Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice Adds Four Attorneys in Oregon

Posted January 9, 2025

Kansas City-based Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice LLC enters into the new year with Jeanne Loftis joining the firm’s Portland office as a partner in addition to three other attorneys.

Loftis has served as first chair in more than 25 cases involving several product liability matters and employment litigation cases.

Loftis served as the former president of the Oregon Association of Defense Counsel as well as serves as chair of the National Membership Committee for the Association of Defense Trial Attorneys and as secretary of the Oregon Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates

Loftis earned her law degree from the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law and her undergraduate degree from the University of California, Davis.

Accompanying Loftis in the Portland office are associates Clarens Emrich, Hayley Hollis and Justin Meyer. The four attorneys are the first additions to Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice’s Pacific Northwest presence since the addition of its Seattle office in September 2024.

“The firm’s collaborative culture and accomplished bench of trial lawyers provides a strong foundation for growth, and I look forward to contributing to its continued expansion in the Pacific Northwest,” Loftis said in a release.

Emrich focuses on complex commercial, personal injury defense and product liability matters. He previously served as a law clerk in the Office of the Metro Attorney and in the U.S. District Court of Oregon with the Honorable John V. Acosta.

He earned his law degree from Lewis & Clark Law School and his undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Hollis represents clients in the construction and insurance industries, with a practice encompassing class actions, multidistrict litigation, complex commercial matters, employment and professional liability defense.

She earned her law degree from Lewis & Clark Law School, a master’s degree in communication studies from Sam Houston State University, and an undergraduate degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

Meyer focuses his practice on complex civil matters, including mass tort, personal injury, complex litigation, and legal malpractice.

He earned his law degree from Gonzaga University School of Law and his undergraduate degree from Linfield College. Meyer is licensed to practice in Oregon, Washington and Idaho.