According to the Portland Tribune’s Sustainable Life:
The Oregon State Bar has agreed to create a section of members devoted to sustainability and amend its bylaws to include an endorsement of sustainability principles.
Both actions are firsts for the nation, says Dick Roy, founder of Oregon Lawyers for a Sustainable Future and a former attorney at Stoel Rives, Oregon’s largest law firm.
The section will issue sustainability awards for individual lawyers and law firms with exemplary practices. Members also will develop a set of model practices for law firms.
More than 400 bar members signed petitions seeking the creation of the special section. Though law firms aren’t considered among the most prolific polluters or contributors to greenhouse gases, much of what they do touches on industry, real estate and other practices.
Oregon Lawyers for a Sustainable Future is developing a handbook for lawyers on how to “green” their personal and professional lives. It’s also creating tools to assess laws and regulations through the sustainability lens, among other projects.
