Referee Michael Riedel Judicial Profile

by London Ballard MBA Court Liaison Committee

In October 2022, Michael Riedel assumed the bench as a newly appointed referee for the Multnomah County Circuit Court, fulfilling a longtime goal of putting his nearly 20 years of litigation experience to work serving the community. He enjoys his new role as neutral arbiter where he finds he gets to do the right thing for the right reasons under the law, while deploying the principles of procedural justice. He presides over a wide variety of matters including small claims, landlord-tenant actions, civil commitments, stalking cases, criminal arraignments, DUII diversions, and traffic court. These dockets are high-volume and fastpaced, an environment he relishes.

Riedel grew up of modest means in small town Illinois and quickly developed a love for baseball (Go Cubs!) and politics.

When he was very young, his father became mostly deaf requiring Riedel to grow up quickly to assist his father with everyday life. Watching his father’s difficult life experience navigating his disability sparked a fire that would drive Riedel to become the first person in his family to attend college, finding education the key to helping his father and serving others. Riedel’s childhood experience instilled in him a raw empathy for others who experience difficult life circumstances, a lesson that he brings to his work today.

When Riedel was in kindergarten, his father, just after losing his hearing, opened a small janitorial business. This business set in motion Riedel’s strong work ethic, as most days after school and sports he would take to cleaning bathrooms and mopping floors at local businesses with his father. This continued throughout Riedel’s life, including throughout law school, perhaps at times to Riedel’s displeasure. He fondly recalls coming home after finishing his second-year law school exams and his father first asking, “How did finals go,” quickly followed by, “Well, great! Time to get in the van. We have to go clean.” Exhausted, he obliged his father, hopped in the van, and away he went to work.

Riedel attended undergraduate school at Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois and went on to attend law school at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois. Originally, he planned to pursue politics, but that desire quickly evolved into a passion for criminal law. While in law school, Riedel met his future wife, Anna, on their mutual first day as graduate assistants at the campus recreation center. At the time, Anna was pursuing a master’s degree in public health. She had moved to Illinois from Portland, and during their relationship, she made it clear to Riedel that if he wished to marry her, they would return to Portland.

During law school, Riedel became fascinated with trial work and wanted to be in the courtroom as much as possible. A professor suggested that being a prosecutor was the way to

Referee Michael Riedel training at an MLB professional umpire school do that and off Riedel went to intern at his hometown district attorney’s office. It was there he discovered this career was for him. After graduation, he was invited to remain at the DA’s office as one of the youngest attorneys in the state. He remained for about three years, until he and Anna relocated to Portland in 2005.

After passing the Oregon bar exam, Riedel accepted a position with the Multnomah County DA’s Office where he served for seven years. Following this role, Riedel decided he wanted to pursue family law, an area of law he had also been passionate about since law school but had yet to practice. Upon leaving the DA’s office, Riedel accepted a firm position practicing as a family law attorney. When asked what he enjoyed most about family law, he remarked that as the father of two daughters, he most enjoyed the ability to impress upon other fathers the importance of being a present father He continued to explain that while divorce is often a painful time for the parties involved, it can be even more painful for the children, and it is exceedingly important to act with the children’s best interests at heart while traversing the harrowing divorce process.

Throughout his career, Riedel has volunteered extensively in the community. He has served on various city, park, and school committees, served as an HOA president, and represented children through the Multnomah County Family Law Children’s Representation Project. He hopes to impart the importance of public service to those around him and to his daughters.

Riedel enjoys spending his free time with his wife and daughters. He and his wife currently spend much of their free time supporting their girls in their various sports. He previously coached both girls’ club softball teams. With any remaining free time, which he admits is difficult to come by, he enjoys golfing, running (he’s completed three marathons), working out, and, most recently, he took up umpiring high school baseball. In fact, Riedel has enjoyed umpiring so much, he spent the better part of January in Florida at one of MLB’s Professional Umpire schools. There he engaged in intense training from current major league pro umpires, and if you ask, he will proudly show you photos of himself with the major league umps.