Practice Areas

Business and Corporate

Running a successful and profitable business can be hard. Dealing with your lawyers should not be. Our attorneys are part of your team. As your “outside general counsel” we give you peace of mind by understanding the critical aspects of your business and providing real-world solutions. We work on your schedule and within your budget to provide high-quality legal services at cost-effective rates. We are team players: integrating and working effectively with your other service professionals. We take a long-range view of your business and personal goals to help you navigate the path to success. We provide a wide range of services for individuals, corporations, and partnerships, including business formation, business structures, corporate governance and management, protection of intellectual property, acquisitions, and sales. We are your source for comprehensive legal and risk management advice, and we have the breadth of knowledge, strategic connections, and entrepreneurial approach to add real value to your enterprise.

For more information, please contact Greg Hixson.
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Construction

We provide full service to our construction clients, from initial project design and contract document development, through project management and, when necessary, dispute resolution. Our attorneys represent owners, general contractors, specialty subcontractors, owner’s representatives, and design professionals in both private and public projects. We provide a full range of legal services, including contract preparation, negotiation and administration, risk assessment and allocation, change order negotiation, bid protests, termination by convenience and default, and claim counseling. We also prosecute and defend construction claims through varied dispute resolution procedures, including mediation, arbitration, and litigation in state and federal courts.

For more information, please contact Greg Hixson.

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Energy

Our clients include utilities, energy companies, energy distribution facilities, developers, and operators of energy projects that are breaking into renewable energy development, including wind, hydro, and solar. We have experience permitting energy projects, including hydroelectric power and wind projects, and can provide counsel on a variety of issues ranging from financing, siting, acquisition, development, and operational compliance. We are adept at negotiating with regulators, landowners, and other stakeholders to advance our client’s goals, and can litigate disputes when there are no better options. Our strong relationships with federal and state regulators offer us unique insight into the fast-changing and complex regulatory landscape surrounding alternative energy, climate change, air quality, hazardous and solid waste, and water quality.

For more information about our energy practice group, please contact Howard Jensen.

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Environmental Regulation and Litigation

Our attorneys live and breathe environmental law. We have decades of experience advising clients on environmental regulations, including those that affect development projects, govern ongoing businesses activities, or impose liability for environmental contamination. We help our clients navigate complex and sometimes conflicting environmental standards, develop successful strategies for securing environmental permits and approvals, and negotiate agreements with federal, state, and local regulators to minimize and resolve environmental risk and liability, including consent decrees and administrative orders. Our clients include individuals, small businesses, developers, community organizations, government agencies, and companies in a variety of enterprises, including maritime, oil and gas, electric, lending, and chemical distribution, both in Washington State and across the United States. We handle large and small projects for clients, ranging from releases of heating oil from residential underground storage tank systems to releases of multiple hazardous substances over decades at the largest Superfund sites in the United States.

We are especially adept at quarterbacking environmental issues for our developer clients, starting with identifying viable acquisition properties, drafting and negotiating terms for purchase and sale agreements and escrow holdback agreements, conducting environmental due diligence, including Phase I and Phase II Environmental Site Assessments, identifying and selecting feasible, affordable cleanup actions, and quantifying in economic terms the environmental risk associated with a transaction.

We have a nationwide environmental litigation practice, defending claims brought against its clients by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology), the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), and other state and local agencies across the country under federal, state, and local environmental laws, such as the Clean Water Act (CWA), the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and the Washington Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA), and claims brought in tort for nuisance, trespass, and negligence. We defend claims asserted by parties alleging injury from environmental contamination, enforcement actions initiated by government agencies, and complex class actions involving large numbers of plaintiffs, and represent our clients in both private and court-ordered allocation of response and remedial costs under CERCLA and state equivalents.

We often pursue insurance coverage and cost recovery claims for our clients to offset the cost of investigating and cleaning up contaminated sites. Insurance is sometimes available in historic commercial general liability policies and other business policies. We help clients identify potential insurance assets and develop strategies to trigger defense and indemnity under insurance policies. We have successfully recovered millions of dollars for clients from insurance companies, oil companies, railroads, dry cleaners, and other polluters. These claims are often resolved through negotiation, without the need for litigation, but we will file lawsuits where necessary to resolve a claim. We have extensive experience litigating claims in federal and state courts, and resolving them through dispute resolution procedures, including mediation and arbitration.

For more information about our environmental regulation practice group, please contact Michelle Rosenthal or Howard Jensen.

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Estate Planning and Probate

We offer legal services in all areas of estate planning as well as probate administration. We assist clients with wills and trusts, financial and medical powers of attorney, advance directives, living wills, special needs planning, elder law planning, Medicare planning, probate and estate administration, and prenuptial and postnuptial agreements. We know planning your estate is a personal matter and no two situations are alike. By planning for your specific needs, we can help you secure and preserve your assets, minimize estate and gift taxes, and provide certainty to your heirs and beneficiaries.

For more information, please contact Denver Gant.

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Insurance Coverage

We represent policyholders and insurance companies in first- and third-party coverage disputes under many types of insurance policies, including environmental, pollution, comprehensive general liability, business, homeowner, and property policies. Our attorneys have been successful in obtaining millions of dollars in coverage for our clients in complex and challenging matters, and are especially adept at gaining coverage for liabilities associated with historic environmental contamination. Our clients range from large corporations, to midsize and small companies, their officers and directors, and governmental entities. We advise our clients on a range of insurance issues, including products liability, property damage, toxic tort and environmental liabilities, construction defects, and tort claims. Our attorneys regularly assist clients evaluate innovative insurance products to manage environmental risk. We also represent insurance companies in environmental litigation matters and have assisted them draft policy language.

For more information, please contact Howard Jensen.

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Land Use

We provide our clients with clear, strategic land use guidance. We bring decades of know-how and know-who to resolve your land use issues. Our attorneys have extensive experience navigating Washington’s land use and development laws to obtain entitlements for our clients and in defending those entitlements before administrative tribunals and in court. Our team will be an asset to your project whether you are building a wind farm in Eastern Washington, developing a LEED-certified commercial project in a metropolitan city, constructing a built-green, multi-unit, mixed-use commercial project, or erecting a commercial warehouse or single-family home. We can help you complete due diligence for a potential project, obtain land use approvals, conduct environmental review, and resolve permitting or legislative issues involving zoning, platting, shoreline compliance, or growth management. We are also practiced land use litigators, with frequent proceedings before hearing examiners, administrative law tribunals, and courts.

For more information, please contact Greg Hixson.

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Litigation

Our attorneys have a wealth of experience handling a wide range of litigation matters, from simple contract disputes to complicated multi-party cases. We litigate business, environmental, land use, commercial, insurance, employment, real estate, and construction disputes for clients ranging from individuals and small family businesses, to Fortune 100 companies. We successfully resolve cases through all means of dispute resolution procedures, including mediation, arbitration, and litigation before administrative bodies and in state and federal courts. We employ a solution-oriented approach to litigation, and knowing that most clients do not want to be involved in litigation, we work quickly and proactively toward resolving cases outside of court. When litigation is unavoidable, we work closely with our clients in devising and implementing a winning strategy while keeping costs down by avoiding unnecessary discovery and motion practice. We have significant courtroom experience and are equipped to handle even the most lengthy and complicated trials. Given our client-centered and solution-oriented approach, our low-cost structure, and the efficient way we handle cases, we are the litigators of choice for individuals, businesses, city agencies, and insurance companies hiring attorneys for their policyholders and themselves.

For more information, please contact Greg Hixson.

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Real Estate

Our attorneys provide a wide range of legal services, including drafting and negotiating documents such as purchase and sale agreements, commercial and residential leases, construction contracts, easements and deeds; assisting clients with complicated residential and commercial closings and title issues; and representing clients involved in real estate disputes. Our attorneys have experience in virtually all types of real estate matters, and we are especially skilled in resolving complex legal issues that arise in real estate transactions involving contaminated property.

For more information, please contact Howard Jensen .

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