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Law school: Willamette University Law School

Career highlight: Volpert successfully argued a landmark case in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on drug testing on student athletes.

Noteworthy: Volpert co-founded the Grant High School Constitution Team, which has won several national competitions while helping more than 400 students become well-informed citizens.

Tim Volpert was among the first in his family to go to college. Inspired by a cousin who was an attorney, Volpert headed off to Earlham College in Richmond, Ind., with plans to earn a political science degree and go to law school.

Volpert enrolled at Willamette University鈥檚 law school after moving west with his wife to be closer to her parents in Salem. He graduated in 1981 and began his career in small firms.

鈥淚鈥檝e done some of my best legal work when I represented individuals,鈥� Volpert said. 鈥淚 get a lot of satisfaction from working with people who are new to the system and maybe cannot afford to have legal services.鈥�

Over the past 30 years, Volpert has concentrated his practice on complex litigation in state and federal trial courts, with cases ranging from constitutional and commercial law to education, employment and telecommunications law. With appellate litigation as his specialty, Volpert鈥檚 cases include Vernonia School District 47J v. Acton, in which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld that drug testing public school athletes does not violate the Fourth Amendment.

鈥淚 love my appellate practice and the ability to create arguments, as well as the writing aspect of it,鈥� he said. 鈥淢ore broadly, I love the fact that lawyers have the incredible gift of being able to go out into the community, teach people about legal issues and get involved in neighborhood issues.鈥�

Volpert, who lives near Grant High School, was a founding member of its Constitution Team in the late 1990s. He is a longtime board member of the Classroom Law Project, which sponsors the We the People and Mock Trial programs in Oregon鈥檚 schools. Volpert called the programs 鈥淟ittle League for lawyers.鈥�

鈥淥nce you get lawyers involved in this stuff, it鈥檚 addictive. Once they realize they have this knowledge they can share with the students and watch the students respond, they can鈥檛 get enough it,鈥� he said.

Recognized as an Oregon Super Lawyer and by Best Lawyers in America for appellate law, Volpert is running for a seat on the Oregon Court of Appeals bench.