Richard H. Adler

When asked, “What kind of work do you do?” I respond, “I give voice to people who’ve been wronged or harmed by someone, especially when that someone or their insurance company doesn’t make it right.” Sure, it’s a longer answer than just saying, “I’m an attorney,” but it gets to the heart of why I’m passionate about this work, which is much more meaningful.

It’s often said that if you do what you love, success will follow. As the founding principal and partner at Adler Giersch, I’ve been doing what I love for more than 40 years of practice, since graduating from Georgetown Law. Injury law is second nature to me.

Part of my personal mission has been to bring a better standard of legal care to the Pacific Northwest; bridging deep legal and medical knowledge, rooted in great service and outstanding results. I’ve brought together a talented team of attorneys, paralegals, and staff who are all fiercely committed to the same values and specialize in traumatic injuries like brain, spinal cord and more. Together, with our clients, we’ve become like a big, extended family, changing lives and even changing laws.

How I care for my clients

Each one of my clients and their families are heroes to me. They push through life-altering situations that often include catastrophic physical, cognitive and financial losses. I listen and learn from each client and then I go to work to bring a voice to their experience. This really helps them to focus on healing while I (and our team) work to make insurance companies stop denying and deflecting, and start accepting our clients’ health care expenses, lost income, and pain and suffering. Even when I’m not at the office, I’m studying, writing and thinking about I can be better at what I do for my clients.

How I’m serving our community

Paying it forward is a core value for me and all the attorneys at our law firm.

While giving a voice to an individual is part of the work I do, when you discover a pattern or type of injury that’s preventable, you have a unique opportunity to give a voice to an entire community of survivors and potential victims.

It’s been an honor to work beside clients like Zackery Lystedt, state and national leaders in the medical and sports community and policy makers to change the nation’s laws on how athletes are treated when diagnosing concussions.

Even after legislation was passed in all 50 states, we kept “paying it forward” by setting up the Zackery Lystedt Endowed Professorship at the University of Washington to educate coaches, school administrators, parents, athletes, and healthcare providers on traumatic brain injuries. We also established “Endowed Fund for Traumatic Brain Injury Research” at the University of Washington Medical Center to help fund young neuroscientists interested in research and treatment of those with traumatic brain injury.

This is just one example of the work my firm and I are actively engaged in within and beyond the TBI community.

When I’m not at work, you can find me...

After a week of hitting it hard at the office, I have a standing date night with my spouse. At times it seems more of a “sitting date” with good apps, popcorn, movie, and hanging with friends. I re-energize by spending time with my family, catching live music, or searching for the ultimate glass of red wine.