Vancouver, B.C. -- The American Immigration Lawyers Association President, Kathleen Campbell Walker, presented Davis Brown attorney Lori T. Chesser with a Presidential Award at the 2008 AILA Annual Conference on Immigration Law in Vancouver, B.C.

Chesser’s award was "For Outstanding Service in Preparing for ICE Large Scale Enforcement Actions". She was recognized in 2006 for "Outstanding Achievement in Comprehensive Immigration Reform Advocacy.

"Although it is nice to have my efforts and those of our Firm recognized, I would rather be implementing a positive change in our immigration system than trying to limit the damage of our current dysfunctional one," said Chesser. "Immigrants are essential to our country and I am actually sorry this award was necessary."

Chesser and her 11-person Immigration department has been a resource for individuals and families affected by the recent Postville, Iowa raids. She has been recently quoted in the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier, The Des Moines Register, The New York Times, and appeared on Iowa Public Television.

The AILA is the national association of immigration lawyers established to promote justice, advocate for fair and reasonable immigration law and policy, advance the quality of immigration and nationality law and practice, and enhance the professional development of its members.

Houser practices primarily in the areas of trust, estate and probate law.  Worth editors comment that “lawyers who counsel their clients on personal matters are involved in some of the most critical decisions in their clients’ lives, from bequeathing assets and values to future generations to protecting wealth should hardships such as divorce fall upon the family.”  Each year, Worth combs the country to find those lawyers who have the rare combination of skill, experience and listening ability that such work requires.  Houser is the only Iowa attorney recognized on the list. 

Worth’s editors thoroughly vet nominees for its annual list through a detailed process designed to ensure the individuals who are recognized really are leaders in their respective fields.  The editors solicit nominations from readers and professional advisors who regularly interact with leading lawyers, such as financial advisors, accountants, corporate executives, and others.  The editors then target those nominees who serve clients with sufficient net worth and who have professional affiliations and publishing history to indicate that they can provide extraordinary expertise to Worth’s readers.  Finally, the editors perform background checks with the American Bar Association before they compile their list. 

Houser’s unique combination of skills benefit all Iowans, from high net-worth individuals to growing families.  Due to changes in life and or the law, estate planning is necessary to protect yourself and the ones you care about from financial uncertainty and hardship. A 2000 study by the AARP notes that two out of five adults over 50 do not have a Last Will & Testament.  Houser adds that “of those who do, the documents often are outdated or incomplete.” 

Houser is a third-generation attorney from Belmond, Iowa.  He graduated from the College of St. Thomas (B.A. 1986) and University of Iowa (J.D., 1989) and is married with two children.

Worth magazine provides financial intelligence to a readership whose substantial personal wealth has prompted a singular focus on issues related to wealth preservation, management and transference.

Tharnish’s practice involves business litigation and employment-related litigation. She has been president and a member of the board of directors of the Davis Brown Law Firm and was recently elected chair elect of the Iowa State University Alumni Association. 

Super Lawyers creates a credible, comprehensive and diverse listing of outstanding attorneys to assist attorneys and sophisticated consumers in the search for legal counsel. In 2007, over 800,000 lawyers were invited to participate nationally to nominate the best attorneys they have personally observed in action. “Iowa Super Lawyers” researchers qualify nominations through examination of background, experience, achievement, and peer evaluations.

Tank has concentrated in the areas of complex business litigation, product liability defense (pharmaceutical products in particular), and cases involving patents and other intellectual property matters.

Super Lawyers creates a credible, comprehensive and diverse listing of outstanding attorneys to assist attorneys and sophisticated consumers in the search for legal counsel. In 2007, over 800,000 lawyers were invited to participate nationally to nominate the best attorneys they have personally observed in action. “Iowa Super Lawyers” researchers qualify nominations through examination of background, experience, achievement, and peer evaluations.

• Demonstrated exceptional commitment to volunteerism by helping with a special project or ongoing activities. 
• Demonstrated exemplary leadership, creativity, cooperation and hard work in their service to others. 
• Made an outstanding contribution to state or community through volunteer service.
  

 David Erickson practices primarily in the area of general real estate law.  David represents lenders, developers and business organizations.
 
David is a member of the American College of Mortgage Attorneys and the Iowa State Bar Association (Real Estate and Title Law Section) where he currently serves as Chair of the Section.  David is also a member of the Real Estate Appraisers Examining Board for the State of Iowa, the Iowa State Board of Corrections, and is Chairperson of the City of West Des Moines Board of Adjustment.  David is also a member of the Title Standards Committee of the Iowa State Bar Association.

David graduated from Drake University in 1975 with a degree in History and a law degree in 1979, with honors.  David is a member of the Order of the Coif and has been named in Best Lawyers in America and Chambers USA.  He is currently participating in the Greater Des Moines Leadership Class.

Born Mary Louise Epperson in Eddyville, Iowa, she married medical student Elmer M. Smith while both were studying at the University of Iowa. She graduated in 1935 with a degree in social work administration and worked for the Iowa Employment Relief Administration in Iowa City.

After moving to Eagle Grove she became active in civic life and Republican Party politics. She became membership chair of the Iowa Council of Republican Women in 1961 and was elected vice-chairman of the Wright County Republican Central Committee the following year. She was elected national committeewoman for Iowa in 1964, a post she held for the next twenty years.

In 1974, during the wake of the Watergate scandal, President Gerald Ford named her the first, and as of 2005 the only, female chairman of the Republican National Committee. She held that post until 1977, and in that role became the first woman of either major party to organize a presidential nominating convention, the 1976 Republican National Convention in Kansas City.

She campaigned for George H. W. Bush in the 1980 primaries, but supported Ronald Reagan both in the 1980 and 1984 general elections. Reagan appointed her vice-chairman of the United States Commission on Civil Rights in 1981, but declined to re-appoint her in 1984. Smith was a social liberal, while the party and the electorate was shifting to the right.

Smith was active in such organizations as the Republican Mainstream Committee, Iowa Women's Political Caucus, U.S. Peace Institute, and Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa. She was a staunch advocate of the Equal Rights Amendment. In 1995, Iowa State University established the Mary Louise Smith Chair in Women and Politics in her honor, and numerous other awards and recognitions are named for her throughout the state.

Smith died of lung cancer in Des Moines at the age of 82. A widow, she was survived by three children. 

To pare down its list of nominees, the Worth Magazine editorial staff identified those attorneys who think beyond the numbers and routine of their daily work.  Nominees were asked to provide examples of strategic recommendations made for their clients.  Nominees were also evaluated based on their years of practice, time behind the desk and experience in court. 

Worth editor Emily DeNitto stated, “There were many impressive and qualified nominees, but those who made it to the final list did so because they had a keen sense of service.  They understand the importance of being accessible to their clients and the delicacy of many issues they deal with.” 

Houser was named to the inaugural list of Worth Magazine’s Top 100 Attorneys in December 2005.  Earlier this year, Houser was selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America, a no-fee, peer review referral list of attorneys.  In December 2004, Houser was named a Fellow in the American Trust and Estates Council (ACTEC), which is comprised of lawyers who are experienced in and committed to improving the fields of estate planning, probate and trust law. 

Houser practices in the areas of estate planning, business succession planning and probate administration.  In particular, his practice focuses on drafting comprehensive estate plans, handling complex estate and trust administration, recommending charitable giving techniques, and advising on advanced directives and probate avoidance. 

Houser is a native of Belmond, Iowa, and practices in the firm’s West Des Moines office.

Founded in 1929, Davis, Brown, Koehn, Shors & Roberts, P.C. offers comprehensive legal representation to clients ranging from private individuals to Fortune 500 corporations.  Among the 62 attorneys are practitioners in virtually all areas of federal and state law.  Many of the firm’s attorneys are listed in Best Lawyers in America and Chambers USA.  The firm is a member of Lex Mundi, the leading worldwide association of independent law firms, and World Services Group, the top international network of professional service firms, enabling the firm to provide clients access to legal advice in 101 countries around the world.

By Beth Dalbey
bethdalbey@bpcdm.com

Des Moines attorney Sharon Malheiro shakes her head at the divisive tenor of the political debate over civil unions and wishes business leaders and voters would demand that candidates this fall talk about issues that really matter to Iowans, such as how to clean up the state's waters or develop its renewable fuel potential.

"Quit talking about amending the Constitution and passing laws that make it more onerous and discriminatory," she said. "Quit engaging in this rhetoric the rest of us have gotten over."

Malheiro, a senior shareholder at the Davis, Brown, Koehn, Shors & Roberts law firm, proudly calls herself a gay rights activist, knowing at the same time there are people who see her cause as one that seeks "special" rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered individuals.

"We still aren't treated equally," she said, pointing to the 1,052 rights that married people have, but are denied to same-sex couples. "We're not asking for special rights; we're asking for access to the same rights.

"Everybody should be able to live their life honestly and without fear, and that means being able to be who you are when you are at work, be who you are when you are in a restaurant or at a grocery store, and it also means having access to the same rights, privileges and obligations," she said. "If we're allowed to have these legal rights to families, we also have legal obligations that come with them that any parent or spouse would have. If I've been married for 25 years and my spouse has stayed at home and taken care of the house and kids with no specific means of support and we split, there's probably cause for alimony."

The issue of gay rights "seems somewhat personal," she conceded, "but it has an impact on businesses."

"If your employees are happy, are healthy, and they have a balanced home life and are not worried about providing for their families, they can be more focused on their work," she said. "We don't realize that when we debate the civil union issues."

Public policy that extends to same-sex couples the rights and privileges of marriage also helps businesses recruit employees from a broader base, she said. "Somebody who lives in a city, town or state where there are more legal protections and obligations is less likely to relocate," she said. "If you have an inclusive work environment where everybody knows everybody's appreciated and where they can be open and honest, you're going to have a more productive worker."

Though a sea change may not yet have occurred in public acceptance of LGBT families, "we're farther along than people think we are, or that it appears we are," she said. "We're actually talking about it in public. We're debating it in public. LGBT families are living more openly, which I think helps shatter stereotypes and then promotes inclusion and understanding."

A good example, she said, was in the public debate over the upcoming Valley High School production of "The Laramie Project," a play based on interviews conducted after the 1998 murder Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student who was kidnapped, savagely beaten, tied to a fence in freezing temperatures and left to die. Much of the public debate surrounded the use of offensive language in the play, rather than Shepard's sexual orientation.

"I believe part of the objection is based on content … but maybe by not expressing and verbalizing it, we actually are moving forward," she said. "Maybe by using the smoke screen of the language, people are realizing that it's not OK to gay-bash. Ten years ago, people could have said, 'It's about gay stuff, so it's not appropriate.'"

As an attorney, Malheiro often fights the battle for inclusion and acceptance in court by representing LGBT clients who believe they have been discriminated against. "I'm fortunate that the firm allows me to do the pro bono work in that area," she said. "As a body of lawyers, we realize we have been given an opportunity and a gift as lawyers, and because of that we have a social obligation. I can go home and feel good about what I've done."

For example, earlier this year, she represented a woman whose partner had died and whose former husband contested her will. The lesbian couple had been together for 12 years, and the deceased woman's former husband had harassed them for most of their lives.

"The ex-wife knew that if anything happened to her before partner died, her ex would try to take everything away, so she wrote a homemade will," Malheiro said. "She didn't have all the specific legal language, but it was witnessed and met the minimum requirements."

Malheiro's client prevailed in court when her partner's former husband financed a lawsuit filed by his sons claiming the will was a forgery, "but she didn't know for four or five months while the case was pending whether she would win and, if not, whether she would be homeless."

Despite progress in debunking the stereotypes associated with LGBT individuals, openly gay workers still worry about discrimination. "Even in Des Moines, with a city human rights ordinance, there are ways of firing somebody and not telling them what the actual reason was," Malheiro said. "They may face certain ostracism by coworkers, and if they are in a business where they have to generate business and people won't hire them because they are gay, they could have a loss of earning or a loss of revenue."

Malheiro is a cooperating attorney for the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund and is working with that group on several LGBT equality issues in Iowa. President of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Community Center of Central Iowa, she facilitates workshops on civil rights, workplace rights and other issues that gay and lesbian families face for such groups as federal parole officers for the Southern District of Iowa, the Des Moines Human Rights Commission, the Iowa prison system, Iowa State University, the Central Iowa chapter Society for Human Resources Management and many local businesses.

For a complete listing of the Immigration Summit Program please click on "Download Associated Document" posted at the top of the page.

Roberts introduced the Congressional delegation at the Congressional Leadership breakfast. He also ran the priorities forums where specific funding requests were made.