May 2003

Around the State

King County Report

Caroline R. Suissa has opened her practice in estate planning, probate administration, adoptions, trusts, guardianships, property rights and domestic partnerships in Des Moines. The UW LLM's virtual office is at www.suissalaw.com.
 
Douglas S. Morrison, late a partner of Lane Powell Spears Lubersky, has opened his new firm, Environmental Law Northwest, in Redmond (www.envirolawnw.com). Another solo act is that of Steve Karimi in Seattle. The former municipal prosecutor for Kenyon Dornay Marshall has opened his criminal defense firm at 119 First Avenue S., fifth floor.
 
Black Lowe & Graham (www.blacklaw.com) has added Dale C. Barr to its roster. He's an IP lawyer doing patent and trademark law.
 
Levy-von Beck & Associates PS (www.levy-law.com) is the result of the partnership of David M. von Beck and Sanford R. Levy in Seattle.
 
Catching some z's, Seattle's Hall Zanzig Claflin McEachern PLLC has become Hall Zanzig Zulauf Claflin McEachern PLLC with the addition of 30-year trial lawyer Jay H. Zulauf.
 
Sarah Armstrong and Kelly Thomas have joined Bennett Bigelow & Leedom (www.bbhealthlaw.com) (who have a really clever flash graphic on their home page) in Seattle as associates. Armstrong's practice focuses on health care and health-care litigation. Thomas's practice focuses on regulatory and reimbursement matters, and litigations.
 
Betts Patterson & Mines PS (www.bpmlaw.com) has hired Kasey C. Myhra as an associate handling complex litigation. She comes to the firm from the Attorney General's Office. Another former assistant AG, Jeff Kray, has moved to Marten Law Group PLLC, an environmental law firm. Another government lawyer, Robert Tad Seder, has moved from the civil division of the Snohomish County Prosecutor's Office to the U.S. Attorney's Office, civil division.
 
Graham Lundberg & Peschel (www.glpattorneys.com) has added Angela L. DeWig as an associate.
  
Another Graham, Graham & Dunn (www.grahamdunn.com), has recently added two lawyers. Mark A. Dowd (California State Bar member) works in the firm's financial-services industry team. Eric E. Kepler is an associate in the hospitality, beverage, franchise and distribution team.
 
William F. Knowles, formerly with Knowles & Ferguson PLLC, has joined Cozen & O'Connor's insurance practice group (www.cozen.com).
 
Joseph Sakay, previously clerk to a Denver judge, has become a principal at Hillis Clark Martin & Peterson PS (www.hcmp.com).
 
In Bellevue, Loretta S. Story has become of counsel to Peterson Russell Kelly PLLC (www.prklegal.com). Story has a family law practice with an emphasis on domestic violence and mediation, and serves on the board of the Eastside Legal Assistance Program.

Spokane County Report

Jodi M. Felice, a 2002 honors graduate of Gonzaga University School of Law, has joined the Spokane firm of Powell, Kuznetz & Parker PS as an associate concentrating on employment law, personal injury, and civil litigation.
 
Dale DeFelice and Scott Nass have become partners in Paine Hamblen Coffin Brooke & Miller LLP (www.paine hamblen.com). Nass works in the firm's Coeur d'Alene office.
 
Elizabeth F. Baker, late of Johnson Law Group, is now with Carlson McMahon & Sealby PLLC in Wenatchee.
 
Conni L. Stamper has joined Empire Health Services as vice president and corporate counsel.

Changes/Relocations/Honors

Sedro-Woolley attorney David Lowell has earned selection to the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General Corps. He will hold the rank of first lieutenant in the JAG reserves and will drill out of Fort Lewis. He will continue in private practice in Skagit County.
  
The Washington chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates has awarded Tacoma attorney William H. Mays its Lifetime Achievement Award for exemplifying the organization's commitment to the right to a jury trial and its code of professionalism. Mays helped found the chapter in 1983 and has served twice as its president. He is a member of Williams Kastner & Gibbs's Tacoma office. Tom Harris won the chapter's Trial Lawyer of the Year Award; Grays Harbor County Superior Court Judge David Foscue was named Judge of the Year; and H. Frank Stubbs was given the chapter's Lifetime Achievement Award.
 
While they were at it, the advocates also elected officers for the coming year. The roster is Cheryl Robbins Berg, president; Thomas H. Fain, president-elect; Reed P. Schifferman, vice president; Elizabeth A. Leedom, treasurer; James S. Rogers, secretary; and Timothy D. Blue and Lish Whitson, national board representatives. Judge Ronald Leighton is immediate past president.
 
A former WSBA Young Lawyers Division president, Alicia L. Lowe, has been named a shareholder in the Vancouver office of Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt (www.schwabe.com). So has Michael Cohen, who joined the firm in 1997.
 
Patrick W. Harwood has relocated his law practice from Walla Walla
to Coeur d'Alene, joining Kirkpatrick & Startzel PS there as a civil litigator.
 
Mark Rutzick of Portland has been appointed senior advisor to the general counsel for the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration in Washington, D.C.
 
J. Rodney DeGeorge reports he is winding down his practice to become municipal court commissioner for Lakewood, a part-time position, and to pro tem elsewhere until a full-time judicial post comes available.
 
Law Studies Forum, an interdisciplinary journal published by West Virginia University College of Law, reprinted five of Dan Caine's legal-theme poems in its spring issue; three of them were first published in Bar News. Caine is of counsel with Ryan, Swanson & Cleveland PLLC in Seattle.

The Life of the Mind

The Puget Sound Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society held a discussion on "The President and Future of Initiatives and Referenda in Washington" at the Washington Athletic Club in Seattle March 26. Justice Richard Sanders moderated the event, which featured panelists James Bond of Seattle University School of Law, Olympia lawyer Jim Johnson, Seattle attorney Hugh Spitzer, and retired Supreme Court Justice Phil Talmadge.
 
Attorney and television journalist Tim O'Brien delivered the 32nd annual William O. Douglas Lecture March 31 at Gonzaga University School of Law. Honored with an Emmy, the ABA's Silver Gavel and a Columbia-DuPont Award for Excellence in Journalism, O'Brien is D.C. correspondent for Moneyline on CNN and a veteran of the Supreme Court beat. The Douglas Lectures honor Washingtonian William O. Douglas, who taught at Yale Law School, chaired the Securities and Exchange Commission, and was the longest-serving member of the U.S. Supreme Court (1939-75). Douglas inaugurated the lecture series in 1972.

The Judiciary

In a March 26 agreement with the Seattle City Attorney's Office, approved by Municipal Court Judge Michael Hurtado, Supreme Court Justice Bobbe Bridge received the standard deferred-prosecution agreement for driving under the influence.  
 
Bridge was arrested February 28 while driving from a party to her home after a witness saw her vehicle sideswipe a parked truck and continue down the street. Another driver then blocked her car, forcing a stop. A companion hit-and-run charge was dismissed as part of the agreement.
 
Justice Bridge will be required to comply with the terms of a two-year program that requires her to abstain from consuming alcohol, attend two 12-step program meetings a week, undergo an outpatient treatment program, and have an ignition interlock device installed in her car. If she complies with the terms of the agreement, the DUI charge will be dismissed.
 
Bridge told the court, "I have never been afraid of hard work, and I will use all of my effort to pursue the treatment plan." Her lawyers, Jeff Robinson and Bill Bowman, told the press that while they felt the DUI test results could have been challenged in court, their client "made it clear that she did not want us to make any legal maneuvers and that she wanted to accept responsibility for what she did."
 
Former WSBA Chief Disciplinary Counsel Barrie Althoff has been named executive director of the Washington State Commission on Judicial Conduct. Althoff, 57, assumed the position at the end of February, succeeding David Akana. Althoff was with the WSBA for eight years; before that he spent seven years with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and 14 in private practice.

In Memoriam
Remembering our colleagues and friends

Eugene Arron 
World War II officer became respected trial lawyer
A Seattle native, Gene Arron graduated from Garfield High School in 1937 and received a B.A. from the University of Washington in 1941. Commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army upon graduation, he was immediately called to active duty; two weeks after Pearl Harbor he was aboard the first military convoy to Hawaii. Arron spent the next two-and-a-half years in the Pacific theater, seeing action at Guadalcanal and Christmas Island, and reaching the rank of major.
 
Rotated through Seattle in 1944, Arron married his Portland, Oregon, fiancée, Irene Feinstein. It was a marriage that would last 59 years. On his discharge, Arron returned to Seattle and entered the UW School of Law. After graduation he worked for Bonneville Power Administration before joining the Walthew law firm in Seattle.
 
Arron became a partner in the firm and developed a practice in the fields of workers' compensation and personal-injury law. He was a dynamic man with a lifelong love of the law; as a trial lawyer he served his profession with skill, passion and integrity. He became known as one of the finest plaintiffs' workers' compensation attorneys in Washington and tried more than 500 cases throughout his career. Arron was a member of the Washington State and American Trial Lawyers associations. In 1980 the Supreme Court of Washington honored him for his work on pattern jury instructions. Though he retired from practice in 1985, Arron maintained his active membership in the Washington State Bar Association and celebrated his 50th anniversary as a member in 1998.
 
Gene Arron loved his profession and was also a man of many other interests. He was a skilled craftsman and fisherman, and loved travel. A true intellectual, he had a genuine love for the classics, music and literature. He was a lifelong sports fan and strong supporter of the University of Washington and its teams. After retiring, he enjoyed his hobbies, and for many years he and Irene spent their winters in Oahu, Hawaii.
 
Gene Arron's survivors include his sister, wife, six children and eight grandchildren. A daughter, Seattle attorney Deborah Arron, died in 2002.
 
Eugene Arron died in Seattle February 25, 2003, aged 82.
 
(This remembrance of Eugene Arron was contributed by his grandson, Seattle attorney Paul L. Schneiderman.)
 
Rebecca Bloom
Walla Walla lawyer was longtime resident
Rebecca Bloom practiced on both sides of the Columbia River, residing in both Pendleton, Oregon and Walla Walla, where she was an attorney with the Minnick Hayner firm. Graduating magna cum laude from St. Olaf College in 1974, she received her law degree from Willamette University and was admitted to practice in Oregon in 1978. She joined the Washington Bar in 1994 and was a business lawyer at Minnick Hayner.
 
Survivors include her husband, Stephen, Pendleton attorney and U.S. magistrate, and three children. 
 
Rebecca Bloom was born in Alexandria, Minnesota, in 1951 and died January 20, 2003, in an auto accident near Weston, Washington, aged 51.

Kendall W. Druby
Alaska insurance executive
Kendall Druby was a Navy lieutenant in World War II. After the war he entered and graduated from UW School of Law, and joined the Bar in 1950. After a career with Kemper Insurance in Seattle, he bought Arctic Adjusters, Inc., and ran the Anchorage company for 32 years. After retirement, he and his partner, Tommy Garasick, particularly enjoyed the time they spent fishing on the Situk River.
 
Kendall Wayne Druby was born in Seattle in 1922 and died in Anchorage, Alaska, in October 2002, aged 80.

Kingsley B. Eaton
California court employee
Kingsley Eaton grew up in Olympia and served in the U.S. Army in the Pacific from 1943 to 1946. He received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Washington. He was admitted in 1952, and, after passing the California bar exam, spent his working career with the Office of the Reporter of Decisions for the California Supreme Court. Survivors include his wife and brother.
 
Mr. Eaton was born in Olympia in 1926 and died March 11, 2002, in Daly City, California, aged 76.

Douglas M. O'Coyne Sr.
Bar News has learned of the death of WSBA member Douglas M. O'Coyne Sr. during 2002. Mr. O'Coyne held undergraduate and law degrees from Gonzaga University, was admitted in 1986, and practiced in Spokane. He was 51.

Phillip Offenbacker
Midwesterner turned teenage merchant marine; lawyer, artist and traveler
Phillip Offenbacker graduated from high school in 1943 and immediately tried to join the armed services. Rejected because he was only 17, he joined the Merchant Marines and spent the war at sea. In the Korean War he saw heavy combat, was wounded, and won the Bronze Star.
 
Having entered Seattle Pacific University between the wars, Offenbacker entered the UW School of Law in 1956, and after graduation practiced in Seattle. An accomplished artist, he worked in woodcarving, cabinetry, and silver jewelry and ornaments. Survivors include his wife, three children and two stepchildren, four grandchildren and twin sisters.
 
Phillip Offenbacker was born in Neodesha, Kansas, August 31, 1926, and died in Seattle March 28, 2002, aged 75.

Hart Snyder
Spokane lawyer was MacArthur staff member
A pilot, ham-radio operator, horseman and polo player, Hart Snyder loved travel and shared interests in politics and government with his wife, Evelyn. Editor of the University of Washington Law Review, Snyder joined the Bar in 1926 and had a varied career. In the early 1940s he was involved with development at Grand Coulee Dam and Hanford Nuclear Plant reclamation project in his capacity as assistant U.S. attorney in the office's lands division.
 
During World War II, Snyder was a JAG officer in the United States, the Philippines and Japan, serving as a JAG on General Douglas MacArthur's staff during the occupation of Japan. He also enjoyed a 50-year career with the Spokane firm of McKevitt, Snyder & Thomas.
 
Hart Snyder died July 29, 2002, aged 100.

William A. Tombari Jr.
Spokane attorney
Bill Tombari served in the U.S. Army from 1968 to 1971, leaving the service with the rank of lieutenant. He practiced in Spokane after graduating from Gonzaga University School of Law in 1976. He concentrated his practice on commercial real estate development and shopping-center law; as general partner of Tombari Enterprises he was instrumental in developing several commercial projects in North Spokane and the Spokane Valley. His practice also included land acquisitions, sophisticated leasing, and the structuring of complex real estate transactions. He was listed in the Best Lawyers in America for 10 years.
 
At his death, Tombari was in practice with Joseph Esposito, Richard George, John Campbell, Jim Topliff, Dan O'Rourke and Kevin O'Rourke. During his career he served on the boards of a number of schools in the Diocese of Spokane and was a recipient of the Bishop's Certificate of Merit.
 
Survivors include his wife, five children, including attorney Courtney Tombari, and one grandchild.
 
William A. Tombari Jr. was born March 15, 1945, and died February 17, 2003, aged 57.

Joanne B. Wilson
Supreme Court veteran; wartime visit to Washington brought her back for life
Joanne Bailey longed to escape the confines of small-town Texas, and so "ran off to New York with her friend Billie" to study creative writing as soon as she could manage it. During World War II she served in the Coast Guard SPARS and in the course of her service visited Seattle. Falling in love with the people and scenery, she vowed to return, and in the early 1950s she packed everything into her car and drove back to Seattle. A pioneer among women lawyers, Wilson worked her way through the UW School of Law, and after graduating in 1954, married another lawyer, James B. Wilson, who died in 1996.
 
Wilson worked briefly in private practice before becoming a clerk for Justice Hugh Rosellini in the Washington State Supreme Court. She remained at the Court until her retirement in 1983. She then served as an arbitrator in the Personnel Appeals Board until she retired again in 1989.
 
Always adventurous, she traveled constantly, took up skiing in her 40s and golf in her 60s, and worked on improving her skills as a pianist for most of her life. Friends remember her for "her enormous generous heart for all creatures, human and otherwise, and her unfailing commitment to liberal values." Survivors include her brother, her innumerable friends, and her two cats.
 
Joanne Bailey Wilson was born November 7, 1920, in Wichita Falls, Texas,
and died December 26, 2002, in Seattle, aged 82.

Obituaries and remembrances of WSBA members are welcomed. Please forward to the editor at the WSBA office or by e-mail at tradelaw@thompson-law.com.

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