Jeffrey M. Batchelor: From “Tough” to “Batchelor is BACK” By Adair Law The U.S. District Court of Oregon Historical Society is pleased to honor Jeff Batchelor with a Lifetime Service Award for 2017. This article is based on research and conversations with Jeff, family members, and his colleagues. Like many transplants to Oregon, the Batchelor family became established in the state through a search for stable work. Lehi, Utah natives Mack Batchelor (1914-2003) and Wilmirth (Willie) Russon (1911-98) made their home in Portland in 1942. Married in 1933, Mack left school before graduating and Willie was a high school graduate. They had three sons, DeMar (1935), Nolan (1939), and Brian…

The Famous Cases series made an appearance on December 1, 2017 at the historic Pioneer Courthouse, the 1875-1933 home of the U.S. District Court. The three-hour program co-sponsored by USDCHS and Oregon Women Lawyers included an elder law presentation by Gabrielle Richards, of Martin & Richards, LLP, and a lecture on the 170-year history and origins of federal Indian policies in Oregon by Professor Stephen Dow Beckham, Emeritus Professor of History at Lewis & Clark College. The final presentation by Doug Pahl of Perkins Coie LLP was a biographical review of the colorful and infamous life of John Hipple Mitchell, Oregon’s four-term Republican U.S. Senator and lawyer to Marcus Neff…

We note with sadness the passing of Judge Henry Hess on October 31,  of heart failure. Henry Hess, Jr. was born in La Grande, Oregon on March 29, 1924. His mother Estrid Johanson, a 1902 emigrant from Sweden, died of cancer at the age of 34 when Henry was 10 and his brother Raymond was 7. Henry Hess, Sr. was a La Grande lawyer and politician. He was elected state senator in 1931 and ran for governor in 1937, capturing the Democratic nomination from then-Governor Charles Martin, but losing in the general election to Charles Sprague. Hess Sr. was appointed U.S. Attorney for Oregon in 1945 and served until 1954.…