Member Benefits

To qualify for OTLA membership, you must be an attorney 1) in good standing with the Oregon State Bar; 2) of good moral character; 3) committed to the principles of fundamental fairness, trial by jury and the civil justice system; and 4) do not, for the most part, represent the defense in personal injury, civil rights, employment, workers’ compensation or business tort litigation.

We also have membership categories for paralegals/legal staff, mediators and arbitrators, legal aid attorneys, law students and more!

To learn more about membership categories and join OTLA, CLICK HERE

click here to download a paper application to mail in, if you prefer

Stay connected with fellow members with OTLA email listservs

This service is available to regular attorney members with an additional listserv designated for paralegal/legal staff members. Getting online is easy: once you've signed the Listserv Confidentiality Agreement and provided your preferred email address, OTLA staff will add your access. You'll just need to certify your address and then you'll be instantly connected with more than 700 OTLA members through our many listservs!

Advantages include: brainstorming with your fellow OTLA members; sharing all sorts of pertinent information including sample briefs, forms and templates; crowdsourcing experiences and opinions on certain judges’ styles; finding potential arbitrators or mediators; networking with colleagues with a similar case or particular expertise, and more—the benefits of our listservs are endless!

Quality Continuing Legal Education (CLE)

OTLA provides outstanding Continuing Legal Education seminars, chaired and taught by the state’s finest practitioners and nationally known speakers. Substantive areas of trial law (such as personal injury, products liability, professional negligence, workers’ compensation, employment/civil rights/labor law, family law, business litigation) are presented. OTLA is the only organization in the state that emphasizes techniques and tips specific to representing injured consumers, patients, small businesses and workers.

Many of our programs are available by remote webcast and watchable online. You can also purchase and download historic programs in mp3 or mp4 formats from our CLE Bank. Check out what’s coming up by visiting our Event Calendar.

Fighting to keep Oregon families safe

OTLA is committed to access to justice for all Oregonians and protecting your clients’ rights in the state capitol. With the help of like-minded coalition partners, we work closely with legislators and the Governor to protect Oregonians’ fundamental right to case-by-case justice before a jury.

Online DME and Brief Fileshare

The OTLA Defense Medical Expert Fileshare contains extensive information on doctors who regularly perform exams for insurance companies. The information ranges from W-2 and 1099 tax records to deposition transcripts and the exams themselves. To browse the DME Fileshare, click here.

OTLA’s Brief Fileshare includes over 1,000 briefs, including appellate briefs, orders, complaints and other pleadings for use by members. Where a brief has been decided upon by the appellate courts, we have included a citation reference for the member’s convenience. To browse the Brief Fileshare, click here.

Our DME and Brief Fileshare documents are all submitted by OTLA members and we always need volunteers to help update these banks. If you are interested in helping on this project, please contact otla@oregontriallawyers.org.

Do you have something you would like to submit to the DME and/or Brief Fileshares that could help other OTLA members? You can submit documents online or fill out the DME Submission Form or the Brief Submission Form and turn it in with your transcript, exam records, brief, pleading or complaint.

Amicus Committee

This committee carefully reviews and selects significant cases pending before the Oregon Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. When necessary, OTLA intervenes by filing an amicus brief on behalf of your clients. Learn more about our Amicus Brief Guidelines HERE.

Publications

OTLA’s own quarterly magazine, Trial Lawyer, features articles about new Oregon cases, verdicts and settlements, practice tips, views from the bench, updating the membership on recent Court of Appeals and Supreme Court decisions of note as well as many other timely issues. The subscription price of this great resource is included in your OTLA membership fee.

OTLA’s digital newsletter, Sidebar, published 6 times per year, keeps members informed about new developments in the plaintiff’s bar, features on fellow members and commentary from colleagues and allies.

The OTLA Membership Directory is a virtual “who’s who” of the Oregon plaintiff’s bar. The Directory is cross-referenced by practice area and geographic location. This comprehensive listing of all members, professional service providers and national contacts is only available to OTLA members—and while it's a fully digital publication, the Directory is formatted in an easy-to-print manner if you like to have a hard copy on hand.

Serve on an OTLA committee or section

Have some spare time? We are always in need of volunteer help. Join one of OTLA’s many committees: Amicus, Development, Education, Legislative, Membership, and Publications. These committees help shape our organization’s policies, programs and services.

Our 11 specialty sections tailored to your individual practice areas are all about helping you be a better lawyer. Section meetings are free and frequent lunch hour sessions featuring top notch speakers offering their expertise on a variety of subjects. Most section meetings qualify for CLE credit so not only are you learning cutting edge practice tips but you are also logging FREE CLE hours! Every year, our section co-chairs provide over 50 free MCLE credits through monthly or bimonthly section meetings and most of them are recorded and available for download through the CLE Bank. Sections meet at least quarterly with many meeting on a monthly basis.

New Lawyers

From our free monthly New Lawyer Power Hours (a special section meeting geared towards new practitioners), our New Lawyer Socials, scholarship opportunities to attend our highly acclaimed three-day Annual Convention and other full-day CLEs, and “Learning the Ropes: Top 10 Tools for Practicing Employment, Motor Vehicle or Consumer Law” Packets, OTLA offers practical resources and key networking opportunities for our newest members of the bar.

Borrow one of our many trial tools

If you need a data projector, ELMO document camera or travel widescreen projector screen, OTLA has your back. We lend these items for FREE as part of your membership. Do you need a conference room or webcasting capabilities for your deposition? We can help here, too! Contact the OTLA office to check for availability or reserve any of our trial tools. You can also download the Facilities & Resource Rental Agreement here and submit that via email to otla@oregontriallawyers.org. Please note that submission of a form does not constitute confirmation without a direct response from an OTLA staff member.

Professional networking and socials

OTLA isn’t just about CLEs and legislative advocacy. We also provide networking opportunities for our members throughout the year, such as our three-day Annual Convention, Snowball holiday party, New Lawyer, Women's Caucus and Minority Caucus socials and more. Some of our specialty sections host their own section-specific socials throughout the year. As an OTLA member, you receive frequent emails with information about upcoming CLEs and events. And remember, you can always check out the Event Calendar to see what’s coming up!