Wallace W. Lien is a life-long resident of the Willamette Valley. He was born in McMinnville and graduated from McMinnville High School. He received an Associate of Science degree in Business Administration from Chemeketa Community College in 1972, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from Oregon College of Education, (now Western Oregon), graduating with Honors in 1976.
Wally received his Juris Doctor in Law from Willamette University in 1979, graduating in the top twenty percent of his class. While at Willamette, he won the Moot Court competition, and was awarded the Trustee's Scholarship in 1977, and the Colonel Robertson Scholastic Scholarship in 1978. During his college years, Wally was very active in student government. He served as President of the statewide college student association in 1972 - 1973 and was the first student ex-officio member of the Oregon Board of Education serving in 1972 - 1973. He was honored numerous times for his student leadership at Chemeketa Community College and at Oregon College of Education. Wally was one of the original founders of the Chemeketa Community College Alumni Association, and served on its Board of Directors for several years, as well as on the Scholarship Committee and Presidential Search Committee in 1980. Wally served on the Chemeketa Community College Jurisdiction Board and is currently an officer of the foundation.
Wally interned in the Oregon State Legislature during the early 70's sessions, working primarily with Senator Wallace P. Carson, Jr., (now retired Chief Justice). He was a law clerk under the tutelage of George A. Rhoten in the long-time Salem firm of Rhoten, Rhoten and Speerstra during 1978 and 1979, and was an associate with that firm in the early 1980's.
Shortly after graduating from Willamette, Wally was hired as Assistant Marion County Legal Counsel. In that position, he was the lead county attorney on all county business, including real property, litigation and public administration.
In mid-1983 Wally went into private practice specializing in real property and land use. Over the years he has appeared before almost every local tribunal with jurisdiction in land use matters. He is one of the most experienced practitioners before the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA), having handled cases since the inception of that board in 1980. He has handled such diverse cases from the siting of the Garbage Burner in Brooks to the approval of the Sublimity Harvest Festivals tractor pull site.
Wally has acted as Special Counsel for land use matters for a number of local jurisdictions over the years. He has been the land use Hearings Officer for Marion County, Polk County and the City of Keizer and is currently Special Land Use Counsel for the City of Stayton.
Over the years, Wally has made many presentations on the subject of land use and real property law, and has organized and presented programs for local real estate groups, title companies and the National Council of Exchangers.
Having been honored a number of times for his business and civic leadership, including being named in the Who's Who in the West, (1987 ed) and in Strathomore's Who's Who of Business Leaders (1995 ed), Wally received a Distinguished Leadership Citation in 1987.
Wally has been a member of the Salem Association of Realtors, Attorney/Realtor Committee since 1990, and presiding Justice for the Keizer Elks Lodge #2472. He has served since 1985 on the Board of Directors of the Institute for Economic Studies, a non-profit foundation funding educational opportunities for Oregonians in the field of economics.
Having been a long time member of the Real Estate and Land Use Section of the Oregon State Bar, he was appointed to service on the Executive Board of that Section in 1996, and was elected Chairman. Wally was honored by admission to practice law before the United States Supreme Court in 1985.
He maintains his private practice in Salem, and primarily represents clients in the Mid-Willamette Valley, from Eugene to Tualatin and from Lincoln City to Bend.
Wally and his wife Janet have three children and live in West Salem. They have been residents of the City of Salem since the late 1960's. Wally enjoys sports, and served as a volunteer coach for many years for a variety of youth organizations and was one of the founders of the Salem-Keizer AAU Youth Basketball, Inc. program. Wally enjoys the theatre and exploring Oregon's wine industry.
