About Susan G. Hauser
Susan G. Hauser is a Portland writer whose articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, People, O, and many other publications. She holds a B.A. in English from Portland State University and an M.A. in Near Eastern languages and civilizations from the University of Chicago.
Articles written by Susan G. Hauser
Workplace Privacy in Oregon
There’s just one place where you’re safe from monitoringThe right to privacy is a venerable and hallowed concept. But if people think it extends to workplace communications performed on company-owned devices, “they’ve got their heads buried in the sand,” says Chrys A. Martin, an employment and labor lawyer with Davis Wright Tremaine in Portland, Oregon. “Some legal advice, every employee knows now that somebody can listen to their voice mail or tap into their email or sites they’ve been accessing,” she says. That is, every employee …
Downhill Lawyer
To improve his practice, Brad Stanford hit the slopesBrad Stanford did not join the Mount Hood Ski Patrol for the usual reasons: adventure, glamour, helping injured skiers, the cool red jacket. He did it to become a better lawyer. An ardent skier since he was 6 years old, Stanford began representing ski and recreation businesses soon after arriving at Farleigh Wada Witt in 1990. “It didn’t even occur to me that this could be a niche area,” says Stanford. “I was fortunate.” But Stanford realized he could be even better if he experienced …
Keith Kessler Goes the Distance
The Hoquiam lawyer fights for injured cyclistsSeattle is often touted by national media and cycling organizations as one of America’s most bike-friendly cities. But Keith Kessler sees another side to the story. The Hoquiam lawyer is a nationally renowned authority on roadway safety. He has written extensively on the issue—most recently in “Bicycle Litigation,” a pamphlet co-authored with Daniel Laurence, a colleague at Stritmatter Kessler Whelan Koehler Moore Kahler, and published by their firm in 2015. “We’ve got roads …
The Border Patrol's Loss
Things haven’t always gone the way Michael Gavito wanted—usually, they’ve turned out betterWhen Michael Manuel Gavito graduated from college in 2000, his sights were set on a career in law enforcement rather than law. Growing up in Brownsville, on the border with Mexico, he dreamed of becoming a border patrol agent. Gavito, an avid angler and hunter, explains: “I like the outdoors, so I thought, ‘This is for me!’” After completing the lengthy application process, he was told to wait for word on entering the border patrol academy. So he waited. And waited. His father had a …
The Unashamed Progressive
Business lawyer Steven Berman works for same-sex marriage, GMO labeling and marijuana legalization; and note the pedigree“You don’t know your clients, you never get into court, you work until your soul is beaten down.” Steven Berman isn’t talking about his current practice. He’s talking about why, fresh out of Harvard Law in 1994, he didn’t follow many of his classmates to big paychecks at Wall Street or large East Coast law firms. “It just wasn’t appealing at all,” he says. Instead, he took the road less traveled: He moved 3,000 miles to a city he had visited once three years earlier, and where …
Spreading Justice
Steve Fury co-founded a volunteer group that helps coach trial lawyers in AfricaEleven years ago, Seattle attorney Steve Fury was asked to help teach a trial-skills program in Malawi. He got hooked. The personal injury attorney went on to co-found Justice Advocacy Africa in 2010. To date, about 40 trial lawyers, mostly from Washington state, have paid their own way for weeklong trips to Africa, where they serve as trial-skills coaches for lawyers in Botswana, Uganda or Kenya. They also make substantial personal donations to help continue the work. “We’re humbled by how …
We Are Repeat Players
Bankruptcy attorney Teresa H. Pearson knows it’s all about practice, practice, practiceSince high school in Gillette, Wyo., Teresa H. Pearson always liked to be part of the band. Clarinet was her instrument, marching with the woodwinds in heavy uniforms. Looking back, it makes sense to her: The work of the marching band was similar to the work of bankruptcy law. Both band and the law were subcultures. Everyone had their particular practice area—woodwinds or percussion. In bankruptcy law, as in band, “we are all a bunch of repeat players,” she says. Connections were formed …
FARM GIRL
Melissa Roeder brings a rural work ethic to the civil defense tableMelissa K. Roeder jokes that she never met a lawyer before she became one. This is probably not far from the truth. When the Minnesota native came to Seattle in 2000, hoping to land her first job out of law school, her resume boasted a stint as a waitress at Applebee’s and a couple of seasons working from January to April on a trawler in the Bering Sea, catching Alaska pollock and cod. “I decided then and there that if I could do that, 8 a.m. to 1 a.m. every day, I could do anything,” …
Hometown Hero
How Robert Weaver helped free Central Oregon from the clutches of a red-robed cultIt was October 1985, and Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh had just been arrested in Charlotte, N.C., as he tried to flee the country in a rented Learjet. Robert Weaver, chief of the criminal division of the U.S. attorney’s office for Oregon, was about to see two years of relentless investigative work come to fruition with the capture of the cult guru and some of his henchmen, who had been wreaking havoc in Central Oregon. But there was no time to exhale. During his five-week stay in Charlotte, Weaver …
The Storyteller
Carol Bernick’s way with words sways judges and juriesWith Carol Bernick, it’s all about the story. That’s only fitting for a lawyer who once wanted to be a librarian. Bernick, 49, managing partner of Davis Wright Tremaine’s Portland office, is known for swaying judges and juries in tough employment law cases. She credits her Seattle DWT colleague Michael Reiss with coaching her in courtroom storytelling. Bernick began working with Reiss in 1990, days after reporting for work in Portland as a new graduate of the University of Virginia School …
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