OKLAHOMA – The Oklahoma Bar Association (OBA) recently announced its list of 2019 OBA section leaders. Shawn M. Dellegar was selected as president of OBA’s Intellectual Property section, Jennifer N. Lamirand serves as chairperson-elect of its Indian Law section, Melanie Wilson Rughani serves as secretary of the Appellate Practice section and Erin Potter Sullenger was selected as chairperson-elect of the Environmental Law section.
Additionally, firm attorney Allen L. Hutson begins his second term on the Oklahoma Bar Foundation’s 2019 board of trustees.
Combining more than a decade of experience handling intellectual property matters, Dellegar is an attorney in the firm’s Tulsa office serving in the Entertainment and Intellectual Property Practice Groups. He counsels clients in a variety of technical fields including energy field and oil well service equipment, life sciences and chemical, industrial devices and processes and food and agricultural sciences. He is a graduate of the University of Tulsa College of Law where he was vice president and a founding member of the Information Technology Society and received his bachelor’s degree in management information systems and chemistry from the University of Tulsa.
An attorney in Oklahoma City, Lamirand is a member of the firm’s Indian Law & Gaming, Insurance, Litigation & Trial and Securities Litigation, Enforcement & Compliance Practice Groups. She regularly advises and represents tribal nations, representatives of tribal nations and tribal entities. Lamirand received her Juris Doctor from the University of Notre Dame Law School, master’s in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science and her bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma State University.
Rughani, in the firm’s Oklahoma City office, is a co-chair of both the Appellate and Initiative Petitions Practice Groups. She is one of only a handful of attorneys in the state who has substantial experience with initiative and referendum petitions, having represented both proponents and challengers at all stages of the complex petition process. Rughani received her Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law and her bachelor’s in political science and international studies from the University of Kansas.
A member of the Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Administrative & Regulatory, Litigation & Trial and Indian Law & Gaming Practice Groups, Sullenger also is leader of the firm’s AgriBusiness team and practices from the Oklahoma City office. She focuses on representing clients in litigation matters where a regulatory or environmental matter is involved. Sullenger is a graduate of the University of Tulsa College of Law, and received her master’s in environmental science and her bachelor’s in environmental science and environmental thought and practice, both from the University of Virginia.
Hutson, a member of the firm’s Labor & Employment and Litigation & Trial Practice Groups in Oklahoma City, advises clients on employment matters, including discrimination claims, protection of trade secrets, confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements and harassment claims. He is a graduate of the Oklahoma City University School of Law and received his bachelor’s degree in agribusiness from Oklahoma State University.
Since 1904, the OBA has served lawyers and the public by offering a wide variety of community service programs designed to help the people of Oklahoma.