I am always grateful for referrals, so here is a quick summary of the areas I practice in. With the exception of securities offerings and patent work, if it falls within the life cycle of a business, we probably do it. I ve tried 139 cases, nearly a hundred of them to juries. In May, for example, I was pleased to be able to get a ten-count forgery charge dismissed before trial for lack of evidence. Sometimes when the results of a trial are unsatisfactory, the matter is appealed.
Appellate courts look for errors of law in the way the case was handled at trial.
I ve handled appellate cases before the Washington Court of Appeals and Supreme Court, the Supreme Court of Alaska, and the US Court of Appeals for the 10 th Circuit in recent years. When a client dies, probate proceedings address the distribution of the estate s assets. You may have read in the papers about the Supreme Court s action to remove a Pierce County Superior Court judge from office for a pattern of unethical activity going back to his days as a lawyer. Many columnists and editorials have blasted the Washington State Bar Association, claiming it failed to deal with the judge, or criticizing WSBA for beginning a disciplinary investigation against the lawyer who blew the whistle on the judge. The Board of Governors, on which I serve, walls itself off from any involvement in individual cases pending before the disciplinary organs of the Association.