Lukins & Annis To Pick Up Lawyers From Dissolving Firm

Regional law giant Lukins & Annis will get even bigger by picking up four lawyers from the dissolving firm of Underwood, Campbell, Brock and Cerutti.

Partners Roger Underwood and Pat Cerutti will move to Lukins & Annis starting Oct. 1., bringing 55 years of experience in estate planning and corporate law between them. Two more of the firm’s 12 lawyers will join them in moving to Lukins & Annis.

The dissolution of Underwood, Campbell, Brock and Cerutti reflects the partners’ desire to go in different directions, Cerutti said Wednesday. “There was no animosity between the partners: we simply wanted to go in separate directions.”

Underwood, Campbell, Brock and Cerutti will close its offices in Spokane, Ritzville, Davenport, St. John, Sprague and Odessa.

The Spokane offices at 601 West Riverside will be sublet, he said.

The three lawyers in the Davenport office will keep that space and open a new practice, Cerutti said. “They’ve been trying to expand their client base a bit more out there.”

The addition of Underwood and Cerutti along with agricultural law specialist Dan Cadagan and environmental land use specialist Dan Danforth will strengthen Lukins and Annis, said Philip Carstens, president of the firm, which will will have 49 attorneys after the merger. Lukins & Annis has six offices in Eastern Washington and North Idaho.

The move also nudges Lukins & Annis past Paine, Hamblen, Coffin, Brooke & Miller as the largest firm in Eastern Washington and North Idaho, Carstens said.

The two firms have gone back and forth in claiming the distinction as each has added more personnel, he said.

A number of Underwood, Campbell, Brock and Cerutti paralegals and support staff will follow the four lawyers to Lukins & Annis, Cerutti said. Personnel managers from Lukins & Annis will interview all of the approximately 25 support staffers for possible positions, he said.

“I’m extremely excited about having Roger and Pat come over here,” Carstens said.

, DataTimes