Spokane-based Feltman Ewing PS has seen two years of steady growth following its merger and expected another year of consistent growth, but recent developments have forced the firm to scale back its year-end expectations.

“It has been a good experience for all of us, I think, and frankly, we have outperformed what we expected going into the merger,” says J.P. Diener, shareholder attorney and member of the executive committee. 

He adds, “The overall operation of the firm has gone quite smoothly compared to what we initially expected. … We basically have things moving like a well-oiled machine at this point. We’ve been able to adapt quickly to new issues that have arisen — including this new coronavirus situation that we’re dealing with now.”

Diener declines to disclose the company’s annual revenue but says between 2017 and 2018 the company saw 10% to 15% growth in revenue.

That trend continued from 2018 to 2019 and was expected to continue through 2020, but the coronavirus has forced the company to scale back its expectations, he says.

“We would like to at the very least maintain (our revenue). With this virus situation, we’ve got to curb our enthusiasm a little bit about what’s going to happen because there’s so much uncertainty,” he says. “We’re still working. We’re still fully operational here, but it’s going to affect our clients; it’s going to affect us.”

He adds, “All things being equal, I think we would have seen that same growth, but who knows?”

Despite the expected slowdown, Diener says the company is still keeping an eye out for potential new team members that could add or complement the firms practice areas.

Feltman Ewing was formed two years ago when two Spokane-based law firms, Feltman, Gebhardt, Greer & Zeimantz PS and Ewing Anderson PS merged.

The firm has 10 shareholders, two associate attorneys, one of-counsel attorney, and a support staff of nine.

Diener describes the firm culture as relaxed with a professional atmosphere, adding that the practice puts on at least one team building and fun activity a season, with spring, summer, and holiday functions, as well as a fall retreat.

“We try to build the congeniality between the partners and among the staff,” he says. “Relaxed but professional, that’s what we’re aiming for.”

The practice is located in the Paulsen Center, at 421 W. Riverside, downtown, where it occupies the entire roughly 5,600-square-foot 16th floor of the center and about 3,300 square feet on the 12th floor.

The firm focuses on the civil side of law, Diener says, though one attorney does practice federal criminal defense. It offers business law — particularly commercial transactions and litigation — and insurance law, which includes insurance defense and personal injury representation.

It also practices intellectual property, real estate, construction, employment, and family law.

None of the practice areas have expanded since the merger, Diener says, and the firm handles a fairly even mix of cases in each area.

“We haven’t really expanded beyond what the two firms were practicing originally, but with the exception of the family law, the two firms were really kind of mirror images,” says Diener.

He adds that new clients are still being accepted.

The first year following the merger was about fine-tuning the firm’s general operations and getting everyone on the same page, Diener says, and this year the firm hopes to pursue a broader goal of increasing community involvement.

Those plans have been put on hold while the firm navigates the impacts of the pandemic, but Diener says a large meeting of the firm’s staff is still planned to come up with ways to get involved in the community.

“We had to push that aside so we could focus on how we’re going to be operating with this virus and all these shutdowns, how it affects our clients,” he says. “I’m hoping that we will come back to that very issue because this year there was going to be a significant focus on that community involvement.”

He adds, “We are all involved in the community, but we want to have more of a firmwide presence in the community and activities. So, that was the goal and I think that’s still the goal for this year, to increase that activity.”