Oregon Court of Appeals Judge: James Egan wins

James Egan, a Linn County Circuit Court judge who lives in Albany, defeated Tim Volpert, a Portland attorney, for an open seat on the Oregon Court of Appeals.

Egan won by 16 percentage points, 58 to 42.

Egan joins nine other judges on the court, which handles nearly every appeal of a criminal, civil and state-board decision in Oregon. The seat was vacated by David Brewer, who won a seat on the state's Supreme Court.

Both Volpert and Egan are 56 years old and have decades of legal experience in Oregon.

Egan has overseen murder cases, petty thefts, dissolutions, child custody battles and other cases since becoming a circuit judge in 2010.

He also has served as a pro tem judge in the Appeals Court, helping decide about 50 cases as part of a three-judge panel. Previously, he was a private attorney who represented clients including injured workers and those facing job discrimination.

The former Marine was deployed to Kuwait as a member of the U.S. Army Reserve in 2008.

Volpert, a partner in the prominent law firm Davis Wright Tremaine, has specialized in appeals and has argued more than 60 cases in the state Appeals Court and many others at the federal appellate level.

He has tried several cases in the state Supreme Court and successfully argued a 1995 case before the U.S. Supreme Court, defending the Vernonia School District and its drug testing of student athletes.

Volpert also co-founded the Grant High School Constitution Team and has served for many years on the board of the Classroom Law Project, which teaches civics and law to Oregon high school students.

-- The Oregonian