News, Articles & Events

After 30 years of practicing law, Elizabeth E. Whitefield was appointed on August 1, 2007 by Governor Bill Richardson as a judge in Family Court in the Second Judicial District Court for the County of Bernalillo. Elizabeth has specialized in the practice of family law for the last 25 years. She will assume her judgeship duties the first week in September, 2007. We are very sad to see our colleague leave us but at the same time we are pleased with her appointment to the Bench.

Tom Bird, William Keleher, Anastasia Stevens, and Lynn Mostoller recently prepared an amicus curiae brief on behalf of fifty-three school districts in Zuni Public School District No. 89 v. United States Department of Education, a United States Supreme Court case concerning the proper method under federal law for certain New Mexico educational spending calculations. On April 17, 2007, the Court voted 5-4 in favor of the method supported by our clients, who stood to lose millions of dollars in operational revenues if this method had not been upheld.

Richard Cole recently won an important victory in the New Mexico Supreme Court. The court affirmed rulings in favor of his client, concerning takings damages and the utility's right to recover when the condemnor has paid "contributions in aid of construction." Richard's win resolves an important issue in New Mexico utility condemnation law and confirms that Keleher and McLeod remains one of the state's top repositories for utility law expertise.

Robert Perovich recently celebrated the 10^th anniversary of his mediation practice. Congratulations, Bob!

The July 2006 issue of Albuquerque the Magazine listed Tom Bird, Tom Keleher, William Keleher, Charlie Pharris, Spencer Reid, Elizabeth Whitefield, and Kurt Wihl as being among "Albuquerque's Top Lawyers," as determined by members of the Albuquerque legal community.

In May 2006, following a rigorous interview process, the University of New Mexico selected former Keleher & McLeod shareholder Patrick Apodaca to be its new General Counsel. We all miss Patrick and wish him the best in his exciting new endeavor!

In January 2006, Mary Behm and Ben Feuchter were elected as Keleher & McLeod's newest shareholders. Congratulations Mary and Ben!