Douglas, Eden, Phillips, DeRuyter & Stanyer PS has one of the longer names among Spokane law firms, but some of the members say they don’t want the smallish firm to get much bigger.

Douglas, Eden, Phillips, DeRuyter & Stanyer has nine lawyers, eight of whom are partners, and a support staff of 11. It occupies 4,800 square feet of office space on the 15th floor of the Washington Trust Building, at 717 W. Sprague.

The firm’s areas of emphasis include estate planning, business and tax planning, elder and special needs law, securities, real estate, and municipal law.

Speaking on behalf of the firm, two of its youngest partners, Erik Kukuk and Ryan Douglas, say they’re seeing growth in client demand for such areas of emphasis.

Kukuk, a 2012 graduate of Gonzaga University School of Law who joined the firm in 2015, specializes in corporations and partnerships and real estate.

He says those specialties overlap with the firm’s longstanding practices emphasizing estate and tax planning.

“My practice dovetails the business and real estate needs of clients,” he says.

Douglas adds, “Many clients have built up their business enterprises their whole lives, and they’re looking to pass them along to key successors.”

Douglas, a 2006 graduate of the University of Idaho College of Law, joined the firm straight out of college, specializing in estate and trust planning and probate. His father, Ronald Douglas, is a founding member of the firm.

While awareness of needs for such planning is growing among the aging population, Douglas and Kukuk say the firm is seeing clients of all ages.

Kukuk says he works with tech startup entrepreneurs in their 20s, mom-and-pop business owners in their 40s and 50s, and older clients who are looking to exit businesses.

To that end, however, succession planning is one area of emphasis that often doesn’t get attention early enough.

Douglas says, “It’s easier to get into a business partnership than it is to get out of one.”

Kukuk says it’s important for business owners to have a plan for what happens to the business if one partner gets divorced, becomes disabled, or dies.

Certain business insurance products can help solve some problems, he says.

“We can help them work with insurance and risk-mitigation providers,” Kukuk says.

Douglas says he encourages clients not to wait until their 50s and 60s to begin estate planning.

“Anyone over 18 should have an advance directive and powers of attorney in place,” he says, adding that the latest such measures should be taken is when a couple has children.

“If you don’t designate your desires, it’s up to the court,” he says.

Douglas, Eden, Phillips, DeRuyter & Stanyer tries to avoid bringing cases to trial. When litigation is inevitable, the firm often refers such cases to other law firms.

Kukuk says, “We have a good relationship with boutique litigation firms and some of the larger firms.”

Douglas adds, “More often than not, we do a wholesale referral for a particular matter” rather than act as co-counsel.

“Our clients are loyal. We don’t worry they’ll get poached,” he says.

The firm also receives referrals from other firms when their clients need legal services that are more within Douglas, Eden, Phillips, DeRuyter & Stanyer’s wheelhouse.

“We get referrals back, but it’s not necessarily quid pro quo,” Douglas says. “It’s always what’s in the best interest of the client.”

The firm was founded in 1990 by Ronald Douglas, William Eden, and Marc Phillips, all former attorneys with one of Spokane’s larger law firms, Lukins & Annis PS, which also is in the Washington Trust Building.

Eden, a 1976 Gonzaga School of Law graduate, says of his fellow co-founders, “We were working in the same corner of the building, and we decided at some point that a smaller firm was better for us than a big firm.”

They set up office in the Old National Bank Building, now named the U.S. Bank Building, at 422 W. Riverside.

By 2011, the firm had grown to seven attorneys and a support staff of 12, maxing out the office space there, so the firm moved back to the Washington Trust Building, one floor below the founders’ former firm.

“We were still good friends with Lukins & Annis,” Eden says. “They had downsized and had a lot of space.”

Eden says the firm’s revenue is trending upward despite significant tax law changes that have made estate planning less complex for many clients from a federal tax perspective over the last 25 years.

A larger number of clients, however, should plan around Washington state’s, estate tax, because the state has the highest marginal estate tax rate and almost the lowest exemption level in the U.S., he says.

For most people, Washington’s estate tax often can be avoided if assets are dispersed within the federal gift tax exemption level before death.

“If you really plan well, you can transfer about $12 million in property without paying the estate tax,” Eden says.

Adds Douglas, “If you have a $20 million estate, you’ll be writing a bigger check to the (Washington state) Department of Revenue than to the IRS.”

Douglas, Eden, Phillips, DeRuyter & Stanyer has added an attorney in each of the last two years, and the firm’s office space is approaching capacity.

Eden says the firm may have to expand by a couple of attorneys before senior partners can retire.

He adds, however, that firms with more than 10 lawyers have a different management style, which includes a board of directors and “someone in charge.”

Douglas says the partners have had  many discussions concerning the future “right size” for the firm, and the consensus is to keep it as a smaller firm.

Kukuk says he left large Spokane law firm Witherspoon Kelley to join Douglas, Eden, Phillips, DeRuyter & Stanyer in part because of its a smaller size.

“I like to be able to practice law on a daily basis,” he says.