Senior Advisors

Tim Curry is a Senior Advisor to the Sligo Law Group. After 36 years as a human resources professional in the federal government, he retired after serving as the Deputy Associate Director for Accountability and Workforce Relations within the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). In this capacity, he served as an advisor to the OPM Director on government-wide programs for labor-management relations and employee accountability. He also served as the Acting Director of Communications for OPM.

Prior to coming to OPM, he was the Executive Director, Labor Management and Employee Relations for the Department of Defense (DoD) where he served as the principal policy advisor on labor and employee relations matters. He has experience as a human resources professional in operating and policy level positions in the Office of Secretary of Defense, DoD Education Activity, Department of the Air Force, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. His background includes labor relations, employee relations, performance management, awards programs, suitability, and other human resources programs. He has received the Presidential Rank Award for Distinguished Executive and the OPM Director’s Award for Meritorious Service.

Tim received a BS with a concentration in Personnel Management from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.

Ron Petracca has 45 years of experience in Federal Education law, working at the U.S. Department of Education Office of the General Counsel from October 1980 until his retirement in February 2025. During that period, he worked on a wide variety of matters, including administrative and Federal Court litigation on audit, civil rights, and federal program issues, State-administered and discretionary grants, indirect costs, suspension and debarment, accessibility (Section 504 and 508), education technology, privacy, the use of evidence in grant and agency decision making. He played an important role in the Education Department adoption of the Uniform Guidance, two significant revisions to the Department of Education's General Administrative Regulations, and a substantial revision of the agency's Discretionary Grant Handbook. His agency clients included Institute for Education Sciences and the National Center for Education Statistics, the Office of English Language Acquisition, the Office of the Chief Data Officer, and numerous programs in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. His primary focus in working with clients within the agency was to facilitate the development of creative approaches to resolving problems and structuring transactions in a way that met client needs in a manner that was both legally defensible and in the public interest.  

Ron received a JD from Catholic University, Columbus School of Law in 1981 and a BA from SUNY Cortland in 1978. He is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia.

Paul Riddle served the U.S. Department of Education for 47 years, including 20 years as the Assistant General Counsel for Legislation, before retiring from the Department in January 2025. In his early career, he advised on school desegregation, civil rights, Indian education, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Beginning in 1986, Paul worked in OGC’s Division of Legislative Counsel, drafting legislation in the areas of elementary and secondary education, impact aid, and the education of children with disabilities. From 2004 until his retirement, Paul supervised the drafting and analysis of legislation for the full range of ED’s programs and interests. This work involved close cooperation with both political and career staff in all ED offices, the White House (including the Office of Management and Budget), and congressional staff. Paul earned his J.D. from Duke University School of Law and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Dartmouth College.

Rebecca (Becca) Walawender

Becca Walawender is a Senior Advisor at Sligo Law Group on the implementation of disability policy and law. She's spent a majority of her 30 year career implementing the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Rehabilitation Act, and other laws related to individuals with disabilities at the state and federal levels. Her commitment to creating a world where individuals with disabilities have access to the resources necessary to live self-determined lives is firmly rooted in her experience as a middle school special education teacher in an urban school-based day treatment classroom. Becca holds degrees from both George Washington University and the Harvard University Graduate School of Education.