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TACOMA OFFICE PRACTICE GROUPS:
BUSINESS PRACTICE GROUP MEMBERS MISSION The mission of the Business Practice Group is to effectively and efficiently understand, address and resolve the full range of legal and financial issues faced by our business clients. The Business Practice Group meets monthly to discuss current developments in business law. We apply our collective knowledge and experience in an attempt to find practical solutions to real-world business problems. In addition to our regular meetings, we consult more informally with each other so that each client's particular issue is addressed by lawyers with an appropriate range of expertise and experience. We annually reexamine and redirect our efforts in meeting our business clients' needs and building our business practice during the upcoming year.
ESTATE PLANNING AND PROBATE PRACTICE GROUP MEMBERS
MISSION The Estate Planning and Probate Practice Group meets monthly to discuss developments in the law and current issues confronting attorneys and their clients. Recently, significant changes have occurred in state law regarding the handling of estates and litigation concerning will contests. The group has focused on litigation strategy to address the new rules that apply in the courts. In addition, the group has focused on the amendments to the federal estate tax law, which theoretically will result in the estate tax being repealed by 2010. The amendments have caused shifts in estate planning which the group members have addressed at group meetings and in discussions with their clients. The shift in the law has resulted in important changes to wills and other estate planning documents.
HEALTH CARE PRACTICE GROUP MEMBERS
MISSION The Health Care Practice Group facilitates the firm's provision of general and specialized legal services to physicians and other health care professionals, hospitals, care facilities, as well as patients and other individuals and organizations impacted by the complex laws and regulations affecting the delivery of health care. The Health Care Practice Group meets together periodically to update the members with current developments and issues. The legal and regulatory environment for health care clients is extremely dynamic; the Health Care Law Group's principal aim is to collect the legal materials, expertise and experience necessary to advise our health care clients. We regularly collaborate with other attorneys to ensure that we satisfy the full range of our health care clients' legal needs with focused, accurate and comprehensive advice and recommendations of efficient and effective solutions to legal problems.
LITIGATION AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION PRACTICE GROUP MEMBERS MISSION The attorneys in the Litigation Practice Group at Vandeberg Johnson & Gandara seek to assist clients in achieving the prompt, cost-effective, and final resolution and disposition of claims and disputes. We appear before administrative law tribunals and litigate at all levels of state and federal courts, both trial and appellate. As a matter of focus, our attorneys are responsive to the benefits of alternatives to trial in resolving disputes, including mediation and arbitration before qualified neutrals. While a negotiated, final settlement between disputants frequently puts the matter to rest even more definitively than a favorable verdict at trial, many cases prove not to be susceptible to such a disposition, and we conscientiously prepare and vigorously try such cases. We routinely represent individuals, family groups, charitable organizations and non-profit associations, municipalities and businesses, in contested matters arising out of their personal, public, and business activities and associations, such as commercial and financing transactions; wills, gifts, trusts and estates; federal, state and local tax claims; environmental, land use and real estate regulations and development; condemnation; construction contracts (including bid protests, liens and warranties); product liability, wrongful death, personal injury and civil rights claims; labor and employment regulations, including discrimination and wrongful discharge; claims among partners, shareholders or members of limited liability companies; business purchases and mergers; securities, private placements and capital venture disputes; antitrust and trade regulations; and franchises and intellectual property matters, including copyright and trademarks. We refer to others domestic relations matters, patent abuse or infringement claims, and criminal cases (other than business or 'white-collar' crimes, such as alleged securities fraud, fraudulent conveyances, embezzlement, anti-trust, or civil rights violations).
REAL ESTATE AND LAND USE PRACTICE GROUP MEMBERS
MISSION The Real Estate and Land Use Practice Group is comprised of lawyers whose practice of law regularly involves the use, transfer and development of real estate. The group meets regularly to discuss new laws affecting our clients, review issues presented in transactions and disputes involving our clients, and provide continuing education to group members on recent trends in real estate and land use law. The net result is more efficient and economical legal representation in our clients' real estate and land use matters.
SCHOOL LAW PRACTICE GROUP MEMBERS
MISSION In this time of dwindling resources and rising expectations, school districts are faced with a seemingly endless number of legal challenges, ranging from the complexity of a lawsuit involving the First Amendment rights of students, to the relatively mundane task of drafting a disclaimer for the district's website. Many of these challenges concern intricate and evolving areas of state and federal law. The School Group meets regularly to discuss these areas and the issues that confront school districts throughout Washington. By combining attorneys skilled in the areas that affect school districts - including special education law, employment and labor law, land-use law, and funding issues - the School Group constitutes a valuable resource for the firm's school district clients.
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