritchie
Your October vote matters! Introduction
Nominated to be OCBA Secretary are Wayne R. Gross and Solange E. Ritchie. The winning candidate serves one year as OCBA Secretary, the next year as Treasurer, the following year as President-Elect, and then becomes OCBA President in 2013. After serving the one-year term as President, the following year the winning candidate serves an additional year on the Executive Committee as Past President.
Ballots are enclosed in this issue for eligible voters or members may choose to vote online.
Wayne R. Gross
Wayne Gross is a litigation partner at Snell & Wilmer L.L.P., where he focuses on complex civil litigation, corporate crisis management, and white collar criminal defense. Described as a “dream team” defense lawyer by the Orange County Register, Wayne has developed a national practice that includes high-profile cases across the country.
Before joining Snell & Wilmer, Wayne served as chief of the Orange County Division of the Office of the United States Attorney. During his 17 years of public service, he prosecuted cases of national and international significance, including the UCI Fertility case, Katarina Witt stalker case, and one of the first criminal trademark infringement cases brought to trial in Southern California. Wayne’s primary area of emphasis at the U.S. Attorney’s Office was complex fraud work, for which he was presented with awards by two U.S. Attorneys General and the Director of the FBI.
Wayne lectures nationally on the topics of trial advocacy and internal corporate investigations. He also served as an Adjunct Professor at Chapman Law School, where he has encouraged numerous law students to actively participate in the OCBA. Wayne received his law degree, magna cum laude, from Hastings College of Law, where he served as a Notes Editor for the Hastings Law Journal. Upon graduating from law school, Wayne served as a law clerk for Central District Judge Laughlin E. Waters.
Wayne has been extremely committed to public service and to the community. Wayne has been an OCBA board member for several years and has served on the Administration of Justice Committee, the Education Committee, the Resolutions Committee, and the Professionalism and Ethics Committee, for which he served as Chair for several years. In addition to his OCBA service, Wayne also currently serves as a board member of both the Federal Bar Association of Orange County and the Orange County Business Council. Wayne believes that the Orange County Bar should be a primary resource for attorney members to meet fellow attorneys, judges, and, for those attorneys in the private sector, prospective clients. The OCBA should also provide attorney members with opportunities to participate in cutting-edge continuing legal education courses. For example, Wayne recently gave a presentation to the Young Lawyers Division on strategic ways to defeat more experienced litigators in the courtroom. In October 2009, Wayne will moderate an event on behalf of the OCBA that will feature a panel of local rainmaking heavyweights who will discuss ethical marketing techniques during challenging economic times. The OCBA should additionally promote diversity in the legal and business communities, and provide its attorney members with significant community service opportunities so that the community at large, including those who can least afford to pay for legal services, may benefit from the tremendously talented pool of lawyer members interested in providing such service.
Finally, Wayne enjoys spending time with his two children: Mario (14) and Antonia (10). Wayne believes that the OCBA should also provide its lawyer members with more family-friendly events to assist in balancing their practice and life’s other pursuits. For additional information, please visit www.WayneGross.com.
Solange E. Ritchie
Solange Ritchie is a litigation attorney with the Law Offices of Steven R. Young, focusing on trial practice and business litigation. Solange worked her way through law school, beginning her legal studies at De Paul University in Chicago and finishing up as Editor in Chief of the law review at Western State University College of Law.
Solange was born in Jamaica in the West Indies and immigrated to this country at age 12. Her commitment to community service grew out of personal experience. Her mother, at the tender age of 22, gave birth to a child with down syndrome. In Jamaica, no support service existed. So her mother created an organization to serve the physically and mentally handicapped. It still exists today. Her mother is a big inspiration in her life, as is her special brother, Andre.
Having lived in a third world country, Solange believes deeply in diversity and access to justice. Our profession must respond by meeting the needs of all – not just those who can pay for competent help. Solange’s work as a plaintiff’s litigator, taking cases for the underdog and injured, exemplifies this belief.
Her commitment to public service and “can do” spirit has always included meaningful service to the bar. She served on the OCBA’s Board of Directors from 2005 to 2007 and again from 2008 to the present. She is a board member of the OCBA Charitable Fund. Last year, she co-chaired the successful 20th Anniversary Gala at Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen and this year has been asked to chair the Charitable Fund’s Blues event fall fundraiser, coming in November 2009.
In addition to co-chairing the OCBA’s Diversity and Equal Justice Committee, Solange serves on the Community Outreach, Education and Resolutions Committees. She has served on LRIS, College of Trial Advocacy, Nominating and Appointments Committees.
In 2007, she was the president of the Orange County Women Lawyers Association (OCWLA), the Orange County Asian American Bar Association (OCAABA) and the Peter M. Elliott Inn of Court. In 2008, Solange was selected as one of the National Organization of Women Business Owners (“NAWBO”) Remarkable Woman of the Year recipient from OCWLA. In 2009, she was honored as OCWLA’s Attorney of the Year – an honor given to just one female attorney in Orange County each year.
Solange is also active with the Hispanic Bar Association, the Celtic Bar and is an Orange County Trial Lawyers Association board member. She is a member of American Trial Lawyers Association, Consumer Attorneys and California Women Lawyers, as well as the OCBA’s Business Litigation and Appellate Law Sections.
While writing articles for Plaintiff, The Gavel, The Advocate and Western State Law Review, Solange finds time to speak to attorneys and law students on many issues, including the challenges of balancing a successful legal career. Solange and her husband, Steve Young, make their home in Newport Beach, along with a big chocolate Labrador, Carver.
As one of California’s largest bars, the OCBA must offer its younger members a place to learn. For our experienced members, the OCBA must attract great speakers and be a forum to share experiences. Solange wants to expand the OCBA’s mentoring program. Most important, the OCBA must continue to foster a legal community where those from all backgrounds feel comfortable. Solange wants the OCBA to continue to be a shining example of all that is noble in this, our chosen profession.