Claire Loebs Davis is a seasoned litigator who focuses on using her commercial litigation experience to assist nonprofit entities and advocate for animal and environmental causes. Claire is Co-Chair of Lane Powell’s Nonprofit Team and its Animal and Earth Advocacy Team. She also chairs the Pro Bono Committee in Seattle.
Claire has more than a decade of experience in commercial litigation, including trial and appellate advocacy, and securities and corporate governance litigation. She has represented a wide range of companies and their directors and officers, including Ambassador’s Group, Biovest International, Cell Therapeutics, Dendreon Corporation, Lihua International, Micron Technology, Nordstrom, PremierWest Bancorp, Primo Water, Sterling Financial, Washington Mutual, Washington Banking, WSB Financial Group, and Zumiez.
Claire has assisted nonprofit organizations with a variety of legal needs, including:
- Helping them to incorporate, draft governance documents and file for federal 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status;
- Advising them on employment matters, risk assessment and issues of corporate governance; and
- Representing them in a variety of commercial disputes, such as actions for breach of contract, RICO violations and defamation.
Throughout her legal career, Claire has focused on advocacy on behalf of animals and the environment, including serving as a general counsel and legal consultant for Best Friends Animal Society, the country’s largest animal sanctuary and a leading national proponent of companion animal welfare. Since leaving Best Friends to enter private practice, Claire has represented nonprofit organizations including the Animal Legal Defense Fund and the Center for Biological Diversity, in addition to multiple regional animal rescues and sanctuaries. She has also been extensively involved in community advocacy efforts, including leading a successful grassroots effort to reform King County, Washington’s animal shelters.
Claire defended the former Administrative Director of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in a contempt action brought by the Institute for Cetacean Research, a Japanese whaling entity, related to Sea Shepherd’s interference with Japan’s killing of whales in the Southern Ocean. Following a two-week trial in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and extensive appellate practice, Claire secured a defense verdict for her client. She subsequently represented Sea Shepherd and its founder, Paul Watson, in litigation against the Institute for Cetacean Research that raised multiple unique questions of standing, animal rights and international law.
As the Chair of the firm’s Seattle Pro Bono Committee, Claire led the citywide effort to provide legal assistance at SeaTac airport to travelers affected by President Trump’s travel bans. She has shown a commitment throughout her career to pro bono work, advising numerous nonprofit entities, volunteering at a variety of local legal clinics, representing asylum seekers in immigration court, working with the American Civil Liberties Union to bring an action against the state of California on behalf of English language learners in the state’s public schools, and submitting amicus briefs in State of Washington v. Trump and State of Hawaii v. Trump.
Claire joined Lane Powell from Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in December 2012. She graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 2003 (class rank 2 of 387), and clerked for the Honorable Richard Nygaard of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Before attending law school, Claire was a newspaper reporter for several years, primarily covering legal and political issues, and winning multiple state and national writing awards.
