Oregon Women Lawyers (OWLS) Roberts & Deiz Award Dinner Honors Alums

Oregon Women Lawyers (OWLS) recognized Lewis & Clark Law School alumni Elisa Dozono ’06 and the Honorable Katherine Tennyson ’84 at their annual Roberts & Deiz Award Dinner at the Portland Art Museum on Friday, March 8.

Recipients of the Roberts & Deiz Award are chosen for their outstanding personal and professional contributions in promoting non-dominant cultures including women, people of color, LGBTQ+, and those with disabilities.

Elisa Dozono ’06, Miller Nash Graham & Dunn LLP partner, has just been appointed to serve a three-year term as a judge pro tempore for Washington County. She primarily focuses on business litigation and government relations. She was recognized as a Leader in Promoting Diversity in 2015 by the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association (Willamette University), has been named to the Super Lawyers list since 2013 by Oregon Super Lawyers magazine, and in 2012 was presented with an Orchid Award, recognizing women of influence, from the Portland Business Journal.

The Honorable Katherine Tennyson ’84 was first elected to the Multnomah County Circuit Court in 2002 and was re-elected to serve another term in 2014. She serves in the unified Family Law Department and became the Chief Probate judge for the country in 2007. Judge Tennyson has served as faculty in the national training Enhancing Judicial Skills in Elder Abuse Cases which is sponsored in part by the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ). Judge Tennyson also serves as faculty for NCJFCJ’s Child Abuse and Neglect Institutes, which have educated more than 1,000 judicial officers since 1996 and is an adjunct faculty member for Lewis & Clark Law School teaching elder law. Recently, the Oregon State Bar awarded her the prestigious Wallace P. Carson Jr. Award for Judicial Excellence.

The Roberts and Deiz Awards were created to celebrate the lives of two women (also alums) who pushed the envelope for underprivileged communities through their work in law and politics, Justice Betty Roberts JD ’66 (1923-2011) and Judge Mercedes Deiz JD ’59 (1917-2005). Justice Roberts was the first woman appointed to the Oregon appellate bench and was a beloved mentor and advocate for women lawyers. Judge Deiz was the first black woman to practice law in Oregon and the first woman of color on the Oregon bench. She overcame racial bias throughout her career and created opportunities for those marginalized by society to access legal resources and careers.