Clapp, Peterson, Tiemessen, Thorsness LLC

Who the firm represents

This is a defense-side practice, and that fact sets the tone for everything else. The firm works for businesses, business owners, professionals and insurance companies. Much of its day is spent answering negligence and liability claims brought against those clients.

The client list tells you a lot. When a doctor, a dentist, a real estate agent or a lawyer faces a malpractice allegation, this is the kind of firm that responds on their behalf. It also stands in for professionals in matters before state licensing boards.

In my opinion, the clearest way to read a firm is by who sits at its table. Here the clients are companies, insurers and licensed professionals, not the people bringing the claims. That is a real distinction, and it should help anyone deciding whether this practice fits their situation.

Focus and practice areas

The list of practice areas is long, and it leans toward liability and professional risk. Products liability, professional liability, medical malpractice and insurance defense all appear on it. Commercial litigation sits in the mix as well.

Some entries are more specific than you might expect from a general firm. It names dentist liability, nursing license defense, legal malpractice defense and real estate agent liability as separate lines of work. Professional license defense and general professional liability sit alongside them.

A few areas point to Alaska itself. Aviation law, firearms manufacturer defense and recreational vehicles all show up, which fits a state where those questions come up more often than in most. Political practice rounds out the set.

Defending professionals and their licenses

The thread running through much of this work is the licensed professional under pressure. A malpractice claim is one kind of threat. A board complaint that puts a license at risk is another, and the firm names that second type of matter directly.

That combination is useful to see stated plainly. A professional facing both a lawsuit and a licensing review needs someone who handles each. As a reviewer, I read the paired offerings as a sign the firm knows those two problems tend to arrive together.

How the team is built

The firm lists five attorneys. Four carry the title of Senior Attorney, and one is an Associate. The named lawyers are Michael Cohn, John J. Tiemessen, Constance C. Ringstad, Megan E. Edlund and Joe C. Martin.

The senior attorneys

Michael Cohn practices in Anchorage. He earned a J.D. from the University of Oregon in 1984 and a B.S. in accounting from Brooklyn College at the City University of New York in 1975. His work covers civil litigation, aviation, personal injury, medical malpractice, workers' compensation, admiralty and maritime law, appellate practice and products liability.

John J. Tiemessen holds a J.D. from Willamette University, earned in 1991, and a B.S. from Arizona State University from 1987. His practice centers on civil litigation, professional and medical malpractice, personal injury, torts and occupational licensing matters. The accounting-and-litigation and the licensing threads give the group range.

Constance C. Ringstad earned a J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1983 and a B.A. from the University of Denver in 1980. She handles torts and personal injury, insurance, workers' compensation, medical malpractice and product liability involving defective and dangerous products, along with international law.

The rest of the roster

The firm also names Megan E. Edlund as a Senior Attorney and Joe C. Martin as an Associate, both working from Fairbanks. The website does not publish detailed biographies for either, so their schooling and admission dates stay unstated here. I would rather leave that blank than fill it with a guess.

Two offices and statewide work

The firm keeps two offices, one in Anchorage and one in Fairbanks. It states that it is the only law firm in Alaska to maintain two fully staffed offices, and it says it serves clients throughout the state.

For a place the size of Alaska, that second base is worth noting. A Fairbanks office puts the firm closer to the Interior, while the Anchorage office covers the south-central center of the state's population. Together they cut down the distance between a client and a lawyer.

What the record shows

The firm reports that it has received Martindale-Hubbell's AV rating. It also says several of its attorneys have been selected for inclusion in Super Lawyers. Both are outside assessments rather than the firm's own words, which counts for something on a directory built around evidence.

On experience, the firm states that its attorneys hold more than 100 combined years of legal practice. It describes an active trial practice and says it uses arbitration, mediation and other dispute resolution methods in addition to litigation. So the work does not begin and end in a courtroom.

What stands out is the consistency. The stated experience, the defense-side client base and the mix of trial and settlement work all pull in one direction. This reads as a firm set up to defend professionals, businesses and insurers when a claim lands, and its own pages keep pointing back to that role.