My friends (lovingly) rib me about having an overdeveloped sense of duty. It’s been with me since I was a kid. It’s what led me to join the Navy right out of school and later, to become an attorney. I’ve been practicing since 1999. Knowing I get to help people and serve my community is what gets me up in the morning (and keeps me up late plenty of nights too).
I had hefty debt after graduating from UW and Willamette University College of Law, so I took the first job that came my way – as counsel for an insurance defense firm. After a while, I realized the only thing I was “helping” was the company’s bottom line. Worse, I was hurting people by looking for ways to deny coverage, leaving them with no way to pay bills, get ongoing treatment or recover.
While working for the insurance company, I had a case against a lawyer who was representing an injured person. Over the course of the case, I watched him with his client. That person was Paul Giersch and after meeting him, I knew what I needed to do and where I needed to be.
I can’t say I look back at my time working for the insurance company with fond memories, but I’m grateful because it made me a better advocate for my clients. I’m armed with the knowledge of the industry’s inner workings and I get to use it to protect my clients from being victimized by a system that was never really built to help them.
How I care for my clients
As a partner at Adler Giersch, I specialize in litigation which means I work with serious and substantial cases where the insurance company or at fault party refuses to settle. These cases require in-depth and extremely detailed preparation as well as the creative problem solving and stamina to take a case all the way to trial.
I want to make sure my clients are not only skillfully represented, but also well taken care of during such a stressful time in their lives. I always keep them informed on what’s happening while fighting my absolute hardest all the way to the finish line on their case.
How I’m serving our community
After a drunk driver killed one of our close family members, I realized the only constructive thing I could do was to find a way to fight back and try to spare other families in the community from going through this type of pain. I began working with the Snohomish County DUI/Target Zero Task Force with a goal of eliminating traffic deaths in Washington by 2030. I’m also a past state advisory member of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).
When I’m not at work, you can find me...
Spending time with my family. My wife, Desiree and I are high school sweethearts and have been together since 1989. We didn’t have any kids of our own until we gained custody of our then-9-year-old nephew, Christopher, back in 2012. Together, we’re always into some sort of home improvement project or rebuilding (and rebuilding) old Volkswagens.
