The Agricultural Law Section elects new executive members each year at its annual meeting. Listed below are the current members of the executive committee for 2025.
Immediate Past Chair Sarah Liljefelt is of counsel to Dunn Carney, LLP. She focuses her practice on real estate, water rights, water utilities, special districts and municipal entities, environmental compliance, public lands authorizations, and litigation. Sarah volunteers as a law student mentor for Lewis & Clark Law School and a new lawyer mentor for the Oregon State Bar. She served as the Chair of the Oregon State Bar’s Environmental & Natural Resources Section, is Chair of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association’s Water Resources Committee, and is on the attorney advisory committee for Western Resources Legal Center. In her free time, Sarah enjoys cooking, kayaking, camping, and traveling. She competitively races outrigger canoes with the Mountain Home Canoe Club, and is a former member of the Oregon Women Lawyer’s dragon boat team.
Chair Nellie McAdams grew up part time on her family’s hazelnut farm in Gaston, which she is training to take over as the third generation. She is Executive Director of the Oregon Agricultural Trust, a statewide, agricultural land trust that helps Oregon farmers and ranchers protect their land and pass it on to future generations while keeping it in production. She also serves as the Board President of 1000 Friends of Oregon and as a board member of Housing Land Advocates.
Chair-Elect Abby Fitts represents agriculture employers across Oregon at Barran Liebman LLP. She and her family live outside Independence on beautiful river bottom farmland that has been growing filberts, row crops, grass and mint – as well as several generations of Fitts kids – for nearly 100 years. Before becoming a lawyer, Abby served as a linguist in the Navy for 10 years. She graduated magna cum laude from Willamette University in 2016 and has been advising and representing farmers, ranchers, seed companies and vineyards in their employment needs ever since.
Treasurer Kathryn “Cassie” Peters founded Cassie Peters Legal, a transactional business law practice based in Eugene, in 2015. Cassie represents a wide variety of businesses in the Willamette Valley and throughout Oregon, including small farms, cannabis businesses, restaurants, retailers, and others. In addition to her transactional work, she helps her cannabis clients navigate the complex licensing and compliance issues inherent in a rapidly evolving and highly regulated industry, and she frequently represents landlords or tenants in lease negotiations and drafting. She is an avid gardener and loves being outside as much as possible.
Secretary, Steven Cade has a passion for nurturing life, whether it be plants, animals, or people. A partner at Sussman Shank in Portland, his litigation and appellate practice encompasses a wide variety of agricultural topics, including lien law, property rights, water rights, succession planning, bankruptcy, and lender litigation. He works with farmers, ranchers, and suppliers to help them resolve disputes, and plan ahead to avoid future conflicts. Prior to becoming a lawyer, Steven served with the 101st Airborne for three years. In 2010, Steven graduated with honors from the University of Oregon School of Law.
Scott Barbur Scott is partner at Barbur Laskey LLC, a firm specializing in estate planning, real property and business law with offices in Milwaukie and Tillamook, Oregon. Scott started his practice (as Barbur Law LLC) in Milwaukie in 2012 and expanded into Tillamook in 2020. He joined forces with his law partner Laura Laskey in 2021 and the firm adopted its current name in 2024. Scott practices in real property, estate planning, and probate and trust administration for the firm. Scott’s practice includes assisting clients with selling, purchasing, and leasing of agricultural lands and assisting with the governance of agricultural businesses. Scott also serves as a board member of the Tillamook County Sheriff’s Foundation and Robert Riggert Family Foundation in Tillamook and as an advisor to the board of directors of the Milwaukie Historical Society.
Aaron Bell grew up on a farm that became a nursery, and his first entrepreneurial experience was owning his own sheep-shearing business. He drove a mint combine, moved irrigation pipe, and hauled hay before starting law school at Willamette University College of Law. Aaron is a Shareholder at Buckley Law and has more than 35 years of experience representing businesses of various sizes and lenders. Licensed to practice law in Oregon and Washington, Aaron is well versed in the unique challenges in the agricultural industry. He regularly represents farmers, nursery owners, processors, suppliers, and lenders.
Chris Criglow is a partner and current chair of the Real Estate and Construction Practice Group at Stoel Rives LLP. Chris focuses his practice on real estate and business transactions and counseling across industries and asset classes focusing particularly on agricultural lands and investment(e.g., permanent and row crop), timberlands investment, renewable energy project development (e.g., solar, wind, and storage), infrastructure development projects (e.g., RNG), and complex project development (e.g., manufacturing, distribution, etc.) including “greenfield” development and “brownfield” re-development projects.
Emily Harfouche is a third generation Oregonian with family in all parts of the state. She spent most of her childhood summers working with livestock and learning farming practices firsthand in Central and Eastern Oregon. As a business and real estate attorney for Karr Tuttle Campbell, she now gets to assist farmers with their needs whether those are real estate matters, executing tax-motivated transactions or succession planning. Emily graduated with her J.D. and M.B.A. from Willamette University. She is licensed to practice law in Oregon and Washington but calls Salem her home.
Courtney Moran
Shawna Peterson has been serving individual and business clients since 2002. Born and raised in Weiser, Idaho, she benefits from deep family roots in farming and small business. She graduated magna cum laude from Gonzaga University and the Northwestern School of Law at Lewis & Clark College. At S Peterson Law, LLC, Shawna focuses her practice on estate planning, estate administration, and advising businesses in Oregon and Idaho. Shawna also serves as Executive Director of the Eastern Oregon Economic Development Board. She lives in Ontario with her husband and their three children.