The Hon. Daniel L. Harris (Ret.) served as a judge for the 1st Judicial District Circuit Court of Oregon. Harris was appointed to the bench by former Governor John Kitzhaber in 1997. He retired on July 1, 2013, and entered into private practice at Harrang Long Gary Rudnick.
The 1st Judicial District encompasses Jackson County. Over the course of his judicial career, Harris managed a civil docket. He also chaired the Jackson County Alternative Dispute Resolution Commission, presided over the Oregon Complex Litigation Court, and adjudicated for the Oregon Court of Appeals.
Harris earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Brigham Young University in 1977. He spent the next few years working as a legal assistant at Ruckleshaus, Beverage, Fairbanks & Diamond in Washington, D.C., before completing a J.D. at the University of Oregon School of Law in 1982.
He is admitted to practice in Oregon, the United States District Court for the District of Oregon, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
After graduating from law school, Harris entered into private practice. He started as an associate at MacPherson & Associates in Newport. Then, in 1986, he joined Davis Gilstrap Harris Hearn & Welty in Ashland. During this time, he specialized in commercial, real property, business, personal injury, insurance, government, and land use matters.
His memberships have included the Oregon Bench & Bar Commission on Professionalism, the Oregon Council on Court Procedures, the Oregon Campaign for Equal Justice, and the William V. Deatherage American Inn of Court. He also sat on the Board of Directors of Jackson County Relief Nursery, Jackson County Boys & Girls Club, and the Ashland School District, as well as the City of Ashland’s Planning Commission, Tree Commission, and Transportation Advisory Commission.
He is a recipient of the Wallace P. Carson, Jr. Award for Judicial Excellence (2010), the President’s Public Service Award (1995), and the Pro Bono Challenge Award (2019) from the Oregon State Bar.
Harris was raised in Springfield, Oregon.
