Counselor defends his combative tactics
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Even when attorney Douglas Wilson was a kid, he didn't back down if he thought he was right.
And he thought he was right quite often.
"Let's just say that he has always been a man of his convictions," said a childhood friend.
When Wilson was in junior high, he and a buddy did some landscaping for a family friend. They thought they had done a good job, but the man refused to pay.
"We didn't think it was fair, and we put all his lawn furniture up on his roof," Wilson said. "He offered to pay us to take it down.
"After we all had a giant laugh about it, he's the one who actually encouraged me to go to law school."
Wilson, 36, has been hired by Aaron Roberts' family to represent its interests at the inquest into his death and in any civil case that might follow. He's doing so aggressively — too aggressively, some say.
Last week, Wilson released autopsy pictures of Roberts in an attempt to show that Roberts had been beaten by police before he was shot.
And Tuesday, Wilson released official statements of Officer Greg Neubert, who is thought by the Roberts family to have initiated the confrontation even though his partner, Craig Price, fired the fatal shot. Wilson said Neubert's statements contain contradictions, and he wants Neubert, as well as Price, to be a subject of the inquest.
Lisa Marchese, representing police, blasted Wilson for his actions, saying they could make it impossible to find unbiased inquest jurors.
And King County District Judge Barbara Linde ordered attorneys Tuesday to stop releasing key information to the media.
Wilson knows his tactics are atypical but says he needed to take extraordinary measures to counter the weight of negative opinion against Roberts, who has a criminal past.
"There has been a lot of lies out there released by the Seattle Police Department and others that have already created a climate of prejudice against (Roberts), and I have to compensate for that.
"My philosophy has always been: If you've got the facts, don't sit back."
In his Snohomish County high school, Wilson ran track and cross-country, and was a medal winner in the high jump. He also competed on the debate and speech teams and gave his commencement address.
He graduated cum laude from Washington State University before attending law school at Southern Methodist University in Texas where, he said, "I was not at the top of my class."
After finishing law school, he worked briefly as an intern at the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office before deciding he'd rather be an independent litigator, contracting to work for small firms that need help with large cases.
In 1997, Wilson won a $2.5 million settlement for a client who was rear-ended by a security vehicle owned by the Bank of America. In 1998, he won an undisclosed settlement for a Muslim client who was pepper-sprayed in the King County Courthouse while he knelt on a prayer rug in worship.
While some attorneys acknowledge Wilson can be a pain in the neck, they also say they respect his commitment.
"Any kind of strong advocacy can annoy people," said Paul Schneiderman, who recruited Wilson to work on the Roberts case precisely because of his bulldog reputation.
Mark Brown, a friend from law school and now a securities lawyer in Chicago, called Wilson "a very principled guy who takes his cases very personally."
Wilson said a bone disorder kept him on crutches for years as a child and helped him understand what it's like to be an underdog.
In high school, after a single unexcused absence, a teacher threatened to make him take senior history over again, a class in which he was earning an A. He argued his case before the principal.
"I told him they could make me take the class again, but that I was still going to give the commencement speech, and I was going to be talking about the abuse of power," Wilson said.
He didn't have to repeat the class.
Christine Clarridge can be reached at 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com.