By Karen Sutherland
Regardless of what the calendar says, I consider mid-October to be the real end of summer. Mother Nature may prove me a fool since I am writing this five weeks ahead of time, but October usually is the true month of transition here, with its early crisp, calm sunny days, followed by a dramatic shift to brooding gray skies and its rain and wind by Halloween. If you haven’t guessed, I miss summer already.
Partner and Member News
Bar Bulletin contributor Matthew King has become a partner in The Tewell Firm, which is being renamed Tewell & King. King will continue his litigation practice, which includes tort, construction and environmental and land-use litigation. He received his J.D. from Seattle University School of Law in 2001.
Scott Greenburg has rejoined Preston Gates & Ellis. A partner in the firm’s business law practice, Greenburg leads the firm’s corporate governance practice. Greenburg’s practice emphasizes venture capital, mergers and acquisitions. Greenburg has more than 25 years of experience in venture capital, public offerings, intellectual property and technology issues, mergers and acquisitions, complex commercial transactions and international product distribution. Greenburg received his J.D. cum laude from Seattle University in 1980 and was a law clerk to the Honorable W.T. Beeks, U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington, from 1980 to 1981.
Associate Additions
My absolute favorite law firm, also known as Ogden Murphy Wallace, P.L.L.C., has added Wade Moller, Emily Gant and Raymond Dearie as associates. Moller, who formerly practiced in Idaho, is a member of OMW’s business department, where his practice focuses on business and taxation issues. He graduated from Willamette University with a B.S. in 1996 and from Willamette University School of Law in 2000. He also earned an L.L.M. from the University of Florida in 2002.
Gant was a summer associate with OMW and then clerked for the Honorable Elaine Houghton of the Washington State Court of Appeals, Division Two. Gant is an associate in the firm’s litigation department. Her practice emphasizes general litigation and providing services to Washington’s wine industry.
Dearie received a B.A., cum laude, from State University of New York at Oswego in 1990 and his J.D. from the University of Montana School of Law in 1997. He is part of the firm’s litigation department, where his practice focuses on nursing home abuse and neglect, insurance bad faith, defective products, professional malpractice, discrimination, civil rights and other complex litigation.
Elizabeth Catterall and Tracy Williams have joined Johannessen & Associates, P.S. as associates. Catterall, who received her J.D. in 2001 from Seattle University School of Law, will focus her practice on construction, environmental and real estate litigation. Catterall practiced two years in Whatcom County, representing municipal and business clients in construction and commercial disputes.
Williams received her J.D. in 2002 from the University of Colorado School of Law in Boulder. Before joining the firm, Williams clerked for the Honorable J. Robin Hunt and the Honorable C. C. Bridgewater of the Washington State Court of Appeals, Division Two.
Nadja Vietz has become an associate with Harris & Moure. Vietz is licensed to practice law in Germany and Spain and will be sitting for the Washington Bar in January. She was formerly with a firm in Barcelona, Spain. She will assist H&M with its European practice.
H&M also notes that its web site is now in English, Russian, Spanish, German and Chinese, which, Dan Harris notes, took an incredible amount of work.
Alice Le Truong has become an associate at Cairncross & Hempelmann. Truong, who was formerly with Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, is part of C&H’s real estate group. Truong advises property owners, developers and businesses on real estate legal matters including purchases and sales, as well as title and survey review and analysis.
Nick Beermann, Peter Nohle and Sarah Capel-li have joined Jackson Lewis LLP as associates. Beermann received his J.D. from Seattle University School of Law, cum laude, in 2000. He and Capelli both focus on employment and labor law. Nohle also practices in employment law.
Jason Crowel has become an associate in the litigation practice group of Stoel Rives. His practice includes trial and appellate litigation and a broad variety of complex commercial disputes. Before joining Stoel Rives, Crowel was an associate at Keesal Young & Logan. He received his J.D. from the UCLA School of Law in 2002 and his B.A., summa cum laude, from Boise State University in 1999.
Brian Eiting and Rick Ballinger have become associates at Perkins Coie. Eiting, formerly an associate with a New York firm, practices in corporate governance and transactions. He received his J.D. from Fordham University School of Law in 2001 and a B.S. in agricultural economics from Texas A&M University in 1996. He is admitted to practice in New York.
Ballinger, formerly an associate with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in California, practices in the area of product liability. He received his J.D. from New York University School of Law in 2002 and a B.A. in art history from Stanford University in 1998. He also is admitted to practice in California.
Leigh-Ann Higashi has become an associate at Hillis Clark Martin & Peterson.
Of Counsel and Other Attorney Additions
Gerry Davis has become of counsel to Harris & Moure. Davis, whose practice focuses on international and domestic business transactions, real property transactions, maritime and corporate finance, among other things, is a member of the Washington and Alaska bar associations and is a former yacht captain. Davis was previously with Leary Franke Droppert PLLC.
Leo Peng has become a staff attorney in Garvey Schubert Barer’s Seattle office. Peng’s practice focuses on immigration, including comprehensive planning for U.S. and multi-national companies and their employees, as well as individual clients. Peng joined the firm as a paralegal in 2000. Peng was admitted to the bar in 1995.
Gregory Shelton, formerly with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in New York, has joined Williams, Kastner & Gibbs as of counsel. His work focuses on complex mass torts, product liability and commercial and insurance litigation. Shelton received his J.D., cum laude, from Vermont Law School and his B.A. in philosophy from the University of Massachusetts, where he graduated magna cum laude.
Stoel Rives LLP has added Steven Thiele to its resources, development and environmental practice group. Thiele’s practice focuses on hazardous waste, land use and environmental issues. He also has experience in shoreline development regulations. Thiele formerly served as chief toxics cleanup attorney for the Washington State Attorney General’s Ecology Division.
William Fisher, Kyle Flindt, Jennifer Jolley and Susan Peterson have become attorneys at Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt. Fisher’s practice emphasizes litigation and Chinese intellectual property law. Flindt’s practice emphasizes patents. Jolley’s experience lies in trademark and copyright matters and Peterson focuses on personal and estate planning.
Honors and Events
Chuck Blumenfeld has become the president of the U.W. Alumni Association. Blumenfeld leads the national environmental and natural resources practice for Perkins Coie. Blumenfeld and both of his parents attended the University of Washington and his father was its chief spokesman from 1947 to 1974.
Karen Koehler has been selected as the WSTLA Trial Attorney of the Year. Koehler is a partner in the Seattle office of Stritmatter Kessler Whelan Whithey Coluccio. Her work focuses on trial practice. She received her J.D. from Seattle University.
Obituaries
R. Eugene Boyd recently died at the age of 83 from complications from a stroke. He practiced in Bellevue, where he worked on behalf of its incorporation as a city, which occurred in 1953. n
Karen Sutherland is the chair of the Employment and Labor Law Practice Group at Ogden Murphy Wallace, P.L.L.C., and chair of the King County Bar Bulletin Committee. Her practice focuses on employment and labor law and complex litigation. She can be reached at 1601 -- 5th Avenue, Suite 2100, Seattle, WA 98101, by phone at (206) 447-7000, by fax at (206) 447-0215, or by e-mail at ksutherland@omwlaw.com.
