From Benchmark 2009: America’s Leading Litigation Firms and Attorneys

Highly recommended firms

The litigation practice is strong at the Seattle-based Corr Cronin Michelson Baumgardner & Preece. Coverage is present in areas of complex commercial disputes, class action defense, insurance, employment, intellectual property, products liability, securities and construction, as well as niche specialties including entertainment and aviation. The firm represented Amazon.com in a multi-million dollar contract dispute with Expedia.com, the matter settling on favorable terms before trial. Corr Cronin assisted in the defense of Columbia Tower Club in a class of more than 1,000 club employees seeking damags in excess of $2.75 million over issues regarding wages, tips and bonuses. This matter settled favorably and claims were dismissed. In current matters, the firm is co-counsel in two putative class actions for Federal Express in an employment matter, as well as representing a number of corporate defendants in hundreds of asbestos cases in Washington and Oregon. Other firm clients include, 7-Eleven, Alaska Airlines, Georgia Pacific, OfficeMax, Staples and Unisys.

Founding partners Kevin Baumgardner and William Cronin are both recognized for their incredible litigation expertise. Baumgardner, who used to head Bogle & Gates’ product liability and personal injury practice group, is experienced in trying cases in both state and federal courts in Washington and Alaska, with additional expertise in labor and civil case arbitrations. He focuses his practice on products work, labor and employment, commercial cases and personal injury matters. In the firm’s asbestos litigation representation, he was a partner-in-charge for a number of defendants in the state’s cases, eventually obtaining numerous summary judgments and negotiating several settlements. Business litigation specialist William Cronin represents both plaintiffs and defendants in securities, professional liability and corporate control disputes. His list of representative client includes national powerhouses like Amazon.com, AT&T Wireless and ExxonMobil.

Senior partner Kelly Corr’s broad practice varies from class action work to professional malpractice and intellectual property. He represented The Hearst Corporation in a matter against The Seattle Times, in which his client attempted to block an attempt by the defendants to end a 20-year joint newspaper operating arrangement. After four years of litigation, the case settled with the Times paying Hearst $24 million and continuing the agreement for an additional nine years. For more than 35 years, William Squires III has handled trial matters in the Pacific Northwest. Before his time at Corr Cronin, he was a 20-year veteran at Davis Wright Tremaine and spent time at Summit Law Group. Now, he is an established litigator with experience in construction, real estate, commercial, toxic tort, class actions, employment and securities litigation. Squires was counsel to the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in a three-month arbitration, which defeated a contractor’s claims for charges and delay that would have doubled the cost of the project. He was also defense liaison counsel in 4,000 consolidated toxic exposure cases and acted as counsel for Lovelace Biomedical Institute in a class action matter following an alleged intentional exposure to electromagnetic pulse radiation.

Reprinted with permission

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