May 2004

Around the State

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.

Cowlitz County Report

by Our Local Correspondent

Pond Roesch & Rahn has dissolved as a law firm. Steven Pond, Paul Roesch, and Kevin Rahn are each going it on their own, under the same roof and on good terms.

Congratulations are also in order for retired deputy prosecuting attorney Melanie Romo and courthouse security officer Marvin Millard. After more than 20 years, they were married by the also-retired but ever-honorable Don McCulloch on March 12. Congratulations to the newlyweds!

Information for the June issue must be received by May 15 at CWBAnews@hotmail.com.

International Members 

William Fisher reports he left Perkins Coie last year to pursue a US-Chinese IP practice in China.

In January, Fisher joined the Shanghai, China, office of the international law firm of Lovells. His practice focuses on IP litigation, enforcement, and counseling, in China as well as on a regional and worldwide basis. He writes, "My wife, Linda, and I are settling in and work is going well. I'm still an active WSBA member and will remain one."

Kitsap County

Broughton & Associates, Inc. PS is pleased to announce that Dalynne Singleton is an associate in the firm. She has been with the firm for 12 years, starting as a personal-injury paralegal, then serving three years as a law clerk, and now as an attorney. Ms. Singleton's practice will complement William Broughton's practice and will place emphasis on representation in the areas of personal injury, tort litigation, real estate/construction, and water law matters.

Law Schools

Six Gonzaga law students — Brooke Kuhl, Jennifer Underwood, Laura Waldman, Kristina Nichols, Gillian Murphy, and Shannon Viel — competed as two teams in the National Appellate Advocacy Competition February 26-28 in San Francisco. Both teams emerged from a pack of 32 teams and advanced into the final round of their respective brackets.

Three of five judges scored the final round in favor of the Kuhl, Underwood, Waldman team but they nonetheless lost by .111 points out of 100 possible — an extremely narrow margin. One judge's scores in particular were in stark contrast with the other four judges', which cost them the round and first place in their bracket. To advance to the final round, the team, then seeded 16th, defeated the number-one seeded U.C. Davis team in the semifinal round with an impressive victory.

The team of Nichols, Murphy, and Viel also advanced to the final round in their bracket but lost by three points to Texas Tech, a perennial powerhouse at the competition. The pain of the loss was softened during the awards ceremony, when the team was awarded second-best brief in the competition.

Sending both teams to the finals is a great accomplishment. "I am not aware of another Gonzaga team that has accomplished this, at least not in recent memory," said Patrick Fannin, the NAAC co-coach along with Michael Keyes.

This is the second consecutive year that Gonzaga has been a powerhouse at NAAC. Last year, Gonzaga team members won best and third-best oralist awards. One team advanced to the semifinal and the other to the final round in their respective brackets. "Mike and I are pleased that over the last two years Gonzaga has been such a force and that we have had the opportunity to be a part of it," Fannin commented. "We have been blessed to have students who are passionate — not just about winning, but about being the best they can be."

Thurston County Report

by Fred D. Gentry

The first signs of spring around here include the roaring of motorcycles as the TCBA motorcycle gang fires up their engines to terrorize the rural countryside. Members of the "mild bunch" and their steeds include: John Sinclair, BMW K12000LT; Paul Meyer, Harley Davidson; Chris Coker, Harley Davidson; Bill Pope, Harley Davidson; Frank Morris, Yamaha Virago 1100; Fred Gentry, Honda 900 Custom; Hon. Richard Strophy, Honda Gold Wing; John Jarett, Harley Davidson; Ed Younglove, Harley Davidson; and Jim Dixon, Triumph Bonneville.

Hon. Dan Berschauer recently announced that he will not seek re-election. Those who will be running for the position thus far are Court Commissioner Chris Wickum, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jim Powers, and Assistant Attorney General M. Joseph Sloan. Judge Berschauer has been a well-known, well-liked, and highly respected superior court judge since 1984. We will miss him.

King County Report

by Jim Varnell

Tee Time. For those who would like to get into the swing of things this summer, four local golf tournaments are on the bill. Starting off the season of these four "majors" is the Judicial Dispute Resolution Charity Tournament featuring the organizational skills of Charlie Burdell at Washington National in Auburn on July 9. Three weeks later, the Phil Biege Open (also known as the South King County Bar Association's tournament) will be held at Riverbend on July 30. Testing the strength, stamina, and skills of the tour players next is the Gary Slater Match Play Championship to be held on August 7 at Madrona Links in Gig Harbor. Closing out the majors is the UW Law School Alumni Tournament hosted by Polly McNeill, also at Washington National in Auburn on August 27.

So prestigious are these four tournaments that any person who wins all four earns a "battlefield promotion" to Qualifying School on the PGA Tour next December. Vying for a spot at Q School will be Dan "The Man" Williams; Hon. Julie Spector, defending her Judge's title; Hon. Rick "The Stick" Bathum; Hon. Chas DeLaurenti; Jane Rhodes; John "Mister Mediation" Cooper; and Bob "The Silver Fox" Kuvara.

Lawyerpalooza. The second annual "Lawyerpalooza," a battle of local law firm rock-and-roll bands, will be held on May 10 at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel. Featured bands include musicians from Davis Wright Tremaine, Groff & Murphy, Karr Tuttle, Lane Powell Spears Lubersky, McNaul Ebel, Perkins Coie, and Preston Gates & Ellis, and public defenders. This charity event raised over $24,000 for instrumental music instruction in Seattle schools last year. Obviously, committee chair Mike Nesteroff was unaware of the talents of other hotshot bands in the Seattle area, including (without limitation) Shear Jazz, featuring Keith "Mr. Carolina Blue" McClelland, and Raucous with Washington evidence maestro Karl Tegland (see www.raucousband.com).

KCBA Awards. The King County Bar Association awards dinner will be held on June 24 at the Elliott Grand Hyatt. Honorees will include the following: Outstanding Lawyer — the prosecution and defense teams in the Gary Ridgeway case; Outstanding Judge — Judge Richard Jones; Friend of the Legal Profession — Ada Shen-Jaffe; and the Helen Geisness Award — Karen Sutherland.

The William L. Dwyer Outstanding Jurist award will be presented to Hon. John C. Coughenour. It is anticipated that Judge Coughenour upon accepting this award will give much of the credit for his successes to his experiences with his first Trial Practice class at the UW Law School in 1971, which included Dick Cohen, Mike Jacobs, Steve Chestnut, and Richard "Swannie" Swanson (not!!).

Office Moves. The following are recent additions to King County law firms. Carney Badley Spellman: Timothy K. Thorson and Nicki D. McCraw are new shareholders. Hendricks & Lewis: Stacia Lay and Alexa L. Shelley are associates. Short Cressman Burgess: Connie Sue Martin is named a partner. Miller Nash: David Schoolcraft is a new partner. Gordon Thomas Honeywell: new partners are J.D. Smith and Dianne K. Conway; senior associates are J. Bradley Buckhalter, Jemima J. McCullum, Patricia Tierney O'Brien Pearson, Steven T. Reich, and Jong Won Yi; Elizabeth Cameron Thompson is a new associate.

Keller Rohrback: new partners are Dan Friedberg, Scott Henderson, Ben Lantz, Beth Leland, and Derek Loeser. Graham & Dunn: Janene A. Collins, Kumi Yamamoto Baruffi, and Michael A. Raskasky are new shareholders. Helsell Fetterman: Larry Setchell and Darla Goodwin are partners. Joshua Whited is a new associate; and Bruce Cyra is a new project attorney. John W. Phillips has departed Heller Ehrman and has opened his own office.

Preston Gates & Ellis: new partners are James J.Y. Chen, David A. Domansky, Annette D. Elinger, Ellen Livingston-Behan, Denise L. Stiffarm, and Matthew S. Topham. New associates are Derek D. Crick, Eric E. Keppler, Kristin Martinez, Christopher S. Napier, Carlos Chavez, Kristi L. Darnell, Andrew H. Dyer, Kenneth J. Gish Jr., Jonah O. Harrison, Sarah C. Johnson, Tim Mizrahi, Amit Ranade, Kevin A. Rosenfield — known as "Mr. Prosser, WA" — Lyle A. Tenpenny, Christopher T. Varas, C. Rachal Winger, and Ayanna Wooten-Days. Gene Wilson has returned to McKay Chadwell after a two-year stint in the Hague; Thomas M. Brennan is a new associate there.

Honors. Samuel Chung was named one of the Top Contributors to the Asian Community. Paul Whelan was named Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Washington Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates. Bill Connors was appointed to the National Coal Council. Douglas S. Oles was named a fellow in the American College of Construction Lawyers. Betts Patterson & Mines was honored as the 2003 Transportation Professional of the Year by the Transportation Club of Seattle.

Washington Women Lawyers

The Snohomish County chapter of Washington Women Lawyers sponsored a forum March 8 to evaluate seven candidates for a vacant Snohomish County District Court judge position in Lynnwood.

The Snohomish County Council will appoint one of them to fill the judgeship vacated when Judge Stephen Dwyer was promoted to the superior court bench.

Besides the women lawyers, all county lawyers had an opportunity to participate in a bar poll, and the council was set to convene a screening committee to help interview the candidates and make recommendations.

The new judge will join two others assigned to South District Court, and must live in southwest Snohomish County. Among the candidates are Edmonds residents Beth Fraser Cullen, Douglas Fair, Jeffrey Goodwin, and Michael Hall; Cheryl Beyer and Vernon Moyers Jr. of Lynnwood; and Peter Camp of Bothell.