Joseph Baxter Receives 2023 YLS Rookie of the Year Award

by Jessie Schuh YLS Board

The YLS is delighted to acknowledge Joe Baxter as a co-recipient of this year’s YLS Rookie of the Year Award.

Joe is originally from Idaho, where, as a teenager, he earned extra money working on farms. In those jobs, Joe labored alongside migrant workers and saw how hard they worked to support entire families on the same wages that Joe was earning as a teenager. This was one of many experiences that sparked his interest in how systems can marginalize members of our communities, and he began exploring how he could minimize the harms society inflicts on underrepresented people.

Joe completed his undergraduate studies in accounting at BYU-Idaho and later enrolled at Lewis & Clark Law School. Joe initially focused on environmental law, but a class on religious liberty and civil rights law broadened his legal interests. During his undergraduate education, Joe had observed friends and family who are members of the queer community face discrimination, and he was keenly aware of the harm and the sense of powerlessness that those situations can create. Armed with a new understanding of the laws related to religious liberty, Joe began to ask how our civil rights laws could protect members of the LGBTQ+ community in those spaces.

Joe was able to spend his 1L summer working with legal aid in Newport, Oregon, where he supported underprivileged clients, many of whom had never experienced having an advocate working on their behalf. Seeing how impactful it was for these clients to finally have someone in their corner was moving for Joe, and it was his first exposure to the positive, tangible impacts that the law can have on peoples’ lives.

After graduating from Lewis & Clark in 2021, Joe and his wife Emily were excited to put down roots in the area, and he immediately put his passion and skills to work, first as a legal fellow, and then as the deputy director, for the Religious Exemption Accountability Project (REAP) in Portland. REAP’s mission is to empower queer, trans, and non-binary students at more than 200 taxpayer-funded religious schools that actively discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity/expression. Through civil rights litigation, storytelling, oral history, research, and public policy, REAP works towards a world where LGBTQ+ students on all campuses are treated equally, with safety and respect.

Joe is extremely grateful to have a supportive wife and community that give him the opportunity to do that work, but he also felt the need to give back to the legal community.

Prior to getting involved with the YLS, Joe had benefited from the support that the Oregon legal community provides, starting with his professors at Lewis & Clark and continuing with a host of great

mba yls EVENT YLS Judges’ Reception

Thursday, July 20 5-6:30 p.m. Tonkon Torp LLP

888 SW 5th Ave, Ste 1600, Portland

The YLS Membership Committee invites you to join us at our annual Judges’ Reception! This event provides lawyers the opportunity to socialize with members of the bench in a cordial and informal environment. Appetizers and beverages will be provided by Tonkon Torp LLP. Attendance is free, but space is limited. If you have any questions about this event, please contact Sam Klausen, Samantha. Klausen@tonkon.com, or Sarah-Ray Rundle, srundle@mrhfmlaw.com.

Thank you to Tonkon Torp LLP for hosting and sponsoring the event.