Hailing from Alaska where he served as the Municipality of Anchorage’s first Citizen’s Ombudsman, Joel later clerked for the Oregon Court of Appeals and then tried a variety of cases in and around Pendleton, Oregon. Since joining Luvaas Cobb in 1988, he has handled countless appeals in matters across the spectrum of civil litigation.
Joel’s practice covers appellate work, personal injury defense, insurance law and school law. He assists in litigation in trial courts, evaluates insurance coverage, and advises individuals, employers and schools. He is routinely engaged by Oregon’s legal malpractice insurer as “repair counsel” to assist attorneys or their clients with troubled cases or to remedy unfavorable results in trial and appellate courts.
He is admitted to practice in all Oregon state and federal courts, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Federal Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. He is a member of the Oregon State Bar Association, the American Bar Association, a past president of the Lane County Bar Association, and a past member of the board of directors of the Oregon Association of Defense Counsel.
Joel has two grown sons. Friends say that Joel’s love of landscapes show up in his e-mailed snapshots. As a “hobby,” Joel drafted proposed repair legislation on auto insurance in 1997. His first set of repairs passed, making improvements in Oregon’s uninsured motorist coverage for the benefit of insurers and policyholders alike (1997 Oregon Laws Chapter 808). In 2003 and 2005, Joel worked with proposals through the Oregon Law Commission that fixed other flaws in Oregon’s auto insurance law.
Education
Antioch College (B.A. 1974)
University of Oregon School of Law (J.D., 1982)