The students in the practicum are paired with an attorney and, together, they take on cases on behalf of local journalists as a team.
This fall semester, the Lewis & Clark Law School launched a practicum partnering with Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) as part of the Public Records and Government Transparency Project. According to the LC Law Newsroom, the main mission of the project is to increase ease and access for journalists navigating Oregon public records. The project is aimed at addressing the roadblocks newsrooms face when requesting access to public records. A public records request is a way of accessing information held by a government agency. In the state of Oregon, government agencies are allowed to charge processing fees for providing those records, which can create a barrier for journalists. The program provides journalists with legal assistance when disputing fees or denials of their records requests.
The practicum is an experiential training program, taking on only six students per semester. Two students are paired with a seasoned volunteer attorney. Then, as a team, they take on cases from local journalists in the process of obtaining public records. Students also receive classroom instruction on public records and First Amendment law from two OPB lawyers, Jon Bial JD ’00 and Nora Broker.
Bial has been the deputy general counsel for OPB for the past 12 years, working on public record law for seven of those years. He works with reporters to answer questions, file public record requests, and in the case of those requests being denied, filing petitions.
Bial and Rebecca Morris, a vice president and general counsel at OPB, had been interested in creating a clinic for Oregon Public Records Law given the existing three law schools in the state, and first reached out to the University of Oregon Law School, but did not receive mutual interest.
Because Bial is an alum of LC Law School, he decided to reach out to his contacts at LC.After a meeting last spring with Joanna Perini-Abbott, professor of practice and director of the center for advocacy at the law school, the development of the practicum was set in motion. In an interview with The Mossy Log, Bial outlined the potential uncertainties that the practicum had in its early stages.
“When we started the program we had three concerns,” Bial said. “First, could we get attorneys to support it, second, would we get students that would want to take it, and third, would there be enough outside requests that were in the public interest to keep our students busy. One by one we were able to tick off those challenges.”
Bial emphasized the collaboration and generosity from the community as a driving force of the program. He highlighted the efforts of the attorneys who are volunteering their time and expertise, as well as OPB’s crucial support.
“It’s not an insignificant contribution that they are making, it’s a huge sacrifice,” Bial said. “OPB is funding Nora and I to go teach a class and all the things that go into making it, like developing curriculum.”
Despite the initial worries of launching a new program, Bial has noted that the first semester of the class has been phenomenal.
“The experience the students are getting is amazing. They’re getting to talk to the head administrative officer for the Multnomah County district attorney who does hundreds of petitions every year. He’s the chief decision maker, and he came to sit down with our classroom,” Bial said.“They’ve met with OPB reporters, they’ve met with the head administrative officer of the attorney general. That sort of experience and contact is really valuable for when you start practicing. For training the next generation of media lawyers, giving them exposure of what public records can do, it’s been a huge success.”
Another goal of the practicum is to have a beneficial impact on local journalism through providing free legal assistance and counsel. Because this is the first term of the project there is no quantitative data to point to its efficacy, but anecdotally, seasoned attorneys from OPB’s newsroom have argued that the need for free legal services in journalism is ever-pressing.
In an article for Current, a news organization that covers public media, Morris explained that there are a few factors contributing to the need for more resources and training in public record law. For one, the number of attorneys that are versed in public record and First Amendment law is shrinking. Furthermore, there has been an increase in public records fees that offices charge in order to fund news operations that are often under-resourced.
Bial underscored the tangible significance that sustaining public record law and working with investigative journalists has on communities at large.
“I think accountability of our public bodies is violently important at all levels. From the water utility district, to the largest city state government. Particularly when politics are so fractured and passionate, I think having actual documents produced by the public bodies themselves, which are the public records available, providing that transparency, provides a platform of facts which people can debate,” Bial said.
Bial gave examples of specific cases prior to the law school’s practicum where he worked with investigative journalists to gain access to public records that became influential in holding public facing individuals accountable.
One case centered around Deschutes County Sheriff Kent van der Kamp.The Deschutes County local newspaper, The Bulletin, published an article in April which revealed that van der Kamp had 14 separate instances of dishonesty in his previous employment and education after obtaining a draft report by the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training.. Bial described the article as instrumental in the eventual resignation of Van der Kamp.
“As a result of the records we did get, it started a chain of events that led to his resignation, and the Bureau of Public Training and Safety Standards revoked his right to be a law enforcement officer. That’s impact journalism at its finest,” Bial said.
Additionally, Bial cited the case of Tony Klein, who was a nurse at Oregon’s Coffee Creek Correctional facility. Klein is now serving a 30-year prison sentence for sexually abusing nine incarcerated women.
In 2022, OPB published an article detailing the allegations against Klein. At the time, Klein had not been convicted of any crime despite various investigations, and was working as a nurse at Legacy Health. Bial emphasized the continual effort of investigative journalism in getting a successful conviction.
“Through public records work and a number of articles, it caused law enforcement to open up an investigation, and he was convicted of sex abuse. Had those articles not been given light, had we not gotten those documents, he would still be a nurse,” Bial said.
The Public Records and Government Transparency project is currently accepting cases from local newsrooms of all types. It is prioritizing outlets that would not have the funding otherwise to hire outside counsel. The practicum webpage offers more information on the course for potential law students, as well a link to a form to request assistance.
About the Author
