Firm History

The Seattle office of Lane Powell traces its roots back to 1889, when William Peters of Pennsylvania joined the Seattle firm of Strudwick, Peters & Collins. The same year, John Powell arrived in Seattle to practice law with the firm of Stratton, Lewis & Gilman. By 1900, Mr. Peters and Mr. Powell formed a partnership, Peters & Powell, with offices in the Dexter Horton Bank Building. By 1929, W. Byron Lane had joined the Firm as an associate. A year later, Mr. Powell died. In 1935, his son, George, joined the Firm (now called Evans & McLaren) which eventually became known as Evans, McLaren, Lane, Powell & Beeks. In 1959, Gordon Moss became a partner, ultimately a named partner, and in 1966 Pendleton Miller joined the Firm as a partner, and the Firm’s name was changed to Lane, Powell, Moss & Miller. In 1979, the Firm expanded to Anchorage by merging with the Firm Ruskin, Barker & Hicks, and in 1986, the Firm opened an office in Mt. Vernon, Washington. In 1987, it merged with the Seattle firm of Cohen and Kaplan, and in 1988 opened an Olympia office and a London office.

The Portland office of Lane Powell traces its history in a direct line to 1875, the year William D. Fenton was admitted to the Oregon Bar and began practicing law. Many of his first cases were for Southern Pacific Railroad. The Firm grew, and by 1906, Fenton, now a judge, was honored when the University of Oregon named a building after him – Fenton Hall, which eventually housed the School of Law. In 1926, the Firm moved into the Pacific Building in Portland, where it stayed until 1999, when it moved into the newly built ODS Tower. George Campbell and Frank Spears joined the Firm in 1946, John Bledsoe in 1948, and Herbert Anderson and Oglesby Young in 1949. William Lubersky joined the Firm in 1951, bringing his considerable expertise in labor and employment law to the Portland legal market. Subsequently, the Firm became known as Spears, Lubersky, Bledsoe, Anderson, Young, & Hilliard.

These two successful and long-lived firms joined forces by merging in 1990 with the goal of becoming a leading multi-practice Pacific Northwest law firm with primary offices in Seattle and Portland.

Currently, Lane Powell has approximately 180 attorneys in offices in Anchorage, Alaska; Seattle, Washington; Olympia, Washington; Tacoma, Washington; Portland, Oregon; and London, England. Nearly 300 staff support the work of these attorneys. The Firm handles matters for clients locally, nationally, and internationally. The Firm has extensive experience and expertise in a wide spectrum of practice specialties, and a number of the Firm’s partners are nationally known as leaders in their fields. Over the years, a number of lawyers have left the Firm for positions on the Bench, including:

• The Honorable James Robart, United States District Court for the Western District of Washington
• The Honorable Christopher Marshall, Multnomah County Circuit Court
• The Honorable Mark Rindner, Anchorage Superior Court
• The Honorable Trish M. Brown, United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Oregon
• The Honorable Arthur R. Chapman, King County District Court
• The Honorable Suzanne Barnett, King County Superior Court
• The Honorable Thomas S. Zilly, United States District Court for the Western District of Washington
• The Honorable Brian K. Clark, Anchorage District Court
• The Honorable Richard W. Postma, Jr., Anchorage District Court
• The Honorable William Beeks, United States District Court for the Western District of Washington