September 2003

Around the State

Business Law Section Report
The WSBA Business Law Section elected officers and Executive Committee members for 2003-2004 at its recent annual meeting. Al Falk, of Harlowe & Hitt LLP in Tacoma, was elected chair. Dori Brewer, of Perkins Coie in Seattle, was named chair-elect. Daren Nitz, of Graham & Dunn PC in Seattle, was elected vice chair, and Pamela Grinter, of Riddell Williams PS in Seattle, was elected recorder. Also elected as at-large members of the section's Executive Committee were Paul M. Davis, of Lukins & Annis, PS in Spokane, and Jason Farber, of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP in Seattle.

Clark County Report
Marilyn K. Reynolds, LL.M., has joined Pabst & Holland, PLLC in Vancouver, Washington. Marilyn concentrates her practice in the areas of estate planning, trusts, probate and trust administration, gift and estate-tax planning, charitable giving, nonprofit organizations, and trust planning for pets. She is licensed in Washington and Oregon.

Cowlitz County Report
by Our Local Correspondent
The inaugural bar association fishing derby was held at Bill Faubion's fishpond. About 25 bar members and family attended and, all in all, things went swimmingly. Alexandra and Chloe, daughters of bar president Michael Evans, landed six "fishes" apiece, despite their ill-prepared father's coming equipped with only cream cheese for bait. Cory Larson brought five of his eight children and took the award for most prolific fishing family. Kurt Anagnostou, who does double duty serving as vice-president of the bar and as Longview city councilman, was deemed "shortest cast."
 
Melanie Romo is retiring after over 20 years of bar membership, including 11 years of service to the people of Cowlitz County at the prosecutor's office. Melanie will be sorely missed. Tierra Busby will be moving to the support-enforcement department of the prosecutor's office.
 
Tom O'Neill, Gary Bashor, Michael Evans, and the Honorable Stephen Warning were among the lawyers-turned-homebuilders at the Habitat for Humanity Build Day. As they gathered for instructions on the build, Tom predicted there might be bloodletting. Sure enough, by 10:30 a.m. Tom had bloodied himself and required a small bandage on the back of his hand. Gary demonstrated cat-like abilities as he scampered across the framed walls—pulling, hefting, and lifting the trusses into position.
 
(Information for the November issue of Bar News must be received by September 15 at CWBAnews@hotmail.com.)

The Judiciary
by Lindsay Thompson
Odessa native and former Yakima U.S. Magistrate Judge Lonny Suko has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate as U.S. district judge in the Eastern District of Washington. Suko replaces Judge Frem Nielsen of Spokane, who took senior status. Suko's nomination won bipartisan support and was approved 94-0. He was appointed a magistrate judge in 1991.

King County Report
by Jim Varnell
The Sound of Music
Local law firms put their talents on display in front of 500 adoring fans at LawyerPalooza 2003, a "battle of the bands" to benefit elementary-school music programs. Mark Asplund is credited with originating the idea, and Lane Powell Spears Lubersky took it and ran. The evening was a rousing success, with the following bands participating. (In true "American Idol" fashion, editorial comments à la Simon Cowell follow the listings of bands.) Co-winners were the Perkins Coie Band (hey guys, you are not at a Boeing deposition—lose the suits and ties); and The Big Lubersky from Lane Powell and the Law Office of David Huber. (To Mike Nesteroff: You have the pose; can you really play that guitar?) From Preston Gates & Ellis and Davis Wright Tremaine was Fall City. (Someone please tell Athan Tramountanas that his t-shirt might look good on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, but this city has some class.)
 
Morris Can Fly, made up of Riddell Williams and McNaul Ebel, et al. employees, must have some Springsteen-E St. followers. (Why else would Barry Allan wear that ridiculous headband (à la Stevie Van Zandt) and Steve Winters wear that beret?) The Wonderdogs comprised would-be rockers from Karr Tuttle Campbell and Groff Murphy, et al. (Hint to Doug Lilliman: you are not at Safeco Field; lose the baseball cap.) Neon Lips (clever, right?), comprising "musicians" from Williams Kastner & Gibbs, Perkins Coie, and Nintendo, looks like it could give Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones a walk for his money. (Looks like; not plays like.) Nevertheless, LawyerPalooza 2003 was a huge success and raised more than $30,000 to help keep some elementary-school music programs going. Good work, all. For more information, visit www.lawyerpalooza.com.

Honors
The King County Bar Association honored the following at its annual awards dinner: Jeff Robinson as Outstanding Lawyer; the Northwest Women's Law Center as Friend of the Legal Profession; Steve DeForest, the Helen Geisness Award, which recognizes contributions to the King County Bar Association; Jennifer Johnson Grant as Outstanding Young Lawyer; Honorable Wesley Saint Clair as Outstanding Judge. Honorable Carolyn R. Dimmick received the William L. Dwyer Outstanding Jurist award. Pro Bono awards were given to the Starbucks Coffee Company legal department, and Hartly Newsum. The President's Award was presented to the IOLTA Litigation Team, including David Burman, Nick Gellert and Katie O'Sullivan of Perkins Coie, for their work in Brown v. Legal Foundation of Washington. (Kay Frank is president of the Legal Foundation of Washington.)
 
Kathleen Keenan Kindred has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America. Douglas S. Tingvall was elected "Instructor of the Year" by the Washington Association of Realtors. Gayle Bush has become a member of the American College of Bankruptcy. When not displaying his keen knowledge of the law and dry wit in bankruptcy court, Gayle can usually be found at Safeco Field contemplating his next legal strategy.

Changing Venues
Helsell Fetterman has moved to 1001 Fourth Avenue, its first move in 42 years. The firm is the home of Phil "I-5" Noble, who, upon graduating from UW School of Law in 1971, traversed Interstate 5 tirelessly as a law clerk (simultaneously) for the Honorable Morell Sharp and/or the Honorable Walter McGovern in Olympia and Seattle. Felicia L. Gittleman has been named managing director of MacDonald, Hoague & Bayless; and Maria C. Fox has been named a director of the firm. Gavin M. Parr has joined Song Mondress as an associate. The Visomark Law Group merged its operations with Black, Lowe & Graham; Michael Barber is of counsel there. Caroline Davis has closed her private practice and has become the executive director of the Family Law CASA of King County Program.
 
Mary Alice Theiler has been appointed magistrate judge for the Western District of Washington. David A. Strickland has become a member of The Johnson Law Group. John C. Gibson has become a shareholder of Kingman Peabody Pierson & Fitzharris. Ruth A. Holmes has joined Johannessen & Associates.

Kitsap County Report
J. Michael Liebert and John D. Morgan are pleased to announce that Lynn K. Fleischbein has joined them as partner, and they have changed their firm name to Liebert Morgan & Fleischbein, PS. They are located in Silverdale and are a full-scale civil law firm.

LASER Project Report
The LASER Project (Lawyers and Students Engaged in Resolution), formed in 1995, is the joint effort of the Attorney General's Office, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the WSBA, to provide peer-mediation training in schools. LASER will hold its annual training on October 3 and 4 at the Attorney General's Office in Tacoma. Since 1995, 130 attorneys have taken the training so they can then teach peer-mediation skills to middle- and high-school students. The attorneys have teamed up to start peer-mediation programs in more than 30 schools throughout Washington. This free training has been approved for CLE credit in the past, and MCLE approval has been requested. For more information or to sign up for the training, contact Barbara Peterson at barbarapeterson@nlagroup.com or 509-877-9906.

Washington Defense Trial Lawyers Report
The WDTL elected Joanne Thomas Blackburn their new president at their annual convention in Coeur d'Alene in July. Blackburn, an owner at Garvey Schubert Barer in Seattle, focuses her practice on insurance coverage and defense, construction, product liability, and environmental litigation.
 
Other elected officers include Jeffrey Frank, Bullivant Houser Bailey, Seattle, president-elect; Michelle Menely, Gordon Thomas Honeywell, Seattle, secretary; and Jill Haavig Stone, Burgess Fitzer, Tacoma, treasurer.
 
The board of trustees includes James Berg, Yakima; Anne Bremner, Jesse Franklin, Sue Holm, Yemi Fleming Jackson, Steve Jager, Ken Karlberg, Grant Lingg, Rick Roberts, and Mike Runyan, of Seattle; Rod Hollenbeck, Bellevue; and Michele Sales, Issaquah.
 
The Washington Defense Trial Lawyers is a 750-member statewide organization of lawyers who are in engaged in civil defense litigation and trial work.

Washington State Trial Lawyers Report
The Washington State Trial Lawyers Association elected Seattle attorney Judy Massong as president at its annual convention in Bend, Oregon.
 
WSTLA also presented several prestigious awards recognizing the talents among the trial-lawyer community.
 
Spokane attorney Roger Felice was presented with the coveted Trial Lawyer of the Year award for his work on highway-design safety and jury instructions.
 
Virginia DeCosta, an employment attorney from Tacoma, received WSTLA's Professionalism Award for her contributions to educating plaintiff attorneys in Washington.
 
Bellevue attorney Karen Koehler received WSTLA's President's Award from outgoing President Steve Toole. Koehler was selected for her commitment to assisting her peers professionally, mentoring young law students, and educating the public on the importance of the civil justice system.
 
WSTLA has more than 3,500 plaintiff attorney members.

Around the State reports are welcome from county and specialty bar associations. There are no rules for writing them, except to mention lots of your members. We leave it up to each organization to decide who does it and to the correspondent to decide how often. Many counties are still available. Contact the editor at tradelaw@thompson-law.com for more information.

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