Elections
The 2024 NDLA Board election is now open until June 7.
The Notre Dame Law Association Board is pleased to announce the following candidates running for open board position:
Region 8 (IN & KY) (excluding Northwest IN)
Jacqueline Pimentel-Gannon, ‘05 BA, ‘07 M.Ed., ‘11 J.D./MBA
Candidate Biographies & Personal Statements
Jacqueline Pimentel-Gannon, ‘05 BA, ‘07 M.Ed., ‘11 J.D./MBA
Jacqueline Pimentel-Gannon is a partner at Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP in Indianapolis and has worked there since graduating from NDLS. She is in the Nonprofit Organizations practice in Faegre’s Corporate group. Jacqueline has the pleasure of working with all types of nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations. These include 501(c)(3) organizations of all kinds - charities, schools, churches, hospitals, government-related entities, family and company foundations, and community foundations, to name a few - as well as trade associations, social welfare organizations, social clubs, and the many different entities and individuals that interact with tax-exempt entities. She advises nonprofit organizations in all stages of the life cycle and helps them obtain and maintain their tax-exempt status and address governance, operational, and tax considerations.
A lifelong Hoosier, Jacqueline attended Notre Dame for undergrad before going to Dallas to teach 3rd grade for two years as a part of ND’s ACE program. She returned to Notre Dame for the joint JD/MBA program and in 2011 joined what was then Baker & Daniels in the Real Estate group. She transitioned to the Nonprofit Organizations team a couple of years later because she found the opportunity to work with organizations doing such good work in their communities incredibly fulfilling on a personal level. Pro bono work is also very important to Jacqueline, and she serves on her firm's Pro Bono Committee as well as the Pro Bono Committee of the Indianapolis Bar Association. Among other community boards, she serves on the board of two legal service providers, Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic (of which she is currently the Chair), and Catholic Charities Indianapolis (of which she is a past President and is currently the Secretary). Jacqueline is the President of the Notre Dame Club of Indianapolis (her term ends June 30th). She and her husband, Mark Sikora, enjoy trivia, traveling, and playing and watching all kinds of sports.
Personal Statement
As might be obvious from the fact that I kept choosing ND for my educational programs, I LOVE Notre Dame. After having had a wonderful experience as an undergrad and in the ACE teaching service program, I thought I would definitely want to go elsewhere for law school to have a new and different experience. But, as I was looking into various law schools, Notre Dame's focus on educating a different kind of lawyer really appealed to me and drew me in. Thanks to the Fr. Mike McCafferty Fellowship, I was able to attend NDLS, and I had a phenomenal experience. From the amazing faculty who care deeply not only about their areas of scholarship but about their students, to the interesting classes, the fulfilling clinic experiences, and the wonderful friends made, I cannot say enough good things about NDLS.
I would like to give back to NDLS by serving on the NDLA Board and having the opportunity to meet with prospective and current law students and to hopefully help them make connections and serve as a resource to them as they embark on their legal careers. I've been able to do a bit of this already by being one of the volunteers that reaches out to admitted students and by offering to be a resource for the students I've taught in the NDLS Nonprofit Organizations Practicum course (an optional companion course to Prof. Lloyd Mayer's Nonprofit Organizations course), but I would appreciate the chance to do so even more. I view my NDLS education as a great gift, and I would love to share my love for - and excitement about - the law school with my fellow alumni and with future generations of ND lawyers. I would consider it a privilege to serve as a member of the NDLA Board and the representative of Region 8 and would be honored to do my part to work to help advance the mission of Notre Dame Law School. Thanks for considering me.
Tim Maher is a 1990 graduate of the Law School. He is a Partner in the South Bend office of Barnes & Thornburg LLP. A member of the firm’s Litigation Department, Tim’s practice focuses primarily on business and general civil litigation as well as aviation work in both the civil litigation and administrative areas. His varied practice includes engagements by the Commonwealth of Virgina for the purpose of evaluating the culture of one of its universities and by the United States Department of Commerce as an international compliance monitor. He has served as outside general counsel to the Culver Academies, a secondary boarding school, for more than 20 years.
Tim has served as an adjunct professor in the Intensive Trial Advocacy program at the Law School. He has hosted law students in the Gallilee, Asian Pacific American Law Students Association and ICLEO programs. As an active member of his community, Tim is a regular volunteer at community nonprofits and has served as a board member of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Association; South Bend Symphony Orchestra; and as a member of the Bike Michiana Coalition and Bike South Bend Committee. Tim is the co-founder of a unique high school internship program that provides under-served students in the South Bend Community Schools who are interested in the law the opportunity to meet local attorneys, judges, prosecutors, law enforcement officers and law firm employees. Tim is married to Trish (NDLS ’91) with whom he shares children Clare (SMC ’15), Maddie (SMC ’17), Liam (ND ’18), Grace (SMC ’21), Annie (SMC ’23) and Mary Eileen (TBD).
Personal Statement
My desire to become a lawyer took root during my childhood visits to my grandfather’s courtroom (Michael Kinney, ND ’31). Having grown up steeped in the lore of ND, it was the only place for me to pursue my legal education. My experiences as a student and practitioner of the law reinforce the fact that the Notre Dame Law School does indeed produce a different kind of lawyer. I am currently working with the Law School Clinical professors, local judiciary and the St. Joseph County Prosecutor, Ken Cotter (also NDLS ’90) to develop an elective class assisting those eligible under Indiana law to receive expungements of their criminal records in order to help them and their families move forward. This class will reinforce for our law students the importance of serving the interests of justice in their professional lives. Guided by the Holy Cross charism of educating both the heart and the mind, we have much to be proud of, but there remains much to do. I would like to be a part of that process. It would be my honor to serve as the Region 8 Representative on the NDLA Board.