Our Firm

Chronology
2012 — xxxx — Bailey Onsager
2012 — 2012 — Bailey Grant Onsager
1994 — 2012 — Stafford Frey Cooper
1988 — 1994 — Stafford, Frey, Cooper & Stewart
1978 — 1988 — Stafford, Frey & Mertel
1975 — 1978 — Scholfield & Stafford
1971 — 1975 — Guttormsen, Scholfield & Stafford
1951 — 1971 — Guttormsen, Scholfield, Willlits & Ager
1949 — 1951 — Law offices of George Guttormsen
1945 — 1949 — Laube, Laughlin & Guttormsen
1939 — 1945 — Laube & Laughlin
1934 — 1939 — Grinstead, Laube & Laughlin
1929 — 1934 — Grinstead, Laube, Laughlin & Meakim
1928 — 1929 — Grinstead, Laube, Laughlin & Lichty
19xx — 1928 — Grinstead, Laube & Laughlin
1916 — 19xx — Grinstead & Laube
1915 — 1916 — Trefethen Grinstead & Laube
1910 — 1915 — Trefethen & Grinstead
Founder Biographies
Daniel B. Trefethen was born in New Hampshire in 1876. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Amherst College in 1898 and his law degree from Harvard in 1901. He then moved to Seattle, and in 1910 formed a partnership with Loren Grinstead under the name of Trefethen & Grinstead. Mr. Trefethen was active in the bar association and served on several important committees. He was the President of the Library Board under various city administrations and according to at least one historian, was “one of the most progressive members that body ever had.” Boswell, H. James. American Blue Book Western Washington, Seattle, Lowman and Hanford Co., 1922. p. 140. Mr. Trefethen was also a member of the board of trustees of the Chamber of Commerce and chairman of the Chamber's Civic Bureau.

Loren Grinstead was born in Missouri in 1880 and moved to Seattle with his family as a child in 1888. He earned his law degree from the University of Washington in 1905, and soon after formed the firm of Trefethen & Grinstead with Daniel Trefethen, which several years later added William Laube and became Trefethen, Grinstead & Laube. According to at least one historian, Mr. Grinstead’s firm was “one of the best known … in the state,” and his “qualifications have placed him in the front rank of his profession.” Boswell, H. James. American Blue Book Western Washington, Seattle, Lowman and Hanford Co., 1922, p. 164. He was a Spanish-American war veteran and served as Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives of the Washington State Legislature. According to writer Judy Bivens, “there was no member of the Seattle bar of more pleasing personality ... and his policies and methods have always been along ethical lines, and [he always received] the respect and esteem of bench and bar.” Id.

William T. Laube was “one of the best equipped lawyers in Seattle.” Boswell, H. James. American Blue Book Western Washington, Seattle, Lowman and Hanford Co., 1922. p. 173. He was born in Wisconsin in 1880 and came to the Pacific Northwest with his family as a teen in 1893, settling in Bellingham. He earned his B.A. from the University of Washington in 1902, and his law degree from UW in 1904. In 1915, he became a member of the firm of Trefethen, Grinstead & Laube. A year later the firm changed its name to Grinstead & Laube. Mr. Laube was active in politics and civic affairs—he served for two years as Assistant Secretary of the Washington State Senate, and then for four years as Secretary of the Senate. He was also a trustee and Secretary of the Seattle Bar Association. Mr. Laube was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta and the Phi Beta Kappa fraternities, the Elks, Shriners, Arctic Club, College Club, Chamber of Commerce and various county, state and national bar associations. “William T. Laube [was] unquestionably one of the wide awake and most alert members of the Washington bar and represent[ed] a large and representative clientele. A man of pleasing personality and a close student of human nature, he … made and retained friendships as few [could].” Id.