"Excellence through knowledge, Achievement through Commitment"

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Dien Da Dinh - Director

Mr. Dinh has the distinction of being in the legal field since 1972. He is a licensed real estate broker in the United States and a graduate of Southern California College of Law. He has been instrumental in the planning and development of the school curriculum and facilities. His contributions have enabled the Board to develop long range plans for facility expansion. He designed and developed the LL.M in Taxation Degree.

Christopher Hyland - Director

Mr. Hyland attended the University of the Orange Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa from 1986 to 1990. He graduated with a Bachelor of Law (B.Iuris) in 1990. From 1990 to 1992 he completed the requisite 2 years of “articles of clerkship” with attorney David Grewar in Ficksburg, South Africa., while completing his LLB Degree. In 1992 he graduated with an LLB and sat for the Attorney Bar Exam. He became licensed as an attorney and was admitted to the Commonwealth of Great Britain Bar in 1992. During his term of “articles of clerkship” Mr. Hyland specialized in criminal work, conducting upwards of 300 criminal trials. From 1992 to 1993 Mr. Hyland practiced primarily civil law. In mid 1993 his family and him immigrated to California. He started his own company which specializes in the collection and litigation of workers compensation medical liens. Mr. Hyland has been a guest lecturer in the Trial Practice Classes.

Kevin O'Connell - Chairman of the Board

Dean O’Connell has been a practicing attorney and a law school professor since 1982. Prior to that, he was the college recruiter for Western State University College of Law where he acquired skills in the marketing of a law school to college students. Dean O’Connell has taught at American College of Law, Western state University College of Law and has been a guest lecturer at University of California at Irvine. From his law practice in business development and as a litigator, Dean O’Connell brings knowledge and expertise in business organization and operation. He has been instrumental in the creation of the corporation and the college. His notion that a legal education should train law students to be practicing attorneys upon graduation has been incorporated into Pacific West College of Law’s philosophy and curriculum. Dean O’Connell was instrumental in the exchange program with Universidad Vasco De Quiroga Law School in Michoacan, Mexico. He designed and developed the Master of Arts in Law Degree.

Arnold Valdez - Director

Dr. Valdez has been in private practice in dentistry for over ten years in the Southern California area. `As a member of the Board of Directors he brings a strong academic and educational background in that he has successfully obtained degrees from a University of California, a California State University and a California Polytechnical University. In addition to his personal achievements he has served on the advisory counsel for a California Community College for the past ten years. Dr. Valdez, with his broad range of educational experience, is instrumental in developing sound academic policies. The efforts by Dr. Valdez led to the exchange program with Universidad Vasco De Quiroga Law School in Michoacan, Mexico.

Dr. Valdez is the Former Vice President for Curriculum Planning and Development.

Howard Vine - Director

Mr. Howard Vine is the Chief Executive Officer of EverSealed Windows, Inc. Previously he was a partner in the Public Policy & Law Practice of Dickstein Shapiro, LLP. In 2007, Washingtonian magazine named Mr. Vine one of Washington, DC’s “50 Top Lobbyists.”

Over a 30-year career in government relations law, Mr. Vine has represented clients in a diverse range of Congressional and regulatory matters affecting federal securities law, international trade rights and remedies, medical reimbursement rates, electricity competition and associated products, and federal taxation policy and municipal appropriations.

Mr. Vine joined Dickstein Shapiro from Greenberg Traurig, LLP, where he was the founder and former managing shareholder of the firm’s Washington, DC office. As a member of Greenberg Traurig’s Government Affairs practice, he focused on governmental and administrative law, international trade, federal appropriations, healthcare, tax, antitrust, securities, and corporate governance matters. He successfully led a business coalition in its challenge to USDA proposed regulations attempting to levy an import license on sugar, secured federal funding for the State of Florida Citrus Canker eradication program, managed and negotiated the settlement of the trade conflict between tomato growers in the United States and Mexico, wrote anti-circumvention legislation in the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988; and produced results for an array of clients with discrete interests before the federal government. Prior to his association with Greenberg Traurig, LLP, Mr. Vine was the senior vice president and Director of International Trade and head of business development for the lobbying firm The Jefferson Group. He was a Senior Associate at the Washington branch of the Ohio law firm of Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP and also spent six years as an assistant vice president of the National Association of Manufacturers.

Mr. Vine chaired the Clinton/Gore transition team, which wrote the administration’s briefing book on the Council of Economic Advisers. Additionally, he was a member of the American Bar Association’s Ad Hoc Task Force on the Federal Criminal Code, and the past chairman and member of the Subcommittee on SEC Administration, Budget, and Legislation. He is a member of the boards of directors of Faith in America, the National Jewish Democratic Council, the Capital Area Reach Program, and the National Music Center Museum and Foundation. He also serves as a member of the Executive Council of the Policy Roundtable of the Democratic Leadership Council.

He is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and Virginia.

Mr. Vine received his B.A. in Government & Public Affairs from American University, (1975), and his J.D. from the George Mason University School of Law (1978).