About Ross Anderson
Ross Anderson is a semi-retired journalist who lives in Port Townsend, Washington. Over the course of his 30 years at The Seattle Times, Ross covered politics, courts and natural resources and won a number of awards, including a 1990 Pulitzer for coverage of the Valdez Oil Spill. In more recent years, he has written for Super Lawyers and Postalley.org in Seattle, and is a founding member of Rainshadow Journal, a journalism site based in Port Townsend.
Articles written by Ross Anderson
‘The Legacy They Want to Leave’
Laura Hoexter helps clients build their estates by focusing on hopes and dreamsWhen estate planning and probate attorney Laura Hoexter asks clients how they want to be remembered, typical responses range from leaving generous family trusts to gifting alma maters. But sometimes clients toss what she calls “curveballs.” One man asked that mourners throw toast into his grave to demonstrate that he was “the greatest thing since sliced bread.” Another wanted his ashes mixed with the mashed potatoes at his funeral reception. “I’ve had a request to include a zombie …
Goliath Slayer
Parker Folse was still a newcomer in town when he started taking on Pacific Northwest iconsParker Folse is one of the best antitrust lawyers you’ll find anywhere. To meet with him, you can find him at his downtown Seattle office. But to truly understand him, you have to take the ferry to Bainbridge, then follow a twisting path until the road turns to dirt and you think you’re lost in the woods. There you’ll see a rustic house that appears to have grown organically from the roots of the surrounding Douglas firs. This is the home and sometime office of a softspoken Texas …
Heavylifting
Russell Aoki has built a reputation for taming terabytes—and set a record in deadliftWhen Russell Aoki began his career as a public defender in the mid-1980s, his job was defined largely by paper: police reports, transcripts and other documents compiled in manila folders and three-ring binders, stored in ceiling-high file cabinets and bookcases. Thirty years later, the practice of law has been transformed by digital data and the devices that collect and store it all. That revolution has especially affected federal criminal defenders, who have massive amounts of multimedia files …
The Big Picture
She prosecuted the Green River Killer. There’s not much that can unnerve Patty EakesIn November 2001, when the nation was still reeling from the 9/11 attacks, the Northwest was further stunned by the arrest of a Renton truck-factory painter named Gary Ridgway. King County prosecutors and deputies, who had been looking for the Green River Killer since 1982, had finally nabbed their man. But they needed to ramp up quickly to prosecute one of the worst serial killers in U.S. history. “It was such a momentous case, so stressful and incredibly sad that it had gone on all …
Standing Her Ground
Karen Koehler lands a $123 million verdict against Ride the DucksWhen the civil suit over the tragic 2016 Ride the Ducks crash went to court in Seattle last fall, it didn’t look like a fair fight. One side of the courtroom was jammed with insurance defense lawyers—mostly men, more than enough to field a softball team—looking the part right down to their uniform black suits over blue shirts and club ties. They clustered around the left side of the extended table, overflowing into the audience. The plaintiff team numbered one paralegal and two lawyers, …
Bankruptcy, Bach
Diana Carey’s talents range from tracking down fraud to tickling the ivoriesIn 2012, Darren Berg stood before a federal judge in Seattle and admitted to defrauding investors out of more than $100 million in a Ponzi scheme that spanned nearly a decade. He had promised rich investment returns but squandered tens of millions on extravagant homes, yachts, private jets and a fleet of luxury charter buses. Berg was ultimately hauled off for an 18-year prison term. In the meantime, the daunting task of cleaning up his insolvent financial house was left to the bankruptcy …
Zen and the Art of Criminal Defense
How Richard Hansen wins the cases he ‘has no business winning’In the fall of 1969, Americans found themselves focused on the tumultuous trial of the “Chicago Seven,” the antiwar activists accused of conspiring to incite a riot outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention. The courtroom drama showcased radicals such as Abbie Hoffman and Bobby Seale, as well as celebrity lawyer William Kunstler, who defended them. As the trial dragged on, the courtroom audience frequently included a lanky, nondescript college student with an Art Garfunkel hairdo. …
‘We’ve Got to Get Kelly Corr’
Why Nirvana, Alaska Airlines and Hearst wanted him around; Bill Gates and Courtney Love, not so muchKelly Corr sees a city that many of his friends and colleagues can’t. We’re not talking about the commanding view from his office 39 stories above Fourth Avenue—sweeping from Pike Place Market and Westlake mall south to Pioneer Square and the giant cranes on Harbor Island. We’re talking about the view in his mind’s eye, where Corr surveys a half century of urban politics, economic and social change that have transformed Seattle from a seemingly contented company town into a glistening …
The Rock Star
High-profile trials and links to headline-grabbers like Amanda Knox and Mary Kay Letourneau have garnered the spotlight for Anne Bremner, bringing celebrity and sprezzaturaIn the fall of 1988, a WELL-respected retired police official took the stand in King County Superior Court, testifying as an expert witness on behalf of a Seattle man who claimed the city had violated his civil rights by accusing him of arson—a charge which had later been dropped. On cross-examination, the witness assertively fielded questions from a young lawyer defending the city—a striking, blond-haired 30-something woman with an easy smile. His testimony complete, the cop stepped down …
Picking Fights With Big Shots
That’s what Hoquiam attorney Paul Stritmatter does best—and the smart money’s on himTwenty years ago, Grays Harbor residents were rankled by a multimillion-dollar air pollution complaint against the Weyerhaeuser pulp mill, a local industrial icon that employed hundreds. The offending lawsuit was filed not by meddling Seattle tree-huggers, but by 240 fellow residents—people who claimed they had been sickened by the mill’s emissions. Worse still, many of the plaintiffs were represented by Paul Stritmatter, a local lawyer from a family whose century-old Grays Harbor roots …
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