Meet the Candidates

• Author: Amanda Robert
• Pages: 63-67

MAY 2019 ABA JOURNAL || 63

Your ABA

PHOTOS COURTESY OF PATRICIA LEE REFO, KEVIN L. SHEPHERD

KEVIN L. SHEPHERD

TREASURER

Partner with Venable in Baltimore. M ember of the Bo ard of Governors si nce 2016. Cha ir of the

Finance Committee and member of the Executive Committee. Liaison to the Task Force on Gatekeeper

Regulation and th e Profession, ser ving as its 20 10-2015 chair. Memb er of the House of Delegates

since 2011. C hair of the Sec tion of Real Proper ty, Trust and Estate L aw (2005-200 6). President of the

American College of Real Estate Lawyers in 2010. Member of the Anglo-American Real Property

Institute. Received JD in 1984 from University of Ba ltimore School o f Law.

Reason to serve: “My fi nanc ial background. I am the chair of t he fi nance com mittee at Venable, a nd

I have chaired that committee for th e past 20 years. I think I can b ring that exper ience and exper tise to

bear on the cha llenges facing th e ABA in the fi n ancial arena. P lus, in additi on to that, I feel very strongly

that the ABA needs to maintain its primacy in advocating for an independent judiciary and maintain the

rule of law. We need to do that, and to do that, you need to be fi nanciall y strong. I am ra ther passionate

about that.”

Meet the Candidates

By Amanda Robert

We asked all the candidates for leadership positions the same

three questions: What is the reason you decided to serve the

association as a leader? What plans do you have for your term

in o ce? And fi nally, what is a positive experience you’ve had as

a member of the ABA? For the candidates’ full responses, go to

ABAJournal.com.

PATRICIA LEE REFO

PRESIDENT-ELECT

Partner with S nell & Wilmer in Ph oenix. Chair of the House of De legates

and member of the Executive Comm ittee (2014-201 6). Chair of ABA Day in

Washington (2016 -2018). Chair of the Section of Lit igation (2003 -2004)

and member of its Executive Comm ittee (1994-201 0). Chair of the Standing

Committee on M embership (200 8-2011). Chair of the American Jury

Project (2004 -2005) and spe cial consultant a nd member (20 05-2014).

Member of the A merican Bar E ndowment Board o f Directors (200 9-2014).

Member of the A dvisory Comm ittee on the Federa l Rules of Evidenc e of the

United States Judicial Conference (2000-2006). Fellow of the American

Bar Foundation and Arizona Foundation for Legal Services and Education.

Received JD from Un iversity of Michi gan School of L aw in 1983.

Reason to serve: “I think being engaged i n the practice of law for this

many years is, frankly, the most im portant prepa ration for leadin g the ABA.

Because that ’s what we do.”