Industry focus
How I represent clients at Schwabe
I devote the majority of my law practice to clients in the forest products industry. I have extensive experience, beginning in 1975, representing owners of sawmills, veneer plants, Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) mills, plywood mills, and timberlands.
I was raised in the coastal timber community of Coos Bay, Oregon. I returned to Coos Bay after finishing law school and a one-year clerkship on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In my 12-year stint practicing law in Coos Bay, I was deeply involved in the legal and business affairs of a number of closely held forest products companies in southwestern Oregon—providing the knowledge base to kick-start my long-tenured practice in the forest products industry. In 1987, I moved to Portland and became a partner at Schwabe; the Schwabe platform enabled me to diversify my practice both geographically and in terms of industry business lines.
I worked as a timber cruiser and land surveyor in my law school years, joined industry clients on business trips to Asia and Chile, and practiced in the industry for nearly 41 years. I know your industry from top to bottom.
Experience
- Assisted clients in the acquisition and disposition of millions of acres of timberland.
- Assisted clients in resolving numerous disputes with federal and state agencies which sell timber sale contracts.
- Assisted clients in navigating the vagaries of the U.S. Small Business Administration set-aside timber sale program.
- Assisted clients navigating the vagaries of the federal log export and substitution rules.
Education
- University of Oregon School of Law, Juris Doctor degree (1974)
- University of Oregon, Bachelor of Science degree (1971)
Admissions
- Oregon State Courts
- U.S. Court of Appeals - Ninth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals - Federal Circuit
- U.S. District Court - District of Oregon
- United States Court of Federal Claims
Memberships
- American Forest Resource Council, Member
- Oregon Forest Industry Council, Member
Awards
- U.S. News & World Report – Best Lawyers, “Law Firm of the Year” in Timber Law, Team Member (2015 and 2018)
- U.S. News & World Report – Best Lawyers, National Tier 1 Firm in Timber Law, Team Member (2015-2018)
- Best Lawyers in America Award, Natural Resources Law & Timber Law (1989-2022)
Community Activities
Former member of the Boards of Directors/Trustees of:
- Friends of the Children, Portland, serving two years as Chair
- Friends of the Children Scholarship Committee (Founder)
- The High Desert Museum
- The Marshfield High School Scholarship Committee
- The Western Resource Legal Center
- American Bar Association Natural Resources, Energy and Environmental Law Section
- Central Oregon Community College Foundation
- University Club, Portland, Oregon (President one year)
Outside Interests
Fly-fishing in Montana with my wife, Judi.
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