Page 7 - ACTL Journal Win24

SECRETARY SANDRA A. FORBES
Sandy Forbes became a Fellow of the College in 2011; she is a former Ontario Province Chair and she served as Regent for Region XV from 2019-22. Sandy is also a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and a Former President of The Advocates’ Society. Sandy practices in Toronto with Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, of which she is a member of the Management Committee. Chambers describes her as ”a truly exceptional litigator, among a very select few at the top tier of competition litigation practitioners in Canada, respected by her clients, the judiciary and other members of the bar for her profes- sionalism and competence.” Sandy’s husband Stephen Grant (FACTL ’03) is a former Editor of the Journal and is almost, though not quite, worthy of her.
REGION I - DONNA MARIE MELBY
Donna, inducted into the College in 2001, is the first woman to serve as national president of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA); she is also a Fellow of the International Society of Barristers, the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, and the Litigation Counsel of America. The National Law Journal featured Donna as one of the “Most Influen- tial Women Lawyers in the United States;” she has been included as one of the “500 Leading Lawyers in America.” Donna’s jury trial successes have included her recognition for achieving one of the “Top Ten Defense Verdicts In California” by the Los Angeles Times and San Fran- cisco Daily Journal. In additional to her substantial private practice, Donna has a history of pro bono work for the Landmine Survivors Network, the National Association of Women Judges and the ACLU of Southern California. Donna has served the College as Vice Chair of the Judiciary Committee and as a member of the Southern California State Committee, the Trial Competition Committee and the Judicial Independence Committee.
REGION V - ROBERT T. ADAMS
Rob became a Fellow in 2006 and has served the College as Chair of the Jury Committee and the Missouri State Committee. Rob is also a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers. The Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association named Rob a Dean of the Trial Bar and Missouri Lawyers Weekly honored him as “Missouri Lawyer of the Year.” Rob’s
practice is focused on products liability, intellectual property litigation, insurance cover- age litigation and commercial litigation. He has first-chaired more than thirty jury trials in several different federal and state courts and he has made arguments in appellate courts throughout the country. By appointment of the Missouri Supreme Court, Rob acts as Chair of the Missouri Approved Instruction Committee, which drafts instructions for use in civil cases. Rob has never, not once, been confused with Patrick Mahomes.
REGION VI – J. CAL MAYO, JR.
Cal became a Fellow in 2013 and has served the College as Mississippi State Chair and as a member of multiple general committees. Cal has what he calls a “general surgeon” practice that includes commercial, complex tort, products liability, employment, and intellectual property matters. He enjoys the variety of challenges presented. Cal appreciates the oppor- tunity to live in Oxford, one of America’s great college towns. He has served the University of Mississippi as a board member of the University of Mississippi Foundation and the Ole Miss Athletics Foundation, as a member of search committees for University executives, and as an adjunct professor in the law, accounting, and business schools. Three of his children are U Miss graduates, and the fourth would have been but for his untimely and unexpected death on April 14, 2022. (see p. 77, infra.)
WINTER 2024
JOURNAL 6