PUBLISHED QUARTERLY BY OREGON WOMEN LAWYERS VOLUME 22, No. 4 FALL 2011

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womenL A W Y E R S "

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PresidentHeather L Weigler

Vice President, President-ElectMegan Livermore

SecretaryCashauna Hill

TreasurerKathleen J. Rastetter

HistorianKendra Matthews

Board MembersSally Anderson-HansellHon. Frances BurgeMegan BurgessBonnie Cafferky CarterLaura Craska CooperDana FormanGina HagedornAmber HollisterElizabeth Tedesco MilesnickHon. Julia PhilbrookCassandra SkinnerLopataShannon ReelHon. Jill TannerGloria TrainorHeather WallochHon. Youlee You

Past PresidentsConcetta SchwesingerGwyneth McAlpineHeather Van MeterLaura Caldera TaylorKellie JohnsonNorma S. FreitasKate A. WilkinsonJennifer K. De WaldSarah J. CrooksElizabeth SchwartzLori E. DevenyDebra Pilcher VelureMarilyn E. LitzenbergerTeresa M. KraemerPatricia L. HeathermanJulie Levie CaronPhylis Chadwell MylesHelle RodeDiana CraineKathryn M. RicciardelliAgnes SowleKatherine H. O'Neil

Executive DirectorLinda Tomassi, 503.595.7831linda@oregonwomenlawyers.org

AdvanceSheet EditorEliseGautier, 503.292.2893elise.gautier@comcast.net

www.oregonwomenlawyers.org

Remembering Betty Roberts: For Good

FBy Diane Rynerson and Norma S. Freitas

ormer Oregon Supreme Court Justice Betty Roberts died peacefullyat home, surrounded by her family, on a sunny Saturday afternoon,June 25, 2011. She was 88.

I've heard it said that people come into our lives fora reason, bring-ing something we must learn, and we are led to those who help usmost to grow if we let them, and we help them in return. *

The song "For Good" from the musical Wicked touched just the rightnote for those gathered at Portland State University on July 28 to cel-ebrate the life of Betty Roberts. Her dear friend Ann Aiken, chief judgeof the US District Court for the District of Oregon, introduced the song,saying, "It is only through dedicating our lives to the lives of others thatwe can work for good in this world. The song dedicated for today'sservice was chosen by Betty herself. She chose it to send a message: That in reaching out to toucheach of your lives, she ended up gaining so much more—you touched her life in return. And thatis how you must keep living. Carry Betty's torch—light others' torches—it is her charge to all of us:Start a bonfire!"

As Portland State Vice Provost Melody Rose said, "So much of Betty's life was spent in public servicethat is widely known and deeply appreciated—these are the contributions that come readily to mindin recent tributes to this unique and talented woman. But some of her greatest accomplishmentswere rarely chronicled because they were performed quietly, and often without attribution."

For Oregon Women Lawyers, Betty Roberts's public accomplishments had great significance: as aprominent legislator, a savvy campaigner, Oregon's first female appellate judge, and an early advocate

Continued on page 12

Anita Hill Speaks at OWLS Fall CLEBy Ellen Klem

The panel at the OWLS Fall CLE on October 14 (left to right):Judge Adrienne Nelson, Professor Anita Hill, Diane Schwartz Sykes

In 1991, Anita Hill's courageous testimonyduring the Clarence Thomas confirmationhearings sparked a national conversation

about sexual harassment and women's equalityin politics and the workplace. Today, Anita Hillis a professor of social policy, law, and women'sstudies at Brandeis University. Her new book,Reimagining Equality: Stories of Gender, Race,and Finding Home, was published in October.

On October 14, OWLS welcomed Professor Hillto Portland to deliver an inspirational keynoteaddress at the OWLS Fall CLE, held in downtownPortland and attended by nearly 300 people.

Before Professor Hill delivered her remarks,the Honorable Jill Tanner of the Oregon TaxCourt presented the OWLS Katherine H. O'NeilVolunteer Service Award to Terri Kraemer. Terriwas honored for her steadfast dedication and

Continued on page 14

OREGON WOMEN LAWYERS Arkanff.Ueet FALL 2011

Remembering Betty Robertsof alterna-

continued from page 1

tive disputeresolution,Betty Rob-erts provedit could bedone. Ev-ery bit asimportant,t h o u g h ,w a s h e rquiet work

rAmong the women judges for whom Justice Betty Roberts (at far right) paved the way (from left):

Justice Martha Walters, Judge Ellen Rosenblum, Judge Susan Graber, Chief Judge Mary Deits,Justice Virginia Under, Judge Darleen Ortega, Justice Susan Leeson

behind the scenes, offering wise counsel,whether cautionary or encouraging, toOregon Women Lawyers and the OregonWomen Lawyers Foundation, as wellas her absolute embrace of all womenlawyers and law students who hoped towork "for good."

Of the hundreds of people who at-tended her memorial service and thethousands more who couldn't be therebut wanted to be, a great percentagecounted her as a friend. Her genuineinterest in the lives of others quicklytranscended any barriers. Although shealways had advice, she also readily soughtthe ideas of others. Her almost boundlessenergy and her desire to keep learningand growing kept her connected with awide and varied circle of friends.

One of the areas in which she had thegreatest influence was in getting morewomen on the bench, then encouragingand supporting them once they werethere. Her help was hands-on and per-sonal, whether it was public or behindthe scenes: walking door to door withMarilyn Litzenberger to talk with votersin her successful 2002 campaign for theMultnomah County Circuit Court, askingformer Gov. Mark Hatfield to keynotethe Oregon Women Lawyers Founda-tion's 2001 celebration of 40 consecutiveyears of women judges on the Oregoncircuit court bench, or spending hourson the phone answering questions fromattorneys interested in becoming judges.Portland attorney Kathryn Root recallsworking with Betty Roberts and Multno-mah County Circuit Court Judge MercedesDeiz in 1989 to organize OWLS' first-ever "How to Become a Judge" seminar,thereby helping to demystify a processthat was then not widely understood.

Up until Betty's death, every womanwho followed her on the Oregon appel-late bench, from Susan Graber to LynnNakamoto, benefited from her practicaland personal assistance. Ellen Rosen-blum, senior judge of the Oregon Court

of Appeals, has called her "the motherof Oregon women lawyers and judgesand our mentor-in-chief." Former ChiefJudge of the Oregon Court of AppealsMary Deits said that arguing cases beforeJudge Roberts showed her that a womancould be an appellate judge. When MaryDeits went on the bench herself, BettyRoberts was the first person to call tooffer candid, blunt, humorous, and veryuseful advice.

According to Oregon Court of AppealsJudge Darleen Ortega, "Her example ofcourage and grace under tremendouspressure literally kept me from givingup early in my career—and her guid-ance and encouragement has cheeredand fortified me in the years since I havebeen a judge."

In 2002, when Justice Susan Leesonworried that leaving the Oregon SupremeCourt for health reasons might be seenas a betrayal to women, as she was theonly woman on the court, just as BettyRoberts had been, she said that the ques-tion was always "WWBRD?—What WouldBetty Roberts Do?" She phoned her andwas told, "Quit, get well, and don't everlook back!"

The very first woman lawyer whomOregon Supreme Court Justice VirginiaLinder ever met was Betty Roberts, thena gubernatorial candidate campaigningat Southern Oregon College. Later, whenshe was in law school, seeing Betty onthe bench gave her an ecstatic momentof recognition: "It gave me my sense ofplace in the courtroom. I knew I couldbelong there."

When Virginia Linder began doingappellate work for the Oregon Depart-ment of Justice, she didn't have muchmoney for an extensive wardrobe. Shespent $20 (a large sum for her at thattime) on a green dress to wear for oralargument. Later, she attended a "Womenin the Courtroom" conference, and oneof the sessions discussed "proper dress"for women litigators. The advice offered

did not sit well with Betty, so when shegave the luncheon keynote, she threwout her prepared remarks and spokeabout attitudes about women in thecourtroom. "Now take Gini Linder's greendress. That's perfectly appropriate courtwear." It was the first time she realizedthat Betty had noticed her.

Virginia Linder later asked Betty forher support when she put her name infor the Oregon Court of Appeals, tellingher she was a lesbian at the same time.Justice Linder says that when she decidedto run for the Oregon Supreme Court,"Betty grabbed my hand and jumpedout with me."

Betty Roberts lived her life with pur-pose. She taught us how to live, and shetaught us how to die. She acknowledgedthat pulmonary fibrosis was a fatal dis-ease, but she was engaged in life untilthe very end. Whether we knew her as asymbol of women's achievement, a rolemodel, an inspiring speaker, a teacher, afriend, or a treasured confidante, eachmember of Oregon Women Lawyers cansay, "Because I knew you I have beenchanged for good."*

For more on the life of Betty Roberts,read her memoir, With Grit and By Grace:Breaking Trails in Politics and Law (Or-egon State University Press, 2008) andher 2005 oral history, taken by OWLS'founding president, Katherine O'Neil,avai lable at www.americanbar.org/groups/sen iorjawyers/pages/roberts.html. A video of her memorial serviceis at http://echo360.pdx.edu/ess/echo/presentation/4c31aelb-9a02-45ec-a06b-4d460e6850ae.

* This quotation is from the song "ForGood" from the musical Wicked, music andlyrics by Stephen Schwartz.

Diane Rynerson is the executive directorof the National Conference of Women'sBar Associations. Norma Freitas is the as-sociate director of career and professionaldevelopment at Willamette UniversityCollege of Law.

OREGON WOMEN LAWYERS Adraiice

President's Message

A;

Heather L Weigler

L

bout amonthbefore

b e c o m i n gpresident ofOWLS, I hadmy first child(a daughterwhose nameis Ruby). De-spite havingread stacks ofbaby-relatedbooks before

her arrival, I found myself completelyunprepared for the challenges of mother-hood, particularly the challenges facinga working mother.

To be honest, I've had a difficult timebeing the lawyer, event organizer, andcommittee member I was before Rubyarrived. It's a rare day that I make it to theoffice on time. I've forgotten meetingsthat I would never have missed before,and when I do remember to attend I'musually flying by the seat of my (muchlarger than they used to be) pants. Insteadof worrying about winning motions, Iworry about whether Ruby is nappingand whether I can sneak out early. Andwith every passing day, I'm a little moreamazed that so many successful womenlawyers are also wonderful mothers.

Before I returned to work, I wrote my

friend Betty Roberts to congratulate heron her well-deserved honorary doctoratefrom Portland State University—of whichshe was very proud—and I took the op-portunity to ask her how she was ableto balance the demands of motherhoodwith her career. She told me this: "Mykids always gave me motivation to try alittle harder and do a good job—maybejust to show it could be done. But I thinkI wanted them to be proud of me, for ifthey were not, that in itself would befailure. Of course, Ruby is too youngto even know what you are doing, butsomeday she will."

I feel fortunate to have Betty's wisdomand encouragement to help keep megoing when the working-mother goinggets tough. As Diane Rynerson's tributeto Betty in this issue of the/AdvanceS/ieetnotes, Betty was dedicated to promot-ing other women in law and politicsand always willing to help her fellowwomen lawyers navigate the challengesof practicing law, both personal andprofessional.

I will never forget the first time I calledBetty for guidance. It took me a fewdays to get up the gumption to do it,as I was sure she'd have no idea who Iwas and would be too busy to help me.Although the former was probably true,the latter wasn't. I soon found myself inher apartment brainstorming how to get

OWLS' Political Leadership Series off theground.

Betty was gracious, kind, funny, andwise, and I was lucky to have the op-portunity to get to know her. For thoseOWLS members who didn't have thatopportunity, I hope you take the timeto ready her memoir. With Grit and ByGrace. It's a book every Oregonian, andevery woman, should read. Betty's storyhelps us appreciate how far women havecome. Because of Betty and women likeher, I have the luxury of figuring outhow to balance motherhood and a legalcareer. We owe it to them to rememberhow far we've come and to continue thefight toward gender equality.

I hope that someday Ruby will live in aworld in which equal numbers of womenand men serve in elective office; in whichwomen are paid as much as men for thesame work; in which women of all races,ethnicities, and sexual orientations havethe same opportunities and rights as theirstraight white male counterparts. And Ihope that someday both Betty and Rubywill be proud of me for doing all I can tomake that world a reality.

I've started by trying to make it to theoffice on time.

Heather L. WeiglerPresident, Oregon Women Lawyers

Nominations Due Nov. 9 for Roberts, Deiz Awards

OWLS invites nominations for the20th Annual Justice Betty Robertsand Judge Mercedes Deiz Awards.

The awards recognize and celebrate theaccomplishments of individuals in pro-moting women and minorities in the legalprofession and community in Oregon. Therecipients will be honored at the annualawards dinner on Friday, March 9, 2012,at the Nines Hotel in Portland.

The Justice Betty Roberts Award rec-ognizes an individual who has made anoutstanding contribution to promotingwomen in the legal profession and in thecommunity. The award recipient is a per-son who has influenced women to pursuelegal careers, opened doors for womenattorneys, or advanced opportunities forwomen within the profession.

The Judge Mercedes Deiz Award rec-ognizes an individual who has made anoutstanding contribution to promotingminorities in the legal profession andin the community. The recipient of thisaward is a person who has influencedminorities to pursue legal careers, openeddoors for minority attorneys, or advancedopportunities for minorities within theprofession.

Nominations must be received by 5 p.m.Wednesday, November 9, 2011. Nomina-tions must include the following:• the appropriate nomination form

(available on the OWLS website, www.oregonwomenlawyers.org);

• at least three letters of recommenda-tion; and

• detailed information about the

Judge Mercedes Deiz (left) andJustice Betty Roberts on Feb. 8, 1982

nominee explaining how thatperson fulfills the award's criteria.

Please direct questions and sendnominations (email preferred) to AmberHollister at aahollister@gmail.com; fax:971.204.0261; PO Box 231935, TigardOR 97281.

Our mission is to transform the practice of law and ensure justiceand equality by advancing women and minorities in the legal profession.

OREGON WOMEN LAWYERS Mi-aiirrS/leet