The Firm

Patterson Buchanan is a Pacific Northwest law firm with offices located in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle, Washington and in downtown Portland, Oregon. The firm's five founding principals were previously partners at a long-standing litigation firm in Seattle. Michael Patterson, Patricia Buchanan, Duncan Fobes, Charles Leitch, and Karen Kalzer collectively departed, with a select group of associates, to form Patterson Buchanan in June 2007. The founding principals formed Patterson Buchanan Fobes Leitch & Kalzer, Inc., P.S. for the purposes of better serving their existing clients and establishing one of the premier public entity and litigation defense firms in the Northwest United States.

Patterson Buchanan opened its doors in June 2007 with a staff of twenty-two. Since then, the firm has nearly tripled in size and expanded regionally. We are proud to have hired highly credentialed associate attorneys with diverse backgrounds. Our attorneys have clerked for state and federal judges in trial and appellate courts, and have worked for public entities, insurance companies, and corporations. Regardless of their backgrounds, however, our attorneys all share a firm commitment to client service and aggressive advocacy.

Despite its rapid expansion, Patterson Buchanan continues to focus on defending municipal, business, and religious entities in all manner of litigation. We also maintain general counsel, transactional, and administrative/regulatory practices. We are retained in a consultative capacity to support local legal counsel in key areas of our practice. In addition, when consistent with our mission statement, we accept plaintiffs' cases on a contingency basis.