Why This Firm? Accelerate Your Excellence

Excellence

Become excellent at what you do and reach higher. Our best-in-class training is supported by feedback and coaching unlike other law firms. We reject the industry standard of training people with sink or swim indifference and invest in our people, which is why our legal assistants become paralegals or law students, our paralegals climb corporate ladders or go to law school, and our former lawyers are now at larger firms or have started their own businesses. We have former staff who have gone on to law schools at the University of Washington, Seattle University, American University, and Fordham University, and staff who went on to clerk for appellate judges, became a prosecutor or public defender, got an M.B.A., or worked in corporate offices. We have former lawyers who went to the Attorney General’s Office or big private law firms, transitioned to director or vice president of human resources, or started their own practices. If you had autonomy supported by structure and coaching, where would your career take you or could you grow with one firm your entire career?

Surround yourself with high performers who support your success in clearly defined roles doing the important work of fostering dignity at work through sound advice and litigation. We represent the management of small businesses and nonprofit organizations and employees of big businesses. When representing management, we encourage humanitarian employment policies and contracts to bring out the best in workers, and we defend litigation knowing meritless claims set back real progress. When representing employees, we often advise on whether a noncompete agreement is valid or whether to accept a severance agreement, and we litigate the select claims of unlawful employment decisions. We are for the client and the community.

When other firms tell you they are looking for candidates with experience, do not be discouraged. They are telling you that they will not invest in your training. Believe them.

Culture

We also have a culture of striving and learning. The only competition inside the office is how you can be better tomorrow than you were today. You will have one-on-one coaching to customize your professional development. We show you a progression from novice to mastery and autonomy with concreteness and clarity that you will not see at any other firm. We invest in your success and have a culture of striving and learning.

Feedback is built into our culture. You will meet one-on-one with the managing partner for several purposes: as part of your onboarding, at one week, 30-60-90-180 days, and at annual intervals. Once assigned cases, you’ll have a standing meeting to discuss them and your projects. In a different setting, you’ll meet to receive feedback on your performance and discuss your professional development. Feedback is part of professional development, so it is important in our culture.

The only things missing are drama and office politics.

Support

Because we stick to our practice area and hire entry-level people, we’ve developed best-in-class training and job reference material to help you do your work to the highest level of proficiency. Our onboarding training includes online text and video. Our job resources include handbooks with step-by-step guidance, forms, checklists, and processes, and access to a library of video demonstrations. For some of our applications, we pay extra to have high-priority help. We want you up to speed and contributing at a high level. We invest in you because we succeed through your success.

Set Up for Success

“We succeed through your success” reflects our people-centered approach to serving our clients and the community through investing in the growth and development of our team. Our firm has a special way of doing things, so we have a language that is unique to our team. With our proprietary training, you’ll be up to speed and a productive part of the firm quickly.

We map out your training in your onboarding experience. Our onboarding combines several courses with hands-on experiential training. With a combination of text and video, our online courses include everything you need to know as an employee (e.g., how to enter your time, how to get a day off, and when is payday), being new to law, and being new to your position. Not taking anything for granted, we cover some basic civics and terminology to help you see the impact of your work. Next, we have a course to help you learn the nuts and bolts of your role, and we hope you will cross-train to back up your fellow teammates. We also orient you as a new employee with a helpful teammate walking you through practical exercises and mentoring you with your first live actions.

Cross Training

Staff cross-train, which lets you continue to learn, and rest assured the work gets done when you take well-earned days off. We hold ourselves to high standards and support each other to do our best work. We want you up to speed and contributing at a high level.

Lawyers train in both advice and litigation. When we are advising our clients, we may be designing human resources systems and practices, drafting policies and agreements, and we may be helping management eliminate risk and implement practices to inspire their workforce. You will learn the substantive law of employment, which is multi-tiered and full of traps for the unwary. As litigators, we fight high-stakes matters against very skillful opponents. You will learn the skills of obtaining the facts necessary to support your case, witness examination and trial presentation, and case evaluation, among many others. Litigation is challenging and demands the best of you. We’re here to support you.

Hybrid Work

Our hybrid work is sometimes best accomplished in the office and sometimes from home. There are projects that require the resources of an office, and we have mail and packages to attend to. Once in a while, there are in-person presentations and meetings or hearings. Moreover, sometimes you want to work alongside your teammates and feel part of the team. Yet, much of the work can be done individually on a computer.

The important work we do is supported through clear and open communication. We have a weekly meeting, one-on-one meetings, team meetings, and several modes of communication to make your work productive, efficient, and effective. Some updates are asynchronous through email or other checklists. Some communication is best done in real-time, such as through videoconferencing. We meet with each other regularly and frequently to keep projects on track and provide feedback.

We are a growing firm, so there is an opportunity to grow with us.

Compensation is competitive. Benefits include health insurance (medical, vision, and dental), 401(k) with firm matching, ORCA (i.e., mass transit) pass, paid leave, hybrid work policies, and a profit-sharing program.

After working with us, some staff go on to law school or other great companies. Lawyers who have practiced with us for a time have moved to other great firms or the public sector, and some have moved into business roles. We hope to work with you for a long time yet celebrate your move if that is right for you.

Open positions

We are looking for a lateral associate attorney with experience in civil litigation who wants to retrain as an employment lawyer.

Apply directly; principals only, please.

What’s next

We have an unusual process. We look to identify the strengths of the candidate and whether we can match them with an open role. We spend a lot of time and resources getting the match as clear as possible. You may also be asked to take an online assessment that helps us with this. Candidates tell us that our process is more intense than any other they’ve experienced.

If you have a resume and writing sample prepared, please share it. For all staff positions and attorneys with fewer than four years in practice, we are interested in your transcripts (unofficial copies are acceptable) from your most recent university (or law school). We also look for other indications of academic excellence and achievement in your materials. For legal intern and lawyer positions, make your materials stand out by including a link (the original won’t attach to this submission) to a video, which could be shot on your phone, shorter than two minutes of you recommending your favorite book, movie, or restaurant.