Ms. Lear specializes in complex litigation, including case evaluation, analysis of legal issues, legal research, legal writing, motions work, trial preparation in catastrophic accidents, aviation matters, personal injury, and insurance defense cases.

 

Ms. Lear was born and raised in Colorado where she earned her B.A, magna cum laude at the University of Colorado, where she wrote her honors thesis on Delinquency and Education.  Ms. Lear moved to the Portland Metro and earned her J.D., summa cum laude, from Lewis and Clark Law School.

 

Ms. Lear was a law clerk to the Honorable Georg A. Van Hoomissen at the Oregon Court of Appeals for three years, before beginning her practice as an appellate attorney. During that work, Ms. Lear briefed and argued more than 150 cases before the Oregon Court of Appeals, the Oregon Supreme Court, the Washington Court of Appeals, and the United States Courts of Appeals for the Sixth, Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Circuits, and the Supreme Court of the United States.  Ms. Lear also assisted trial attorneys with complex motions work and trained new lawyers in legal writing and in the preservation of errors for appeal.

 

When she is not working, Ms. Lear loves spending time outdoors with her family, including trips to the mountains and to the coast, as well as vegetable gardening and crafts (during the rainy season).