Karen J Mockrin

Dear Potential Client,

I am a criminal defense attorney: a professional doubter, willing to give you the benefit of that doubt.  I will stand between you and the full force of the almighty state, and say, "Hold on!  Look closer!  The government has no case!" 

Do you need someone to believe you?  To empathize with you?  To just get it - that you are experiencing a nightmare, and need someone to end it?  I'm your lawyer.  I'll go all the way to the Oregon Supreme Court for you if i have to.  (I already have.)

As you might have figured out, I am passionate about this.  The government might jump to conclusions about your having committed a crime, but it's not about what you did, might have done or didn't do; it's about what the government can prove.  Beyond a reasonable doubt. 

No lawyer worth her salt (or ethics) would ever guarantee a victory.  But I do gurantee that I will fight for you with everything I have.  I will empathize with you, educate you and empower you, whether you are paying me directly or I am appointed to you.  And while I will give you my honest assessment of your case, my job is not merely to give you my advice, but to help you understand decisions you have to make.  We will work together, and we will put you in the best position possible.  If there is a road to a dismissal or a not gulty verdict, I will leave no stone unturned trying to find it.

If you want to reach me, call or text me at ********.  General busines hours are 9 am - 5 pm, but if you're in an emergency because the cops are at your door, or taking you from your car, call or text me any time.  If you get my voicemail, it's confidential.  Let me know who you are, and I'll call you as soon as I can.

If you want to learn a little more about me, by all means, keep reading.

I try to draw on my entire life experience when meeting with clients.  I was born in Miami, raised in both Chicago and Los Angeles, and have lived in Berkeley, Little Rock, New Orleans, New York City, San Francisco, Sacramento and Washington, D.C, and now Portland. I completed a Bachelor's degree in Political Science in 1995 at the University of California at Berkeley, where I returned for law school in 2002. In between, I served as a writer-editor for a weekly news digest, and worked extensively in professional politics, heading voter registration drives and managing campaigns for candidates for the California Assembly and the United States Congress.

I know this country - the elites, the powerful, and the rest of us.  The amazing and wonderful people of all cultures, all races, all colors, all creeds, all religions, all sexual orientations, all genders and people who have immigrated here from all other parts of the world.

During law school, I clerked at the East Bay Community Law Center, the San Francisco-based National Center for Lesbian Rights, and earned an entire semester's worth of credits working exclusively for the Marin County Public Defender. By the time I graduated, I had already won pre-trial motions and even served as second-chair on a criminal trial that resulted in a full acquittal based on my strategy. Since graduation, I have worked under the supervision of many solo practitioners in various capacities in both California and Oregon, honing my skills in legal research and courtroom advocacy. 

And as much as I loved Berkely and the SF Bay area, I have fallen in love with Portland. I've been here ten years now, the longest I've lived anywhere in my adult life - though I hear from the natives, I'm not allowed to say I'm "from" here yet. :)

I opened my own practice here in 2010.  Three years later, I co-founded a small firm with a few colleagues, which I left to handle an indigent defense (public defender) docket for a firm in Washignton County.  I'm back on my own, and happily so.  I primarily serve the counties of Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington and Marion, but I will go anywhere in Oregon I am needed.

I have handled everything from traffic tickets to major felonies, and take pride in winning the trials others might have deemed unwinnable.  I have also successfully argued in front of both the Oregon Court of Appeals and the Oregon Supreme Court. In State v. Fuller, my arguments persuaded the appellate courts that persons accused of theft do not lose the Constitutional protections afforded all criminal defendants just because the government decides to label a "crime" a "violation," and sends you to traffic court where it does not need to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt to convict you.  This decision changed the law of Oregon as it had stood for decades, and paved the way for those arrested during the Occupy Portland protests to be tried by a jury of their peers. 

I believe in the ideals of freedom and equality embedded in the U.S. and Oregon Constitutions.  As a society, we aren't great at living up to them.  But *I* can be.  And I am.  I am a fierce advocate for every person I represent, and after almost a decade on this job, I know how to fight.  

Oh, and I'm a nice persom too. ;)  A warrior in the courtroom; a caring counselor ourside it. And off the job, I'm avtive in the LGBTQ+ community, am an avid moviegoer, bartender, softball player and a jazz and rock drummer.  

I'm in a slightly strange profession, as I truly hope you never need me.  But if you do, I'll be there, at your side, every step of the way.

Yours,

Karen