Federal Public Defender, District of Oregon

Welcome 2024 FPD summer law clerks! Please join us in welcoming our 2024 cohort of summer law clerks (front row, left to right): Nico Salter Martin, Em Atkinson, Spencer Wollan, Cole Jensen, Rosa Wolf, Madhavi Subramaniam, Aazaad Burn, Colin Backhaus, Andy Essa (and back row, right to left), Alexandra Melishkevich, Zoe Fielden, Ella Dewars, Sophia Wooden, Ben Sammons, and Ike Nwankwo (Olivia Wenzlick not pictured). We are so excited to welcome you into the FPD Oregon family.

Our own Chief Paralegal, Kip Manley, joined the Honorable Judge Beckerman, and LRW Clinical Professor Rebekah Hanley for a great presentation at the Oregon District Court Conference last week. What a team!

Last week we said goodbye our much-loved colleague and friend Dawn Penn. Dawn has left us for the endless sunshine and bright lights of FPD District of Nevada, where she will be the newest star of the non-capital habeas team. Dawn leaves us with an impossible gap to fill: through steady hard work, deep compassion, and persistent faith in her clients she amassed a long and impressive string of wins (that is, win after win after win after win after win and, well, you get the idea…). We have not figured out exactly how we are going to manage without her. In the interim, we take some consolation in the fact that she is staying in the FPD family and in celebrating the excellent fortune of FPD District of Nevada for hiring her.  

Last week we said goodbye our much-loved colleague and friend Dawn Penn. Dawn has left us for the endless sunshine and bright lights of FPD District of Nevada, where she will be the newest star of the non-capital habeas team. Dawn leaves us with an impossible gap to fill: through steady hard work, deep compassion, and persistent faith in her clients she amassed a long and impressive string of wins (that is, win after win after win after win after win and, well, you get the idea…). We have not figured out exactly how we are going to manage without her. In the interim, we take some consolation in the fact that she is staying in the FPD family and in celebrating the excellent fortune of FPD District of Nevada for hiring her.  

Please join us in applauding Metropolitan Public Defender's hiring of two former FPD law clerks: the hard-working, client-centered, and amazingly talented Lauren Veronin (University of Oregon Law School) and John Herrmann (Lewis & Clark Law School). Lauren and John clerked at our office over the summer and fall of 2023. We are thrilled that they have landed at such an exceptional public defender's office, where they will get to learn from a group of brilliant, zealous, and supportive colleagues and advocates. Congratulations too to MPD for scoring these (truly) awesome new hires!!

Please join us in celebrating FPD intern Aleesha Kazi, who just recently accepted a two-year Federal Defender Diversity Fellowship with the Northern District of Ohio!! Aleesha clerked at our office fall 2023 to early spring 2024 and is a graduating 3L from University of Oregon of Law. Congratulations too to FPD Northern District of Ohio for landing such a highly competitive and stellar candidate!    

The United States District Court for the District of Oregon is accepting applications for a one-year term student internship as part of the Model Intern Program (MIP) offered through the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. This unique, year-long internship is being offered to junior and senior undergraduate students and is located in Portland, Oregon. The incumbent will engage in a wide range of tasks and will gain exposure to work performed in the District Court, Probation, Pretrial Services, and the Federal Public Defender (FPD). More information about this opportunity can be found here: https://lnkd.in/dJfrWsJJ #Intership2024 #PortlandJobs #OregonJobs #diversityandinclusion

Please join us in welcoming Kyle Carter back to our office! Kyle will be working with us until the end of September as a Mitigation Specialist and Social Worker, based out of our Portland office. Kyle worked with us as a Social Work intern during the 2022-2023 school year and has worked in the law offices of George Wall as a paralegal focused on Social Security Disability claims. Kyle also has experience working with disabled adults in a transition home, and additional experience as a case manager focused on the Social Security disability process. We are excited to have Kyle Join us for the rest of this fiscal year! Welcome Kyle! 

Please join us in welcoming Justine Bonner, a former law clerk who has returned as an R&W to help us out with appellate and habeas work for the remainder of the year. Justine was a law clerk with us in 2017 and 2018, and a Law Clerk for US Magistrate Judge You from 2019 to 2021. Welcome Justine Bonner