Two faculty were awarded the Orlando John Hollis Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award and Meritorious Service Award at the 2019 commencement ceremony. These awards were created by Oregon Law faculty to honor the service of those who have enhanced legal education and advanced the role of law in society.

Orlando John Hollis Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award 

Susan Gary, Orlando John & Marian H. Hollis Professor 

Established in 1990 by an endowment gift from Wallace and Ellen Kaapcke in honor of Orlando John Hollis and awarded annually to the School of Law’s outstanding teacher to reward excellence in classroom instruction.

Susan Gary, the Orlando J. and Marian H. Hollis Professor at the University of Oregon School of Law, joined the UO law faculty in 1978. 

Professor Gary has spent the last four decades teaching about trusts and estates, estate planning, nonprofit organizations, and an undergraduate course on law and families.  

In nominating Professor Gary, a colleague wrote, “Professor Gary is an outstanding teacher. In the classroom, she is knowledgeable and rigorous, and she uses teaching methods that engage students actively.”

She arranges for her students to write for Oregon State Bar publications, which serve to enhance students' resumes, increase their visibility in the legal community, and showcase Oregon Law’s talent. 

Her colleagues have also noted that her commitment to students continues beyond class. “She has had two students within the past few years win national recognition and significant prize money because of her continuing work with them on substantive papers.”

Oregon Law faculty aren’t the only ones who note Gary’s excellence in teaching. One student wrote that Professor Gary “exudes passion for trusts and estates” and “breathes life into the subject by regularly connecting heady policy issues to the realities of law practice.”

Meritorious Service Award

Caroline Forell, Professor Emerita 

Established in 1984, The Meritorious Service Award is the highest award given by the law school. It is given each year at commencement to a person or persons who has made extraordinary contributions to legal education or to the legal profession. 

Professor Forell joined Oregon Law’s faculty in 1978. She has spent her entire professional career serving the University of Oregon School of Law and is currently semi-retired, participating in the UO’s tenure reduction program and teaching one semester a year. 

In nominating Professor Forell, a colleague wrote, “Caroline’s work focusing on legal issues affecting women and, more recently, animals, demonstrates her dedication to creating a system of justice that works for all, including the most vulnerable amongst us.”

As an advocate for domestic abuse survivors, Professor Forell played an instrumental role in the existence of the Domestic Violence Clinic at UO. When the Clinic was originally founded, she took up the project with Professor Merle Weiner and Professor Leslie Harris. For several years, Forell played an active role in teaching and assisting with cases. Throughout the Clinic’s existence, Forell has been an enthusiastic supporter and an important source of knowledge and wisdom.

Her colleagues say that her impact has gone beyond the Knight Law Center, “Caroline has made extraordinary contributions to our students, their legal education and the law.” 

She co-authored, with Donna Matthews, the book: "A Law of Her Own: The Reasonable Woman as a Measure of Man," which received national attention and was cited in the stalking case of Bryant v. Walker. On appeal of this case to the Oregon Supreme Court, Forell presented oral argument on the issue of incorporating gender into the standard of care for assessing a stalking victim's alarm.

Additionally, her articles about attorney-client sex have spurred law reform and revision of codes of ethical conduct. And on the international stage, Forell’s scholarship has looked at the United States, Canada and Australia and their reform struggles on domestic homicide and individual problems with the provocation defense. 

One colleague wrote, “Caroline is an unsung hero and a big reason why we are the successful law school we are today. She richly deserves this honor.”

By School of Law Communications