Law Firms Powerlist and Partners’ Perspective

A conversation with leading partners at Bend’s largest law firm and a midsize firm in Portland, plus rankings of Oregon’s top law firms in 2013.

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BY BRANDON SAWYER

A conversation with leading partners at Bend’s largest law firm and a midsize firm in Portland, plus rankings of Oregon’s top law firms in 2013.

OB: What is your firm most focused on right now?

JOSH NEWTON: As we come out of the downturn in Central Oregon, the main change [is] the emerging business sector as something that is growing and dynamic. We are very focused on serving emerging business and the intellectual property issues. It’s related to the fact that OSU Cascades is becoming a standalone four-year university and a much more important presence in the region.

OB: Are you still seeing consequences of the real estate downturn in Central Oregon?

JN: We’re still seeing a significant number of judicial foreclosures. But we are also seeing Bend working its way out of it. You’re seeing subdivisions on the west side of Bend, where there are a lot of new housing starts. You’re seeing the median home price increasing. Everything we’re hearing is the banks have money available to lend and want to lend, so that’s a good sign.

OB: Is business litigation up or down?

JN: What we’re still seeing is that predominantly lawsuits are credit-related, whether they’re foreclosures or consumer-credit type. Before the downturn, you saw more business litigation; you have not seen that rebound. What happens is businesses’ ability to pay legal costs goes down in the downturn. Probably the type of business litigation that increased during the downturn was some breach of contract but more securities litigation, as much as anything, where the investors are saying to the promoters: “This isn’t the deal we signed up for.”

OB: Is it harder to get a job as a lawyer nowadays?

JN: It is harder. I spend a lot of time reading what’s going on with the industry, and nationally the industry has shed legal positions and laid off lawyers, and it is difficult to get jobs right now as lawyers. In fact, you’re seeing law schools are now reducing the sizes of their incoming classes.

OB: Where do you see Bend’s legal
industry in five years?

JN: You’re going to see technology continue to drive how legal services are delivered, and within Bend, I think you’re going to continue to see more dynamic startup businesses with discrete legal needs, like intellectual property. You may see Bend’s legal industry also have more lawyers living here and providing legal services elsewhere. There’s more telecommuting for lawyers; that’s one of the ways the industry’s evolving.

OB: What type of businesses do you represent?

SCOTT HOWARD: We represent a wide variety of businesses and industries, including wood products, manufacturing, high-tech and other closely held businesses. Their biggest legal challenges, and what we spend most of our time on, are government regulations, human resources and tax planning.

OB: How is the legal profession different here than the other states you practice in?

SH: There is still a collegiality in the practice of law in Oregon, which you don’t see as much of in Washington and California. If you go up to Seattle and you litigate, or you litigate in San Francisco or Los Angeles, it’s just nasty for the most part: endless, mindless litigation. The professionalism level here has traditionally been significant.

OB: Does that collegiality transfer from your clients in the business community?

SH: The clients we represent are business clients that make business decisions. [There are] clients that want to use the court system to gain an advantage – I think it’s a fool’s errand – but they don’t fit well with this firm. When we have to litigate, we litigate, but it’s not the way to solve problems anymore.

OB: What can the clients you represent do to avoid litigation?

SH: If you’re going to sell a business, sell it for cash. Don’t sell it and take paper back. If you’re going to sell a house, sell it for cash. I’m not trying to be facetious, but you avoid litigation if somebody paid cash; you don’t have to sue them for it.

OB: Don’t written contracts or agreements prevent litigation?

SH: No, an agreement is an attempted way of misunderstanding at the time the agreement is drawn. You can take a five-page agreement or a 70-page agreement – if you don’t want to perform it, you can find a problem with it.

OB: How are small- and midsize firms such as yours doing?

SH: The advantage of a firm like ours is that we can shift directions. We’re not controlled by others. The challenge of a firm our size is being able to tap the resources necessary to service our clients. Stoel Rives has a wonderful franchise attorney. A firm our size doesn’t have a franchise attorney. The way you structure a firm like ours is that we handle the bell curve of clients’ issues. We handle between 70% and 80% of our clients’ issues. If it’s outside our area of expertise, we get somebody [outside the firm] with particular expertise.

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