The Legal Citizen of the Year Award
Thank you to the attendees, event sponsors, and Circle members who joined us to honor Judge Henry Kantor, and helped make our 2023 Legal Citizen of the Year Award & Celebration a huge success!
Save the date: the next Legal Citizen Award & Celebration will be held on Wednesday, April 17, 2024.
About Our 2023 Honoree
Henry Kantor, Senior Judge for the State of Oregon, was born in New Jersey. After receiving his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1976, Judge Kantor moved to Oregon to attend the Northwestern School of Law at Lewis & Clark College where he received his J.D. in 1979.
While in law school, Judge Kantor served as an extern clerk for Judge Alfred T. Goodwin of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Prior to being appointed to the Multnomah County District Court in 1995, Judge Kantor practiced civil trial and appellate law in Oregon’s state and federal courts, emphasizing class actions and other complex litigation, as well as serving as an arbitrator, pro-tem judge, and reference judge.
Judge Kantor was elected to a six-year District Court term in 1996. He became a Circuit Court Judge in 1998, and was reelected to subsequent six-year terms until he retired in 2017. While serving in the trial courts, Judge Kantor presided over hundreds of civil, criminal and probate trials, was assigned many civil cases designated as complex, sat on the court’s Civil Motion Panel, and administered the court’s Medical Negligence and Asbestos Dockets. In 2004-2005, Judge Kantor sat pro-tem on the Oregon Court of Appeals.
After retirement from the bench, he served for two years as Special Counsel to the Oregon Attorney General where he managed a docket of complex federal litigation between the State of Oregon and the Federal Government. Recently, Judge Kantor served as a Special Master in complex federal civil litigation.
Currently, Judge Kantor serves as a Senior Judge throughout Oregon, and as a mediator and arbitrator in national and local complex civil litigation.
In addition to these accomplishments, Judge Kantor has served on many boards, committees, and commissions, including the Boards of Directors of Civics Learning Project and Oregon Consumer Justice, and as a member and chair of the Oregon Council on Court Procedures and the Oregon Commission on Judicial Fitness and Disability.
There are many sponsorship opportunities for the Legal Citizen of the Year Award & Celebration. Please contact Robert Hulshof-Schmidt for more information.
About the Legal Citizen of the Year Award
The Jonathan U. Newman Legal Citizen of the Year Award recognizes the late Judge Newman for his leadership in encouraging and instilling respect for civic education in Oregon. Each year, a leader is honored for demonstrating a commitment to the mission and principles of Civics Learning Project including advancing the ideals of civic education and inspiring future generations. View a list of all our honorees over the years.
As part of the Legal Citizen of the Year Award & Celebration, Civics Learning Project also honors an exemplary educator in Oregon with the Peter & Leslie Richter Civic Educator of the Year Award. The 2022-23 honoree will be announced at the Oregon Civics Conference for Teachers on December 2.