Joe Gordon, Jr. joined GTH in 1968 and has been a pillar of the firm and of the legal community in the Pacific Northwest for many years. He has tried superior court cases involving a wide range of civil litigation matters in 26 of Washington’s 39 counties. Joe has regularly represented both commercial and residential rental property owners or management companies in landlord-tenant matters, including hundreds of evictions.

Joe served as a Superior Court Judge Pro-Tem for over ten years. He was a Panelist with the American Arbitration Association for over twenty years, and has been appointed as the arbitrator in dozens of superior court cases subject to mandatory arbitration.

When he’s not working, Joe and his wife Sandy stay busy with a seemingly endless array of garden tasks at their Tacoma home. He has served as Commissioner of the GTH fantasy football league each season since 1977, and is an avid follower of Stanford athletic teams. Go Cardinal!

Joe obtained a judgment on behalf of an employer against both a former employee and his subsequent employer for misappropriation of trade secrets, even though the employee had not signed a noncompetition or confidentiality agreement.

Representing a landlord, Joe successfully appealed a trial court decision that denied his client reasonable attorney fees and double damages in a commercial eviction action in which the client had prevailed.

Representing an injured worker, Joe appealed the trial court’s dismissal of his client’s claim that an industrial injury had rendered him totally disabled. The Court of Appeals reversed the dismissal, holding for the first time that the testimony of a vocational expert was relevant and admissible to establish an inability to perform gainful employment.

Joe presided over the ten-day jury trial of a medical malpractice action as a Superior Court Judge Pro-Tem. The judgment was affirmed by the Court of Appeals.

As the sole arbitrator, Joe resolved a contract dispute between a franchisee and a national franchisor. His award, issued after six days of testimony, was confirmed by the Superior Court and that confirmation was affirmed by the Court of Appeals