Successful business and real estate deals are all about good strategy and minding the details. So is chess. What’s the connection? As a former Oregon State Chess champion, I bring the same power of concentration it takes to win on a board with uniquely moving pieces and a determined opponent to create winning strategies for my business and real estate clients.
I enjoy assisting “Mom & Pop” clients with all nature of business, commercial, and real estate issues. As a strong legal researcher and writer, I also handle many of the firm’s cases before the appellate courts. I’ve worked with the Oregon Rules of Civil Procedure since they were adopted in 1979, so I’m often called upon as a resource for other attorneys on thorny procedural questions.
I was born and raised in San Francisco, California. After I graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1969 with a degree in Mathematics, I headed to Oregon to serve a two-year stint as a VISTA volunteer in Jackson County. I followed that up with another two years as Coordinator of a local public transportation program. In 1973 I married my love and moved to Salem to accept a position as a planner with the Oregon Mass Transit Division.
However, I became interested in law and entered Willamette University College of Law, where I received my Juris Doctorate, cum laude, in 1977. After serving as law clerk to Oregon Supreme Court Justice Thomas H. Tongue, I entered the law practice in Portland, emphasizing business, real estate and related litigation. I’ve been associated with Bennett, Hartman for over 25 years, first Of Counsel, as Partner in 2001, and Of Counsel since 2021.
I recently celebrated my 40th wedding anniversary and the birth of my first grandchild. I am indeed a former Oregon State Chess Champion, love the game, and am very active in the Oregon Chess Federation and the Portland Chess Club. Every summer, I look forward to my annual backpacking trip into Oregon’s magnificent wilderness areas. My wife and I also have been bitten by the travel bug and we have ventured to sites in Europe, South America and Southeast Asia.
Joined Firm
1988
Admitted to Bar
1977
Education
- A.B. Mathematics, University of California-Berkeley (1969);
- J.D. cum laude, Willamette University College of Law (1977).
Professional/Volunteer Activities
Portland Chess Club; former Oregon State Chess Champion; Mediator, Oregon Appellate Settlement Conference Program.
Publications
“Government Regulation of Franchises,” Advising Oregon Businesses, Ch. 67. Oregon State Bar Continuing Legal Education (2003 ed.)
Martindale-Hubbell Rating
AV