The University of Oregon School of Law is a public

law school A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction. Law degrees Argentina In Argentina, ...

in the U.S. state of

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. Housed in the Knight Law Center, it is Oregon's only state funded law school. The school, founded in 1884, is located on the

University of Oregon campus The campus of the University of Oregon is located in Eugene, Oregon and includes some 80 buildings and facilities, including athletics facilities such as Hayward Field, which was the site of the 2008 Olympic Track and Field Trials, and McArthur ...

in Eugene, on the corner of 15th and Agate streets, overlooking

Hayward Field Hayward Field is a track and field stadium in the northwest United States, located on the campus of the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon. It has been the home of the university's track and field teams since 1921, and was the on-campus ho ...

History

Oregon Law was founded in 1884 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 ...

.Corning, Howard M. (1989) ''Dictionary of Oregon History''. Binfords & Mort Publishing. p. 253. Richard R. Thornton organized the department that began as a two-year program with three classes per week.Horner, John B. (1919). ''Oregon: Her History, Her Great Men, Her Literature''. The J.K. Gill Co.: Portland. p. 241. In 1906, the course of study was expanded to three years, and in April 1915, the school's board of regents ordered that the program be moved to Eugene as part of a consolidation program within the university. Though the school moved, some of the faculty remained in Portland and started the Northwest College of Law, now the

Lewis & Clark Law School The Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College (also known as Lewis & Clark Law School), is an American Bar Association-approved private law school in Portland, Oregon. The law school received ABA approval in 1970 and joined the Asso ...

. In 1923, the school was approved by the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...

(ABA), one of the first 39 schools to earn that distinction in the initial year of the ABA approval of law schools. In 1931,

Wayne Morse Wayne Lyman Morse (October 20, 1900 – July 22, 1974) was an American attorney and United States Senator from Oregon. Morse is well known for opposing his party's leadership and for his opposition to the Vietnam War on constitutional grounds. ...

became dean. Three years later, the law school organized a chapter of the national law school honor society, the

Order of the Coif The Order of the Coif is an honor society for United States law school graduates. The name is a reference to the ancient English order of advocates, the serjeants-at-law, whose courtroom attire included a coif—a white lawn or silk skullcap, whi ...

. In 1938, the law school moved to Fenton Hall. In 1939, the law school graduated

Minoru Yasui was an American lawyer from Oregon. Born in Hood River, Oregon, he earned both an undergraduate degree and his law degree at the University of Oregon. He was one of the few Japanese Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbor who fought laws th ...

, who later took his challenge to the military curfew on Japanese Americans during World War II all the way to the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

. In 1941, Orlando John Hollis became acting dean. His appointment became permanent in 1945 when Morse resigned to run for the U.S. Senate. During the war years, many law students were called to service. In 1944, there were no graduating students; in 1945, only one student graduated. After the war's conclusion, the school admitted every returning veteran who sought a legal education: out of 26 students who graduated in 1948, 25 had served in World War II. The post-war era was marked by the Oregon legislature's adoption of law professor

Kenneth O'Connell Kenneth J. O'Connell (December 8, 1909 – February 18, 2000) was an American educator and jurist in the state of Oregon. He served as the 36th Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, serving in that position from 1970 to 1976. A native of Wis ...

's Oregon Revised Statutes. Professor O'Connell was appointed 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. In 1977, Professor

Hans A. Linde Hans Arthur Linde (April 15, 1924 – August 31, 2020) was a German Jewish American legal scholar who served as a justice of the Oregon Supreme Court from 1977 to 1990. Born in Berlin, Germany, Justice Linde relocated with his family to Denmark i ...

was appointed to the Oregon Supreme Court. In 1978, the school established the first-in-the-world Environmental Law Clinic. During the 1980s, the Environmental Law Clinic doubled in size and was renamed the Pacific Northwest Natural Resources Clinic. In 1981, Professor

Dave Frohnmayer David B. "Dave" Frohnmayer (July 9, 1940 – March 10, 2015) was an American attorney, politician, and academic administrator from Oregon. He was the 15th president of the University of Oregon, serving from 1994 to 2009. His tenure as president w ...

became

Oregon Attorney General The Oregon Attorney General is a statutory office within the executive branch of the state of Oregon, and serves as the chief legal officer of the state, heading its Department of Justice with its six operating divisions. The attorney general is ch ...

. In 1982, students organized the first

Public Interest Environmental Law Conference The University of Oregon School of Law is a public law school in the U.S. state of Oregon. Housed in the Knight Law Center, it is Oregon's only state funded law school. The school, founded in 1884, is located on the University of Oregon campus in ...

. In 1986, the ''

Journal of Environmental Law and Litigation The ''Journal of Environmental Law and Litigation'' is a student-run law review published at University of Oregon School of Law. The journal publishes articles and essays about environmental law, natural resources law, and litigation relating to th ...

'' began publication. In the new century, the school opened the Appropriate Dispute Resolution Program. In 2003, the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Program opened a fully staffed office. In 2004, the Center for Law and Entrepreneurship opened a Small Business Clinic to assist small and micro-businesses. The school also has started a program in Portland, which moved into Portland's

White Stag Building White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

in 2008. The Portland Program focuses on business law and related externships.

Rankings

For the 2020-21 academic year, the law school is ranked 72nd in the country by '' U.S. News & World Report''s 2022 edition of "America's Best Graduate Schools." The

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

is known for possessing the nation's first public law school to establish an

environmental law Environmental law is a collective term encompassing aspects of the law that provide protection to the environment. A related but distinct set of regulatory regimes, now strongly influenced by environmental legal principles, focus on the manage ...

program (ENR). The ENR Program is ranked 10th in the country by ''U.S. News & World Report'' for the 2020-21 academic year. The program includes a master's of law degree (LL.M.) option.

Programs

The law school also houses a prominent Appropriate Dispute Resolution Center, which provides courses both to law students and to graduate students interested in Conflict and Dispute Resolution. The ADR program is ranked 12th in the country by ''U.S. News & World Report'' for the 2020–21 academic year. The law school's Legal Research and Writing (LRW) Program also is well regarded. For the 2020–21 academic year, ''U.S. News & World Report'' ranked the LRW Program number 1 in the nation.

Law publications

The School of Law is home to several legal journals. * The ''

'' is a student-run law journal founded in 1986 and dedicated to the examination of environmental and natural resources law. * The ''Oregon Law Review'' is the flagship

law review A law review or law journal is a scholarly journal or publication that focuses on legal issues. A law review is a type of legal periodical. Law reviews are a source of research, imbedded with analyzed and referenced legal topics; they also pro ...

of the University of Oregon School of Law. It was founded in 1921 and originally run by the school faculty. From 19251938 the ''Law Review'' served as the journal for the Oregon Bar Association. By 1967, the ''Law Review'' had been turned over to a student board of editors. Published on a biannual basis, it is the oldest continually published law journal in the Pacific Northwest. * The ''Oregon Review of International Law'' is a student-run journal founded in 1999 and published continually since. It specializes in topics pertaining to international law and policy.

Employment

More than 91% of Oregon Law’s 2021 class is employed as of 10 months after graduation.

Costs

The total cost of attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at Oregon for the 2018–2019 academic year was $60,342 for non-residents and $50,814 for Oregon residents. The Law School Transparency estimated debt-financed cost of attendance for three years is $199,048 for non-residents and $170,167 for Oregon residents.

Public Interest Environmental Law Conference

The Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (PIELC) is a conference held annually on the first weekend in March at the University of Oregon School of Law in Eugene,

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The conference is a gathering of

environmental activists The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement), also including conservation and green politics, is a diverse philosophical, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues. Environmentalists advo ...

, advocates, and students from across the United States and the world. PIELC is organized and hosted by the students involved in the environmental law society "Land Air Water" (LAW). Land Air Water is a student group at the University of Oregon School of Law. It is co-sponsored by Friends of Land Air Water, a University of Oregon/Land Air Water

alumni Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...

group that helps advise the student organizers. The conference has six to ten internationally recognized keynote addresses and over 120 panels. The conference has been held since 1983 and celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2012. The conference is held on the first weekend in March. Early panels start Thursday afternoon, and the official opening is Thursday evening. It closes with a final address Sunday at noon. Typically the conference has around 2,000 attendees. The content of the conference is aimed at professional environmental activists, such as people that work in

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

public interest The public interest is "the welfare or well-being of the general public" and society. Overview Economist Lok Sang Ho in his ''Public Policy and the Public Interest'' argues that the public interest must be assessed impartially and, therefore ...

organizations such as the Wilderness Society, the

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who be ...

, and the Oregon Natural Desert Association and public interest environmental attorneys like Earthjustice, Natural Resources Defense Council, and private public interest attorneys. CLE credits are available. The conference is also of interest to students of

and

environmental studies Environmental studies is a multidisciplinary academic field which systematically studies human interaction with the environment. Environmental studies connects principles from the physical sciences, commerce/economics, the humanities, and social ...

, and each year it hosts groups from around a dozen different schools. The conference is unapologetically pro-public interest, and pro-environment. It does not attempt to persuade the general public that environmental issues matter. It is a forum for the people who are actively enforcing environmental law, and promoting environmental values to talk among themselves, and share experiences, strategies, and news.

Notable alumni

Ann Aiken Ann Louise Aiken (born December 29, 1951) is an American attorney and jurist in the state of Oregon. A native Oregonian, she has served as a state court judge of the Oregon circuit courts and worked in private legal practice. She is currently a ...

(1979) – Chief Judge,

United States District Court for the District of Oregon The United States District Court for the District of Oregon (in case citations, D. Ore. or D. Or.) is the United States district court, federal district court whose jurisdiction comprises the state of Oregon. It was created in 1859 when the sta ...

Robert C. Belloni Robert Clinton Belloni (April 4, 1919 – November 3, 1999) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Oregon. He was instrumental in upholding Native American fishing rights in the Pacific Northwe ...

(1951) – former Judge, United States District Court for the District of Oregon *

Suzanne Bonamici Suzanne Marie Bonamici ( ; born October 14, 1954) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Oregon's 1st congressional district, a seat she was first elected to in a 2012 special election. The district includes m ...

(1983) – member,

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

David V. Brewer David V. Brewer (born 1951) is an American lawyer and judge, who served as a justice of the Oregon Supreme Court from 2013 to 2017. He retired on June 30, 2017, and was succeeded by Rebecca Duncan. Brewer was the Chief Judge of the Oregon Court ...

(1977) – Associate Justice of the

William A. Ekwall William Alexander Ekwall (June 14, 1887 – October 16, 1956) was an American politician, lawyer, and journalist who served one term as a United States representative from Oregon from 1935 to 1937. From 1942 to 1956, he served as a United States ...

(1912) – former member,

; former Judge, United States Customs Court *

Edward N. Fadeley Edward Norman Fadeley (December 13, 1929 – August 30, 2015) was an American attorney and politician in the state of Oregon. He was the 88th justice of the Oregon Supreme Court. Previously he served in both the Oregon House of Representative ...

(1957) – former Justice,

John Frohnmayer John Frohnmayer (born June 1, 1942) is a retired attorney from the U.S. state of Oregon. He was the fifth chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, a program of the United States government. He was appointed by President George H. W. Bush i ...

(1972) – former Chairman of the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

Helen J. Frye Helen Jackson Frye (December 10, 1930 – April 21, 2011) was an American judge and attorney in the state of Oregon. She served as a judge of the Oregon Circuit Court and later as a United States federal judge, United States district judge of the ...

(1966) – former Judge, United States District Court for the District of Oregon *

Alfred Goodwin Alfred Theodore Goodwin (June 29, 1923 – December 27, 2022) was an American jurist who was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and also a district judge of the United States District Cour ...

(1951) – Senior Judge,

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * District o ...

* Bert E. Haney (1903) – former Judge, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals * Arthur D. Hay (1911) – former Justice, Oregon Supreme Court *

Donald Hodel Donald Paul Hodel (born May 23, 1935) is an American former politician who served as United States Secretary of Energy and Secretary of the Interior. He was known during his tenure as Secretary of the Interior for his controversial "Hodel Policy," ...

(1960) – former

Secretary of Energy The United States secretary of energy is the head of the United States Department of Energy, a member of the Cabinet of the United States, and fifteenth in the presidential line of succession. The position was created on October 1, 1977, when Pr ...

and

Secretary of the Interior Secretary of the Interior may refer to: * Secretary of the Interior (Mexico) * Interior Secretary of Pakistan * Secretary of the Interior and Local Government (Philippines) * United States Secretary of the Interior See also

*Interior ministry ...

; former President, Christian Coalition; former President and CEO,

Focus on the Family Focus on the Family (FOTF or FotF) is a fundamentalist Protestant organization founded in 1977 in Southern California by James Dobson, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The group is one of a number of evangelical parachurch organizations ...

* Earl C. Latourette (1912) – former Chief Justice, Oregon Supreme Court * Malcolm F. Marsh (1954) – Senior Judge, United States District Court for the District of Oregon *

Yōsuke Matsuoka was a Japanese diplomat and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Empire of Japan during the early stages of World War II. He is best known for his defiant speech at the League of Nations in February 1933, ending Japan's participation in the organ ...

(1900) –

Foreign Minister A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Julius L. Meier Julius L. Meier (December 31, 1874 – July 14, 1937) was an American businessman, civic leader, and politician in the state of Oregon. The son of the Meier & Frank department store founder, he would become a lawyer before entering the family b ...

(1895) – former

Governor of Oregon The governor of Oregon is the head of government of Oregon and serves as the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The title of governor was also applied to the office of Oregon's chief executive during the provisional and U.S. ter ...

Hardy Myers Hardy Myers (October 25, 1939 – November 29, 2016) was an American lawyer and Democratic politician who served three terms as the 15th attorney general of the state of Oregon, United States. Prior to taking office in 1997, he served from 1975 ...

(1964) – former

Edwin J. Peterson Edwin J. Peterson (March 30, 1930 – December 2, 2023) was an American jurist in the state of Oregon. He was the 39th Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, serving from 1983 to 1991, and was a Distinguished Jurist in Residence at Willamett ...

(1957) – former Chief Justice, Oregon Supreme Court * Raymond F. Rees, (1976)

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

, acting

Chief of the National Guard Bureau The chief of the National Guard Bureau (CNGB) is the highest-ranking officer of the National Guard and the head of the National Guard Bureau. The position is a statutory office (), held by a federally recognized commissioned officer who has serv ...

Adjutant General An adjutant general is a military chief administrative officer. France In Revolutionary France, the was a senior staff officer, effectively an assistant to a general officer. It was a special position for lieutenant-colonels and colonels in staf ...

* R. William Riggs (1968) – former Justice, Oregon Supreme Court *

Ellen Rosenblum Ellen F. Rosenblum (born January 6, 1951) is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the Oregon Attorney General since 2012. She is the first female state attorney general in Oregon's history, and previously was a judge on the Oregon ...

(1975) –

; former Judge,

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 ...

. * David Schuman (1984) – former Judge,

; former associate dean and professor at the University of Oregon School of Law *

Frederick Steiwer Frederick Steiwer (October 13, 1883February 3, 1939) was an American politician and lawyer in the state of Oregon. A native of the state, he was county district attorney and member of the Oregon State Senate from eastern Oregon and a veteran o ...

(1908) – former

United States Senator The United States Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives being the Lower house, lower chamber. Together they compose the national Bica ...

from Oregon * Jacob Tanzer (1959) – former Justice, Oregon Supreme Court *

Thomas Tongue Thomas H. Tongue III (February 12, 1912 – May 31, 1994) was an American jurist in the state of Oregon. A native of the state, he served as the 75th justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, serving 13 years on the state's highest court. Tongue w ...

(1937) – former Justice, Oregon Supreme Court * Richard Unis (1953) – former Justice, Oregon Supreme Court *

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 ...

(1977) – Justice, Oregon Supreme Court * Harold Warner (1916) – former Chief Justice, Oregon Supreme Court *

Wendell Wyatt Wendell Wyatt (June 15, 1917 – January 28, 2009) was an American attorney and Republican United States Representative from Oregon's 1st congressional district who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1964 until 1975. ...

(1941) – former member, United States House of Representatives *

Ron Wyden Ronald Lee Wyden (; born May 3, 1949) is an American politician and retired educator serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Oregon, a seat he has held since 1996 United Stat ...

(1974) – United States Senator from Oregon *

(1939) – namesake for ''

Yasui v. United States ''Yasui v. United States'', 320 U.S. 115 (1943), was a United States Supreme Court case regarding the constitutionality of curfews used during World War II when they were applied to citizens of the United States.. The case arose out of the implemen ...

' *

Fred Risser Fred A. Risser (born May 5, 1927) is a retired American Democratic politician. He holds the record as the longest-serving state legislator in American history, having served 58 years in the Wisconsin State Senate and six years in the Wisconsi ...

(1952) – Wisconsin State Senator and longest serving state legislator in America History.

References

External links

Law School in Portland
{{Authority control * Environmental law schools

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

1884 establishments in Oregon Natural resources law Law schools in Oregon