Welcome Bar Prowl Participants!

As Chairperson of the Oregon State Bar’s Appellate Practice Section, I welcome first-time and return visitors to the website.  Whether you heard of the section through the Bar Prowl event at Lewis & Clark Law School or from other sources, I encourage you to learn more about our section and the resources we provide.

Please consider joining the section and participating in the valuable networking and educational events sponsored by the section, culminating in the section’s Annual Social, to be held November 12, 2014 at the Governor’s Hotel.

If you have questions, you may contact me directly via email.

Mandatory eFiling Coming to a Court Near You!

Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas A. Balmer has approved a plan for a mandatory eFiling requirement for attorneys filing cases in Oregon’s circuit and appellate courts. The Oregon Judicial Department will circulate proposed court rules in the upcoming months for comment. The plan calls for a mandatory date of December 1, 2014 for the eleven circuit courts that currently have the eFiling component of the Oregon eCourt system, and includes a transition plan for those courts implementing the system later.

Mandatory eFiling for attorneys filing in the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court is expected to begin in the spring of 2015, following an amendment to the Oregon Rules of Appellate Procedure. Mandatory eFiling for the Oregon Tax Court will be assessed at a later date.

Click here for more information from the Oregon State Bar.

2014 Appellate Almanac: Submissions Requested

As chair of the Appellate Practice Section, I invite section members to contribute to the 2014 Appellate Almanac.  The section is looking for articles, stories, or interesting data on the Oregon appellate courts or Oregon-related cases in the federal appellate courts.  Academic articles, profiles, funny stories, or the real reason digital clocks mysteriously appeared on the podiums overnight are all welcome additions to this year’s almanac.
If you are interested in contributing this year, please contact me directly.  If you need some inspiration from authors past, prior almanacs are available on the section’s website and provide myriad examples of submissions suitable for publication.  I hope to hear from you! 

American Constitution Society Event!

The Oregon Lawyer Chapter of the American Constitution Society presents U.S. Supreme Court Review and Preview. Please join the society to hear a distinguished panel dissect the United States Supreme Court’s decisions from this past term, debate the direction of the Court in the upcoming term, and provide their views on what the that means to lawyers and lay people alike.

What:  U.S. Supreme Court Review and Preview

When: Wednesday, October 1, 2014, 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Where: Perkins Coie 

             1120 NW Couch Street, 10th Floor 
             Portland, Oregon
Please RSVP here.

Featuring:

Scott L. Nelson, Attorney, Public Citizen Litigation Group

Mr. Nelson, a litigation attorney specializing in civil appellate practice, brings experience practicing before the U.S. Supreme Court. His clients have included a former President of the United States, a sitting United States District Judge, the American Bar Association, and the American Historical Association.

Paula Abrams, Edward Brunet Professor of Law, Lewis & Clark Law School
Professor Abrams worked in Washington, D.C., for the Executive Office of the President, Council on Wage and Price Stability, and later as an attorney for the Office of Legal and Enforcement Counsel at the Environmental Protection Agency. Her primary research areas are in constitutional law and her recent scholarship focuses on reproductive rights and population policy.

Scott A. Shorr, Attorney and Managing Shareholder, Stoll Berne
Mr. Shorr is a trial and appellate attorney who handles a variety of complex business, securities and class action litigation. Scott was the arguing counsel before the United States Supreme Court in GEICO General Ins. Co. v. Edo and Safeco Ins. Co. of America v. Burr.

The event will be moderated by Jay Austin, Senior Attorney at the Environmental Law Institute.

1.5 hours of CLE credit is pending.

Invitation to Attend the Matthew Paul Deady Event!

The Board of Directors of the Pioneer Courthouse Historical Society invite you to a late-afternoon reception and conversation about early Oregon jurist and first federal judge Matthew Paul Deady and his architectural legacy, the historic Pioneer Courthouse.
When: Thursday, October 23, 2014, 4:00 PM
Where: Pioneer Courthouse, S.W. Sixth Avenue between Yamhill and Morrison
RSVP by October 17, 2014 to [email protected] to ensure a seat!  Seating is limited to the first 80 guests so please respond soon!

Join members of the Oregon bench and bar, fellow historians, U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain, Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Balmer, and Ralph James Mooney, Kaapcke Professor of Law, Emeritus, University of Oregon, on the life and legacy of Judge Deady.
Discussions by Oregon’s most-distinguished legal historians will be followed by appetizers and libations in the lobby.  In addition, the historical society will unveil a new illustrated exhibit based on the diaries of Judge Deady, wherein he penned his own personal and legal opinions about Portland and Portlanders, ca. 1860-1890.
Thank you and we look forward to seeing you!
The Board of Directors Pioneer Courthouse Historical Society