Practice Areas

Advising clients across transactional, litigation, corporate and regulatory areas.

Banking Law

Paine Hamblen represents state- and federally-chartered commercial banks, credit unions and bank holding companies in their mergers and acquisition activities, branching, interstate banking, new product development, regulatory compliance, and branch and retail operational issues, in addition to representing them in their lending transactions.

Business Transactions

Paine Hamblen provides a full-range of legal services to both established and entrepreneurial businesses, and regularly handles acquisitions, start-ups and public and private debt and equity financings. Clients of the firm include companies in the manufacturing, banking, public utility, insurance, health care, high-technology, and service industries. The firm has broad experience in corporate, securities and employee relations matters affecting its business clients.

Commercial and Complex Litigation

Paine Hamblen has extensive depth with our knowledge in working on large and complex litigation matters. Our litigation attorneys have the experience and capacity to successfully initiate and defend civil litigation matters in state and federal courts involving a broad spectrum of areas, including commercial disputes, construction, employment, energy, toxic tort, product liability, estate and trust, intellectual property, personal injury, environmental, tax and other complex litigation. Paine Hamblen is a leader in the region with experience in electronic discovery (digital and computer evidence.) In addition, Paine Hamblen has several attorneys who are trained mediators with extensive experience in alternative dispute resolution.

Commercial and Corporate Finance

Paine Hamblen has substantial experience in representing lenders and borrowers in large and complex commercial financing transactions, including term loans, inventory and accounts receivable operating lines of credit, equipment loans, business acquisition loans (including leveraged buyouts), construction loans, real estate loans, loan participations, letters of credit, subordinated debentures, asset securitization transactions and financial restructuring/workout loans. Paine Hamblen also handles equity financing transactions and convertible debt financing transactions for private equity funds and firms and for its emerging and growth clients receiving venture-backed financing.

Corporate Law & Securities

Paine Hamblen has experience in all phases of securities and corporate law, including mergers, acquisitions, corporate reorganizations, securities registrations and public offerings. The firm has substantial resources for commercial, corporate and securities litigation.

Debtor-Creditor and Bankruptcy

Paine Hamblen handles loan collections, workouts and restructurings for business lenders and borrowers. Paine Hamblen also represents secured and unsecured creditors and debtors in business bankruptcies and other insolvency proceedings.

Electronic Discovery & Document Management

On average, over 95% of an organization’s business information exists only as electronically stored information (“ESI”), and many courts now have rules that specifically address ESI. Thus, ESI management is critical from both an organizational and legal perspective. Paine Hamblen has extensive experience with ESI issues, including advance planning; policies for document retention and employees’ use of electronic devices; and e-discovery in investigations, public records requests, and litigation.

Employment, Labor & Immigration

Paine Hamblen represents employers in all areas of labor and employment law, including union-management matters, labor negotiations and arbitration, discrimination and wrongful termination defense, workers’ compensation, OSHA, WISHA, Fair Labor Standards Act, employer relations and business immigration law.

Employment and Labor Litigation

Paine Hamblen represents many employers facing litigation relating to federal and state issues; including COBRA & ERISA; employment discrimination; wrongful discharge; non-competition; non-solicitation and trade secrets; The Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) and Sections 1981 and 1983; Americans with Disabilities Act, Washington law against discrimination; Age Discrimination in Employment Act; Sarbanes-Oxley and whistleblower claims under state law; Fair Labor Standards Act and Family Medical Leave Act and their respective state law counterparts; and Fair Housing Act.

Environmental, Land Use, and Zoning Law

Paine Hamblen advises landowners and developers concerning the intricacies of environmental land use and zoning. The firm handles all aspects of the issues, from initial applications through administrative appeals on to judicial appeals, for clients in an array of industries including all aspects of development permitting; annexation and related agreements; compliance with all aspects of real property development under the Growth Management Act; dock/encroachment permits; environmental remediation; judicial review of land and administrative decisions; rezones, conditional use permits, variances, development agreements and other land use entitlements; Shoreline Management Act permits; subdivisions; binding site plans, short plats and long plats; and water rights, including transfers and other issues.

Estate Planning, Probate & Trusts

Paine Hamblen’s Tax Practice Group is experienced in estate planning, corporation and partnership taxation, federal income taxation, and state and local taxation. Our estate planning clients receive comprehensive and individual estate plans, which often include business succession planning, tax planning and charitable giving as well as probate and trust administration. In addition, we handle sophisticated tax matters for corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships, trusts and individuals.

Insurance Law & Tort Claims

Paine Hamblen has a long history of representing insurance companies and their insured in all aspects of personal injury and other tort litigation. Our dedicated attorneys also have extensive experience in representing claimants and insurance carriers on coverage issues.

Intellectual Property and Technology

Paine Hamblen has extensive experience representing hardware and software vendors and business end-users in all aspects of hardware and system contracts and software licensing. The firm’s Intellectual Property practice has experience in technology-related strategic partnerships, such as Research and Development joint ventures; and negotiating, drafting and enforcing other contracts involved in high tech businesses, including, non-disclosure/confidentiality agreements, e-commerce online sales terms and conditions, and sales channel agreements, such as distributor, sales representative, dealer and value-added reseller contracts.

Landlord-Tenant Law

Paine Hamblen’s lawyers are experienced with this highly nuanced area of law in both the commercial and residential context.  The post-Covid reality facing residential landlords presents an ever-shifting landscape of federal, state, and local laws and regulations.  We advise residential property management companies and landlords concerning application procedures, federal subsidies, insurance issues, security deposit protocols, reasonable accommodation requests, and regulatory.  We work with landlords to evict residential tenants and we defend property managers and landlords facing Fair Housing Act discrimination suits, collective or individual actions under the Residential Landlord Tenant Act, and other tenant claims.  We further assist commercial landlords and property managers with lease drafting, negotiations, and assignments or subletting, as well as handling commercial evictions and litigation.

Mediation

Paine Hamblen has several attorneys who are trained mediators with extensive experience in resolving disputes and who have successfully mediated a wide variety of cases.

Real Estate and Construction Litigation

Paine Hamblen represents clients in a wide range of real estate and construction-based litigation matters, including real property acquisition disputes, easement and encroachment disputes, adverse possession and condemnation proceedings, utility right-of-way and easement proceedings, construction litigation and claims, architect and engineer malpractice claims, labor and material lien claims, mortgage foreclosures, land use disputes, water rights, natural resources, and hazardous waste regulation and cleanup.

Real Estate Transactions and Development

The Paine Hamblen Real Estate Group represents real estate developers, buyers, sellers, and lenders in commercial, office and multi-family real property sales and financing’s. The Real Estate Property group also has extensive experience in commercial and industrial leasing transactions for landlords and tenants and in the representation of clients in all aspects of real estate development and construction from the initial property acquisition through construction and occupancy, including water rights and hazardous waste regulation.

Taxation

Paine Hamblen represents individuals and businesses in a wide variety of federal and state tax matters, including business formations, reorganizations, sales and acquisitions, pension and retirement plans and general tax issues. In addition, our wealth transfer group has extensive experience with estate and gift planning, as well as charitable planning for individuals and tax-exempt organizations.

Transportation Litigation

Paine Hamblen has a long-rooted history representing the Union Pacific Railroad, Burlington Northern Railroad, several regional short-line railroads, trucking companies, public mass transit authorities and other common carriers.

Trust & Estate Litigation

Trust and estate litigation is a unique area of law in and of itself. Trust and estate litigation often blends otherwise differing areas of the law, business, real estate, and community property concepts all while subject to unique statutes that govern probates, wills and trusts. Paine Hamblen’s trust and estate litigators work with our estate planning attorneys to resolve trust and estate disputes, following the loss of a loved one, including by litigation if necessary.