| Devarieste Curry has extensive experience counseling and representing corporate, non-profit, and individual clients in employment and commercial matters and handling complex, multi-party commercial litigation in federal and state courts. During more than 20 years of handling commercial and business litigation, Ms. Curry has appeared in federal courts in the District of Columbia, Alabama, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, and in the District of Columbia courts and state courts in Alabama, and Georgia. She handles all aspects of litigation and has achieved success for her clients in all aspects of representation, including mediation, settlements, and trials before juries. Ms. Curry's non-profit and corporate practice includes drafting and negotiating a broad range of commercial contracts; counseling and advising clients on a broad range of governance, ethical, contractual and employment law issues, including drafting appropriate documents; counseling clients on handling a range of issues before the District of Columbia City Council and District of Columbia administrative agencies, including proceedings before the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, and on church polity and the application of civil law to ecclesiastical issues.
Former Jobs/Positions Held
Ms. Curry most recently was a Principal in The Curry Law Firm, PLLC (12/03 - 09/06) and Curry & Wilbourn, PLLP (1997- 11/03). Prior to opening her own firm, she was a Partner at Beveridge & Diamond, P.C. (1993 - 04/97, Associate 1987 - 1993); an Associate at Howrey & Simon (1985 - 1987); and Judicial Clerk to the Honorable Judith W. Rogers (then-Associate Judge District of Columbia Court of Appeals) (1984 -1985).
Professional Affiliations
Ms. Curry has a long history of assuming leadership roles in several organizations. Examples of her activities include the following: District of Columbia Bar, Currently, Member - Legal Ethics Committee; Chair - Practice Management Service Committee (2004 -- 10/06); Member, Disciplinary System Study Committee (2003-2006) and Judicial Evaluation Committee (2002-2006); Member - Board of Governors (1995-06/00) active member of: Screening Committee (Chair, 1998-99), Budget Committee, Executive Committee, and Steering Committee on Summit on Women in the Law; Member - Litigation Section Steering Committee (1994-1995), Co-Chair - Six-Program Series on Litigation Pretrial Skills (02/95); Instructor, CLE Litigation Topics (1990s and 2003 - 2005). District of Columbia Court of Appeals, Member - Committee on Arrangements for the Judicial Conference of the District of Columbia for the 22nd, 28th, and 30th Annual Conferences. American Bar Association, Co-Chair - Wrongful Discharge and Employment at Will Sub-Committee, Employment and Labor Relations Law Committee, Litigation Section (08/ 2002 - 2004). Women's Bar Association of D. C., Co-Chair - Diversity Task Force (1997-98); Co-Chair - Annual Dinner (1997-98), Member (1995 - Present). National Bar Association - Member (1989-2003, 2006), helped revive and energize the Environmental Law Section. Greater Washington Area Chapter, Women Lawyers Division, National Bar Association, Member - Board of Directors (1991-1994); Chair - Membership Committee, (1992-1993); Chair - Law Firm/Corp. Counsel Ad Hoc Committee (1991-1992); Currently, Member. Georgetown University, Member - Board of Governors (1996 - 2002), National Law Alumni Board (1992 1998), African American Advisory Board (2000 - 2004).
Reported Cases
Jenkins v. Talladega City, Bd. of Educ., 115 F.3d 821 (11th Cir. 1997) (en banc), cert. denied (Nov. 10, 1997, 1997 U.S. LEXIS); Koffman v. Osteoimplant Tech., 182 B.R. 115 (D. Md. 1995); Redwing Carriers v. Saraland Apts., 875 F. Supp. 1545 (S.D. Ala. 1995); West Branch Valley Flood Protection Ass'n v. P.W. Stone, 820 F. Supp. 1 (D.D.C. 1993); Calvert v. Sharp, 748 F. 2d 861 (4th Cir. 1984).
Publications
How to Use Trial Experts Effectively, 15 THE PRACTICAL LITIGATOR (ALI/ABA) 17 (July 2004); Ethical and Practical Considerations in Client Selection, 18 WASH. LAWYER 33 (Nov. 2003); The Double Burden of African American Women Lawyers, THE JUDGES' JOURNAL, at 8 (Spring 2000); Strategies for Women Litigators, THE PRACTICAL LITIGATOR (ALI/ABA), at 15 (Mar. 1997); Dealing with the Electromagnetic Fields Scare: Prudent Avoidance, TEMPO, Mar. 1995 (Prince George's County Chamber of Commerce's Newsletter); The Problem That Won't Go Away: Toxic Tort Litigation, CORPORATE LEGAL TIMES, at 7 (Dec. 1994), (with Sula Baye); Citizens Suits Litigation Under The Clean Water Act: An Overview, NBA MAGAZINE, at 18 (Mar. 1990). Ms. Curry has been quoted in national print media and twice profiled in THE WASHINGTON LAWYER.
Honors
Georgetown University Law Center Alumnae Award, for service to Georgetown and the legal profession (2004); Us Helping Us, People Into Living, Inc. for pro bono legal assistance (presented to Curry & Wilbourn, PLLP, a prior firm, in 2001); National Opera Association's Excellence in Opera Award for pro bono legal assistance (1999); Pro Bono Equal Rights Award - NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (1994); Elected - Fellow of the American Bar Foundation; Distinguished Alumni Citation of the Year - National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (1988).
|
