Joel Murray

Legal Counsel for Business

• Administrative Law and Appeals
• Business Law and Commercial Litigation
• Government Affairs and Legislati­­­on
• Hospitality, Liquor and Cannabis
• Local Government and Land Use
• Reviewed and analyzed city and county codes and legislation for a code publishing company, and recommend updates and changes to said codes
• Political and Public Policy Law and Consulting: Represented sponsor(s) of a voter approved statewide tax reduction ballot initiative in constitutional and legal challenges against initiative brought by local governments and other organizations
• Represented the sponsor of a November 2019 ballot initiative that passed in Washington in a lawsuit challenging the ability of the Attorney General’s Office to defend the initiative competently and diligently without bias  
• Tax  
• Transportation and Logistics

• Multi-practice law firm that provides legal services to small, medium and large businesses
• Practice areas included administrative appeals and rulemaking, employment, general business, government relations, legislative history, land use, liquor and cannabis, municipal, public policy, real property, tax, trademarks, and transportation
• Provided digital legal research via LexisNexis as well as print legal research
• Drafted demand letters and briefs as required, depending on the client's circumstances
• Generally had three to six cases in active litigation in superior court
• Depositions, discovery, motions to compel discovery, declarations, motions for summary judgment, motions to dismiss 12(b)(6), responses, replies, summons and complaints, discovery requests, and related documents
• Successfully appealed an assessment of unemployment charges to a client/employer by the ESD and settled a claim of failure to garnish wages for child support made against the client with DSHS for less than 33% of the amount claimed
• Successfully litigated and settled a shareholder and employment law dispute involving mortgage fraud
• Successfully settled a dispute for demurrage fees against a well-known national rail carrier for less than 15% of the amount purportedly due after filing a Motion for Summary Judgment. Performed a regression analysis demonstrating that there was no link between the volume of railcars entering the rail station where client picked up its materials, and the (purportedly) due demurrage fees
• Successfully appealed ESD assessments of unemployment benefits for terminated employees
• Researched legislative and administrative history on sales and use tax which led to the settlement of a back-tax assessment from DoR against a prominent Seattle nightclub. The settlement amount was less than 15% of the $250,000 in sales and use tax that was purportedly not collected by the nightclub
• Litigated and settled a derivative lawsuit filed by a shareholder/employee against his former employer
• Negotiated, drafted, and edited purchase and sale agreements, security agreements, settlement agreements, and miscellaneous other contracts and "deals"
• Repeatedly organized successful political fundraisers for both Democratic and Republican candidates for public office, including those running for statewide office and/or other highly prominent races
• Successfully defended franchise food business owner from discrimination claim filed against it with the EEOC and HRC. The dispute settled for $100.00

• Health Education Labor Pensions Committee, Subcommittee on Workforce Education chaired by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA)
• Analyzed and researched potential legislation involving tax code and 1998 Workforce Investment Act
• Coordinated with business, government, legislative, and non-profit stakeholders to plan legislation to improve funding for education programs for lower-skilled workers, reauthorized Workforce Investment Act

• US Senate Health Education Labor Pensions Committee Oversight Office. Committee was chaired by now retired Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) at the time
• US Senate investigation into for-profit colleges and universities
• Compiled and analyzed enrollment and financial statistics using Microsoft Excel and SPSS
• Analyzed military and veteran’s educational benefit programs, and contributed to first draft of the Committee report on for-profit colleges’ abuse of military and veteran education benefits

• Tri-county transit benefit district for the Central Puget Sound region of WA
• Projects dealt with issues involving land use, federal and state regulations, transportation law, and mass transit development
• Helped develop initial land use plans to allow for the construction of light rail from Seattle, WA to Bellevue, WA
• Drafted an agency board of director’s motion and staff report authorizing sale of a bankruptcy claim against Lehman Brothers, legislative session summary, and multiple memorandums on land use and public law

• Drafted memorandums on federal legislation that resulted in Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010
• Conducted legal research and drafted memorandums on civil and criminal jurisdictional issues involving Public Law 280
• Drafted a variety of pleadings for prosecutorial matters

• Successful statewide referendum campaign to allow public school levies to pass with a 50% majority in WA
• Responsibilities included advance and organizing media events, coalition building, drafting press releases, elected official outreach, and representing campaign at events throughout WA

• Successful statewide anti-ballot initiative campaign to prevent repeal of the estate tax in WA and maintain funding for public education
• Organized students and young voters against anti-higher education ballot initiative
• Represented campaign at events throughout WA