Public defender leaving to lead national group.

Byline: Bill Bishop The Register-Guard

The lawyer described as "the backbone" of the nationally recognized Public Defender Services of Lane County is leaving to work for the nation's largest nonprofit group advocating for equal access to justice for people who cannot afford to hire a lawyer.

For more than 20 years, Ross Shepard managed the 21-lawyer office of public defenders, which was recognized last year by the U.S. Department of Justice as a national model.

Shepard also was a statewide lobbyist on legal issues in the Legislature, where he enjoyed a high level of credibility among lawmakers and the state's chief justice, and where he learned "to beg without ruffling feathers," said Bill Honsowetz, a Eugene lawyer and chairman of the board for the nonprofit public defender office.

As state lawmakers moved to cut funding for lawyers for the poor in recent years, Shepard was thrust into a highly public leadership role, Honsowetz said.

He was a plaintiff in an unsuccessful federal lawsuit challenging the Oregon Legislature's budget cutting last year.

The time of the budget cuts, which left local public defenders without pay for months, showed the quality of the organization Shepard worked to build in Lane County, Honsowetz said.

"They really showed their true colors by not looking for other jobs. They basically went three or four months without salary and they did that because of the pride they had in the organization that Ross built," Honsowetz said. "Ross has just been the backbone of the public defenders."

In his tenure, the local office has become a place where lawyers can pursue a career representing poor people accused of crimes.

The average tenure of a local public defender is more than 15 years, said Shepard, who began his career as a lawyer in the defunct Volunteers In Service To America program.

He joined the public defenders when it formed in 1977 and became the director in the early 1980s.

"It's been a wonderful career," Shepard said.

In his new role, Shepard will be the director of defender legal services for the National Legal Aid & Defender Association in Washington, D.C.

His new duties include lobbying Congress to forgive student loans for new lawyers who go to work in the relatively low-paying field of public defense. Another challenge will be to scrutinize legal systems in several states where people accused of a crime may go to prison without ever having an attorney advise them, Shepard said.

Honsowetz said the public defender's board is conducting a nationwide search for Shepard's replacement and hopes to fill the position by midsummer.