Over 160 Law Alums Celebrate Professor Newell

Law alumni braved rain, thunder, and lightning to express their gratitude for one of their beloved professors, Doug Newell, on May 6 at the Boley Law Library on the Lewis & Clark Law School campus.

“50 Years of Doug!” celebrated Edmund O. Belsheim Professor of Law Doug Newell’s 50+ years of teaching at Lewis & Clark Law School. Alumni from the 1970’s, 80’s, 90’s, 2000’s, 10’s and 20’s paid homage to a professor who inspired them and gave them the confidence to become successful attorneys.

A slideshow played throughout the event, with photos of Professor Newell through the years and quotes from alumni describing how he made an extraordinary impact on their lives.

During the program, Matt Bergman ’89 and Mark Tratos ’79 raved of their experience as students in Newell’s class. Bergman noted that “Professor Newell’s first year contracts class was epic and seared who we are and who we became as lawyers.” Even as Bergman acknowledged that today he is “not a contract lawyer” he noted how important it was. “That class did one thing and one thing only: it taught us to think like lawyers.”

Tratos continued to extoll Newell’s teaching impact. “He asked us, what is this case about? And at the end of the interrogation, he asked, deal or no deal? Was there commitment? Was there consideration?”

Dean Johnson spoke of Newell’s start at the law school in 1971, when Professor Billy Williamson recommended his Harvard Law colleague to teach at the newly accredited Portland school. She also acknowledged the many scholarships and professorships that alums have endowed over the years in Newell’s name and announced a $100,000 matching challenge by Dan Harmon ’85 to fund the most recent Newell 1L Scholarship. She thanked Dan Harmon and the many alums who contributed to the fund that evening.

Professor Newell ended the remarks portion of the evening with some reflections of his own and expressed his appreciation for all who came and wrote in with their stories. He recalled how he was hired “As an afterthought when some guy they hired had flaked out” and the faculty sought someone who could teach the UCC. “One of the best things out of my Harvard training was that I could read the UCC, so I fit the category just fine.” He ended his remarks with, “I love the school, I’ve loved my time here. It didn’t seem like a real job, it just seemed like a lot of fun.”