The Complete Appeal Conference (WA): Strategies from Start to Finish

Faculty:

The Honorable Debra L. Stephens was appointed to the Washington State Supreme Court effective January 1, 2008, and subsequently elected to a six-year term. She previously served as a judge for Division Three of the Court of Appeals, having been appointed and later elected unopposed in 2007. Justice Stephens is a native of Spokane, Washington, where she practiced law until taking the bench. Her legal work focused on appellate practice, with over 125 appearances in the Washington Supreme Court, in addition to appearances in the Washington Court of Appeals, Idaho Supreme Court, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and as counsel of record in the United States Supreme Court. From August 1995 until April 2007, she helped coordinate the Amicus Curiae Program of the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association Foundation, the longest standing institutional “friend of the court” program in the State. She has also taught as an adjunct professor at Gonzaga University School of Law since 1995, in areas including Federal and State Constitutional Law, Community Property, Appellate Advocacy, and Legal Research & Writing. In addition, she is a contributing author to the Washington Appellate Practice Deskbook, and is known as a prolific writer and speaker at continuing legal education programs.

Justice Stephens is firmly committed to public service and community involvement. She served for over a decade on the Board of Directors of the Orchard Prairie School District No. 123, and was also a board member of the Spokane Valley Rotary Club. She has served as both a Deacon and Elder of Millwood Community Presbyterian Church; a member of the Sacred Heart Children’s Foundation “Joshua’s Hugs” fundraising circle; a Community Board Advisor for People for Environmental Action & Community Health (PEACH), an organization committed to the development of sustainable agriculture and local safe foods; a founding member and volunteer mentor for the Upward Bound Program, providing guidance to at-risk high school students; and a volunteer mentor for Gonzaga University undergraduate and graduate students. She has been a strong advocate for pro bono legal services, and was a volunteer supervising attorney at Gonzaga’s University Legal Assistance clinic. She was a trustee of the Washington Judicial College, and currently serves on the Appellate Court Education Committee and the Court Rules Committee.

Justice Stephens entered law school when her daughter, Lindsey was just five weeks old. Prior to that time, she taught Speech Communications and coached the Debate Team at Spokane Falls Community College in 1987-88, and was Assistant Dean of Admissions at Gonzaga University from 1988-90. Upon graduation from law school, Justice Stephens served as a Staff Attorney for the Honorable Fred L. Van Sickle, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington from 1993-95.

Justice Stephens is the first judge from Division Three of the Court of Appeals to serve on the Washington State Supreme Court, and the first woman from Eastern Washington to do so. She grew up in Spokane, graduating from West Valley High School, where she was student body president and a national “Century III Leader.” She attended Gonzaga University on a debate scholarship, graduating Magna Cum Laude with Honors in 1987, and later attended Gonzaga University School of Law as a Thomas More Scholar, graduating Summa Cum Laude in 1993.

Justice Stephens and her husband, Craig, have been married since 1989, and have two children, Lindsey and Bob. The family enjoys skiing, golfing, singing around the campfire and spending time on the Snake River.

Commissioner James Verellen was born in Richland, Washington and obtained his undergraduate degree at Washington State University in 1973. He earned his law degree from Willamette University College of Law in 1976, where he was a member of the law journal.
Following graduation he was law clerk to the Honorable Vernon Pearson at Division II of the Washington State Court of Appeals. For the 14 years following his clerkship, he was an associate, partner and then shareholder of the firm currently known as Vandeberg, Johnson and Gandara. His practice consisted of general civil litigation as well as commercial, business and real estate law. He became a commissioner at Division I of the Washington State Court of Appeals in 1992.

In addition to fulfilling his duties as a commissioner, Commissioner Verellen has been a pro tem judge in the King County Superior Court and an instructor in the paralegal program of Pierce College. He is the author of "How to Use Legal Assistants to Enforce Commercial Secured Claims," Vol. 33 The Practical Lawyer (Dec. 1987), and co-author of Chapter 23, "The Uniform Commercial Code Article 2: Sales," Kunsh, Washington Practice, Vol. 1, West Publishing Company. He has also been a member of various bar committees and for several years has been involved in variety of ballet, baseball, basketball and soccer youth organizations.

Commissioner Eric B. Schmidt was appointed as a court commissioner for Division II of the Court of Appeals, effective January 1, 2002. Prior to his appointment, Commissioner Schmidt was the Senior Health Law Judge for the Washington State Department of Health from 1996 to 2001. He has also served as a judicial law clerk for Judges John A. Petrich, Ward Williams, and Marshall Forrest of the Washington State Court of Appeals, as the director of the Appellate Backlog Elimination (ABLE) Project for Division II of the Court of Appeals, as a staff attorney for Division II of the Court of Appeals, as a staff attorney for the Department of Health, and as a health law judge for the Department of Health.

Commissioner Schmidt graduated cum laude from Seattle University School of Law (formerly University of Puget Sound School of Law) in 1985. He was a member of and a research and technical editor for the University of Puget Sound Law Review. He holds a bachelor's degree in kinesiology, a master's degree in philosophy and Ph.D. in philosophy and bioethics from the University of Washington. He's also an adjunct professor of law at Seattle University School of Law and at the University of Washington School of Law.

Commissioner Schmidt serves as Chair of the Mandatory Continuing Judicial Education Committee and as a member of the Board for Judicial Education, the Appellate Judicial Education Committee and the Annual Judicial Conference Planning Committee. He also serves as a judge pro tempore in the Pierce County Superior Court.

Leonard Feldman is a principal in the litigation group at Stoel Rives LLP, where his practice focuses on appellate work and complex commercial litigation with a strong emphasis on Ninth Circuit appeals. 

Mr. Feldman is currently a District Coordinator for the Ninth Circuit Pro Bono Program and is the Pro Bono Coordinator for Division One of the Washington Court of Appeals. 

He is also a lecturer and teaches a course on appellate practice at the University of Washington School of Law, and is a Past Chair of the King County Bar Association Appellate Practice Committee. 

Previously, Mr. Feldman was a shareholder at Heller Erhman LLP (1992-2008).  He served as a judicial clerk for Judge Jerome Farris at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 1991-92, and received his J.D. from Harvard Law School (magna cum laude) in 1991. 

Phil Talmadge is a former Washington Supreme Court Justice. 

He is a member of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers and the Washington State Appellate Lawyers Association.  Phil has been named Super Lawyer in Washington Law & Politics and was a Washington State Senator. 

He practices exclusively in the areas of Appellate Law and Attorney Ethics.  Phil received his B.A. from Yale University and his J.D. from the University of Washington and has been an attorney since 1976.

Paul Lawrence concentrates his practice on complex appellate and civil litigation, including environmental, commercial, technology and constitutional matters in federal and state courts. He has prevailed in numerous appeals principally in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Washington Supreme Court and also has been lead trial counsel in numerous successful, complex, multi–party cases, including jury trials.

Paul has represented a broad range of private and public clients including Fortune 500 Companies, significant local businesses, a foreign nation, Washington counties, cities and port districts, and a sitting Washington State Supreme Court Justice. He litigated precedent setting environmental cases both in the trial and appellate courts. In insurance coverage litigation, he has obtained tens of millions of dollars of recovery on behalf of policyholders for environmental, CGL, mold, D & O, E & O, and property claims. His coverage clients include the former largest waste disposal operator in Washington, Microsoft, Plum Creek Timber, Safeway Inc., and King County. He was lead litigation counsel for the public agency building the new Seattle baseball stadium and successfully defeated over a dozen lawsuits raising constitutional, environmental and condemnation issues filed to stop the project. He has prevailed in numerous cases under the federal Telecommunications Act and the state Land Use Petition Act involving the siting of wireless telecommunications facilities. He has obtained defense verdicts in commercial trials in both federal and state courts. He also has defended class actions and defeated certification of a nationwide class action brought by Hagens and Berman against Microsoft.

Paul maintains an AV rating from Martindale–Hubbell. Paul has been listed in Best Lawyers in America in the specialty of Appellate Law since that category was first recognized in 2007. Washington Law & Politics magazine has identified Paul as a Washington Super Lawyer since 2001, earning top 100 honors in 2002, 2004 and 2007. Seattle Magazine named Paul one of Seattle's Top Lawyers for 2005.

Paul is a member of the American Bar Association Council of Appellate Lawyers as well as the Washington Appellate Lawyers Association. He is a frequent CLE speaker and published author on insurance and environmental matters. He formerly served as policyholder chair of the bad faith sub–committee of the insurance section of the ABA Litigation Section. He has been quoted in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Seattle Times, the Seattle Post–Intelligencer and Rolling Stone magazine, and has appeared on the Lehrer News Hour.

Mary Spillane, a Member in the Seattle office, is the Chair of the firm’s Appellate and Health Care Practice Groups. Her practice emphasizes state and federal appeals, medical malpractice and products liability defense litigation and health care law. Ms. Spillane has substantial experience advising health care clients on risk management, credentialing, quality assurance, fraud and abuse, self-referral, antitrust and health care reform issues. Ms. Spillane has been named to The Best Lawyers in America® since 2007 in the area of Appellate Law and to Super Lawyers every year since 2001 by Washington Law & Politics magazine.

Ms. Spillane is a Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers and a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, the American Health Lawyers Association and the Washington Health Care Risk Management Society. She is an active member of Washington Defense Trial Lawyers, having served as president from 1994 to 1995. Ms. Spillane has been named to The Best Lawyers in America® since 2007 in the area of Appellate Law and to Super Lawyers every year since 2001 by Washington Law & Politics magazine.

Ms. Spillane received a B.S. in physical therapy from the University of Florida in 1973 and a J.D. from the Seattle University School of Law in 1981.

Hunter Ferguson is a law clerk for Judge Steven J. Dwyer, Washington State Court of Appeals, Division I.  Prior to clerking for Judge Dwyer, Hunter clerked for USDC Judge Sarah S. Vance in the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Hunter received his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School and was the University of Chicago Law Review, Topic Access Editor, Vol. 74 and Staff Member, Vol. 73.  He also received the Thomas R. Mulroy Prize for Excellence in Appellate Advocacy in 2006.

He participates in Seattle’s Ninth Circuit Pro Bono Program and the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project.