Noreen Kelly
Saltveit McGraw

1932-2021

Noreen Kelly (Saltveit) McGraw, a pioneering woman attorney, was born on March 7, 1932 in Medford, Oregon. A third generation lawyer, she was the only female to graduate from the University of Oregon Law School in 1955, when women trial lawyers were virtually unheard of in Oregon. She started practice in Medford at the age of twenty-three with her father, Edward C. Kelly, and her brother, Bernard, in a general litigation firm emphasizing personal injury and criminal defense. She also served as Medford’s first female Municipal Court Judge while maintaining her private practice, and was elected Vice President of the statewide association of Municipal Court Judges.

Noreen was quickly recognized by her peers for her intense preparation, skillful cross-examination, and persuasive argument. In 1957, she took on the case of long-time prisoner Hugh DeAutremont, the youngest of Oregon’s last and most famous train robbers, resolving his remaining indictments and securing his parole despite the risk and unpopularity this provoked.

In 1960, she moved to Portland to become the first female trial attorney in the Attorney General’s office, trying workers’ compensation cases (which were then jury trials). For the next thirty years, she was recognized throughout Oregon as a foremost expert in Workers’ Compensation law, handling a heavy volume of litigation while serving as writer and chief editor of several Oregon Continuing Legal Education handbooks and chairing programs. She was also recognized as a personal injury litigator and founding member of what is now the Oregon Trial Lawyers back in the 1950s.

A professional mother ahead of her time, she pioneered flexible work schedules throughout the 1960s, working half-time as she raised four children. In 1966, she spent a year in Mexico with her family and became fluent in Spanish.

Returning to Portland in 1967, she resumed trial work in private practice, handling many social justice cases. In 1969, she took on the first federal class action on behalf of migrant farm workers. Moreno v. Tankersley, tried in U. S. District Court in 1970 with a Spanish interpreter, gave Oregon’s growing Hispanic community the realization and reality of access to the legal system.

Soon afterward, she established the first public interest law firm in Oregon, with colleagues Marmaduke, Aschenbrenner, and Merten. She applied the skills and knowledge she gained through the Moreno in several class action lawsuits on behalf of both minorities and women.

In the 1980s, when she returned to solo law practice, she continued reaching out to underserved and minority populations, and was active in various bar and community leadership roles, including her continuing legal education (CLE) work, the University of Oregon Law School Board of Visitors, Director of the Latin American Trade Committee, as a Member of the Metropolitan Human Rights Steering Commission, and as a Director of the Catholic Board of Education for Western Oregon.

In the 1990s, she shifted her law practice into the new area of alternative dispute resolution, primarily mediation with some arbitration. She also served on the State Bar’s Board of Governors from 1992 to 1994 (Vice President 1993 to 1994), and the Multnomah Bar Association Board of Directors from 1998 to 2002 (American Bar Association delegate 2000 to 2002), and the Board of Oregon Women Lawyers from 1992 to 1995.

She was the first woman lawyer to receive the Multnomah Bar Association Professionalism award in 1995 and the Douglas Daughtry Professionalism award by the Workers’ Compensation Bar in 1999. She also received the State Bar’s highest honor, its Award of Merit in 1995. The University of Oregon Law School, in conferring its Meritorious Service Award on her in 1996, stated: “…in recent years, she has led her peers in the development of Alternative Dispute Resolution. Her empathy and skill in mediation and arbitration, including labor arbitration, are widely respected. She is a role model and mentor for lawyers throughout the state, a pioneer and leader in the development of public interest law. Her generous pro-bono service has supported the rights and access to justice of culturally diverse groups.”

In 1997, Noreen took a month long around-the-world trip, where she met another traveler—Dr.  William R. McGraw, a retired university professor and academic dean from Ohio. They married in 1998 and moved to Prineville, Oregon in 2000.

Today, she continues to practice law on a part-time basis and to spend time with family. She continues to enjoy skiing, singing, drama, and traveling.