Norman Cole
Of Counsel
Norm’s only area of practice, since 1979, is workers’ compensation. He devotes 95% of his time to representing injured workers subject to the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act and Defense Base Act and the remainder of his time representing injured workers subject to the Oregon Compensation Act.
More about Norman Cole
-
My parents met in law school. I knew before I entered high school I wanted to be a lawyer. On my 25th birthday I was officially sworn in as a member of the Oregon State Bar, and not long after that began my first job as deputy district attorney in Astoria Oregon. There, I gained experience as a trial lawyer, sailed my 21 foot sailboat on the Columbia (challenging because of current and tides), and met the woman I would marry (still married, with two adult children). We moved to Portland, where I began, in 1979, a law practice devoted exclusively to workers’ compensation. In the early 1980’s I began working on claims subject to the Longshore & Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, and by the early 1990’s, and continuing through today, I devoted the large majority of my time to that specialized area of the law. My work representing injured workers with Richard Mann is exactly what I want to do.
-
After graduating from college in 1971 (Claremont Men’s College, now known as Claremont McKenna College) and law school in 1974 (University of Oregon School of Law) I served as a Deputy District Attorney for four years in Clatsop County Oregon, and then was a Trial Counsel and Special Assistant Attorney General for 25 years for SAIF Corporation. In 2005 I joined Sather Byerly and Holloway LLP and became a partner in 2012. As an attorney for SAIF Corporation and in private practice at SBH, I represented employers and insurers, defending Oregon and LHWCA workers’ compensation claims. On April 1, 2018, I became of counsel at Brownstein Rask LLP and began representing injured workers, devoting at least 95% of my time to LHWCA claims. I spent thirty-eight years learning how employers, insurers, and their attorneys approach defense of LHWCA claims and use that knowledge when representing injured workers at Brownstein Rask LLP.
I have been honored by my peers as a Fellow of the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers (one of three fellows in Oregon) and as a Top Injured Worker’s Attorney by WILG (Workers’ Injury Law and Advocacy Group). Through 2022, I have been a speaker at eighteen legal seminars in New Orleans, Orlando, Seattle, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Portland. At the request of the Oregon State Bar, I wrote a chapter discussing the LHWCA for the next edition of the Bar’s Workers’ Compensation continuing legal education program materials. Attorneys who represent LHWCA clients periodically ask my advice. One attorney from Baton Rouge sent me an e-mail in March 2022 stating, “I hope to meet one day. I have never known anyone with more accessible Longshore knowledge than you.” Another attorney from Wausau, Wisconsin sent me an e-mail in May 2022 stating, “so glad that you are on our side in the WILG lifeline.”
I devote at least 95% of my time to representing LHWCA clients, but I still represent some clients with Oregon workers’ compensation claims, especially when the client has an opportunity to obtain compensation under both acts for the same injury.
-
- B.A., Claremont Men’s College (now known as Claremont McKenna College), 1971
- J.D. University of Oregon School of Law, 1974.
-
- Fellow of the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers.
- Honored by WILG (Workers’ Injury Law and Advocacy Group) as a Top Injured Workers’ Attorney.
- Speaker at legal seminars in New Orleans, Orlando, Seattle, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Portland.
- Contributing author of a chapter in The Longshore Textbook, 7th edition, published by Lawyers and Judges Publishing Company, Inc.
- Author of a chapter on the LHWCA in the Oregon State Bar’s expected 2023 edition of its Continuing Legal Education series on Workers’ Compensation.
After graduating from college in 1971 (Claremont Men’s College, now known as Claremont McKenna College) and law school in 1974 (University of Oregon School of Law) I served as a Deputy District Attorney for four years in Clatsop County Oregon, and then was a Trial Counsel and Special Assistant Attorney General for 25 years for SAIF Corporation. In 2005 I joined Sather Byerly and Holloway LLP and became a partner in 2012. As an attorney for SAIF Corporation and in private practice at SBH, I represented employers and insurers, defending Oregon and LHWCA workers’ compensation claims. On April 1, 2018, I became of counsel at Brownstein Rask LLP and began representing injured workers, devoting at least 95% of my time to LHWCA claims. I spent thirty-eight years learning how employers, insurers, and their attorneys approach defense of LHWCA claims and use that knowledge when representing injured workers at Brownstein Rask LLP.
I have been honored by my peers as a Fellow of the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers (one of three fellows in Oregon) and as a Top Injured Worker’s Attorney by WILG (Workers’ Injury Law and Advocacy Group). Through 2022, I have been a speaker at eighteen legal seminars in New Orleans, Orlando, Seattle, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Portland. At the request of the Oregon State Bar, I wrote a chapter discussing the LHWCA for the next edition of the Bar’s Workers’ Compensation continuing legal education program materials. Attorneys who represent LHWCA clients periodically ask my advice. One attorney from Baton Rouge sent me an e-mail in March 2022 stating, “I hope to meet one day. I have never known anyone with more accessible Longshore knowledge than you.” Another attorney from Wausau, Wisconsin sent me an e-mail in May 2022 stating, “so glad that you are on our side in the WILG lifeline.”
I devote at least 95% of my time to representing LHWCA clients, but I still represent some clients with Oregon workers’ compensation claims, especially when the client has an opportunity to obtain compensation under both acts for the same injury.
- B.A., Claremont Men’s College (now known as Claremont McKenna College), 1971
- J.D. University of Oregon School of Law, 1974.
- Fellow of the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers.
- Honored by WILG (Workers’ Injury Law and Advocacy Group) as a Top Injured Workers’ Attorney.
- Speaker at legal seminars in New Orleans, Orlando, Seattle, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Portland.
- Contributing author of a chapter in The Longshore Textbook, 7th edition, published by Lawyers and Judges Publishing Company, Inc.
- Author of a chapter on the LHWCA in the Oregon State Bar’s expected 2023 edition of its Continuing Legal Education series on Workers’ Compensation.
