Stoll Berne’s lawyers have decades of experience providing advice and counsel to political campaigns, candidates, and individuals involved in state and local political or governmental processes.
We advise proponents and opponents statewide and local ballot measures through all stages in the process, including drafting measures, ballot title and other legal challenges, signature collection, and signature verification. We also advise campaigns and candidates on campaign finance, ethics, and other legal matters. We have overseen recounts of contested candidate and measure races, and have successfully challenged and defended in court measures approved by voters. We also represent individuals in state and local regulatory compliance matters, including administrative and disciplinary hearings.
We are prepared to assist clients through the challenges inherent in a political campaign and in addressing issues raised by state or local governmental regulatory bodies.
We Help Clients Through the Challenges of Political Campaigns and Ballot Initiatives
Stoll Berne attorneys Steve Berman and Keith Ketterling, acting as special assistant attorneys general, defended a constitutional challenge to Oregon’s eviction ban. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and devastating wildfires, the Oregon legislature enacted a law that temporarily prevented landlords from evicting tenants for non-payment of rent.
Stoll Berne attorneys Steve Berman and Keith Ketterling, acting as special assistant attorneys general, defended a constitutional challenge to Oregon’s foreclosure ban. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Oregon legislature enacted a law that temporarily prevented lenders from foreclosing on borrowers or charging fees to borrowers for late payments.
In January 2018, two days after the Oregon Secretary of State implemented new rules changing how signatures could be gathered for statewide initiative petitions, Steve Berman filed a lawsuit on behalf of an Oregon voter alleging that the new rules were illegal and that the Secretary of State lacked the authority to implement the rules.
Stoll Berne's Steve Berman frequently represents progressive groups and individuals before the Oregon Supreme Court in challenges to ballot titles issued for statewide initiatives and referenda.
The Portland Public School Board of Education hired Stoll Berne attorneys Tim DeJong and Steve Berman to conduct an investigation regarding the district's practices and protocols for testing for lead in water and disclosing information to the public about lead in water at schools and buildings.
Stoll Berne attorney Steve Berman represented the successful statewide recreational marijuana legalization initiative campaign through all phases of the political process, from the filing of the initiative through the November 2014 statewide general election.
Stoll Berne helped client Quicksilver Contracting Co. obtain over $720,000 in biomass collector tax credits. In 2012, the Department of Energy denied Quicksilver's application for tax credits.
