Governor seats Eugene lawyer on high bench.

Byline: David Steves The Register-Guard

PORTLAND - Martha Lee Walters still remembers the time, as a University of Oregon law student, when Ted Kulongoski's law firm turned her down for a job.

But she's not bitter.

Really.

After all, that same Eugene lawyer who took a pass on hiring Walters three decades ago is now the governor who decided Monday to give her a job after all - this time as an Oregon Supreme Court justice.

In the 30 years between Walters' UO law school days and her appointment to the state's highest court, she has built up a resume as one of Oregon's leading civil litigators whose clients have included Eugene golfer Casey Martin. She's also risen through the ranks of her law firm to become both a partner and the president at Walters Chanti & Zennache.

Kulongoski said he was pleased to be able to name a woman to the previously all-male seven-justice court. And he said it was good to appoint a career-long practicing lawyer to a Supreme Court dominated by members who have risen through the ranks as judges.

But Kulongoski, himself a former member of Oregon's high court, said those aren't the most important attributes Walters will bring to her new job when she's sworn in Oct. 1

"She is a passionate, inspiring and educated lawyer with a keen intellect, ideal temperament and outstanding reputation in the legal community" with a wide range of experience representing small businesses, individuals and governments," Kulongoski said. "Now she will bring that passion and skill to the Oregon Supreme Court."

Walters, 55, will be sworn in Oct. 1, a day after the final day on the court of the retiring justice she is replacing, William Riggs. She will fill a term that expires in January 2009. To continue beyond then, she would have to win statewide election in 2008. She was chosen ahead of four other finalists: Lane County Circuit Judges Lauren S. Holland and Karsten H. Rasmussen and Portland lawyers M. Christie Helmer and Michael H. Simon.

Walters has lived, worked and raised a family in Eugene since moving there in 1972 for "adventure" after graduating that year from the University of Michigan. Undoubtedly, she will be the first Oregon Supreme Court Justice whose work experiences include two years as a child-care worker - her first post-college career before she decided to attend law school in Eugene. She chose law school, she said, because she wanted to understand the principles "for how everything fit together. ... I thought the law would have answers. But really, the law has very few answers, but an awful lot of competing principles that argue against each other."

After completing her law degree, Walters and her husband, fellow attorney John H. Van Landingham decided to remain in Eugene, where he works for Lane County Legal Services. Their son, Johnny Van Landingham is a recent graduate from the University of Chicago and daughter Cassady Walters is attending Whitman College in Washington state.

Walters received her law degree in 1977. She soon discovered an interest in employment-related cases, but since at that time there really wasn't such a thing as employment law, and because she was working at a medium-sized law practice in the mid-sized city of Eugene, she ended up representing clients in an assortment of legal situations.

She has over the years prosecuted a few criminal cases, represented local governments and city departments, handled trusts and estates, practiced family law, and provided counsel in real estate transactions.

Walters' clients have ranged from small-town police chief Dale Shaw, fired last year in one of Oakland's many political firestorms, to professional golfer Martin.

Martin sued the PGA for the right as a disabled person to use a golf cart. Walters prevailed as his trial lawyer, convincing a U.S. District Court in 1998 that that the PGA Tour is a public entity and that under the federal Americans With Disabilities Act it must provide reasonable accommodation for someone with a permanent disability.

Martin's case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in his favor.

At the height of the court case, Walters recalled, she was walking down the streets of Eugene and hearing encouragements from passersby who recognized her as one of the lawyers for a hometown sports hero.

Not all of her clients have won Walters universal accolades. Her decision to represent a lesbian couple in their 2004 lawsuit against the Catholic Church because O'Hara Catholic denied admittance for their daughter was one such case. Tim Nashif, who heads the conservative Christian group, the Oregon Family Council, said that was a red flag for his group because it raised questions about how Walters might rule on cases involving religious liberty.

"Just because she took a case does not indict her," said Nashif, who led the 2004 campaign to pass Oregon's constitutional gay-marriage-ban ballot measure. "But she might have taken the case because she believes that way, so this is very concerning to us."

Dave Fidanque, executive director of the American Civil Liberties of Oregon, said Walters has done a fair amount of work for the ACLU and is the former chairwoman of its Southern Oregon Lawyers Committee. Up until her appointment to the Supreme Court, Walters had been the ACLU's lead attorney on a case representing demonstrators who were pelted with "pepper-ball" bullets and clubbed while being removed from a rally for President Bush in Jacksonville two years ago.

Fidanque praised Kulongoski's appointment of Walters.

"I think it's an excellent choice," he said. "I don't know that you could find anybody that could say anything bad about Martha because she's been very well-respected by everyone she's dealt with."