It is clear that Judge Nan Waller found a passion. Earlier in her life, one gets the feeling that both she and her husband were passionate about the law. She, however, has blended that passion with her passion for children. It permeates her work in the courtroom, in her family life and in her community work.

Judge Waller attended Smith College and, after transfer, graduated from Stanford. Having grown up in Portland , she returned to Oregon to attend the U of O Law School. Life-sharing with a fellow attorney right out of school, the couple agreed they would move to wherever one of them first got a job. Montana won out, and they worked there for legal services for over three years.

Returning to Portland , she worked with the Metropolitan Public Defender and shifted gears to parent and took half-time work in the juvenile court as a referee under the tutelage of Judge Linda Bergman in 1989.

Her passion shows through in the juvenile court, where she has successfully worked to change the structure of how families are dealt with at intake when the threat clearly exists that children will be removed from their home. If drugs and alcohol are an issue, the parents are immediately connected to workers in the field and taken directly to make appointments and contracts. In the past, parents were given phone numbers, and it was more difficult for them to make the connection and actually show up for follow-up counseling, legal conferences, etc.

She enjoys the change in the family court system to the integrated court, whereby if she finishes a juvenile case but family law issues arise in the future, she can keep that case henceforth. In the family court case, especially in a low-income family, her knowledge of the family’s history can substitute for lack of resources available to the parties in the divorce or future parenting plan litigation.

Judge Waller also serves on the state commission on Children, Families and Community. She chairs the “Take the Time” initiative for the commission, which is set up to promote family wellness state-wide. Check in with her if she has a couple of minutes of “down time” in her chambers. You will see the passion for children burning at its best.

She was appointed in 2001 by Governor Kitzhaber to the Multnomah County Circuit Court.

---

Originally authored by Scott Sorensen-Jolink and printed in the April 2001 Multnomah Lawyer
Updated for the Internet in 2007