After 16 years in downtown Seattle representing some of the worlds largest corporations in the courtroom, Daniel R. Laurence recently announced the establishment of his law office at 1802 Grove Street in Marysville.
His practice focuses on personal injury and wrongful death, insurance bad faith, employment disputes and general business litigation. He is also available to conduct private arbitrations.
Laurence has decided he wants to put his experience to work for regular people. Ive derived the greatest satisfaction from helping injured individuals. Ive also defended quite a few trials where someone was terribly hurt or killed say, in an airplane crash, car accident, or industrial mishap and they or their dependents have walked away with either nothing or much less than they could have had. While those results were probably fair under the circumstances, I thought that, on occasion, the plaintiffs lawyers could have used better judgment and perhaps achieved a better financial and/or emotional result for their clients. Sometimes, people have to look past the dollar signs to see things realistically. It has been a real advantage to work on the defense side as well as the plaintiffs side. I hope to continue to bring that perspective to people and businesses who want and need my help.
Laurence earned his law degree at the University of Michigan, which is considered one of the nations top law schools. He moved to the Pacific Northwest in 1990 after completing a clerkship for a federal trial judge and marrying Anna Marie Jackson, daughter of former U.S. Senator Henry M. (Scoop) Jackson.
My wife is from Everett and was an assistant Snohomish County prosecutor. My mother-in-law, Helen, still lives there. They just love Osterwicks Dutch Bakery and were very happy that I would be able to drop in for a loaf or two of cinnamon bread every so often. he explained. I also have the good fortune to be practicing in the same office building as my friend, former Scoop staffer and attorney Gary Baker. Hes been a big help in helping me to settle in. The building also houses the offices of attorneys Matthew Veder and Ronald Weiss.
Laurence has not always been a private lawyer. Before law school, he worked for U.S. Representative Bob Carr. From there, he took a job in finance at Lockheed Missiles and Space Company, working on submarine-based missile systems and the Space Shuttle program. He also wrote the companys analysis of defense industry parts pricing practices for President Reagans Blue Ribbon Commission on Defense Management. During law school, he accelerated his studies by going to class for two summers so that he could take a term off from school to prosecute felons in Detroit. When I came to Washington, I was sworn in as a special deputy prosecutor for King County. I handled two cases, which both ended in convictions, said Laurence, but I decided to leave criminal law to others. Its a completely different world.