Professional and Community Leadership

As a firm, we believe in professional and civic involvement. Our members frequently share their litigation expertise as continuing legal education speakers, as writers and editors, and as contributors to Oregon State Bar publications. We have taught law school courses, provided expert testimony on lawyer-client issues, served as pro tem judges, and filled bar leadership roles. Many of our lawyers provide pro bono counsel to low-income individuals and nonprofit organizations.

The firm as a whole supports a variety of worthwhile community causes. These include legal aid programs, fundraising for breast cancer research, emergency shelter for women and children, day care services for children of parents who have to be in court, and legal community support for the fight against hunger.

Our attorneys frequently volunteer as leaders on community projects and on nonprofit and civic boards. They are involved with organizations that oppose discrimination, advocate for and mentor children, promote the arts, and offer support services to cancer patients and their families.

MHGM is a leader in the community. Along with generous donations made by individual employees, the firm annually makes substantial financial contributions to the Campaign for Equal Justice and the St. Andrew Legal Clinic, two organizations that provide legal services for low-income Oregonians.

The firm’s lawyers sit on boards for organizations such as the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation, Campaign for Equal Justice, Portland Youth Golf Association, St. Andrew Legal Clinic, and Pacific Artists Dance Foundation. In addition, they serve on dozens of professional boards and committees, including prominent positions with the American Inns of Court, Multnomah Bar Association, Oregon Law Institute, and U.S. District Court of Oregon Historical Society.

Notable Pro Bono Work

Recently, MHGM spearheaded the effort to remodel the Multnomah Bar Association's CourtCare space. CourtCare is a free drop-in child care center in the Multnomah County Courthouse. The project, with the help of Yost Grube Hall Architects and Howard S. Wright Construction (and many other sub-contractors and generous donors), was completed on Memorial Day Weekend 2011. MHGM Paralegal Mary Rower was honored with the Multnomah Bar Association Award of Merit for her work in organizing the remodel.

As board chair and legal counsel for the Oregon Holocaust Memorial Coalition, Lisa Kaner, a shareholder with the firm, was instrumental in creating the Oregon Holocaust Memorial in Portland's Washington Park. She guided the memorial through a heated six-year legal battle to its unveiling in 2004. In 2006, she received a statewide award for her volunteer efforts – the Oregon State Bar’s Public Service Award – and in 2008, she received a Special Recognition Award from the Oregon Area Jewish Committee.