In honor of Banned Books Week, I invite you to join me and countless other readers in reading a title you would not otherwise have picked up and celebrating the freedom to read. I love the interplay of individual legal rights and the expression of creativity that such events bring to mind. What a great way to grow as individuals, encounter new ideas, discuss issues surrounding censorship, and promote access to literature.
Partner Pronouncements
Ian Rogers has joined Pacifica Law Group’s Litigation Practice Group as a partner. Rogers comes to Pacifica after a decade at Perkins Coie LLP, where he built his practice representing companies and individuals in high-stakes disputes in state and federal courts, and before arbitration panels across the country. Rogers’s extensive experience includes matters involving trade secrets, copyright, trademark, consumer protection, real estate, contract, and constitutional law. Rogers also regularly advises clients in connection with open records laws. In the last several years, Rogers has successfully obtained dismissal of fraud and breach of contract claims in state and federal court and won summary judgment dismissal and an award of attorneys’ fees in a high-profile copyright authorship dispute.
Other Attorney Additions
Mina Saudagaran has joined Lasher Holzapfel Sperry & Ebberson’s Family Law Practice Group. Saudagaran graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, having received a number of honors, including the Jurisprudence Award in Negotiations, and the Best Brief Award in Written and Oral Advocacy, as well as the Dean’s Fellowship. Prior to attending law school, Saudagaran worked as an investment banker on Wall Street for four years. She received a B.S. in Economics from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, with a major in Finance.
Honors, Appointments, and Awards
Paul M. Crisalli has been appointed to the King County Superior Court by Governor Jay Inslee. Crisalli will replace Judge Matthew Williams, who retired from the bench in September of this year. Crisalli has served as an assistant attorney general with the Washington State Attorney General’s Office (AGO) since 2012. Previously, Crisalli clerked for Judge Joel Penoyer and Commissioners Aurora Bearse and Eric Schmidt at the Washington Court of Appeals, Division II. He also clerked for Supreme Court Justice Mary Fairhurst and served as a law clerk at the Oregon Department of Justice. As an associate attorney in private practice, Crisalli worked in the areas of appeals, property, estate, personal injury, employment, family law, contract, and constitutional issues. Crisalli earned his B.A. from Willamette University and his J.D. from the University of Oregon School of Law.
Obituaries
Malcolm Authur Moore passed away on July 13, 2023. Moore received a B.A. from Princeton University in 1959 and an L.L.B. from Harvard Law School in 1962. After practicing law in New York for three years, he moved to Seattle and joined Davis Wright Tremaine, where he was a partner for more than 50 years. Specializing in estate and trust work, Moore served as chair of the Real Property Probate and Trust Law section of the American Bar Association, president of the American College of Probate Counsel (now the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel), and was a lifetime member of the American Law Institute. He originally joined KCBA in September 1966 and was a member until 2017.
Appellate Court Judge Herbert A. Swanson (Ret.) passed away on March 20, 2023. He was 99. Swanson graduated from the University of Washington Law School in 1949. After he was admitted to the bar that same year, Swanson began his own law practice. In 1965, Swanson was appointed to the Snohomish County Superior Court. He served as a trial judge until 1969 when he was appointed to the newly created Court of Appeals situated in Seattle where he served until 1990.
Arthur Dean Swanson passed away on January 29, 2023. Swanson graduated from Washington State University in 1956 and from the University of Washington School of Law in 1963. Swanson started his law career as a deputy prosecuting attorney in King County and later worked as a partner in firms with Gerry Shellan and Stan Stone. Swanson opened the Law Office of Arthur D. Swanson in 1971, which is now Swanson, Gardner, Meyers, and Cohon. He served as a President of the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association and of the Damages Attorneys Roundtable and was an invited member of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). The Washington Chapter of ABOTA honored Art with its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015. Swanson was a KCBA member for 60 years.
Ruth Apahidean Harper is an attorney at Cobalt Law PLLC. She is easily reached via email: ruth@cobaltlawfirm.com, by phone: 253.234.4676, or by mail: PO Box 1134, Enumclaw, WA 98022-1134.
