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transforming the practice of law.. |
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MLLS Essay Contest This Summer, Mary Leonard Law Society held its first annual essay contest for incoming Willamette University College of Law students. Inspired by the presidential campaign of Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, MLLS asked the students to address whether it is important for women to continue to amass power now that half of all law school graduates are women….
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Next Event 12/8
MLLS Meeting Get Involved! How to Attain Leadership Positions in Non-Governmental Organizations Join us Join us for a lunchtime panel of women lawyers who serve on or have transitioned into executive positions with non-governmental organizations, such as Kathleen Evans, President-elect of the Oregon State Bar, and Lois Cole, Executive Director of Historic Deepwood Estate. This is a brownbag event, free to all.
Noon—1 p.m., Goudy Commons, Willson Room, Willamette University
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Board Member Profile—Vanessa A. Nordyke A Salem native, Vanessa traveled to various parts of Latin America, the Caribbean, Southeast Asia, and Western Europe starting at age 11. In high school, she played sports, sang in choir, painted a mural across from the cafeteria, and served as a cartoonist for the school paper. She interpreted Spanish for a Salem law firm while attending the University of Oregon from 1998 to 2000. In 2000, Vanessa transferred from the University of Oregon to Georgetown University. Following a cross-country drive to Washington, D.C., she dug into her studies, cramming three years of mandatory coursework in four semesters and two summers. She also interned for U.S. Senator Ron Wyden and later worked as a student assistant for the Colombia Program, a think-tank funded by Georgetown and USAID. By August 2002, she completed an honors thesis and graduated cum laude from GU’s School of Foreign Service with a B.S. in International Political Economy (half political science classes and half economics classes, with an international twist). Her favorite class was Film Analysis: Alfred Hitchcock (with Macroeconomics a close second). She enjoyed living in an international city, taking advantage of D.C.'s wide variety of ethnic restaurants, musical offerings, museums, and galleries whenever she could.
Upon graduation, Vanessa worked as a researcher at the Washington, D.C., headquarters for Puerto Rico’s first female governor, Sila Calderon. She later became a political campaign “team captain” for various causes and candidates. The campaign season’s 10- to12-hour days proved to be excellent preparation for law school and the bar exam. In 2004, Vanessa learned that her best friend was trying out for American Idol on the weekend after her LSAT examination. Vanessa accompanied her best friend to the San Francisco auditions and tried out herself (because really, why not?). Having realized that the music industry was not ready for her ‘sound,’ Vanessa had no choice but to enroll at the University of Oregon School of Law. Back in academic territory, she dug into her studies, but this time with an eye towards gaining more leadership experience. She became the Co-Director of the Women's Law Forum (WLF), President of the American Constitution Society (ACS), and founder and Director of Domestic Violence Streetlaw. At WLF, Vanessa and Co-Director Gloria Trainor directed or co-sponsored over a dozen events during the 2007-2008 academic year. Vanessa organized or co-sponsored several events for ACS, a relatively new student group, and raised the group's profile by organizing an event on Brandon Mayfield's "Patriot Act" case for over 100 attendees and coverage by local print and television news media. Vanessa founded and trained other law students to support Domestic Violence Streetlaw, which introduced Eugene-area high school students to legal resources and the rights of domestic violence victims. Vanessa began clerking during her first summer and continued working until the final months of her third year. She first clerked for her father’s family law practice, a solo practitioner catering to low-income clients. She then externed for the Oregon Court of Appeals, working for the panel of the Honorable David Schuman, the Honorable Jack L. Landau, and the Honorable Darleen Ortega. She then clerked for the Appellate Division of the Oregon Department of Justice.
Presently, Vanessa is an Honors Attorney at the Oregon Department of Justice. She is the Ex Oficio officer for the Willamette Valley Inns of Court, Co-Programs Coordinator for the Mary Leonard Law Society, and member of the Oregon State Bar and Marion County Bar Association. Her fondness for traveling, as well as video games and sci-fi movies, accompanied Vanessa into adulthood. Her relatively new interests include cooking and a variety of outdoorsy activities. |
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THE Imprint PROGRAM The Imprint Program is coming to Marion County! The program will pair a high school student with an attorney and provide them with the opportunity to form a one-on-one relationship through reading a popular book from the student’s curriculum and exchanging letters as pen-pals, providing the student an opportunity to interact with a positive adult role model. For some, the volunteer attorney is the only adult relationship the student has outside of school and family. The program will conclude with a pizza party where the student and volunteer attorney will meet face-to-face. It is a rewarding, meaningful program for both the students and volunteer attorneys. The time commitment is minimal, but the rewards are huge! More information will be coming your way soon.
Sponsored by MCBA, Mary Leonard Law Society and Willamette University College of Law. |
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Hadley Rose: A Lawyer Helping Those Who Can’t Help Themselves….Next Adventure...Phnom Penh In May, 2008, Hadley Rose graduated from Willamette University College of Law. In September of 2008, after serving as Editor in Chief of the Willamette law Review and spending a summer working at the Grameen bank in Bangladesh, Hadley went to Kegali, Rwanda to work with the International Justice Mission (IJM), a Christian organization dedicated to fighting injustice. After 10 months in Rwanda, Hadley will return to the United States...for a short while…..next stop...Phmon Penh
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Practice Tips: Advice from Marion County Judges and Court Staff.
The following practice tips, Tips For Law Clerks, reflects a “polling” of judges and staff over a number of years and may not reflect the opinions of all members currently on the bench. |
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Suggestions? Do you have an idea for a monthly meeting topic or a speaker you would like to invite? Activities for MLLS to sponsor or participate? Would you like to volunteer?
Please let us know by sending your suggestions to: |
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The Mary Leonard Law Society wants to thank the folks at Puddletown for hosting our site. |
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Vanessa A. Nordyke |
