Kathleen Beaufait

Interview with Kathleen Beaufait. Oregon State Deputy Legislative Counsel 1960-1967, Oregon State Chief Deputy Legislative Counsel 1967-1994. Kathleen Beaufait (interviewed June 1, 2017) loved the law growing up and that expanded to include an interest in state and local government under the tutelage of a beloved college professor. After graduating from the University of Chicago Law School, Kathleen soon made her way back to Oregon and a job in the Office of Legislative Counsel. The first women to work in that office, Beaufait found her niche as a bill drafter and "thoroughly enjoyed" her 34-year career. The pace of work during a session was non-stop and stressful, but Beaufait called it "fun." She worked hard to develop legislator's trust in her as their lawyer on legislative matters, and to take their ideas and craft them into bills that would benefit their constituents and all Oregonians. As Kathleen noted: "I'm thinking of non-partisanship also in the sense of this is a good bill or a bad bill; this is a bill. It's not up to me to say whether it's good or bad." For many years she also took her "dog and pony show" on the road around Oregon to explain to citizens how a bill becomes a law, or how school finance worked and what it meant for their town and their kids. Having spent many years in the Capitol Building she is qualified to call it "more than just a building" that means something to visitors to the Capitol as well as its members.This archived document is maintained by the State Library of Oregon as part of the Oregon Documents Depository Program. It is for informational purposes and may not be suitable for legal purposes.Mode of access: Internet from the Oregon Government Publications Collection.In English