Talent Mandatory. Suit Optional.
Interested in Legal Mastery, Autonomy, and Purpose?
See Where You Can Shine
You Have the Talent
We will help you develop the skills.
You’re smart, hardworking, and creative. Within our halls are some of the best trial lawyers in the Pacific Northwest. We will show you how to become a master of the courtroom and the boardroom. At Smith Freed Eberhard you will not have to wait 8 to 10 years to do interesting work. You’re out front and learning the art of the litigation on day 1.

YOU WILL MEET CLIENTS TO GIVE THEM ADVICE

Not to sit and listen.

YOU WILL GO TO COURT TO ARGUE

Not to carry someone’s bags.

YOU WILL ATTEND DEPOSITIONS TO EXAMINE WITNESSES

Not to take notes.

YOU WILL COMPETE WITH YOUR ADVERSARIES

Not other lawyers at the firm.

Interested?
We’re hiring.

We’re always searching for amazing people to join our team. Take a look at our current openings.

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Deep Relationships
and Friendships
Bring your whole self to work. Partners and Associates build friendships outside the traditional boundaries of work. We believe that we better serve our purpose and principles by creating engaging opportunities for our attorneys to grow as both attorneys and individuals. We are known for firm events, such as our annual associate retreat, fun February, SFE growth academy, and attorney happy hours, just to name a few. These events help break down the conventional barriers and hierarchies that characterize many law firms.

Trial Lawyers

Not bag carriers.

We Will Train You

Really…

We Celebrate Our Wins

And learn from our losses.

We Respect

Each other. All the time. No exceptions.

Hard Work Beats Talent
When Talent Doesn’t Work Hard
THE ART OF TRIAL WORK

Our emphasis is on quality, not quantity. We do not believe in overworking a matter to bill hours – we focus on resolution. This means many of our associates get to handle depositions, client meetings, alternative dispute resolution and trial work and our clients receive the benefit of a deeply knowledgeable team and efficient defense.

INTERESTING AND CHALLENGING WORK

Companies hire us to do their most important and challenging cases. As a result, we do some of the most interesting work around.

WE VALUE TALENT NOT SENIORITY

We are a meritocracy. You are not judged by anything other than the quality of your work and content of your character.

THERE IS NO 1st YEAR ASSOCIATE WORK — THERE IS ONLY WORK

If you demonstrate you are capable of doing the work that a fifth-year lawyer would do at another firm your first year, you will do it. Our goal is to provide every associate the opportunity to master the skills needed to excel in the courtroom and the board room. Some of the best trial lawyers in the country will show you how to become a master of the courtroom.

I Want the Truth!
You Can’t Handle the Truth!
WHY SHOULD I WORK AT SMITH FREED EBERHARD?

We believe Smith Freed Eberhard is a great place to work because we take care of each other. We have great benefits and plenty of perks to go along with it. We provide the flexibility to establish a good work-life balance. We have established a company culture that allows us to succeed and develop each other along the way.

IF YOU COULD CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT SFE, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

This is a tough question because there will always be aspects of a job that aren’t ideal (you know, like the having-to-work part). I suppose I’d like to never have to worry about budgets. I wish I had the freedom to meet every need without cost in mind.

WHAT KIND OF BENEFITS DO YOU OFFER?

We think our benefits package is pretty on-point. We have 100% paid medical/dental/vision packages that are at no cost for our employees, amongst many other programs that help with bar dues, mass transit, 401k contributions, voluntary insurances (life, short-term and long-term disability). Not to mention our mentorship programs, trial advocacy programs, retreats, massages, happy hours, celebratory firm events. The list goes on.

WHAT DO YOU DO FOR FUN AT SFE?

We pretty much find any excuse to do fun things throughout the year. From Thanksgiving Potlucks, to celebrating passing the bar to Fun February – where there’s an event hosted by different departments every day during the month of February! That’s right. Every day. From bake offs to movie and popcorn days, from guessing games to File Clerk Fiestas, we like to believe we know how to have fun around here. And an unforeseen perk of all of this – we tend to be able to break people out of their shells with all the fun shenanigans, which just makes us closer to each other, so we really operate like one big team.

WHAT ARE THE HOURS LIKE?

How efficient are you? There are a few different paths you can take. If you come into work and spend several hours talking to Karen about your new basket-weaving class, you may have to stay a little late. However, if you get your work done, meet deadlines, and have a good attitude, you can work as little or as much as you want. There are billable requirements, but for the most part people tend to be in office for the core hours of 10-4, unless you’re working from home or are out of the office attending trial or working elsewhere. But truly, we’re pretty flexible here and try to meet our employee’s needs, just as they try to meet ours.

WHAT CHALLENGES MIGHT I FACE IF I WORKED HERE?

You may get constant emails regarding free food in the kitchen. In all seriousness, though, people who refuse to ask questions don’t do well here. We have an open door policy for a reason. We are an open book and we pride ourselves on our training programs, be it our Black Belt program, our Lunch & Learns for CLE Credit, Trial Talks, SFE Academy, or any other platform we can find to continue the personal and professional growth of our employees and attorneys. We want you to ask questions so that we both know that the work is being done correctly – and communication is truly your key to success at SFE

HOW DO YOU VIEW STAFF IN YOUR OFFICE?

No one is of lesser value based on their job description at SFE. We all work together to be a great firm not only great attorneys, we know that no one has ever accomplished anything great by themselves. We’re constantly making decisions as a firm—giving everyone a voice (you’ll see the firm-wide survey to back it up!). We pride ourselves on being inclusive, open, and honest.

Black Belt
Trial Advocacy Training
The firm offers a unique and exciting trial advocacy training program taught by the best trial advocacy instructors in the Pacific Northwest—our own partners. Many firm partners are the leading trial lawyers in the Pacific Northwest. Others are recognized as National Institute of Trial Advocacy (“NITA”) lawyers, Best Lawyers and Super Lawyers. You will be taught how to create a winning theme, a compelling opening statement, the insight on how to win at voir dire, and how to conclude your legal mastery with a closing statement that brings it all together.