In January 2025, when the Trump administration ordered an abrupt and sweeping freeze on all federal grants and loans, Oregon’s newly-elected Attorney General, Dan Rayfield JD’06, was prepared to take swift action. Teaming up with attorney generals from 22 other states and the District of Columbia, Rayfield helped lead a lawsuit against the order. In response, multiple federal judges intervened, temporarily blocking the administration’s action.
“One of the important roles of the Attorney General is to make sure people are following the constitution federally,” Rayfield said. “Have Oregonians been harmed? Is that harm the result of constitutional overreach? And if so, is there a lane for the state to protect Oregonians?”
Rayfield had been preparing for the challenge long before taking office. After his election in 2024, Rayfield quickly established a federal oversight and accountability cabinet. He enlisted his former Willamette Law professor, Norman Williams, who holds the Ken and Claudia Peterson Professorship, to advise him on matters of constitutional and administrative law.
“Professor Williams is a foremost expert in administrative law and our state,” Rayfield said. “So we wanted him to be a part of this with his creativity and knowledge base. The fun for me personally is I took his classes when I was in law school.”
A career in public service forged at Willamette Law
Rayfield’s position as the state of Oregon’s chief legal officer is the latest step in a long career of public service. He worked in private practice after law school and went on to serve six terms in the Oregon House of Representatives and a term as Oregon’s Speaker of the House.
While Willamette University’s School of Law set Rayfield on a path to statewide leadership, his decision to attend law school wasn’t always certain. He recalls driving Highway 99 from Corvallis to Salem on the first day of law school orientation, still unsure whether to pursue law or join the Peace Corps. He weighed the choice one last time on the phone with his mother.
She urged him to give law school a chance — advice that would set him on a lifelong path of advocacy and public service.
“I went to the first day of orientation, and I was just sucked in and then never looked back,” Rayfield recalls.
That pivotal moment was shaped by a lifetime of influence from his parents, who were both deeply engaged in their community, though in very different ways. His mother, an activist, took him to protests against nuclear weapons and Catholic Worker events feeding the homeless. His father, a colonel in the Air Force Reserves, once brought him to a fundraiser for Republican Vice President Dan Quayle and testified on issues in front of the state legislature.
“I grew up seeing two very different approaches to service,” Rayfield says. “There were always active conversations in our house, and those different perspectives pushed me to think critically about how to serve my community.”
Advocacy skills for life
At Willamette Law, Rayfield found outlets to turn his desire to serve into meaningful action. Rayfield was active in the school’s dispute resolution program, where he learned advocacy skills that have served him in every aspect of life, from the professional to the personal.
“I learned techniques that I've applied in every aspect of my life,” Rayfield says. “As a lawyer, there are areas where you're trying to find common interest and work together to solve problems. In the legislature, those exact same techniques were helpful in terms of finding common ground and respecting each other. At home, those same things will work whether it's your significant other or your 13-year-old teenager. They're universal things that just apply in all aspects of life.”
Another advantage Rayfield had coming out of law school was the practical trial experience he gained from a clerkship at the Benton County District Attorney’s Office. Like so many Willamette Law students, Rayfield found his externship placement as a valuable way to put his lawyering skills to the test in a real-world setting.
“The practical skills that I gained through working at the Benton County District office made me incredibly competitive because I came out with the most trials — actual real trial experience — than any of my cohorts,” Rayfield says.
Values-based leadership in a polarized world
While his role may, at times, place him at odds with the current federal administration and those on the other side of the aisle, Rayfield encourages public officials to focus on a form of “values-based leadership” that seeks to look for areas of common interest across partisan differences.
“Politics abound in this world, but if we can see the common interests and values amongst ourselves, the process will be smoother,” Rayfield says. “We villainize each other less, see the good in each other, and always assume good intent — which is incredibly difficult in an increasingly polarizing world.”
One example of this problem-solving approach to leadership came from his time in private practice. In working with a client, Rayfield found a shortcoming in a state law. He worked pro bono with a state legislator from across the aisle to add clarity to the law that helped his client, as well as future Oregonians.
“There was a case that I was working on where — and this happens all the time — legislators didn’t anticipate all the possible events that have occurred. And the law needed to be rewritten,” Rayfield says. “Where I couldn’t get justice in the courtroom or through the typical legal processes, I worked with a Republican legislator, then changed the law to make the situation better for my client.”
Whether he’s challenging federal overreach on behalf of Oregonians, protecting consumers from predatory business practices, or working to improve community safety, Rayfield brings the fundamental legal tools he found at Willamette to the job. He also continues to benefit from the guidance and expertise of his former professors, who are cheering him on from campus.
“It's been gratifying to see what a former student can do with their legal education,” Professor Williams said. “Attorney General Rayfield is a testament to what hard work and perseverance can accomplish.”
