Meagan A. Flynn (born July 28, 1967) is an American judge who is the chief justice of the

Oregon Supreme Court The Oregon Supreme Court (OSC) is the highest state court in the U.S. state of Oregon. The only court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court is the Supreme Court of the United States.Oregon Court of Appeals The Oregon Court of Appeals is the state intermediate appellate court in the US state of Oregon. Part of the Oregon Judicial Department, it has thirteen judges and is located in Salem. Except for death penalty cases, which are reserved to the O ...

from 2014 to 2017. Flynn was appointed to the state’s supreme court by the Governor

Kate Brown Katherine Brown (born June 21, 1960) is an American politician and attorney serving as the 38th governor of Oregon since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, she served three terms as the state representative from the 13th district of the ...

in March 2017.

Education

Flynn graduated high school from the

Holy Names Academy Holy Names Academy is a Catholic private all-girls college-preparatory high school, founded by the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary in 1880 and located on the east slope of Seattle's Capitol Hill. It is the oldest continually operatin ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

in 1985. She completed a bachelor's degree at

Willamette University Willamette University is a private liberal arts college with locations in Salem and Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest college in the Western United States. Originally named the Oregon Institute, the school was an unaffiliated ...

in 1989, and a J.D. degree at

Gonzaga University School of Law The Gonzaga University School of Law (also known as Gonzaga Law or GU Law) is the professional school for the study of law at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. Established in 1912, the Jesuit-affiliated law school has been fully accredi ...

in 1992. Flynn clerked for the

Oregon Court of Appeals The Oregon Court of Appeals is the state intermediate appellate court in the US state of Oregon. Part of the Oregon Judicial Department, it has thirteen judges and is located in Salem. Except for death penalty cases, which are reserved to the O ...

in 1992–1994, for judges

Robert D. Durham Robert D. "Skip" Durham (born 1947) is a retired justice of the Oregon Supreme Court. Previously, Durham was a judge for the Oregon Court of Appeals and a lawyer in private practice. Education Durham's post-secondary education began at Whittie ...

and

Rick Haselton Rick T. Haselton (born 1953) is a former Judge of the Oregon Court of Appeals. He served from 1994–2015. From 2012–2015, he served as Chief Judge of the Court. Born in Oregon, Haselton received a high school diploma from West Albany High Schoo ...

Legal career

Flynn worked as an attorney in private practice in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, specializing in

torts A tort is a civil wrong that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs that are punishable ...

, employment, and

insurance law Insurance law is the practice of law surrounding insurance, including insurance policies and claims. It can be broadly broken into three categories - regulation of the business of insurance; regulation of the content of insurance policies, especial ...

. She was an associate at Pozzi Wilson Atchison from 1994 to 1999, and was a partner at Preston Bunnell & Flynn from 1999 to 2014. Flynn specialized in appellate advocacy before Oregon’s appellate courts and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She also served on the executive committee of the

Oregon Law Institute Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

and chaired the

Oregon State Bar The Oregon State Bar Association (OSBA) is a public corporation and instrumentality of the Oregon Judicial Department in the U.S. state of Oregon. Founded in 1890 as the private Oregon Bar Association, it became a public entity in 1935 that regulat ...

Appellate Practice Section.

Judicial career

Governor

John Kitzhaber John Albert Kitzhaber (born March 5, 1947) is an American former politician who served as the 35th governor of Oregon from 1995 to 2003, and as the 37th governor of Oregon from 2011 until his resignation in 2015. A member of the Democratic Party ...

announced the appointment of Meagan Flynn as a state judge on the

, Position 7, on September 25, 2014. She succeeded Robert Wollheim, who retired from the court on October 31, 2014. Flynn was re-elected to the appeals court in November 2016. Governor

appointed Flynn to the

Oregon Supreme Court The Oregon Supreme Court (OSC) is the highest state court in the U.S. state of Oregon. The only court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court is the Supreme Court of the United States.Richard C. Baldwin Richard C. Baldwin (born March 24, 1947) is a former American judge, who served as a justice of the Oregon Supreme Court from 2013 to 2017. A native of California, he was a legal aide attorney prior to joining the Oregon Supreme Court and returne ...

, who retired on March 31, 2017. Justice Flynn’s term ends in January 2019, and she is eligible to run for re-election in November 2018, for a new six-year term. Flynn became chief justice on December 31, 2022, after

Martha Lee Walters Martha Lee Walters (born October 23, 1950) is an American labor attorney and who served as the 43rd chief justice of Oregon from 2018 to 2022; she was a member of the court from 2006 to 2022. She became the first female justice on the state's hig ...

retired.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Flynn, Meagan 1967 births 21st-century American judges 21st-century American women judges Chief Justices of the Oregon Supreme Court Gonzaga University School of Law alumni Justices of the Oregon Supreme Court Living people Oregon Court of Appeals judges Oregon lawyers Politicians from Seattle Willamette University alumni Women chief justices of state supreme courts in the United States