Meet Thaddeus
Twenty years of Oregon courtroom experience — trial courts, appellate courts, and the communities in between.
Thaddeus Betz · Candidate, Position 3
- Director, Youth Justice Project — Oregon Justice Resource Center
- Former owner, private law practice in Bend
- Former attorney, Metropolitan Public Defender
- Author, Oregon State Bar practice manual chapters
- Super Lawyers, 2021–2026
- Oregon State Bar recognition for Expanding Civil Rights Advocacy, 2011
Thad has practiced law in Oregon for twenty years and will bring a wealth of experience to the bench. He currently serves as Director of the Youth Justice Project for a statewide non-profit, the Oregon Justice Resource Center. In that role, he litigates civil rights cases that address conditions of confinement at youth custodial facilities as well as criminal sentencing cases for youth convicted in adult court.
Prior to that, he owned a law practice in Bend, focused on criminal defense and administrative law. At the start of his career, following graduation from Lewis & Clark Law School, Thad worked at the Metropolitan Public Defender, the largest provider of court-appointed cases in Oregon, where he handled misdemeanors to death penalty cases.
He has argued in courts across the State of Oregon, including County Circuit Courts, Federal District Courts, the Oregon Court of Appeals, the Ninth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals and the Oregon Supreme Court.
In addition to his extensive courtroom experience, Thad has authored chapters in Oregon State Bar practice manuals, including a chapter in the most recent edition of Criminal Law in Oregon (2022 Edition, Volume 1). From 2021 to 2026, while in private practice, Thad was selected to Super Lawyers, recognized by his peers as a top-rated attorney in Oregon. In 2011, the Oregon State Bar recognized Thad for Expanding Civil Rights Advocacy.
Courts where Thaddeus has argued
Circuit Courts
District Courts
of Appeals
Court of Appeals
Supreme Court