MCLEAN, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Michael Finn has begun a one-year term as the 31^st President of the Washington Metropolitan Area Corporate Counsel Association (WMACCA), the Washington, D.C. region’s premier professional association serving the needs of in-house counsel. Mr. Finn succeeded former WMACCA President Stephen Dwyer at the association’s Annual Meeting, held on Thursday, January 19, at The Ritz-Carlton Tysons Corner.

“I am honored to have been elected by my colleagues and peers to lead WMACCA’s efforts this year in providing our members the resources and opportunities to ensure the best possible professional development for corporate counsel within the D.C. area,” said Mr. Finn.

A capacity crowd of 275 persons attended the Annual Meeting, at which U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia delivered a keynote speech on constitutional interpretation. Justice Scalia, who has served on the Supreme Court since 1986 and is currently the longest-serving justice on the Court, discussed how his “originalist” approach to interpreting the Constitution does not produce consistently conservative or liberal outcomes, but rather has a “stabilizing effect on society.”

“If you are not going with the original meaning of the Constitution, what criterion are you going to use? … Either you try to find out what the American people thought when they adopted it, or you tell your judges, ‘You decide whether there should be a right to this, that, or another, and when,’” the Justice argued. “To the non-originalist, every day is a new day… It is absolute madness to turn this over to people who are good lawyers, but have no special expertise in ethics and philosophy.”

He took issue with those who try to characterize his approach as strict constructionism of the document, saying, “I like to interpret the text reasonably. Not strictly and not loosely. Right down the middle.”

The Annual Meeting of WMACCA was held to elect and begin the terms of new WMACCA officers and directors.

Outside of WMACCA, Mr. Finn is vice president and general counsel of General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems in Fairfax, Va. Prior to that, he spent three years as vice president, general counsel, and director of export and ethics for General Dynamics United Kingdom. He first joined General Dynamics eight years ago at its headquarters and was responsible for intellectual property issues.

Before joining General Dynamics, Mr. Finn was general counsel at Sideware, a publicly traded technology company, associate general counsel at Teligent, Inc., and an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Willkie Farr & Gallagher. He also had been an attorney in the Office of General Counsel at the Federal Communications Commission, and served as a law clerk to Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and to Chief Bankruptcy Judge Conrad B. Duberstein in the Eastern District of New York.

Mr. Finn received his Juris Doctor with honors from New York University School of Law and received a Bachelor of Science with honors in finance from Indiana University. Mr. Finn previously served WMACCA as president-elect in 2011 and treasurer in 2009 and 2010. He also was a founder and co-chair of a WMACCA committee concerned with information technology and intellectual property issues.

As part of the Annual Meeting proceedings, the following WMACCA officers and directors also were elected:

• Karen Litsinger, senior vice president, corporate development and general counsel of Mirixa Corporation, as president-elect.
• Robert Falk, general counsel of the Human Rights Campaign, as vice president, programming.
• Luise Welby, managing associate general counsel of Freddie Mac, as vice president, external relations.
• David Kessler, senior director, legal department public sector of McAfee, as vice president, public policy.
• Maryanne Lavan, senior vice president and general counsel of Lockheed Martin Corporation, as a Director.
• James Williams, vice president and general counsel of Liquidity Services, Inc, as a Director.
• Simone Wu, executive vice president, legal and administration, of XO Communications, as a Director.

Continuing as officers for the second year of two-year terms are:

• Tamara Jack, assistant general counsel of LMI, as secretary.
• Carol Rick Gibbons, vice president and senior associate general counsel of Capital One Financial Corporation, as treasurer.

The other members of the WMACCA Board of Directors who continue to serve are:

• Samuel Flax, executive vice president and general counsel of American Capital
• Dean Manson, executive vice president, general counsel and secretary of EchoStar Corporation and its subsidiary, Hughes Communications Inc.
• Anne Milem, vice president and associate general counsel of Sallie Mae
• Andrew Shipley, assistant general counsel, litigation, of Northrop Grumman Corporation
• Sherry Rhodes, vice president and general counsel of Noblis Inc.
• Evan Stolove, vice president and deputy general counsel of Fannie Mae
• Michael Wu, general counsel of Rosetta Stone

Mr. Dwyer, who is general counsel for the American Staffing Association, completed his term as the 2011 WMACCA president and remains a member of the Board.

For more information on WMACCA, please visit www.wmacca.com.

About WMACCA

With more than 2,000 members, the Washington Metropolitan Area Corporate Counsel Association (WMACCA) serves the professional needs of in-house counsel in Washington, D.C., the Commonwealth of Virginia, and suburban Maryland. WMACCA is a chapter of the global Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC). WMACCA members participate in more than 70 substantive networking, education, and professional development programs each year. WMACCA is a professional association for the in-house bar, and fosters advancements in the standards of corporate legal practice. More information about WMACCA is available on its Web site: http://wmacca.acc.com.

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