On the need to prove myself when I don't need to.

I decided to become a plaintiff lawyer in the late 1990s. At the time there were more female insurance defense lawyers. And I had been part of that club. Back then no one told me that I wasn’t cut out to be a trial lawyer. That changed when all three of my children were school aged. And I switch sides.

I had gotten a glimpse of the bias against women trial lawyers when I worked three years for Tom Chambers 1989 thru 1992. He knew I was a trial lawyer since he had been up against me. But after he was my boss and we tried cases together there was no doubt who the number one star was. And what roles I was to play. The person who worked up the case per his direction. And in trial dealt with damages. Later in my career he was one of my staunchest supporters. Egging me on and enjoying when I accidentally (the truth will set you free) called out dart for being a shameless all white (except Lem) male self appointed group who called themselves the best trial lawyers in the state.

When I joined Pat LePley in 1997 he didn’t pigeon hole me in any way. He liked my personality and adored my competence. His first order of business was to have me join the local trial lawyer’s association. Upon attending my first continuing legal education program I was struck by the lack of racial or gender diversity. Yes there were females. And a sprinkle of minority females. But only a handful were leaders in the organization or in prominent larger law firms. Nor were women headlining the seminar programs on weighty topics.

This seemed odd to me. The Plaintiff bar was known for being liberal and progressive.

Attended the CLEs. Listened to great orators like Paul Stritmatter and Paul Luvera. Learned techniques from John Budlong and Jan Eric Peterson. The divide between us was great.

My goal was to be a great trial lawyer. This required trying a lot of cases. My boat was tied to Pat’s. This meant I tried small tough cases that didn’t settle. Whiplash cases in particular.

Even when I was trying 4,5, 6 even 7 cases in a year I didn’t meet the prototype of a real hard hitting trial lawyer. And my cases were too puny.

I won the trial lawyer of the year from the Washington State Trial Lawyer’s association now WSAJ in 2008. The third time a female had received the award since it was first handed out in 1978. There were many who whispered that I was not worthy of the award. Too young. Cases not big enough. She’s a token.

Paul Luvera told me that I was becoming a great trial lawyer and that the more I achieved the more people would hate on me. Intellectually I accepted that. But not emotionally.

After I tried the ride the duck case as lead (Andrew as second) you would think no one would question my abilities again. A huge nonpunitive damage verdict. The vice president of AIG told me afterward that the verdict had more than tripled its assessment of its greatest exposure.

Shortly after word got back to me (it always does) that a colleague (whose house I had been to and who went out to dinner with me many times) told a group of trial lawyers that “anyone could have gotten that verdict.”

I never confronted him. Nor any of the people who didn’t have my back when he said those words.

I tried a motorcycle injury case in 2022 as lead (Lisa as second) to a record verdict. S. v. Holguin - Stritmatter Law. By this time my reputation amongst certain plaintiff lawyers was that I was polarizing. Whatever that means. I think the better terms would be: 1) non-deferential and; 2) direct to your face.

Then last year I stumbled upon the petty remark that the reason I get such good results is that I surround myself with such great people. (Which one could argue is a strength in and of itself).

That was the last straw for me. Thick skin only goes so far. That is why in Aug 2026 I tried B v. Rakshit by myself. Even though Rory Leid my self sworn enemy from the motorcycle case was on the other side. I did cave in a little after the trial was continued for the third time by bringing in Jonjon Rankin to help with the continuing slog of trial briefing and motion argument. Which he did superbly.

But in the courtroom it was me. With my paralegals Jamie at my side and Kristin attending remotely. The result was just as should have been. Jury awards $3.2M in car dragging case. Rory now appealing it with the help of Phil Talmadge.

At the end of the day what did I prove by not allowing Mo (who really wanted) to try the case with me…

Who knows.

But I needed to do this. And I did.

Photo courtesty of WSAJ: winning its president’s award in 2003 - I couldn’t find the one two years later for trial lawyer of the year.