Spokane law firm Layman, Layman & Robinson PLLP says it has seen a drop-off in business-transaction work, one of its two main areas of practice, but a rise in litigation, its other focus, as the recession has raised the legal stakes for many of its clients.

Rather than the boutique firm seeing an overall downturn in work, "It actually was the opposite of that," says John R. Layman, its managing partner and the son of founder John G. "Jerry" Layman.

Layman declines to talk specifically about the firm's billings, which can vary a lot depending on verdicts, but says, "We're very busy. We have a lot of work. We have a lot of good work," and he expects that workload to remain strong as the economy gradually strengthens.

The firm likely will see a bigger percentage of business-transaction work as that occurs, he says, but he foresees continued growth in litigation over the long term as well, partly because the world simply has become more complex and—for better or worse—that fuels legal disputes.

The firm occupies a 5,200-square-foot building at 601 S. Division, also operates a small satellite office in Seattle, and employs 19 people altogether, including nine lawyers, a full-time paralegal, and nine other support staff members.

Its main areas of practice include personal injury, banking and other commercial transactions and litigation, medical and other professional malpractice, and real estate development. In the personal injury realm, one of its strongest longtime focuses has been traumatic brain injury cases.

Its major clients include or have included companies such as NAI Black, the Spokane Association of Realtors, Tomlinson Real Estate Group LLC, and Black Rock Development.

The firm suffered a huge blow in late June when one of its three partners, Richard C. Robinson, who oversaw its Seattle office, died unexpectedly at age 57. Robinson was an assistant city attorney for the city of Spokane from 1978 to 1988 and a veteran litigator who during his career had tried "well in excess of 100 jury trials, many of which involved catastrophic injuries and claims in the millions of dollars," says his profile on the firm's Web site.

Layman says losing Robinson, who had been with the firm about 10 years, was a significant loss personally and also because of his breadth of legal knowledge and the work he brought to the practice. The firm plans to take on an additional partner, or partners—including possibly from within its own ranks—and revise its name at some point, but is in no rush to do either, and for now is working just to rebalance its workload, Layman says.

Layman, who had practiced there for a time, says he and one of the firm's other lawyers here now are helping fill in there until the firm settles on a more permanent staffing arrangement.

Despite its small size, compared with some of the firms it goes up against in court, Layman, Layman prides itself on its ability to take on complex cases and also on its willingness to go to trial—rather than settle a case—if it feels that's the most appropriate course of action for its client, Layman says.

"We've always thought the guy with all of the gold shouldn't make all of the rules," and have applied that philosophy to its practice, he says, noting that it currently has more than a dozen trials scheduled between now and the end of next year.

His father, Jerry Layman, who is approaching his 78th birthday and still works part time at the firm, often in a mentoring capacity to other lawyers there, says that hard-nosed attitude doesn't mean the firm fights every case "to the death." It settles cases before trial when the facts and circumstances warrant it, he says, but he adds, "You have to be willing to go to the mat if that's what's necessary."

John R. Layman agrees, saying, "That's what it's all about, because you can change someone's life forever," such as through a sizable personal injury verdict on behalf of a deserving plaintiff or by helping a longtime client whose business is struggling due to the poor economy. "I think the biggest accomplishments are when you get results that change people's lives."

He says that having a talented and equally committed group of lawyers has helped the practice sustain that philosophy. He notes that one of the firm's lawyers, Patti Jo Foster, is president of the Washington Women Lawyers organization; another, Brian C. Balch, is a recognized statewide authority on commercial and residential real estate law; and a third, Schillinger, has been dubbed a Rising Star in the national Super Lawyers magazine. Layman has received a Super Lawyer designation in that magazine's peer-influenced rankings every year since 2007.

Despite its expectation of continuing strong demand for its services, the firm intends to remain at about its current size, Layman says. Staying at around a dozen lawyers helps it maintain a collegial, collaborative work culture, he says.

"That's why our firm is able to take on the complex cases we have," despite its small size, he says. "It's because everyone is willing to jump in and help."

Layman says, "I think we have the opportunity to grow, but we don't want to grow for growth's sake."

The firm has operated under its current name since shortly after Robinson became a partner, and before that had operated under several other variations of that name as different partners came and went. It has operated largely in its current form since 1984, when Layman became a partner.

Jerry Layman says, "We've never gotten that big. We've had opportunities to merge with larger firms, but we've never felt it was advantageous to do that."

He now has been practicing law here for 54 years, and was president of Spokane-based Farmers & Merchants Bank from 1974 to 2004. Banner Corp., the Walla Walla, Wash.-based bank-holding company that owns Banner Bank, acquired F&M in 2007 and changed the names of its branches to Banner Bank.

John R. Layman, who had gotten a real estate license while in high school and for a time pondered a career in finance, says he eventually followed in his father's legal footsteps, and learned—as a fortunate understudy—an immense amount about complex litigation and the practice of law.

"I was way ahead of the curve from that perspective," he says.

He now serves on the Banner Bank board of directors, continuing the family's close ties to the financial industry, and is president of the Inland Northwest Health Services Foundation board. He also is a past president of the St. Luke's Rehabilitation Institute advisory board and the Spokane chapter of the Brain Injury Association of Washington, among other volunteer board positions.

Layman clearly recalls getting a big brain-injury verdict for a client and friend here shortly after he joined his father's firm, and says that eye-opening experience and the sense of accomplishment he had from helping that person is part of what continues to drive him today.