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NIU Law Alumni Council elects new leadership

November 15, 2012
From left: Kenya Jenkins-Wright (’03), new president; Melinda Rosales-Byerly (’03), new 2nd vice president; Brent Eames (’09), new 1st vice president;  Laura Alms (’12), new secretary.

From left: Kenya Jenkins-Wright (’03), new president; Melinda Rosales-Byerly (’03), new 2nd vice president; Brent Eames (’09), new 1st vice president; Laura Alms (’12), new secretary.

The NIU Law Alumni Council elected a new executive board during its quarterly meeting in October.

President Kenya Jenkins-Wright (’03), 1st Vice-President Brent Eames (’09), 2nd Vice-President Melinda Rosales-Byerly (’03), and Secretary Laura Alms (’12) were all elected to serve two-year terms. Matt Pfeiffer (’00) will also remain a member of the executive board as immediate past president.

In addition to being highly involved alumni, each are respected members of the legal community.

Jenkins-Wright is an associate at the Chicago-based firm of Greene and Letts, where she practices tort defense, commercial litigation, and employment law.

She is active member of numerous bar associations and organizations including the Chicago Bar Association (Young Lawyers Section Special Project Coordinator), Cook County Bar Association (Board Member), Black Women Lawyers’ Association (Co-chair, Law Students Outreach Committee), Illinois State Bar Association, American Bar Association (Vice-Director, Young Lawyers Division Diversity Team), and Chicago Youth Center Metro (Board Member).

Eames, a trial attorney at Whiteside and Goldberg, Ltd. in Chicago, focuses on plaintiff’s personal injury and petitioner’s workers’ compensation litigation. He is a life member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, an honor bestowed on attorneys who have won million-dollar verdicts, awards and settlements – which fewer than 1 percent of U.S. lawyers have achieved.

Rosales-Byerly has worked for the Cook County Public Defender’s Office since 2004 in the Child Protection Division as well as the Bond Court and Child Support calls. Currently, she is assigned to the Juvenile Justice Criminal Division. Alms graduated in May and is now an associate with the Law Office of Kevin M. Lyons in Downers Grove, Ill. She practices in the areas of civil and commercial litigation as well as transactional services ranging in such areas as corporate governance, real estate, and estate planning.

During the meeting, Karen Blouin (’06), an associate at Momkus McCluskey LLC in Lisle, IL; solo practitioner Diane Elliot (’05); and Alms were elected as new members. The council also expressed its sincere appreciation by recognizing Pfeiffer and Johnson.