April 25, Lindsay Hart celebrated our annual Staff Appreciation Day. Our attorneys donned aprons to serve our staff members a delicious breakfast, complete with eggs, sausage, and fruit parfaits.
Partners James McCurdy and Bob Palmer hard at work!
Lindsay Hart attorneys in their aprons for Staff Appreciation Day.
Lindsay Hart sincerely appreciates our staff and the hard work they put in each day. We wish them a very happy Staff Appreciation Day!
Lindsay Hart attorney Katie Eichner was recently named a founding board member for the Native Amicus Briefing Project (NABP). NABP intends to act as amicus curiae with a special interest in Indian Law. Amicus curiae is Latin for “friend of the court” and is a person or organization, not party to a lawsuit, with a strong interest in the issue a lawsuit presents. An amicus brief is typically filed to educate and raise awareness about an aspect of the case that the parties may not have sufficient time or space to address. Amicus briefs are most common in special interest cases.
NABP was formed to foster the understanding of American Indian law and policy in federal courts. It aims to raise awareness about tribal sovereignty and potential legal implications of courts’ decisions in cases involving Indian and Tribal Law.
NABP is an open-source, collaborative project which provides amicus briefing support from volunteers. These volunteers are attorneys, board members, law students, and Indian Law practitioners from all over the United States.
NABP’s most recent project was an opportunity to edit several amicus briefs in the case of “Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl.” This South Carolina adoption case involves an infant who was given up by her mother at birth. The mother, who is not a tribal member, signed away her rights to the child and indicated the father did the same. The child’s father, a member of the Cherokee Nation, filed for a stay of adoption and full custody once he learned of the impending adoption. Because of the father’s tribal affiliation, the child is considered to be an “Indian Child” under the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), a federal law which seeks to keep American Indian children with American Indian families. ICWA was passed after a history of abusive child welfare practices involving American Indian children. This federal law mandated the adoptive couple to return the child to her birth father. The adoptive couple then filed a petition for certiorari from the U.S. Supreme Court which was granted on January 4, 2013.
NABP helped edit several amicus briefs filed on behalf of respondent Birth Father. NABP is honored to have played a small roll in a much larger collaborative effort by tireless Indian Country advocates to protect ICWA. The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing oral argument on the case today, April 16, 2013.
For more information on the NABP, please visit their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/nativeamicusbriefingproject
Photo credit Kai Hayashi
In October of 2012, Lindsay Hart attorney, James McCurdy, took on an animal ownership case involving a 77-pound, rescued Dachshund named Obie. Obie’s original owners- suffering from poor health themselves- loved Obie with food but gave him up once they realized his obesity could kill him. In August 2012, Nora Vanatta, an experienced veterinary technician, responded to a plea for help and undertook the care of Obie. Since then, she has been successfully facilitating his rehabilitation and put together a program leading to his extraordinary weight loss.
On October 23, 2012, after Obie had lost approximately 15 pounds and gained considerable media attention for his efforts, Oregon Dachshund Rescue sued Nora for custody of Obie. Nora approached James McCurdy after learning of his success in another pet ownership case earlier that year. Under Oregon law, pets are considered personal property, and must be transferred accordingly.
James took Nora’s case. In January 2013, James assisted by Lindsay Hart attorney, Katie Eichner, secured an outcome which allowed Nora to claim permanent ownership of Obie.
Obie is now down to 40 pounds and scheduled for a skin reduction surgery in the next couple of months.
We are thrilled to have helped Nora and Obie and wish them all the best in Obie’s continuing rehabilitation efforts!
For more information about James McCurdy, please visit his attorney page. To contact James directly, call 503.226.7677 or email jmccurdy@lindsayhart.com.
Obie in August of 2012 when he was first rescued by our client, Nora Vanatta.
Obie pictured in March 2013 after nearly 37 pounds of weight loss.
Updates regarding Obie and his weight loss can be found on his Facebook page (maintained by Nora Vanatta.)
On March 13, 2013, the Portland City Council voted unanimously to approve an ordinance requiring many Portland employers to offer workers sick leave. Sick pay is not currently a required benefit under Oregon law.
The new policy applies to businesses with 6 employees or more, smaller companies may offer unpaid leave. Employees can earn one hour of leave for every 30 hours worked, up to five days per year. Employees working primarily in other cities who work at least 240 hours in Portland are also covered under this policy. New employees will have to wait 90 days before utilizing accrued sick leave.
The City will continue to draft rules regarding this ordinance before it takes effect in January 2014.
Portland is the fourth city to pass a sick leave measure, behind Seattle, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. Philadelphia City Council members are expected to vote on a similar measure today.
For more information on how this new ordinance might affect your business, please contact one of our Employment lawyers.
On January 17, Lindsay Hart hosted the Oregon Chapter of the American Constitution Society’s annual Winter Social. The newest member of the Oregon Supreme Court, the Hon. Richard C. Baldwin, spoke at the event, providing those gathered with wonderful insight into his first couple of weeks on the Court. Also in attendance were former Justice Hans Linde of the Oregon Supreme Court, Judge Rex Armstrong of the Oregon Court of Appeals, and Judge Leslie Roberts of the Multnomah County Circuit Court.
The American Constitutional Society works to promote the vitality of the U.S. Constitution and the fundamental values it expresses: individual rights and liberties, genuine equality, access to justice, democracy and the rule of law. For more information, please visit the ACS website.
“Strategies for Opposing Requests for Admission” by Michael Estok was published in the recent issue of the Oregon Association of Defense Counsel’s publication, The Verdict.
To view the article, please visit:
“Strategies for Opposing Requests for Admission”
Michael Haglund, a Lindsay Hart alum, was elected President of the Oregon State Bar for 2013. Mike started as an associate attorney at Lindsay Hart in 1977 after a summer clerkship during law school. He was with the firm 11 years, becoming partner in 1982.
Cliff Collins wrote a fantastic article in this month’s Bar Bulletin highlighting Michael’s professional career, including the time he spent with Lindsay Hart. The article, entitled “Piloting the Bar,” also mentions his personal and professional background in maritime law, focusing on his representation of the Columbia River Bar Pilots and the book he penned in 2011, World’s Most Dangerous: A history of the Columbia River Bar, its pilots and their equipment.
To read the full article, “Piloting the Bar,” please visit the Oregon State Bar Bulletin.
Congratulations Mike! Your friends and colleagues at Lindsay Hart wish you success in your term as OSB President!
This Thursday, January 17th, Lindsay Hart will host the American Constitution Society Oregon Lawyer’s Chapter for their winter social. Oregon Supreme Court Justice, Hon. Richard C. Baldwin will be speaking at the event.
For more information about this event and the ACS, please visit:
http://www.acslaw.org/ORACSSocial
Please visit our Contact page for maps and directions.
After 4 years as an associate, Lindsay Hart is pleased to welcome Michael Estok into the partnership. Michael’s litigation practice focuses on professional liability, employment, and commercial cases, including appeals. He is admitted in Oregon and Washington and practices extensively in both states.
Michael graduated in 2004 with high honors from the University of Washington School of Law, where he was an editor of the Washington Law Review. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in business and accounting, summa cum laude, from Boston University.
Sarah Tuthill joins Lindsay Hart as the firm’s newest associate attorney. She specializes in domestic relations, professional malpractice, and general liability defense. To help introduce her, we asked Sarah a few questions:
As strange as it sounds, I always knew I wanted to be a lawyer. My dad has his own practice and it was wonderful to be raised in a family surrounded by law. Growing up, my dad would always ask me and my sister, “Girls, what are the two sweetest words in the English language?” We would respond, “Not guilty!” He’d yell “Alright!” then high five us and do a nerdy dance. It is one thing to be successful in a career and another to truly have passion for that career. It was incredible to be raised by someone who had both. My father’s passion for the law quickly became my own.
In 5th grade I participated in a mock trial. I was the defense attorney and we returned a finding of not guilty. From that moment on, I was hooked. While in law school I had the pleasure of putting on a mock trial for 5th graders. We had a great time and I hope to be involved with events like this in the future.
