The Hon. Thomas A. Balmer, '77: Elected to the American Law Institute

The American Law Institute Elects 34 New Members

In July 2018, The American Law Institute announced the newly elected members listed below. The new members, which include prominent judges, lawyers, and law professors, bring perspectives from a wide variety of legal concentrations. ALI is proud to welcome these exceptional individuals to its organization. 

Thomas Balmer is the Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court. He was elected by his colleagues as Oregon’s 43rd Chief Justice and began service on May 1, 2012.  He was first appointed to the Supreme Court by Governor John Kitzhaber in 2001; he was elected in 2002 and re-elected in 2008 and 2014.  Chief Justice Balmer practiced with the Portland law firm of Ater Wynne LLP and its predecessor firm, Lindsay, Hart, Neil & Weigler from 1982-93 and 1997-2001, and also served as Managing Partner. He was Deputy Attorney General of Oregon (1993-97) under Attorney General Theodore R. Kulongoski.  Earlier in his career, he was an associate with Wald, Harkrader & Ross (Washington, D.C.) (1980-82), a Trial Attorney with the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (1979-80), and an associate with the Boston firm of Choate, Hall & Stewart (1977-79).  Chief Justice Balmer received his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School in 1977 and his A.B. from Oberlin College in 1974.  He has been as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College and an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at Lewis & Clark College. He is the author of numerous articles, book reviews, book chapters and op-ed columns on antitrust, constitutional law and other topics.

 

Read more at American Law Institute