appellate courts. Academy membership
is open only to a person who possesses
a reputation of recognized distinction
as an appellate lawyer. To be eligible for
membership, a nominee’s practice must
have focused substantially on appeals
during, at least, the last 15 years. Academy
membership is limited to 500 members
in the United States, and membership in
the Academy is by invitation only. Candidates for membership must
be nominated by a present Academy member, reviewed and approved
by a Membership Evaluation Committee, and elected at a regular
Academy meeting.
Vogel Law Firm Adds Four Attorneys
Vogel Law Firm is pleased to announce the addition of four attorneys
to its firm.
H. Patrick Weir, Sr., of counsel, has
re-joined the firm to handle alternative
dispute resolution and mediation matters.
After being in private practice as a general
litigator with Vogel Law Firm for more
than 40 years, Weir was appointed district
judge for the Southwest District of
North Dakota. After completion of his
term, he continued to sit on the bench
as a surrogate judge throughout the state and on the North Dakota
Supreme Court, until he accepted a position as general counsel for
Missouri Basin Oil and Gas in Belfield, N.D. After he established
an in-house legal department at Missouri Basin, he sat as a private
mediator/arbitrator.
Debbie Kleven joined Vogel Law Firm
after retiring as a North Dakota District
Judge and will practice in the firm’s Grand
Forks office. She will concentrate in
alternative dispute resolution, mediation,
estate planning, elder law, and farm and
business succession. Kleven was first
elected Grand Forks County Judge in
1990. After serving four years as a county
judge, she was elected district judge in 1994, 1996, 2002, 2008,
and 2014. From 2004 until her retirement in 2016, Kleven served
as a judge in Grand Forks County and Nelson County, where she
presided over thousands of cases. Additionally, she successfully
mediated legal actions involving divorce and custody, collections,
personal injury, contract, defamation, and property. Kleven
graduated from the University of North Dakota School of Law,
with distinction, in 1983. Prior to being elected judge, she worked in
private practice with a Grand Forks law firm and was an Assistant
State’s Attorney in Grand Forks, N.D.
Ariana Meyers will practice in the
areas of family and immigration law.
Meyers graduated from the University
of North Dakota School of Law, cum
laude, where she was elected to the Order
of the Barristers. While in law school,
she served as president of the Moot
Court Association, prime minister of
the Canadian Law Student Society, and
student director of the University of North Dakota Law Clinic.
During her second year, she and her partner placed second overall in
the National Sustainable Energy Law Moot Court Competition in
Morgantown, W. Va. During her third year, Meyers placed as second
best individual oral advocate at the Gabrielli National Family Law
Moot Court Competition in Albany, N.Y. Additionally, Meyers was
the recipient of the Louise and Heber Edwards/Judith Greenagel
Memorial Law Scholarship for aptitude, integrity, and a sincere
desire to complete her legal education.
Briana Hildebrand is an attorney in the
firm’s Bismarck office practicing in the
area of general civil litigation. A native of
Bismarck, N.D., Hildebrand graduated in
the top five percent of her class from the
University of Nebraska College of Law.
While in law school, she was the online
editor of the Nebraska Law Review, a
member of the regional championship
client counseling team, a representative for the Nebraska College of
Law at the 2015 ABA National Client Counseling Competition, and
was elected to the Order of the Coif.
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