Susan M. Leeson

Infobox Judge
name = Susan M. Leeson


imagesize =
caption =
office = 94th Associate Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court
termstart = 1998
termend = 2003
nominator =
appointer = John Kitzhaber
predecessor = Edward N. Fadeley
successor = Rives Kistler
office2 = Judge of the Oregon Court of Appeals
constituency2 =
termstart2 = 1993
termend2 = 1998
nominator2 =
appointer2 = Barbara Roberts
predecessor2 = John H. Buttler
successor2 = Robert D. Wollheim
birthdate = Birth date and age|1946|8|16|mf=y
birthplace = Salt Lake City, Utah
deathdate =
deathplace =
spouse = Richard S. Hall, Jr.

Susan M. Leeson (born August 16 1946) is an American attorney and former judge in the state of Oregon. She was the 94th Associate Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court. Prior to her appointment to Oregon’s high court, the Utah native served on the Oregon Court of Appeals.

Early life

Susan Leeson was born on August 16 1946 in Salt Lake City, Utah. [http://www.sos.state.or.us/elections/nov398/guide/npart/leesos.htm 1998 Oregon Voter’s Guide: Susan Leeson.] Oregon Secretary of State. Retrieved on January 20 2008.] The family moved to Oregon in 1961 where she attended Sunset High School near Beaverton. There she was a delegate to the Girls’ Nation conference before graduating in 1964. In 1968 Leeson graduated from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon with a BA in political science.Blazing a Trail to the Supreme Court. "Willamette Lawyer", Spring 2007.] She graduated magna cum laude and then earned a master’s degree and PhD from Claremont McKenna College. Then at the age of 24 she returned to Willamette and began teaching political science. While teaching she then enrolled at Willamette’s law school and earned her JD in 1981. During law school she would clerk for Judge Alfred T. Goodwin and was a judicial fellow for U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren E. Burger’s office.

Leeson was on the Willamette faculty for a total of more than 20 years at both the school’s College of Liberal Arts and the law school. She helped to start the law school’s alternative dispute resolution program in 1984. She also married fellow professor Richard S. Hall, Jr.

Judicial career

Then in December 1992 Susan Leeson was appointed to the Oregon Court of Appeals. [http://www.bluebook.state.or.us/state/elections/elections28.htm Oregon Blue Book: Appeals Court Judges of Oregon.] Oregon Secretary of State. Retrieved on January 20 2008.] She then won election to a full term in 1994 before resigning on February 26, 1998. On February 26 1998, Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber appointed her to the state supreme court to replace Edward N. Fadeley. [ [http://www.bluebook.state.or.us/state/elections/elections24.htm Oregon Blue Book: Governors of Oregon.] Oregon Secretary of State. Retrieved on January 20 2008.] [http://www.bluebook.state.or.us/state/elections/elections27.htm Oregon Blue Book: Supreme Court Justices of Oregon.] Oregon Secretary of State. Retrieved on January 20 2008.] Leeson then won election to a full six-year term later in 1998. She resigned in 2003 to battle breast cancer.

Later life

After beating breast cancer Susan M. Leeson started a consulting firm called Mediation Plus. She has also continued teaching and was named by the Classroom Law Project as Legal Citizen of the Year in 2006. [ [http://classroomlaw.org/newsletter/2005-06_winter.pdf Winter 2006.] Classroom Law Project. Retrieved on January 20 2008.] Leeson is an adjunct professor at the University of Oregon School of Law. [ [http://conflict.uoregon.edu/sleeson.html Faculty - Susan Leeson.] Conflict and Dispute Resolution. Retrieved on January 20 2008.]

References