Lish Whitson

Lish Whitson
Lish Whitson has been a trial lawyer for more than 40 years. He has tried more than 50 jury trials and has successfully argued many others cases to the bench and before arbitrators. He has successfully argued before both state and federal appellate courts. He has also settled hundreds of cases out of court on behalf of his clients, thereby avoiding the uncertainty of a trial. Lish has been recognized for his ability as a trial attorney with his nomination and election to membership in the American College of Trial Lawyers, Litigation Counsel of America and the American Board of Trial Advocates.
Lishs practice has emphasized litigation in Commercial, Employment, Medical Malpractice, Health Care, Construction, Product Liability, Consumer Class Action and Personal Injury law. He has also litigated matters involving intellectual property, administrative, antitrust, criminal, defamation, environmental, insurance and real property law. In addition, Lish is a very successful Mediator and Arbitrator with more than 25 years of experience. He serves as an arbitrator and mediator with the American Arbitration Association.
Before attending graduate school and then law school, Lish served in the United States Peace Corps in Afghanistan as an English and pottery teacher. After graduating from the University of Washington School of Law, Lish practiced for three years as a staff attorney with The Public Defender Association. Lish has since practiced with the firms of Helsell Fetterman, LLP, BadgleyMullins Law Group, and Stokes Lawrence, PS. He presently has his own firm, Lish Whitson PLLC.
Lish has served on and chaired numerous committees with various Bar Associations over the past 35 years, including serving on the Washington Judicial Council Task Force that drafted the initial Rules of Evidence for Washington. He is also a past Governor of the Washington State Bar Association. He served for many years as a Special Hearing Officer in disciplinary matters for the WSBA and co-chaired the WSBA Local Rules Task Force.
The King County Bar Association awarded Lish the 2000 Outstanding Lawyer Award. In 1993 he received the King County Bars Pro Bono Award for his work representing women seeking treatment for breast cancer. He is a past President of the King County Bar Young Lawyers Section and a past Trustee of the King County Bar. He has served on the King County Bars Professionalism and Lawyer Referral Service Committees and the Washington State Bars Judicial Recommendation Committee.
He has served on the American Bar Associations Standing Committees on: Publishing Oversight; the Editorial Board of the ABA/BNA Lawyers Manual on Professional Conduct; the Lawyer Referral and Information Service; the Medical Professional Discipline; and Professional (Lawyer) Discipline as well as the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession and he chaired the ABA Presidential Task Force on a Model Definition of the Practice of Law. He also served on the ABA House of Delegates for several years.
Lishs community involvement includes being past President of the Boards of Allied Arts of Seattle, the Defender Association, and the Downtown Emergency Service Center (the largest shelter and advocacy organization for the homeless in the Northwest). He was also a board member of the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras and past-President of the Board of Little Bit Therapeutic Riding Center. He is a current member of the Allied Arts Foundation Board.
Lish was elected and serves on the Oregon State Bar House of Delegates. He is the past President of the University of Washington School of Law Alumni Association, which gave him its Service Recognition Award in October of 2002. He has long been listed in Whos Who in American Law. For the last 17 years has been chosen every year as one of Washingtons top 100 Super Lawyers as reported in the periodical Law & Politics. He has been listed in Martindale & Hubbles lawyers directory with its top rating of AV for more than two decades.
He is an emeritus member of the William Dwyer Inn of Court in Seattle. He has been a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and the King County Bar Foundation. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers which is dedicated to maintaining and improving the standards of trial practice, the administration of justice and the ethics of the profession. He is past chair of the Washington Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates and serves on the National Board, chairing two committees. He is also a Board Member of the Western Trial Lawyers Association.
Lish is a long time member of the planning committee that puts on the Northwest DR Conference at the University of Washington each year. For a decade he has helped to put on the Annual KCBA Ethics Workout each year. He has lectured and written extensively on trial practice, evidence, ethics and professionalism. He has taught on the faculty of the National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA) Northwest Regional programs in Trial Advocacy and Deposition Practice and on the national faculty of the Trial Skills Session at the NITA Education Center in Louisville, Colorado. He has also been a part-time lecturer in trial advocacy at the University of Washington School of Law.