Jessie joined the Office of the General Counsel as Assistant General Counsel in August 2023.  Before becoming a Duck, Jessie was a shareholder at the law firm of Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt in Portland where she represented clients ranging from individuals to publicly held corporations to administrative agencies in affirmative and defense civil litigation, including on matters involving commercial disputes and business torts, environmental issues, and various administrative procedures, including public records. In addition to her traditional private-sector work, Jessie dedicated a substantial portion of her practice at Schwabe to pro bono representations of marginalized communities and incarcerated people in civil litigation, post-conviction review, and parole hearings.

Jessie holds a BA from California State University Long Beach and a JD from Lewis & Clark Law School, where she graduated summa cum laude and was inducted in the Cornelius Honor Society. During law school, Jessie served as the Notes and Comments Editor for the Lewis & Clark Law Review, worked as a judicial extern to the Honorable Magistrate Judge John V. Acosta in the United States District Court for the District of Oregon and as a law clerk for the Federal Public Defender for the District of Oregon, and volunteered her time for Legal Aid Services of Oregon in Portland.

Jessie currently serves as a board member for the Understanding Racism Foundation and on the advisory committee for the Oregon Campaign for Equal Justice. She has won numerous awards, including the Michael E. Haglund Young Lawyer Pro Bono Award from the Multnomah Bar Association, the Oregon State Bar’s Oregon New Lawyers Division Public Service Award, and the Associate Award from the Oregon Campaign for Equal Justice, and she has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America as “One to Watch” and by Superlawyers as a “Rising Star” for multiple years in a row.

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Assistant:
Kelly Fondren
541-346-3463