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March 26th 2009 • Printer version Merv Loya to Receive 2009 Meritorious Service Award
Merv Loya, who served as an assistant dean from 1986 to 2007, will be awarded
Oregon Law's 2009 Meritorious Service Award at the school's commencement ceremony
May 16. Established by the law school faculty in 1984, the award is given annually
"to a person or persons who have made extraordinary contributions to legal education
and the law."
Loya has contributed more than 20 years of service to the law school,
its students, and
 alumni. He began his career as a legal services lawyer in Portland
in 1967, joined a year later by 1968 Oregon Law graduate Laird Kirkpatrick, then
a Reginald Heber Smith Fellow and later dean of the law school. Loya was the
executive director of the legal services program in Eugene during most of the
1970s. In 1970 as legal services director, he worked with Professor Dom Vetri
to help develop the first of the law school's clinics, the Civil Clinic, housed
at the legal services program offices. During that time the program grew from
three to 10 attorneys through the use of Vista volunteers and through funding
from United Way, Lane County, state court filing fees, and the Older American's
Act. The latter provided funds to continue a Legal Aid Service/Senior Law Service
program initiated by then Oregon Law student, now U.S. Senator, Ron Wyden.From
1979 to 1986, Loya served in management and administration with a 20-attorney
Eugene firm-- then known as Johnson Harrang and Harrang Long. In the fall of
1986, he joined Oregon Law as the assistant dean for administration and part-time
director of the Career Services Office. In 1991, he also began working with then
law school Dean Dave Frohnmayer to teach a Legislative Issues class, which has
allowed 20 law students to work with legislators during Oregon's legislative sessions.
Loya and now university President Frohnmayer have continued to teach the class
every two years since. In 1996, as an assistant dean and director of the Career
Service Office, Loya moved full-time into career services, continuing his work
with students, graduates, and employers. During his years with Oregon Law, he
also helped develop and supervise externship programs to give students additional
opportunities to gain practical experience using their legal training.
Throughout
his career, Loya has been active in state and local bar associations. He served
as president of the Lane County Bar from 1998 to 1999, was an elected member of
the Oregon State Bar (OSB) House of Delegates from 2000 to 2006, and has served
on various Oregon Bar and Lane County Bar committees. These included an OSB Strategic
Planning Committee, an OSB President's Advisory Committee on Future Issues, and
an OSB Ad Hoc Committee to help design and implement the Oregon Bar's Interest
on Lawyer Trust Accounts (IOLTA) Program, which has provided millions of dollars
for Legal Services programs in Oregon since it's establishment in 1983.
Loya
currently is the law school representative to the OSB Loan Repayment Assistance
Program Advisory Committee and is a member of the Advisory Committee for the Campaign
for Equal Justice. The campaign, established by the Oregon Bar, raised more than
one million dollars last year to provide additional funding for Legal Services
programs, which provide legal assistance to low-income persons in Oregon. In
addition, in March Loya and Karen Garst, the former executive director of the
OSB, were given special recognition for their volunteer work in support of the
campaign and for their long-time support of legal services programs in Oregon.
The
Meritorious Service Award comes at a particularly significant time, as Loya is
completing his post-retirement service to the law school this spring.
In an email
announcement to Oregon Law's faculty and staff, Dean Margie Paris outlined Loya's
numerous accomplishments during his time with Oregon Law.
"His many contributions
to legal education and the law truly are extraordinary," she said.
The law school's
Lectures & Awards Committee, chaired by Professor Merle Weiner, recommended
Loya for the honor.
Previous Meritorious Service award recipients include:
2008 - Rennard Strickland 2007 - The Hon. Dorothy W. Nelson 2006 - The Hon. Wallace P. Carson, Jr., Phyllis Barkhurst 2005 - Alice Plymell 2004 - The Hon. Stephen Reinhardt, Senator Ron Wyden 2003 - The Hon. Ellen Rosenblum 2002 - Norman Wiener, Minoru Yasui 2001 - Ray and Lois Ackerman 2000 - The Hon. Helen Frye 1999 - The Hon. Sandra Day O'Connor, Professor Emeritus Frank R. Lacy 1998 - Hardy Myers 1997 - Wendell Wyatt 1996 - Otto Frohnmayer, Noreen (Saltveit) McGraw 1995 - Oglesby Young, Anthony Yturri 1994 - Arthur Johnson, Sidney Lezak 1993 - Jeannette Hayner, John Luvaas, Eugene Scoles 1992 - John Jaqua, Frank Nash 1991 - Chapin Clark 1990 - John Van Landingham 1989 - The Hon. Aldred T. Goodwin, The Hon. Edwin Peterson 1988 - The Hon. Roland Rodman, The Hon. Richard Unis 1987 - Richardson Nahstoll 1986 - The Hon. Hans Linde 1985 - Lois Baker, The Hon. Kenneth O'Connell 1984 - William East, Orlando J. Hollis Related Link:
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