Oregon

Ater Wynne is one of Oregon’s oldest law firms, having been in the business for almost a century. With headquarters in Portland, the firm also operates out of an office in Seattle, Washington. The full-service firm’s areas of practice range from environmental and employment to litigation to corporate finance to intellectual property. For the past 25 years, John Schultz has concentrated on regulatory, contractual, energy, and environmental law. He is also vastly experienced in Indian law and has advised numerous tribes on their legal issues. He currently serves as counsel to the Morth Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians in their attempts to keep their land from being taken into federal trust. Steven Blackhurst brings 30 years of trial experience to his general commercial practice. Langfitt and Blackhurst are currently representing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in personal bank liability investigations and litigation currently pending in Washington. Idaho, and California; the estimated case value is between $11 and $57 million. Litigation head Michael “Sam” Sandmire defends insured and self-insured manufacturers in product liability, class action, consumer fraud, personal injury and mass tort litigation. Sandmire represented the shareholders of the YSD Company, which was sold to a French food company; $10 million was placed in escrow for a two-year period, during which the buyer asserted 29 separate claims amounting to $5 million. The parties settled both law suits and dismissed them in October 2014.

A full-service firm with offices in Seattle, Vancouver, San Francisco and Portland, Bullivant Houser Bailey represents mid-sized and growth companies across the West Coast region. The firm is noted for its activity in insurance, mass tort, and medical malpractice cases, in addition to their representation of the clergy in several resolved cases involving the sexual abuse of minors. Bullivant is reputed to have “one of the country’s best asbestos teams,” with several successful defense verdicts in cases involving mesothelioma. Recent cases include a “$30 million road collapse case, a $70 million business valuation professional claim, and a $40 million bankruptcy case, representing the trustee in an investment fraud.” Richard Whittemore has more than 30 years of experience practicing civil law in major exposure cases along the west coast in both state and federal court. He has tried more than 55 cases to verdict, and lectures frequently on trial practice, complex case management, product liability and related issues. Tom Hutchinson represented the debtor–in–possession in a bankruptcy case that challenged the validity of a $375 million security interest of a major global investment bank, which resulted in a court ruling against the bank. Jeanne Loftis is the leader of Bullivant Houser Bailey’s Casualty Law Practice Group, and has tried as more than 25 cases to verdict as first chair. Loftis is renowned for her favorable track record as defense counsel in asbestos cases; the majority of her clients face no current asbestos litigation.

Michael Esler, John W. Stephens, and Kim Buckley comprise this boutique firm’s litigation team. These three attorneys have been practicing together for over 30 years, during which they have been litigating across a broad spectrum of practice areas, and boasting a roster of clients that range from CEOs, NBA players and famous chefs, to hundreds of investors who have been victimized in major frauds, like Capital Consultants, Pac Equities, Sunwest, Willamette Development Services, the Grifphon/Sasquatch hedge funds and Berjac. Peers are all in accord that “the Esler Stephens shop is small, but they are all VERY good. The three partners there could give anyone in the state a run for their money in individual or collective litigation skills.”

Portland-based Miller Nash Graham & Dunn continues to provide a full suite of litigation expertise through its talented roster of litigators. With offices in Oregon, Seattle, Vancouver and Long Beach, the full-service firm maintains a tight grip on matters throughout the Pacific Northwest. Veteran litigator Bruce Campbell heads the Portland litigation and appellate practice where he specializes in appeals, securities and commercial litigation. Marie Eckert is a trusts and estates litigator with ample experience in banking and financial and debtor-creditor litigation. She represented an institutional trustee, acting as a successor trustee and special fiduciary for a financially-incapacitated settlor, in administering trusts that collectively held in excess of $100 million of real property. John Neupert is recognized for his 30-plus year practice representing clients in corporate governance and class-action litigations. Business litigation expert Joshua Sasaki routinely serves as lead counsel in disputes concerning corporate governance and shareholder rights, securities, real estate, energy, creditors’ rights, insurance coverage, and product liability.