Burroughs	Lawler

Brian Lawler and Blair Burroughs are long-time Bainbridge Island residents, partners in the Seattle law firm Lawler, Burroughs & Baker, and — according to Washington Law & Politics magazine — Super Lawyers.

“Super Lawyers,” Washington Law and Politic’s Web site explains, “names Washington’s top lawyers as chosen by their peers and through the independent research of Law & Politics.” The end result is an annual list of the top five percent of attorneys in more than 60 practice specialties.

This is the fifth year that Burroughs has been named a Super Lawyer and the fourth for Lawler. It’s a recognition that they are pleased with, but it’s not going to their heads.

“In a small firm it’s important to have credibility,” said Lawler. “The primary value [of the award] to me is simply to be able to know that in a small law firm you can be recognized.”

The two attorneys have been practicing together since 1996. Lawler’s focus is real estate development, land use, and environmental law. Burroughs is, in Lawler’s words, the firm’s “super litigator.” The firm’s third partner, Robert Baker, who is also a Bainbridge Island resident, primarily works in business and tax law.

Neither of the two experienced attorneys – both have been practicing for close to 30 years – thought they would go into law when they began their undergraduate studies.

“It just happened,” laughed Burroughs. Born in Texas and raised in Idaho, Burroughs attended the University of Washington and earned both a Bachelor’s in English Literature and a Master’s in Russian Literature.

“Then I decided I had to make some money so I went to law school,” he said.

After receiving his law degree in 1978, Burroughs served as a law clerk to the Chief Justice of the Idaho Supreme Court for a year, then returned to the University of Washington law school to teach before entering private practice.

I wanted to ease into adulthood,” joked Burroughs.

“I thought I was going to be a teacher,” said Lawler of his early career plans. But, he continued, about two-thirds of the way through college he became interested in public policy. He started his undergraduate work at Dartmouth, completed it at Berkeley, then returned to the east coast to attend law school at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

Lawler’s early work was in environmental law, and he worked for a time for the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Upon relocating to Washington in 1978, however, he was unable to find an environmental law position that satisfied him, and so he joined the Seattle law firm Short, Cressman & Burgess.

“I learned a broader range of legal skills there,” said Lawler. His interests eventually moved into his current focus on real estate law.

Lawler worked for Short, Cressman & Burgess for 15 years, and served as an undergraduate faculty member at the University of Washington. In 1994 he left the firm to start his own practice, Lawler and Associates. That firm eventually evolved into Lawler and Burroughs, in 1996, and then Lawler, Burroughs & Baker in 2001.

The two super lawyers have been Bainbridge Island residents for more than 20 years. For them working in Seattle and living on Bainbridge Island gives them the best of both worlds.

“We can live in a small town environment but still practice in a big city law firm,” said Burroughs.