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AK-WA Connection 2009: Top law firm opens Anchorage office Stoel Rives is enhancing its services in Alaska by bringing some of its best natural resources, environmental lawyers to the state By Rose Ragsdale Alaska-Washington Connection
Stoel Rives LLP, one of the nation’s leading business law firms providing corporate and litigation services, recently opened an office in Anchorage.
The Seattle-based firm has nearly 400 attorneys with 74 practices operating out of 12 offices in eight primarily western states. Rated among the best regional practices in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Utah and Washington by the 2009 Chambers USA, Stoel Rives also has won national ranking among the top 10 law firms for its renewables and alternative energy practice.
Stoel has represented oil and gas companies, hotels, hospitals, ski resorts, utilities, retailers and manufacturers in Alaska for many years, and opening a new office in Alaska was a natural next step that gives the law firm the opportunity to continue providing service to its existing Alaska clients and to be a part of Stoel Rives’ deepening commitment to the Alaska marketplace, according to Stoel spokeswoman Kathleen Sebastian.
The Anchorage office focuses particularly on representation of clients engaged in the exploration and development of Alaska’s oil, gas and mineral resources and provides the full array of business and litigation services to clients in a broad range of industries.
Lots of legal muscle A cadre of leading attorneys and other professionals at Stoel Rives are now based in Anchorage. Among them: office managing partner Jim Torgerson, members Joe Perkins and John Kauffman and associate Yvonne Lamoureux.
“When I looked at the Alaska legal market last fall, I couldn’t understand why the major Northwest firm most focused on energy and natural resources didn’t have an office in Alaska,” said Torgerson. “Those are the primary drivers of our economy. When I learned Stoel Rives was interested in opening an office here, I wanted to be part of it.”
Torgerson is a leading litigator, especially in environmental, False Claims Act, Native American, and white-collar criminal disputes. A former chief of both the civil and criminal divisions of the U.S. attorney’s office in Alaska, he has represented such leading companies as Alaska Airlines, Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., Cook Inlet Region Inc., Koniag Development Corp., KPMG LLP, NANA Development Corp. and Peak Oilfield Service Co.
Perkins, who practices in the firm’s resources, development and environment group, represents mining companies, oil and gas companies, Native corporations and financial institutions in connection with mining and oil and gas properties, transactions and projects. In nearly 30 years, he has worked for virtually every major mining, oil and gas company active in Alaska, for their lenders in particular transactions and for several Alaska Native regional corporations.
Perkins also has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America in the area of natural resources law.
In July, corporate attorney John Kauffman joined the Anchorage office, adding further scope to the firm’s Alaska presence.
Kauffman has represented investors, entrepreneurs and corporate management in a variety of business and strategic matters. His work has included startup formation and growth, mergers and acquisitions, venture capital, commercial and other private financings, public securities offerings and public company reporting and compliance.
Lamoureux is an associate with a practice that encompasses a variety of litigation matters, including contract disputes, environmental litigation and white collar criminal defense.
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