Partner Laura Kerr Selected to Portland Business Journal 2022 ‘Forty Under 40’

PORTLAND, Ore. — Stoel Rives LLP is pleased to announce that environmental law partner Laura Kerr has been named a recipient of the Portland Business Journal Forty Under 40 award for 2022. The awardees, selected from several hundred nominees based on their career achievements, leadership, influence and impact within their communities and industries, will be honored on May 13 at the Sentinel in downtown Portland at an event that will also celebrate the 25^th anniversary of the Forty Under 40 awards. More information can be found here.

A rising star in Oregon’s legal and environmental fields, Kerr advises her clients on complying with federal and state environmental laws and meeting their environmental goals. She has advised some of the nation’s leading semiconductor, renewable energy, transportation, biotech, and waste management companies. Kerr’s work on major brownfield redevelopment projects, including projects within the Portland Harbor Superfund site, is revitalizing and reinvigorating the region, and her counsel to companies on environmental compliance, cleanup, and sustainable business practices is helping to raise environmental standards throughout the Pacific Northwest.

In addition to practicing environmental law, Kerr is deeply committed to the plight of asylum seekers and has dedicated extensive public service to bridging the legal representation gap for immigrants in Oregon. As part of her pro bono service, she has worked with Portland-based nonprofit Innovation Law Lab to create the Oregon Center for Excellence, which trains attorneys to provide much-needed pro bono legal representation to immigrant asylum seekers with the goal of preventing illegal incarceration and removals.

“Laura’s growth in her practice and her commitment to her community has been apparent and immensely impressive to everyone who has the good fortune to interact with her,” said Stoel Rives’ environmental law partner David Filippi. “She has a keen legal mind and the ability to stay calm in the often pressure-filled environment she works in, as well as an unwavering commitment to her pro bono work and to building diversity in the legal profession. We are thrilled for Laura to receive this well-deserved recognition.”

Kerr is currently recognized in environmental law by legal ranking services Chambers USA, Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America and Oregon Super Lawyers^®. She serves on the Steering Committee of the Cascade Chapter of the Northwest Environmental Business Council and on the Executive Committee of the Oregon State Bar Environmental & Natural Resources Section. She is a current board member of the Oregon Concrete & Aggregate Producers Association and past board member of Women in Environment and Friends of Trees.