The magazine of the first law school in the Pacific Northwest | FALL 2012 Last fall, Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber announced he would no longer carry out executions, saying that Oregonians need to have a statewide conversation about the DEATH PENALTY. Steven Krasik JD’79 has that conversation every day. Consider a gift annuity with the Northwest’s first Law School 6.8% If you are 60 years or older, an alum or friend, 5.8% you can transfer money from a maturing CD — or any other source — to Willamette University. In return you will receive: • A secure lifetime income at a competitive fixed rate (see sample rates at right); % APRs from • A charitable income tax deduction 5.1 right now; % • A reduction in your taxable estate; and 4.4 % • A warm, confident feeling from knowing 4.7% TO 6.8 that when you are gone, your gift will benefit and higher the law school and generations of law % students forever. 4.4 Learn more Please contact us directly: Charitable Gift Annuity Rates • Steve Brier Donor Annuity Annual Tax-Free Charitable Associate VP for Gift Planning, WU Age Payout Rate Payout Total Portion Deduction 503-370-6022, [email protected] 60 4.4% $4,400 $3,463 $16,525 • Mike Bennett ’70 65 4.7% $4,700 $3,765 $25,067 Director of Development 70 5.1% $4,182 WU College of Law $5,100 $33,538 503-370-6761, [email protected] 75 5.8% $5,800 $4,825 $40,157 80 6.8% $6,800 $5,739 $46,067 Based on quarterly payout. Table uses $100,000 asset value as an example. Gift annuities can be established with assets of $10,000 or greater. Consider a Dean Willamette Lawyer is published This publication is partially gift annuity Peter V. Letsou by Willamette University College supported by contributions to the of Law for constituents of the College of Law Fund. Editor College of Law, the first law Fall 2012 Vol. XII, No. 2 with the Lisa Grace Lednicer school in the Pacific Northwest. Copyright © 2012 Willamette Northwest’s first University College of Law Graphic Designers Send correspondence to: Susan Blettel Willamette Lawyer Emily Oliva Willamette University Mike Wright College of Law % Law School 6.8 245 Winter St. S.E. Class Action Editor Salem, OR 97301 Cathy McCann Gaskin JD’02 Contact Editor Photographer Lisa Grace Lednicer Frank Miller at [email protected] or call 503-370-6760 If you are 60 years or older, an alum or friend, 5.8% willamette.edu/wucl you can transfer money from a maturing CD — or any other source — to Willamette University. In return you will receive: • A secure lifetime income at a competitive fixed rate (see sample rates at right); % APRs from Contributors • A charitable income tax deduction 5.1 right now; % Drew DeSilver (“Risky Business,” p.16) Todd Schwartz (“Death Defier,” p. 20) has • A reduction in your taxable estate; and 4.4 % has worked as a business reporter for The won more than 20 writing awards from the TO Seattle Times since 2000. He has won Council for Advancement and Support of • A warm, confident feeling from knowing 4.7% 6.8 numerous business writing awards, including Education (CASE). His work has appeared that when you are gone, your gift will benefit and higher a “Best in Business” award from the Society in Oberlin Magazine, Oregon Quarterly, the law school and generations of law 4.4% of American Business Editors and Writers for his reporting Portland Magazine and Travel + Leisure Magazine. students forever. on the collapse of Washington Mutual. His coverage of the recession’s local toll won a Sigma Delta Chi award from Lee van der Voo (“How Loudly Should Learn more the Society of Professional Journalists. During the 2010–11 Money Talk?,” p.28) is an independent Please contact us directly: Charitable Gift Annuity Rates academic year, DeSilver was a Knight Bagehot Business journalist based in Portland, Ore., focusing • Steve Brier Donor Annuity Annual Tax-Free Charitable Fellow in business and economics journalism at Columbia on enterprise and investigative journalism. Associate VP for Gift Planning, WU Age Payout Rate Payout Total Portion Deduction University. Her work has appeared in The New York 503-370-6022, [email protected] Times, High Country News and Portland Monthly magazine, 60 4.4% $4,400 $3,463 $16,525 Daniella Lednicer (“Risky Business,” and online for The Atlantic, Slate.com, CNN, USA Today, • Mike Bennett ’70 65 4.7% $4,700 $3,765 $25,067 illustration, p.16) graduated from Pratt The Chicago Tribune and The Boston Globe. Van der Voo Director of Development 70 5.1% $4,182 Institute with a BFA in communication is a regular contributor to InvestigateWest, the Seattle- WU College of Law $5,100 $33,538 design. An artist and illustrator based in New based nonprofit news foundation. She won awards from 503-370-6761, [email protected] 75 5.8% $5,800 $4,825 $40,157 York, she has illustrated several children’s Investigative Reporters and Editors for her coverage of 80 6.8% $6,800 $5,739 $46,067 books and worked with the late Jeanne Claude and Christo a police scandal and from the Society of Environmental Based on quarterly payout. Table uses $100,000 asset value as an example. Gift annuities can be on a companion brochure to The Gates. Her work has Journalists for revealing corporate pollution in a private lake. established with assets of $10,000 or greater. appeared in Ubiquitous Magazine, Fort Greene Journal, The Association of Joint Labor Management and various election campaigns throughout the New York tri-state area. Fall 2012 | 1 FALL 2012 In This Issue … COVER STORY: DEATH DEFIER by Todd Schwartz 20 An examination of Oregon’s death penalty through the eyes of Steve Krasik JD’79. Risky Business by Drew DeSilver Oregon PERS has pumped billions 16 into private equity and real estate. Are the rewards worth the risk? How Loudly Should Money Talk? by Lee van der Voo Oregon’s highest court recently upheld an earlier decision that campaign contributions are a form of free speech. But the fight over money in politics isn’t over. 28 2 | Willamette Lawyer Around the Northwest Clark County Superior Court Judge Rich Melnick 12 on the dangers of closing courtrooms to the public. 6 The Willamette Lawyer Interview Amanda Marshall JD’95, Oregon’s 27th Dicta U.S. Attorney, talks Professor Richard about medical Birke explains how marijuana, sex neuroscience tells us trafficking and that conservatives will growing up around never forgive U.S. the Grateful Dead. Supreme Court Chief 36 Justice John Roberts. Departments Feature Stories Letters to the Editor 5 Risky Business 16 The Willamette Lawyer Interview 6 Death Defier 20 Legislature and the Law 10 How Loudly Should Money Talk? 28 Around the Northwest 12 Ethics Corner 14 Profiles On Campus 32 Family Business 38 Dicta 36 Getting in the Game 40 Outside the Law 42 Class Action 44 In the Stacks 53 Fall 2012 | 3 Editor’s Note Dear Readers, With this issue, Willamette Lawyer takes a bold step in a new direction. In keeping with the law school’s commitment to the advancement of knowledge, this edition of the Lawyer adds a new and important component: regular reporting on legal issues that are primarily — but not exclusively — of significance to the Pacific Northwest. While the Lawyer will continue to serve as an alumni magazine with the features our alumni have come to expect, it now will tell the law school’s story in broader terms, with every issue reflecting the intellect of a university magazine and the spark of a regional magazine of ideas. We are doing this for several reasons. The legal world in the Pacific Northwest, especially in Oregon, needs better coverage. As the only law school in the Pacific Northwest located across the street from the state Capitol and the Department of Justice, the College of Law, through the Lawyer, is in a unique position to report on the trends buffeting the legal world today. By picking up the coverage that other media have dropped, we are living up to the Willamette University motto: “Not unto ourselves alone are we born.” We have a lot to brag about at the law school — and rest assured, we still will. But we also believe we can contribute to the community conversation by serving as a forum for ideas. To that end, we’re The Lawyer ... will tell the law expanding our circulation to include not only College of Law alumni, but legislators, judges, legal academics and legal writers based in the school’s story in broader terms, Pacific Northwest. We’ve added several new sections, including a with every issue reflecting the Letters to the Editor page, because we want this to be a two-way conversation. Our aim is for the Lawyer to drive the debate on legal intellect of a university magazine topics of concern to all residents, be they lawyers or non-lawyers, and the spark of a regional graduates of Willamette or graduates of other schools. magazine of ideas. We took this step after much research, thought and discussion. Willamette law graduates will find intact their favorite sections, such as Class Action. We’ll still report news about faculty and we’ll still tell you about the incoming class and the accomplishments of our graduates. But you’ll also get high-quality editorial content, imaginative design and arresting photographs. We know you read other magazines and we want to win the war for your attention. We hope you’ll enjoy reading the new Lawyer.