| is an AV rated, medium-sized general practice firm established in 1925. The firm provides legal services throughout Washington and adjoining northwest Oregon counties, with a majority of our clients located in Cowlitz, Clark, Lewis, Wahkiakum, Pacific, Clatsop and Columbia counties. |
Walstead Mertsching traces its beginnings to early 1925 when Howard J. Atwell (1880-1962) and Ronald Moore (1897-1968) opened an office on the second floor of the old Masonic Building in Kelso. Atwell left the firm to become a Cowlitz County Superior Court Judge in 1934, and Moore continued as a sole practitioner. Jerome R. Walstead (1913-1981) joined Moore as an associate in 1946, after serving in the Judge Advocate General Corps of the U.S. Army during World War II. After Walstead became a partner, the firm began adding additional attorneys in the '50s and '60s. Many of the attorneys employed by the firm have gone on to become owners. Charles T. Mertsching, who is now retired, joined the firm in 1960. He was followed by Odine H. Husemoen and D. L. "Don" Donaldson a few years later. In the 1970's the firm added John A. Barlow, Barry J. Dahl, Stephen L. Wanderer, and C.C. Bridgewater, Jr. They were joined in the 1980's and 1990's by Norman C. Dick, Mark S. Brumbaugh, and Michael A. Claxton. Matthew J. Andersen and Frank F. Randolph are the firm's most recent shareholders. Chelsea C. Baldwin and Kendra C. Sprague are currently associates with the firm. In addition to Judge Atwell, two other firm members have served in public office: Alan Hallowell, as Cowlitz County Superior Court Judge, and C. C. Bridgewater, Jr., first as Cowlitz County Prosecuting Attorney and now as Justice of the Washington State Court of Appeals, Division II. The firm name has changed as new partners were named and others retired. However, when Jerry Walstead passed away in 1981, the remaining attorneys elected to retain his name as an ongoing memorial. The firm moved from Kelso to Longview in 1963, and five years later occupied the top floor of the newly-constructed Weyerhaeuser Credit Union Building as its first major tenant. In 1981 the firm built its own offices in the 12th and Fir Building in Longview. As of April 2007, the offices are located at the Civic Center Professional Building, Third Floor, 1700 Hudson Street in Longview (next to the Longview Post Office) - where our attorneys and staff look forward to serving the citizens of Southwest Washington and adjoining Oregon counties for many more years to come. |
