Katherine M. Steele Stafford Frey Cooper, PC 3100 Two Union Square 601 Union Street Seattle, WA 98101-1374 206.667.8277 Direct 206.624.6885 Fax Email: Katherine M. Steele Katherine's civil litigation practice has, since 1981, emphasized representing defendants in Product Liability, asbestos defense, complex litigation management, construction defect, wrongful death, personal injury, general maritime law, Jones Act, insurance coverage and asbestos bankruptcy cases. She served as National Asbestos Coordinating Counsel for The E.J. Bartells Co. (the former Northwest Manville contractor and distributor) for nearly 20 years, until its successful reorganization in 2001. She is the current national counsel for a Northwest shipping company. Katherine is a member of the bar in both Washington and Oregon, and has earned the highest attorneys rating in the national Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory. She joined Stafford Frey Cooper as a shareholder in February, 2000, and has been its managing shareholder since 2007. Katherine lives in Seattle with her husband, Steve. In her spare time she enjoys reading, travel, skiing, boating, and cooking.Education • University of Oregon Honors College, B.A., 1978 • Willamette University College of Law, J.D., 1981 • University of Washington School of Law and Marine Affairs, L.L.M., 1982 Recent Representative Cases • Developed and implemented strategy resulting in smaller increases in filings and lower settlement averages than similar asbestos defendants. (See Mark Peterson report to In Re. E.J. Bartells, US Bankruptcy Court, Western District of Washington, Cause No. 00-10390). Developed trial strategies resulting in defense verdicts in 75% of the cases tried. The plaintiff verdicts all resulted in low verdicts, small fault allocation compared to co-defendants and no punitive awards. • Counsel for distributor class representative in the first major asbestos bankruptcy, In re Johns-Manville 982 F.2d. 721. Obtained indemnity payment and rights to future indemnity payments. • Expert regarding Contractor's Statute of Repose. Obtained Ninth Circuit decision upholding the statute in Oregon. Multnomah County Sch. Dist. 1J v. ACandS, Fibreboard et al., 5 F.3d 1255 (9th Cir. 1993), cert. denied 114 S.Ct. 2742 (1994); 767 F.Supp. 1051 (1991); 139 F.R.D. 164 (1991) (multimillion $ asbestos property claims dismissed in Oregon). • Designed databases to increase efficiency and track cases for clients, including a plaintiff database, an extensive searchable database of nearly all northwest industrial sites, a vessel database with pertinent information on nearly all West Coast naval vessels, and many merchant vessels and a document/exhibit database referencing an extensive exhibit library including most major northwest job sites and trade publications • Led discovery and pleading effort leading to dismissal of unimpaired screening cases in Washington. Chaired defense committee which obtained one of the first orders prioritizing cases for trial based upon medical criteria. • Obtained rulings applying the statute of limitations to much of the damages sought by the state in Washington ex rel actions to recover on the lien for worker's compensation benefits. While limited to Washington, this ruling is striking in that the decision was based upon public policy, not case law. Memberships and Service • Defense Research Institute • Fellow, Litigation Counsel of America • Washington Defense Trial Lawyers Association • American Bar Association • Oregon Bar Association • Washington Bar Association • King Co. Bar Association   • Product Liability • Toxic Tort & Environmental • Asbestos Defense • Complex & Class Action Litigation • Construction Law • Maritime Law     All Washington state and federal courts All Oregon state and federal Courts United States District Court, Northern District California United States Court of Appeals for the Second, Third and Ninth Circuits Appeared pro hac vice in Montana, Idaho, Alaska, California, Utah, Wyoming and Hawaii