Washington Women Lawyers Features Claire Taylor in Newsletter

The February member newsletter of Washington Women Lawyers showcased a Q&A with Stokes Lawrence Shareholder Claire Taylor. Check out the exchange below.

Claire, can you share your journey to becoming a litigator with the U.S. Department of Justice Tax Division and how this experience has influenced your current practice?

I started my legal career at the U.S. Department of Justice Tax Division as a trial attorney. During law school, I knew I wanted to litigate and was interested in getting a lot of responsibility and experience right at the outset. I was not a tax specialist by any means. But when a Tax Division attorney who was an alum of the University of Wisconsin Law School (my alma mater, the other UW) came to share his experience at the Tax Division, I was intrigued because he told us that the trial attorneys at the Tax Division were litigators first and foremost and tax attorneys second, and I was assured that I didn’t need to know anything about tax. I took his word, and interned at the Tax Division for my 2L summer, finding he was right and that I loved the work and my Tax Division colleagues.
I started at the DOJ Tax Division shortly after I graduated through the Honors Program. My experience working as a litigator at DOJ has influenced every aspect of my litigation practice. As a new attorney, I was expected to hit the ground running, having responsibility for dozens of cases in district and bankruptcy courts in the Eastern U.S., but with full support of colleagues and managers for the all-important training, mentoring, and gut check. My time at the Tax Division taught me how to juggle varying case deadlines, develop strategy, navigating all manner of procedural rules, the necessity of checking local rules, and the importance of a collegial work environment. These are all key to my current litigation practice at Stokes Lawrence, P.S., where I am now a shareholder and litigate commercial disputes with a focus on creditors’ rights.

What inspired you to specialize in creditors’ rights and civil litigation matters?

As a tax litigator at the DOJ, my practice involved representing the IRS as a creditor in both district court and bankruptcy contexts. Although I initially specialized exclusively in tax controversy after I first moved to Seattle, I joined Stokes Lawrence in 2018 to broaden my practice to encompass creditors’ rights and other commercial litigation, including commercial landlord-tenant disputes, breach of contract suits, tax litigation, and creditor-side insolvency matters in bankruptcy courts or state court receiverships. I like these overlapping practice areas because they allow me to help clients navigate challenging circumstances to maximize recovery, whether through out of court negotiation or through litigation.
My approach is very practical and I like applying a business mindset to help my clients solve their problems as promptly, efficiently, and effectively as possible. Stokes Lawrence has been a great place to build my practice as a woman and a lawyer, as we are a majority women-owned firm and we have a very collegial, supportive approach that promotes attorney development.

What trends are you seeing in real estate disputes and commercial landlord-tenant disputes in the current legal landscape?

The post-pandemic real estate market economy continues to have an impact on commercial landlord-tenant disputes, and more broadly, on creditor-debtor disputes. In the commercial real estate context, in recent months, I have seen more commercial landlords who are facing tenant bankruptcies such as, for instance, the Rite Aid bankruptcy which has been in the news. And we continue to see disputes between commercial landlords and tenants regarding early lease termination/lease damages, where mitigation of damages (i.e. re-letting the premises) plays a big role in the dispute given the current real estate market.