2026 Annual Meeting

Carl Smallwood is the Executive Director of the Divided Community Project (DCP). Launched in 2015, DCP is housed in the nation’s #1 ranked Program on Dispute Resolution at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. DCP is an action-oriented, national initiative that provides neutral conflict resolution services and systems-design expertise to state, local and university leaders to help them prepare for and respond to conflicts based upon race, religion, immigration status, gender identity, political polarization or other societal differences and events that polarize their communities. DCP provides direct intervention and consultation services in advance of and during community and campus unrest, intensive Academy-style training to community and university leaders, among other initiatives. All services are informed by conflict resolution theory and DCP’s practical experiences and provide, upon request and free of charge, urgently needed help to meet the complex issues confronting local leaders.

He is a past president of the 4,800 member Columbus Bar Association and of the National Conference of Bar Presidents. He received the inaugural 2025 National Conference of Bar Presidents/LexisNexis Rule of Law Award for his efforts to strengthen the guardrails of democracy, and to advance justice and the rule of law in Ohio and beyond. Smallwood recently completed service as chair of the Advisory Commission to the Task Force on American Democracy. He now serves as vice-chair of the new ABA Center for Civic Engagement, Education, and the Rule of Law.

He has moderated and facilitated programs for large audiences engaged in transformational solution-oriented discussions exploring processes to convene groups across division in troubled times, challenges to democracy, access to legal services, and diversity and inclusion in the legal profession, among other topics.

Carl is a retired partner from Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP, where he was recognized and selected by his peers for inclusion in Ohio Super Lawyers and The Best Lawyers in America in various categories of civil litigation. He teaches Resolving Community Civil Rights Disputes at Moritz as a Distinguished Practitioner in Residence.

He looks forward to collaborating with leaders and communities interested in DCP’s work and can be reached at smallwood.21@osu.edu .

Amy Beth Cyphert is an Associate Professor at the West Virginia University College of Law. Cyphert is a Morgantown native and a 2001 graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, where she was awarded a Truman Scholarship. Cyphert graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2005 and went on to clerk for the Honorable Laura Taylor Swain in the Southern District of New York.

Prior to joining WVU, Cyphert was a senior litigation associate with WilmerHale in New York City, where she focused on complex commercial litigation as well as First Amendment pro bono matters.

Cyphert developed and teaches courses on Artificial Intelligence and the Law, including
Regulating AI. Her recent research has focused on generative artificial intelligence, its impact on the practice of law, as well as copyright implications. She has also written about technology regulation and algorithmic decision-making in the criminal justice system. In 2021, Cyphert received the Privacy Papers for Policymakers Award from the Future of Privacy Forum for herarticle on machine-learning algorithms and online surveillance.

Judge David Hammer was elected in May 2018 to fill an unexpired judicial term and re-elected in May 2024. He served as the Supervising Judge of Jefferson
County until January 1, 2025, when he became the Chief Judge of the new Twenty-Eighth Judicial Circuit (Jefferson County).

Judge Hammer is one of seven judges on the West Virginia Business Court, presiding over complex business disputes throughout West Virginia. He also
supervises the Jefferson County Adult Treatment Court; he and a treatment team meet weekly with people to address their substance use disorders and recovery. He has sat by temporary assignment on the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia in place of a justice who was recused from a case.

As a lawyer and then a judge, he has been a presenter at legal symposia on employment, class action, and evidentiary topics.

He is a 1985 graduate of Temple University and a 1988 graduate of the College of
William & Mary, Marshall Wythe School of Law.
He co-founded Hammer, Ferretti & Schiavoni in 1992 and continued to work there until his election in 2018. He concentrated his practice primarily in employment law, wage and hour, and municipal law.

He has served as President of the West Virginia Employment Lawyers and as President of the West Virginia Association of Justice. He also served as chair of the Amicus Curiae Committees of both organizations. He is a co-drafter of the
West Virginia Voluntary Farmland Protection Act and was appointed by then-Governor Earl Ray Tomblin to serve on the West Virginia Agricultural Land
Protection Authority. He currently serves as a statutory representative on the West Virginia Investment Management Board.

He and his wife, Effie, live in Shepherdstown and have two daughters and a son

Rachael L. Fletcher Cipoletti is Chief Lawyer Disciplinary Counsel for the West Virginia
Office of Lawyer Disciplinary Counsel. Rachael was previously an attorney with Legal Aid of West Virginia. She graduated Magnum Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology from West Virginia University and earned her Juris Doctorate degree from the West Virginia College of Law. She has been with the ODC since 2002 and became Chief
Disciplinary Counsel in 2008.

Rachael also serves as Special Judicial Disciplinary Counsel for the West Virginia Judicial Investigation Commission. Rachael is a frequent lecturer on ethics and professionalism for the West Virginia University College of Law, the Supreme Court of Appeals, the WV State Bar, and the American Bar Association’s Center for Professional Responsibility. She is the ODC liaison to the WV Judicial and Lawyer Assistance Program and serves on the West Virginia Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being. Rachael is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, United States Southern District of West Virginia, United States Northern District of West Virginia, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the Unites States of America. She is a lifetime member of the West Virginia University Alumni Association, a member of the American Bar Association, a member of the Center for Professional
Responsibility, and a member of the National Organization of Bar Counsel. She is a graduate of Leadership West Virginia Class of 2023 and a Bar Fellow of the West Virginia Bar Foundation.

She is the president and registrar for South Hills Soccer Association and is club representative for the Kanawha Valley Soccer League. She is the running club coach for Overbrook Elementary School. She is a volunteer and member of the board for the Appalachian Children Choir and a volunteer for River City Youth Ballet Ensemble. Outside of the office she focuses a lot of her energy on spending time with her husband Jay and their four children Emma, Annabelle, Olivia and Jake and their golden retriever, Archer.

Paul Saluja is a distinguished attorney with over 25 years of legal and business leadership experience, recognized for his pioneering work at the intersection of U.S. immigration law and college athletics. As founder of Saluja Law Offices PLLC, Paul has built a reputation as a trusted advocate for individuals, families, corporations, and—most notably—foreign student-athletes navigating the complex landscape of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) opportunities.

Paul began his career in commercial litigation at a large regional firm, before serving as Vice President, General Counsel, and later President of Waste-Tron Inc., where he led large-scale environmental and government-contracting projects for clients including the U.S. Army, Department of Energy, GE Plastics, and Alpha Natural Resources. He later became General Counsel & Corporate Secretary for a large multi-national conglomerate, overseeing U.S. legal operations for a multinational enterprise with $39 billion in global revenues.

In 2011, Paul launched Saluja Law, where he has successfully represented hospitals, universities, corporations, and individuals in petitions for H-1B, O-1, and L-1 visas, as well as family-based and humanitarian immigration matters. His unique insight into both law and business allows him to design creative, compliant solutions for clients across industries.

In recent years, Paul has emerged as a national commentator on NIL rights, particularly for international student-athletes, who face unique restrictions under immigration law. Drawing on his immigration expertise, Paul helps athletes, universities, and collectives navigate the delicate balance between F-1 visa compliance and NIL participation, ensuring foreign athletes can fairly access the same opportunities as their U.S. peers. Through S3 Sports Management LLC, he partners with athletes and institutions to unlock cross-border opportunities in sports, education, and entrepreneurship.

His leadership and contributions have been recognized with multiple honors, including the Safety Award from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Small Business of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration, and the Young Gun Award from West Virginia Executive Magazine.

Today, Paul continues to bridge law, athletics, and business with a mission: to protect immigrant rights, expand opportunities for foreign student-athletes, and guide clients through the most challenging legal and regulatory landscapes with skill and integrity.

Beth White has served as executive director of the West Virginia Association for Justice since June 2005. Prior to joining the staff, she worked with the association as its political and media consultant. Beth is a published historian and lecturer, focusing on U. S. history from the colonial period through the Civil War era, and U. S. political history.

For more than 20 years she has studied, written and lectured on the history of trial by jury, trial by jury and the American Revolution, and the 7th Amendment right to trial by jury in civil cases to state and national audiences. Beth earned an M. S. in public relations from Syracuse University’s S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communication and completed coursework in political communication at the university’s Maxwell School. She is also a graduate of West Virginia State University.

Her current projects include research on attorneys who served in the Union and Confederate armies at Gettysburg.