science technicians and weathermen. I
went to that school as the assistant to
the guy who was in charge, and then he
left and I got put in charge. So the Coast
Guard time was a great learning, stretching,
stressful time for me, because I had a lot of
responsibility at a fairly young age.
Q: Where did you head after law school?
A: I had worked out here in Portland the
summer after my second year in law school
as a clerk for Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt.
I’m from Idaho and my wife was from
California. We just knew the West Coast,
and I ended up interviewing at a bunch of
different places, and I just liked the people
at Schwabe who I was going to work with.
So when they offered me a job, I accepted it.
I worked there from 1977 to 1990. [We] were
called natural resource attorneys back then.
We had, actually, in our group more energy
work. There wasn’t that much natural
resource/environmental-type work, but I
was one—because of my background—who
got to do that. Gradually, over time, I drifted
to where all I did was natural resources and
environmental law.
Q: Were you born in Idaho?
A: I was born in Vancouver, Washington. My
dad worked in the shipyards during World
War II. I was only there till I was about 2; then
we moved to Idaho. My dad and his brother,
who had been in the service and got out,
opened an ice cream shop in Weiser, Idaho.
Q: Must have been fun for a kid.
A: Oh, yeah. That was back in the days
when you could walk all over town. Weiser
wasn’t a very big town, so I got to walk
down—from my earliest memory—to the
ice cream shop and be spoiled by my
dad and the people who worked there. It
was a really fun town. I had a bicycle, like
every kid did, and went to the movies on
weekends and rode all over town … and
delivered newspapers. My mom would
pack a lunch for me—you can’t do this kind
of thing these days—and I’d ride around all
day and come back in the evening.
Q: What did you learn from your mom
and dad?
A: They were both very honest and my
mom was particularly straightforward. She
always said what she thought, so I knew
when I’d done wrong and knew when I’d
