Biography

Judge John A. Wittmayer has been a Judge in the Circuit Court since the 1998 merger of the Circuit Court and the District Court. Before that Judge Wittmayer served as a District Judge for 2 years. He was appointed to the bench in 1996 by Governor John Kitzhaber.

Upon graduation from law school Judge Wittmayer worked for one year for the United States Department of Justice, Criminal Division, in the Attorney General’s Honors Program in Washington, D.C. Upon his return to Portland in 1974 he was a Multnomah County Deputy District Attorney for 3 years, following which he was in private practice for 19 years, first with Gaylord, Thomas & Wittmayer and thereafter with Mitchell, Lang & Smith. Judge Wittmayer’s private law practice focused on representing individuals in civil and family law matters. Judge Wittmayer was simultaneously a member of both the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association and the Oregon Association of Defense Counsel, back when it was possible to belong to both.

Judge Wittmayer is a member of the Oregon State Bar and the Multnomah Bar Association. He was formerly a member of the Washington State Bar, from which he resigned upon becoming a Judge. He is also admitted in the United States District Courts in Oregon and Washington (Western and Eastern Districts), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court.

Before his appointment to the bench Judge Wittmayer did pro bono work with St. Andrews Legal Clinic and the American Civil Liberties Union. He has been a member of the Oregon State Bar Law-Related Education Committee, the Multnomah Bar Professionalism Committee, and the Bench-Bar Professionalism Commission.

Judge Wittmayer was born in Portland. He went to grade school in Springfield and Coos Bay, and graduated from Madison High School in Portland in 1965. He received his B.S. Degree from Portland State University in 1969 and his J.D. Degree from Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College in 1973. Judge Wittmayer is active in his church and has served on the Boards of various civic organizations