Vader Lawyers

Russ Mead is a business attorney who for the last several years has served as general counsel for two of the nation’s most notable animal welfare non-profits, Best Friends Animal Society and Farm Sanctuary. He is also a founder and general counsel for Animal Law Coalition. He is licensed as an attorney in Washington and Utah. Russ has represented a number of nonprofits as well as businesses as large as Chrysler and as small as a local shipwright. He counsels individuals on business matters. His practice has included business litigation and advising clients about organizational structure, business and entertainment contracts,...

We practice in Washington and Oregon. Our practice areas are plaintiff personal injury, business and health care law. I graduated from the UW School of Law in 1975.

I am an attorney and shareholder at Carlton Fields, a national law firm that provides innovative and strategic solutions to clients in the financial services industry. I have experience advising clients on complex issues involving the creation, marketing and operation of retirement products, platforms and service providers. My main areas of focus include the Employee Retirement Income Securities Act (ERISA), ERISA's fiduciary provisions, the Internal Revenue code, regulation of IRAs and other employee benefit plans. My clients for the last decade have been platform providers, trust banks, RIAs, Broker Dealers, Third Party Administrators, and insurance companies. I hold...

Dean Swanson is a civil litigation attorney focused entirely on helping those who have been injured or wronged by others. He has represented individuals and businesses. Dean is a native of the Northwest US, and is a member of the Washington State Bar Rules of Professional Conduct Committee. Dean is dedicated to getting justice for his clients.

Emma Kazaryan has a civil litigation practice with an emphasis on employment law. She has successfully represented clients in severance negotiations, workplace investigations, government investigations, and licensing matters. Her accomplishments include helping clients obtain professional licensure despite challenging obstacles and resolving a wide variety of matters (including workplace and government investigations) with stellar settlements for her clients. Emma’s pragmatic and focused approach to litigation has enabled her to resolve several cases with a motion for summary judgment. Emma’s transactional work – which includes drafting employee handbooks and policies for the firm’s employer clients and counseling them...

Aaron Ritchie received his Bachelor of Arts degree in History & Political Science from The Colorado College in 1997, and his Juris Doctorate from Lewis & Clark Law School in 2004. While he attended law school, Aaron interned at the Vancouver City Attorney's Office where he prosecuted the full range of misdemeanor cases in District Court. Following his admission to the Washington Bar in 2004, Aaron assumed a full-time prosecutor position in the Clark County Domestic Violence Unit and was eventually promoted to Assistant Unit Coordinator. During his career as a prosecutor, Aaron handled thousands of domestic violence cases and won...

Kenneth V. Hoffman received his Juris Doctor degree, cum laude, from Cleveland Marshall Law School. He is licensed in the State and Federal Courts of Washington and Ohio. He began his legal career in the trust department of Ameritrust Corporation, at the time the largest bank holding and trust company in Ohio. Mr. Hoffman was hired by the Clark County based Northwest National Bank in 1979 to establish and administer its trust department. He was responsible for all aspects of probate and trust administration, investment and taxation, and also served as in house counsel for the...