Portland Attorney Kelly Clark Dies, Was Nationally Recognized As Defender of Sex-abuse Victims
By Aimee Green
Portland attorney Kelly Clark, who championed the causes of hundreds of sexual abuse victims in Oregon and nationwide, died Tuesday morning. He was 56. During his 30 years as an Oregon lawyer, Clark represented hundreds of child molestation victims in litigation against what he called "institutions of trust" -- the Catholic Church, the Boy Scouts of America, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and school districts. He helped force mammoth and beloved organizations to concede to decades of sexual abuse within their ranks, or to efforts to keep knowledge of abuse secret from the public. Colleagues say Clark dealt with the darkest of subject matter -- pedophiles -- but did so because he believed so strongly in helping victims heal through the legal process. He also believed in pressing organizations to change for today's children. "He was passionately committed to using civil litigation to protect kids, prevent crimes, deter cover-ups and expose those who commit and conceal heinous child sexual abuse," said David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, in an email. "Ours is a safer society for kids these days because of Kelly's giant heart and ground-breaking work." Clark died surrounded by family members and loved ones at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. There was no firm diagnosis, but colleagues said doctors suspected cancer-related causes. Clark started feeling ill in October and saw a doctor in November for neurological symptoms. But doctors weren't sure what was making him sick. He spent a few weeks in the hospital and was released. Last week, he traveled to the Mayo Clinic to seek treatment, and doctors believed he could have had liver cancer and leukemia. He was put on hospice and, within days, died. His wife, Sabine Moyer Clark, died in October after a yearlong battle with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. She was 49. In a 2010 jury trial he represented his firm -- O'Donnell Clark & Crew -- in winning nearly $20 million for an Oregon man who was sexually abused when he was a Southeast Portland Boy Scout in the early 1980s. That victory was followed by another in 2012, when surrounded by media from across the country, Clark forced the Boy Scouts of America to release more than 1,200 confidential files it kept on suspected child molesters within its organization.
He was known for giving a brilliant closing argument. During the 2010 Boy Scouts trial, he convinced Portland jurors to send the nearly $20 million message -- explaining that the Texas-based youth organization must come to terms with a decades-long history of keeping suspected pedophile volunteers secret from parents. "You need to speak to them in the language that they will understand," Clark told jurors. "You take those secrets, and you shout them from the rooftop of this courthouse!" Clark referred to the case as the biggest of his career. It was later settled for an undisclosed amount, in order to avoid an appeal. "Kelly was unique among lawyers in that he had a spiritual way of approaching his cases," said Paul Mones, a friend and Portland attorney who worked as co-counsel on the case. "If it meant a client wasn't going to become whole again or better from the legal process, he wasn't interested in the case. He'd tell clients 'You've got a good case, but you need to take care of yourself first.'" In recent years, he successfully pushed Oregon lawmakers to extend the statute of limitations -- allowing victims of childhood sexual abuse to file lawsuits up until age 40 or within five years of when they realize the damage that the abuse has caused. Although Clark was well known for his representation of sex-abuse victims, his career was varied. He served as a Republican state representative, representing West Linn, from 1989 to 1993. Clark fought to reverse a 2004 same-sex marriage law passed by Multnomah County commissioners -- not because of his beliefs about same-sex relationships, but because he argued four commissioners wrongly passed the law without holding public meetings, Crew said. As recently as 2009, Clark also fought the emergence of tribal casinos, which he argued shouldn't be allowed because Oregon's constitution prohibits them. And while Clark was rigorous in his pursuit of getting large institutions to be transparent about their pasts, he also was open about sharing his. On his firm's website, he included a letter that highlighted a dark chapter in his life. He wrote that he was in an unhealthy relationship, developed a problem with alcohol and ended up pleading guilty in 1992 to two misdemeanors -- trespass and sex abuse -- in regards to that relationship. "In so many ways my story is akin to the biblical Prodigal Son," Clark wrote in a letter of disclosure to his current and prospective clients, which is posted on his firm's website. "I don't go a day without remembering where I have been, what were my mistakes and who I hurt." As a recovering alcoholic since 1992, he sponsored many others in their battles with the bottle. Portland attorney Erin Olson, who specializes in representing victims of child sexual abuse, credited Clark with successfully arguing in 1999 before the Oregon Supreme Court to make it possible for victims to hold organizations liable for the actions of their employees or volunteers. "The way he has led his life for the last 20 years is an example to us all that redemption is truly possible,” Olson said. Those who knew Clark say he was passionate, smart, charismatic, a legal talent and a lawyer who could speak in layman's terms. "He had it all," said Steve Crew, one of Clark's law partners. Clark is survived by a daughter and a stepdaughter.
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