Oregon State Bar Judicial Voters Guide 2014

Transcription

1 Oregon State Bar Judicial Voters Guide ) Your full name: Gregory F. Silver 2) Office Address and Phone Number: Multnomah County Courthouse 1021 SW Fourth Avenue Portland, OR (503) ) Web site (if applicable): 4) List high school, college and law school attended, including dates of attendance, degrees awarded and your reasons for leaving each school if no degree from that institution was awarded. University of Pittsburgh School of Law JD cum laude 1993 Penn State University BA 1983 University of Virginia (no degree) Pennsbury High School HS Diploma ) List employment since graduation from law school, including dates employed, your position and the nature of the practice or activity. Circuit Court Judge, Multnomah County Court May 2013 present Judge Pro Tem/Hearings Referee, Multnomah County Court Metropolitan Public Defender Services, Inc Chief Attorney, Staff Attorney, Judicial Clerk, Hon. Nely Johnson Attorney, Babst, Calland, Clements & Zomnir, Pittsburgh, PA Prior to Law School I worked in commercial radio, public television, and university communications.

2 6a) List state and federal bars, courts and administrative bodies to which you are presently admitted and the date of admission. Oregon State Bar 2000 United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania b) List any previous admissions, including dates, and the reason why you are no longer admitted. Pennsylvania, 1993, Currently inactive (moved to Oregon) 7) List publications and/or articles you have authored. None 8) List community, teaching (Continuing Legal Education or otherwise) or civic activities. Adjunct Professor, Lewis & Clark Law School, Gus J. Solomon American Inn of Court, 2009 present (currently serving on the Executive Committee) Regular moderator, Multnomah County DUII Victims Impact Panel, 2007 present Regular moderator, Oregon Impact (Clackamas County) DUII Victims Impact Panel, 2011 present 9) Prior to your becoming a judge, what was the general character of your legal practice? Indicate the nature of your typical clients and mention any legal areas in which you concentrated. Following Law School, I worked for a firm in Pittsburgh that focused on complex construction and environmental litigation. At Metropolitan Public Defender Services, I handled cases ranging from Theft in the Third Degree to Murder. I also served as a Chief Attorney, supervising attorneys in the Misdemeanor and Minor Felony sections.

3 10) List your judicial experience, including as a pro tem, and/or service on an administrative tribunal, or justice, municipal, tax, circuit, or appellate court. Prior to my appointment as a Circuit Court Judge in May 2013, I served for six years as a full time Judge Pro Tem / Hearings Referee. 11) Describe the general character of your judicial work over the past five years. Indicate the nature of the cases over which you preside, any specialty courts or court programs, and any legal areas in which you concentrate. As a full time Judge Pro Tem / Hearings Referee for 6 years, I presided over misdemeanor jury and court trials, landlord-tenant trials, small claims hearings, traffic trials, arraignments, probation violation hearings, DUII Diversion hearings, and community court. As a Circuit Court Judge since May 2013 I deal with all matters that come before the general civil and criminal bench. I have presided over both civil and criminal jury and court trials and have heard a variety of both civil and criminal motions and other matters. 12) Describe any judicial experience in appellate courts not included above. None. 13) State the approximate number of trials or contested hearings over which you have presided as the judicial officer during each of the past five years. Indicate roughly how many were jury trials and how many were trials to the court. Including my time as a Referee, I expect I ve presided over more than 25 criminal jury trials, more than 25 criminal court trials, more than 25 civil court trials and hearings (including landlord-tenant and small claims) and several civil jury trials. 14) Describe any experience serving as an arbitrator or mediator. None. 15) List all bar association memberships, offices held and committee assignments. Oregon State Bar Multnomah Bar Association MBA Professionalism Committee, 2012 present MBA Equality Committee,

4 MBA Court Liaison Committee, OSB House of Delegates, OSB Uniform Criminal Jury Instructions Committee, (secretary, 2009) 16) Describe any bar association or judicial department committees, task forces, or special projects in which you have been involved. See #15 above. Additionally, I have served on the Oregon Supreme Court s Uniform Trial Court Rules Committee ( ), the Oregon Attorney General s Restitution Reform Task Force ( ), and the Multnomah County Court s steering committee on the formation and implementation of the Domestic Violence Court ( ). 17) Have you ever been convicted of or pleaded guilty to a violation of any federal, state, county or municipal law, regulation or ordinance? If so, please give details. Do not include parking offenses or traffic violations for which a fine of less than $500 was imposed. No. 18) Have you ever been the subject of a formal disciplinary proceeding as an attorney or judge? If so, please give the particulars and the result. Include formal proceedings only. No. 19) What attracted you to a judicial career? I believe there is no higher calling than that of service, and I can think of no better way to use my abilities than by serving my community as a Circuit Court Judge. 20) Briefly describe your philosophy of the judicial role, the qualities that are most important for the role, and the greatest challenges to the role. I believe no matter who the parties are, or how big or small the case, everyone deserves to be heard and respected. A judge must possess the qualities of honesty, integrity, fairness, firmness and compassion while adhering to the rule of law. With the volume and complexity of cases that come before the Multnomah County Court, and the budget reductions the Court has faced over the last decade, the greatest challenge is sometimes making sure that everyone receives a fair and complete consideration of their case within the time and resource constraints we face.

5 21) Briefly describe a case, or a legal issue on which you worked, of which you are particularly proud, or which is reflective of your legal ability, work ethic, judicial philosophy, or temperament. For the past seven years I m proud to have worked closely with the DUII Victim Impact Panels in both Multnomah and Clackamas Counties. The Panels provide those in the DUII Diversion program, or those on DUII probation, the opportunity to hear from others whose lives were seriously impacted by someone s choice to drive under the influence of intoxicants. I ve gotten to know most of our speakers, and am constantly amazed at their bravery in recounting some of the darkest periods of their lives the death of a spouse or child, recovery from traumatic brain injury, or moving forward after causing injury or death to another. As a judge moderating the Panel, I work to tie their stories together, to help the offenders realize why we must treat DUII cases seriously. I believe that reducing the number of tragedies caused by DUII drivers is an important way to use my judicial office to help my community. 22) Briefly describe an issue, related to Oregon's justice system, that is of particular interest or concern to you, or that you have interest in working toward improving. We need to continue our work to provide adequate funding for all aspects of the justice system: the courts, legal aid, public defense, prosecution, community corrections, mental health, and alcohol/drug treatment. When one of these areas suffers because of inadequate funding, the ripples flow throughout the system and we all suffer. 23) Briefly describe a legal figure, personal, fictional or historical, whom you admire and why. It s probably almost a cliché, but it is hard to top Atticus Finch. He felt compassion for those less well-off than he was, and worked to make a difference in their lives; he saw unfairness and worked for fairness; he saw injustice and worked for justice. He displayed the integrity, fairness, firmness, honesty and compassion for which we all need to strive. 24) State any other information that you regard as pertinent to your candidacy. I am truly honored to serve as a Circuit Court Judge, and appreciate the opportunity to continue my service. I have attached links to two Multnomah Lawyer profiles which were written about me. The first was published in February 2008 (at page 9) after I was appointed to be a Judge Pro Tem/Hearings Referee. The second was published in December 2013 (at page 11) after I was appointed to be a Circuit Court Judge.