WOODROW WILSON HIGH SCHOOL Alumni
PORTLAND, OREGON
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
GRADUATE RECEIVES OREGON STATE BAR AWARD
On December 2, 2010 the Oregon Bench and Bar Commission on Professionalism presented the Edwin J. Peterson Award to Albert Menashe '67. This is the state Bar's highest professionalism award and is named for Edwin Peterson, the 39th Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, serving from 1983 to 1991.
Albert Menashe's path to the top of the legal profession began a long time ago. After Wilson High School, Albert attended the University of Oregon and graduated Phi Beta Kappa. Following college, Albert spent two years in the Army during the Viet Nam War. He graduated first in his class in ROTC and was stationed in Maryland as an administrative officer. After the Army, he started law school at Willamette University College of Law. Albert had the privilege his third year of law school to serve as Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review.
Upon graduation from law school, he worked in a large law firm for three or four years before starting his own law firm. Albert is the Managing Shareholder of Gevurtz Menashe Larson & Howe P.C., a Family Law Attorneys in Oregon and SW Washington. Albert's firm was the first to limit its practice to family law. "Several years ago when we last checked, we were the second largest law firm in America limiting its practice to divorce related law," adds Albert.
Believing that it is important to give back to the community, Albert was the President of the Oregon Chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers from 1995 to 1997; a member of the Governor's Task Force on Family Law from 1994 to 1995 for the State of Oregon; a member of the Joint Bench-Bar Commission on Professionalism from 2000 to 2005 and was Chairperson in 2003; a member of the Oregon State Bar Board of Governors from 2004 to 2 0 07 and served as Oregon State Bar President in 2007. Albert was a founding member of the Oregon State Bar Family Law Section in 1978 and was Chair of the Family Law Section of the OSB in 1981; member of the Multnomah Bar Association Board of Directors from 1994 to 1999 and held the positions of Multnomah County Bar President in 1997-1998. Albert held the positions of President, Vice President, and Treasurer from 1988 to 1996 for the Gus J. Solomon American Inn of Court; has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America from 1991 to the present; received the Oregon State Bar President's Membership Services Award in 1998; named in Superlawyers Magazine's "Top 10 Lawyers in Oregon " from 2006 to the present; named in Worth Magazine "Top 100 Lawyers in America" in 2008. Albert has published peer-reviewed articles; has given speeches, lectures, and presentations about the law since 1979; and has made television and radio appearances about the law since 1982. Along with many others and just to name a few, Albert has been a member of the Oregon Club of Portland since 1976 and served as President in 1981; Chairs the St. Andrew's Legal Clinic Wine Event; and was the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation "Living and Giving Honoree" in 2007.
Thinking back to his years at Wilson, Albert reflects that, "without question, one of the people having the greatest impact on my life was Stan Stanton. Although I had decent grades at Wilson, I was told by the college counselor that I wasn't smart enough to go to college. Mr. Stanton, who was my football coach, was upset when I told him what the college counselor said and took me by the hand and enrolled me at the University of Oregon." Albert tells us that, anything is possible. "I came from a family that was rich in love, but not very affluent. The good, well-meaning teachers at Wilson High School provided me the tools I needed to get a good education and a good career. The foregoing has given me an opportunity to become involved in several charities and organizations in an effort to make lives of others better."
Congratulations, Albert!