Jim Griggs (left) and Bob Saalfeld.
In the early 1970s, down in the old Willamette Law basement, Jim Griggs ’71, JD’75 and Bob Saalfeld JD’74 met and worked together on the Willamette Law Review editorial board. That shared interest sparked a friendship that has been central to their professional partnership ever since. Just blocks from the Willamette Law campus — and its basement — lies the law firm Saalfeld Griggs P.C., a downtown fixture. Saalfeld and Griggs joined the firm (then Harland & Ritter) not long after their graduations, and, in little more than 40 years, have taken the firm from four lawyers to about 30 now—making it by far the largest private firm in Salem.
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As 2018 rolled in, Saalfeld and Griggs prepared to hang up their hats. Both retired effective January 1, and despite the shared enjoyment of their work and the practice they built, they were ready for their exit. “The attorneys who remain here will have a chance to succeed in their own right and continue to build on really what is a group effort,” Griggs says. “It’s not the product of Bob and me so much as it’s a product of a group of people who worked hard together in a positive way. The firm has been so good to us, and I’m proud to see how it’s developed.”
The Beginnings
Saalfeld came to Willamette Law having grown up in Salem. He attended the University of San Francisco for his undergraduate