Top best E Lawyers in ZIP 98154 | 207 available

As a third-generation lawyer, I am a passionate advocate for the legal rights and personal well-being of his clients.  As an active member of the Washington State Bar Association, United States District Court-Western District of Washington, U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and Washington State Association for Justice, my focused objective is to find the best remedy within the law for each case. My emphasis right now is in the areas of civil litigation, personal injury law, and insurance law.

After 36 years of practice, certain lessons are learned.  One is that I simply enjoy this work.  I like mediating with parents that can work together.  It is fun to see them move from feeling overwhelmed to having a sense of control and hope for their futures.  I also enjoy the contested cases as they allow me to find ways to deal with an often difficult opposing spouse.  In both cases many clients return to normal life at the end of the case with a new understanding of themselves.  I cannot take credit for this.  It is their talent to make the best of a difficult situation that makes all the difference.. As an MSW social worker and a lawyer, I am interested in combining advocacy with insight to enhance my client’s capacity to deal with their ex-spouse and their children.. I am thankful for the steady stream of client referrals that have made my practice.  Each one of them has taught me something about how to be a better lawyer.. On a personal level I have three sons who I raised after their mother passed away when they were very young.  Raising children on one's own has taught me much about parenting.  Now that they are in college I have time for gardening, biking and giving back to the community that has given so much to me.

A native Washingtonian, Al grew up in Kent and graduated from Kent-Meridian High School. He graduated from Oberlin College with a degree in government (political philosophy) with high honors and then pursued graduate work in political philosophy at Yale University. Al then moved to New York City to work as a jazz bassist before attending Brooklyn Law School, where he served as Executive Articles Editor for the Brooklyn Law Review. Missing the Pacific Northwest, after earning his J.D., Al returned to Seattle with his new wife and served as law clerk to Judge Barbara Durham of the Washington State Court of Appeals for a year before becoming a Deputy Prosecutor with the Criminal Division of the King County Prosecutor’s Office.  Al served in that capacity for almost six years and tried numerous felony cases ranging from sexual assault and child abuse to homicides. In 1990, Al left the Prosecutor’s Office and spent the next 18 years as house counsel for major insurance companies and in private practice focusing on civil litigation and specifically, insurance defense and construction defect matters.. In 2008, Al opened his own solo law practice focusing almost exclusively on representing plaintiffs in various types of civil litigation, including personal injury matters, insurance coverage disputes, insurance bad faith litigation, and employment discrimination claims.. Al lives in Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood with his wife, also an attorney. Their daughter is a student at Bellevue College. Outside his law practice, Al is a bass player in the local jazz scene and an avid (though mostly unsuccessful) fly fisherman. He also tutors regularly through Seattle's Invest in Youth organization.