Eugene Graff | Vancouver Family Lawyer

Eugene McKell Graff, Esq. studied law at Willamette University, and obtained his J.D. in 2001; he was admitted to the Washington Bar the same year. He also has a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Graphic Design from Rutgers University and spent several years a graphic designer, art director, and art instructor before attending law school, including a volunteer stint teaching art to foster children in New Jersey.

Immediately prior to joining McKell Graff as a law partner with his life partner Meredith, Gene spent nearly 6 years as an Assistant Attorney General in the Vancouver Regional Services Division of the Washington Attorney General’s Office (AGO), where he had an extensive litigation practice primarily in juvenile law in Clark, Cowlitz, occasionally, Skamania Counties. He gained substantial appellate experience at the state Appeals and Supreme Court levels during his AGO tenure, and participated in multiple Workers Compensation jury trials. More recently he also handled unemployment cases for the state Department of Employment Security.

Gene has professionally lectured on the subject of the use of psychological experts in trial practice for the University of Washington’s Court Improvement Training Academy (CITA) in Seattle and Federal Way, and served as panelist at the Children’s Justice Conference in Seattle. Gene also served as a panelist at a Vancouver conference on the subject of child representation in dependency matters, and is a past member of the Region 6 Reasonable Efforts Symposium Committee, serving stakeholders in juvenile dependency practice in Clark, Cowlitz, and Wahkiakum Counties. He also served on the Clark County Juvenile Court Improvement Committee, which recommended and implemented changes in Clark County dependency court to minimize the amount of time parents spend in dependency court on the regular docket waiting for their cases to be called.

Prior to joining the AGO, Gene spent nearly three years as an Associate Attorney for the Vancouver law firm of Greenen & Greenen, where he practiced law primarily as a parents’ attorney in juvenile court. He also served as a court-appointed attorney for children and guardian ad litem for children and parents in juvenile court. In addition to his juvenile practice at Greenen & Greenen, he also represented landlords in landlord/tenant disputes, and gained experience cases in diverse areas such as contracts, business, real estate, construction defects, intellectual property, probate, family and criminal law. He also has experience in school law and mediation.

As a new lawyer, Gene was taught to view the proper role of a lawyer as both an advocate for and a counselor to his or her client; as a veteran lawyer, he believes that more strongly than ever. While recognizing that sometimes trial is a necessary option, most cases settle without need for trial. Gene derives great satisfaction from assisting clients in settling their differences, as studies show, consistent with his own experience, clients are generally more satisfied with negotiated settlements than they are with trial results since they are more directly involved with the solution.

Position	Organization	Location	Duration
Owner	McKell Graff, PLLC		2011 - Present

School	Degree	Major	Graduation
Willamette University College of Law	J.D.	Law School	2001
Rutgers University	Bachelor of Arts	Graphic Design	1993

State / Court	Date
Washington	2001

• Washington State Bar Association | Member | 2001 - Present

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