DA’s office is short five attorneys
By Terry Murry on Tuesday, November 30th, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
PENDLETON – At the end of this week, Umatilla County District Attorney Dan Primus will have an office with five attorneys. Normally, he has 10. Primus said applications for openings are slow as newly-minted lawyers are choosing to remain in the Willamette Valley, where Oregon’s three main law schools are located. He said having only half a staff complicates things, since there are five courtrooms.
“We have three adult courtrooms, a juvenile courtroom, and grand jury,” he said. “If we’re in that scenario, we don’t have anybody available to answer a question from law enforcement, be working on their files for the next day or to be charging cases that are coming in.”
He said all his staff, both lawyers and laypersons, are pitching in to make things work. Primus said that since Oregon’s major law schools are all in the Interstate 5 corridor, recent graduates choose to stay in that area rather than move to Eastern Oregon, so there are only a few applicants.
The Umatilla County Board of Commissioners has given Primus approval for an internship program, and he hopes that will make a difference. An intern is due to come on board in January from the University of Idaho.
“A local guy who is currently with the University of Idaho is going to start an externship with us in January, so we’re going to get him the last semester of his third year,” Primus said. “He’s going to be able to help us with some misdemeanor cases, which is fantastic, and hopefully get his foot in the door so we can bring him on full time.”
