Profile
Liani has a special passion for helping employers navigate the litigation process. Throughout her legal career, Liani successfully resolved hundreds of cases and obtained favorable jury verdicts for the State of Oregon. She also has a diverse portfolio of employment defense experience in defending against race, gender, age, and disability discrimination claims, as well as OFLA, FMLA, and whistleblowing and retaliation claims.
Prior to joining the Bullard firm, Liani used her substantial experience to develop extensive training methods and materials to assist employers in proactively preventing and documenting employment actions against future litigation. She also specializes in training client personnel on managing the burdensome and expensive electronic discovery process. As a former front line manager herself, Liani has practical experience interpreting collective bargaining agreements, responding to grievances, and engaging in progressive discipline. This experience helps her inherently understand the needs of her clients as employers and managers.
Liani brings a special expertise in representing public clients. She served as General Counsel for the Office of the Governor for four years, providing advice on a wide range of legal issues including employment, public transparency and First Amendment issues, and government ethics, as well as tribal and public safety policy matters. Prior to the Governor's office, she spent almost a decade as an Assistant Attorney General and Deputy Chief Trial Counsel at the Oregon Department of Justice Trial Division where her primary focus was employment litigation defense of public universities and other large state agencies.
Liani currently serves as the 2020 President of the Oregon State Bar. Since 2008, Liani has been recognized by business publications, local, state and national bar organizations, and other groups for her commitment to the community and to Oregon's business development and growth. In 2010, Liani was selected as a recipient of The Portland Business Journal’s “Forty Under 40” award that annually recognizes the 40 most accomplished, influential, and civic-minded young executives in Portland. In 2011, the Daily Journal of Commerce tagged her as its “Up & Coming Lawyer of the Year” and she was selected as one of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association’s “Best Lawyers Under 40.”
Outside of the law, Liani devotes significant time to issues involving women and minorities in our community. Liani served eight years as the Co-Chair of the Oregon Minority Lawyers Association and is former President of the Oregon Asian Pacific American Bar Association. Liani also believes in investing in the next generation of lawyers through mentoring and has mentored numerous law students and lawyers, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Since 2003, Liani has been recognized by Willamette University College of Law and Lewis and Clark Law School for her outstanding mentoring. In 2014, the Willamette University College of Law Asian Pacific American Law Students Association created the “Liani J. Reeves Inspiration Award” in her honor and in recognition of the support she has provided to Oregon law students. In 2015, Liani also received the notable Oregon Women Lawyers Judge Mercedes Deiz Award for her outstanding contribution to promoting minorities in the legal profession and community. In 2019 Liani received the State of Civil Rights Forum Award for "going beyond the call of duty to promote and advocate for civil rights, for all peoples".
Liani is also dedicated towards issues affecting Korean adoptees, as she was adopted from Korea as an infant. She spent the first twelve years of her life in upstate New York before her parents retired and moved to a small town on the Oregon Coast.
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