Education
JD, UC Berkeley School of Law, 1978
MA, Stanford University, 1975
BA, Political Science, Stanford University, 1974
Bar and Court Admissions
State of Washington
U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington
U.S. Court of Claims
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces
Army Court of Criminal Appeals
Professional Associations
American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, previously served on legal committee for thirty-seven
years; former board member
Northwest Women's Law Center
Society of Counsel for the Representation of Accused Persons, board of directors
Stanford Club of Western Washington, former board member
Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, former board member
Washington State Bar Association
James E. Lobsenz joined the firm in 1989 through the merger of his firm, Wolfe & Lobsenz, P.S.,
with the Carney firm.
Mr. Lobsenz has an extensive appellate practice in both the state and federal appellate courts. His
substantive areas of experience are constitutional law, freedom of speech, police misconduct, civil
rights, criminal defense law, employment law and evidence.
After clerking for the Honorable Mathew O. Tobriner, Associate Justice of the California Supreme
Court, and the Honorable Vincent L. McKusick, Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine,
Mr. Lobsenz came to Seattle and served as a deputy prosecuting attorney in King County for three years.
Later he served as a public defender before going into private practice.
Mr. Lobsenz is the author of several law review articles, and he is an Adjunct Professor of Law at
Seattle University, where he teaches courses on constitutional law, the First Amendment and civil
rights litigation.
Mr. Lobsenz is the author of the website Seattle Criminal Appeals, where he publishes information
on the criminal appeals process and representative cases.
Honors and Recognitions
Mr. Lobsenz is an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers. In 2009, Mr. Lobsenz
received the William O. Douglas Award from the Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
in recognition of exceptional lifetime courage and dedication to the defense of persons accused of
crime. He also has received the 2010 Community Leadership Award from Washington's GLBT Bar
Association for his work opposing discrimination against gays and lesbians in the armed forces; the
1991 Civil Libertarian Award from the Washington ACLU; and the 1985 Human Rights Day Award from the
Seattle Chapter of the United Nations Association.
He has been named by Washington Super Lawyers magazine as one of the top attorneys in the state for
each of the last nineteen years, including 2022, and a Top Lawyer by Seattle Magazine for multiple
years.
Mr. Lobsenz has been listed in Seattle Metropolitan Magazine and Seattle Business Magazine as one
of King County's "Top Lawyers” 2010 – 2018. They cull their listings from Martindale-Hubbell and
Supe Lawyers.
Representative Cases
Mr. Lobsenz has argued over 25 cases in the Washington Supreme Court and over 150 appeals in the
state and federal courts. His past cases include the following:
Fisher Broadcasting – Seattle TV v. City of Seattle, 180 Wn.2d 515, 326 P.3d 688 (2014) (counsel
for amicus curiae)
State v. Lau, 174 Wn. App. 857, 300 P.3d 838 (2013)
Tatham v. Rogers, 170 Wn. App. 76 (2012)
Yates v. Fithian, 2010 WL 3788272 (W.D. Wash. 2010)
State v. Sutherby, 165 Wn.2d 870 (2009)
Witt v. Department of the Air Force, 527 F.3d 806 (9th Cir. 2008)
Watada v. Head, 530 F. Supp. 2d 1136 (W.D.Wash. 2007)
M.L. v. Federal Way School District, 394 F. 3d 634 (9th Cir.) cert. denied 345 U.S. 1128 (2005)
State v. Stein, 144 Wn.2d 236 (2001)
King v. Olympic Pipeline Co., 104 Wn. App. 338 (2000)
Swinomish Indian Tribal Community v. Siland County, 87 Wn. App. 552 (1997)
Washington State Physicians Exchange v. Fisons, 122 Wn.2d 299 (1993)
Ski Acres, Inc. v. Kittitas County, 118 Wn.2d 852 (1992)
Employco Personnel Services v. Seattle, 117 Wn.2d 606 (1991)
In re Blauvelt, 115 Wn.2d 735, 801 P.2d 235 (1990)
Thao v. Control Data Corporation, 57 Wn. App. 802 (1990)
Watkins v. United States Army, 875 F. 2d 699 (9th Cir. 1989) (en banc), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 957
(1990)
Levison v. Washington Horse Racing Comm'n, 48 Wn. App. 822 (1987)
Publications
"Raising and Litigating Ineffective Assistance of Counsel Claims," Washington Criminal Defense,
Vol. 16, No. 3 (August 2002)
"The Residential Tenant's Right to Freedom of Political Expression," (co-author) 10 University of
Puget Sound Law Review 1 (1987)
"A Constitutional Right to an Appeal: Guarding Against Unacceptable Risks of Erroneous Conviction,"
8 University of Puget Sound Law Review 375 (1985)
"Bakke, Lochner, and Law School: The Nobility Clause Versus a Republican Form of Medicine," 32
Maine Law Review 1 (1980)
CAMPBELL EXECUTION: Triple killer fought to end to stay alive
On April 3, 2023, I met with James Lobsenz at his office in Seattle, Washington to learn more about his reflections of the day that he witnessed the execution of his client, Charles Rodman Campbell, by hanging on May 27, 1994. One media account of Campbell's execution is found in the above link. Campbell's execution was the second (and final) hanging carried out by the state of Washington. The first one had been carried out one year earlier, when Westley Alan Dodd was executed by hanging in 1993. Three more men would be executed by the state of Washington, all by lethal injection, with the most recent execution carried out in 2010, until Washington eventually abolished the death penalty in 2018.