Thursday, July 17, 2014 / REGIONAL 24 South County Leader
Diana Tate Vermeire didnt know what to think about a call advising her that she had been selected to the 2014 People of Col- or Hot List. She frankly admitted she had never heard of the list that listed people in the mid-level management lev- el at law rms. Vermeire, of Counsel at the GableGotwals Law Firms Oklahoma City of- ce, spends time in Tulsa as her practice demands. Vermeire is one of a handful of attorneys from various regions in the country selected for the list. Doing some research, she learned that while the list originally opened for African American lawyers, it now has been expanded to include other races. This is not a position that Diana applied for, said Melissa Bogle, Gable- Gotwals marketing direc- tor. The selection is the result of being nominated by another party. I dont know who else was selected for the 2014 list in Oklahoma, Ver- meire said. I did learn that others had been chosen in 2013. The selection by that outside board was the result of Vermeires work advancing people of color in the legal profession, not only in Oklahoma, but also in California and in Wash- ington State where she be- gan her legal career. Vermeire attended George Washington Uni- versity where she earned her law degree 14 years ago, in 2000. Following graduation she moved to Seattle where she worked as an employment attorney and media litiga- tor for the Davis Wright Tremaine Law Firm. Family ties were strong, and she was able to trans- fer to San Francisco where she would be close to a brother. She continued her work as an advocate in a vari- ety of positions for the rm before leaving to join two non prot agencies, rst the Lawyers for Civil Rights in the San Francis- co Bay Area and later the American Civil Liberties Union in northern Califor- nia. The family tug drew Ver- meire and her husband Adam back to her native Edmond in 2012 and she joined GableGotwals. Adam is an artist and adjunct professor of art at University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond and at Oklahoma City Commu- nity College. Vermeire laughed when asked about her choice of a legal career. I like to argue, she said. I was good at debate and drama while I was in high school. I guess you also could ask my mother about that issue. I was drawn to law be- cause I liked the intel- lectual challenge, nding solutions and bringing people together to resolve issues. Reecting on bringing people together to resolve issues, Vermeire said that mediation is one of the weaker areas in the law that needs to be strength- ened. Issues dont always have to be contentious. Undergraduate work found Vermeire going to the University of South- ern California where she earned a sociology degree before going on to earn her law degree. I have had a varied ca- reer in both the private and non-prot world, she said. While with the non-prots Vermeire was involved in working with legislatures on policy analysis as well as legal and compliance best practices work. In addition to her work at GableGotwals, Vermeire also is vice chair of the Oklahoma Bar Association Diversity Committee. While the legal profes- sion is becoming more diverse and more oppor- tunities are available for people of color, it has been slow going. The reality is there are more people of color prac- ticing law, more doors need to be opened, she said. Subtle challenges continue to be encountered. Vermeire admits that while she loves her ca- reer, she would have done things slightly different as she entered the profession today. I would advise people (clients) to look at the long-term impact of their decision to litigate, she said. Too often people look at the immediate situ- ation and dont consider the future. The honorees were chosen through a two- pronged process. The se- lection committee spent months reviewing nomi- nations and researching bar association publica- tions and legal blogs in or- der to identify promising candidates. Nominations from mentors, peers, and colleagues were accept- ed. The selection commit- tee also made editorial picks of attorneys who had noteworthy accomplish- ments, especially those active in legal pipeline ini- tiatives. Lawyers of Color was ini- tially founded as On Being A Black Lawyer but now also produces publications for lawyers of South Asian American, Pacic Asian American, Hispanic, and Native American heritage. LOC has been recognized by the American Bar As- sociation, National Black Law Students Association, and National Association of Black Journalists. Honoree just doing her job People of color hot list selection unexpected RALPH SCHAFER/NEIGHBOR NEWS Diana Tate Vermeire, GableGotwals attorney selected to the 2014 People of Color Hot List. By Ralph Schaefer Neighbor News News@SouthCountyLeader.com WW II, followed by the Ko- rean War in the early 1950s, generated the trained pi- lots needed by airlines as they expanded just before and into the jet age that be- gan in the 1960s. By the mid 1980s those pilots began retiring while at the same time the avail- ability of pilots trained by military began to dwindle. Within a few months of each other in 2009 there were two airline crashes that raised the question of pilot training Colgan Air ight 3407 with a twin- engine Bombardier Dash 8 turboprop near Buffalo, N.Y. and Air France ight 447 with a twin-engine, wide-bodied Airbus 330 jet in the Atlantic Ocean. Nearly a year ago Au- gust 2013 the Federal Aviation Administration in- stituted new training rules to speed up the number of pilots qualied to y for airlines. The requirements include a mix of college academic studies and ight training leading to an associate or bachelors degree. Tulsa Community College offers such a program that can lead to an airline job as a co-pilot which the indus- try refers to as rst ofcer or second-in-command, The FAA lists 55 other in- stitutions in the nation that meet its requirements. The list includes four in Oklahoma University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, Southeastern Oklahoma State University at Durant and Spartan Col- lege of Aeronautics and Technology. Only Florida has ve on the list, which also includes three other community colleges. Matthew A. Wise, di- rector of TCCs Aviation Center at Jones-Riverside Airport and chief ight instructor, said decision making skills are stressed to the aviation students in a very structured environ- ment. He termed the FAA-re- quired changes in ight training as subtle rather than drastic. Aviation courses, some of them in classrooms, rep- resent 25 of the 62 credit hours required for an asso- ciate degree, which Wise said, can seamlessly trans- fer to OSU leading toward a bachelors degree. More ight hours are re- quired by the FAA to meet become eligible to y for an airline. Non-aviation courses are in 10 elds, includ- ing English, humanities, mathematics, history and speech. Tuition for Oklahoma res- idents is $87.22 per credit hour with non-residents paying $287. Tulsa County high school seniors may go tuition free if they have a two-point grade average and apply during the senior year. Flying time is an addition- al cost. Wise said the current rate is $189 per hour in a single- engine plane and $320 in a twin-engine plane. TCC aviation instruction staff includes six full-time, four to ve adjunct instruc- tors and six ight instruc- tors. TCC operates ve 2006 single-engine Cessna 172s which are equipped with all glass cockpits so stu- dents are familiar with the advanced instrumentation such as in a twin-engine Boeing 737-800 jetliner, Wise said. It also operates a twin-engine Piper Seneca and a Lake 4 amphibian, a single-engine mounted in the pusher position. It uses Grand Lake for landing and takeoff instruction, while the other used designated areas around Tulsa for teaching some maneuvers. Without leaving the ground students also y TCC ight trainers and sim- ulators, computers repli- cating Boeing jetliners and are exposed to the effects of hypoxia, loss of oxygen, when at 25,000 feet in the OSU altitude chamber at Jones-Riverside Airport. By Larry Levy Contributing Editor News@SouthCountyLeader.com Pilot to co-pilot, whats your alma mater?