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Bethany Bacci Receives 2023 Pro Bono Award of Merit
from May 2023 Multnomah Lawyer
by mbabar
by Ayla Ercin Executive Director, The Campaign for Equal Justice
Bethany Bacci, a partner at Stoel Rives LLP, has been awarded the 2023 Pro Bono Award of Merit for her many years volunteering with the Legal Aid Services of Oregon (LASO) Night Clinic, and for encouraging pro bono volunteering among lawyers both at her own firm and in the wider legal community.
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Bethany has been volunteering through LASO’s Night Clinic since 2003, where she has provided representation to low-income clients on a broad range of issues, including guardianship, collections, wills, rental termination notices, and SSI cases. Although Bethany’s practice at Stoel Rives focuses on employee benefits and not litigation, she has settled damage claims, negotiated on behalf of her clients, and consistently taken on work through legal aid that she describes as “challenging and not always comfortable.” Recently, Bethany accepted a complex emergency guardianship case that involved foreclosure and the need for an immediate temporary guardianship. She considers the work of access to justice too important, and the need too great, not to help.
Bethany does this work because she knows that “advocating for individual rights is foundational to our legal justice system” and her Night Clinic clients wouldn’t otherwise have access to counsel on life-changing legal issues. She also enjoys the work because “it reminds me of the utility of my legal training, even in areas where I’m not an expert.”
The Night Clinic has been providing legal services to lowincome clients since 1992 and was designed to increase access to justice by helping clients who can’t get legal help during regular office hours. The Night Clinic is a partnership between LASO and the Portland offices of law firms Stoel Rives LLP and Dunn Carney LLP.
Bethany received her BA from Stanford University before going on to law school at Lewis & Clark.
When she earned her JD in 2001, an important part of her decision to join Stoel Rives was the firm’s
