| The agricultural industry faces continually evolving market conditions and the need to maintain businesses in the face of increasing cost structures, regulatory intrusion, and global competition.
We offer clients a unified, one-stop solution to all their legal needs. We feature a strong regulatory practice, working closely with teams in business, tax, financial services, real estate, environmental, land use, intellectual property, employment, labor, government relations and litigation. We also work closely with local counsel who may be handling a company’s daily operational needs when the company is confronted with large or specialized issues.
Our lawyers combine legal insight, industry experience and practical business sense to meet the needs of local and national agribusinesses. Because many of our lawyers are also scientists and engineers, we are ideally equipped to assist when legal matters interact with the scientific and technical issues that are common to modern agribusiness. We are well-equipped to help clients anticipate issues and work proactively to head off problems before they arise.
We work with a broad range of clients, including agricultural companies, vineyards, dairies, food processors, agricultural trade associations, equipment manufacturers, research institutions, local farmers and ranchers, and institutional and corporate producers.
Whatever the issue, our commitment is to provide a customized legal approach designed around each client’s specific needs and goals. |
Selected Experience Oregon Rangeland Trust Ongoing Outside general counsel. Negotiate agricultural conservation easements with farm and ranch owners. International plant systems manufacturer Ongoing Provide counsel regarding multi-state environmental regulations compliance, including seed and fertilizer registration and labeling. Technology Crops International Ongoing Negotiated plant variety licenses with University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc., U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS). Negotiated contracts for associated crop production and processing. Rainsweet, Inc. 2009 Negotiated sale of frozen onion business unit and developed strategic alliance with Freeze Pack, Inc., of Pasco, Wash. Yakima County Tree Farms LLC 2008 Represented lender in agricultural loan to SP Farms & Ranch LLC. Potato Variety Management Institute 2007 We negotiated global and domestic sublicensing and marketing agreements for potato varieties developed by researchers at the University of Idaho, Oregon State University, Washington State University and the United States Department of Agriculture. Judkins Nursery, Inc. 2006 Acquisition of Thompson & Walters Nursery. Western Mortgage Co. 2005 Obtained summary judgment dismissing multi-count complaint based on alleged lender control and breach of fiduciary duty. Obtained judgment for debts owed and collected judgment in follow-on bankruptcy. Litigated issue of whether PACA covered invoices payable "30 days from date of invoice" when invoice date was after shipment date. Matson Fruit Company 2004 Defended principals of apple orchard and processing company against claims of RICO violation by knowingly hiring illegal workers. Class certification was defeated, and the representative plaintiff's claim settled on nominal terms. Washington farmed salmon industry 2002 Defended Washington salmon aquaculture industry in appeals of NPDES waste discharge permits by environmental groups. Oliver Spires dba Rivers End Ranch 2002 Defended suits by five Native American tribes involving federal and state government pursuant to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and the Clean Water Act. Settlement achieved resolving all issues. 1996 Obtained summary judgment in complex wrongful discharge case on grounds that termination of employment was justified as part of a legitimate economically motivated reduction in force. Trial court judgment affirmed on appeal by Alaska Supreme Court. | |