By Karen Sutherland
Somewhere amidst the hubbub of holidays, shopping, incurring debt and squeezing out those last few billable hours to get year-end projects finished, I find that December is a good time to stop for a moment and take stock of the year and measure my contributions to society, my profession, my firm, my friends and my family, not necessarily in that order. If they do not measure up, well, that’s what New Year’s resolutions are for.
New Members
Natalie Adams Dearie and Susan Goplen have become members at Socius Law Group, PLLC.
Kathryn Gerla has become a member in Foster Pepper & Shefelman PLLC’s land use and environmental practice groups. Gerla spent many years with the Washington Attorney General’s Office where she represented the Department of Ecology and most recently served as chief for the Natural Resources Division.
Associate News
Socius Law Group has also added Wendie Wendt as an associate.
Skellenger Bender recently named Lindsey Malone as an associate. Malone will practice in the firm’s civil litigation department.
Sarah Bond and RoseMary Reed have become associates at Stokes Lawrence, P.S. Bond practices general litigation; Reed’s practice focuses on estates, trusts and real property. Reed was formerly an associate at Williams, Kastner & Gibbs PLLC.
Bryan Campbell recently joined Cozen O’Connor’s Seattle office as an associate in the subrogation and recovery department. He was previously with a law firm in Chicago. Campbell’s practice focuses on insurance litigation.
Tamara Fountain and Katherine Baker have joined Lane Powell PC as associates. Fountain is part of the firm’s labor and employment department. She previously worked for the Seattle Police Department as both a police officer and public affairs specialist. Baker is in the firm’s commercial disputes and complex litigation group and is part of its aircraft transactions and finance team.
Foster Pepper & Shefelman PLLC recently announced that Christopher Napier, Kelly Angell and Mark Leen have joined the firm as associates. Napier is in the firm’s real estate practice group. He was previously an associate with Preston Gates & Ellis, LLP.
Angell, a former summer associate, is practicing in the firm’s municipal government practice group. Leen, who clerked for a district judge in Austin, is an associate in the litigation practice group.
Other Attorney Additions
Robert Zech has become of counsel to Miller Nash, LLP. Zech, who was previously a senior corporate counsel at AT&T Wireless and litigation counsel at Airborne Express, will focus his practice on employment law advice and general business transactions.
Rosa Fruehling-Watson has joined Foster Pepper & Shefelman PLLC as staff attorney. Her background is in human resources, most recently with Harborview Medical Center. Ryan Russell has joined the firm’s business practice group.
Elections and Volunteer Opportunities
The Northwest Indian Bar Association (NIBA) recently announced the results of its governing council election. The 2006 governing council consists of President Lael Echo-Hawk, the reservation attorney for the Tulalip Tribes; President-Elect Lisa Atkinson, a solo practitioner in Seattle; Treasurer Gabe Galanda, an associate with Williams, Kastner & Gibbs PLLC; Secretary Rion Ramirez, general counsel for Port Madison Enterprises; at-large members Leona Colegrove, an associate with Williams, Kastner & Gibbs; Rogina Beckwith, a tribal attorney for the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, and; Juliana Repp, a solo Indian law practitioner; and ex-officio at-large member Tate London, a federal criminal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office and tribal liaison.
Stoel Rives LLP has named Jeffrey Leppo as the managing partner of its Seattle office. He succeeds Jim Tune, who left for ArtsFund. Leppo will continue to focus his practice on environmental, wildlife and natural resources law.
The Public Interest Law Association (PILA) is hosting a benefit auction on February 10, 2006 at the W Hotel. Auction proceeds fund a loan repayment assistance program and a summer grant program for law students at the UW who accept unpaid legal internships. For more info, contact Katie Meyer, Katie@uwpila.org.
The King County Bar Foundation recently released its 2004-2005 annual report describing a broad range of programs it supports through donations, all of which could use either your donations or your volunteer assistance. The programs include Volunteer Legal Services; Volunteer Attorneys for Persons With Aids/ HIV and Aids Legal Access (aka VAPWA/ALA); Native American Wills Project; Homeless Project; Family Law Mentor; Family Law Self Help Plus; Kinship Care Solutions Project; Newcomers Resource Project; Neigh-borhood Legal Clinic; Housing Justice Project; Future of the Law Institute; and Building a Book of Business.
If you wish to contribute your time, energy or donations to the King County Bar Foundation or the programs it supports, you can contact it at www.kcbf.org. If you prefer to talk with a live person, call 206-267-7006.
Reader Survey Feedback
I found two things about the recent Bar Bulletin reader survey to be notable. First, an equal percentage of our readers plan to buy a home as plan to undergo plastic surgery. Second, there was an interest expressed in a shorter Bar Talk column. As a result, Bar Talk has become leaner, with less detail about people’s background and fewer items.
If you want to be sure that the good news about you and your firm gets published, contact Sherrie Bilharz at sbilharz@seattletimes.com about running an announcement. Also, for those of you who want to see “the rest of the story,” the announcements for this month are below.
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 Ð 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.
