CCBA Attorney Profile: Larry Peterson
CLACKAMAS COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER, December 2009
1. What drew you to the practice of law?
We didn’t have a TV but my grandmother did so Friday night was Perry Mason night with her and my aunt in Venice, CA. I think their interest in Perry sealed the deal for me. From my first memories, I wanted to be a lawyer or a soldier and I got to be both.
2. How did you end up practicing law in Clackamas
County?
My plan was to be a JAG in the 82nd Airborne but when I got out of law school, passed the Bar and went to the Army, the Army was in a cut-down mode and there were no JAG slots available. So they made me an MP and let me out of active service after a year
stint down South. Came back to Oregon where I had my legal roots in the District Attorney’s Office, maintained a Reserve Commission in the Army and hung out a shingle with fellow video gamer, Steve Kelly, before moving to my Lake Oswego office the next
year.
3. How long have you been an attorney? What other
kinds of work have you done?
I’ve been in private practice since 1984 with lengthy interruptions for overseas deployments with the Army. I started doing indigent defense work and soon hit some good jury verdicts, so I kept expanding into other areas of trial practice.
4. In what area(s) of law do you practice?
In the military, I became a JAG in ’89 and worked in what is usually referred to as ‘Operational Law’ serving mostly out of branch in Psychological Operations and Civil Affairs under US Special Operations Command in Florida, although I did several prosecutions and defenses in courts martial. My civilian practice has been just as varied. As I said, I started in criminal defense, then tried some important jury cases in personal injury and civil rights. When my former wife, Eve Miller, left to take the bench, I took over a lot of her family law practice and kept it going from there.
5. What is your educational background? How do you
feel it prepared you for the work you do now?
My bachelor degrees in International Relations and Latin American Studies and Army Commission were from Chico State and my law degree from Lewis and
Clark. Unlike most of my contemporaries in those undergraduate disciplines, I actually applied those studies in thirty years of overseas service in an extraordinarily
wide variety of duties.
6. What aspects of your work do you enjoy the
most? Least?
I like that moment in court when the prospective jurors assemble and we begin our uniquely American celebration of the jury trial process. However great our efforts are at scripting and choreographing trials, no case fails to surprise. And, like most lawyers, I don’t enjoy the office management side of the business and no video gaming with Kelly.
7. What have you learned about being an attorney that
you did not expect?
All cases and conflicts are just problems waiting for a solution that’s out there. Despite our individual backgrounds, most everyone involved—judges, opposing
counsel, and jurors—are really just trying to figure out, then do, the right thing under the circumstances presented.
8. What advice would you give to other new attorneys,
or attorney hopefuls?
Develop as many quality relationships in the Bar as you can. In part for mutual professional support and as much for the personal. It’s usually an interesting. breed of cat that becomes a lawyer with a good story.
9. What do you hope, or expect to be doing with your
career five years from now?
I love lawyering and hope to continue that for a long time. Now that I’m retired from the Army, I have some time and hope to teach military science at one of the ROTC programs in the area.
10. Who is your favorite CCBA member and why?
Three instantly come to mind for different reasons: John Haub, former chief deputy DA. Hard-charging trial dog and great mentor in all things courtroom. Jim Cox, my brilliant partner of 16 years who never met a puzzle, legal or otherwise he couldn’t figure out.
And Eve Miller, former partner and spouse, who is wise beyond her very few years.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
11 July 2008
Lieutenant Colonel, Judge Advocate General, USAR
Date and Place of Birth: 12 February 1954, Gardena, CA
Mandatory Removal Date: 13 March 2007
Present Assignment: US Army, Retired
Civilian Occupation: Trial Attorney
LAWRENCE K. PETERSON
LAW OFFICE
Lake Oswego, OR
Source and Date of Commission: Reserve Officers Training Corps, 23 May 1979
Years of Active Military Service: Two
Total Years of Military Service: Twenty-eight
Military Schools Attended: Year Completed
Basic Combat Training, Fort Knox, KY 1977
Advance Camp, Fort Lewis, WA 1978
NBC Defense, Fort McClellan, AL/Presidio, CA 1982/1984
Military Police, Officer Basic Course, Ft. McClellan, AL 1983
German Language Course, Portland, OR 1989
Judge Advocate General, Officer Basic Course, Charlottesville, VA 1990
Law of War, Charlottesville, VA 1991
Civil Affairs, Officer Advanced Course, Ft. Bragg, NC 1991
Revolutionary Warfare, USAFSOS, Hurlburt Fld., FL 1991
Judge Advocate General, Officer Advanced Course, Charlottesville, VA 1993
Basic Parachute Training, Ft. Benning, GA 1998
Joint Psychological Operations Course, USAFSOS, Hurlburt, Fld., FL 1998
Psychological Operations Officer Course, Ft. Bragg, NC 1999
Command and General Staff College, Ft. Leavenworth, KS 1999
Intelligence Law Workshop, Charlottesville, VA 2001
Operational Law, Charlottesville, VA 2002
Civilian Education: Degrees Received Year Completed
Northwestern School of Law, Lewis & Clark College, Portland, OR, Juris Doctor 1982
California State University at Chico, Bachelor of Arts, International
Relations/Latin American Studies/Distinguished Military Student 1979
US Decorations/Badges Year Awarded
Defense Meritorious Service Medal 2000
Meritorious Service Medal 1995
Army Commendation Medal (with one oak-leaf cluster) 1990, 1993
Army Achievement Medal 1985
Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal 1983/85/90/94
Joint Meritorious Unit Award 1995
National Defense Service Medal 1991
Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (with two bronze stars) 1990/95, 2000
Humanitarian Service Medal 1995
Armed Forces Reserve Medal (with “M” device and numeral “2”) 1990/95, 2000
Army Service Ribbon
Army Overseas Service Training Ribbon (with numeral “8”) 1983/85/88/89/
1992/93/94/96/
1997
NATO Medal 2000
Parachutist Badge 1998
Foreign Decorations/Badges Year Awarded
German Army Psychological Defense Badge 1988
Chronological List of Appointments:
2LT 23 May 1979
1LT 05 Jun 1982
CPT 04 Jun 1986
MAJ 03 Jun 1993
LTC 01 Nov 2000
MILITARY ASSIGNMENTS
Duty Assignment Category Date From Date To
Shore Platoon Ldr, USAR Sept 1979 Sept 1980
308th Trans. Co.
Portland, OR
GA Tm Ldr, USAR Oct 1980 July 1982
20th Psychological Operations Co. (DS)
Portland, OR
MP Officer AD Aug 1982 Feb 1983
Basic Course/NBC
McClellan, AL
HA/HC Tm Ldr, USAR Mar 1983 Oct 1989
20th PSYOP Co. (DS)
Portland, OR (IRR May 1985-Feb 1986)
International Law Officer USAR Nov 1989 Dec 1989
364th Civil Affairs Brigade
Portland, OR
Legal Officer AD Dec 1989 Feb 1990
Civil Military Operations
Task Force
Republic of Panama
International Law Officer USAR Feb 1990 Nov 1998
364th Civil Affairs Brigade
Portland, OR
Justice Mentor AD Feb 1995 June 1995
US Embassy
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Commander USAR Dec 1998 Mar 2000
320th Psychological Operations Co.
Portland, OR
Director of Media Operations AD Mar 2000 Oct 2001
Joint Psychological Operations Task
Force
NATO SFOR, HQ, Sarajevo, Bosnia
Command Judge Advocate USAR Nov 2000 Jul 2004
364th Civil Affairs Brigade
Portland, OR
Asst SJA/Op’l Law
SOCOM
MacDIll AFB, Tampa, FL USAR Aug 2004 Mar 2007
Foreign Languages:
Spanish: DLAT Score 1+1+
German: DLAT Score 1+1+
CIVILIAN ADDENDUM
Trial Attorney, Private Practice April 1984 Present
Lawrence K. Peterson Law Office
Practice emphasis in general civil
and victims’ litigation.
Judicial Assistant—to Honorable Dale Jacobs, February 1983 March 1984
Clackamas County Circuit Court
Duties: legal research and writing courtroom
management.
Legal Assistant—to Wendell Birkland, September 1981 July 1982
Criminal Defense Attorney
Duties: case preparation in major felony
and capital murder cases.
Student Prosecutor—Clackamas County June 1980 Sept 1981
District Attorney’s Office
Duties: legal research, writing and
prosecution of misdemeanor and felony
cases under the supervision of senior
deputy district attorneys.
Publications:
“Disaster Preparedness and Mitigation Assessment, Republic of Vanuatu”, PACOM DPMA Program, 326 pp, November 2003
“Mentoring Justice in an Unjust Land,” OSB Bulletin, July 1995, republished by Westlaw Electronic Publishing, August 1995.
“Legal Considerations in Foreign Disaster Planning,” Paper presented February 1993 Judge Advocate General School and republished in Army Disaster Preparedness & Planning Survey Program
CIVILIAN-MILITARY OPERATIONS
I have been actively engaged in foreign, civil-military operations since my deployment as a legal officer to the civil-military task force, Panama, in support of Operation Just Cause in December 1989.
In Panama, I provided professional legal-military guidance to US and foreign officials on subjects including the vetting or reintegration of former Panamanian police forces, humanitarian relief, and the maintenance of a 3,000-person dislocated civilian camp. I also prepared and published a 55-minute video documentary entitled Civil Affairs Activities in Just Cause, that became a primary teaching tool at the JFK Special Warfare School in Fort Bragg, NC.
In the Philippines and Thailand, I have been both primary and assistant operations officer in command post exercises and humanitarian civic action programs. In those HCA programs, I coordinated the conduct of rural medical and engineering teams. My tasks included site surveys, obtaining host nation site approval, and the validation of Title 10 HCA funding expenditures.
In island nations of the Pacific, I have written disaster preparedness planning surveys. These surveys are intended to aid the host nation in its disaster preparation and mitigation efforts. Additionally, I have conducted disaster management training and disaster response exercises in the host nation.
In January 1995, I went to Haiti as part of a 17-member justice ministry assistance team providing a first-ever survey of the Haitian justice system. As the assistant officer-in-charge of the program for the central region of Haiti, I collected information and data from twenty-four rural court jurisdictions and collated my findings with those of the rest of the nation. Working with the US
military and the US embassy, our team prepared and promoted initiatives within the Haitian justice system that complemented Special Forces and Psychological Operations programs directed at
building traditional, respected, democratic institutions. Since my initial deployment to Haiti, I have returned to continue to monitor the progress of those initiatives in sample districts throughout the nation.
After taking command of the 320th Psychological Operations in December of 1998, I prepared the unit for ultimate deployment to Bosnia in support of Operation Joint Endeavor. I deployed to Sarajevo, Bosnia in March 2000 and became Chief of PSYOP media. My duties included creating and preparing media campaigns consistent with NATO Commander’s intent. I was directly responsible for the day-to-day operations of Radio Mir, three SFOR magazines, TVSFOR and a variety of poster and print media. My personal initiatives included the first-ever, NATO-sponsored film festival and children’s film festival. Additionally, I established a private media contract program that allowed local, civilian media firms to create and conduct SFOR-approved PSYOP campaigns.
I returned to the 364th Civil Affairs Brigade in November 2000 and assumed the senior JAG position, Command Judge Advocate. My duties include advising the command on legal personnel issues, UCMJ matters, review of overseas deployment operations, and legal support to Civil Affairs operations throughout the unit’s area of operations. I have successfully prosecuted UCMJ board actions to conclusion while serving as CJA.
In September 2003, I deployed to the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu as officer in-charge of a 15- member, international scientific survey team as part of PACOM’s Disaster Preparedness and Mitigation Assessment (DPMA) program. The survey included detailed analysis and study of island and subsurface volcanic activity. The completed report provided PACOM and the host-nation with a blueprint for anticipated disaster response scenarios and set a new standard for the DPMA product and program.
In July 2004 the Army assigned me to assist the Staff Judge Advocate for Special Operations Command, MacDill AFB, Tampa, FL. My duties included providing direct legal support to deployed forces engaged in the Global War on Terrorism. I analyzed and provided guidance on rules of engagement and treatment of detainees. I retired from the Army in that assignment in March 2007.
Copyright 2007 Larry Peterson, Esq.