Douglas R. Shepherd

Attorney At Law
I was born and raised on the prairie of Montana. My immediate family included four very active brothers, one of which is my identical twin. I graduated from Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Montana. The United States Navy brought me to Whidbey Island, Washington, to fly the A-6 Intruder during the Vietnam War. When I first crossed over the Deception Pass Bridge, I immediately fell in love with the area and never left.

After leaving the Navy, thankful for the G.I Bill and its commitment to education, I attended the University Of Puget Sound Law School (now Seattle University Law School). Immediately after graduating from law school in 1979, with honors, I opened my law firm in Whatcom County, Washington.

My interests include family, reading, skiing, and baseball. I am blessed with a remarkable wife, a beautiful daughter, an amazing son-in-law, and three perfect grandchildren. My grandchildren accept all of my flaws and appear to believe I am faultless; unfortunately, this very small minority is not likely to last.

I am also blessed to work with extraordinary people who care deeply about justice, what we do, and the legal issues our clients ask us to resolve for them. On a daily basis we get to write, speak and argue about justice, what a gift. We are able to participate in great conversations about profoundly important individual and community issues, while being challenged daily by the following words of a philosopher whom I first read in college:

“Our words, our phrases, our forms and processes and modes of thought, are common property, fashioned and perfected from age to age; an heirloom which every succeeding generation inherits as a precious deposit and sacred trust to be handed on to the next one, not unchanged but enlarged and purified, with some clear marks of its proper handiwork. Into this, for good or ill, is woven every belief of every person who has speech. . . . An awful privilege, and awful responsibility that we should help create the world in which posterity will live.”– William Clark Clifford THE ETHICS OF BELIEF

Education:

• Seattle University School of Law, J.D., Cum Laude
  • Am Jur Award, Trusts and Estates
• Rocky Mountain College, B.A., History and English

Admitted to Practice:

• Washington State Bar, 1979
• Washington State Supreme Court, 1979
• U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington, 1980
• United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, 1987
• United States Supreme Court, 1988

Professional Organizations and Licenses:

• Washington State Bar Association
• Washington State Association for Justice, Eagle
• Whatcom County Bar Association

Recent Lectures, Presentations and Faculty:

• Western Washington University, Quarterly Guest Lecturer, Censorship
• WSBA Solo & Small Firm Annual Conference, 2013 Faculty
• Whatcom County Bar Association CLE, Evidence, 2012
• NALS Annual Convention, Effective Demand Letters, 2011
• Whatcom County Bar Association CLE, Expert Witnesses, 2010
• Whatcom County Bar Association, Motions in Limine, 2009

Practice Areas:

• Personal Injury
• Malpractice
• Wrongful Death
• Civil Litigation
• Commercial Litigation
• Construction Disputes
• Real Property Disputes
• TEDRA, Trust and Estate Disputes
• Trial, Arbitration, Mediation

Community Service:

• LAW Advocates, Board of Directors*
• Washington State Association for Justice. Board of Governors 1991-1995
• Whatcom County Bar Association, Past President, 1993
• Everson Lions Club, Past President
• Everson Chamber of Commerce, Past President
• Sunrise Rotary Club, Director*
• Mt. Baker Rotary Club, Director*
• First Congregational Church of Bellingham, Moderator*

Military Service:

• Officer, United States Navy (1969-1980)
• Naval Flight Officer, Attack Squadron 196 (1971-1973; 149 Missions in Vietnam, USS Enterprise)
• Flight Instructor, Attack Squadron 128, Whidbey Island, WA (1973-1976)
• U.S. Naval Reserves, Patrol Squadron 69 (1976-1980)

*Denotes past service