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About Saalfeld Griggs
Saalfeld Griggs is a business law firm based in Oregon. Roy Harland founded the firm in Salem in 1932, and Bob Saalfeld and Jim Griggs joined in the mid-1970s.
It started as a general practice and later focused on business law and litigation. The firm keeps two offices, one in Salem and one in Bend. The lawyers are organized into practice groups that cover business law and taxation, condemnation and unconstitutional takings, creditors' rights and bankruptcy, employee benefits and executive compensation, employment law, estate planning and probate, litigation, and real estate and land use.
The firm also runs industry teams for agri-business, construction, dental services, financial services, health law, nonprofit organizations, veterinary services, and wine and vine. The firm's own listing states that 24 lawyers work there. Saalfeld Griggs serves business clients in Oregon, the Willamette Valley, and the wider Pacific Northwest, working with companies that are public and private, large and small.
Editor's Review
VerifiedLawFirms editorialFocus and practice areas
Saalfeld Griggs is a business law firm in Oregon, with offices in Salem and Bend. The firm handles work for companies that are public and private, large and small, across Oregon, the Willamette Valley and the wider Pacific Northwest.
Its practice groups cover business law and taxation, condemnation and unconstitutional takings, creditors' rights and bankruptcy, employee benefits and executive compensation, employment law, estate planning and probate, litigation, and real estate and land use. That is a wide spread for a firm of 24 lawyers, and the groups fit together in a recognisable way.
A business that buys land, builds on it, hires staff and eventually passes to the next generation touches most of those groups over its life. In my opinion, that is the clearest way to read the firm's structure.
Where litigation sits
Litigation is one of the eight named practice groups. The firm's home page and industry team pages reference construction liens and construction litigation, which places some of the courtroom work in the building trades.
Oregon construction lien claims run on strict deadlines. A claimant records a lien within a set window after last furnishing labour or materials, gives notice to the owner, and then has a limited period to file suit to foreclose the lien before it lapses. That is general Oregon procedure, not a description of any particular matter the firm has handled.
Condemnation and unconstitutional takings claims work differently again. A public body proposes to acquire property, makes an offer, and the dispute usually turns on valuation and on whether the taking is authorised at all. Those cases involve appraisers as much as lawyers, and they often settle on the number rather than on liability.
How the team is built
The site lists 24 lawyers, and the contact page names the team. The named attorneys include David M. Briggs, Randall W. Cook, Hunter B. Emerick, Margaret Y. Gander-Vo, Meghan V. Graf, Nicolai L Strommer, Brent Kinkade, Wayne A. Kinkade, James M. MacDonald, Jeffrey G. Moore, Jared Kleber and Dawnson D. Skalsky.
Lawyers are grouped by practice area, and the same people also sit on industry teams. That double structure is worth noting. A lawyer in the employment group who also works with the dental team brings both bodies of knowledge to a dental practice's hiring dispute.
The industry teams
The firm runs teams for agri-business, construction, dental, financial services, health law, nonprofit, veterinary, and wine and vine. Several of those track the economy of the Willamette Valley closely.
Wine and vine work covers land, water, labour, licensing and distribution, and a vineyard operator faces all of them in a single season. Agri-business raises similar questions on a different crop cycle. Dental and veterinary practices tend to generate transactional work: buying into a practice, buying out a retiring partner, structuring the entity, handling the staff.
Health law and nonprofit work both involve regulators as a routine party to the matter. Nonprofit boards face governance rules that for-profit directors do not, and a lawyer advising one has to know the difference. Financial services clients answer to state and federal supervisors on top of ordinary commercial law.
What the history shows
Roy Harland founded the firm in Salem in 1932. Bob Saalfeld and Jim Griggs joined in the mid-1970s, and the firm carries their names today.
It began as a general practice and later narrowed to business law and litigation. That shift is documented on the firm's own about page, and it tells a reader something useful about how the current practice groups came to exist. The specialisation followed decades of general work rather than preceding it.
A firm that has operated in one city since 1932 has watched the local business base change several times over. Salem's economy is anchored by state government, agriculture and healthcare, and the firm's industry teams line up with that mix.
Two offices
The Salem office is the older of the two. The Bend office puts the firm on the other side of the Cascades, in central Oregon, where the client base and the land use questions differ from those in the valley.
Deschutes County land use disputes tend to involve destination resorts, water rights and rural residential zoning. Marion County matters more often concern farmland conversion and urban growth boundaries. A firm working in both places handles two different regulatory conversations.
What a prospective client can verify
The firm publishes its practice groups, its industry teams, its lawyer count and its team roster. It also states its founding year and names the people behind the name. As a reviewer, that is the kind of self-description that can be checked against public records, which is what a directory built on evidence asks for.
What the site does not publish are individual attorney bios, law schools or bar admission years on the pages reviewed here. A prospective client who wants that detail will find it through the Oregon State Bar's member directory, which lists admission dates and disciplinary history for every licensed Oregon lawyer.
The firm maintains Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn accounts. LinkedIn in particular tends to carry individual lawyer profiles for firms of this size, and it is a reasonable next stop for someone researching a specific attorney.
Who this firm fits
The work described on the site is business-side work. Companies, employers, property owners, creditors and business owners planning their estates are the recurring client types across the eight practice groups.
Someone with a commercial dispute in the Willamette Valley, a construction payment problem, an employment claim brought by a departing employee, or a condemnation notice from a public agency will find those matters named in the firm's own practice list. The same applies to a business owner in central Oregon working through the Bend office.
In my opinion, the industry team structure is the most informative thing on the site. It signals that the firm has enough repeat work in wine, agriculture, dentistry and veterinary medicine to organise lawyers around those clients. Firms build teams where the volume already exists.
Saalfeld Griggs PC has practised in Salem since 1932 and now runs eight practice groups and eight industry teams across two Oregon offices with 24 lawyers.
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Alan M. Sorem
Alan M. Sorem is a partner at Saalfeld Griggs PC in Salem, Oregon. He earned a B.A. from St. John's University in 2001 and a J.D. from Willamette University College of Law in 2006. His practice focuses on real estate, property law, land use and zoning, and appeals.
Annie Nelson
Annie M. Nelson is an attorney with Saalfeld Griggs PC. Her practice is based in Bend, Oregon.
Brent Kinkade
Brent S Kinkade is an attorney with Saalfeld Griggs PC in Bend, Oregon. He received a B.A. cum laude from Brigham Young University in 1990 and earned a J.D. with honors from the University of Washington in 1993. His practice covers estate planning, business law, corporate law, real estate, and securities matters. He speaks French.
Caleb A. Williams
Caleb A. Williams earned a J.D. from Willamette University College of Law in 2001 and a B.A. from George Fox University in 1997. He is an attorney and shareholder at Saalfeld Griggs PC in Salem, Oregon, where he counsels businesses, business owners, and investors on entity selection, formation, and maintenance, as well as the sale or disposition of businesses. He drafts, evaluates, and negotiates commercial contracts and complex transactions, including sales, acquisitions, mergers, and joint ventures, and advises clients on intellectual property matters, primarily trademarks and copyrights. He is a member of the firm's Winery, Vineyard and Brewery Industry Team and has represented clients in industries such as retail, manufacturing, real estate, and health care.
Daniel S. Reynolds
Daniel S. Reynolds is a litigation attorney at Saalfeld Griggs PC in Salem, Oregon. He earned his Juris Doctor from Lewis & Clark Law School in 2015 and a Bachelor of Arts from Trinity Western University. His practice focuses on commercial and business litigation, including real property disputes, shareholder and derivative actions, trust and probate matters, and contract claims. Before joining Saalfeld Griggs, he worked as a law clerk with the Oregon Department of Justice and the Federal Public Defender.
David M. Briggs
David Briggs earned a B.A. from Boston University and a J.D. from the University of Oregon School of Law. He is a partner at Saalfeld Griggs PC in Salem, Oregon, and previously served as Legislative Director for the National Association of Workforce Boards. His practice focuses on representing management in employment matters and HIPAA compliance, including advising companies on employment laws and defending employers against EEOC and BOLI complaints and lawsuits in state and federal court.
Dawnson D. Skalsky
Elise M. Koletar
Emily A. Rich
Eric J. Tweed
Erich M. Paetsch
Erich M. Paetsch is a member (shareholder) at Saalfeld Griggs PC in Salem, Oregon, where he has practiced since 2000. He earned a bachelor's degree from Lewis and Clark College and a Juris Doctor from Northwestern School of Law. He is a member of the firm's Creditors' Rights and Bankruptcy Group and its Litigation Group, focusing on legal services for financial institutions and business clients. His work includes loan document review and drafting, negotiation of loan workouts, asset recovery, bankruptcy proceedings, contract disputes, collection actions, and real property disputes such as lease disputes, title defects, and easement litigation.
Garrett T. Urrutia
Greg A. Allen
Hannah P. Dougherty
Hunter B. Emerick
Hunter B. Emerick is a member at Saalfeld Griggs PC in Salem, Oregon. He completed his legal education at Willamette University College of Law. His practice includes business and commercial litigation, construction and development, estate and trust litigation, creditors' rights and bankruptcy, and real property litigation.
James M. MacDonald
Jared Kleber
Jeffrey G. Moore
Jeffrey G. Moore earned a Bachelor of Science and a Juris Doctor from Brigham Young University. He is a shareholder at Saalfeld Griggs, PC in Salem, Oregon, where he serves as the Leader of the firm's Estate Planning Group. His practice focuses on estate planning, estate and trust administration, probate, business succession planning, and charitable planning.
Jennifer C. Paul
Jennifer C. Paul earned a B.A. from the University of Oregon and a J.D. from Willamette University College of Law. She is an associate at Saalfeld Griggs PC in Salem, Oregon, where her practice focuses on general business litigation and employment litigation and advice. She represents clients in business disputes in state and federal court, including breach of contract claims, stock valuation disputes, and enforcement of non-competition agreements. She also assists employers in defending employment-related claims such as retaliation, discrimination, wrongful discharge, and wage and hour matters.
Lani A. Patch
Margaret Y. Gander-Vo
Margaret Y. Gander-Vo is an attorney practicing at Saalfeld Griggs PC in Salem, Oregon.
Mark D. Shipman
Mark D. Shipman is a shareholder and member at Saalfeld Griggs PC in Salem, Oregon, where he serves as group leader of the firm's Real Estate and Land Use practice group. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Western Washington University and a Juris Doctor from Willamette University. His practice covers real estate transactions and land development, and he previously worked as a land use planner at a private planning firm. He also speaks on real estate and land use topics in Oregon.
Matthew K. Stevenson
Meghan V. Graf
Meghan V. Graf is an attorney based in Salem, Oregon. Her practice focuses on estate planning.
Nicolai L Strommer
Paul J. Sundermier
Paul J. Sundermier is Of Counsel at Saalfeld Griggs PC in Salem, Oregon. He earned a B.A. from Rutgers University in 1971 and a J.D. from Willamette University in 1992. His practice covers eminent domain, inverse condemnation, condemnation, civil litigation, real estate, antitrust and trade law, and administrative law.
Rachel J. Ballard
Randall P. Sutton
Randall P. Sutton is an attorney at Saalfeld Griggs PC in Salem, Oregon. His practice focuses on employment litigation, business litigation, and employment and labor matters.
Randall W. Cook
Thomas Sayeg
Thomas J. Sayeg received a B.S.C. degree from Santa Clara University and a J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. He practices business law, estate planning, real estate law, and tax law. His work also covers trusts and estates, banking law, and taxation matters. He maintains offices in Salem and Bend, Oregon.
Wayne A. Kinkade
Wayne A. Kinkade earned a B.S. from Oregon State University in 1991 and a J.D. from the University of Oregon School of Law in 1995. He is a shareholder at Saalfeld Griggs PC in Salem, Oregon, where he has practiced since 1997, and previously worked at Burt Swanson Lathen Alexander McCann & Smith, PC. His practice focuses on business law and health law, and typical engagements involve business sales and acquisitions, business management, taxation, and advising healthcare professionals.
Contact Saalfeld Griggs
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Map of 250 Church Street SE, Salem, OR (see the address above for a text alternative).