Auburn Business Lawyers

Ellis McGehee Carter is a distinguished attorney specializing in corporate and tax matters for nonprofit, tax-exempt, and mission-based businesses, alongside advising donors on major gifts. With a profound dedication to serving organizations that make a significant impact, Ms. Carter leverages her extensive experience in nonprofit governance, tax law, and business transactions to provide unparalleled legal guidance. Her expertise extends to navigating complex tax issues for exempt entities, ensuring they remain compliant while advancing their mission. Ms. Carter's adeptness in handling intricate business transactions for nonprofits is evident through her work on reorganizations, the creation of affiliates and subsidiaries, and facilitating mergers,...

Theresa is an expert in legal matters pertaining to Tax, Business, Estate Planning, Immigration and Probate. With a Masters in Taxation from UW, her knowledge and expertise in these matters surpass the majority of her peers. She uses her abilities to give back and add value to Seattle-Tacoma, which has nurtured her into the attorney she is today.

I am an entrepreneurial, collaborative senior attorney with 20+ years of experience across diverse industries, with a focus on securities, banking/finance, corporate governance, real estate and commercial finance transactions. I am a former Davis Wright Tremaine partner, technology company General Counsel, and bank Corporate Counsel, with demonstrated success in providing timely, balanced, and practical advice to senior executives teams. I also have a strong business background in banking, financial analysis, and accounting. I am highly regarded by clients and colleagues for the ability to understand and translate complex legal issues into practical business advice, and to negotiate...

Clients value Erik for his sense of strategy, diplomacy and willingness to jump into the trenches with them to truly understand their actual legal needs.

Erik's practice areas include contract drafting; small/mid-size business counsel; general litigation including personal injury pre-litigation and trial work.

He is heavily involved on the front lines of the cannabis industry, having been introduced to the industry during the legalization phase in Colorado and following this up with providing business counsel to the top retailers and producer/processors in Washington State.

Erik has a long track record of pro-bono public legal service, gaining him recognition in both Colorado and...

Robert Dickson practices civil litigation, with a focus on issues related to business, real property and construction law. His clients are diverse, ranging from large corporations to residential homeowners. Recently, Mr. Dickson expanded his practice to include the representation of property owners in mediating their distressed property matters through the Foreclosure Fairness Act. Another element of Mr. Dickson's practice includes contributing to various legal publications. In particular, he serves as an editor and contributing author of the LexisNexis Practice Guide: Washington Real Estate Litigation (LexisNexis 2014) and a contributing author for the Washington Lawyers Practice Manual. At present,...

Conor McCarthy is an experienced Real Estate and Estate Planning attorney, and has spent nearly 15 years helping his clients navigate and resolve complex transactions and disputes. Serving clients large and small, private and public, Conor prides himself on taking the time to listen and fully understand a client’s challenges and goals.

Conor began his career as a civil litigator zealously advocating in contract, construction, real estate, land use and commercial disputes. He then transitioned to become a skilled municipal and transactional attorney negotiating and closing complex commercial and real estate deals, and resolving difficult land use challenges. After managing...

Ruth focuses her practice on labor and employment matters. Ruth has extensive experience litigating cases in both state and federal court involving wrongful termination, sexual harassment, retaliation as well as gender, race, disability, and age discrimination. Ruth specializes in litigating against corporate employers including, The Boeing Company, Microsoft, Costco, Facebook, Blue Nile, SAP, Amazon.com, Harborview Medical Center, T-Mobile, and Swedish Hospital, among others. Ruth also has experience negotiating severance packages and has a high settlement rate in mediation. Ruth handles the firm’s appellate work in employment and has experience in both Washington’s Court of Appeals and the Ninth Circuit....

Corporate Counsel - Intellectual Property / Commercial Real Estate / Corporate Law
Diverse legal background with 15+ years’ experience delivering comprehensive legal support on a variety of corporate matters including contracts, mergers, and acquisitions, real-estate, insurance, risk management, capital projects, taxation, and audits. Demonstrated expertise in managing outside counsel and associated costs. Possess the range of qualifications to function successfully in both in-house and contract capacities for companies across varied sectors including technology, food/beverage, and agriculture.

Contract Negotiations
Capital Expenditures
Corporate & Regulatory Compliance
Risk Assessment & Mitigation
Mergers & Acquisitions
Trademark & Software Licensing
Trademarks
Client Relationship Management

Travis’ practice focuses primarily on business and real estate transactions, with an emphasis on entity formation, governance, and mergers and acquisitions. Travis believes that a good process is the best way to arrive at good results. Thus, before he can provide effective legal advice, he must first carefully listen to the client’s particular situation and understand exactly what the client both needs and wants. Only then can a comprehensive strategy be crafted to help resolve the client’s current legal needs but also allow the client to continue working towards the client’s aspirations. Travis’ practice gives him great satisfaction because he...

Ms. Duncan graduated from Seattle University School of Law. She has experience in criminal law and guardianship, trust, and estate litigation. Before entering law school, Ms. Duncan taught middle school Special Education in San Antonio and in Seattle Public Schools. While in law school, she placed first in the American Bar Association Moot Court Appellate Competition, was a King County Bar Association Scholar, and received the Jeff Robinson Equity and Racial Justice Award. Ms. Duncan also worked for the Honorable Chief Justice Steve Gonzalez at the Washington State Supreme Court and prosecuted misdemeanors at Seattle City Attorney’s Office and the...

Chuck practices in both State and Federal Courts, as well as many Tribal Courts. Chuck is a semi-retired Tribal Court Judge, having acted for 16 years as a judge on specific cases for 32 different Indian Tribes located in the states of Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Wisconsin and Nebraska. Chuck has also been appointed as a Special Master Judge for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe in Connecticut. On occasion Chuck is still appointed by Tribes to act as a trial or appellate judge.

In addition to Indian law, Chuck has an...

About Thomas

I have been a practicing attorney in the state of Washington since 1998. Since that time I pride myself in being a problem solver for my clients. Clients come to me with a variety of problems and legal issues. It is my job to help solve those problems and to resolve their issues. Sometimes the answer to the problem is aggressive litigation while other times simple, competent assistance with legal transactions is all that is needed. Regardless of what type of problem or legal issue you have, I am here to help you solve...

Thomas Balerud, after 17 years with the same firm, has opened his own law practice, located in downtown Tacoma. Tom is a graduate of both Pacific Lutheran University and the University of Puget Sound. Tom has enjoyed success in many well publicized high-profile State and Federal cases. He is currently serving as a Trustee to the TPCBA. Tom and his experienced staff are currently available to assist clients in his two practice areas: Criminal Law and Personal Injury.

Dave's practice includes the representation of companies, homeowners associations, contractors, landlords/tenants and individuals in civil litigation, transactional matters, and bankruptcy.

I provide legal services to the greater Kitsap and Pierce Counties with a modern approach. I have a innovative vibrant firm with high-energy attitude and an out of the box creative approach to client interaction and management. I talk to people in plain English and translate the confusing legal terms into understandable concepts.

I am a qualified securities attorney with over 33 years of experience representing and counseling reporting companies under the 1933 and 1934 Securities and Exchange Acts. My practice primarily focuses on serving as securities counsel, compliance counsel, and general counsel for corporate clients. I have extensive experience in preparing, completing, and filing Exchange Act reports with the SEC, ensuring timely and accurate compliance with all regulatory requirements. As compliance counsel, I develop, instruct, and monitor corporate insider trading policies, Sarbanes-Oxley compliance guidelines, and corporate ethics policies. In my role as general counsel, I advise companies on compliance with state corporate laws and...

Geniel M. Ashcraft has helped hundreds of clients complete their estates and assist in probate administration. Ms. Ashcraft is known for her service, attention to detail, and down to earth manner. Ms. Ashcraft mainly conducts her business through house calls. Her clients find they appreciate the convenience, her easy-to-understand approach, and personal attention. Geniel started her law practice in 2002. Geniel is admitted to practice in both Washington and Utah. She is also admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the Western Washington District and the United States District Court of Utah. She...

Synthia Melton is a co-founder and Managing Partner of Dimension Law Group. Synthia’s practice focuses on Business Law and Commercial and Residential Real Estate, including Landlord-Tenant matters. Synthia works primarily with real estate investors and small business owners on matters involving complex transactional and litigation matters. She also serves as general counsel to various small to mid-size businesses throughout Washington State. Since 2016, Synthia was named a “Rising Star” each year by Super Lawyers, an award given to less than 2.5% of lawyers in the state. Synthia has a passion for working with Seattle’s small to mid-size business owners, assisting with...

For nearly a decade, Brad served as general counsel for Tacoma-based Associated Petroleum Products, Inc. In this capacity, he became an experienced advisor to directors, owners and senior managers in the petroleum distribution industry, dealing with the structuring, drafting and negotiating of corporate and commercial transactions, business and strategic initiatives, risk management, and litigation. After Associated Petroleum was acquired by Fortune 500 World Fuel Services, Inc., Brad continued to support both Associated Petroleum and World Fuel Services’ North America Land Division as senior counsel until joining GTH.

Brad focuses on business, commercial and transactional law at GTH, supporting the day-to-day...

Experience Matters!