Prior to joining Lewis & Clark Law School, Jim Oleske served as Special Assistant to President Barack Obama and Chief of Staff of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs. During his time at the White House, Professor Oleske worked on legislation ranging from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – which included the largest clean energy investment in American history – to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act – which represented the culmination of a century-long effort to enact national health reform.
Earlier in his career, Professor Oleske served as an appellate attorney at the National Labor Relations Board, where he argued 11 cases in the federal courts of appeals. He also served as chief of staff of the Oregon Senate Majority Office; a counsel in the Office of U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle; a visiting lecturer at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law; and an associate at Mayer, Brown & Platt. He began his career as a law clerk to then-Third Circuit Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr.
Professor Oleske was the 2014 recipient of the Leo Levenson Award for excellence in teaching, and his research focuses on the intersection of religious liberty and other constitutional values.