Willamette Law is pleased to announce a new addition to its adjunct faculty. Dustin Buehler ’00, a Willamette University alumnus, will begin teaching 1L Civil Procedure in the fall.
Buehler is general counsel for the Office of Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and a pro tem instructor for the University of Oregon School of Law’s Portland Program. From 2010 to 2015, he was a tenured law professor on the faculty at the University of Arkansas School of Law with now-Willamette Law Dean Brian Gallini.
“To say that I’m thrilled to have Professor Buehler teaching at Willamette would be a dramatic understatement,” Gallini says. “He is a gifted teacher, a brilliant scholar, and his ability to connect with students is unmatched. He was voted Professor of the Year by the students at the University of Arkansas in three consecutive years — I am certain our talented Willamette students will enjoy his classes.”
In Arkansas, Buehler and Gallini’s offices were next door. Buehler holds a high degree of respect for the dean, and when he was asked to join Willamette Law as an adjunct, he said yes without hesitation.
“I cannot wait to jump back in [to teaching],” Buehler says. “First-year students are so eager to learn, and they bring so much raw passion and an already well-developed sense of what is fair and what is unfair. It is such an honor to harness that energy, and to serve as one of their guides during their first year of law school.”
Buehler attended the University of Washington School of Law, graduating in 2007. Prior to joining the governor’s office, he clerked for Judge Alfred T. Goodwin of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Pasadena, Calif., worked as an attorney for Davis Wright Tremaine in Seattle, and served as an assistant attorney general for the Oregon Department of Justice.
Buehler’s varied experience and scholarship will bring depth to his instruction in Civil Procedure, which typically covers an introduction to the rules controlling the litigation of civil cases. He says the course has an unfair reputation for being dry and overly technical, but he disagrees.
“The class is extremely interesting because it is fundamentally about fairness — how do we ensure that litigants get their day in court, and, at the end of the day, how do we ensure that parties accept and obey the court’s ruling?” he says. “Experienced the right way, the facts and law of Civil Procedure are fascinating, exhilarating and (dare I say?) even fun.”
