July 2003
Around the State
Clallam County Report
Distinguished Services Awards from the Clallam County Pro Bono Lawyers have gone to Port Angeles lawyers David V. Johnson and W. Brent Basden. Johnson was praised for taking a pro bono case and winning his client $26,000 in back child support. Viola O'Neil, the client and a mother of three, praised Johnson's 80-plus hour effort. "Without Dave we would have nothing."
Clark County Report
Two local attorneys were honored in the spring for their pro bono work. Nancy Nellor and Carin Schienberg received the Volunteer Lawyer of the Year Award from the Clark County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Program. The awards were a feature of the group's Law Day Luncheon in May.
Cowlitz County Report
by Our Local Correspondent
The Association of Veterinary Practice Management Consultants and Advisors (AVPMCA) elected local attorney Karl Salzsieder, DVM, as president of their 122-member organization. This is the only national organization of veterinary management consultants and advisors. Dr. Salzsieder is a founding member of the association, whose members include attorneys, veterinarians, certified public-accounts consultants, advisors, and industry representatives.
In addition to the $10 a day jurors usually receive for their days spent listening to the "thorough" trial work of such attorneys as defense attorney Ian Northrip and senior criminal deputy prosecuting attorney Ed Norton, Cowlitz County jurors in the first week of May also received donuts each morning of their jury duty in celebration of Juror Appreciation Week. County commissioners expect the resulting budget crunch to require the elimination of Judge Stephen Warning's lunch hour.
(Information for the September issue must be received by July 20 at CWBAnews@hotmail.com.)
Snohomish County Report
Bruce J. Lambrecht, formerly of Bullivant Houser Bailey, and A.J. Goertz, a sole practitioner, have formed the firm Goertz & Lambrecht PLLC in Edmonds. "Our firm offers services in various areas of civil litigation, including torts/injury, commercial, insurance, products liability, construction defect, and mold claims, as well as probate administration/litigation and estate planning," they report.
Judiciary Report
by Lindsay Thompson
Pierce County District Court Presiding Judge Jack Nevin has been named Judge of the Year by the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association. He was honored during the association's Law Day Dinner May 1 in Seattle. Also honored were Washington Supreme Court Justice Faith Ireland and Chief Judge John Schultheis of the Court of Appeals Division III for their 20 years of service to the law.
Nevin has worked to improve the justice systems in Central America, Africa, and Europe, and works locally to educate young lawyers and high-school students on the fundamentals of trials and the law. He was honored for his leadership in promoting the civil justice system and his work on behalf of the global community.
Nevin is a graduate of Washington State University and Gonzaga University Law School. He served as an Army lawyer at Fort Lewis before joining the Pierce County Prosecutor's Office in 1984. He was appointed to the Pierce County District Court bench in 1997 and later was elected to the position.
Nevin traveled to El Salvador in 2002 to help establish a victim/witness-assistance program, and was chosen by the United Nations in 2001 to serve on a detention review commission in Kosovo, where he also helped draft guidelines for the country's first bar exam in 10 years. In 1999 and 2000, as an adjunct faculty member of the Defense Institute of International Legal Studies, Nevin traveled to Malawi in south central Africa to teach government officials about law and human rights, with an emphasis on women's rights.
Nevin also teaches in the Judges in the Classroom program in local schools, and teaches trial advocacy at the University of Puget Sound and Seattle University School of Law. He started a monthly trial-practice program in his courtroom to teach trial fundamentals to young lawyers, and teaches rules of evidence to new judges in the state as a State Judicial College faculty member.
President Bush has nominated U.S. Magistrate Judge Lonny R. Suko of Yakima to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington. A graduate of Washington State University and the University of Idaho School of Law, Suko was in private practice from 1969 until his appointment as a magistrate judge in 1995, and served as a part-time magistrate from 1971 to 1995. He was nominated to fill the vacancy created by Judge William Fremming Nielsen's decision to assume senior status on the court.
Law Schools Report
University of Washington School of Law Professor Julia Gold has been awarded a Senior Fulbright Scholar grant to lecture and conduct research at Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Gold, who directs the mediation clinic at UW and founded its Street Law program, will teach mediation and conflict resolution to graduate students at Nepal's oldest university from August to December 2003. She is one of approximately 800 U.S. faculty and professionals who will travel to more than 140 countries during the 2003-2004 academic year through the Fulbright Program.
Established in 1946 and named after the late Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the program supports educational exchanges to build mutual understanding between the United States and other nations. It is sponsored by the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The more than 250,000 American and international Fulbright alumni include Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman, poet Rita Dove, who has received a Pulitzer Prize, and Craig Barrett, CEO of Intel Corporation.
Another UW law prof, Meade Emory, received the 2003 Roger Stouder Award at the Washington State Bar Association Tax Section Luncheon on May 21. Emory is the third recipient of the award, which is named in honor of a well-known Seattle tax lawyer who died of cancer.
Robert Chicoine, past president of the Tax Section and a partner of Seattle-based Chicoine & Hallett, PS, presented the award, recognizing Emory for his tax-law expertise, his passion for teaching, and his remarkable collection of bow ties and fedora hats. He described Emory as a unique individual who has spent time in government service, in private practice, and at several renowned law schools. "Perhaps most important for us . . . as director of the University of Washington Graduate Program in Taxation, he has been instrumental in helping the program achieve its recognition as one of the top graduate tax programs in the country," said Chicoine.
Among the well-wishers who personally congratulated a surprised Emory was WSBA member Governor Gary Locke, who attended the luncheon.
Emory has been on the UW School of Law's faculty for eight years, and has directed the Graduate Program in Taxation since its inception in 1996.
In Memoriam
Remembering our colleagues and friends
Judge Jo Anne Alumbaugh
Lawyer served as judge on both sides of the state
Jo Anne Alumbaugh was the first woman attorney in Ellensburg, and the first woman elected a superior court judge in eastern Washington, serving from 1985 to 1989.
A graduate of Fort Hays State University in Kansas and the University of Puget Sound School of Law, Alumbaugh served as an adjunct professor of law and justice at Central Washington University, where her husband, Richard, served on the faculty for over 30 years.
While in Ellensburg, Alumbaugh worked with United Way of Kittitas County, the county mental health board, a public-schools task force, and the League of Women Voters. She created the guardian ad litem program for abused children in the county. She also served as a pro tem judge in the county district courts in Ellensburg, Cle Elum, Roslyn, and Kittitas; Thurston County Superior Court; and Seattle Municipal Court. She was elected a King County Superior Court judge in 1994 and served until 2002.
Survivors include her husband, two children, and three grandchildren.
Jo Anne Burke Alumbaugh was born in Dodge City, Kansas, September 15, 1941, and died in Seattle May 29, 2003, aged 61.
Robert F. Ewing Jr.
50-year Spokane resident
Californian Bob Ewing joined the Air Force after junior college and, after serving three years, moved to Spokane to enter law school at Gonzaga. After graduation in 1959, he went into private practice and spent 30 years with Huppin Ewing Anderson & Paul.
Survivors include his wife, brother, six children, four grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.
Robert Franklin Ewing Jr. was born in Long Beach, California, January 25, 1931, and died December 31, 2002, in Phoenix, Arizona, aged 71.
John A. Godfrey
Practiced in Seattle's University District for 40 years
Like many in his generation, John Godfrey saw his education interrupted by World War II. After graduation from law school at the University of Washington, he served as a Navy officer, then joined McCune & Godfrey. The firm was a leader in promoting the employment of women attorneys, giving Justice Faith Ireland her first job. He spent his career with the firm, retiring in 2000. Survivors include his sister, three children and three stepchildren, seven grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
John Augustus Godfrey was born in Bellevue in 1921 and died in Seattle February 24, 2003, aged 81.
David R. Innis
Bar News has learned of the death of WSBA member David R. Innis during 2002. Mr. Innis was admitted in 1977. He lived in Brenham, Texas.
Robert F. Manifold
Longtime public-service lawyer lived a rich and varied life
"Rob was a lawyer for the people," said his former chief, Attorney General Christine Gregoire, "and he worked to ensure consumers were always treated fairly and honestly." Born and raised in Indiana, Mr. Manifold was class president at Purdue University and graduated cum laude in industrial management and electrical engineering in 1967, then graduated with honors from Stanford Law School four years later.
After a stint with the Federal Trade Commission, Manifold moved to Seattle and joined Evergreen Legal Services in 1974. There he represented low-income clients and senior citizens in consumer-rights and utility cases for nearly a decade. In 1983 he moved to the Public Counsel Section of the state Attorney General's Office, where he represented consumers' interests in telephone, electric, and natural-gas utilities-regulation cases. He later served as chief of both the Public Counsel and the Consumer Protection divisions of the Attorney General's Office.
Manifold and his family moved to San Diego in 1998, where he went into private practice in the utility-regulation field. During the last decade of his life, Manifold fought leukemia, but friends said he never gave up his enthusiasm for music, books, and biking. Ninth Circuit Judge Margaret McKeown, a longtime friend, told The Seattle Times that Manifold showed up at her home a year before his death, lugging a cello. He'd always wanted to learn to play one, she said. "In the wake of this disease, he was still expanding his horizons," McKeown said. "He was someone who was always looking beyond his horizons."
Survivors include his wife, son, mother, and two siblings.
Robert F. Manifold was born in Indiana and died in La Jolla, California, April 2, 2003, aged 58.
Daniel E. McKelvey Jr.
Distinguished trial lawyer was Spokane resident for three decades
Dan McKelvey graduated from Grove City College and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. His military career brought him to Spokane's Fairchild Air Force Base as a judge advocate general, and he spent the rest of his career in the city.
A trial lawyer, McKelvey was listed in The Best Lawyers in America in 1987, and was named Trial Lawyer of the Year by the American Board of Trial Advocates in 1996. He was a member of WSTLA, the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, the American Society of Barristers, the American College of Trial Advocates, the American College of Trial Lawyers, and the Damage Attorneys Round Table.
McKelvey died of effects of a 1996 head injury sustained in an accident. Survivors include his mother, two daughters, and a sister.
Daniel E. McKelvey Jr. died in Spokane April 8, 2003, aged 57.
Joseph C. Murphy
Civic leader and enduring Toppenish city attorney
There were few aspects of community and civic life in Toppenish that didn't have Joe Murphy's fingerprints on them somewhere. Murphy took chemistry and law degrees from Gonzaga University before joining the Air Force in World War II. Discharged as a captain, Murphy moved to Toppenish and in 1946 became city attorney, a post he held until 1973. His son Bill Murphy now serves as city attorney for Toppenish and Wapato.
Known for his eye for detail, Murphy was a valued counselor to the city council and, as a special assistant attorney general, served as the first attorney for the Washington State Potato Commission. He was active in the American Legion and the Toppenish Economic Development Council; was on the boards of directors of Central Memorial Hospital and the Providence Foundation; and served as president of the Toppenish Chamber of Commerce and the Yakima County Bar Association.
Survivors include his wife of 58 years, Muriel; 10 children; 21 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
Joseph C. Murphy was born in Wallace, Idaho, July 2, 1917, and died January 15, 2003, aged 85.
Luvern Rieke
UW law dean improved state divorce laws, mentored students, and volunteered at his church for decades
"Old Hide-the-Ball Rieke" is how Court of Appeals Judge Marlin Appelwick remembers UW law professor and dean Vern Rieke. "He was inquisitive. He genuinely wanted to know what you thought," Appelwick, a student of Rieke's, told The Seattle Times. Scrupulous to a fault, he graded exam questions 10 at a time and then took a walk "to reset his mind."
Born in Lincoln County, Rieke grew up in Cashmere, where his father started the local bank. After playing high-school football and debating, he entered Capital University in 1940. He left school two years later to join the Army Air Corps, after Pearl Harbor, and flew bombing runs in China and India. He left the service an officer with a Bronze Star and seven battle stars. Coming home, he married his college debate-team partner, Anna Jane Bierstadt, with whom he had corresponded through the war. They moved to Seattle, where Rieke finished his undergraduate degree at the UW in 1949.
Having made a name as a top law student and editor of the UW Law Review, Rieke was offered a teaching post upon graduating, and spent his career at the law school, teaching family law and contracts. He enjoyed mentoring minority law students, served as a special master to supervise the integration of some trade unions, and successfully advanced a proposal to ordain women in the American Lutheran Church. He was involved with the 1988 rewriting of Washington's Parenting Act, arguing that divorce should be less contentious and that parenting plans would help safeguard children. Rieke served as acting dean of the law school between 1968 and 1970.
Survivors include his wife, two brothers, three children, and seven grandchildren.
Luvern Rieke was born in Odessa, Washington, January 16, 1922, and died in Seattle May 9, 2003, aged 81.
Edwin R. Roberts
Texan's law career was interrupted by wartime service
Ed Roberts grew up in Dallas and, after getting his law degree from the University of Texas in 1939, spent the next few years as a traveling insurance claims adjuster in Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. When World War II broke out, he joined the Army Air Corps and was commissioned a second lieutenant shortly after Pearl Harbor. Sent to Spokane's Geiger Field, he met and married his wife in 1942. Roberts spent 1943 to 1945 as an intelligence officer in England, briefing and debriefing bomber crews. He was recalled to active duty for the Korean War, serving at Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane.
In 1953, Roberts moved to Seattle, working for the Attorney General's Office until 1957. He then returned to Spokane and spent the next 24 years with Paine Lowe Coffin Herman & O'Kelly. He practiced medical-malpractice defense and was admitted to the American College of Trial Lawyers in 1967.
Survivors include his wife of 60 years, two children, and three grandchildren.
Edwin R. Roberts was born in Dallas in 1917 and died December 26, 2002, in Spokane, aged 85.
Calhoun Shorts
Lawyer/businessman loved gardens, boats, and teaching
In 1947, Bellevue was considered "country," and third-generation Seattleite Calhoun Shorts and his wife, Harriet, decided to buy seven acres and move out of the city. As the town grew into a city, they gave the land for a park and contributed a substantial endowment for its upkeep. Now expanded to some 30 acres, the Bellevue Botanical Garden hosts visitors from the Shorts's former home.
Shorts graduated from Stanford University and the University of Washington School of Law, practicing in Seattle until he enlisted in the Navy for World War II. After the war he decided his future lay in business, and he created three fiberglass companies to build boats, ducts for Boeing planes, and translucent panels. In the 1950s he sold them, and got a teaching certificate before taking a position teaching physics and chemistry at Queen Anne High School. His brother remembered him as someone who could excel at anything he turned his mind to. "We both went to Stanford, and he was Phi Beta Kappa simply because he decided he would get good grades."
Survivors include his son and brother.
Calhoun Shorts was born in Seattle on Valentine's Day, 1911, and died there in early March 2003, aged 92.
Judge Peter K. Steere
30-year veteran of King County Superior Court
An Upper Peninsula Michigander who grew up in Canada, Peter Steere spent his teens working on Great Lakes ore boats. He played football at Haverford College and, on joining the Army in 1951, found he had an aptitude for languages. He mastered German, Czech, French, and Spanish as a military intelligence officer in Europe. His last post was at Fort Lewis, and when he left the service he stayed in Washington, enrolling at UW law school.
After graduation, Steere served as assistant corporation counsel for the City of Seattle and then as counsel for the 1962 World's Fair. A stint in private practice was followed by an appointment to King County Superior Court and five consecutive elections to the bench.
Steere married a close friend's widow near the end of his judicial career, and they enjoyed 12 years of marriage and travel.
In addition to his wife, survivors include his brother, Seattle attorney Paul Steere, and a number of nieces and nephews.
Peter Kormann Steere was born September 15, 1929, in Marquette, Michigan, and died May 31, 2003, in Seattle, aged 63.
Lawrence Thayer
Lawyer practiced in Spokane
Lawrence Thayer was a longtime Spokane County Bar Association member. He graduated from the University of Washington School of Law and was admitted to practice in 1939. Survivors include his wife of 63 years, Kathleen; one daughter; and two grandchildren.
Lawrence Thayer died in Spokane January 18, 2003, aged 88.
Judge Liem E. Tuai
Reluctant politician was respected jurist
Born to Chinese immigrant parents, Liem Tuai quietly expanded the possibilities for Chinese Americans in public life through a long and varied career. Dropping out of school in the ninth grade, Tuai became a machinist at Boeing and then served four years in the Air Force in Japan. Returning to Seattle, he enrolled at the University of Washington and got his bachelor's degree at 29; two years later he graduated from UW School of Law.
He worked in private practice, as a King County prosecutor, and for the U.S. General Services Administration in the early years of his career. In 1969 he won election to the Seattle City Council; four years later he failed to unseat Mayor Wes Uhlman. In 1974 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the state Supreme Court, and a year later he lost a comeback run for the city council. In 1977, Governor Dixie Lee Ray appointed him to one of five newly created King County Superior Court seats. He and his new colleagues affectionately referred to themselves as the "Gang of Five."
Tuai considered he really wasn't cut out for politics and expressed relief over his mayoral loss. "To tell you the truth, I got terribly tired of hearing myself talk," he said after the election. His family recalled, however, that he was always amazed how people who didn't even know him turned out for each of his election campaigns.
Tuai served 18 years on the bench, retiring in April 1996. Survivors include three sons and two grandchildren.
Liem E. Tuai was born in Port Townsend in 1925 and died in Seattle March 2, 2003, aged 77.
Obituaries and remembrances of WSBA members are welcome. Please forward to the editor at the WSBA office or by e-mail to tradelaw@thompson-law.com.
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