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The Firm is premised on the ability to take advantage of technology, in a location outside the downtown Seattle core area, utilizing the considerable experience of its members, combined to offer our clients the best legal representation available at an acceptable cost. The Firm traces its origin back to 1976 when Bill Jeffery served as hearing examiner for the Washington State Public Employment Relations Commission and then moved to a position of trial attorney with the National Labor Relations Board. Building upon this experience and supplemented by several years with a major Northwest law firm, he has spent more than twenty years representing firms and individuals who are challenged by one or more agencies of the state or Federal government, employees or former employees. While the Firm is not limited to dealing with governmental entities, it is a government that is usually first, but not necessarily the last, stop in testing the validity of the employment practice under scrutiny. For example, a challenge to a specific pay practice of an employer generally begins with a complaint to either the appropriate state department of labor or the U.S. Department of Labor. If unsatisfied, then the claimant or challenger moves to federal or state court. For instance, allegations of failure to properly pay overtime are usually first raised with a state and/or Federal agency prior to commencing suit. The same thing is observed in allegations of sexual harassment, race or age discrimination, or any other statutorily prohibited conduct. Within this framework, we emphasize the following three-step approach:
Our first step in crafting a range of solutions to the problem presented is to meet with responsible individuals regardless of their position in the organization in order to develop a full understanding of the variety of factors, and at times individuals, that are involved with the problem. While at first blush many employment problems appear simple and one dimensional, our experience has proven that initial time and effort go a long way in making the other steps as fully productive as possible. Once the dimensions of the problem have been defined, we next seek to determine the alternatives available and their ramifications. We firmly believe that choices are essential in enabling a client to determine the approach that will most likely resolve the problem, given the circumstances and limitations of the specific situation. After all, clients must make business decisions about their business, not lawyers. With the problem defined, and the appropriate goal or resolution determined, we then move forward to implement the selected solution with dispatch. Delay generally benefits no one. Click here to read the Firm's Member Profiles
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