Roger M. Townsend

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Photo: Brian Smale
  • Phone: (206) 652-8660
  • Fax: (206) 652-8290
  • Email: rtownsend@bjtlegal.com

Practice Description

Roger Townsend is an experienced trial attorney who has practiced in Seattle since 1995. Townsend is a zealous advocate for his clients in federal and state court, as well as private arbitration and mediation. His practice focuses on representing individuals against companies, protecting and enforcing their rights in employment and business relationships. Townsend co-founded Breskin Johnson & Townsend PLLC in 2007.

Townsend is active in public service. He is the Chair-Elect of the Ninth Circuit Lawyer Representatives Coordinating Committee and a Member of the Ninth Circuit’s Conference Executive Committee. He is a past President of the Federal Bar Association for the Western District of Washington and has been appointed by the Court as a representative of the Western District of Washington at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judicial Conference and the Roadways to the Bench Program. Townsend served as a city councilmember, volunteers for a free civil rights legal clinic, co-founded a program introducing students to Constitutional principles, and regularly moderates and coordinates panels for continuing legal education and important issues in the legal profession to Judges and members of the Bar.

Professional Honors and Affiliations

  • Advisory Council Member of the Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society, 2024

  • Program Chair of the Ninth Circuit’s Conference Executive Committee, 2023-2024

  • Chair of the Lawyer Representatives Coordinating Committee, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judicial Conference, 2023-2024

  • Chair-Elect, Lawyer Representatives Coordinating Committee, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judicial Conference, 2023

  • Roadways to the Bench, Appointed by the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington to the bench-bar committee supporting diverse representation on the Federal Bench, 2023

  • Member, Conference Executive Committee, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judicial Conference, 2021-2024

  • President, Federal Bar Association, Western District of Washington, 2016-2017

  • Co-Chair, Past Presidents Committee, Federal Bar Association, Western District of Washington, 2018-2023

  • Faculty Member, Federal Bar Association for the Western District of Washington Annual Litigation Academy, 2019-2022

  • Ninth Circuit Lawyer Representative, 2017-2020

  • Named “Super Lawyer” by Washington Law & Politics, 2008 to present

  • “AV” rated by Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review (highest rating)

  • AVVO rating: 10.0 (highest rating)

  • Councilmember, Bainbridge Island, Washington City Council, 2013–2017

  • Co-Founder, Constitution Day, an educational program in the classroom and courtroom teaching 4th and 5th grade students constitutional principles

  • Volunteer, Federal Bar Association, Western District of Washington Civil Rights Legal Clinic, 2006 to present

  • Training participant, Postpartum Support International, Perinatal Mood Disorders: Components of Care, 2022

  • Law Clerk to the Honorable William L. Dwyer, United States District Judge, Western District of Washington

  • Law Clerk to the Honorable Robert R. Beezer, United States Circuit Judge, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

Admissions & Courts

  • United States Supreme Court
  • Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
  • United States District Court, W.Dist.Wa.
  • United States District Court, E.Dist.Wa.
  • Washington State Courts

Education

  • Northwestern University School of Law
  • Wesleyan University B.A., Economics