Alumni
Securing the Rights of Others
The government is going to bulldoze your house in 90 days to make way for a new freeway. They offer you an insultingly small amount of money for your precious home. But you can’t fight the government — or can you? Top Washington condemnation attorney Mike Rodgers JD’68 says you can fight back and win big.
“Private property owners have some important constitutional rights that need to be protected,” said Rodgers, the founding partner of the Bellevue, Wash., condemnation law firm of Rodgers, Deutsch & Turner. “We make sure property owners get full and adequate compensation for their property or damage to their property.”
Students
The Judicious Balance of School and Family
Walking by a study carrel in the law library, it would be easy to mistake Joshua Lute for just another student preparing for class. But the self-possessed Lute is not your ordinary law student. A member of the Class of 2007, Lute deftly balances his school work with a home life that includes a wife and four children. Despite his many responsibilities, he has been highly successful; he was ranked in the top of the class of 160 students.
Faculty
A Supreme Legal Educator
I’ve circled around Willamette my whole life,” said Assistant Professor of Law Jeffrey C. Dobbins, a native Portlander. “I’ve always had a consistent level of respect for the College of Law. It is the most well-rounded law school in the state. Its relationship with state government and its location near the Capitol and state appellate courts afford students an important experience that is easily missed in other law schools.”
Dobbins, who clerked for Justice John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court, knows firsthand how working with lawmakers can strengthen a young attorney’s lawyering skills. “I hope to be able to draw on cases I’ve worked on and those at issue when I was a clerk to illustrate what relevant rules of law are and to illustrate what will be most relevant to my students’ careers once they graduate,” he said.
