January 23rd 2006 • Printer version

2006 O™Connell Bench and Bar Symposium
Disentangling Church and State
Have the courts done enough?

Legal thinker and national commentator Erwin Chemerinsky will keynote a conference for Oregon judges and appellate attorneys on the courts™ role in disentangling church and state on Friday, March 24 from 8:30 A.M. until noon at Portland™s World Trade Center, 121 SW Salmon.

Named one of the Top 20 legal thinkers by Legal Affairs magazine in 2005, Chemerinsky is a well-known commentator on the constitution, civil rights, and the burning policy issues of our time. He is an appellate lawyer and professor of law and political science at Duke University.

The conference is sponsored by the University of Oregon School of Law and the Kenneth J. O™Connell Program. Chief Justice O™Connell served on the Oregon Supreme Court for 19 years and was a law professor at Oregon during the 1930s, 40s and 50s.

Admission is free, but seating is limited. Three CLE credits are available. For information, call (541) 346-3835 or email

Other speakers and panelists include:

Senior Judge John Noonan, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, San Francisco.

Noonan is the author of five major theological works, including A Church that Can and Cannot Change (2005) on Catholic moral teaching  and The Lustre of Our Country, (1998) an expansive study of religious liberty and its relationship with American law. He taught law at Notre Dame and the University of California, Berkeley before being appointed to the court by President Reagan in 1985.

Judge David Schuman, Oregon Court of Appeals, Salem
Schuman taught law at the University of Oregon for 10 years, then served as a deputy attorney general and was appointed to the appeals court by Governor Kitzhaber in 2001. He taught constitutional law and his expertise includes criminal procedure, administrative and legislative processes, human rights , and Oregon™s Initiative and Referendum.

Kelly Clark, O'Donnell & Clark LLP, Portland
Former Oregon state legislator Clark has practiced before or against 85 federal, state and local government agencies and is a legal counsel to numerous political campaigns.

Steven Green, Willamette University School of Law, Salem
For nine years the general counsel for Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, law professor Green has participated in a number of Supreme Court cases on issues of school prayer, vouchers,  funding of religious institutions and freedom of speech.

Charles F. Hinkle, Stoel, Rives LLP, Portland
The first Oregon lawyer listed in Best Lawyers in America in the First Amendment category, Hinkle is an appellate lawyer who specializes in constitutional and civil rights, election and public records, and media law.

Moderator Lininger teaches evidence and ethics. He is chair of the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission and a former Lane County commissioner.

Law professor Lombardi writes and speaks on the constitutionalization of Islamic law in Muslim countries and its impact on legal development. He has worked in Indonesia and studied in Egypt and Yemen. Lombardi clerked for U.S. Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito.