A prominent Pacific Northwest construction attorney who was a shareholder at a major Portland law firm has left it to operate his own practice.

Jeremy Vermilyea, holder of the Twitter handle “@NWConstLaw” spent his last day at Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt on April 28. Attorney Stephanie Holmberg succeeded him overseeing the 19 lawyers in Schwabe’s Construction Service Team.

Vermilyea will continue to represent construction industry stakeholders – primarily commercial general contractors, including a number of longtime clients who will follow him to this new venture, Vermilyea Law PC. (He actually established the business 10 years ago.)

Running a small shop is far more cost-effective these days, he said, mainly due to advances in technology. The new firm will be nearly paperless. Also, he plans to add to his caseload more mediation and arbitration work, which is more complicated at a large firm because of potential conflicts of interest.

Vermilyea Law is currently based in Lake Oswego and consists of Vermilyea and an assistant, though he hopes to hire four or five lawyers by the end of the year.

“It’s actually a return to a smaller approach to the practice of law – one that better suits my personality and my approach to client service,” he said.

Vermilyea has been active with the local construction industry since moving here in 2000. He regularly leads seminars and courses on current case law for the local chapter of Associated General Contractors of America. In 2013, he was awarded the chapter’s President’s Award for his contributions to the local building community.

Vermilyea, 47, is an Alaska native. He fell into construction law in large part because it was the specialty of the first firm he worked at after law school, in Anchorage. He found it to be a good fit.

“I’m fortunate,” he said. “I think a lot of lawyers out there struggle to figure out what sort of work they want to do and who they want to be as lawyers. I never really had that problem. I always knew that I wanted to work with contractors.”

Vermilyea is a 1987 graduate of Wasilla High School, also the alma mater of one of Alaska’s most famous daughters.

“Sarah (Palin) was a senior when I was a freshman. She was older, and I didn’t know her that well. She was the point guard on our basketball team that year. I have friends who know her, know her family,” he said. “There are stories, but I don’t have any.”

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