Law Day: Building Better Citizens

Biographies are provided by the speakers and edited for length/proofreading

Nikki Darling is the Southwest Oregon Regional Program Manager of the Civics Learning Project, a 40-year-old organization that connects the legal community, civic leaders, and educators in an effort to foster civic learning and democratic engagement in all ages. She has taught students and teachers all over the world since 2001. As a teacher educator for the International Debate Education Association, she worked to develop curriculum that highlighted public discourse and democratic values and facilitated teacher training in burgeoning democracies of Eastern Europe, Africa, and South America. While working domestically and abroad, she taught high school courses as well as coached debate teams that won state and national championships. Before moving back to Oregon in 2024, she spent seven years teaching at Graded American School in Sao Paulo, Brazil. She is a fifth-generation Oregonian and earned BA and MEd degrees at the University of Oregon.

Biographies are provided by the speakers and edited for length/proofreading

Jenny Jonak is the founder and principal of Jonak Law Group, P.C. She has been practicing since 1997. She graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law and earned an undergraduate degree with high honors from the University of Virginia. She specializes in commercial and complex civil litigation and transactional matters, including intellectual property/technology, business law, and complex torts. She previously worked at Morgan Lewis (then McCutchen Doyle). While at Morgan Lewis, Jonak was on the firm’s Pro Bono Committee and received an award on behalf of the firm from the State of California. She has spent thousands of hours doing pro bono work, including prisoner’s rights and a class action for persons with physical and developmental disabilities.

Jonak currently serves on the boards of the Eugene 4J School District, the Asian American Council of Oregon, the Oregon Mozart Players; on the Steering Committee for the Lane County Campaign for Equal Justice (which fundraises for Legal Aid); and on the Friends of Family Farmer’s Legislative Committee and West Cascades Fiddle Camp and Workshops Committee. She has previously served on the leadership teams of other area nonprofits.

Biographies are provided by the speakers and edited for length/proofreading

Hon. Martha L. Walters was Oregon’s first female Supreme Court Chief Justice. She was appointed to the Court by Governor Ted Kulongoski in 2006 after 30 years of private practice in Eugene. Some of her better-known cases involved representing small Oregon cities and their ratepayers in the bond default lawsuits brought against the Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS); former Oregon State University softball coach Vickie Dugan in her claim that she had been wrongly fired for advocating for Title IX compliance; and Oregon golfer Casey Martin in his quest for reasonable accommodation to enable him to play professional golf. Effective July 2018, Walters’s colleagues on the Oregon Supreme Court unanimously elected her as Chief Justice. In that role, she spearheaded the Oregon courts’ Strategic Campaign to improve services to Oregonians; engaged local circuit courts in department governance and decision-making; focused on behavioral health needs of people in Oregon’s courts; and implemented major legislation to reduce security release (bail). When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Walters led successful statewide efforts to keep the courts open and safe, coining her rallying cry, “Courts Can!”

She retired in December 2022. Most recently she has been serving, among other volunteer activities, as a board member for the Civics Learning Project, a nonprofit organization preparing youth to engage in democratic society.

Biographies are provided by the speakers and edited for length/proofreading

Marshall “Marty” Wilde is a retired Air Force Colonel, decorated combat veteran, and Judge Advocate with 25 years of military legal service. He served three combat deployments, including as Chief of Rule of Law for the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul, where he worked directly with coalition commanders on governance and human rights frameworks. He also conducted human rights missions in Bosnia, the Republic of Georgia, and Estonia. A former Oregon State Representative, Wilde teaches Youth and Social Change at the University of Oregon School of Law, where his courses focus on empowering young people to engage law as a tool for justice. He holds a JD, an LLM., and a master’s degree in healthcare administration. Wilde currently practices veterans’ law as a civilian and serves as a claims attorney for the Camp Lejeune Claims Unit, Department of the Navy.