Jamie Polito Johnston
Principal
Practice Emphasis
Jamie’s practice focuses on complex marital dissolutions and legal separations, as well as child custody and parenting issues.
Her practice in family law spans nearly 20 years and in that time Jamie has developed a reputation as a compassionate and relentless advocate for her clients. Whether utilizing traditional dispute resolution methods through litigation, or alternatives such as mediation, or the Collaborative Law process, Jamie helps her clients to find the best, healthiest and most successful outcomes to their unique problems.
Resolution-oriented, and providing responsive and personal service to her clients at demanding and stressful times, Jamie represents high net worth individuals with respect to complex financial issues and asset division, parenting plans, relocation actions, child custody and child support matters, third-party and non-parental custody actions, committed intimate relationships, cohabitation/prenuptial and community property status agreements, and post-dissolution issues, including child support and parenting plan modifications.
Education
- Juris Doctor, cum laude, Seattle University School of Law
- Associate Editor, Seattle University Law Review
- Member, Seattle University Moot Court Board
- Bachelor of Arts with Honors, University of Michigan
- Visiting student, University of California Berkeley
- Collaborative Law Training
- Professional Mediation Skills Training Program, University of Washington School of Law
Representative Cases
- A highly skilled litigator and negotiator, Jamie has successfully represented numerous clients in a wide range of family law disputes including marital dissolution cases involving high net-worth estates, business and professional practice valuations, pensions, retirement assets, separate property and tracing analyses, as well as high-conflict child custody and child support matters. She has extensive experience litigating matters both in court and through the mediation/arbitration process.
- In addition to representing clients in traditional litigation cases, Jamie also focuses her practice in Collaborative Law, a voluntary, guided and team-oriented process by which parties agree to resolve disputes in a cooperative setting outside of the courtroom.
Publications and Speaking Engagements
- Presentation: Hot Topics in Family Law: Case Planning and Trial in the Media Age, Authentication and Admission of Email and Social Media (2016)
- Editor, LexisNexis Practice Guide, Washington Family Law (2016)
- Mediation in Divorce: Until Dispute Resolution Do Us Part (2010)
- Depriving Washington State’s Youth of an Education: The Debilitating Effects of Tunstall v. Bergeson, 26 Seattle U. L. Rev. 1017 (2003)
Professional & Civic
Chair, Family Law Practice Group of Lasher Holzapfel Sperry & Ebberson, PLLC, 2015 – 2020
Board of Directors of Family Law CASA (“Court Appointed Special Advocates”)
Acknowledged in Chambers High Net Worth Guide, Band 2, Family/Matrimonial in Washington State, 2023
Recognized by The Best Lawyers in America® in the practice area of ‘Family Law’ (2020 -2024 ed.)
Recognized as part of the 2024 Lawdragon 500 Leading U.S. Family Lawyers
Named a “Super Lawyer” by Washington Super Lawyers magazine, 2021, 2022, 2023
Named a “Rising Star” by Washington Super Lawyers magazine, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016
Recognized as a “Top 40 Under 40 Family Law Lawyers” by American Society of Legal Advocates, 2015
Recognized as one of the “Top Women Attorneys in Washington” (Super Lawyers/Rising Star), Seattle Met magazine, 2012
Volunteer, King County Bar Association Neighborhood Legal Clinics
Past volunteer of Legal Voices (formerly “Northwest Women’s Law Center”)
Judicial Intern for the Honorable Avern Cohn, United States District Court, Eastern District of Michigan
Family Law Mentor, King County Bar Association
Washington State Bar Association , Family Law Section
Member, King County Bar Association, Family Law and Collaborative Law sections
Member, King County Collaborative Law
Member, International Academy of Collaborative Professionals
