SEATTLE TIMES

June 7, 2016
By Lewis Kamb
Twitter @lewiskamb
lkamb@seattletimes.com

Let’s get ready to rumble!

In this corner, the tenacious personal-injury attorney and former president of the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association, whose clients include multiple victims of last year’s deadly Ride the Ducks tourist-vehicle crash.

Weighing in with more than 30 years of experience, working under the trademarked nickname “The Velvet Hammer,” it’s Karen Koehler!

And in this corner, the flamboyant, well-coiffed trial advocate with a career client list that includes serial killer Ted Bundy, the “Barefoot Bandit” and mass murderer Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales.

Carrying a bar card dating back 44 years, once called “the most hated man in the state,” it’s Seattle’s undisputed champion of celebrity defense attorneys, John Henry Browne!

Ding! Ding!

A contemptuous, private spat between the two prominent Seattle attorneys has spilled into the public ring, after Koehler recently wrote on her professional blog that Browne has repeatedly disparaged her in emails during months of communications about an ongoing case.

Published under the headline, “How many insults does it take for me to call you a three letter word,” Koehler’s May 26 blog post lists excerpts from assorted emails in which Browne describes her as a “whack job,” variously insults her looks and tells her to “get some help.”