Peter Talevich is a partner whose practice focuses on complex litigation. Peter has assisted clients in a broad variety of disputes. He has successfully litigated or settled cases involving such diverse areas as:
- Consumer litigation, including claims arising under the Washington Consumer Protection Act and other consumer protection statutes, laws regulating financial institutions, and laws involving advertising;
- Disputes affecting businesses including breaches of contracts and licensing agreements, shareholder disputes, and disputes over intellectual property rights;
- Protection of goodwill, trade secrets, and confidential information, including in employee mobility disputes
- Disputes arising in probate, trusts, and estates, including litigation under the Trusts and Estates Dispute Resolution Act (TEDRA) and disputes involving estate taxation, representing beneficiaries and fiduciaries;
- Disputes arising in religious institutions regarding governance and internal dispute
- Disputes arising in secular nonprofit institutions;
- Constitutional law and civil rights, including multiple cases involving significant First Amendment implications.
Peter also has significant mediation and arbitration experience. He assists clients in all aspects of their cases, including fact and discovery, motions practice, drafting pleadings and briefs, alternative dispute resolution, and trial.
Peter is a member of the Appellate practice group and has participated in matters before the Washington Court of Appeals, the Washington Supreme Court, the Fourth, Fifth and Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court, in addition to the appellate courts of other states. In addition to serving as first chair in merits appeals in several cases, Peter is well versed and experienced in appellate motion practice and strategy.
Peter has worked for the firm since 2011. He served as Board President of the Campaign for Equal Justice, Washington's unified fund drive for civil legal aid and a program of the Legal Foundation of Washington, from 2023 through 2024. Peter also serves on the Seattle University Board of Regents. Since 2014, Peter has served as editor-in-chief of the Washington Lawyers Practice Manual, a comprehensive treatise summarizing Washington law. Peter is a former Trustee of the King County Bar Association and, prior to that, Chair of the King County Bar Association's Young Lawyers Division. The King County Bar Association has given Peter its Outstanding Young Lawyer Award (2018) and President's Award (2014) and nominated him for its Outstanding Mentor Award.
Peter has been recognized as a “Super Lawyer” by Washington Law and Politics since 2023 and was previously recognized as a “Rising Star” from 2013 through 2022. Peter is listed as a “Best Lawyer in America” for both Commercial Litigation and Trust and Estate Litigation.
Peter has provided extensive pro bono services to clients throughout his career. For nearly a decade he volunteered for the Housing Justice Project Legal Clinic at King County Superior Court representing tenants facing eviction. Peter's pro bono focus now lies with assisting survivors of sex trafficking to vacate prior criminal convictions and obtain a clean slate. Earlier in his career, Peter has served as counsel to plaintiffs in a widely publicized civil rights case filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, and in another case, successfully defended an individual client in a contentious tort proceeding on a pro bono basis. Peter recently represented a tenant in an affirmative claim against a former landlord, obtaining a settlement for the client and payment of reasonable attorneys’ fees.
Concurrently with his litigation practice, Peter serves as assistant general counsel to the firm.
Peter was a summer associate at K&L Gates in 2009. Prior to joining the firm, he served as a judicial extern to the Honorable Thomas S. Zilly, United States District Judge for the Western District of Washington, and as a research assistant to Professor John McKay.
- Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® in Seattle, WA
- Commercial Litigation, 2023-2026
- Litigation - Trusts and Estates, 2026
- Named to Super Lawyers list, 2024-2026
- Named to the Washington Rising Stars list, 2013-2023
- Recipient of King County Bar Association Outstanding Young Lawyer Award, 2018
- Recipient of the King County Bar Association President’s Award, 2014
- Winner of 2009 National Burton Award for Distinguished Writing
- Recipient of Dean’s Medal, Seattle University School of Law, 2009
- Obtained Certified Legal Project Manager (LawVision) Certification, 2018
- Regent, Seattle University, 2022–present
- Board President, Campaign for Equal Justice of the Legal Foundation of Washington, board member since 2018
- Trustee, King County Bar Association; Chair, King County Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, 2015-2016; Vice Chair, 2014-2015, Trustee, 2013-2016
- Editor in Chief, King County Bar Association Washington Lawyers Practice Manual, 2012 through present
- King County Prosecutor Fellowship (represented the state of Washington in several felony jury trials), 2014
- United Way of King County, Emerging Leader Promotor and Member, Legal Steering Committee
- Seattle University School of Law Alumni Board
- 2017 Chair, Alumni Steering Committee for Seattle University School of Law Public Interest Law Foundation Auction
- Editor-in-chief, Washington Lawyers Practice Manual (2014-present)
- Contributing author, ABA Section on Intellectual Property Law, Annual Trade Secret Law Report (2014-2015)
- Author, Note, During and In Relation To: How the Ninth Circuit Rewrote a Statute in the Case of the Millennium Bomber, 32 SEATTLE U. L. REV. 477 (2009)
