Expertise & Excellence » community engagement

Legal clinic aids small businesses through collaborative workshops

Jodi Heintz — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 22:04:52 +0000

Faced with growing demand for access to its legal services, the Lewis & Clark Law School Small Business Legal Clinic (SBLC) is organizing community outreach seminars to reach a broader audience.

On April 9 SBLC held an Intellectual Property seminar for about 45 small business owners. Presenters included Randy Foster and Jay Rafter, partners at Stoel Rives in the Intellectual Property group. The clinic has also held seminars on contract law and employment law.

SBLC will organize four seminars in May and June, all of which focus on tax and other payroll deductions for small businesses. They will partner with representatives from the Internal Revenue Service, the Oregon Department of Revenue, WorkSource, Oregon, the Social Security Administration, and the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services.

Learn more about the seminars and register.

Alum earns Vichrow Award for anthropological research

Jodi Heintz — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 23:00:58 +0000

Selena Jorgensen ‘08 has been awarded the Rudolph Virchow Award for best undergraduate paper, given annually by the Society for Medical Anthropology. The award recognizes works that are deemed to reflect, extend or advance critical perspectives in medical anthropology. Jorgensen, a sociology/anthropology major, is now studying at Harvard Medical School.

In her senior thesis, The Little Clinic that Could: Neoliberalism, Structural Violence, and Community Resistance in Portland, Oregon, Jorgensen details the socio-economic effects of a local health clinic struggling to serve the uninsured. She writes:

“Unable to obtain sustainable funding, the clinic is in danger of being absorbed into the very system its directors had previously resisted. It must adopt bureaucratic policies to qualify for federal funding, which concomitantly entails accepting notions about patient prioritization that prevent the most vulnerable community members from accessing health care. Following the transition of this community clinic into a public entity reveals how the guidelines under which federal clinics function are in opposition to the purpose for which they are created and funded. If these federally funded clinics are unable to provide quality care for the uninsured, then what are they structured to do? How do these federal clinics represent political agendas and long‐standing historical processes which continue to reproduce inequality and enforce normalized standards upon vulnerable patient populations?”

Slideshow: Pamplin Society welcomes seven new members

Emily — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:35:44 +0000

The Pamplin Society of Fellows formally inducted seven new members in a ceremony on October 20th. This year’s inductees (Rebecca Fitch, Riley Johnson, Dieterich Lawson, Emily Nguyen, Lili Pill-Kahan, Leah Scott-Zechlin, and Alex Simon) joined the ranks of 21 students, more than 70 alumni, and four endowed professors. Membership is extended to seven students each year as they begin their second year at the College.

Click to view photographs

Members of the Society demonstrate the characteristics outlined by Dr. Robert B. Pamplin, the Society’s founder: an exceptional blend of intellectual talent, dedication to the welfare of one’s community, the habit of physical fitness, and personal integrity. The Society includes members with a diversity of achievements, talents, majors and geographic representation.

The student Fellows determine, plan, and implement a number of programs that the Society sponsors to enhance the co-curricular educational environment of the College. Upon graduation from Lewis & Clark, fellows maintain their membership for life.

Law Student Nick Kahl wins District 49 House race

tspeel — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 23:58:39 +0000

Law student Nick Kahl attributes his win in the District 49 House race to voter outreach. Kahl, who took in 56% of the votes against his opponent John Nelsen, was not very surprised with his victory: “We ran an aggressive grassroots campaign. I’ve knocked on, I’d say, 14,000 doors. The amount of voter outreach – that was the difference-maker.” Although Kahl was pleased with his win, he stresses that he wants to make a difference in his community first and foremost by revitalizing the sense of pride in Rockwood that he was so used to as a child growing up.

The Gresham Outlook (Gresham, Ore.) Kahl ready to fight for East County in Salem

Lewis & Clark faculty share election expertise

tspeel — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 21:02:03 +0000

Throughout the election season, members of the Lewis & Clark faculty offered their expert analyses of various political races. Weighing issues of race, culture, and history, faculty members have studied the presidential race, as well as congressional races and ballot measures.

Explore this interactive map to learn more about Lewis & Clark faculty members’ contributions to the national political discourse in various media outlets throughout the spring, summer, and fall. The map provides links to full-text versions of more than 30 articles citing Lewis & Clark faculty experts that appeared in newspapers from Detroit to Denver, Washington, D.C. to Seattle, and throughout the Portland metro area.

Recent updates include:

Robert Klonoff, dean of the law school, in the National Law Journal, November 6

Cynthia Cosgrave, teacher education instructor, in Beaverton Valley Times, October 23

Faculty members featured:

*John Callahan, Morgan S. Odell professor of humanities

*Cynthia Cosgrave, teacher education instructor

*Robert Eisinger, associate professor of political science

*Alejandra Favela, assistant professor of education

*Steven Hunt, professor of communication

*James Huffman, Erskine Wood Sr. professor of law

*Robert Klonoff, dean of the law school

*Robert Miller, professor of law

Callahan and Eisinger discuss the importance youth participation has on politics

tspeel — Tue, 13 May 2008 17:08:55 +0000

John Callahan, Morgan Odell Professor of Humanities, and Robert Eisinger, associate professor of political science, recently spoke with the Seattle Post Intelligencer about the exciting injection of youth participation in Oregon politics this election season.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Seattle, Wash.) Obama gets young people back in the race

Four students win Projects for Peace grant

Anne — Tue, 06 May 2008 22:30:06 +0000

Lewis & Clark students Claire Battaglia ‘10, Jimmie Cotton ‘08, Casey Nelson ‘08, and Betto van Waarden ‘10 won the 2008 Projects for Peace competition with a proposal titled “Cultivating Peace: Empowering the Orphaned Children of Criamar in Ceilandia, Brazil.” Projects for Peace is an initiative sponsored to honor the 100th birthday of Mrs. Kathryn Wasserman Davis. Recipients receive $10,000 grants. Read more here.

Law students honored for pro bono work

Anne — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 20:47:27 +0000

The law school made its tenth annual presentation of the Pro Bono Honors Awards and the seventh annual presentation of the Community Service Honors Awards. Twenty-five percent of the law school’s student body received an award this year, and law school students reported 8,990 hours of pro bono work for the 2007-08 academic year—the equivalent of one person working full-time for four and a half years. Read more here.

Six undergraduates receive Fulbright Awards

Anne — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:50:51 +0000

A record six seniors received Fulbright Awards this spring.

Recipients include Ian Hooper (teaching award, Germany), Katie Loebner (teaching award, Indonesia), Matthew Nelson (teaching award, Russia), Brandon Nichter (research award, Chile), Kate Phillips (teaching award, Thailand), and Katherine Spingarn (teaching award, Germany).

To learn more, explore this interactive map and read about the Fulbright recipients in the online newsroom.

Junior earns Truman Scholarship for public service

Anne — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 20:04:24 +0000

Ben Brysacz, a junior political science major, has earned the nation’s top prize for undergraduate leadership. Brysacz received one of 65 Truman scholarships awarded this year, an honor which brings up to $30,000 for graduate study, leadership training, and fellowship with other students who are committed to making a difference through public service. Listen to a podcast about this award.

Associate Dean of Admissions selected to serve on Portland Public Schools committee

Anne — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 20:29:04 +0000

Adrienne Enriquez, associate dean of admissions and director of multicultural recruitment:

Enriquez has been selected to serve on the Citizen’s Budget Review Committee of the Portland Public Schools Board of Education. The group is charged with the task of reviewing and making recommendations on the Superintendent’s proposed budget.

Law student runs for House District 49

tspeel — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 07:00:00 +0000

Law student Nick Kahl is running against city councilor Barbara Kyle in the Democratic primary for House District 49. If elected, Kahl says his main focus would be on health care and education. Kahl believes that, “it’s the little policy changes that are going to help us take back our community.”

The Oregonian (Portland, Ore.) Living wage jobs vital to District 49 hopefuls

Undergraduate to speak at Earth in Crisis Summit

Anne — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 20:57:52 +0000

Claire Cushing, a first year undergraduate student, will speak at Westview High School’s Earth in Crisis Summit, hosted by the Awareness to Action Club. Cushing has played a key role in fundraising for the non-profit Invisible Children, a group that brings to light the issue of Northern Uganda’s child soldiers.

The Beaverton Valley Times (Beaverton, Ore.) Club seeks to increase world awareness through summit

Undergraduates travel to Oaxaca, Mexico to document immigration

Anne — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 21:03:06 +0000

A feature on alternative spring break programs details Lewis & Clark’s immigration history course, US-Mexico Borderlands, which traveled to Oaxaca and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico March 22-29 to document Oaxacan immigration to Oregon. Read more here.

The Oregonian (Portland, Ore.) Breaking away

Small Business Legal Clinic assists low-income entrepreneurs and emerging businesses

Anne — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 21:04:01 +0000

The Small Business Legal Clinic at Lewis & Clark Law School, the recipient of a recent grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, provides valuable legal assistance to low-income entrepreneurs and emerging businesses, who might otherwise not be able to afford the guidance they need.