Randolph I. Gordon
Principal in Gordon ¨ Edmunds ¨ Elder PLLC
E-mail: rgordon@gee-law.com

Practice Areas: Mediation and Arbitration; Civil Litigation; Personal Injury Law; Toxic Exposure Law; Products Liability; Tort Law; Commercial Litigation.

Admitted: 1978, Washington and U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington; 1985, U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit

Law School: Harvard University, J.D., 1978.  Elected to Board of Student Advisors (1976-78); Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review.  Author, “Walt Whitman as a Franciscan Within the Modern Universal Construct,” Walt Whitman Review, Vol. 22, No. 1 (March 1976).

College: University of Michigan, B.A., with high distinction and high honors, 1975;  Phi Eta Sigma (1972); Phi Beta Kappa (1974); Recipient: Branstrom Freshman Prize (1972); James B. Angell Scholar (1972, 1973, 1974, 1975); Bain-Swiggett Prize (Hopwood Committee Award 1974); Delta Chi Foundation Scholar and Delta Chi Regional Scholar.

Professional Service and Memberships: King County Bar Association (Member, Board of Trustees, 1984, 1996-1999); East King County Bar Association (Member, Board of Trustees, 1989-1992, 1992-1994; Vice President, 1994; President, 1995), Washington State Bar Association (Rules of Professional Responsibility Committee (1993-1994); Special District Counsel, 1994, 1995; 1996-1999; Hearing Officer, 2000-2003; Governor, 8th District, Board of Governors, 2003-2005); Washington State Trial Lawyers Association (Chair: Eastside Roundtable, 1988; Member, Board of Governors, 2001-2003); The Association of Trial Lawyers of America; Trial Lawyers for Public Justice.  Founding Volunteer, Eastside Legal Assistance Program (1991- present).

Professional Awards and Honors: 1998 Public Justice Award, Washington State Trial Lawyers Association (WSTLA); 1999 Award of Merit, United States of America-National Karate-do Association (USA-NKF); 2001 Outstanding Service Award, Washington Karate Association; 2001 Professionalism Award, Washington State Trial Lawyers Association (WSTLA); 2001 President's Award, Washington State Bar Association; Outstanding Faculty Award, Seattle University School of Law, 2003; Elected to Deliver Commencement Address, Seattle University School of Law, 2000, 2001, 2003; Elected Class Marshal, Seattle University School of Law (2004, 2005, 2006); Appointed General Counsel, USA-National Karate-do-Federation (2004-2007);  Appointed Presiding Officer, National Review Board, USA-National Karate-do Federation (1997-2003); “Rising Star” Award, King County Democrats, 2005; Selected as “Washington Super Lawyer for 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006” by Washington Law and Politics; Martindale-Hubbell, “AV”-rated (highest peer-based rating for competence and ethics available).

Selected Articles:

Gordon & Assefa, “A Tale of Two Initiatives: Where Propaganda Meets Fact in the Debate Over America's Health Care,” Seattle Journal for Social Justice, Vol. 4, No. 2 (Spring-Summer 2006).

Book Review: Lies and the Lying Liars that Tell Them by Al Franken and First Among Equals by Kenneth Starr (with co-author Morris Rosenberg), WSTLA Trial News, October 2004.

Profile: “First Ascent: Jim Frush and the Untrodden Path,” King County Bar Bulletin, August 2004.

Chapters IV [Litigation Techniques and Strategies], VI [Troubleshooting or How to be Prepared for Anything] in How to Litigate Your First Civil Trial in Washington, National Business Institute, Eau Claire, WI. © 2003.

“Indian Law: A Classroom Discussion,” Washington State Bar News, November 2002 [First Internet-linked Article for Bar News].

“Commencement Address, December 2001,” Washington State Bar News, May 2002; “Acceptance Speech: President's Award,”  Washington State Bar News, November 2001.

“Proud to be a Lawyer,” [Commencement Address, December 2000], Washington State Bar News, March 2001.

Gordon & Cook, "The Deliberate Intention Exception to the Industrial Insurance Act Since Birklid v. Boeing: A Guidebook for Bench and Bar," Washington State Bar News, November 2000.

"The Lawyer as Hero, A Pride of Lions, a Justice of Lawyers," Washington State Bar News, June 2000.

Chapters I [Cyber Discovery], VI [Discovery Abuse] in Advanced Discovery  Issues for the Civil Litigator in Washington, National Business Institute, Eau Claire, WI. © 2000, November 2000.

Chapters 1 [Using Direct Examination to Win Your Case], 4 [Putting it All Together to Win Your Case] in Winning Ways with Direct and Cross-Examination: Guiding Principles for the Civil Litigator in Washington, National Business Institute, Eau Claire, WI. © 1998;

Section II, Defining Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: “No Balm in Gilead: Why Workers; Compensation Fails Workers in a Toxic Age,” McFarland Publishing, Jefferson, North Carolina, pp. 59-100. ©1998.

Gordon & Hailey, Op-Ed Page, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, “The Blood of the Worker,” April 15, 1997.

“No Balm in Gilead: An Examination of the Intentional Tort Exclusion to Coverage Under the Industrial Insurance Act in Light of Birklid v. Boeing,” Washington State Bar News, March 1996.

“How Much Justice Can We Afford? The Argument for Mandatory Arbitration,” Washington State Bar News, October 1996.

Gordon, "The Riddle of Fisons: When is Discovery not Discovery?" Washington State Bar News, August 1996.

Chapters 2 [Developing the Plan], 3 [The Importance of Effective Communication], 5 [Voir Dire and the Art of Asking the Right Questions], and 7 [Special Tools for Selecting the Right Jury] in Winning Strategies for  Jury Selection in Washington: Communication, Credibility and Common Sense in the Courtroom, National Business Institute, Eau Claire, WI. © 1996.

Spotlight Litigation: “Boeing workers change 73 years of Washington law,” Trial News, Washington State Trial Lawyers Association, January 1996. (Co-author, James D. Hailey)

"A Modest Proposal for Improvement of the Legal System," Washington State Bar News, May 1993;

Gordon, "A Meditation on Mediation," Washington State Bar News, April 1991.

"The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves and Other Helpful Hints on The Practice of Law," Washington State Bar News, September 1991.

Editor, East King County Bar Association Newsletter, 1991-1995.

Column, Eastside Law Report, Washington State Bar News, 1989-1992.

Teaching Law:  Adjunct Professor of Law, Seattle University School of Law, for Products Liability and Remedies (1999-2007).  Faculty, National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA), June 19-21, 2006 (North Seattle Community College); Chair, Personal Injury Section, Peoples Law School, Bellevue Community College, 1988. He has contributed to continuing legal education seminars sponsored by the WSBA, WSTLA, KCBA, the Tacoma – Pierce County Bar Association, and the National Business Institute as a speaker and author, including presentations on ethical issues. He is a frequent contributor to the Washington State Bar News and King County Bar Bulletin as author and columnist.

Reported Cases: Birklid v. The Boeing Company, 127 Wn.2d 853, 904 P.2d 278 (1995);  Randy received the WSTLA's Public Justice Award for 1998 for his work in Birklid v. Boeing, 127 Wn.2d 853, 904 P.2d 278 (1995) including his argument before the State Supreme court resulting in a 9-0 landmark decision changing 83 years of Washington law regarding employer liability for “deliberate injury,”  helping to make Washington State workplaces safer for workers.

Biography:  Click here 

Randy Gordon is a principal in the Bellevue law firm of Gordon Edmunds Elder pllc with an active practice embracing complex commercial and tort litigation, products liability, personal injury, professional liability, mediation, arbitration, and special master services. Randy has represented clients in forums ranging from a United States Senate subcommittee to litigation and mediation in federal and state trial and appellate courts including the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the Washington State Supreme Court, the Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals, and other judicial and administrative bodies. Randy graduated with High Honors and High Distinction from the University of Michigan in 1975, where he earned the Branstrom Freshman Prize and the Hopwood Committee's Bain-Swiggett Poetry Prize, and where he was honored by admission to Phi Beta Kappa in his junior year as a seven-term James B. Angell Scholar and a Delta Chi Regional Scholar. He earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1978, where he founded the still-operating freshman orientation program, was elected to the Board of Student Advisors, and served on the Civil Rights - Civil Liberties Law Review.

A trial lawyer with expertise in complex litigation, Randy just completed in mid-2005, a three week trial in Thurston County which resulted in an $8.2 million dollar verdict in favor of his client who suffered damages from breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty.

Randy has been practicing law in Washington State since 1978  and served on the Board of Governors as Governor, Eighth District for the Washington State Bar Association, which, among other things oversees discipline and ethical standards for Washington's 28,000 lawyers and oversees numerous sections and committees including the Lawyers Fund for Client Protection.  He was on the Budget and Audit Committee of the State Bar, which has maintained a balanced budget and adequate reserves during his tenure; WSBA employs a staff of 125 and has an annual budget of $15 million budget and is directly accountable to the Washington State Supreme Court.  Randy served on the Rules of Professional Conduct Committee of the State Bar (1993-94), as special district counsel for disciplinary matters (1994-2000) and served as a hearing officer for disciplinary matters for the State Bar (1999-2003).

Randy has served as arbitrator under the King County mandatory arbitration program in dozens of cases and has served as Presiding Officer for the National Board of Review of the USA-National Karate-do Federation, the USOC-recognized national governing body for the sport of karate, and currently serves as its General Counsel.

In 1998, Randy was awarded the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association (WSTLA) Public Justice Award for his work on Birklid v. Boeing, a 1995 en banc (9-0) decision of the state Supreme Court that changed Washington State law regarding employer liability for “deliberate” injury by allowing, for the first time in 73 years, a disputed claim of deliberate injury to proceed against the state's largest employer.  In 2001, he was twice honored: with the President's Award from the Washington State Bar Association and with the Professionalism Award from the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association.   Randy was honored to be invited to deliver the Winter Term Commencement Address to the graduating law students at Seattle University in 2000, 2001, and 2003, and was awarded the Outstanding Faculty Award in at the December 2003 Commencement and served as class marshal for the Winter 2004 and Spring 2005 graduation classes.  Randy was selected as “Washington Super Lawyer for 2003,” and again in 2004, 2005 and 2006 by Washington Law and Politics. This is a peer selection process by his fellow lawyers and a 188 member blue ribbon panel; only 5% of practicing lawyers are so honored.

Randy has been a regular contributor to the Washington State Bar News and a columnist in the King County Bar Bulletin. Randy, with law student Amy Cook, co-authored “The Deliberate Intention Exception to the Industrial Insurance Act Since Birklid v. Boeing: A Guidebook for Bench and Bar,” which was featured as the cover article in the November 2000 Washington State Bar News. More recently, Randy, with law student Brook Assefa, co-authored "A Tale of Two Initiatives: Where Propaganda Meets Fact in The Debate Over America's Health Care," Seattle Journal For Social Justice, (Spring-Summer 2006).  Some recent high-profile cases, in addition to the representation of 16 injured workers in Birklid v. Boeing, include representation of 26 Alaska Airlines flight attendants in claims against Alaska Airlines, McDonnell-Douglas, and Allied Signal; representation of school bus drivers in claims against the bus manufacturer, representation of the Cle-Elum School District; teachers in a mold-contamination case; and service as a mediator and special master in complex, multiparty construction-defect litigation. 

Randy is currently involved in efforts to assure that our elections are conducted openly and fairly.  He is currently working on a pro bono (no fee) basis in the case of Lehto, et al. vs. Snohomish County and Sequoia Election Systems, Inc. seeking to prevent Snohomish County from “outsourcing” our election process to electronic voting machine companies which provide unverifiable vote counting.

Randy has been involved in his local community including work for the Parent-Child Programs at the Eastside YMCA, Lake Bellevue Water Quality Association, the Governor's Site Selection Task Force for an Eastside Regional Justice Center, and as a volunteer providing legal services at the Eastside Legal Assistance Program, which he helped found while serving on the East King County Bar Association Board of Trustees.   He serves on the Board of the American String Project and served as a Member of the Barre for the Pacific Northwest Ballet in 2005-2006.  Randy teaches martial arts to youth on weekends and, after several terms as Presiding Officer of the National Board of Review for the USA-National Karate-do Federation, the USOC-appointed National Governing Body for the sport of karate in the United States and for our Pan American Team, was appointed as General Counsel for the USA-NKF.  Randy is a member of the Bellevue Kiwanis.  Randy was elected as Precinct Committee Officer in 2006 within the 41st Legislative District and serves as parliamentarian for the 41st Legislative District Democrats.  Randy was founder and executive director of Blue St8 PAC, a state political action committee and a candidate for United States Congress in 2005-2006.

In addition, Randy has served as Adjunct Professor at Seattle University School of Law since spring term 1999, teaching Products Liability and Remedies. He was a finalist in the Washington's Funniest Lawyer competition held at Swannie's Comedy Underground.  Randy continues to write and publish poetry.  He graduated from the Mountaineers scrambling and climbing classes in 1980 and continues to be an avid hiker.  Daughter Katie (22) is currently enrolled in a Psychology Ph.D. program at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, B.C.; step-daughter Brittany (21) is currently enrolled at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, majoring in theology and philosophy; daughter Becky (19) is currently enrolled at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, majoring in law and justice.

Born: Brooklyn, New York, June 29, 1953