Attorneys:
Individual Consultation
If you are facing a legal problem, have a question concerning your legal rights, or are seeking a lawyer’s representation and guidance, Bennett Hartman Morris & Kaplan is ready to help. To schedule an initial consultation, feel free to call us at (503) 227-4600.
Attorney fees may be charged on either a contingent basis or a reasonable hourly rate. This decision is made case-by-case, and takes into account the individual circumstances of each matter. An initial telephone consultation with one of our lawyers can sometimes be scheduled at no charge.
Firm History
Bennett, Hartman, Morris & Kaplan traces its history to the firm of Jeffrey & Lenon, which was formed in Portland in 1906. Biographical information received from the Oregon State Bar reflects the practice of law in simpler times.
Regarding Charles E. Lenon:
“Education was very meager. Did not attend school after attaining 15 years of age. Studied law at home at night while working as a cigarmaker during the day. Received no instruction in law...Republican.”
In the late thirties, Harlow Lenon joined his father to form the firm Lenon & Lenon which continued to handle a variety of legal issues. In the depths of the Great Depression it was not unknown for the firm to accept unusual forms of payment from clients, including freshly caught fish or freshly slaughtered livestock. The firm has tried to discourage such payments in more recent years. By the late fifties and early sixties the focus of the firm began to change as it became more involved in representing union and union employees. The firm was heavily involved in the early sixties in the strike and related activity against the Oregonian. In 1964, the firm represented the West Coast breakaway unions which formed the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers. In 1969, Lillian Meyers, the only women in her law school class at Northwestern College of Law, became a partner in the firm, and perhaps the first woman partner in any Portland law firm. Recently with the development of the public sector unions in the State of Oregon the focus of the firm again shifted so that it now represents employees in both private and public sector unions, while continuing its broad focus of providing for the needs of the union members.
A partial succession of firms with approximate dates of formation is:
- Jeffrey & Lenon, 1906
- Lenon & Lenon, 1945
- Lenon & Willner, 1960
- Willner, Bennett, Leonard & Burns, 1966
- Willner, Bennett & Leonard, 1972
- Willner, Bennett, Riggs & Skarscad, 1976
- Willner, Bennett, Bobbit & Hartman, 1978
- Bennett, Hartman, Tauman & Reynolds, 1984
- Bennett & Durham, 1990
- Bennett, Hartman, Reynolds, Smith & Wiser, 1992
- Bennett, Hartman, Reynolds & Wiser 1997
- Bennett, Hartman, Morris & Kaplan, 2001
