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Oregon Supreme Court Justice Virginia Linder has many 鈥渇irsts鈥� attached to her name. She was the first woman to serve as Oregon solicitor general and held the office longer than anyone in the state鈥檚 history (1986-1997). As solicitor general, she became the first woman to represent Oregon before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Linder also was the first woman elected, rather than appointed, to the Oregon Supreme Court. And she was the first openly lesbian Supreme Court justice nationwide.

Before those 鈥渇irsts,鈥� however, Linder had planned to become a teacher. A high school civics teacher encouraged her interest in the nation鈥檚 legal system, but it was the 1970s and few women attended law school.

鈥淚t clicked for me 鈥� how important the court system was to social justice, and that turned into an interest in going to law school. The problem was, I didn鈥檛 know if, as a woman lawyer, I could get a job after law school,鈥� Linder said.

Motivated by the civil rights and women鈥檚 rights movements, Linder took the plunge and graduated from Willamette University鈥檚 College of Law in 1980. She worked at the state鈥檚 justice department before beginning her judicial career, which includes eight years for the Oregon Court of Appeals before Linder launched her bid for the Oregon Supreme Court seat.

J. Nicole DeFever, an attorney with the state鈥檚 justice department, met Linder in 2005 when she began working as her campaign manager. DeFever said she, like many others, was quickly impressed by Linder鈥檚 professionalism and personal affability.

鈥淭hat election was a big undertaking and she did it well. Politics can be messy, but this judicial campaign was so classy and above the fray,鈥� DeFever said. 鈥淕ini sticks to the moral high road, and it was really inspiring to see that in a leader serving on the state Supreme Court.鈥�

DeFever nominated Linder for the 2012 Justice Betty Roberts Award, which celebrates the promotion of women in the law. Oregon Women Lawyers will present the award to Linder on March 9 during its 20th annual Roberts-Diez Awards dinner.

Linder鈥檚 childhood dream of becoming a teacher did come true, by the way. She is an adjunct law professor at Willamette and mentors students there. She鈥檚 been able to combine her talent for teaching with her legal expertise as a judge for high-school constitutional law competitions.