LA GRANDE — Strawberry Mountain Law, headquartered in Canyon City, has opened two new offices, its main branch office in La Grande and a satellite office in Enterprise.

Attorney Jeff MacNeilly will split his time between the two offices, offering public defense and some private and civil casework. MacNeilly’s education began on the East Coast and continued in Oregon.

“I grew up in New Hampshire, and I earned my bachelor’s degree from Northeastern University in Boston,” MacNeilly said. “From there, I moved out to the state of Oregon in 2016.”

For the next couple of years, he worked for the state of Oregon, after which he attended the University of Oregon School of Law in Eugene, graduating in 2021. In October 2021, he moved to Grant County, where he started practicing law with Strawberry Mountain Law, a firm closely affiliated with Elkhorn Public Defender, Inc.

Firm’s history

Strawberry Mountain Law was formerly the Law Office of Rob Raschio, who sold the practice to attorney Kathleen “Kati” Dunn, when Raschio became circuit court judge in Grant and Harney counties in January 2021.

Dunn had worked for Raschio’s law firm since 2019, and prior to this she worked for 20 years at Metropolitan Public Defender in Multnomah County where she served as county director. She is currently the owner and president of Strawberry Mountain Law and the executive director of Elkhorn Public Defender.

“My private law firm is Strawberry Mountain Law and it has a close affiliation with Elkhorn Public Defender, a nonprofit entity,” Dunn said. “Strawberry Mountain Law does have a contract with the state of Oregon to do court-appointed criminal defense cases.”

The firm currently has a presence in Grant, Harney, Malheur, Baker, Union and Wallowa counties.

“It’s been Kati’s vision to expand our offices into other counties so that we can have a firm with unified resources distributed throughout the region, rather than a number of solo practices isolated in different counties,” MacNeilly said.

As a corporation, Strawberry Mountain Law has the reach and infrastructure to share its resources in all of its offices. One of those resources includes training attorneys, and MacNeilly said they are hoping to become a type of recruitment pipeline for younger attorneys, maybe fresh out of school.

“It’s important to get more talent out this way and get more attorneys to realize that it’s a great place to live and that our services are really needed here,” he said.

Dunn’s vision for Strawberry Mountain Law is to help the entire region have better access to justice through public defense, but also in private and general practice of law. Dunn was happy to bring MacNeilly into the firm and expand to Union and Wallowa counties.

“Jeff MacNeilly has a very solid, impressive career trajectory ever since we hired him, which is why we trust him to do good solid work,” Dunn said. “He’s an excellent attorney.”

Public defense

Besides public defense, MacNeilly is qualified to handle civil litigation of contract law, write wills, assist with estate planning, restraining orders, stalking protective orders, and private criminal defense cases if the client would like to pay him for representation.

For cases involving family law and divorce, Strawberry Mountain Law would draw from its resources at the Baker City office, namely Kyra Rohner, who has experience in this field of law.

In the case of juvenile delinquency, and juvenile dependencies, Strawberry Mountain Law is under contract with the state of Oregon to handle such cases, and MacNeilly can assist with those cases.

“Jeff MacNeilly has access to all of the firm’s resources, including 12 attorneys and a dedicated attorney trainer and other resources,” Dunn said. “Among our ranks, we also have two attorneys who are first-chair, murder-qualified, and two others on the edge of gaining that credential.”

Dunn is excited to have MacNeilly on board.

“I jumped at the chance to join these beautiful communities in Union and Wallowa counties and have a presence there,” she said. “Eastern Oregon is (legally) underserved, and they need more defense lawyers. We would love to hire another attorney to join Jeff in his office.”

MacNeilly said he sees public defense as a bedrock of citizens’ constitutional rights and something that protects everyone. Certainly, the need is evident.

“Upwards of 90% of people in Union County who are charged with crimes are eligible for public defenders,” he said.

Really, anybody could find themselves in need of a public defender. Even a wealthy person may exhaust his or her financial resources during a trial and no longer be able to pay for a private attorney. Then, that client may need a public defender like MacNeilly.

He’s in a courtroom more times than not, he said, and he does his best work when he’s interacting with people face-to-face and reacting on his feet.

“It’s a powerful calling for me,” he said.

Strawberry Mountain Law in La Grande — at 1407 Washington Ave., in the Sac Annex — is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Attorney Jeff MacNeilly is assisted in the La Grande office by receptionist Kia Johnson and he may be reached by calling 541-575-5750 (option 4).

The satellite office in Enterprise is open on Wednesdays at 103 Highway 82, Unit A. MacNeilly offers public defense for cases heard in the Wallowa County Circuit Court in Enterprise and may be reached at the phone number above.

This story has been changed to reflect a correction. Attorney Kyra Rohmer has a specialty in family law and is based in Baker City.