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Laura Salerno Owens regularly hits heights at Barran Liebman LLP. She has built 鈥渁n exceptional referral source鈥� among her clients and colleagues and is 鈥渁n incredible asset in her practice of employment law to the legal profession and the Portland community,鈥� said firm managing partner Edwin Harnden.

But Salerno Owens topped her usual standards of excellence this past May when she developed low-cost seminars to help train young lawyers on how to meet the legal needs of Oregonians facing home foreclosure. She joined forces with the Oregon Department of Justice, the Oregon State Bar and the Oregon New Lawyers Division to organize a two-day foreclosure seminar.

The seminar, which cost each participant $20, was seen by more than 300 attorneys, both in person and through web casting to rural areas, where foreclosure rates are the highest.

It been nominated for awards by the National Federal Bar Association and the American Bar Association, and resulted in 500 pages of support material that are being distributed to foreclosure mediators, housing counselors and the Foreclosure Settlement Attorneys General group.

For Salerno Owens, working on the project was rewarding because of its wide-reaching benefit.

鈥淭he project was born out of a desire to resolve a troubling paradox of our weak economy,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he courts are burdened by pro se litigants in areas of foreclosures while scores of new attorneys could not find jobs. 鈥� Clearly there was a gap between lawyers and potential clients, and to bridge that gap the attorneys needed training in these areas to meet this need.鈥�

Salerno Owens said the seminar has generated more interest in pro bono projects and has led to a new committee to develop a pro bono project aimed at helping homeowners facing foreclosures.

If you hadn鈥檛 become an attorney, what other career would you have followed?

I think I would have been either a community organizer or a coach/mentor of some type.

Who is your favorite U.S. Supreme Court Justice of all time?

The Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

What is your motto?

鈥淧ay it forward.鈥� The opportunity to give back to others is one of the most satisfying aspects of my career.

What is your favorite website and why?

If there were a website called 鈥渨anderlust.com,鈥� that would be it. I love to travel and although I have been fortunate to visit many foreign countries, there are many more places where I hope to go. Of course, the best part about traveling is the food!

Mount Hood or Oregon Coast?

No hesitation: Oregon Coast. I鈥檓 originally a California girl, so I need to see the ocean even if it isn鈥檛 next to a sunny beach.